Kekkai Sensen is one of those anime that by all means deserves to be called AOTY. However, there are a few things keeping it from being such. I'll start with the ratings of the anime that aren't 10/10's so as to let viewers know why I've rated this anime as such. Slight spoilers ensue, but nothing that really tells what happens or anything like that.
Art: It's great, it's just that the animation itself is slightly lacking compared to other anime this season, as well as not meeting the demands for such a powerful story. But I digress, it's great and shows what's happening without fail,
...
just wish it was a little better.
Plot: Too much crammed into too little. 12 (13 if you count the recap episode) episodes is not enough for the story they're trying to tell. Nonetheless, it has still managed to be a riveting ride, and the story has managed to invoke great amounts of sympathy and whatnot. It's simply amazing how the story is told in such a whimsical manner, yet still manages to connect what seem to be meaningless moments into a bigger picture that is self-explanatory as soon as you see it.
Characters: Again, too much, too little time. There's a bunch of cast members that're introduced once, are shown to be extremely colorful and interesting with backstories that could probably get their own 12-episode spinoff (the only time where 12 episodes would be fine, as opposed to here), and almost never seen again. The main cast also suffers from this, as the spotlight seems to fall mostly on Leo and Zapp, with Klaus simply being the answer to any and all problems. The rest of the Libra department seems to stay true to their mission, which is working in the shadows, as we rarely see them do anything in the anime aside from showing up when necessary. The antagonists don't fare any better, with Black getting the most screen-time out of all of them (granted, he's the main antagonist as the story gradually shifts to make him out as such) and others such as Femt and Aligura getting most of theirs when they cause their own mischief. Characters are introduced at the show's convenience and while that isn't bad in any way, it doesn't help to know that the show will never speak of them again once the episode is over. Ultimately, this is a problem shared by many anime, one such big example being Angel Beats where a good amount of the main cast didn't get their backstories told.
One thing that is immediately brought to attention is how... whimsical the story is. Nothing is deeper than the surface when it comes to the why's and how's, everything simply is because it is. It's not for the sake of plot convenience, either -- it feels more like everything falls into place, and that everything will happen just because. You realize this as you see how Leo came to attain his God's Eyes, where a deity of some sort simply manifests before his family and forces them to decide who will be blinded and who will receive the eyes. You see it again as the wanton destruction of the city and the clearly massive amounts of casualties that follow are met with neither despair nor joy, but pure apathy. Sure, the people involved in the chaos are screaming for their lives, but the rest of the city, and the survivors as well, could seem to care less after all is said and done. While this is somewhat brought up in the anime as 'day-to-day occurrences' and are seen as a way to spice up the daily lives of the people, it still goes to show that destruction and death are 2 major daily occurrences in the former Big Apple, and are no longer worth paying attention to.
Finally, I'd like to say that the world introduced to us in this anime is filled with so many inferred and unstated rules that I can't help but have question after question pop into my head as I suddenly realize things. Clearly, their world is different from ours, since they make it clear that there's been magic and superpowers since long before the Great Collapse. There might have already been superhumans and human-like creatures such as werewolves before the Great Collapse. So, how does their history before the Great Collapse differ from ours? How has the rest of the world dealt with the loss of New York City, and how has it developed differently? How does Hellsalem's Lot, for lack of a better way to put it, work? How is it divided, how does it connect to the alternate plane of reality where the demons and such came from, etc., and while some questions are answered as the anime goes on (none of these are answered, which is why I've used them as examples), it's still one of those situations where getting an answer leaves you with even more questions.
But after all is said and done, what we have here is an anime adaptation of a very well-written manga, with a world of adventures packed into former New York City, and where it leads to is as good as anybody's guess. My overall score is only such due to the main problem being a lack of episodes, which in all honesty stems mostly from just wanting more and more of this anime, and the rest from what's written above. If you're a fan of zany and whimsical characters, mischievous humor, fantasy, drama, and/or episodic stories, this is an anime for you. And if you're not, it's still probably something worth checking out.
As an aside, I've never once seen a recap episode so beautifully done. While by nature it adds nothing to the story told so far, it still manages to be entertaining and, well, add to the story told so far. It was executed wonderfully, and I, who has refused to watch recap episodes due to thinking of them as a waste of time, was left feeling as if I'd watched a regular episode of the anime.
Jun 20, 2015
Kekkai Sensen
(Anime)
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Kekkai Sensen is one of those anime that by all means deserves to be called AOTY. However, there are a few things keeping it from being such. I'll start with the ratings of the anime that aren't 10/10's so as to let viewers know why I've rated this anime as such. Slight spoilers ensue, but nothing that really tells what happens or anything like that.
Art: It's great, it's just that the animation itself is slightly lacking compared to other anime this season, as well as not meeting the demands for such a powerful story. But I digress, it's great and shows what's happening without fail, ... |
