English Dub Review: Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond “Spectral Eyes, Phantom Vision, Part 2”

Mess with one, you mess with them all. And that hurts!

Overview (Spoilers)

Leo is in a horrible bind. Dr. Gamimozou has possessed Michela’s fiance, hoping to gain access to Leo’s All-Seeing Eyes of the Gods. Now, Leo has demonstrated how he uses his power to help Libra, by reading off the Blood Breed’s name to make it easier to seal them. This convinces Gamimozou to possess Leo. Holding Michela hostage, he demands that Leo comes back to the hotel. His sudden disappearance from the battlefield doesn’t go unnoticed, though, and Klaus gives him a call. Leo doesn’t let on that anything is wrong, since that would spook Gamimozou. The evil doctor then demands that Leo drop his phone off the bridge and into an abyss, so he couldn’t send messages to his friends any more. Immediately after, however, Sonic zips through and pokes Leo in the face. Gamimozou’s drone didn’t even see it! So, the enemy’s All Seeing Eye doesn’t work through the drone, and that gives Leo a plan. He ducks into an alley and provokes a gaggle of goons into attacking him as cover. The drone loses track of him for a moment, but catches up as he calls a cab. In the meantime, Klaus and Steven discuss the fact that Leo was acting off, which prompts Klaus to check his messenger app. The message Leo sent during the battle not only contained the monster’s name, but it had a long gap, followed with “10-33”. For those that don’t know, that is Police Radio Code for “Need Immediate Assistance”. Leo’s in trouble! Within moments the entire gang of Libra is mobilized, and ready to give whatever it is a curb stompin’. At the hotel, the enemy makes the room appear as Michaela’s favorite lakeside spot. Just as the doctor is about to strike for real, Michaela tackles him, giving Leo an in to attack. His repeated headbutts break Gamimozou’s Eye, preventing him from using his illusion powers. Even this isn’t quite enough, as his many arms full of blades are adept at bringing pain. Leo keeps using his own eyes to prevent the enemy from hitting his vital areas. Eventually, though, Gamimozou hits hard enough to knock Leo flying. He gets caught by tendrils of blood. Zapp lets the tired boy down softly, while Klaus shows Gamimozou exactly what Libra thinks of him. That building will never look the same.

Courtesy: Funimation

Afterwards, Leo is recouping in the hospital, Klaus comes to visit. Michaela reveals the origins of her nickname for Leo: Tortoise Knight. She heard somewhere that tortoises can’t walk backward because of the shape of their shell. Even though Leo is frightened, he won’t run away, but instead endures everything until he can move forward again. When Leo finally wakes, Klaus gives him a pep talk, and everything returns to normal. As normal as it gets in Hellsalem’s Lot.

Our Take

I was rather surprised that this was the final episode of the season. There wasn’t much along the lines of a buildup to a final battle against a big bad this season. We just had a bunch of character episodes, followed by this arc focused on the eyes. I keep expecting the show to give us a big battle against the vampires, but it doesn’t. All the same, we are seeing more about Leo and his power. I had always thought the All Seeing Eyes was a magic effect, but this episode confirms that they are actually prosthetics. Given the tension of the previous episode, this one is all about relief and catharsis. As Leo begins to gain the upper hand, we feel the anxiety lift and return to normal. That makes the battle against Gamimozou all the more important, as it is our revenge as much as it is Leo’s. The pacing of the episode is solid and keeps your attention well.

The animation in this episode is amazing. During the scene where Micheala and Leo tag team Gamimozou, the frame rate feels like it shoots up, and there is a roughness to it that intensifies the action considerably. There is a high level of detail to everything, and the animators don’t slack off at all. There are a few spots where the attacks from the baddy cycled its animation, but those cycles are well done. Visually, this show went out with a bang. As far as audio goes, everyone sounds totally believable, and even the villain sounds emotionally on point for what is going on. The exception to this is Klaus (Phil Parsons). I can’t put my finger on it, but something sounded off with him in this episode. Higher, maybe a bit less gruff? It just didn’t fit with Klaus’ look in this episode, so it felt wrong.

Score

Summary

Personally, I'm hoping for a season three of this show, but in the meantime, this was a good way to end the season. Not the series, the season. Good writing, great animation, and mostly good voice acting. I give this episode nine eyes of the gods out of ten. Somebody's winking...

9.0/10