Kekkai Sensen – 04
Leo, welcome to Project X!
Wowza! That is the best way to describe the experience of Kekkai episode 4, an episode packed to the gills with all types of plot and character stuff happening. Plus that great soundtrack and fighting stuff we also like. No breaks, lets get into it!
So it turns out what Kekkai Sensen is really about is that it’s a vampire anime! I’ve seen some crazy things on NYC subways before, from Hobos throwing down to a debate between a man and his drum, but I have yet to run into a Draculer on any subway. A real shame. But I’m gonna bet Leo wasn’t as pleased with his encounter. So after he brings this up at a Libra house party, its time to bring in the speacilist: Inspector Clouseau Lucky Abrams. But seriously, the guy is 60% Clouseau, 30% Vash, and 10% Van Helsing.
I’m Lucky Abrams, and welcome to Jackass!
I immediately fell in love with Abrams, a man who brings disaster with every sneeze while being utterly oblivious to the damage he causes. He provides all sorts of lovely info, like how some vampires made a Cross on a battleship out of about 300 people, or how it takes around 50 elite agents to get the hand off a single vampire. These guys are all pretty darn tough. Abrams comes up with the bright idea of dragging Leo to the almost literal gates of hell, and have him look into the void. As Nietzsche so famously said “Look into the void, and a lot of things that can kill you will look back.” And right on cue, a pair of Vampires show up on the subway to wreck the cops.
Best train heist ever!
You don’t see the initial fight, but its clear that the vamps dominate when New York’s finest are turned into servants and fight K.K. and Steve Starphase (man I love these names) who get to be the first batters for Libra. And while they get to look really, really cool fighting the cops, they immediately get crushed by the vampires. I am actually glad to see such a power difference between the two forces, it means that the fights HAVE to carry some tension. One thing I notice about the fights since the first episode is that rather than a flow they are more akin to I use my special move, you use your special move. The fights have been good, but not as fluid as in episode 1. I don’t dislike these fights, but I hope we can see more fluid fights going forward.
Just some cool stuff
Just like vampires, when you learn the True name of a Metanorn editor you can seal us in a key. Collect them All!
Did I mention these guys are awesome? They are AWESOME
I didn’t even mention half the stuff I wanted to get to in this episode. The ratio of people and monsters living in NY. White’s creepy brother. The train station at the gates of hell. Klaus being really cool (I stopped shaving in an attempt to cosplay him, though this will be my first time dying my beard). Turns out this is a vampire anime, Femt is actually a lackey, and Leo is the only hope to save the world. Man, talk about packing in the good stuff.
About Samsura
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.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Is that what your conclusion about this episode is? Because if it really is actually a vampire anime, I’m dumb and thick-headed as hell. I thought it was just one episode featuring vampires, but when I stop to think about it, yeah, they are still around and they’re probably going to be major plot points. Thank you for opening my eyes.
So, I agree with you. At first I thought the battles here had a touch of Kill la Kill with those huge special move names popping up every now and then, but they’re stale after all. It’s just people throwing special moves against special moves and who has the most OP special move wins. It’s surely a let down.
But I still like the opening scenes in every episode. They feature such unexpected camera angles and it’s mostly random stuff and fooling around happening here and there.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Kekkai Sensen had the “Vampire” genre tag among others even when it was being talked about on the Spring Anime Catalogue 2015. Take a look at the “Action Packed Circuit” section.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Aaaah, I see. My attention is kind of lackluster, you see =.=
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
Ah, but some weird vampires those are… I’m really hoping for a different take on the vampires from the last ones we’ve seen recently. These whole progenitor stuff is getting tiring.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Um… I’m not sure you’ve realized but “Progenitor” is just another word or shorter alias for “True Ancestor”. Meaning a vampire from one of the oldest bloodlines. Another way of saying “Pureblood”.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Well, sometimes “progenitor” can also be the person who is the origin for that bloodline and there can sometimes only be one. I remember that my first time hearing that word wasn’t in a vampire anime, but I think it was Ayashi no Ceres, and was talking about their furthest known ancestor and the start of their family line, but yeah, basically, you’re right.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I have to ask as well, BB. Are you sure Klaus is a vamp? He doesn’t seem to identify with them at all, doesn’t look like them, and there was no indicator. Once they actually introduced the vampires, they look pretty much like I expect vamps to look like in anime, where as Klaus didn’t which is why I didn’t make the connection. And I still see no connection between him and the Blood Breeds, especially since he didn’t know their weakness either and had to ask Leo to find out.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I thought Klaus was one reading the manga (the first chapter and that the manga had the “vampire” tag) based on his appearance which suited well enough at the time but compared to the first episode, the first chapter didn’t go so far. I would’ve kept reading and maybe get some clarification to what he is but didn’t after ANN said there’d be anime original character joining in. That happens to be White. She’s a wild card so I didn’t bother to continue so as to not ruin anything in this show I might find enjoyable. After the 4th episode and the emergence of the Blood Breeds, I’m even more unsure.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I doubt he’s one then. They seemed to actually only think there were 13 of them, before finding out there are hundreds. White and the “King” are both anime only characters. I’ll be interested in seeing how they do.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I was only aware of White so the “King” being anime only as well is news to me.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I’m almost sure that he is, especially since he and White are kind of a pair. I’m not sure how the two are related, but they do have a lot to do with each other.
Also, there’s little to no info or images around about him other than what was in the episode, so, yeah, I’m betting he’s anime-only.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Pfft, hahahaha!! Honestly, you didn’t know that little detail? Well, surprise, surprise! Now you do! That was somewhat public knowledge here before the anime even began. 😀
And pray you never do or things might get ugly.
“Lucky” Abrams. Oh, the irony. It’s one thing to have a bumbling investigator but to have one whose bumbling causes him to be a walking hazard, that’s life threatening. Small wonder why Zapp wouldn’t want to be within a hundred yards of him. I can’t believe I’d say something like this but the vampires were lazy just putting curses on him. I’d simply rip the guy’s head off and be done with it. Plus, Leo should be compensated for the pain and suffering he has to endure. His eyes bled out… what… maybe twice already.
The subway fight isn’t much to mention but I did like how eerie the vampire pair looked. Particularly the cute female whose method of drinking blood from her victims really impressed me. She’s right up there with Alucard and Abel Nightroad. Because I quickly took a liking to her, I was somewhat annoyed when Klaus sealed her. Capture the male vampire to experiment on him for all I care but leave the girl alone!!
POWUH: Metanorn Regular with 105 comments
Just out of curiosity, what do you think of Dio? I say he wins best and most fabulous vampire award.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Unfortunately, I can’t give an opinion on Dio since I don’t follow Jojo at all. I tried Bizarre Adventures (2012) and it just didn’t appeal to me so I left it alone.
POWUH: Meta Team and Ringleader Extraordinaire~ with 6433 comments
Now I’m curious, what do you think about Alucard?
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Let’s see… Basically the culmination of every unfair OP ability you can think of but can overlook because he makes them all look badass. To top it off, he created one beautiful and loyal servant in Seras Victoria.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Curses are much more painful and last longer, it would make more sense. Especially if they took a more serious and dramatic approach to it, as it would ensure that he could never form close relationships and would constantly have to be on his own.
Hey, she was the one trying to kill Klaus’ men, she’s gots ta go. In Libra, they take care of their own.
Besides, I think we’ll be getting much more interesting vampires coming in later episodes.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
I had a similar temporarily unsupportive-to-human mindset in Seraph of the End’s second episode when that female vampire caught the school girl she was about to feed on and Yuu intervened. I mean, come on, even vampires get hungry and need food, too! 😀
With 8 episodes left, that should be more than a possibility.
POWUH: iLurker with 3 comments
All of the Blood Art that Libra can be think of as Kung Fu, instead of spellcasting. This will become more apparent in about 2-3 episode when Zed O’Brien gets introduced.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Another great episode, I’m glad that they introduced the awesome new Blood Breed vampires. They are still not as good as the Krusniks from Trinity Blood, which are still my favorite type of vampires, but their abilities, the red wings, the fact that they can’t be seen or detected at all when they want to be, except by somebody like Leo. And they even overwhelmed him. Also, they were sooo powerful, but I like that their weakness was so simple and yet not something people would think of. There is power in names, and I liked how they used that here. Also, them getting sealed in a tiny cross (which looked like it was right out of Trinity Blood by the way) was cool as well. I like the unique approach to vampires here. A little of the old and a little new all in one.
Poor Leo, I’m loving his character so much. He’s just this cute kid with a very special power that’s made him very important to the team. He’s got a nice dynamic with the rest of the team as he’s basically the avatar for the audience.
Lucky Abrams was hilarious and had a 90s anime vibe about him. I felt sorry for Zapp every time he was around. Klaus was great, his last scene was awesome. I liked that we’re getting more backstory now, and how the team seems to have been set up to go against the vamps. I had never realized that all of their powers are blood based until this episode, and that they are actually really similar to the vampires, just not as complete as they are. The last scene when we see them with Leo’s eyes was very cool and showed us just how awesome these characters are.
I’m quite interested in this “King of Despair” guy, he seems pretty sinister, an he’s in contact with the villain from the first episode. Also, is White a vampire too, since the two seem to be brother and sister? She doesn’t look completely like them and lacks the red eyes, but she also looks like she has a connection, and she can be unseen if she wants.
Something interesting to see later.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Leonardo had me going there for a while. He’s been in Hellsalem’s Lot for three months and knows what kinds of species roam through it, is made a member of Libra and was involved in two incidents with supernatural attachments prior to this current one and is still in disbelief throwing that “Vampires still sound pretty out there” line. In light of everything he’s seen and been through, I fail to see how he finds the existence of vampires improbable. With all that’s there, hardly a reason to rule that one out.
POWUH: and Vampire Lover with 11746 comments
Now that I think about it, “Blood Breed” is yet another entry to the list of aliases vampires use to identify themselves.
Kekkai Sensen: Blood Breeds
Trinity Blood: Methuselah/Crusnik
Shiki: Shiki/Jinrou
Black Blood Brothers: Black Bloods/Old Bloods
Strike the Blood/Seraph of the End: Progenitors
Moon Phase: Blue Bloods/Ludo
Even in the “Underworld” movies, the vampires refer to themselves as “Death Dealers”.
POWUH: Meta Team and Meta-Analyst with 3844 comments
I prefer True Ancestor or Dead Apostle.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
I don’t know if I would really consider “Progenitors” for Seraph since thats only one group within the vampires. Also, it’s not really unique to that series since there are quite a few vampire series that use that term for pureblood vampires.
POWUH: 900-999 with 915 comments
I thought that Blood Breeds isn’t quite exactly like vampires. As I watched, I really had the impression that vampires are these OP stuff that could destroy the world in a whim, and the Blood Breed are under their control.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
…and yet it all feels like a recycling of White Wolf publishing’s Vampire: The Masqurade, a property that’s more than twenty years old at this point.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10998 comments
I’m still more towards the Grouchy Pants side of things when it comes to this show. This episode they introduced another unhinged concept with some vague characteristics rather than an actual character.
So far I’m getting a wonderful exploded model of a skeleton, muscle, and pulsing blood vessels; an amazing sight indeed! But I strain to find the connective tissue that makes the model whole, and with purpose.
…and I would never ask the creators to offer an apology for an unhinged, wild ride. They pretty much told me that in the first episode. There is no need for us to apologize, it says.
But without a bare method to ground the madness, it’s little more than fertile ground for .gif and .webm farmers…