Kekkai Sensen 02-03

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Whether it be demons or aliens or anything else, it ain’t New York without the Pizza

spring15-samsHi everybody! This is Samsura here, and this is Samsura’s very first post! OK, I’ll ditch that third person stuff right away. Anyway, I’m pleased to be covering this jazzed up and demonic version of The Big Apple for you all. In my heart of hearts I still believe Mad Bull 34 to be the best/most horrible and racist and sexist and offensive version of New York there is in anime, but this show is pretty neat too!

…In a City that Never Sleeps

vlcsnap-2015-04-20-23h28m08s351I love what they did to Cony Island

After taking a look at the characters being all awesome and stuff in episode 1, its time to enter the rat pack!  For Leo that involves being a pizza boy, Klaus likes to play board games in his off time (more on that later), and Zapp lives at the Hustler Club (located on 666th Street West and Times Square).  But this is the kind of show where you can never just deliver a pizza.  After Leo is repeatedly jumped and beaten up by Zapp, who really likes pizza, the two invoke on the truest form of male bonding: Nearly dying.  For this is also the kind of show where a dry cleaner is never just a dry cleaner.

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Easiest spot the difference ever

So turns out in a city teaming with demons, humans are a hot commodity.  But thanks to something called the Chrysler-Galadona Accord, apparently humans are on the no munch list.  Therefore, a bunch of demons are going around NYC, wrapping people up like you would a mint condition figure disguised as a friendly dry cleaning service.  However, since Leo does have those super awesome eyes, he sees through the villains cunning disguise.  And then gets immediately kidnapped.  But thanks to that, we get to see one badass chase scene; with a trail of burning blood, car jumps off the free way, and one special attack that just screams over kill.  And sure Leo ends up in a full body cast, but I’m gonna put this in the “Win” category.

Empire State of Mind

Episode 3 is all about Klaus, the vaguely bestial boss of Libra and all around Gentleman.  There is some stuff about some super drug called Angel Scale, which makes your regular meth addicts look like someone from Greenwich Village.  But all of what happens in this episode is just part of proving how much of an utter awesome person Klaus is.  In order to get info on this wonder drug, Klaus goes to visit a high ranking demon called Don Arlelelle.  This Don is a giant mass of brains hiding under a very ominous black cloak, and he only deals with those who play a game called Prosfair.  The only way to describe this game is what if chess was played by a giant brain monster, where you are lucky to survive the game without being crushed.  Its the kind of game where one strategy lasts for 36 hours!  Before we get to see Klaus up at bat, a man named Ulchenko goes to play against the Don, with hopes of getting some nukes into Ukraine (this more than anything else proves the events of Kekkai Sensen are happening RIGHT NOW).  He has to play Prosfair for 10 hours straight, only  to lose and be left a broken shell of a man.  Which is the perfect moment for Klaus to step in and prove his manhood.  If he plays Prosfair for 99 HOURS straight, he’ll get the information he needs and Ulchenko gets to live.

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Does this look like the face of a man about to taste defeat?  I’ll just say that when the game ends, Beethoven’s Ode to Joy plays, so you know happy ends are in store for this gentleman.

vlcsnap-2015-04-20-23h32m50s376Its not a secret society if you can’t have fun

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While I may have summed up the past two episodes, I in no way have been able to explain how absolutely fun this show is.  The walk to Don Arlelelle is a twisting labyrinth devoid of gravity and direction.  The chase to get Leo back is scored to a jazz track that makes me want to put on a tux and swing.  The ending theme has what is possibly the goofiest dancing I’ve seen in an anime ever, the classical music screams victory, and a small piece you would hear on a radio from the 50’s can be found hiding in the background of episode 2’s opening scenes.  By the time the series ends, I will have to devout a post to just how great the soundtrack for this show is.  There are countless visual tricks going on in almost every frame, and even the captions that introduce new characters get people laughing.  Oh, and if you couldn’t tell by reading this review, I am very familiar with NYC; I plan to keep adding more local references.

Now a small bit about myself.  I’ve been around Metanorn for about a year under the name Bobob101, but with my level up to blogger I decided to change my name.  While I will be doing episode reviews like everyone else, I plan to do some more editorial writings here when I get the chance.  I’ll be watching plenty of other shows besides the ones I’m blogging, so expect me to keep commenting in the manor you may or may not care about.  I have a bit of general non-anime related blogging experience under my belt, so I’m sure we will hit it off just fine.  I’m always willing to be told exactly why everything I just wrote is completely wrong so please comment away!

About

As someone of questionable tastes and even more questionable ethics; if we laugh at the same things you are one of two things: A person of discerning taste or a weirdo. Guess where I fall.
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28 Responses to “Kekkai Sensen 02-03”

  1. zztop says:

    Manga readers say Ms. White, the girl Leo meets, is an anime-original character.
    Wonder how she’ll shake things up.

    Samsura: Welcome! Are you a native of Manhattan, BTW?

    • Samsura says:

      Nah, I’m from Long Island

    • BlackBriar says:

      Manga readers say Ms. White, the girl Leo meets, is an anime-original character.

      Not just the manga readers, ANN’s promo articles before the series started airing confirmed the statement as well.

  2. Di Gi Kazune says:

    Ah, realised this is the show with Wolverine Beast. My concentration has been lacking this past week…

  3. skylion says:

    This show really qualifies as weird with a beard. I’m happy to see that they are developing something of a through-line with the characters and story. Whether is it Klaus as the fierce determinator, or Zapp as the agent of chaos, it’s good to see the maddening swirls have something to center on. Which is not to say the show doesn’t revel in a sort of visual and aural din. It very much does, and knows how to play it’s cards right. I’m looking forward to seeing what they do with White.

  4. Kyokai says:

    I’m really enjoying this series and music is just the icing on cake. This bunch of characters are quite interesting to say the least so I’ll be looking forward to how their background stories are delved into along with overall plot progress.

    Btw, congrats on your first post on Metanorn!

  5. Hoshi says:

    Congrats on your first post~!

    I don’t know why I wasn’t planning to watch this show at first, but I ended up changing my mind and I absolutely LOVE IT. I love the characters, I like the story, and I like how it’s action-y and fun and crazy all rolled into one. Even the music is fantastic!

    Episode 3 however wasn’t as great as the first two for me. Not much really happened, but it was neat seeing the Prosfair game. I’m just eager for a more action-y episode is all.

  6. JPNIgor says:

    I don’t know why, but this ending reminds me so much of Yozakura Quartet ~hana no uta~’s opening… But a lot better, actually. Specially it’s animation, it’s so much fun watching it everytime.

    But, seriously. What kind of fucked up game is Prosfair? It’s like you have to control your pieces from 3.000 different tables at the same time, wth.

    • skylion says:

      …the ED is performed by Unison Square Garden…so that’s the connection, for all the YZQ OP…

  7. JPNIgor says:

    Dammit, Spammy! I like you, and I appreciate your work, but my comment isn’t guilty of any sin, ok?!

  8. BlackBriar says:

    A new writer appears! *grabs rifle and hat and begins a safari* With a new name as well. So I guess, like a phoenix, you rise from the ashes. Congrats on your first post.

    I’m always willing to be told exactly why everything I just wrote is completely wrong so please comment away!

    I don’t know why but that sounds like some form of masochism. 😉

    In my mind, Jerusalem’s Lot is pretty much what you get when New York has been exposed to the demonic world of Limbo like DmC: Devil May Cry. Only that everything supernatural has already been treated as the norm.

    To play Prosfair at all is an unfair rip-off when the odds of winning are mostly on the side of the one who sets the rules. Don Arlelelle’s terms for the game, to call them “unreasonable” would be a sheer understatement. And for Klaus, who isn’t even human, to get away by the skin of his teeth, the end result only cemented the fact Ulchenko had no chance of winning.

    • skylion says:

      …yeah, but it’s very telling that the Don didn’t want someone that could beat him. He just wants someone to go the distance. Besides, it looked like chess got crossed with MTG in a very bad way.

    • Samsura says:

      I wanted to compare this to Gun gi in Hunter X Hunter, another awesome sounding game I would love to play.

  9. Overcooled says:

    Nice job on your first post! Keep up the good work!

    Kekkai Sensen is such a great show. The OST is wonderful – and it’s used wonderfully to go with each scene in the best way possible. I’ll definitely be grabbing this as soon as it comes out. It makes a great show even better!

    I really liked episode 3 with Klaus and the chess game that was so complex they couldn’t even begin to explain the rules to us. Usually I wouldn’t like a cop out like that, but when the pieces started leveling up and like 20 chess boards appeared…Yeah, this is the sort of thing beyond our mortal comprehension. It was really impressive to see Klaus survive 99 hours of that thing. I couldn’t even survive 99 hours without food let alone 99 hours of no food WHILE FIGHTING AGAINST A GIANT BRAIN MONSTER.

  10. IreneSharda says:

    Great job Samsara!

    Oh this show was on the fence for me during the premiere as it really felt too jumbled and fast paced. However, now, after the second episode, I love it!

    Leo is pretty cool and I love his character, and the colorful cast of Libra are just awesome.

    But that OST? That is on my want list so much! I loved it. The OP and especially the ED are great as well.

    The third episode was not as good, but still great in it’s own way, and it showed what sort of person Klaus was. I look forward to getting to know the other members of Libra now.

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