English Dub Review: Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond “Werewolf Mission: Chainpossible”

She loses herself in her work.

Overview (Spoilers)

Hey, you think you know Chain? The lady in Libra who’s known for jumping large distances in single bounds, and can turn invisible? Well, you don’t know her half as well as you think you do. Miss Sumeragi is part of an elite squad of female espionage agents with a peculiar ability. They can dilute their existence, which goes far beyond invisibility. It also comes with intangibility, no heat or scent, and can even vanish to the point that they erase themselves from history. Doing so comes with dangers, however. If their existence has diluted too much, they can’t come back. They choose something stable as a tether to reality. This squad is called the “Loups-Garous from Nowhere”, or simply, Werewolves. One part Mission Impossible, one part Charlie’s Angels, and a few doses of time paradox makes for some pretty good spies. The Werewolves are sent after a military general for a hit. Sure, they miss every single shot, but that’s not important. They manage to scare him out of his wits, probably enough to bury his current black project: man-made vampire super-soldiers. They get chewed out by their immediate supervisor for a failed primary objective, but they’re sent on their way. One of the new werewolves is having a hard time deciding on her link and asks Chain about it. The suit-wearing spy doesn’t reveal her secrets, however, as knowledge of her link could be used against her. She returns home, and her apartment is a complete mess. It looks more like a garbage dump than a residence.

The next day, the Werewolves are mobilized again. Not only has that general not forgotten about the vampire soldier project, but has a missile loaded up with the virus used to create them. The control of this missile is handled by a computer with four simultaneous backups. Knock out one, the other three fix it. There are no doors or windows in this computer room that isn’t heavily guarded. However, when you are intangible, nothing is impossible. The ladies airdrop in, slipping right past numerous floors to the subterranean computer room, and start hacking away to stop the missile, which has already been launched. However, this entire thing has been a setup. The Werewolves come under attack by a former teammate, one whose normal powers were almost entirely eliminated before she escaped with her life. She had tried to lead the team to go rogue and get rich as mercenaries, but nobody fell for it. Now, she has replaced her powers with a new set: the ability to sense and be almost anywhere. She simultaneously takes down four of the werewolves, leaving just Chain. But, Chain’s skill with her powers is so complete that she leads the traitor down an existential rabbit hole. At the end, just Chain’s gun, perfectly suspended in the air so that her target would trip the trigger and shoot herself. Problem is, she went much too far. Steven is called in to visit her apartment o’trash, and call out to her. We are left with an image of her sitting on her bed, clutching a bag of her trash. Could this really be her link to reality? Garbage?

Courtesy: Funimation

Our Take

I was very excited to see this episode. For a while, Chain was the most enigmatic agent of Libra. She rarely spoke, but exhibited plenty of character during the closing credits of the last season. While she seems emotionless and cold most of the time, she has a hidden warmth to her that made her endearing to me pretty early on. I wanted to explore her character more, but season one gave me nothing to work with. Just Zapp-stomping. This episode gave me what I was looking for, but not the way I was thinking of it. Rather than a deep dive into her character and past, it is a scratch on her normal day, leaving hints of her story in her every action. Giving Gilbert artisan vases, clutching lovingly to trash, the rose petals left in her wake during her deepest level of dilution. Each of these is hints of her story that leave you without a complete picture… just the way she likes it. This is a woman who is the consummate spy, and someone who uses her lack of existence as a weapon. Why would she have some means of figuring her out completely? Why would she want that? While we know more about her, there is still more to be uncovered, and the lady keeps her mystery.

The visuals on this episode were great. Filled with the show’s attitude, with a bit more of a vicious edge to it. The shot above was a great example. Chain looking over her shoulder with a smug taunt and a leering smile back at her enemy. The episode was not as impressive to me as far as animation goes, however, it is still high quality. They have some nice effects for when the werewolves dilute themselves, and I liked how the girls moved during their air dive. It is good animation, no doubt about it. I just didn’t see anything that made me go “Wow.” I did enjoy Trina Nishimura’s work with Chain in this episode, as we do get to see a few different sides to the spy. She displays a softer side when trying to help Neji with remembering to be on time. She talks in a fake, disguising tone that’s kinda funny. Otherwise, the characters are still full of life and fun, just nothing that leaped out at me.

Score

Summary

So, as much as I enjoyed the subltety of the writing, and the characterization of Chain, many of the other aspects just didn't catch me. It is still great, though, and doesn't bring the series down. I give this episode eight designer vases out of ten.

8.0/10