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Genocyber
Jun 4, 2012



Kekkai Sensen/Blood Blockade Battlefront is back for a second season! If you missed the first it was an adaptation of Yasuhiro Nightow's (the Trigun guy) latest manga. Set in Hellsalem's Lot, a city born after another world was dumped onto New York City, it follows the ensemble cast of Libra, a secret society of super-powered badasses who strive to keep the balance between both worlds even. It's a fun mix of comedy and action with a casually negligent attitude towards the sanctity of life.

The manga's been done for a while so anime-original content is unlikely, in case you didn't like the stuff they added in S1.

Both seasons are available for streaming from Crunchyroll with the first season having a dub by Funimation.

The manga is published by Dark Horse and is available from multiple retailers.

Spoiler Policy

No manga spoilers.

Cast


Klaus V. Reinherz
Leader of Libra. A fashionable gentleman and all-around upstanding guy.


Leonardo Watch
Point-of-view character and Libra's newbie. Possesses a courageous heart and also the All-Seeing Eyes of the Gods.


Zapp Renfro
Senior pupil of the Big Dipper blood battle style. Also a huge rear end in a top hat.


Stephen A Starphase
Libra's second-in-command and wearer of suits. Has ice powers.


Chain Sumeragi
An invisible werewolf who acts as Libra's scout. Hates Zapp (who doesn't).


Zed O'Brien
Junior pupil of the Big Dipper blood battle style. A pretty chill guy.


K.K
Crack shot sniper with lightning powers and good fashion sense.


Gilbert F. Altstein
Libra's butler and chauffeur.


Michella Watch
Leonardo's sister. Lost her sight when he gained is. Some sort of Eldritch god may or may not be involved.


Sonic
Rolling around at the speed of sound,
Got places to go, gotta follow my rainbow.
Can't stick around, have to keep moving on,
Guess what lies ahead, only one way to find out!
Must keep on moving ahead,
No time for guessing, follow my plan instead.
Trusting in what you can't see,
Take my lead I'll set you free.



Deldro Brody & Dog Hummer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ReoLytMgJ_4&t=43s

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Genocyber
Jun 4, 2012

I watched the first episode the other day and it's pretty good! Still getting re-used to the Japanese voices after re-watching S1 with the English dub, though.

There Bias Two
Jan 13, 2009
I'm not a good person

One thing about this show that bothers me is that it seems to be missing so much exposition. Is that included in the manga or am I thinking too hard?


Also, how the hell do they keep rebuilding after weekly disasters?

SyntheticPolygon
Dec 20, 2013

There Bias Two posted:

One thing about this show that bothers me is that it seems to be missing so much exposition. Is that included in the manga or am I thinking too hard?


Also, how the hell do they keep rebuilding after weekly disasters?

The lack of exposition owns. It just trusts you to accept the show on its own terms and everything. And among that is trusting that there's disasters every few days and people just kinda live through it and don't worry too much.

Guy Goodbody
Aug 31, 2016

by Nyc_Tattoo

There Bias Two posted:

One thing about this show that bothers me is that it seems to be missing so much exposition. Is that included in the manga or am I thinking too hard?


Also, how the hell do they keep rebuilding after weekly disasters?

No, the show and the manga keep it pretty exposition light. I think the show actually has a little more exposition, I don't know if the stuff about the wizards was even in the manga.

But exposition would hurt the story, I think. Crazy poo poo happens and you go along for the ride. But it's kinda anchored by Klaus. When Klaus shows up he always knows the rules of whatever the situation is. This creates the illusion that there are rules in the universe. So the story can be written like Calvinball without the end product feeling like Calvinball.

If there was more explanation, if the viewer or Leo were ever able to really get a handle on the world, it would ruin it.

VibrantPareidolia
Oct 12, 2012
I think pretty much all the exposition you need is summed up in this trailer, even if you didn't watch the first season or read the manga.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qI0OE71dmBM

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

Guy Goodbody posted:

No, the show and the manga keep it pretty exposition light. I think the show actually has a little more exposition, I don't know if the stuff about the wizards was even in the manga.

But exposition would hurt the story, I think. Crazy poo poo happens and you go along for the ride. But it's kinda anchored by Klaus. When Klaus shows up he always knows the rules of whatever the situation is. This creates the illusion that there are rules in the universe. So the story can be written like Calvinball without the end product feeling like Calvinball.

If there was more explanation, if the viewer or Leo were ever able to really get a handle on the world, it would ruin it.

:wrong:

Also holy poo poo, BBB has a second season :eyepop:.


The first season of the anime was woefully light on exposition that is actually relevant to the plot compared to the manga. It also really wanted to tell the story about White and Black rather than that of, you know, the main goddamn cast to the point it expositioned a bunch of bullshit the manga never had or needed solely about how great and important the twins are :rolleyes::fh:.

There are key aspects to manga stories that just get straight-up dropped (why is a demon drug getting out of Hellsalem's Lot so bad? There's two demons who sit on the only bridge out of town, and they hate eachother so badly neither ever wants to be outdone at spotting poo poo. They can't be bribed or bargained with), and others that just get needlessly dumbed down to the point they lose their relevance (Vampires in BBB are hideously scarier than ones from folklore/pop-culture, because some unknown creator inscribed runes onto their very DNA. We do not want to meet whoever is capable of something that complex). Even something as simple as the number of Vampires down the pit was dumbed down to seeing all these little wing icons, where in the manga it's a far more terrifying endless sea of twinkling red lights from their combined auras.

Or they just killed the punchline of the story in the opening of an episode because they wanted to use the back half of the runtime for exposition about how great and amazing Mages are.

I'm quite happy the writer and director are both different this time and please, please, just let them do standalone stories, unless they use the actual fun villain (Femt; King of Depravity!) :sigh:.


edit:
To be fair though; Aligula got a much better showing in the anime.

Huh, and apparently Dark Horse is now going to actually release the last three manga volumes :stwoon:.

Neddy Seagoon fucked around with this message at 03:06 on Oct 14, 2017

dogsicle
Oct 23, 2012

this show is good, much like s1 was. i sure hope we can make it through this one without too much whining about the ~purity of the manga~

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

dogsicle posted:

this show is good, much like s1 was. i sure hope we can make it through this one without too much whining about the ~purity of the manga~

It's less about "purity", because poo poo's gonna change in any adaptation, and more that the writer or director really wanted to do their own story with OC Characters, Do Not Steal, rather than BBB.

dogsicle
Oct 23, 2012

Neddy Seagoon posted:

It's less about "purity", because poo poo's gonna change in any adaptation, and more that the writer or director really wanted to do their own story with OC Characters, Do Not Steal, rather than BBB.

which was usually placed unobstructively at the end of episodes adapting manga content, aside from the final two. :shrug:

The Colonel
Jun 8, 2013


I commute by bike!
i am so loving done with this kind of discussion about bbb

SyntheticPolygon
Dec 20, 2013

As a guy who watched the anime first the original stuff was all very solid until the final episode, where it became kind of a mess. But until then I was a fan.

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

dogsicle posted:

which was usually placed unobstructively at the end of episodes adapting manga content, aside from the final two. :shrug:

Where every inference was that Black and White were the most important people of all in a city full of thousands of plots to rule the world. The whole premise of Hellsalem's Lot is is every insane cult, klan, and government has their own machinations at play with Libra stopping at least two on a daily basis. Before lunchtime.

You have to work pretty hard to sidestep all that to go off on a tangent about your own little group who are the most important people of all in Hellsalem's Lot, they made the city as it is, White IS the literal heart of the city keeping it stable, even Femt, King of Depravity, bows before the great and powerful Black :rolleyes::fh:.

The Colonel
Jun 8, 2013


I commute by bike!
i think it's ok to not like the anime original stuff but if you're going on a giant loving rant about how the director ruined literally everything i'm just gonna clock out ok bye

SyntheticPolygon
Dec 20, 2013

Femt seemed to just kinda be pals with despair tbh, and then continued doing his own thing anyway.

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

The Colonel posted:

i think it's ok to not like the anime original stuff but if you're going on a giant loving rant about how the director ruined literally everything i'm just gonna clock out ok bye

Better topic; I'm really looking forward to seeing some of the later-volume stuff get adapted (and maybe a few earlier stories that got skipped because they're all stand-alone anyway). The one story I'm hoping to see especially is "The Outlaw Of Green", because you get to Klaus just lose his poo poo on an entire Yakuza clan.

ZenMasterBullshit
Nov 2, 2011

Restaurant de Nouvelles "À Table" Proudly Presents:
A Climactic Encounter Ending on 1 Negate and a Dream
OP is bad.

Zapp is powerful and cool and he is a hero of the people.

Also the manga sucks super bad and the anime is better off from deciding to tell a single story rather well than tell nothing poorly.

New OP/ED are good but aren't quite as good as S1's.

Genocyber
Jun 4, 2012

Hopefully without continuing the manga vs. S1 argument, I'll just say I liked the anime-original stuff and thought they integrated it fairly well. Only dropped ball was the final two episodes and that's cause it revolves around Blank who is not a good fit for this series (though I did enjoy how he was always exasperating Femt).



Hmm why would you say-

quote:

Zapp is powerful and cool and he is a hero of the people.

Ah, you're a Wrong Opinion Haver, that makes sense.

(In all seriousness, though I dislike Zapp, I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy his antics.)

Shinjobi
Jul 10, 2008


Gravy Boat 2k

ZenMasterBullshit posted:

and the anime is better off from deciding to tell a single story rather well than tell nothing poorly.

The single story was handled okay. If you can't nail the ending, you've hosed up. That's just a personal pet peeve of mine though, I'll admit.



I am choosing to be excited for this unexpected second season. That's....uh, all I've got.:shrug:

Sindai
Jan 24, 2007
i want to achieve immortality through not dying
I can't remember anything about White and Black but I remember some cool moments from other stories, so I think it's true they were bad. :hai:

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you
I remember that the opening part of the first episode this time was apparently a plot Femt did in the manga.

As someone who has not read the manga. How often does Femt show up out of curiosity.

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

MonsterEnvy posted:

I remember that the opening part of the first episode this time was apparently a plot Femt did in the manga.

As someone who has not read the manga. How often does Femt show up out of curiosity.

Not all that often, though I can't speak for volumes 8-10 as they're only now getting released by Dark Horse. His rare showing makes him out to be The Joker of Hellsalem's Lot ("Oh god, what's he done this time?", that kinda thing), but he's still just one madman in a city of thousands.

darealkooky
Sep 15, 2011

You sayin' I like dubs?!?

Genocyber posted:

The manga's been done for a while so anime-original content is unlikely, in case you didn't like the stuff they added in S1.

Is back2back actually a sequel this isn't dealing with? I thought it was just a "I'm running in a new magazine so it's time to change the title for no reason" kinda deal.

Everything Burrito
Jun 2, 2011

I Failed At Anime 2022
Zapp is actually good and I like him a lot :colbert:

Xinder
Apr 27, 2013

i want to be a prince

Everything Burrito posted:

Zapp is actually good and I like him a lot :colbert:

Yea

Also where is best character in the op?

ZenMasterBullshit
Nov 2, 2011

Restaurant de Nouvelles "À Table" Proudly Presents:
A Climactic Encounter Ending on 1 Negate and a Dream

Sindai posted:

I can't remember anything about White and Black but I remember some cool moments from other stories, so I think it's true they were bad. :hai:

White was fun and a decent counter part to Leo in that she was much more forward and energetic (ironic given her condition) and got Leo to open up a little more and was a fun but much more grounded character in Leo's life which was something the show kind of needed as it was getting onto its feet. Leo's relationship with fuels the whole final 'fight' where you do get to see that Leo has definitely grown up from the start and more accepting of his job with Libra and his own powers.

Black I like less because he's just a parallel to Leo. Has a sickly sister that is ill because of something that happened to the two of them, is burdened with a great power that he doesn't know what to do with and harbors a lot of self hatred and doubt because of all that. The one interesting thing about him is even with those parallels he's also like Leo's sister. he's the one that made the sacrifice, the new power is something wholly detrimental. They twist it a bit so that even with the self-sacrifice his sister still pays the price of having her life force become the lynch-pin of the whole barrier between worlds. Outside of that he's a lot like Leo with his grounded behavior but he's got enough of his sister's sense of humor that he isn't just Everyman Leo 2.0.

The real weak point of the two is the King of Despair because he's just kind of Sadbrains for the majority of the show. Even with his plan in full swing he's just bored until Frampt comes in to sass him and that conversation is honestly one of the high points of the show. The whole final episode/final carnival at least does something fun with him by setting him against Klaus. The King of Despair has been shown that his whole deal is that he looooves getting under people's skin and pushing their buttons and him doing that to Klaus gave us an insight into the man that we don't normally get since he's such a good good boy that he stoically and happily embraces the things life forces onto his shoulders cause burdening someone else with them wouldn't be fair.

S1 was good ya'll. s2 will be just as good or better hopefully.

ZenMasterBullshit fucked around with this message at 00:15 on Oct 15, 2017

There Bias Two
Jan 13, 2009
I'm not a good person

The King of Despair was the devil yes? I think that was hinted at indirectly several times.

MonsterEnvy
Feb 4, 2012

Shocked I tell you

darealkooky posted:

Is back2back actually a sequel this isn't dealing with? I thought it was just a "I'm running in a new magazine so it's time to change the title for no reason" kinda deal.

I think it's the later.

Electric Phantasm
Apr 7, 2011

YOSPOS

Xinder posted:

Yea

Also where is best character in the op?



Abrams isn't in the OP either, hosed up.

ZenMasterBullshit
Nov 2, 2011

Restaurant de Nouvelles "À Table" Proudly Presents:
A Climactic Encounter Ending on 1 Negate and a Dream

There Bias Two posted:

The King of Despair was the devil yes? I think that was hinted at indirectly several times.

Fempt says he's existed since Rome so I thought it was a Judas Iscariot thing not just Judaeo-Christian Satan. Either way he's at least some inspiration for the biblical devil

EDIT: New episode is really strong but BOY I do not appreciate the implication that Noted Good Boy Klaus might gently caress. He's too pure for that.

ZenMasterBullshit fucked around with this message at 00:39 on Oct 15, 2017

Relin
Oct 6, 2002

You have been a most worthy adversary, but in every game, there are winners and there are losers. And as you know, in this game, losers get robotizicized!
am i misremembering or dont they need to know a vampires real name to seal/kill them

edit: watching more of the episode i see what they did. how did they ever get anything done without cellphones

Relin fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Oct 15, 2017

Neddy Seagoon
Oct 12, 2012

"Hi Everybody!"

Relin posted:

am i misremembering or don't they need to know a vampires real name to seal/kill them

They do indeed. It's a big part of Blood Line Fever, getting Leo to look at a slip of paper clenched in a severed hand to learn the name of one of the Original 13.



ZenMasterBullshit posted:

Fempt says he's existed since Rome so I thought it was a Judas Iscariot thing not just Judaeo-Christian Satan. Either way he's at least some inspiration for the biblical devil

EDIT: New episode is really strong but BOY I do not appreciate the implication that Noted Good Boy Klaus might gently caress. He's too pure for that.

Klaus is not a Good Boy, he just acts like one right up until something actually makes him lose his temper.


ZenMasterBullshit posted:

Black I like less because he's just a parallel to Leo. Has a sickly sister that is ill because of something that happened to the two of them, is burdened with a great power that he doesn't know what to do with and harbors a lot of self hatred and doubt because of all that. The one interesting thing about him is even with those parallels he's also like Leo's sister. he's the one that made the sacrifice, the new power is something wholly detrimental. They twist it a bit so that even with the self-sacrifice his sister still pays the price of having her life force become the lynch-pin of the whole barrier between worlds. Outside of that he's a lot like Leo with his grounded behavior but he's got enough of his sister's sense of humor that he isn't just Everyman Leo 2.0.

The real weak point of the two is the King of Despair because he's just kind of Sadbrains for the majority of the show. Even with his plan in full swing he's just bored until Frampt comes in to sass him and that conversation is honestly one of the high points of the show. The whole final episode/final carnival at least does something fun with him by setting him against Klaus. The King of Despair has been shown that his whole deal is that he looooves getting under people's skin and pushing their buttons and him doing that to Klaus gave us an insight into the man that we don't normally get since he's such a good good boy that he stoically and happily embraces the things life forces onto his shoulders cause burdening someone else with them wouldn't be fair.

This is the exact failing of BBB's anime-exclusive content though; Instead of using the characters and setting on-hand, they went out of their way to create a new brother and sister touched by a dark god and aided by a mysterious group, but, but, theirs is more powerful see, because it's the LITERAL devil not just some mystery god we know nothing about. And, and, their group's more important see, because they don't protect the city from threats, they protect the city's entire existence which is much more important and - :pseudo:.

dogsicle
Oct 23, 2012

why are you so hung up on powerlevels

SyntheticPolygon
Dec 20, 2013


I'd say White is more of a parallel to Leo than Black is. Into photography, the 'stronger' sibling who is supposed to protect their younger sibling but actually it's basically the other way round, messed up from having their sibling take a devil deal for them, willing to go through a great deal to fix said devil deal. He and Black have a lot of similarities too but I think the similarities with White are stronger.

Neddy Seagoon posted:

This is the exact failing of BBB's anime-exclusive content though; Instead of using the characters and setting on-hand, they went out of their way to create a new brother and sister touched by a dark god and aided by a mysterious group, but, but, theirs is more powerful see, because it's the LITERAL devil not just some mystery god we know nothing about. And, and, their group's more important see, because they don't protect the city from threats, they protect the city's entire existence which is much more important and - :pseudo:.

I legitimately don't think the anime did much to hype up the mages or whatever because they do literally nothing at all. Except in the backstory of "hey they did the barrier", Libra is so much more important than them and accomplish far more and are shown to be far cooler. The only thing they do in the story is rely on Libra for help because they can't do jack poo poo themselves.

Guy Goodbody
Aug 31, 2016

by Nyc_Tattoo
I liked the doctor woman/women, I hope she shows up more

Everything Burrito
Jun 2, 2011

I Failed At Anime 2022
I hate the anime original stuff too but it would be cool to just leave it back in the old season and move on because it's boring to keep rehashing it.

The Colonel
Jun 8, 2013


I commute by bike!
jesus loving christ they're not even appearing this season outside of the ed and some vague nods

Genocyber
Jun 4, 2012

Neddy Seagoon posted:

This is the exact failing of BBB's anime-exclusive content though; Instead of using the characters and setting on-hand, they went out of their way to create a new brother and sister touched by a dark god and aided by a mysterious group, but, but, theirs is more powerful see, because it's the LITERAL devil not just some mystery god we know nothing about. And, and, their group's more important see, because they don't protect the city from threats, they protect the city's entire existence which is much more important and - :pseudo:.

No it doesn't. The anime focuses a bit more on White/Black's goings-on because they've tied it in to Leo's character growth but they don't ever make it out like Blank is any more of a threat than any of the other poo poo they're dealing with. Stop being so whiny.

Everything Burrito posted:

I hate the anime original stuff too but it would be cool to just leave it back in the old season and move on because it's boring to keep rehashing it.

They more-or-less killed them off so I'd be surprised if they ever show up to any significant degree.

The Colonel
Jun 8, 2013


I commute by bike!
black is still around but he'll probably not be relevant outside of maybe having him pop up for like five minutes and saying hi to leo

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Electric Phantasm
Apr 7, 2011

YOSPOS

Guy Goodbody posted:

I liked the doctor woman/women, I hope she shows up more

Her true form when she combines looks real cool. I especially like the hair.

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