Kekkai Sensen and Beyond – 03

I think we’re settling into a kind of groove with Kekkai Sensen and Beyond – one where the “Beyond” isn’t just there for show.  This is the same mythology, unmistakably Blood Blockade Battlefront, but it’s not the same.  If you listen to a Mozart concerto played by a different orchestra with a different soloist and a different conductor, even an untrained ear is probably going to be able to tell the difference.  Nightow-sensei is no Mozart (though he’s no slouch), but the principle is just about the same as what we’re seeing here.

With each successive episode, Takayanagi-sensei has increasingly put his stamp on the visual style of Kekkai Sensen – easing us (quite deliberately, I would say) away from Matsumoto Rie’s signature look to something deceptively different.  We’re also seeing a subtle but significant difference in tone and theme, though whether that comes from the director or an evolution in the source material I can’t say.  Beyond is less buoyant, more sinister in its wacky unpredictability – and there’s very much of a focus on members of Libra who were relatively secondary in the first season.

One of those is Steven A. Starphase, who’s been central to two of the first three episodes.  Miyamoto Mitsuru (who sounds great for 59) is a seiyuu I’ve appreciated over the years if perhaps not followed closely, but his work here is growing on me – there’s a simmering sense of danger and a wistful melancholy that seems perfectly suited to this season’s take on Kekkai Sensen.  Steven is perhaps closer to Klaus than anyone else in Libra, but he’s a very different sort of anti-hero, and he’s at the focus of one of this week’s main plots – a seemingly innocent aside about him throwing a party at his rooming house.

Meanwhile, Leo has (as ever) gotten into some trouble, which always seems to find him despite his best efforts to avoid it.  He bumps into a bully and ends up getting mugged in a back alley, his wallet stolen by the banchou (an out-of-towner) and his sidekick.  Interestingly, Chain passes overhead jumping from building to building and witnesses what’s about to happen – and declines to intercede.  Why?  Perhaps she thinks Leo is a bit of a soft touch, and needs to learn to stand up for himself.  Perhaps she just doesn’t give a shit (which wouldn’t be totally out of character).

Chain is another secondary character that’s moved into prominence this week – hers was the B-plot here and seems to be the A-plot next week.  After Leonardo does indeed decide to stand up for himself – he sources a taser from the Libra arsenal – he seeks out his attackers in a bar and challenges them.  Leo really is too nice for this world, and for his own good – this encounter illustrates that clearly – and he receives another beating when his hesitates.  But when the bullies return to the bar they find Chain there, which I don’t think is a coincidence.  Maybe she decided Leo earned her help after at least trying to fight back, maybe she just wanted to let off some steam – but being the badass she is, she has no trouble drinking the oversized banchou under the table (though she does pay for it laternot nearly as bad as he does, though).

The most interesting sequence of the ep for me though, by far, is what happens at Steven’s party – which is actually a trap set for him by someone hostile to Libra.  Steven has sussed this out and has been playing along, and he reveals (as he did at the hospital) that he’s much more comfortable with his dark side than Klaus – he has a private hit squad that Libra doesn’t know about and which answers only to him, and once he’s incapacitated his would-be abductors he lets his squad do unspeakable (and unshowable) things to them.

My read on this is that Steven would very much have liked for all this to be on the level – he strikes me as being tired of being someone with a target on his back, but resigned to living this sort of existence for the rest of his time.  His interactions with his housekeeper Mrs. Veded (Fuchizaki Yuriko) are remarkably affecting and very sad – maybe this is the real Steven that he never gets to be with anyone else.  All I could think about watching the final scene with she and her kids meeting him on the street was how brutal it would be if she too turned out to be an assassin or something – and I wouldn’t say that’s impossible, given this series’ track record up to now.

Oh, and Zapp gets a curse put on his cock by a pissed-off hooker who’s lost her cat.  This is Kekkai Sensen, after all.  But damn – did Tracey really kill her friend, just like that??

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11 comments

  1. s

    “This is Kekkai Sensen, after all. But damn – did Tracey really kill her friend, just like that??” I said the same shit; Yo Kekkai Sensen just as this hand waving disposition about everything in its world: guresome violence? just another day; cataclysmic entities wrecking havoc in the city? just another day; getting your tits blown off and then almost blowing off another mans cock? Just….another….damn….day. This is truly the identity of this show; the cool part is watching how the characters deal with the fact that all this shit is not out of the ordinary

  2. S

    Chain was definitely out to help Leo, his wallet was returned at the end https://i.imgur.com/EKBC8N7.jpg . Some people were also speculating zapp got his head on the ground because chain was stepping on it, but it’s hard to tell because of his despair.

  3. Y

    Matsumoto Rie’s still responsible for the ED this time, and she went all out.

  4. Next week is the Chain episode I’ve been waiting for for 2 years. You’ll find out why (deleted).

  5. Sorry, no hints. But I’ll look forward to next week’s episode.

  6. J

    Regarding the whole “Chain not saving Leo” thing, it might be best to go over the preview for this episode again (so the one at the end of episode 2), since that should explain a bit in that sense.
    “No expectations. No going overboard. No getting involved in other people’s affairs. Sticking to these three rules, one can largely get by peacefully.” Might be Chain’s mantra, or might just be something fitting for this episode, but I wouldn’t completely rule it out that Chain actually does stick to these rules when possible.

    Other than that, I really enjoyed this episode. Chain and Steven where characters that I did immediately warm up to in S1 from the few glimpses I saw of them, but they weren’t really utilized much (heck, from what I remember, the only thing Chain really did in S1 was to run around from point X to point Y, and to bicker with Zapp), so it’s very pleasant to see those members getting some focus. Then again, I’d love to see more of pretty much every Libra member (as well as their closer associates), so not featuring Black and White is a blessing in disguise, even though I liked the Leo / White dynamic. So I’m eagerly looking forward to more of Chain during the next episode.

  7. I’m not on board the hate train with the Black & White subplot – I liked it, even if it meandered a bit in the end. But I do think there’s more than enough in the Libra pool to sustain a full season, and I’m enjoying seeing the other characters get more sunlight.

  8. ã

    It really makes me think how you could warm up to Chain at all, given how she lacked any presence whatsoever in S1.

  9. ã

    I’m not enjoying this show much, to be honest (S1 was definitely a better watch). I just can’t warm up to any of the characters. Libra seems like a bunch of assholes and I still wonder why Leo keeps working for them, being leeched off and treated like a nuisance all the time. Is he a masochist? Dude, open your eyes! They don’t give a shit about you!

    I also don’t think the show is combining ultra violence with comedy and with drama well. It feels rather tryhard, as if the author wanted to recreate the spirit of nonsensical American cartoons, but what all he could come up with was a poor copycat attempt. A good example of too many ingredients spoiling the soup.

  10. @クロロ
    Yeah, I hear you…this season is making me reconsider how much I liked the first season. I loved the episode with the chess-like game from the first season, and the one with the hamburger eating alien, but other than those two eps I can’t remember much I liked about the first season, which is too bad because I’ve already dropped other series which I had big hopes for this season. Don’t want to drop this one too… Hopefully the next episode will be good.

  11. Man, after finishing the first season and reading the manga, this was the chapter I was most anticipated getting adapted. And yeah, it was actually a fairly good job, but the cut my favorite part of the Zapp story which I wouldn’t be too bothered by if it wasn’t for the fact that they added that dream-flashback at the beginning. They also cut out a part of Leo mulling over Chain abandoning him at the beginning there. Also, I kinda feel like Matsumoto would’ve had some really cool transitions between stories but alas base content is still entertaining (the Steven segment is definitely the highlight) and that’s really what’s important. And lol at the last line, really liked how you structured this post.

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