How have I not found this sooner? After the genuine shit I have wafted through, I was not excited to begin a generic-looking anime. But I was genuinely surprised by the uniqueness of Kekkai Sensen, a true diamond in the rough of anime. Despite this it's not all sunshine and rainbows, there are some glaring problems with how it's structured.

story: 7.5
The anime follows the story of Leonardo Watch, who after a chance encounter with a god, gets the all-seeing eyes of the gods at the cost of his sister's eyesight. Thus, he begins his adventure through the supernatural thoroughfare of Hell Salem's lot, meeting an assortment of demons and befriending the members of the anti-blood breed group, Libra. It starts off as the most cliché shit, being the typical action fantasy about demons and humans. But that takes a turn around episode 4, with the introductions of blood breeds, the story's version of vampires. It sets into motion the rest of the series and introduces the main push that is present throughout the rest of the season. The one glaring problem is that despite this, the episodic nature kills the hype to shit. each episode at the start of the series features no overlap, future episodes beginning to create the overarching story. This presents the double-edged sword of a good episode is amazing, but a terrible one (which is most of these) is painfully boring, like the episode about 4d chess for the fate of the universe. It becomes less of a problem later, but for fuck's sake, I don't care about a mushroom who likes burgers. The anime only story arc at the end is welcome tho, giving a person a general enemy and aim for Leo to overcome

Character and setting: 7.3
the characters are a mixed bag really. Some are layered, some are fun, some of just total badasses. But then there are the aforementioned chess masters and mushrooms. White and Black are welcome additions as anime-only characters. But they are kinda cop-outs for problems with the beginning of the anime being the mixed bag. But as much as Zap and Leo and White are good characters, Hell Salem is a better one. It's breathing with the cosmic horrors of the other world, taking the best parts of New York and emphasising them in the chaos of the destruction by the otherworlders.

animation: 8.2
the animation is smooth af. The city is oozing in filth, the characters stylish and the action scenes detailed and animated with flare. Only a few episodes are flat (mainly episodes 1 and 10) but it coincides with the episodes that are more chill and expositiony, so good animation is forgiven here.

Music: 8.2
the op and ed are fucking killer and the soundtracked varied. It goes from high octane action to melancholy in a heartbeat but in a natural way. Trust me its something you hear and immediately know you are gonna enjoy it.

best episode: episode 12, a good ending to a good arc
worst episode: 10, massive exposition dump that is anime only, making it inserted in a fucked way

overall, although the glaring problems of the boring and disjointed episodes, Kekkai Sensen creates an interesting meld of fantasy and action with killer animation and setting that is a must-see for anyone who has a remote interest in action fantasy.