3 things will greatly affect your enjoyment of Kekkai Sensen. Number one is how much you crave a new story, and are tired of the same High School/harem light novel adaptations that come up every season. Number two is if you enjoy being given lots of bits of information that allow you to piece together a larger plot. Number three is if you enjoy fast paced and constantly changing camera shots and point of view changes. If you don't mind or even enjoy those types of things, you are gonna have even more of a blast with this show.
Story 6- While it pains me
...
to give a show with such good and funny writing a 6 in story, the way much of the exposition is told is all over the place, and occasionally paced very badly. Kekkai Sensen takes a very episodic approach to it's story, with no real 'major' plot happening until the last 3 episodes. In all honesty, much of Kekkai Sensen reminds of the show 'Seinfeld', in that much of it is, 'a show about nothing'. The majority of episodes are just fun world exploration/building, with the central idea being anything from fighting vampires, taking down drug dealers, underground fighting rings, and taking down Monster Trucks the size of a city block.
The genius and also downfall of Kekkai Sensen's story telling is how quick and concise it is. Characters often drop quick bits of info that on their don't tell us much, but when all these bits are placed together, they make a consistent and intriguing story of this world. The problem is that there is a STAGGERING amount of information that Kekkai Sensen throws at the viewer, often intermixed with action and humor that make retaining these bits of info near impossible. Episodes 4 and 10 are good examples of both the good and the bad aspects of Kekkai Sensen's storytelling. Overall Kekkai Sensen's story is incredibly deep and shows huge amounts of promise, but the way it's presented needs to be approached a bit more carefully and equally proportioned out.
Characters 7: Easily my favorite aspect of Kekkai Sensen, I think a lot of people will be turned off by them because of the way their character stories are told. Kekkai Sensen rarely, if ever, does the typical flashback to show a characters past, and almost never devotes an episode to a single characters arc (Which is a good thing, because it does that in episode 11 and feels reeeaaallllyyy boring and slow). Instead the characters past is given mostly through conversation and interaction with others. In short, the characters come fully developed, and we learn that through their actions rather than through monologues. The obvious downside to this is that the guys who get little to no screen time feel really under-utilized, and that kind of becomes a problem when you have a cast as large as this shows crammed into 12 episodes. Despite this, the cast is all likable and have very defined and unique personalities/design to them, so it's never hard to tell them apart.
Art 9: Rewatchability. Just...Rewatchability. Kekkai Sensen does what very, very few anime have ever done for me, in that I will buy the DVD's just for the animation itself. The key to that? I feel like i'm watching a live action set, with all sorts of things happening in the background. No expense was spared in this regard, as there is almost always something interesting going on in the background. Sitting in a diner? The window will show the traffic passing by. In a room full of partying people? You'll see an entire drunken skit in the background. The only negative I can give this category is that there are a few minor scenes where characters look like they were drawn in a hurry, and because of the frantic activity that takes place in most shots, scenes that have little background and few moving objects will feel strangely lifeless.
Quick word of warning, Kekkai Sensen uses lot's of different camera shots and frame changes. What this means is that you'll constantly be exposed to different points of view over the course of a normal conversation. This can be disorienting at times since the animation is so richly detailed that you'll constantly have your eye wandering and losing track of the conversations. I personally love this as that means I can see something new overtime I go back to watch the show, but some might not enjoy this technique very much.
Sound 10: I feel a little weird giving a category that is completely, 100% dependent on personal taste, but I have no idea what else to do. The opening and ending are just so far above and beyond what I expect from most anime. They actually evoke feelings of nostalgia, happiness, melancholy and whatever else you might interpret from it. As for the OST? just listen to 'Catch Me if You Can' and 'White Gloves (Vocal Version)". If you listen to those two and don't like them, you won't like the soundtrack. Also I am of the opinion that your are a tone-deaf bastard :D
If you prefer dubs over subs, then boy are you in luck. The dub nails the two most important parts of being a dub, getting the right voice for the right character, and not following the japanese script word for word. In short, Leo sounds like Leo, Zapp sounds like Zapp. The first episode sounds a little lackluster, but every episode afterwards is full of dynamic ranges of emotion, and the script was translated nicely into English, with some phrase changes made to better accommodate the humor.
Enjoyment 10: While I attempted to be impartial in my above scores, the fact of the matter is that I am hopelessly a fanboy of this show. I mentioned at the beginning of this review that one of the defendant factors is how sick you are of 'current' anime trends. That was a little vague and kind of unfair. There are a number of shows that fall under those categories that I liked (No Pet no Kanojo, Campione!), but it's undeniable that there are just SO MANY of these shows that are released each season that don't attempt to do anything but tick a list of checkboxes, and are a criminal waste of really intriguing base material in favor of cliches so damn common I'm amazed people still like them. So when a show like Kekkai Sensen comes along and gives so many of those tropes a giant middle finger, and also happens to be really good, I can;y help but feel extra grateful towards that series for taking the plunge and trying to do something different from the rest of the pack.
Oct 7, 2015
Kekkai Sensen
(Anime)
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3 things will greatly affect your enjoyment of Kekkai Sensen. Number one is how much you crave a new story, and are tired of the same High School/harem light novel adaptations that come up every season. Number two is if you enjoy being given lots of bits of information that allow you to piece together a larger plot. Number three is if you enjoy fast paced and constantly changing camera shots and point of view changes. If you don't mind or even enjoy those types of things, you are gonna have even more of a blast with this show.
Story 6- While it pains me ... 
Jan 9, 2015
Mahouka Koukou no Rettousei
(Anime)
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Mahouka, despite what it may appear, it isn't an action show, and it isn't really a harem or even romance show. What it is, rather, is a Science Fiction show that just happens to contain some anime cliches and stereotypes, for better and for worse. Mahouka is very centered on world-building and introducing it's viewers to the ins and outs of it's setting, as well as creating a plot that centers very heavily on said world-building.
Story(8) - Mahouka introduces us to a world where magic has been slowly gaining prominence, and is on the cusp of changing the political and technological landscape of the planet. ... |
