As my last rewatch was quite a long time back, it was actually a good idea to do one now as I got to see for myself once again how underrated Kekkai Sensen and it's way actually are. Last night I wrote to someone else a huge wall of text, consisting of what Kekkai Sensen is about and how well it's structured, while scaring people away with it's episodic look. This review is honestly a huge mess as it’s freely written, has no real structure and also specifically looks into certain things, but still I decided to share my view here. Here we go:

My last watch was quite long back and now that I'm here again, Kekkai Sensen is more heavily underrated than I always thought
Like, here it doesn't even matter whether you look at the Opening, Anime itself or Ending because all just adds together to it's actually outstanding
Looking at the Opening, let’s have a small insight into how it conveys us change, day to day life and the fun you can have with the people you met.
Starting off we see Hellsalem’s Lot or former New York in the morning, the sunrise indicating the beginning of a new day and chapter in the life of everyone, while also having it turn upside down, alluding the change the city and it’s citizens went through as change will always remain part of our life.
Following with a shot of hundreds and thousands of pictures containing the different locations, people and events that took place in Hellsalem’s Lot, forming the barrier that holds New York and the Otherworld together, striking us again with the symbolism of pictures and „capturing the moment“ in Kekkai Sensen as it’s these that make everyday life so special, especially in this chaotic city.
Continuing we see scenes with Leonardo walking in the mids of masses of people in the city, together with some color changes that don’t seem out of the ordinary at first, but it’s these color changes to a black & white tone that allow us to see the world in the same light as Leo does. He genuinely thinks of himself as an ordinary person, as a part of the mass while being able to see the outstanding characters, personalities around him with a glowing color, fitting their souls. We see Klaus von Reinherz in a red highlight in the middle of people colored in black & white, symbolizing his courageous character that is willing to sacrifice himself and continue to fight for the safety of his friends and the citizens while the King of Despair/Blue is highlighted in a blue color, which could indicate the freedom he has as an immortal being, but also his sensitivity and aim towards his goal of finally getting past life. Leo enables us to see the outstanding characters in these masses, being able to see the people he considers as extraordinary or special, allowing us to enter the exciting world that comes with them.
A nice additional touch are the pictures of Leo getting up in the morning and having fun with his friends, eating burgers, pulling funny faces which all simply indicates his daily life.
Additionally we also see for a brief moment the days in the city pass accelerated, probably telling us that life will continue no matter what happens yesterday, while the scene also contains three crucial characters for the happenings in Kekkai Sensen- one character being Michella with the prior mentioned red petals falling from the sky, transitioning to Leonardo opening his eyes which once again reminds us of her sacrifice for his ability.
Coming to the key visual of the Opening, we see the huge chaos that from there on is part of his life. We see the characters he met and new friends he made, all of them showing off their abilities as each of his friends is extraordinary on their own, the screen keeps flashing up due to everything that happens and also in the future will keep happening. This is the world Leo was looking for, one extraordinary world which he was allowed to enter as an observer thanks to his eyes.
Reaching slowly the end, we lastly see an introduction of the 13 Vampire Kings, Blue and of course the stage with all the friends he made, his stage being the only one that has yet to start to glow the way the others do.
The whole show wouldn't be possible without Leo and with that without us, as Leo has been introduced from the beginning on into the position of the watcher, the observer that made everything just possible. He became the power to see as higher beings do, making us to that higher being as the viewer. That's also why the camera of Leo is so important as plot device actually, we capture the moments and events and from overarching view and have them remain in the total, whether it's important or not. Pictures are there in every episode to remind us of Us and Leo to be the observer.

Getting back to the first paragraph of this main body, it also doesn't matter what exactly is going on at given moment or time, as everything that can happen is part of the telling and how life goes in Hellsalem's Lot. It's just a huge stage performance that allows characters to be changed, swapped and it doesn't even matter whether the char is considered good or evil as the play will still go on into it's next act. Anyone can be in the focus of what's to see.


I love how Kekkai Sensen is theoretically episodic as many episodes just feature a one ep arc and them being loose in their telling from all the others, but still managed to have an overarching plot that results in the climax of season 1 and with that in an outstanding end.
It knew how to use itself, how to use and build a limitless world that allows any Shenanigans you can think of. How to use the characters and give them here and there spotlight. How to entertain you with absurdity and still trying to teach you values with the observer, Leo, who had nothing to do at the beginning and didn't know how to continue, up to the point that he learned how to look ahead and keep moving forward, trying to take steps towards the light. With that he also finally managed to write the letter to his sister, telling her about the world and light he was able to see thanks to her.
The concept of Kekkai Sensen, it's potential and the involvement of an observer and thus us is likely one of the most amazing things I've seen in AniManga, enabling it to be this much fun. Leo, giving us the ability to experience the events from the perspective of someone that was given the power to see everything, making us the higher being that records them, is something I love the most about it.

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