Disclaimer: I will cover both seasons of Kekkai Sensen in this review but I wont go into spoilers at all except for maybe in the characters section. I had fun with Kekkai Sensen. It may have taken me weeks to finish 24 episodes and two ovas but I had a pretty good time. However I cant ignore the fact that it really polarized me overall. Sure I enjoyed it but there were a lot of times where I literally groaned and struggled through another seemingly pointless episode. These downs were what made me take nearly a month and a half to actually finish Kekkai Sensen even though Ill say that it was a pretty good show. You cant talk about Kekkai Sensen without talking about how beautifully and fluidly it was animated and how banging the soundtrack was especially season ones. For the animation the fight scenes are undoubtedly some of the best in anime the way that each character has their own fighting style and applications create for some impressive sequences. Even if the character models werent drawn immaculately all the time you could always count on the animation of each episode to impress. Before I go down the rabbit hole that is the soundtrack I want to make a minor note about the voice acting especially the dub being fantastic. It was always an epic moment when characters like Steven or Klaus went in for their final moves and suddenly started spewing their the names of their finisher in another language. Anyway just wanted to show some appreciation for great voice acting. Now the soundtrack. I dont how Im going to say more than Its so good. To be honest it may be one of the best soundtracks in anime if only for the fact that its so varied and fitting to its setting. Every insert song or instrumental piece fits into the jazzy urban atmosphere that Hellsalems Lot exudes. However nothing in the first 23 episodes could prepare me for getting blindsided in the feels by the best song to come from the soundtrack. Honestly if I was more fickle Id raise my score for Kekkai Sensen by 5 to 10 points for Tortoise Knight alone but instead of talking more about it Ill just link it here: https://www..com/watch?v=o2u67JDNTEQ Favorite Character: Mary Macbeth White https://formeinfullbloom.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/white1.png I mean lets be honest the only character challenging her for this spot is Chain. The thing about White though is that she really provided Leo with interesting interaction outside of his work with Libra which was a nice break from the chaos of Hellsalems Lot. The first season really needed White to help provide you with more of a personal connection with Leo who honestly I thought was pretty useless most of the time. But around White you couldnt help but cheer for him to get the girl because their interactions were so damn cute. This is the part where I take a turn from my radiantly positive attitude. I mentioned earlier that I was extremely polarized by Kekkai Sensen. Most of that polarization is from the episodic nature I think. Its so hard to binge out Kekkai Sensen because it feels like theres no thread tying the world together. Instead every episode is a single story making the good episodes feel really fulfilling but making the bad ones excruciating. I dont think this issue was helped by the fact that I wasnt interested in Zapp very much and he dominated many of season ones episodes which set the tone for me to watch the series. In fact I cant say that I loved many of the simple oneoff episodes that dominate the series. There were a few that I really enjoyed like Gilbert and Chains episodes in season 2 the hospital episode and the Aligula episode in season 1. There are a couple more that I at least was pleased with but these few were the standout oneoffs to me. I think a lot of the episodes that didnt impress me simply didnt have a good focal character which made me bored of them from the beginning. A lot of this may be just my taste but I feel if someone doesnt like all the characters youre going to struggle through certain episodes. Kekkai Sensens greatest strength is loosely tied to my complaints too. See? Polarizing. Anyway Kekkai Sensens greatest strength lies in its world. Enter Hellsalems Lot perhaps the greatest world in anime: https://i.ur.com/eQq4tff.jpg What makes Hellsalems Lot so special? Its simple: the city is its own character. Kekkai Sensen simply wouldnt be the same without the craziness of the city that they never fail to show us with each episode. We think weve seen the most unbelievable thing the city can throw at us then it turns around and throws something else at us. The thing is the city provides us with a sort of continuity that we take for granted after living in the city with the characters for a little while. It becomes the norm for us too which is what makes it so special. All these crazy oneoff episodes are basically created at complete freedom because of how much room to maneuver the setting provides the writers. Honestly its really impressive. I think the fact that each and every citizen alien or human is drawn really helps immerse us even more in the world. We see the weirdness instead of get told how weird Hellsalems Lot is. I find it hard to actually criticize Kekkai Sensen because I realize how well it pulled me into the setting now that Ive written all of this. In fact I think all it would take to love Kekkai Sensen is more of an overarching rhyme or reason to the story. It gets touched on here and there but mostly gets ignored. I guess Michella doesnt really matter that much after all. I kid but it would be nice to see some progression to the plot behind Leos eyes and her blindness. Im probably asking for Kekkai Sensen to become something that it isnt though so Ill be happy to be a fan of what it is rather than what I think it should be.