Ohhhhhhh I'm thinking about it again, my mind is once more encased with Kekkai Sensen and I have to sing my praises or I think I'll explode because it's soooo good, it's So Good, I can't even stand it it's so GOOD I just-
Leonardo is "normal", okay? He's normal like this: he likes fast food, he plays video games, he wears an oversized hoodie and loose pants everywhere he goes, he has two jobs, he reacts to the majority of situations in a way considered to be reasonable.
Normal, so normal, except he isn't.
He is all of those things, okay, but on top of that, he: gets mugged so often that he started hiding money on his person (for example: in the sole of his shoe) but he also keeps a wallet with a few coins in it because if he gets mugged and has nothing, he'll get beat up.
He finds out about vampires, blood breeds, and his response is: "Oh my... how strange."
We see him next to other adult men and he's just short, he's miniscule, he's shorter than Chain and Chain is puny, I'm like eighty percent sure that if Michella could stand up, she would be taller than Leonardo, he's that small.
He trusts Klaus immediately, right off the bat, and you could argue that it's because Klaus saved him approximately fifteen seconds after meeting him, but Klaus is still a man twice his size who makes children cry when he smiles.
Leonardo befriends people, he makes friends with the little mushroom guy and he makes friends with the little skinny guy, he befriends Vivian and her boss, all of his coworkers like him, Femt finds him agreeable enough that he doesn't kill him; he's just a guy that people like, and it's his loyalty to a fault and his determination and his optimism, he's just good and people like him.
He has a part where he says this: "I am the king... of eyeballs. Screw you. I'm going to shuffle what you all see. I don't care if it makes you puke. Get ready. Those with normal eyeballs... obey... ...me!"
Really, Leonardo's strangest feature is his adaptability. He really just keeps trucking along, no matter what obstacle is thrown in his way. Michella calling him her "tortoise knight" because tortoises can only go forwards fits him remarkably well. No matter what happens to Leonardo, he keeps moving forward. When he gets mugged, he picks himself back up. When he makes friends, he protects them even to his own detriment. After he joined Libra, he wouldn't even let them give him a higher salary so he wouldn't have to work two jobs, he works harder than anyone because he can barely even live through the majority of battles he's shuffled through but he keeps going through them anyway and coming out the other end thoroughly scathed.
Leonardo is "normal," but he isn't. His adaptability makes him the strangest creature in Hellsalem's Lot. The entire beginning of the manga has him writing a letter to Michella, grinning and ordering a coffee with free refills and telling her that the city is much more peaceful than he expected. And you could say he's lying so she doesn't worry about him, and you'd be right, but it's also a fact that Leonardo wanders around the city everyday without any means of protecting himself, even after he joins Libra, and is usually smiling while he does so, implying that he really does genuinely enjoy his walks where he could die at any moment.
With all that said, I can get to what really attracts me to this manga. The thing that I've spoken of before in the past and will speak of again in the future, what brings me back to this silly little slice-of-life manga about living life in a hellish place where chaos reigns and death is around every corner.
Klaus and Leo.
I could spend days talking about their relationship and how it's really the backbone of the entire manga. These two characters have nothing in common, yet they both inspire people to be better. They act completely differently, yet they get along so well. They are made to be each other's opposites, but also to be the very thing the other lacks.
Leonardo's only saving grace in most cases is his eyes. He sees everything, especially things he doesn't want to see, and he can see through disguises and he sees the names of blood breeds and that's exactly what Klaus was missing. For all the years he spent trying to deal with the blood breeds, he was missing something that could find them so accurately, that could tell him their names, something that is exactly what Leo is. Leo sees exactly what Klaus needs to see, and I feel like this point is pushed even further with Klaus wearing glasses. He can't see well while Leonardo can see better than anyone.
Where Leonardo is small and really can't defend himself, physically or mentally, Klaus is the exact opposite. He's incredibly intelligent and extremely strong. People look at Leonardo and see a victim while they look at Klaus and see a threat. The dichotomy between them, with Klaus being large and capable of handling the majority of situations entirely on his own, with Leonardo being small and needing help dealing with situations the majority of other characters see as easy, the way they make up precisely for what the other lacks!
It goes even farther because while Klaus is too trusting of Zapp, Leonardo is never convinced of Zapp being in danger and even tells Zapp that he is going to tell Klaus that everything was Zapp's fault. And while we never see him do it, we don't really have any reason to doubt that he did. Klaus is naïve because he is, fundamentally, a young master, while Leonardo is exactly the right level of cynical to combat that.
They make up for each others weaknesses, but it isn't just Klaus making up for Leonardo's while Leonardo's only contribution is his vision.
But, despite everything, they aren't entirely opposite. They both get anxious. They both care entirely too much about other people. It's Leonardo standing up for Nej and Klaus destroying an entire gang for the sake of one little girl. They aren't on the same level, they aren't even close, all Leonardo can do is buy the burgers Nej wants without charging him an outrageous markup while Klaus can singlehandedly destroy an entire gang for the sake of one little girl, but that doesn't change the fact that they both do all that they can for the sake of other people. They're so different, but they're similar where it matters.
Their relationship is wonderful. Klaus watching Leonardo play his video games, Leonardo fondly watching Klaus do dishes, the little wronged wife thing Leonardo does when Klaus doesn't notice Zapp sit on him, when Klaus tells Leonardo that he's proud of him, all the times we see Klaus just carry Leonardo around-!
I love all the characters in Kekkai Sensen. Chain and her destructive lifestyle. Zapp being tsundere over caring about Zed. Steven and his silly little guy-ness. Zed and his everything. K.K. and her everything. But I especially love Klaus and Leonardo. They're both so cute and their differences and similarities are so compelling and I really just love their size difference more than words can describe.
Anyway, Kekkai Sensen is back on the brain. Maybe I'll post some of the fanfiction I've been writing since 2016. Maybe.
