Black Bullet is one of the many light novel adaptations that aired during Spring 2014. You might know the other ones as The Irregular at Magic High School, No Game No Life, and Chaika - The Coffin Princess. It started out okay, but got progressively weaker as it went on, before turning into an unentertaining show that turned out to be a rushed and half-baked adaptation. Shame, it had potential to be way better.
If you've read the synopsis on the show's page on this site, it'll tell you that it takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity is practically on the brink of extinction,
...
having been driven into a corner by powerful monsters. You might think that this concept sounds familiar; kind of like 2013's popular Attack on Titan. With a premise like that, it drew in a lot of viewers who, one might say, could have been looking for a sci-fi version of Attack on Titan or something. However, the thing about this show is that it seems to have entirely forgotten that it was a post-apocalyptic show. You see plenty of tons of healthy-looking people on the rather clean streets, the towns look clean and well-tended, and the economy seems to be in such good condition that they're able to afford things like prosthetic limbs made of tissue resembling human flesh and whatnot.
The art is standard fare, all things considered. The style isn't anything special; it's generic and nothing about it really seems to stick out. Characters and objects look polished enough, and the actual animation is fairly crisp when there's good action going on, though it's not enough to make the actual fights that appealing or interesting to watch. In the end though, it gets the job done, but ultimately doesn't stick out at all. The designs were fairly neat though, I'll give it that. I liked the designs of the Gastrea, all two times they appeared or whatever.
I'm quite fond of Shiro Sagisu's work. He did an outstanding job with the music for the Evangelion franchise, along with a great job at the soundtrack for the Berserk: Golden Age Arc films. However, this must be easily his weakest work. Background music is generic and forgettable, except for probably two or so songs that play during battles, which can give a good feel of intensity. The opening, "black bullet," respectively named after the show and light novel, is fairly pleasant to listen to, but it isn't anything I'll remember in a month or so. Same goes for the main ending theme, "Tokohana," though I do really like when it starts playing near the end of an episode. The voice acting isn't anything to write home for either. You have Yuki Kaji as the main character, Rentaro Satomi, but he isn't all that interesting to listen to. He always seems depressed, angry, tired, bored, or sounds like he's crying. So in short, he practically sounds the same as when he voiced Eren Yeager in Attack on Titan. I suppose I should give an honorable mention to Yui Horie (Minori Kushieda, Toradora!) for trying her best with what she got, and to Rikiya Koyama (Kiritsugu Emiya, Fate/Zero) for still having that charming, nonchalantly badass voice, even if his role was fairly limited.
The characters are bland and unmemorable. Rentaro practically has no notable personality traits other than typical "brave" and "determined" that can be found in literally a hundred other characters who are far better written. He reminds me of Kirito from Sword Art Online in a way, in that not only does he have no notable personality, he has a harem for practically no reason, at least one girl in each harem being a little girl under 13. The main difference though is that while Kirito is overpowered, Rentaro seems underpowered in contrast. Despite being equipped with skills like knowledge of martial arts, a fairly high level of agility, exceptional marksmanship, and practically superhuman strength and speed due to his prosthetic limbs, he never seems to win, and even when he does, it's not even memorable or anything. Now, there's nothing wrong with making the main character an underdog, but a well-written underdog has to be a well-written character. The main reason why Rocky Balboa is a good underdog is because he's a genuine nice person. When he's not boxing, he's a really sweet guy, like around his lover Adrian and her brother Paulie, and he stands up for those he cares for. There's time and dedication given into giving the audience a good idea of what Rocky is like, which ultimately makes us want him to win against all odds against more experienced and stronger boxers like Apollo Creed and Ivan Drago. However, in Black Bullet, since Rentaro is a bland and forgettable character, it makes the audience not care whether he wins or loses, and thus, destroys all tension in a fight. Every time something happens to him, he begins to doubt all he knows, building the foundation of character development, but he never visibly develops, though given that the source material is still ongoing, not all is lost yet, since all these events that happen to him could potentially act as catalysts to a giant, grand development. But I suppose we'll only know if there's a second season. The other characters aren't all that special either. Enju is the token "energetic loli," similar to how Tina is the token "lethargic loli" who's only active when the situation calls for it, kind of like Shiro from No Game No Life. There's also Kisara "Big Boobs" Tendo, the president of Civil Security that Rentaro works for, who happens to be a childhood friend of our main character, but ultimately, she lacks depth like the other character and hardly develops her own identity until the last five minutes or so. There are also more generic characters like the aloof old friend, the cocky guy, the girl with cat ears (which is supposed to be explained in plot but we never actually see any more of this), the hikkomori, etc. The character who steals the show is Kagetane Hiruko, who is the main villain of it all, or is supposed to be anyway. He's smooth, charismatic, nonchalant, mysterious, and reminds me of V from V for Vendetta in some ways. It's a shame he doesn't get a lot of screen-time either.
The enjoyment levels seemed to fluctuate for me at first, before going down to consistently being a chore to watch. It has an inconsistent tone akin to that of Elfen Lied. By day, happy-go-lucky comedy featuring boob groping, other fanservice, and loli sweetness. By night, it becomes (or tries to be) macabre and dark, though it only comes off as unnecessarily edgy for the sake of being edgy. The humor might get a small chuckle or two out of you, but at the end of the day, boob groping and comical misunderstandings aren't anything to write home to in the humor department.
In the end, Black Bullet could have been a good show, but ultimately fails miserably. To say that it was rushed would be a big understatement indeed, what with not providing adequate world-building or characterization. I'm sure the light novels are way better, but since the adaptation is poor, it's not exactly doing a good job at advertising the source material to me, and thus, fails as such.
Alternative Titles
Japanese: ブラック・ブレット BLACK BULLET [黒の銃弾]
More titlesInformation
Type:
TV
Episodes:
13
Status:
Finished Airing
Aired:
Apr 8, 2014 to Jul 1, 2014
Premiered:
Spring 2014
Broadcast:
Tuesdays at 22:30 (JST)
Licensors:
Sentai Filmworks
Source:
Light novel
Duration:
24 min. per ep.
Rating:
R - 17+ (violence & profanity)
Statistics
Ranked:
#39412
2
based on the top anime page. Please note that 'Not yet aired' and 'R18+' titles are excluded.
Popularity:
#181
Members:
920,360
Favorites:
3,776
Available AtResourcesStreaming Platforms | Reviews
Filtered Results: 207 / 212
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Your Feelings Categories Jul 1, 2014
Black Bullet is one of the many light novel adaptations that aired during Spring 2014. You might know the other ones as The Irregular at Magic High School, No Game No Life, and Chaika - The Coffin Princess. It started out okay, but got progressively weaker as it went on, before turning into an unentertaining show that turned out to be a rushed and half-baked adaptation. Shame, it had potential to be way better.
If you've read the synopsis on the show's page on this site, it'll tell you that it takes place in a post-apocalyptic future where humanity is practically on the brink of extinction, ... Jul 1, 2014
Although Black Bullet is tagged as being action, mystery, sci-fi, seinen, and probably post-apocalyptic, it should really be considered a loli-harem comedy first and foremost. The comedy is completely unintentional but it's what kept me watching week after week. Black Bullet is driven by manufactured drama and the characters are one dimensional cardboard cutouts with some dark backstories thrown in. Several important plot points are brought up and then never mentioned again, leaving the audience to wonder why we were even given this information in the first place.
The story follows high school student and "Promoter" Satomi Rentaro and his loli partner Enju, who uses her ... Jun 16, 2014
**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**
Hey there folks! Have you ever wanted to see an anime that has a loli fanservice scene, a comedic tsundere romance scene, and a scene that features the complete and brutal genocide of children all within 2 minutes of each other? No? Good, because anyone who WOULD want to see that wouldn't know the first thing about writing a coherent TV show. Unfortunately for Black Bullet, one of this season's most unfortunately overrated series, there is plenty of incoherence to be found. This horribly confused action seinen is jam packed with arguably the worst pacing issues I've ever seen, poor character development, and ... Jul 1, 2014
Black bullet is a anime that was adopted from a light novel. This series was being compare to attack on titan, or being called a copycat to attack on titan, but that can't be true since attack on titan isn't the first nor last to have these kind of story and settings. Coming into this series, it had a lot of hype from people who read the light novel or the manga. What most people didn't realize is that it would be adopted into 13 episodes which would mean the pacing would be rushed. So lets begin, I'll be reviewing this series in five category,
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Jul 1, 2014
Black Bullet is the latest and not so greatest over hyped action series to grace our screens. I'm sure many of you would have heard the saying "Why didn't they ride the eagles into Mordor", well Black Bullet is the epitome of that saying.
The story is very bad, it's full of cliché after cliché, the main character is yet another super special high school kid and the world revolves solely around his actions. He isn't just another gear in the machine of society, he is the one turning them, one Yuki Kaji shounen power up scream at a time. What makes some high school ... Apr 29, 2015
I personally enjoy Black Bullet although it could've been much better.
I was a fan of this Light Novel and also its manga adaption which was incredibly well done. The story started off well but really lost its track with all the rush. The story missed out on several key points and the fight scenes were to say..anti-climatic. Unlike in the Light Novel which focuses on Rentarou's emotion and the other characters the anime rushed this.-didn;t get to see any dem feels in the anime. I enjoyed it and wll still recommend the anime but personally still feel that the anime had a lot of room for improvements. -O Jul 1, 2014
Black Bullet. I went into this series with a bit of skepticism: Will this series, which seems to focus on human morals and values within the context of a war between the humans and "them", in which case, the Gastrea, achieve their message, loud and clear, in its measly 13 episodes of length? Much like previously released anime like Elfen Lied, Higurashi no naku koro ni, and Psycho Pass, that are well known for their darker settings that serve to illustrate a concept of humanity put to the test, Black Bullet incorporates a similar dark setting, with the apocalypse of the human race at stake,
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Jul 2, 2014
Black Bullet – an anime about lolis saving the world from the big bad monsters out to eat you alive. Or yet by a more literal way of saying it, they are actually young kids known as the Cursed Children with special abilities capable of fighting against Gastrea, the monsters that threatens humanity and its existence. Based off a light novel of the same name, shows like this has an incentive to go a variety of ways with this. The result? A mediocre bag of an adaptation clustered with mind bobbling antics.
The premise initially sounds interesting, taking place in a futuristic setting in the year ... Aug 8, 2014
First: If you're searching for Loli or anything else to feed your fantasies, this is not for you. Contrary to other reviews who claim this to be your typical loli-fest, it is not. What it is, is a group of little girls who act like little girls, not little tramps, they have childish ambitions of MARRYING the main character; not having sex with him.
The other reviews already sum up the story in detail so I'll just sum it up. Fighters of all kinds (swords, guns, fists, ect) have a partner called a 'cursed child' these children vary in abilities just as the fighters do. Their duty ... Jul 13, 2014
Right!
This is my first review here so please spare me internet while I add to the huge ocean of random stuff! Black Bullet was a show that I picked up after watching Guilty Crown and its fair to say if you liked that you'll like this. I hasten to add I would never claim Guilty Crown is good, but it is fun, and we all like to have fun do we not? So was Black Bullet fun or a disaster? Lets see! Story-3 My impression of Black Bullets story was of a director trying too hard. Calling someone a Try-hard should not be taken as an insult however. ... Jul 2, 2014
Black Bullet is, as many people have said before, similar to Attack on Titan in a way. Though instead of titans you have these huge bug like creatures called Gastrea, and its set in the future in Japan rather than an older style civilization. However the biggest difference between the 2 shows is that Attack on Titan is actually very good, where as this is just...eh.
Story (6) The story as I mentioned before is, on paper, pretty similar to Attack on Titan. Humanity at the brink of extinction. Huge monsters that killed someone in the protagonist's family. A city inside of a barrier. But that's ... Sep 16, 2014
Black Bullet is honestly in my opinion, one of the most overrated anime ever. Although it may not seem like the most popular anime, it's hype back in spring was pretty big, and I've seen reviews rating Black Bullet over an 8, which left me speechless. Black Bullet had a promising start sort of, but quickly it's plot just died away with no explanation of what's happening, my favorite character in the anime disappeared for half the show and the ending was plain rushed and made absolutely no sense.
The plot was "eh"; it was a mixture of Guilty Crown and Attack on Titans, which ... Aug 15, 2014
Action and Mystery. A common combination of genres, isn't it?
Black Bullet is an adaptation of its still ongoing Light Novel, was announced last year, 2013. Then became a long-awaited series of 2014. Although, the main idea isn't too impressive or original if we want to put it like that, the plot has much more in store. To be precise, the story is rather fast-paced. It is basically some short stories put together into 13 episodes. And even though it's true that there was some sort of bridge between two 'short stories', it is very obvious that the staff just wanted too many elements in the ... Jul 11, 2014
Let's start with the opening. If you've seen Attack on Titan (Shingeki no Kyojin), you'll notice that the opening music, art (and world-concept in general) are kind of really similar. I won't say it's a copy, you decide that for yourself. The opening was in my opinion not really fitting, that's all.
Anyway, to get to the story line. I gave it a 6/10, because the story wasn't boring or tiring, it just wasn't really original. I realize that, in some dose, the creators gave thought into it, but everything was rushed to the limit where the timing became ridiculous. To cut it short, too ... Jul 1, 2014
"This is a thousand monkeys working at a thousand typewriters. Soon, they'll have finished the greatest novel known to man." A quote from The Simpsons has never been so accurate, except that the monkeys didn´t end up writing a novel, they ended up writing the script for an anime adaptation. Oh, you don´t believe me do you?
Well, that´s what reviews are for, to convince people that the series you are reviewing is either good or bad. So with no further ado, this is The Neko and I welcome you to my review of the show, Black Bullet. The premise of the show is quite simple, is the ... Jul 31, 2014
Black bullet is probably one of the anime that got a lot of attention since it share a same atmosphere with Shingeki no Kyojin which is despair, humanity in the edge and dark themes. As the shingeki have finished airing, the emergence of black bullet is surely gives a lot of viewer have a great expectation on this anime. Some sites says this anime is a successor of shingeki. But does it really true? I would say not.
Black bullet is an anime that been package with thriller action and dark themes. The story is about when humanity was in the near extinct and living in ... Jul 30, 2014
Black Bullet is amazing, an amazing failure of a series with decent potential at its start.
Black Bullet is an anime, an anime with great potential that ultimately transformed into shambles of disappointment. Many have been comparing Black Bullet to Attack on Titan but of course, Black Bullet is intrinsically different and distinct in its own right. The story revolves around humanity and their suppression due to the dominance and superior existence of viral parasites named Gastrea. As humanity is left with no alternatives but to be exiled into small territory and to coexist with terror and despair, the world should evidently be indeed ... Jul 1, 2014
Black Bullet or how I like to call it Loli Bullet.
It is a show that was supposed to be the new Attack On Titan, with action, aliens, mankind in danger and on the verge of extinction. But humanity has a secret weapon, an amazing weapon that will help humanity triumph against the evil Gastrea( which sounds like a stomach illness lol), and that only weapon they have is ........ lolis, yes lolis with some kind of power I didn't even care enough to get. So lets get down to business. Story: oh my.... yes ..ammm the story is as I already said about those alien ... Dec 4, 2014
Hey guys, this is my first time doing this so it may not be a top-notch anime review, nevertheless, I will try my best. Please note that this is purely my opinion on the series, you can agree with me or disagree with me, I'm fine either ways.
Black Bullet sets in an apocalyptic type of environment starting in the year 2021. The human race is being overwhelmed by the widespread of a deadly virus called the "Gastrea". Two protagonists: a Civil Security "Promoter" - Rentaro Satomi and his "Initiator" - Enju Aihara sets off to protect Japan from the evil that lies within the epidemic. Story ... Jul 2, 2014
Stepping into the world of Black Bullet, I was only told of negative things and not to expect much from a "Lolis save the world" kind of show. Unfortunately enough, a lot of what I heard held true, but not everything and those little girls weren't apart of that problem.
Black Bullet essentially is an anime that tries hard to breach the conventional post-apocalyptic human-survival setting, but is unable to do so. The show gets stuck at a crosswalk confused if it wants to do something different or stick with the same formula. Perhaps Black Bullet's greatest vice is the pacing, which is abnormally quick. Even ... |