The fall 2017 anime series Blood Blockade Battlefront & Beyond is getting its home video release on November 20th, 2018 but that’s not the only way to own it. While Funimation brought out the show through simulcast on Hulu at the time, they went back this past January to bring it out in bilingual form for viewers. That looks like it’s just for a six-month run, however, as the show is now set to expire in thirteen days, wrapping up in early July. There’s definitely a chance for it to be renewed but we always caution against that as an expectation and encourage viewers to finish up before expirations.
The season also has its complete run available on iTunes where you can get the English dubbed edition with closed captions or the Japanese language edition with English subtitles. Both sets are priced at $24.99 each.
The series was directed by Shighito Takayanagi with Yasuko Kamo on the scripts. Toshihiro Kawamoto is the character designer and Bones produced the animation.
The show comes from the manga of the same name by Yasuhiro Nightow, who made a name for himself early in the previous decade with his Trigun work. The manga began in 2009 and has nine volumes released so far, with six of them out in North America through Dark Horse Comics. The first season of the anime adaptation was produced by Bones with Rie Matsumoto directing based on scripts by Kazunao Furuya and character designs by Toshihiro Kawamoto.
The Japanese cast includes Daisuke Sakaguchi as Leonardo Watch, Rikiya Koyama as Klaus Von Reinhertz, Kazuya Nakai as Zapp Renfro, Yu Kobayashi as Chain Sumeragi, Hikaru Midorikawa as Zed O’Brien, Ai Orikasa as K.K., Banjou Ginga as Gilbert F. Altstein, Mitsuru Miyamoto as Steven A. Starphase and Yūma Uchida as Sonic Speed Monkey.
Plot Concept: Produced by Studio Bones (Fullmetal Alchemist, Space Dandy, Soul Eater) and created by Trigun writer Yasuhiro Nightow, Blood Blockade Battlefront brings compelling characters and dynamic plotlines together for one unforgettable adventure. After a breach between Earth and the netherworld opens up over New York, humans and creatures from other dimensions become trapped in an impenetrable bubble that surrounds the city. Forced to coexist in a new city known as Salem’s Lot, the shaky peace between humanity and the netherworld creatures is protected by an underground group of super humans known as Libra. When a case of mistaken identity brings not-so-ordinary delivery boy Leonardo Watch face-to-face with this group, he joins their ranks hoping to help prevent the destruction of the world by a group of monsters and madmen lead by a powerful being known as the King of Despair.