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 its 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 its structured while scaring people away with its episodic look. This review is honestly a huge mess as its 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: 450https://64.media.tumblr.com/4eb42dbb452740af2c563b57f0eb9bec/tumblrnmnu36yrTv1qi6xzyo1500.gif My last watch was quite long back and now that Im here again Kekkai Sensen is more heavily underrated than I always thought Like here it doesnt even matter whether you look at the Opening Anime itself or Ending because all just adds together to its actually outstanding Looking at the Opening lets 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 Hellsalems 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 its 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 Hellsalems 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 its 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 dont seem out of the ordinary at first but its 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. 450https://steamuserimagesa.akamaihd.net/ugc/786365513441210642/500E256D445C7179D3CA388E8B4811EF3C539668/?imw=5000imh=5000ima=fitimpolicy=Letterboximcolor=23000000letterbox=false The whole show wouldnt 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. Thats 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 its important or not. Pictures are there in every episode to remind us of Us and Leo to be the observer. 450https://i.pin.com/originals/40/32/42/403242aae390d04d6dbdd03f2cf2dbe3.gif In ep 11 though they went even beyond with that which is plainly amazing as it was Whites backstory from when she was still a child. She has no powers while Black and their parents do doesnt see a meaning in her as there is nothing she can do for this world while her parents used their powers to help other people. So what she does it to take pictures of others but never from herself as she sees these photos as something she actually accomplished while she was still alive later her camera was thrown by others from a bridge into the river while Black tries to catch it and has a small incident because of that having her telling him that the camera is actually just a placebo in the end as it still means that the photos are just functioning as placeholders for the moments but cant revive a dead person. Something else thats important here is that it also shows the difference in Black and White as he has the potential to become the same as his parents and help the world while she cant and doesnt really know what to do in life the photos dont have any real worth compared to the others in her family. Thats her placebo she tried to have something she can do to leave it behind in this world while Black cant. BUT very amazing is also when afterwards during the night Black took a photo of her that made her cry that was the recognition and proof that she was alive and valued by others which is a huge impact point. So even if she does nothing she is still important to her brother. THATS WHERE WE GET BACK TO LEOS CAM She helped the king of despair/Black to get to Leos eyes because she wants Black to get his own life back again but when then when the monkey gave her Leos cam she started to look through the photos on it and realized her mistake. The first photo in the gallery is Leos sister the person he values most and afterwards he already put White. The third picture we see is one from Leo that she took being that reminder for how important he actually is to her The meaning behind the camera and pictures being that whatever we see on them it was important enough for someone to capture the moment. To immortalize it. This is also where I love the contrast to Whites brother Black or rather the King of Despair as the dead and moments of the past are hold on picture forever while he himself cant die. He doesnt get the luxus to die and lives on forever which is why he planned to destroy the world and eventually die with that. Leaving a proof that he was alive once too. Thats why even the king has taken photos and recorded video tapes of himself because he thought he can finally pass on he wanted to leave them as the proof that he lived and that even though he is wellaware of his immortality. The contrast of White Black and the meaning of the Observer role and the camera + photos in this show is plainly amazing to me I love it too much. Getting back to the first paragraph of this main body it also doesnt 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 Hellsalems Lot. Its just a huge stage performance that allows characters to be changed swapped and it doesnt even matter whether the char is considered good or evil as the play will still go on into its next act. Anyone can be in the focus of whats to see. 450https://imageswixmped30a86b8c4ca887773594c2.wixmp.com/f/72ab7e45dbad4185887431ad720b8376/db8uqxi4b3723f09488457b98a1b4adbcf948ca.gif?token=eyJ0eXAiOiJKV1QiLCJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJzdWIiOiJ1cm46YXBwOjdlMGQxODg5ODIyNjQzNzNhNWYwZDQxNWVhMGQyNmUwIiwiaXNzIjoidXJuOmFwcDo3ZTBkMTg4OTgyMjY0MzczYTVmMGQ0MTVlYTBkMjZlMCIsIm9iaiI6W1t7InBhdGgiOiJcL2ZcLzcyYWI3ZTQ1LWRiYWQtNDE4NS04ODc0LTMxYWQ3MjBiODM3NlwvZGI4dXF4aS00YjM3MjNmMC05NDg4LTQ1N2ItOThhMS1iNGFkYmNmOTQ4Y2EuZ2lmIn1dXSwiYXVkIjpbInVybjpzZXJ2aWNlOmZpbGUuZG93bmxvYWQiXX0.rnCUzDfI7sIt9822vNTCFCppxJi7AJz8ao0uLdY Thats something that imo the Ending makes even better than it already was before as it shows us that stage with the characters acting freely dumb doing shenanigans see short moments of the different characters interacting but even there we remain with the role of an observer as the lights on stage dont differenciate between good and evil chars but put their spotlight on whats seen. Whoever and whatever is on the stage right now. It doesnt matter whats going on in the world whether its going down or the city is getting completely destroyed the show just allows us to invest into its characters and they being its actors. Further the Ending symbolizes a lot with the colors white black and red basically blood. For uni I once looked up the meaning of colors and how colors can and are used in stories to convey a symbolic meaning which the ED does too with red roses representing the sacrifice of characters as we can see in the scene with Leo and his sister having red petals falling during that tragic moment of her losing the ability to see. Next we see a white rose which often symbolizes loyality or undying love thats dragged by White with her feet and starts to blood as she is part of the barrier that holds the city together and which she remains able to due to her love for her family. That scene even foreshadowed in the ED already that she is gonna sacrifice herself to save her brother and Leo. In the next shot we already see Black and the king of Despair which is essentially blue surrounded by black and blue petals which also contrasts with the other two colours and fitting their names + designs for the show. Further Black holds bouquet of white roses to symbolize his love for his sister while the king only does hold one in both cases showing the importance of White to both as Black feels complete with her while the king needs her for his plan to destroy everything. But at the end I really love the shot from the fist holding a white rose with blood thats supposed to mean the victory at the end of s1 thats been achieved by sacrifice as White sacrificed herself and the red petals representing the sacrifice Leos sister contributed at the beginning. Without both sacrifices Leo never couldve won holding the white petal thats streamed with blood 450https://64.media.tumblr.com/ce4423b3f630f067fccca143a33db586/tumblroxime3BPsS1t0lt8go1540.gif 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 didnt 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 its potential and the involvement of an observer and thus us is likely one of the most amazing things Ive 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. 450https://i.gifer.com/86Sa.gif This may be the end of the review but honestly I still didnt write enough. There is so much yet to mention so many characters I still have to look into how the show has some of the best OSTs Ive ever heard and other things. Honestly its a pity that Im at the end but at the same time I think that its best to experience the characters music and action on your own to see why they make Kekkai Sensen this amazing. As poorly written as this Review may be I still hope I managed to tell you about what Kekkai Sensen is