Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond

Episode 8

This week, we start on Blood Blockade Battlefront's now-traditional two-parter for episodes eight and nine. As the setup half of this mega-sized storyline, Desperate Fight in the Macro Zone, Part 1, is easily the least exciting that the series has been so far—although that's not really the story's fault. The first season's Z's Longest Day (Part 1) had similar problems, so I think that this is just an endemic issue to being a setup episode in a show dominated by high-octane standalone storylines. This isn't to say that the episode isn't enjoyable—it's full of great little character moments, and the ensuing battle next week is sure to be a blast.

So the deal is that Leo has a Beyondian friend who's even wimpier than he is. His name's Riel, and unlike Leo, who's mostly comfortable with his own status as a non-combative dude, this guy has a serious complex over his weakness. So when a mysterious entity shows up offering Riel the chance to become the walking hunk of muscle he's always dreamed of being, our little guy takes him up on it. Of course, this too-good-to-be-true scenario turns out to be a trap set up by a microscopic mad scientist with ambitions of destroying the world. Now Leo has to find a way to save his friend as he rapidly evolves into a world-consuming mass of flesh. Poor Riel—he just wanted to be a Chad, but he ended up an Akira.

Since most episodes this season feel like they've served to showcase one particular Libra member, this looks like the story that'll be dedicated to the detained duo, Deldro Brody and Dog Hummer, as well as the show's lovable mascot, the Sonic Speed Monkey. If you need a refresher, Brody & Hummer became one when the chilliest guy on earth (Dog) got injected with the liquefied consciousness of a mass murdering supercriminal (Deldro), making him a human with a sentient alien bloodstream. Weirdly, this combination chilled Deldro out, and the two became BFFs (or maybe more). Now they're on Libra's side, although the two still spend most of their time in prison as punishment for Deldro's many crimes. If Zed is Nightow's take on Abe Sapien, Brody & Hummer are his version of Spiderman's parasitic symbiote Venom, and it's pretty delightful.

So while all the stuff with Riel is happening, D&D happens to be on an outing with Klaus. While the prison usually lets them out whenever their super strength is needed to save the world (i.e. pretty frequently), this time they're just on a pleasure trip. You see, the local art museum has just received a certain Paul Cézanne painting on loan, and Hammer just has to see it. So the prison's warden had to clear an entire day's schedule as well as several city blocks so that an inmate can stare at a painting. (At least Dog seems to be really into it.) She's pretty irritated, but a single smile from Dog (allegedly the most beautiful man in the world) shuts her up pretty good. Fortunately – or unfortunately – this nice outing turns into work when they run into a mutating Riel on the way back to prison. Our heroes set out to subdue Riel, but his powers make him stronger the more punishment he takes. They end up needing to retreat for a while, but D&D are still braced for some triumphant heroism next week.

On a similar note, Sonic is also prepared to do some world-saving in the adventure to come. Completely opposite D&D bulky powerhouse team-up, Sonic's small stature and nimbleness combined with Leo's God-Eyes make him ideal for navigating tough-to-reach places. He uses this talent to save a cat this week, but I bet he's going to be embarking on a fantastic voyage into the depths of Riel's muscle-guts soon. Otherwise, Leo finds himself allied with the bacterial feds, who are on the hunt for Gemnemo (the terrorist) in their own specially-designed “gigantic” macrosuit (which is roughly the size of a cantaloupe). This leads to a bunch of good jokes where super duper tiny folks are self-important about superweapons that just look like toy models to us. They even give their tech stupidly overcomplicated anime mecha names. Actual Bacterial Warfare – meaning that the bacteria fight each other with guns – is a great comedy action idea that'll probably feel underutilized in just one storyline. But that's the breaks for Blood Blockade Battlefront in general—it's so overstuffed with great, creative ideas that you end up wanting more of everything. There are worse problems to have.

Grade: B+

Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.