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Feb 9, 2014 10:02 PM

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Aug 2010
2735
The visuals were really nice, and I liked the characters and fights.

But the melodrama was a bit much, and the ending...wasn't really an ending.
Bum Bum Dum Dum

Jun 12, 2014 6:46 AM

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Jan 2014
28
Would much rather watch the Anime over this. Mainly because the OVA feels like a way simpler version of the Anime.
Sep 1, 2014 1:54 AM

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Jun 2014
397
Well,that was even worse than the anime.
Here it really feels like they just cut 2 different animes together.
Also,Yumi turn evil because Mato talked to another girl once?
Seriously?I get where they were going with this,but it was way too rushed.
Sep 24, 2014 2:24 PM

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Oct 2012
5799
Well, this was nice. And I like huke's designs.
The story was simple but there were more hidden meanings than one would say.
But hey, jealousy sure is a cause of many problems.
Oct 1, 2014 4:57 PM

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Feb 2010
2265
Considering the infamy I've heard surrounding this OVA, I didn't expect to like it as much as I did. That said, watching it...and enjoying it, requires a very special type of person. You need to be free minded enough to have an affinity for melodrama, but curious enough to keep watching as two stories don't correlate until the final moments. Even then, it ends on a stinger that leaves you wanting to know more. It's friendship metaphors the anime, and can be a lot more rewarding than you actually think.
Feb 20, 2015 4:01 PM

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Nov 2010
4482
I liked this OVA much better than the series. Characters were less stressed.
Mar 5, 2015 7:23 PM

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Feb 2015
1080
I like the OVA... i like it a lot... I havent completed the anime yet but this OVA was a lot better than the 1st episode of the anime.
Mar 18, 2015 7:13 AM

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Jan 2013
4064
Decided to finally give it a shot because of BRS herself.
It wasn't hard to understand, and the battle sequences were pretty good.
Still, looks like a story not fully told.
Apr 18, 2015 11:17 PM

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Nov 2014
22
Just like the majority, not much is shown or explained about the Otherworld. We already know Mato and Yomi's otherselves are BRS and Dead Master respectively. BGS on the other hand, we're unsure of since we only see her dueling BRS briefly at the start and beyond noticing the scars on BRS torso, nothing is shown of her whereabouts beyond that initial engagement. It was satisfying to see BRS holding out her hand referencing just like she did in the anime and does this to acknowledge one of two outcomes; you're innocent if you accept but a threat if you refuse. In this case, she does this to Dead Master that she's in acknowledgement to not being enemies but Dead Master seems to misinterpret it wrongly and sees it as a threat.

The first thing I noticed and thoroughly enjoy more than the anime is the art style for the real world characters. Mato has better fitting colours and I just dig the more tomboyish tone with her look and attire. An all-around improvement over the anime but I enjoy the style from both Otherworlds. Unfortunate that BRS doesn't use her jacket as a hoodie.

Drama was definitely toned down and it's much appreciated though it still shares the similar build-up of friendship as the initial build-up. It was rather straight-forward to follow but it seemed rushed and a bit jarring near the end when BRS comes out of the void and tells Mato that they would need to "merge together" to recover Yomi after she's supposedly kidnapped by her own otherself; Dead Master. Which confuses me when trying to apply my knowledge from the anime to this.

In the anime, your otherself do not have emotions and feelings (aside for caring about their real world counterparts; Mato). They have a conscious but beyond that they're almost always reserved and silent unless they feel threatened. Whatever desperate or cloudy situation their real world counterparts are encountering, the otherselves seek to endure and rid of that negativity.

However, as we've seen here, that's not the case with Dead Master as she's possibly grown jealous and upset of Yomi with her newly-found friendship with Mato. In response to this, she keeps Yomi hidden elsewhere. There was also no mention I believe of otherselves having the ability to suddenly "steal" your physical body away and bringing it into the Otherworld.

It was enjoyable nonetheless but like before, more questions were raised rather than confirmed.
Set_linApr 18, 2015 11:22 PM
May 8, 2016 8:58 AM

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Jun 2010
1396
I didn't expect it to be good, so I wasn't disappointed. Watched it just because I saw the 1st season.
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Jun 18, 2016 4:39 AM

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Dec 2015
6449
Ok, so it was a short friendship story including fear of being left. The relationship seemed real enough despite the use of fast-forwards. But the constant slices of action disturbed the tempo and often felt pointless (the intro was 100% useless). Still, I liked the juxtaposition of a metaphorical world's physical conflict illustrating a real world's psychic/sentimental struggle, along the use of this other world for Yomo's escapism. It was sadly badly exploited.
The BGM is efficient, the art and the style simple but good enough for the story. The other world chara-design are of course well done (even if it's not my cup of tea) but often the scenes in this dimension look like aimless artworks.

I suppose the little manager girl was already possessed before the end since we saw her "alter-ego" from the metaphorical world dive (in the real,world). That would mean she was willingly trying to prevent the heroine to "rescue" her friend (by insisting on the fact she should just wait). Is there any need for this? Leaving her as a normal schoolgirl who befriended the heroine and unwillingly made the other one uneasy would have been far better.
The 50minutes format could have been better used, a lot of elements were added with no explanation but no use either: the foe in the opening scene, the fact the second friend was possessed...

Enjoyment: 3/5
Score: 5/10 Nothing standing out, but I'm impressed someone could elaborate a nice idea out of a big nothing (mere artworks published on the Internet).

If someone reads this and knows a better work about a relationship tale alternating between real world and metaphorical one, please leave an answer.
Rei_IIIJun 18, 2016 5:01 AM
Sep 6, 2016 7:55 AM

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Mar 2015
2360
I dont understand how come this OVA is popular?

2.2/5

ED Song: 2.6/5

Overall: 5/10
Aug 24, 2017 10:14 AM

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May 2016
12380
I guess that the moral of the lesson is...being the third wheel really sucks to the point of being thrown into another dimension with a being that wants to fuse with your hatred~

Since I haven't watched Black Rock Shooter, I guess those people fighting are creatures that feed off a certain strong emotion by being one with their host. But alternating the sweet slice of life and the random but good-looking fight scenes made things a bit confusing throughout. The drama managed to let out a bit of emotion from me though~ Hug the evil outta ya!

I find it funny that it took a whole year until the girl with the robot hands got to move lol (or maybe it's Yuu this time hence the starting to be close at 2nd year high)








Oct 13, 2017 4:34 AM

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Oct 2015
6915
This OVA was alright, but the fight between Black rock shooter and Daedmaster was good but ended with a hug how lame, that reminded of Naruto. 5/10
How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb --- Dr Strangelove

Oct 22, 2017 4:37 PM
Supreme Tsundere

Offline
Nov 2012
4026
Apart the lack of explanation of the plot, it was alright I guess.
I liked the animation and seeing both MC interacting wasnt boring, but a pity that it is only 50 minutes. I do sense some potential with where they are going with.

I mean, what it seems to me to be is that everything that happened in the real world happened before what happens in that other world.
So all those fights BRS was going through, Mato was actually controlling her, and she wanted her friend back... that made for an interesting lil twist, but they never fully explored it.

Curious to see how will the TV version end like.

7.7/10
Apr 19, 2018 4:30 AM
Offline
Jan 2014
749
I really enjoyed this. I loved the entire aesthetic of the alternate world. The action scenes were awesome and well animated. Enjoying seeing the blossoming friendship of the two leads, and the 3rd girl was kawaii as fuck too.
Sep 3, 2018 3:50 AM

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Jun 2016
123
Well this sucked. Thanks to the story structure there is no way to be emotionally invested in any of the action. That action doesn't even look all that great aswell. I kinda cared about the friendship at first, but as soon as it took the clichee route I lost all interest. Yuu is a god damn bitch. "Oh your best friend was maybe kidnapped or even worse? Well stop your fucking whining, you are bringing the basketball team down!" Fuck her. A few bits of the animation looked nice, overall this was garbage.
Oct 6, 2020 2:09 AM

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Jan 2020
7247
It's alright, I guess? The interactions between Mato and Yomi are heartwarming and adorable, but that's pretty much it. There isn't much development between them to speak of, and very little information about the parallel world is given to us. I'll watch the show later to find out how much improvement they made.
IrrelevantGuyOct 6, 2020 2:31 AM
Oct 18, 2020 10:37 AM

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Feb 2020
1286
(I'm not at all familiar with Black Rock Shooter aside from this ova, I just know it's something similar to Vocaloids)

There's something I didn't get. At all. What was up with that whole "Black Rock Shooter" thing ? For the majority of the ova I just thought those parts were just metaphorical, but then it looked like it was some sort of future, and then that happened. Mato fusing with what I thought was her future self. What is going on.

Aside from that, it actually wasn't anywhere near as bad as I was afraid for it to be, I even liked it actually.
I found Mato to be a very likable character, much different from the bland one I expected her to be since OVAs such as this one tend not to provide much personality to their protagonist.
I also found her relationship with Yomi to be very touching, and I related pretty strongly to Yomi at first.
However. Why did they decide to make Yomi become evil ? No actually, I get it. That's because she felt rejected by Mato. Okay. But uh... Isn't that extremely out-of-character ? She's been established as a timid girl who felt more and more alone due to her best and only friend spending more and more time with someone else, which is understanble, but what exactly in her behaviour can justify such a transformation ? She didn't seem to suffer this much in her life, and Mato didn't abandon her at all, even without realizing it, it was just the other girl who was clinging onto her, so it really just seems to come out of nowhere, and actually I think I can erase the "seems to".

Also, really, I think this ova could've been much better if they didn't add those Black Rock Shooter parts and instead focused solely on Mato and Yomi as the regular teens they normally are. I get that Black Rock Shooter is the whole point but it was so badly implemented in the story... Maybe it'll be explained better in the series but in the ova alone, it just felt weird and random.

I give this ova a 6/10, because it had its qualities, Mato's character was a very nice one, it was touching, and quite charming, but it also had all the flaws I listed.
I'll watch the rest, just out of curiosity, but I'm not expecting much given the criticisms and what kind of path it seems to be taking based on the ova's ending. I feel like the ova could've very well worked as a stand-alone if they just focused on the Mato/Yomi parts.

Edit : Oh god, I just watch the post-credit scene. Is Yuu gonna pull a Yomi ? That's dumb. And I dislike her all the more now.
FafetteOct 18, 2020 10:53 AM
May 27, 2021 2:42 PM

Offline
Feb 2020
71361
So.. Yomi was jealous of Mato and now Yuu is going to be the next enemy?

Well, it was an okay OVA.

Great battle scenes/OST/animation.

7/10.
Nov 7, 2021 3:15 AM

Offline
Feb 2014
1733
Ehhhhhhhhh......

I just watched it and...meh. It wasn't really that great at all. It was a story, and stuff happened...but like nothing wowed me. The ending really doesn't have much closure at all. The whole combination of the Black Rock Shooter stuff and Mato/Yomi's world at the end was really underwhelming. Also what happened to the other girl with the giant hands?

Not much to say other than that. I'd give it a 5-6/10
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Apr 2, 2022 2:03 PM

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May 2020
10378
You just can't convince me this was good enough or even something you should associate the word "average" or "mediocre" with.

Quite honestly can't make anything out of that parallel dimension fight we were getting every five minutes, guess watching TV version may clear things up. Apart from that even those interactions of Mato and Yomi felt way too much to stuff in the given 50 minutes. Still atleast the animation was above par, and might be the only redeeming aspect we got out of this OVA.
Also felt like that shorty manager, Yuu wasn't a very good person to hang out with.

4/10.
Jun 9, 2022 10:42 PM

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Aug 2018
3272
So do these school girls somehow suppose to be counterparts of the ones, who are fighting?.. They kinda resemble them.. Like, is it their future?.. Or is it metaphor for something?..
Friendship story is done fairly well so far, I feel..
Well, Yomi has history of changing living places, and so switching schools as well as a result.. So it's understandable, why she's having more difficulties getting along with others.. Both in skills and trust, in how comfortable she feels..
And being with someone together left out.. Can lead to everything.. To isolation, and isolation can lead to anything..
So fighting was with destructive force inside Yomi, I think?.. That was what the fight was about?.. I think it makes sense.. I mean, probably Yomi had some destructive thoughts..
I think it's a nice story.. Of fragile friendship, but still important one.. Of how sometimes feeling left out can influence you a lot..
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