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 Years ago, Hell fell onto New York City. Millions died, the city was surrounded in an everlasting fog, and strange visitors, horrible in their appearance, began appearing in droves. People got over it, learned to live with their new neighbors, life moves on. In the shadows though, dark plots that threaten to envelop the entire world in chaos are being put into motion. Welcome to Jerusalem's Lot, the setting of Yasuhiro Nightow's new comic series, Blood Blockade Battlefront. It's an action/comedy comic that's published in Jump Square in Japan and by Dark Horse in the US. It's really good. What's it about?  Jerusalem's Lot might have a fragile stability now, isolated from the rest of the world, but plenty of people and things not quite people are willing to shatter that for their own gain. That's where Libra comes in. A secret agency of superpowered humans and all around wierdos, they work behind the scenes to keep the status quo of the city, as hard as that might be. In a series very much inspired by american comic books, along with many other various and sundry sources, Nightow blends madcap comedy, incredibly detailed cityscapes bustling with regular people and horrible hell monsters living side by side, and also really cool action scenes. One of the cooler things about it is that instead of being a long running serial based work, each chapter is a standalone story. You could, in theory, pick up any volume as long as you knew the basics of the main characters and enjoy it as is. Who are Libra? (You can also click on the image to go to the Amazon page for that volume)  Klaus Von Reinhertz A gentle giant of a man, Klaus is the defacto leader of Libra. Calm in most situations, Klaus is thoughtful and intelligent to boot, even though his appearance often scares people. His special weapon is his FIST. With it he can PUNCH WEAPONS FROM THE ETHER INTO EXISTENCE. I wish he was my dad.  Zap Renfro Zap is a jerk. He's cocky, bullheaded, surrounds himself with beautiful women, and is lazy about his work, always looking for an easy way out. He really does care about the people that surround him though, on the inside, maybe only a little bit though. His special weapon is BLOOD SWORD. He can make his blood into a sword, and then light the blood on fire. I want to hang out with him.  Chain Sumeragi Chain is an invisible werewolf. Well, she says she is. She can turn herself invisible, but I've never seen her do any werewolf type things personally. A bit callous, she doesn't seem to care much for actually helping the people served by Libra, and enjoys using them as physical doormats instead, stepping on Zap a lot in particular. She doesn't fight much, instead acting as recon for the group. I want her to step on me.  Steven A. Starphase Stephen is a guy in a suit. That's actually part of his official character bio, that he wears suits. He's the second in command of Libra, working directly under Klaus, and seems to be a nice guy. I don't trust him. He often plays the tactician in Libra's operations. His special weapon is KICK SHOES. He can kick really good and freeze things with his kicks. I want to go to a party in his swanky apartment.  K.K. One of the friendlier members of Libra, K.K. cares a lot about her friends and has a very vibrant personality. She's also a mom. A cool mom. Her special weapon is GUNS. Her GUNS are very cool, they have skulls on them. She has a bunch of GUNS. Her GUNS can make lightning storms happen. Neat. I think if she adopted me, that would be very nice.  Deldro Brody & Doug Hammer What happens when a mad scientist liquefies her still living evil henchman and shoves him into the exsanguinated body of a handsome and wholesome regular man? These guys do. Deldro is a horrible monster with a jail sentence measured in the thousands of years, and Doug is a really thoughtful and well-natured dude beloved by all. Unfortunately to make sure Deldro lives out his sentence that means Doug has to get locked up too, only being busted out when Libra really needs them. He doesn't seem to mind too much though. Doug's special weapons is DELDRO, who surrounds him like a bulky suit of armor and allows him to do crazy powerful stuff. I wish Doug was my big brother.  Zed O'Brien He's a fishman that definitely doesn't look anything like any other fishman, that would be crazy talk. Trained by the same guy that taught Zap his bloodsword techniques, Zed is otherwise his opposite in most respects. Very hardworking and polite, he's the newest member of the team, and was really impressed into it more than volunteered. Doesn't like to eat raw fish. His power is BLOOD TRIDENT: It's like a trident, but made of blood. He also has crazy wind and air powers that combine with Zap's fire ones in interesting ways. A cool guy. I'd like to work out with him.  Leonard Watch The main character of the series, Leonard is friendly and generous to a degree that's probably dangerous in the city of today. Even though he's a bit of a coward and always seeks to take the path of least resistance, he's willing to do what has to be done to protect the people of the city. His special weapon is GLOWY GOD EYES. He got them when his sister sold her own sight to a faustian demon in exchange, and with them he can see all the things that should not or do not want to be seen. In Jerusalem's Lot that can be a very useful, and very dangerous ability. I wish he was my friend. Why should you read it? I think the art is really, really gorgeous, Nightow's been at it for a while and this seems like the most refined his work has been. I think the setting itself is really interesting, a gigantic melting pot of ideas and allusions that serve as a playground for the entertaining characters that inhabit it and live out the crazy scenarios it allows for. If you give it a chance I bet you will like it too, so let's enjoy it together! One of the stories is about Zap having a curse placed on his dick that will make it explode if he doesn't find a woman's lost cat in 12 hours, and also he's high as balls on demon weed the entire time. It has a really irreverent tone to everything, the city is crazy, and even when Libra succeeds thousands still die in the process. If you're dreading it being another generic shounen series I assure you it isn't. Anime! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2l4u3FEBwPs Blood Blockade Battlefront is also getting an anime this spring. It's being directed by Rie Matsumoto, of Kyousougiga fame. I'm excited about it also. Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 14:28 on Feb 25, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:14
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:53 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:14
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:14
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:15
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:15
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:15
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:15
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:54 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:16
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:16
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:16
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:17
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:18
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:18
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:18
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:19
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Sharkopath fucked around with this message at 16:55 on Apr 12, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 15:19
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Reserved.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:19
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Reserved.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:19
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Reserved.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:20
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Reserved.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:20
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Reserved.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:20
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Reserved.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:21
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Reserved.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:22
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Reserved.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:22
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Reserved.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:23
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Reserved.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:24
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¡pəsɹəʌəɹ
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Feb 21, 2015 15:25
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I'm gonna reserve this post and there's not a drat thing anyone can do about it.
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Feb 21, 2015 15:28
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Trigun was hella great but Gungrave was hella awful - I am cautiously excited about this show. Nightow always does a hell of a job with his character designs, so it'll at least be a show full of unique-looking madmen. It had maybe six episodes worth of plot smeared across 26 excruciating episodes. It would have made a hell of a movie if they'd condensed it down and focussed their budget. \/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Squidster fucked around with this message at 17:55 on Feb 21, 2015 |
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Feb 21, 2015 17:22
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Gungrave was good when it was doing the fantasy Mafia back story but bad during all the bits actually based on the game.
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Feb 21, 2015 17:47
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I put this in my maybe pile in the season thread but the more I read about it the more interested I am so thanks for posting about it a bunch everywhere.
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Feb 21, 2015 18:12
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your reservations are out of control
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Feb 21, 2015 18:23
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This show looks FUN and was initially placed near the top of my 3 ep test pile.
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Feb 21, 2015 19:09
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AnacondaHL posted:This show looks FUN and was initially placed near the top of my 3 ep test pile. Fun is what Id say it really does right. The action can get muddled in comic form, especially in tiny book form, and sometimes the humor doesn't work well, but instead of being generic power level fantasy stuff or another melodramatic apocalypse story it keeps itself at a very brisk and lively pace. Not to say it lacks any pathos or serious moments, it's just not the main focus. I'd say honestly the trailer misrepresents it, as trailers often do, at least if it's going to be a more faithful adaption. The weirdest thing is that Femt gets a va and spot of his own in the character crawl, because except for the opening story he's not in the comic at all. It's not big on recurring villains.
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Feb 22, 2015 00:14
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This seems pretty interesting and I have ordered the first two volumes. I'd better not be disappointed, or there will be nothing really for you to pay!
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Feb 22, 2015 02:59
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Vol. 7 came out and it's real good. Most of is taken up by a two part story where the team has to deal with a giant that only gets bigger the more you hurt it, the scale gets pretty ridiculous. The last part is a side story about Zap and Fishman going on a baby's day out adventure that ends with an incredible rube goldberg contraption sequence that I can only hope gets fully animated. It's a notable volume because while most of the PV is from the intro story to the comic, a bunch of cuts were also from the two parter in this book. If they stick to each story being animated as 1 episode around here is probably the maximum scope of a 2 cour series. I guess since every story is standalone they could skip around and do highlights if they wanted to, but each story is pretty great on it's own and I'd be sad if they skipped over almost any of them.
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Feb 25, 2015 08:09
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I bought the manga because I loving loved Trigun Maximum and I can't wait to read about Zap's misadventures with demon weed.
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Feb 26, 2015 08:05
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Does this need that many reserved posts jesus gently caress I've heard this manga is completely bonkers and involves  should I be excited for the anime
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Feb 26, 2015 08:25
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LORD OF BUTT posted:Does this need that many reserved posts jesus gently caress I'm going to make a long op than the old steam thread, one day.
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Feb 26, 2015 14:30
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Oh hey, someone aside from me's actually been reading B^3.LORD OF BUTT posted:I've heard this manga is completely bonkers and involves Very much so, it's a series with a lot of fast-paced action (though sometimes the manga artwork can get a little busy because of it) and I love that they've gone for a Jazzy soundtrack  . My only complaint is Femt, King of Depravity  , hasn't shown up since Volume 1. I hope he gets to be a full-blown recurring villain in the anime, because he is very fun. This series is one that actually needs to get a high budget behind it, just because half of it is just walking around Jerusalem's Lot and witnessing the insane passers-by roaming the streets of Jerusalem's Lot. Stuff that'd make C'thulu sit in bed with a nightlight on.Sometimes they just sit in the office together playing Monster Hunter co-op on PSP though. Sharkopath posted:The last part is a side story about Zap and Fishman going on a baby's day out adventure that ends with an incredible rube goldberg contraption sequence that I can only hope gets fully animated. I just read Volume 7 and that stretch was amazing.  For those who haven't read it; It starts with a desk toy in a random office. Those little Newtons balls in a row? One gets sliced free and goes flying out the window due to a gunfight on the street below. Through a Rube Goldbergian series of events it culminates in Zap and Zed, trapped in a Mafia Don's safe with a starving Demon Beast, and desperately holding a cracked binary-agent bomb so it doesn't vaporize everything within ten meters of it. (I haven't spoiled anything either, the story starts in the safe and rewinds back.) Most volumes of the manga are actually reasonably cheap and worth a read. Something to note though for the OP is it wasn't "Years Ago". Jerusalem's Lot appeared only three years prior to the manga's start, demolishing New York and bulding a new city in a single night.
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Feb 26, 2015 14:34
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