Blood Blockade Battlefront


Blood Blockade Battlefront is a Japanese shōnen manga by Yasuhiro Nightow. It has been published bimonthly in the magazine Jump SQ19 from February to April 2009 and moved to Jump Square upon the former's ending. The plot revolves around a young photographer named Leonardo Watch, who obtains 'the All Seeing Eyes of the Gods' at the cost of his sister's eyesight. After the incident, Leonardo moves to the city of Hellsalem's Lot to join an organization known as Libra to fight several monsters as well as terrorists. The manga has been published in the United States by Dark Horse Comics.
An anime adaptation by Bones premiered in early 2015; Funimation licensed the series for streaming in North America. Both the manga and anime were well received by publications due to its story and characters. A second season aired from October to December 2017.

Plot

Blood Blockade Battlefront centers around the crime fighting organization "Libra" and their battles in Hellsalem's Lot, formerly known as New York City. Hellsalem's Lot was created when a portal to the "Beyond" opened, becoming a paranormal melting pot of monsters, magic and the everyday mundane life, and it is up to Libra to clear the streets of trouble and prevent the horrors of this city from spreading to the outside world.

Characters

Libra

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Others

"Neji" means "screw" in Japanese. So he was designed as short plus screw shape.
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Media

Manga

The manga of Blood Blockade Battlefront originally released in 2008 as a one-shot chapter called Kekkai Sensō by Yasuhiro Nightow, which only featured very few members of the final cast and had a much different tone, with more emphasis on it being a vampire hunting story in a contemporary city. The publication originally began on January 5, 2009 in the Jump Square magazine with the title Kekkai Sensen − Mafūgai Kessha where it ran until March 4, 2009, followed by another one-shot in October 2009 in Jump SQ-M magazine.
In May 2010 the manga switched to Jump SQ19 magazine for serial publication. Jump SQ19 magazine ceased publication on February 19, 2015. The first tankōbon volume was released on January 4, 2010; ten volumes have been released as of April 3, 2015. In 2010, the series was licensed for an English release by Dark Horse Comics.
A direct sequel entitled Blood Blockade Battlefront: Back 2 Back started in Jump SQ Crown magazine on July 17, 2015. In 2018, the series was transferred to Jump SQ Rise.

Anime

The manga was adapted into an anime television series produced by studio Bones and directed by Rie Matsumoto as first announced in May 2014. Funimation Entertainment is licensing the series to stream on its official website. The anime adaptation premiered on April 4, 2015. The series was licensed by Madman Entertainment and AnimeLab for an English release. The final episode was originally scheduled for broadcast on July 4, but was delayed further due to exceeding the length of its normal 30 minute timeslot. It was eventually scheduled for October 4, 2015. A 25-minute original video animation titled "King of the Restaurant of Kings" was bundled with the official Blood Blockade Battlefront guidebook that was released on June 3, 2016.
A second season aired from October 7, 2017 to December 24, 2017, running for 12 episodes. A 24-minute original animation DVD was bundled with the fifth volume of the Blood Blockade Battlefront Back 2 Back manga which was released on July 4, 2018, with Shigehito Takayanagi and Bones returning from the second season of the anime series to direct and animate the OAD, respectively.

Live action

In the sixth volume of Blood Blockade Battle Front Back 2 Back, it was revealed that a live action stage play inspired by the manga was being produced.
It ran at The Galaxy Theatre in Tokyo from November 2–10, 2019 and at Umeda Arts Theater Dramacity from November 14–17, 2019. Daisuke Nishida directed and wrote the play.

Reception

The manga series of Blood Blockade Battlefront received generally good critical response. Dustin Cabeal from Comic Bastards said "The writing is strong and the dialogue is very sharp." He also praised Nightow's art calling it "unique." Additionally, he referred to it as "strange at first, but it’s quickly become one of my favorite of all time." Brigid Alverson from MTV Geek criticized the artwork for being hard to follow and stated "it boils down to a matter of taste. Blood Blockade Battleground is a good choice for readers who like a lot of action and don't mind being dropped into the middle of the story, without a lot of setup." On the other hand, The Fandom Post's John Rose praised the artwork more specifically the monsters' designs. He highly recommended it to Triguns readers as well as superhero comic reader, sci-fi hero and Futurama fans. Several of the volumes have also appeared in rankings for bestselling manga.
The anime adaptation of the series has received generally positive reviews. Jacob Hope Chapman from Anime News Network praised the cast and studio Bones' work. Additionally, he liked the consistency in quality and commented "The contiguous threads laced through these episodic adventures are beginning to converge fast, and while I can't see the full picture yet, I know Rie Matsumoto is building the anime-original material of Leo's romance into something special. The animation continues to be jaw-dropping. The music continues to be soul-warming. There's never enough time in one writeup to talk about everything that makes the episode so damn good. Blood Blockade Battlefront continues to be The Very Best." Jarius Taylor from the Fandom Post called it "both ridiculously cool and ridiculously weird" and praised the cast like Chapman. In a later review he said "It’s still not entirely clear what this show is going for yet but for now it’s a good ride and I have more than enough faith in the people behind it to believe the destination will be worthwhile." Rachael Verret, a writer from The Mary Sue, gave the series a perfect score having pointed out its "energy and joviality" seen through the cast and the ending sequences which reminded her of another series, Baccano!. Similarly, Chapman wrote an article titled "Three Reasons Why Blood Blockade Battlefront is the Best Show of the Spring" commenting "It's the coolest, cutest, and cleverest anime I've seen in a long time, easily the best new show of the Spring 2015."
The first DVD of the series sold 4,784 units during its debut. Meanwhile, the first Blu-ray sold 12,171 units in its first week of release. For the Newtype preliminary awards for 2015, the series was sixth in the category "Sound" while fourth in the category "Theme Song" for "Sugar Song to Bitter Step." In the category "Best Mascot", Sonic ranked first. In another poll by the Japanese magazine Entermix, the series was voted as the second most popular one.