Black★Rock Shooter (TV)

Black★Rock Shooter would be the last time that I will ever watch with the name Mari Okada in it. I should have learned my lesson with the pile of nonsense Fractale, but nooooo! I JUST HAD to watch this until the end.

Okay, I admit, not all of it was bad. For starters, the use of CGI in this anime was superb. I mean, really. I think BRS established a new standard in me when looking at CGI in anime. The fight scenes were well-made, and the level of violence put in here is nothing to laugh at. BUT, I’m afraid everything else just felt… ridiculous ... and pretentious.

I think Mari Okada has a tendency to place unusually large values on topics that don’t really matter and focuses the attention of her writing into creating some of the most angsty anime to ever grace television screens. Fractale had a lot of this that I won’t even bother pointing out. Ano Hana spent too time showing that the character’s couldn’t move on from Menma’s death, as well as OMG IT’S SO SAD LET’S ALL CRY scene from its eleventh episode. BRS had all of this unjustified insanity, characters whose actions don’t make sense, and yes, one of my most hated things about anime, glorifying trivial subjects.

As I said, BRS used insanity very poorly. It’s like asking a fifth grader to write how he thinks insane people act. It’s unnerving, but not quite believable. Let’s take for example Kagari’s behavior. Okay, fine, she was creepy and all that, but I just couldn’t shake off the feeling that there’s something amiss. She felt less like a disturbed person and more like someone feigning insanity to get away with a crime. The same can be said about everyone else.

The characters’ actions do not make sense. Why would Yomi’s mother tolerate Kagari’s outrageous behavior toward her own daughter? Why would Saya torture students who weren’t even involved with her problem (Kohata)? How did they know for certain that Mato was BRS, Yomi was DM or Kagari was Chariot? A lot of other questions remain. This is like Fractale all over again.

As with Ano Hana, I had a lot of trouble trying to sympathize with the events of the story. In the end, the anime ended up being about saving Yuu from the other world. That much is clear. My only problem with this is that the way they did it was so bad. It felt empty. I couldn’t really describe it, but I was so frustrated while I was watching the final episode that I even considered dropping it then and there. It’s the same feeling that I had with Ano Hana. I just don’t like it, and I won’t bother trying to find out why.

All in all, I think Black Rock Shooter could have been much, much more. All of the flaws I have pointed out can all be traced back to the writing. If this show had a different writer, I think a lot of the problems with this show would not be as frustrating as they had become. Sure, the angst will still be all over the place, but at least it won’t be Mari Okada Angst. I give Black Rock Shooter TV my personal MAL rating of 5, which should have been a 3 if it wasn’t for the cool CGI.

Ahh, Black Rock Shooter… je t'aime

In the 1960s, which is 60 years before when I come from which is the future, a recondite avant garde composer by the name of Captain Beefheart graced the airwaves with his trundling avant garde music that challenged the status quo of blues music with a menagerie of outré bumps and scrapes, replete with a healthy dose of guttural growls, vaguely resembling music. Yet these renegade evocative soundscapes informed a portent of society. In order for progress to subsist, artistic vanguards like this are of incorrigible necessity.

Now, I'm going to go on a bit of a tangent here, so please ... bare with me. In comparable fashion, the incandescent, avant garde Dada movement was birthed by way of the antipodal reaction to the indelible horrors of World War Un. This international movement was embarked by a collective of adroit artists and poets consummately associated with the Cabaret Voltaire in Zurich. Dada rejected reason and logic, prizing a mélange of nonsense, irrationality and intuition. The origin of the name Dada is difficult to parse; some believe that it is a nonsensical word. Others maintain that it originates from the Romanian artists Tristan Tzara's and Marcel Janco's frequent use of the words da, da, meaning yes, yes in the Romanian language. Another paradigmatic theory states that the nom de plume "Dada" came during a confluence of the group when a paper-ladeden knife stuck into a French-German dictionary happened to indicate a sequence of letters spelling out 'dada', a French word for 'hobbyhorse'. Their greatest accomplishment, however, was paving the way for Black Rock Shooter, and in turn, this highly intellectual essay I am writing.

In the avant garde tradition of dadaism, Black Rock Shooter tells the tale of budding young girls coping with the malaise of growing up by way of nigh-poetic alternative reality battle sequences. These obstreperous alternative reality segments, an oneiric substrate of the recursive subconscious, serve as a brilliantly heuristic amalgam: the asynchronous parallelogram that is the human mind is an esoteric and, at times, untenable beast; one that Black Rock Shooter, in all its thematic opulence, seizes magnanimously, spinning it's own immutable and immaculate web that, while subtly didactic, masterfully explicates the manifold human condition on the precipice of the acquiescence of maturity with a very natural demure about it. In the words of Lester Bangs, "Every great work of art has two faces, one toward its own time and one toward the future, toward eternity." Well played, Mr Bangs. Well played.

And if you'll bare with me for a bit longer, I'd like to expound upon what a "character" is before diving headfirst into Black Rock Shooter's puissant ensemble cast. To cite wikipedia: "A character is a person in a narrative work of arts (such as a novel, play, television show/series, or film).[1] Derived from the ancient Greek word kharaktêr, the English word dates from theRestoration,[2] although it became widely used after its appearance in Tom Jones in 1749.[3][4] From this, the sense of "a part played by an actor" developed.[4] Character, particularly when enacted by an actor in the theatre or cinema, involves "the illusion of being a human person."[5] In literature, characters guide readers through their stories, helping them to understand plots and ponder themes.[6] Since the end of the 18th century, the phrase "in character" has been used to describe an effective impersonation by an actor.[4] Since the 19th century, the art of creating characters, as practised by actors or writers, has been called characterisation.[4]"

That is what a "character" is. Now you "know".

Tu m'étonnes. And the "characters", ahh the "characters"…!!! So many "characters", so many "feelings". As I consider it, nigh all of them are connected. In point of fact, the teacher is as well. Mato, a protean Humbert Humbert of sorts, is our intrepid protagonist. Feebly equipoised, Mato is a veritable "domino theory" of emotions. Everything from :D to >:O is covered consummately, leaving no stone left unturned, n'est-ce pas! In no other piece of fiction has the kaleidoscopic array of humanity been so thoroughly covered, and with such nuance to boot. Astute viewers will be on the edge of their seat as Mato confronts inherently relatable, quotidian issues, such as being dealt the "dirty colored macaroons" by a periphery, recalcitrant acquaintance; clearly a profound yet subtle metaphor for fate and one's lot in life. This essayist is pleased to report that you can expect many more ruminations on life like this promulgated throughout, so please be gently with everyone. Case in point, Black Rock Shooter, Mato's acousmêtre alter ego, is in constant conflict with an elusive, Kafkaesque clout beyond her control; a startling depiction bureaucracy that rivals such notable works as "1994" and "Brave World" in its deft, metaphysical illustrations. Furthermore, White Album 2 uses many emotions to bring out emotions. These emotions then show us the emotions of the characters and hence develop them and give us emotions as well while watching this. Veni, vidi, vici.

Black Rock Shooter truly is a psychologically variegated, ephemeral Musique concrète-esque urbane (to coin a neologism) tree-being-chopped-down-when-no-one-is-around-does-anyone-hear-it.!?!. It is a sterling example of anime's edifying artistic potential and stands out sumptuously in the moribund, fetid, meretricious sea of ancillary noxious pabulum that is the anime industry. It is the vanguard avant garde artistic achievement we need. If you'll excuse me for using a downright plebeian parlance of our contemptuous times, it is Absolutely Life Affirming: 10/10

Captain Beefheart would be proud. il y a quelque chose qui cloche métro, boulot, dodo Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité.

Yuri factor, however, is a paltry 4.2793/10. Mere inklings of shoujo-ai allusions are all that await you in Black Rock Shooter, in terms of yuri. Don't assuage, however. Abide. Besides, are yuri main for you?

PS: I don't know why I said PS, but this is my maiden voyage review. CONSTRUCTIVE feedback is heartily encouraged. I'd say "Thanks for reading", but let's be honest, you should be thanking me for allowing you to read it. :3

Tune in next week for my review of Lunch Poems by Frank O'Hara, faithful reader. Voilà
Z̤̲̙̙͎̥̝A͎̣͔̙͘L̥̻̗̳̻̳̳͢G͉̖̯͓̞̩̦O̹̹̺!̙͈͎̞̬ *

When watching Black Rock Shooter OAV, I remember seeing the original HUKE mv and thinking, "Simple. Makes sense."

Then the TV came in. I was first of all shocked by all the changes, then I was surprised the story had taken a different turn, and then came the new characters added. What had happened to the original animation I had fallen in love with? There was a bunch of mixed emotions as I had such high expectations. And that was only the first half of the first episode.

And then I watched the first one. And then the second. I was literally hooked.

Why?

First of all, for only ... thirty minutes of animation, it was well put together! Everything was clear and I didn't have a headache by the end of each episode. I was just ready for the next one.
The animation helped with that as well. The fights after all, are nothing to over look, the 3D hanging between CGI and 2D. It's entirely too engrossing.

Second, the suspense killed me. What was going to happen? Who was going to do what? The story was so interestingly new and made me want to discover more about it. What was this other world, how did it work and in what ways were these girls truly connected to it? My questions were all answered in a way I was completely satisfied with. So far, nothing has been left out for me that would keep me unable to comprehend the story.

Third, I wanted to say, THIS IS MIDDLE SCHOOL! There's supposed to be DRAMA! And is there Drama! With a capital D! It makes me enjoy the luxuries of being an adult in my own world, because I would never want to grow up as a young girl in the world of BRS! This was especially increased by the latter episodes.

Anyways, I believe that this anime is one of the more enjoyable art pieces in Japan that I have found over the last few years to watch. Constantly, disappointment has thwarted my experience over and over again, causing me to become disinterested and to hate the new tier of anime being released. But BRS is a nice start to the year, and I hope more anime will continue to follow it's example.

Interesting characters, diverse plot line, wonderful effects, and a great story, Black Rock Shooter TV has taken my cake.

Story: 9/10
It was absolutely unpredictable for me. Maybe, people who watched OVA can find some spoilers in it, but I think that scenario is great. It's quite interesting story about hurting, friendship and parallel world. Actually, "Black Rock Shooter" has two or even three parallel plots.
Art: 10/10
Fantastic graphic. Each episode was really incredible from graphical point of wvew. Both real and parallel worlds are painted carefully and stylish, that means, in two different styles.
Sound: 9/10
I don't know what to say about it. Maybe, I put nine for sound because I saw the "Puella Magi Madoka Magica", where sound work was really outstanding. There sound is ... also good, but not the best I seen ever.
Character: 8/10
Many characters, many feelings... How to write about it without spoilers or foolish speculations? Each schoolgirl has each own personality, and each teacher also. Practically all characters are connected together.
Enjoyment: 7/10
Battles is the only enjoyment there, because other parts of this series are very serious and sad. But... are enjoyment main for you?
Overall: 9/10
The "Black Rock Shooter" was expected to be catching, but nobody expected so catching eight-episodes anime. You need to watch it (of course, if you are ready not only to see but also to think).

The first time I heard about Black Rock Shooter, it was basically from all the hype in literally every single social media site I visited. The catchy theme song with the opening lines "Brack Lock Shootah~" stuck in my head and it was on the top of my "planning to watch" list for the longest time. However, this anime was very disappointing.

I'm going to keep it pretty short since this my first review and I don't actually know what I'm doing, but there were several key aspects I feel the anime was missing.

Many people commented on the fact that it had no storyline, and I'll ... let them slide there because honestly, many school setting animes lack a storyline or much of it and are still extremely enjoyable and successful. But Black Rock Shooter's storyline was so difficult for me to understand that I had to have at least 4 tabs of the 'black rock shooter wikia' page open while watching the show, almost like having a cheat sheet for a big test.

Along with that, the anime lacked a basic... Cause and Effect property, if you will. Many characters would have mental break downs and then recover and resume normal behavior 30 seconds later, that doesn't quite make sense. And as stated by previous reviewers, there was a complete lack of any type of Laws involving Physics, which leaves viewers confused as to the abilities of some characters.

Overall, I find that Black Rock Shooter was a poorly written anime with excellent art and animation, that it was hard to follow, and that there are still some aspects of the anime that I don't and will never understand.

WARNING- Nothing like the OVA.

I for one was very disappointed. I enjoyed the OVA, the art was great, the soundtrack was amazing, and the voice acting perfected. (Yeah the story could have been better.)

But what the OVA did right, the adaptation did wrong.

The art-style changed. Character designs were completely redrawn. The designs in the OVA were great, but in the anime they just look bland and half-hearted.

The voice-acting and the music weren't as bad, but they still don't quite match up to what the OVA gave us.

And the story... well that was just stupid. It's another Otaku bait anime that wants to give us ... kawaii-moe girls in a high school drama for 5 minutes and then have random intense fantasy battle scenes thrown in because we obviously don't have attention spans that can put up with it. According to BRS, if we don't see swords and tits every few minutes, we'd get bored and stop watching.

The problem is, for this anime. It's true.

Warning: The following is a rewrite of a deleted review from years ago, and contains blacks, rocks, shooters, criticism, profanity and a score below 5/10. Reader discretion is advised.

“Motherfucker” – Samuel L Jackson.

Black Rock Shooter has had an interesting rise to prominence, beginning with a mere illustration that spawned into a music video by famous vocaloid persona Hatsune Miku, whose attire was inspired from these illustrations. An OVA was released in 2010 based on the music video, much to the pleasure of many vocaloid fans that caused a ridiculous amount of hype surrounding the project that naturally left a lot to be desired. From there ... the franchise created their own line of figurines and a video game before finally returning to anime two years later, putting small-time animation studios Ordet and SANZIGEN in charge of the project to expand the franchise further than ever before, culminating in a TV series composed of 8 episodes in early 2012. Rarely does an anime come to fruition from a tangled background like this, the majority of anime use manga or light novels as source material to base a show around. Because of such, questions are bound to arise about the narrative, characters, structure and other elements in regard to a show when it has such a vague and almost convoluted history like this. Black Rock Shooter is a prime example for why such questions and concern about similar circumstances are justified, by being one of the most peculiar anime I’ve seen, and not in a good way.

The TV series of Black Rock Shooter focuses primarily on two characters and two worlds. One being the human world where two schoolgirls Mato Kuroi and Yomi Takanashi go about their normal lives and first befriend each other. The alternate world is more of a mystery, coming off as a stylized barren wasteland where the enigmatic fighter known as “Black Rock Shooter” wanders across the land, fighting for seemingly no other purpose than for her own survival. Unlike the OVA, this series does attempt to show that characters between both worlds are connected, with BRS and other fighters acting as the personas of characters in the real world, providing an intriguing, distinct expression into how characters honestly feel about each other. Unfortunately, the show was unable to capitalize on this at all with the 8 episodes they had from the very start. The first episode gives a couple lines of exposition on the relation between both worlds, which is an improvement from the OVA which had no focus on the topic whatsoever, but this is the only time when said link is ever touched upon. Looking back, it’s kind of pathetic how production didn’t bother to do anymore with this concept considering that Black Rock Shooter is a series that relies on relationships and links, but they did the bare minimum when it came to the most important relationship of all; with the self. Constantly characters are shown to have their own inner conflicts that are expressed through battles within the alternate world, yet there is an ongoing disconnect between these settings that has a damaging effect on these parallel stories as each on their own have nowhere near enough content and focus to stand on their own.

The story of Black Rock Shooter is nothing special; Mato Kuroi has just entered middle school and she is looking for friends, eventually befriending Yomi Takanashi, a shy, aloof girl initially through their shared interest in a picture book. Slowly Yomi becomes more open with Mato as the show goes on until, plot twist, Yomi has another best friend, and she isn’t happy with Yomi talking to other girls! Oh my god, what drama! Honestly, it’s just a silly middle school girl drama that takes itself way too seriously and has no real entertainment value that warrants much attention. At least if it stuck with only focusing on the two main characters, then maybe I wouldn’t have such a problem with the plot, but Black Rock Shooter does not care about being a disjointed mess. After the half-way point the show takes a turn off a cliff as more characters are introduced with little screen time, only to never get a mention again. More “plot-twists” and backstories are added to give the story more shock value that no one cares about at this point, and it all bundles together to form this perplexing piece of work that both insults your intelligence with how simplistic it can get, yet confuses one with so many plot points unanswered to the point where viewers are no longer watching for the plot and only for the action. Which brings us to the alternate world of Black Rock Shooter:

This setting is a complete change in presentation, showing a vibrant yet desolate realm that is supposed to represent the mentality of middle-school girls; chaotic, turbulent, dangerous where peace among fellow wanderers is not an option. It’s kill or be killed here. All the focus here is action and it is easily the best part of the show. The directing, use of CGI and choreography were all impressive here and a keen eye for detail was present with every battle. Sadly, I would argue these scenes act as a double-edged sword for Black Rock Shooter. On one side, it’s certainly visually impressive and the only parts of the show I would ever recommend watching, but what these scenes do is take away precious time that should have been used to tell the actual story at hand. As far as I’m concerned, the action is second to the main plotline and if the narrative here is rendered to shit because the staff wanted to add more cool action scenes, I don’t see how that makes the show better. All it does is turn the series into one where you can only enjoy if you “turn your brain off” and what makes that any better than looking at a fucking brick wall? It doesn’t help that most of the action scenes are jumbled together with scenes from the human world and ends up clipping the actual story, with horrendous transitioning that makes it all feel worthless. Maybe if they actually put emphasis on how the two worlds correlate, then maybe people would care about what happens in these scenes, but that seems like an impossible scenario considering the staff couldn’t fucking do it right a second time with 3 hours to work with!

Black Rock Shooter has a very poorly constructed storyline that feels like a case of a show trying to accomplish much more than what time given would allow, but taken to the extreme and doesn’t bother to focus on telling a coherent plot in the process. But as bad as the plot may be, the characters are arguably even worse. These young girls are both simple yet retarded, let me explain. Both main characters are fairly generic, with Mato being an outgoing girl with a strong sense of loyalty and Yomi being an introvert wary of getting close to anyone due to a “tragic past”. The two easily contrast each other and are in no way memorable until they begin showing signs of stupidity that does not match their personalities. The way these two react to everything around them is unnatural; they exaggerate to any problem they face and never try and think about it rationally. Whether it be Mato constantly yelling at every minor problem in her relationship, or Yomi getting the crazy-eye expression one would compare with an anime character about to commit suicide, these two are atrocious when portraying appropriate feelings. This is why I call them retarded; even for teenage girls they come off as incompetent whenever the slightest bit of conflict occurs in either of their lives. The cheesy dialogue does these girls no favours and only further implies that they have mental issues. This is also seen with the underdeveloped characters that are shown for 2 minutes before disappearing from the show, but I found the main leads to be unbearable. For a show that relies on emotions, there was always a feeling of disconnect between what was happening onscreen and what was happening in subtext. And now, after bearing witness to all of their actions, I can easily say that these are two of the most overdramatized lesbian characters I have ever seen; so bad that even the LGBT+ community doesn’t acknowledge them.

For the most part, Black Rock Shooter looks like one of the most bland and uninteresting anime in recent memory if you exclude the alternate world. The characters all look sloppy with a sketchy art-style with no identity of its own and some laughable attempts at highlights. The animation here just looks cheap, as if all of the budget when into the action, which barely took about 1/3rd of the series. The lighting was actually commendable when used in the more “traumatic” scenes, creating a believable aura of uncertainty that helped enhance these moments if only on a technical level, but otherwise it was forgettable and almost absent for the remainder of the show. However, the action scenes are on a whole other level, showcasing some of the best CGI implementation I have seen in an anime and homes some marvellous camerawork and fight composition that makes me wonder why the entire show wasn’t in CGI. When comparing the two diverse art-styles it makes what was hand-drawn look more and more like a piece of shit – one of the rare cases where an anime has crappy hand-drawn animation with stunning CGI animation. Sound-wise it was fine: voice-acting, soundtrack and audio effects were all passable, except for the opening. The opening was sung by supercell featuring everyone’s favourite vocaloid Hatsune Miku, and while some will definitely enjoy the opening, it’s one that feels out of place with this show, and one that I can easily say is “not for me.”

Black Rock Shooter was ultimately another attempt for people to try and make a quick buck off a rising trend, and now that the fad has quietly calmed down I hope that people can see what a pile of utter shit this series it. A successor to a shitty OVA that slightly improves on the material in some ways, only to make the plot even more confusing, characters even more infuriating and an impression on similar works where I expect such to be a complete waste of time. There’s a lot of things I fucking hate about this show, but what really pushes me to the edge is part of the fanbase that find it “d33p” and that if you didn’t like it then you obviously didn’t get it... To anyone who belongs to this group: Trust me, we all got what it was aiming to be, but what actually happened is a different story. We don’t get it? Maybe you don’t get that a show which tries to be an internal character study can also completely fail at it. And with that said, I leave you all with the final verdict.


“♫♫♫ Black Rock Shooter, where have you gone? ♫♫♫”

TO THE HALL OF PAIN BITCH!!! REST….. IN…… PISS!!!!

Okay... this is my first review, but I thought of doing this, since people don't seem to understand what this anime was about, since the anime itself seemed actually very psychological, or at least that's what it felt like to me.

these are my personal feelings about the anime so far, please be aware of that

Story: 9
Story was great, it felt to me, that it was built to tell about human's emotional suffering, and how social invalidation can turn us into doubting our own feelings, and making us feel isolated.

"Invalidation is to reject, ignore, mock, tease, judge, or diminish someone's feelings. It is an attempt to ... control how they feel and for how long they feel it."
"Psychological invalidation is one of the most lethal forms of emotional abuse. It kills confidence, creativity and individuality."

This makes perfect sense once you watch the story.

My conclusion about the 'Dawn' consultation was to make people sure that there is always help and that no one should be alone in this world.

The whole story seemed very psychological to me, which is why I gave it a 9.

Art: 7
I don't care so much about art, so let's say it was good

Sound: 7
Nothing too special about the sound, the sound effects in the 'inside' world were well done I'd say. The voice actors did an ok job aswell.

Character: 8
Kuro is a pure hearted girl who cares about people and their feelings, she sadly gets invalidated by Kagari, and makes her confused on her feelings and on why did Kagari have to say such a thing.

Kagari was probably suffering herself aswell, and was trying to fight her own feelings by casting them upon other people.

Takanashi's feelings were completely controlled by Kagari and which is why Takanashi was unsure to have Kuro as her friend, and made Kuro think that she also was invalidating her, perfect character trio is made.

Enjoyment: 9
I enjoyed Black★Rock Shooter alot, just because of the social complexity it had.

Overall: 8
This anime is worth watching, or at least the first 2 episodes so far.

Black★Rock Shooter (TV) is an action, science, fantasy and drama anime, which was created by Ordet and Sanzigen studios, with Shinobu Yoshioka as the director and Mari Okada as the lead writer. The anime first aired on February 2nd 2012, finished on March 22nd 2012, and was 8 episodes long.

In a nutshell.
Black★Rock Shooter (TV) has a story that centers on the two different worlds that are connected and everything, which happens in the first world, will affect the second. The anime follows the story of Mato Kuoi, a girl who struggles to keep her new friend Yomi Tananashi and Black★Rock Shooter, a mysterious girl ... in the another world, fighting other beings for an unknown reason. The anime’s mixture of bright and dark art styles and its use of the animation to draw the viewer’s attention, as well as the splendid soundtrack, made the world of Black★Rock Shooter (TV) real for me. The strong message the show leaves to the viewer, we all feel pain and have our reasons to live on, but if we want to accomplish our aim, we should do it together, is impossible to ignore. I recommend Black Rock Shooter to everyone who is looking for a good; yet, short story; you won’t be disappointed.


Plot
The plot of Black★Rock Shooter (TV) revolves around the two worlds linked together: the first is the human world, where a girl called Mato Kuoi fights for her friendship with Yomi Tananashi, and the other world shows a mysterious girl, called Black★Rock Shooter, fighting other beings in fierce battles for an unknown reason. One thing is certain, there is some kind of a connection between Mato and Black Rock Shooter. Black★Rock Shooter (TV)’s story intertwines both worlds, so that negative effects in one are reciprocated in the other. The secrets hidden about each character will entice the viewer into wanting to learn more about what happens to Mato and her new relationship.

Now onto the main characters of Black★Rock Shooter (TV):
Mato kuroi – Voiced by Kana Hanazawa (Shiina Mayuri from Steins gate and Tachibana Kanade from Angel Beats) – She is the main character in the human world and has some form of a connection to Black★Rock Shooter. She plays for a basketball team at her school and is called the First Year Ace by other members of the team for being very skilled at the game. She becomes Yomi’s friend on her first day of school, but someone starts tormenting Mato because of that friendship.
Yomi Takanashi – Voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro (Asada Shino from Sword Art Online II and Hatsuse Izuna from No Game No Life) – She becomes friends with Mato on her first day at school after moving back from Germany. She is not used to making new friends as her family has been moving around throughout her life. She is a part of the school’s art club, as she is very good at drawing. She gets intimidated by her childhood friend, who has a lot of control over her because of something Yomi believes she did wrong, after she find out about Yomi’s Friendship with Mato.
Black★Rock Shooter – Voiced by Kana Hanazawa – She is the main character of the other world and has some kind of connection to Mato. She carries a rock cannon and a katana, she fights other beings in her world for some mysterious purpose. The message Black★Rock Shooter (TV) tries to deliver to us is that only we are guilty of our problems and that only we can solve them; however, the majority of people just want to run away or to give up, but with the help and support of the people close to us, we can overcome all difficulties.

Presentation
Black★Rock Shooter (TV) uses a mixture of very sharp, bright and dark color scheme to attract viewer’s attention, and to present the characters’ pain and struggles they face though out the story. The focus on how the two different worlds are connected, and can affect each other helps to peak the viewer’s interest about the show more. The animation of the characters is very well-made, specially the action scenes, as they show how much time and effort was put in, and it makes them one of best parts of Black★Rock Shooter (TV). While Black★Rock Shooter (TV) is a short anime, its story has depth, which may surprise the viewer, because many short anime don’t have this level of detail, which is a huge achievement of Black★Rock Shooter (TV). The voice acting was very well-done, with Kana Hanazawa’s voice of both Mato and Black★Rock Shooter. The soundtrack of the anime is beautiful, the music sounds soft and quiet when scenes take place in the human world, and heavy and fast pace when the action scenes in the other world happen. Finally, with the help of Supercell’s singers Hatusune Miku (Vocaloid and sings the Opening theme) and Koeda (Sings the ending theme), the soundtrack came to life to me.


My Opinion
It is an open secret that short anime don’t receive a good story’s and character’s development; however, Black★Rock Shooter (TV) proved to me that even a short anime might receive a good development. Black★Rock Shooter (TV) was able to do that in just 8 episodes and I think that it is a huge achievement. The connection of the characters, along with the blending of the two worlds, made it very interesting to watch as it creatively delivers the main message, "we all have pains that we want to run away from and most of the time, and we don’t know what to do about them alone." Lastly, Black★Rock Shooter (TV) doesn't do what some shows do, leave the viewer with a cliff-hanger, instead leaves the viewer with an ending that doesn't leave any loose ends.

Verdict
Black★Rock Shooter (TV) is a hidden gem in anime and has one of the most satisfying stories I have seen in a long time. It shows us that a story doesn't need to be long to be interesting. Throughout the story, Black★Rock Shooter (TV) describes that everyone around us has pain and struggles in their lives but we must stand up against them and help the each other overcome and accept ourselves. I recommend anyone who loves stories about hardships to give Black★Rock Shooter (TV) a chance and you won’t feel disappointed.

Updated for completing the series. I'll try to keep this as spoiler free as possible

Story 3/10- While all the characters from the OVA are present here, the story itself is nearly completely different. While I won't spoil anything, I will say that right off the bat BRS and her alternate world is explained within this first episode. One of the main faults of the OVA was that nothing was really explained at all, so the fact that the audience learns what the hell is going on is an improvement. However, explaining it all within one episode, in a few lines? Then, ... as more and more characters are brought into the story, the 'plot twists' and developments start to feel more and more like silly ass-pulls that come completely out of nowhere. Backstories, especially, seem just like convenient but stupid tie ins. None of it is convincing at all. I will say that the main concept of the main story isn't that bad, but the way it's told and executed is hilariously bad. The end is also fucking dumb. With the way it ends, you begin to wonder why they even made the show at all.

Art 2/10 - I can't quite put my finger on it, but something about the way the characters are drawn just feels wrong. Compared to the OVA, everything seemed to be lacking finesse and polish. The characters feel sloppily drawn, and the animation is plain cheap. When combined with the sketch-ish art style , everything looks much worse. Some of the character shots are literally laughable (Yomi's face when Kagari told her to let her go left me in stitches). Early on I thought the 3D segments were interesting, but as the episodes went on it quickly became dull and just as mediocre as the drawn art. Even the supposedly high action fight scenes felt half-assed after the first couple episodes.

Sound 5/10 - Not much to say here, other than it was ok. Voice acting was fine, the effects were ok, and the BGM was ok. supercell's "Black Rock Shooter" as the OP, however, felt so damn out of place. Now, I may be a bit biased, considering this is one of the few supercell songs that bother me (Miku actually sounds awkward here), but it just kind of came out of no where. Does not fit the mood of the rest at all. I really like the ED song as a standalone song, but as the ED to this show, again, it just feels out of place. It's definitely more fitting than BRS as the OP, but still, something is off.

Character 1/10 - Oh boy. Where do I begin? The way the characters react to everything that happens is completely unnatural. None of it feels right. From Mato completely overreacting to something, to Yomi being such a cliched loner it hurts, to the two's interactions being hilariously close to being yuri, I began to find it hard to take any of it seriously. The over the top, cheesey dialogue doesn't help, either. More new characters are introduced, and while they make things more interesting for a good 2 minutes, they quickly become as over dramatic and incoherent as Mato and Yomi. Hell, they're probably even worse than those two. Also, as new characters are introduced old ones are completely ignored. Yomi and Kagari are completely forgotten about for a good 3 or 4 episodes, then suddenly come back for the last episode. It's just a mess.

Enjoyment 3/10 -The only reason I finished this show was so I could make fun of it with my friends every week. It was better to treat this show as some kind of reverse comedy, which I did, rather than a Madoka-style 'little girls breaking down and going crazy.' If you go in taking it completely seriously, you won't finish the show.

Overall 2/10 - The OVA, despite all its flaws, set a pretty good stage for this. The series kind of looks at stage, says 'I can improve this!', tries to expand on the already set world, but completely fucks everything up and ends up just stumbling around. There's no way in hell I can honestly recommend this show to anyone.

Mari Okada is a writer who is the perfect definition of "all style, no substance". I enjoyed her script for Toradora, but everything else she wrote makes me want to throw my monitor out of the window.

For example, Ano Hana. It took 2/3 of the series to reveal that yes, Menma the ghost is real. Why couldn't she just prove herself instead of acting like a moeblob for the first six episodes? Oh wait, it's bad writing.

She's basically the Nicholas Sparks of anime. Her only purpose is to make you cry, and when emotions are the main factor behind a story, you know that there ... is no room for rational explanations & logic. (And don't give me that "oh it's anime who cares about logic" bullcrap. Nanoha and Madoka Magica has alot of rationale in it)

In short, Mari Okada's a hack and no work of her's define hackery better than Black★Rock Shooter the TV series.

B★RS is originally a music video from a music producer named "Huke", which became an OVA created by former KyoAni director Yutaka Yamamoto, also known as "the saviour of anime". An anime series for this would be inevitable, especially in an age of Madoka Magica and Penguindrum. Hey, why not cash in on the success of a mahou shoujo franchise by making a TV series with our mahou shoujo franchise, right?

The story of B★RS TV is almost the same as the OVA, but it does not follow up from the OVA. So prepare to be disappointed if you're expecting a sequel from the OVA.

But if you're a newcomer to the franchise, it's basically this:

A bunch of middle school kids transcends two worlds: a world of middle school innocence and a world of gunfights and sword battles. These middle school kids have emotional issues, and these emotional issues in one world translates into awesome battles in the other.

Simply to say, it's basically Narutaru and Utena meets the Matrix and Inception. Or something like that.

The characters are exactly the problems with Mari Okada's writing. I mean, they are the same terrible characters you see in M. Night Shyamalan's The Happening. The main character, Mato Kuroi has some non-existent emotional issues. Hell, she's basically a female Alan Partridge, unable to comprehend the problems of her best friend, Yomi. Yomi, in the other hand is dominated by her awful childhood friend Kagari and her parents are terrible even in Maury Povich/Jeremy Kyle standards. Yomi's mother is a terrible person. Hell, even the worst parent in the world would not be as bad as Yomi's mom. Also, Mato's other friend Yuu can bring her otherworld personality into the real world, whereas their councellor Saya is a crazy bitch.

But all of this terrible characterisation makes up or amazing battles in the otherworlds, and that makes for amazing visuals and art. Even if you didn't like the main story, but the action is heart-pounding and the otherworld scenes where Mato becomes the Black Rock Shooter is one thing that redeems the bad writing.

Another good thing about this series is the sound. Kana Hanazawa is pretty okay as Mato, eventhough i'm sick of her child-like voice. Miyuki Sawashiro is still amazing as Yomi, displaying her range even better this time around. Eri Kitamura as crazy Kagari is not bad either, since she's knwon for playing crazy characters and Kana Asumi keeps that Yuno voice which works for Yuu. But Mamiko Noto is the best seiyuu in this, especially when she's playing something out of her range. A crazy lesbian councellor with the voice of Nogizaka Haruka? Hell yeah.

And the OPs and EDs are pretty good. I hate it that both Noitamina shows this season are basically mediocre anime with Supercell and Kana Hanazawa, but i enjoyed this Supercell than the Supercell from Guilty Crown. And Hatsune Miku's voice do work for the OP, because thank God it's a Miku song that utilizes her voice as an advantage.

Overall, B★RS TV is a mediocre series which has lots of good action wrapped around a bad story of terrible writing. You want something good? Go watch Lagrange, Mouretsu Pirates or even Symphogear. Yes, i prefer Symphogear than this.

Alright then people, this is what I've taken from this anime so far. This is my opinion, agree or disagree, its up to you which button you press, helpful or not.
BTW this has spoilers

So, I remember watching the OVA for black rock shooter and I admit it did suck me in. I have high hopes for this series, it has plenty of potential. First of all, I have to say that the artwork is brilliant as is the backround music I've heard. The characters appear to be well done and both main characters interact well, being polar opposites they appear to just fit each other. ...

Now, on to this other dimension. It is a beautifully drawn place and the mysterious combatants in it add a mystic to it. Why are they fighting you wonder what is the purpose. But then you suddenly notice a correlation between this worlds characters fights and the girls emotions in the real world. Black rock shooter began to lose when her real world equivalent, Kuroi, was in pain. Like the Councillor said, someone takes her pain.

The designs of the other world characters appear to be metaphors the blond haired girls doll faced killing machine and her real world equivalent doll both were used to hurt our protagonist. That and the other girl, Takanashi, is trapped by the blond haired girl in real life and her weapon appears to be chains

That's all for now, this anime has buckets of potential, I can only hope it keeps up the current trend.

Black★Rock Shooter is, more or less, an inevitable failure to imitate the dark theme of Mahou Shoujo Madoka x Magica.

Starting off, the first time I saw the trailer of the OVA in Youtube, I was amazed. I really want to watch it. But in the end, after about five months of waiting, I was so disappointed with the OVA. It tried to deliver the story in a very tight yet complex plot--but it failed. Their attempt brought so much plot holes.

Now, there's a new one for the television. I thought it was a hope to revive the title's failure in the OVA but no, it ... just failed again. They're still trying to execute the same complex plot that rendered the story incapable of standing by itself. The script does not help either. The characters throw one-liner quotes that don't really help develop the story. The choice of words do not imply what is happening--or perhaps, it's the bad transition between the scenes that made it happen.

The characters all had this cliche personality (i.e. a klutz, an emo, a super-energetic, etc). Unfortunately, they could not create enough distinction between each character.

The sound gets crappy at times. They don't escalate the emotion of the characters. It almost feel like it's off-beat for the mood. Most of the times, overly dramatic melodies are played over a very trivial scene--and it just don't work. Seriously.

On a brighter note, the animation was really good--perhaps, comparable to the of Sunrise's fluid-like animation. But that is all it has to offer. Nothing more.

***

Summing up, it's a two thumbs up for Ordet's animation and a two thumbs down for the bad direction and cliche script.

* I haven't proofread my review yet so sorry if there are any grammatical errors. I'll do it as soon as I finished watching the second episode.

Black Rock Shooter is a series I'm only passingly familiar with. Basically, an illustrator named Fuke Ryohei did an illustration that inspired a song that resulted in an OVA that resulted in a game that resulted in several manga, an anime and a whole lot more. That must have been one awesome illustration. In any case, let's take a look at the anime adaptation.

The story is pretty simple, there are two worlds, one is our ordinary world, the other is a world where our other selves live and shoulder our pain for us... by beating the crap out of each other. The series surrounds a ... middle school student named Mato, her interactions with others and how this affects the other world. The concept is interesting, but they really only get in depth with it for half of the series, which amounts to four episodes. The series uses a lot of completely unsubtle colour symbolism, which gets a little annoying. I liked the way they brought the disparate elements together at the end, but it almost felt like they tried to do too much with an eight episode series. This means that some of the plot points aren't very well explained or expanded upon.

The characters in this are very well done. A lot of the reason for that is the premise. Since the characters emotions are tied to what their other selves are doing, the series has to go in-depth into the characters in order for the other world to make sense. Which, thankfully, they do with skillful illustration rather than forced exposition. To put it in a simpler, albeit somewhat cliche, way they show you instead of telling you. And this leads to some really compelling and sympathetic characters. Even though most of them are middle school girls. I suppose that this could be considered an issue, a lot of what makes the characters interesting is that they don't act like middle school girls except in a few minor ways. Although, as someone who still remembers middle school pretty vividly, I'm glad that they took the route that they did.

Now, let's talk about the art. I'm a little torn with this one. The "real world" scenes use a bright and cheerful art style similar to Manabi Straight. That's right, the art style that annoys me. They use the same basic style for the features in the other world, but they also do some really spectacular things with the art. The other world has this bizarre, ethereal quality and it looks great. The action scenes also have a unique and interesting look. So, I didn't like the real world art but I did like the other world art.

The cast does a good job, particularly Hanazawa Kana, it feels like she keeps popping up in the stuff I watch, and Sawashiro Miyuki, there's another familiar name. The music, I did not care for. It's difficult to put exactly what I didn't like about it into words. I suppose that it's the very artificial Vocaloid style a bunch of it uses. I'm not saying that Vocaloid music is inherently bad, in fact I rather like some of it, but given the importance that emotions to the story it feels like a really bizarre and inexplicable style for the series.

The yuri factor is a 6/10. Kagari clearly has a thing for Yomi and Mato and Yomi's relationship gets really homo-erotic at several points.

My final rating for Black Rock Shooter is a 6/10. It's a decent series with interesting ideas even if they could have been handled better. If the premise sounds interesting to you, give it a try. It's only eight episodes so it is a pretty quick watch.

[Heavy spoilers in my review]
I feel like this anime is something you're either going to get/like or don't. When I first watched this in 2012 when I was younger, I remember being damn confused but still really enjoyed it for its action and the central figure BRS. Rewatching it countless times as I got older, however, a lot of my confusion cleared up and I got to truly appreciate how unique and well done its direction was.

Before I go into the heavy stuff, in terms of the animation, the 2D animated scenes are decent and often have rather well-executed shots and lighting. But the ... real strength of the anime is its flawless execution of CG animation. It's honestly criminal that this anime is slept on or completely unmentioned when talking about anime with good 3D animation, as it has the best execution of this style no questions asked. It helps do justice and make spectacles of the awesome character designs of the Otherselves without any drop in quality.


Story for me is a solid 8 or 9 if you actually comprehend it. The biggest reason this anime is a disappointment for some watchers is from not understanding the story and thus, feeling as if there are many plot holes. The whole concept of the Otherworld is that it's a place that mirrors the human psyche (think the Metaverse from Persona 5), with Otherselves as the mental/emotional shadows of human girls. While the events aren't always mirrored, a lot of what happens in either world directly impacts the other, and I feel this aspect is what a lot of people miss when it comes to certain character changes. I'll go on to clarify some of the story sections I observed to have confused people the most. Again, another spoiler warning, as I am writing this review for the perspective of people who just came out of it.

As Otherselves are stated to carry a huge fraction of the emotional burdens of their counterparts, their death means the pain they carried from their humans die with them, including any associated memories of it. This was what caused Kagari to completely forget about her unhealthy dependence on Yomi after Chariot dies, mistaking her memories as Yomi being the overbearing one. Another instance is when Koharu forgets about her crush on her classmate, considering her pain came from the embarrassment of being humiliated for it. This is also what causes Yomi to forget about Mato, as all her anxieties and pain revolved around her struggles to befriend her. I feel like these character changes get criticized by a lot of watchers who didn't understand the mechanics of their world.

Another moment people seem to be confused about was Mato being trapped inside BRS as she went berserk. The scene can be tricky to understand if you don't comprehend everything that came before it. Mato intended to fuse with BRS in order to prevent her from killing Dead Master (which would erase Yomi's memory of her) however, she fused at the worst possible time, having to see a girl looking EXACTLY like Yomi being killed by her hand. Of course, she's going to freak out and this causes an effect on BRS since they're still fused at this point. This is what causes BRS, who is supposed to have no emotion by pure nature, to lose her mind. Considering Mato has also fused with BRS to save Yomi as a huge plot point in the original OVA, it becomes much easier to understand this turnout as a 'bad ending' version of that.

The last overly criticized aspect of the plot would be the last episode's confrontation between Mato and BRS. Considering all the emotional trials Mato and the others had come across trying to connect and befriend other people, all episodes prior to this leads to her realization that feeling pain is an important part of feeling love for others. Her fight against BRS was to reject her pain being taken by someone else, that it should be her burden alone and BRS being mentally far-gone at this point, retaliating violently. Other characters are shown to have this realization as well and their character arcs track up to this; Kagari coming to terms with her actions to know what healthy love is, Yuu realizing that she can find a support system despite what she lived through, Yomi overcoming her fears of alienation to make real friends and even Saya overcoming her guilt of being unable to help Yuu before which is what led her to her current profession. This was the big sentiment shared in that big rainbow visual scene "even if it hurts, I want to connect", wrapping up this metaphorical narrative of the emotional tribulations of growing up.

A certain plot hole I also notice being pointed out was Yuu/Strength's past and their history. I'll try and explain it as coherently as possible. While Yuu and Mato shared a brief childhood together, Yuu's life took a worse turn during a time Mato wasn't around. She was bullied and had a terrible home life before Saya befriended her. I believe it's after the fire where she might have swapped with Strength, considering Saya's encounter with her felt odd and Yuu's eyes resembled Strength's. It's at that point Strength (as Yuu) would have been able to tell Saya all about the Otherworld in order for her to grow up to be a school counselor that takes advantage of the Otherworld's mechanics to 'treat' the girls at school (hence her method of riling up Yomi and Kohata).
The details of Yuu being easily forgotten and misremembered are all because she's not a real person, she's an Otherself and possibly has less of a mental impact on others. Like she's a ghost you don't notice until you're forced to, like actually seeing her compared to being mentioned, for example. Mato having dissociated memories of Yuu is easily explained as her memory tries to recall the Yuu she knows presently as the Yuu she knew in the past, not knowing they're actually two different people which screws with her perception of those memories.


I see people often comparing the Ova to the anime, as if they expected the same story, though I feel it's a foolish criticism to have. The anime simply took inspiration from the concept but did its own fleshed-out story with its own direction. They're unrelated medias aside from just the name alone and shouldn't be compared so harshly unless you're just talking about preferences.


All in all, the story is solid as long as you understand it. Everything has an explanation as long as you consider the information that was given and make inferences. Not everything is spelled out or explained but all the pieces are there for perceptive, patient and dedicated watchers to combine. It ends up amounting to a very unique and well-done metaphorical portrayal of the emotional trials that come with entering adolescence, as several aspects of life and relations become harder and not so simple to handle. Mentally maturing is going to come with its share of burdens.
Personally, it became an important anime for me in my childhood, as my mother (who watched the show with me knowing it was my favourite) figured that my attachment to this show came from the fact that I was going through a hard time when dealing with the divorce of my parents, so I must have resonated with the concepts presented in the anime. I'm pretty sure I was around the depicted age of the girls too, like 12-14, so relating to it came even easier.

I started watching this anime with high expectations, but I was prepared that it can be worse than I thought. Even then it suprised me badly. Instead of drama-action anime it turned out to be really hard to watch, unlogical, and artifically dramatic piece of junk. Really what was good in it? Pretty other world and opening singed by Hatsune Miku just cannot save something like this from being exactly what I wrote: hard to watch, unlogical and artifically dramatic piece of junk. Characters are acting unrealistically, which is something I really hate since watching School Days. Overall just doesn't make sense. It's just something ... that tried to be a good drama, but failed monstrually. Also if you read all this and still are going to watch this, I want to warn you: if you have weak nerves, don't do it. Some scenes may be really horroristic for you. Poorly, I'm not able to describe this because of my small english vocabulary, but if you want to know what I mean, try searching for a game "Alice Madness Returns". It's similar feeling.
Also I want to mention why I gave it 9/10 for art. I just liked trick that producers did animating "real world" in more tradicional way and specially (I think so) not pretty and animating "other world" computer-style, beautifully, full of colors and just pretty. It's just my opinion, this trick will only annoy people that are starting watching anime.
So this'll be it. Short review of short anime. If you want to check it, just do it. You won't really regret it, it's just a waste of time. I personally wanted to just stop watching it at about episode 5 and finished it just to write this.

Firstly, I want to start off by confessing that I was (and still am) a huge fan of Black Rock Shooter before the OVA and the TV series came out. However I will try my best to write this review as if I know nothing about Black Rock Shooter. All good? Awesome, let's go!

Story 7/10 & Characters 7/10
For me, the weakest areas of this series are the story and characters. The story centers around Mato as she struggles to understand pain and the feelings of hurt, and Black Rock Shooter in an alternate world trying to save others from their pain and suffering by fighting ... their alternate egos. There is depth to the story (mostly apparent in the last few episodes), but the execution of it leaves much to be desired. The last few episodes in particular was very messy, and I had to rewatch them again to fully understand what was going on.

To summarize the characters, we have Mato, a bright and cheery girl who has not really experienced much feelings of pain; Yomi, a quiet girl who has difficulty making friends due to certain circumstances; Kasuga, a girl who is obsessed of never letting go of her friend; Yu, another happy girl who is not who she seems; and the school councellor. Most of the characters are rather bland, with the only standout being Kasuga. However the interaction of the characters and their extreme reactions when they feel the world is crashing down around them was one of the standouts of the series. It created a darker feeling to this series compared to the OVA, and while it can be extreme at times, I can imagine some people in real life will act the same way as well if they were thrown into this situation. You won't like many characters from the get-go, but in a way it is refreshing that an anime series isn't going full throttle to make the audience like every single female character, and allows the viewers to be more subjective rather than taking sides.

Art 9/10
The animation of the fighting scenes is a stand out for the most part. Occasionally something doesn't look quite right with the CG work, but it's only the odd scene or two. The non-CG scenes are also amazing, especially the character's expressions. However I did not really like how young Black Rock Shooter looked, and it was hard to tell what was going on during some of the fast paced action scenes.

Sound 10/10
I felt that the BGM generally fits each scene very well. I also like the occasional lead into the OP or ED. A standout for me would have to be the way the OP and ED was used in the final episode.

Enjoyment 10/10
Personally for me, I felt that this was probably THE standout series of the season, where many other series are more light-hearted or less story driven, and I judge how good a series is based on what else was available that series rather than against all other series I have watched in the past. I was planning to drop this series as I wasn't a big fan of the OVA but decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did in the end.

I got into the Black★Rock Shooter franchise without any former expectations based on the song by Hatsune Miku (which i enjoy lots, but not particularly the original Miku BRS song) nor the original illustrations, videogame or merchandise. I was embracing a new show, unaware of what was coming, perhaps wondering what sort of quality anything about this brand could possibly have, when this fame was reached through such disperse sorts of media. This perhaps could have made me a little sceptic but i was nontheless very curious, it was all new to me. I was in for a surprise.

STORY - 9
Borderline 10 rating. One of ... the things that admired me the most about this show was precisely, given that it was limited to 8 episodes and it had enough content to be spread through at the very least 12 episodes, considering the standard pace of most shows these days, it kept dropping in my conscience just how solid and well paced the character development and the situational progress of the events turned out in each episode. How can i explain this, it's as if they managed to keep the show quite fast paced but without feeling rushed at all. It also delivered something that i wasn't very pleased with in the OVA: closure. For those who also already finished watching all 8 episodes AND the OVA, and might disagree with this, i'll put it this way: while the OVA finishes while leaving you hanging with the "ok, what now??" question roaming your head, the TV series leave you with a sense that, there will be something beyond this, but you already know what it is and how it will be, you understand the future and the actual story has closure.

Art - 9
To justify this high rating, i shall praise this show in 2 different fronts, where it oozed the quality necessary in order to stand out among hundreds of other series. First and foremost, one of the earliest differences between OVA and TV lies in how the characters look like and move in the "other world". While the OVA looked great with very interesting coloring, traditional drawing and a rather dynamic however jumpy animation (low cell count?), the TV show won my heart in the most unexpected of ways. In the TV series, the characters in the "other world" are rendered in CGI and more often than not, that's a very bad omen for any show, due to the uncanny way 3D character models stand out against everything and everyone else not computer generated. The character CGI in BRS looked to me, both in style as well as in movement dynamics, nearly flawless. Many times it fooled my brain into reconsidering if it wasn't 2D, or perhaps an hybrid, which if it was the case, i shall clap my hands for its seamless way to merge what i would risk saying "2D meshes on 3D models". But, go see for yourself, seriously. No, really, do it. Even the movement was extremely fluid and resembled the freedom of traditional animation unlike most 3D models' movements which regularly come paired with clunky/stuck movement. Furthermore, going back into the "real world", the characters are 2D and, while they only look good for half of the time we're looking at them (therefore the 9 instead of a 10 rating), i found the detail and expressiveness of these characters to be super effective in conveying their emotions and pulling some reaction from me, of excitement or sadness, etc, everytime there was attention to detail on the characters' facial expressions.

Sound - 9
Yes, great. It doesn't have a very memorable soundtrack other than the BRS theme which doesn't count really, because it was already popular out of its own merit (well, to be fair, surely the show will expand on that already estabilished popularity). At various points i couldn't help but become aware of how well the music was being used to enrich several of the core scenes in the story's development, and during certain battles as well (both physical and mental). In terms of sound effects is was equally as competent, delivering some powerful waves especially during some of the battles' most brutal hits.

Character - 10
I can't say much due to spoilers, but, i will say this: i was impressed how did such a short show even only halfway into it, manage to make me so fond of some of the characters, and really, REALLY, feel glad and sad, and in general, moved with the events that unfolded around them. I consider this quality, a true pearl nowadays, when many shows just can't make you care about even a main character during a supposedly emotion filled peak finale, and then comes something like BRS, that made parts of my body clench in anticipation for the following week's episode, to know what will happen to more characters than just the main protagonist. Each character has a fully explained/revealed past that the viewer learns about in the course of the series and they all have strong motives to drive their intentions, and i believe, the viewer can easily understand all their motives sooner or later, given the smooth way that all the questions are answered (although some questions only get answers on the last 2 episodes or so, making it seem like a confusing story for those who didn't finish it and were expecting the gratification of self explanatory writing contained in isolated episodes that wouldn't dare leave questions hanging with these delicious cliffhangers).

Enjoyment - 10
Fully enjoyable, second counting waits between each week, absolute focus on the screen while each and every one of the episodes ran for those 20 minutes, moving characters, interesting story, gripping questions, eyecandy battles. I already know i'll be marathoning the show once it gets a full BluRay release! For a show i had no expectations (good or bad) for, what i found was a rollercoaster of emotions that started off sort of mild on the first episode or two but which escalated intensely with the characters you get to know at a deeper level.

NOTE: This is my first ever written review of an anime (or any other media), so I thought I’d start off with one of my favorite shows. I would happily accept any critic you have for me, but with this all in mind, let’s get started!

Disclaimer: The following review is based on my personal opinions, and does not feature many objective analyses. As such, this may not coincide with yours, or the general publics opinions.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A single illustration is inspiration to a song and a music video. These in turn lead to an OVA, a manga, and an entire TV series.
That is the story of the ... BRS franchise.


Story: (7 / 10)

I hear a lot of people saying the story in BRS is pretty average, and to be honest, I can’t really argue. In reality, all it’s about is the problems that exist in the friendship between a couple of school girls. The “otherworld” parts, while cool, do not really enhance the story in any way, and in the end, it’s still about a couple of girls and their friendship.

However, having said that, I don’t actually think the story is bad. In fact, I found the development of their emotional problems to be quite interesting, and the (few) “plot twists” kept things interesting throughout the series.

Some other people I know who watched this felt it was all very confusing, because not much is explained until rather late in the show. While this is true, I find that the somewhat fast pacing of the story will keep you thinking about other stuff, until you can finally get your answers.

Art: (9 / 10)

I think the art in BRS is absolutely gorgeous! In fact, this is probably one of the better looking shows I’ve seen. The character designs are great, and the overall art, especially the “otherworld” parts are visually stunning.

The action scenes all have very fluent animations, and the aesthetics help set the mood, somewhat. In addition, something I noticed on my second time through, was the attention to detail in the background, in some scenes.

Sound: (8 / 10)

First of, let’s talk about the music. Now, I’m not one to usually notice background music, unless it’s very prominent, and thus, I’ll mostly comment on the opening & ending songs here.

The opening song, “Black Rock Shooter”, written by Supercell’s Ryo, and performed by vocaloid Hatsune Miku, was a great choice, in my opinion. In addition to being a good song, it was the original song that Ryo wrote after being inspired by the original artwork of BRS. Being one of the things that help spawn this wonderful franchise, it only makes sense for it to be used in the anime.

As for the ending song, I also find it very fitting, as well as being a good song.
The song, “Bokura no Ashiato”, is also written by Ryo, and is performed by Supercell’s Koeda.
To be honest, I just adore Koeda, and can’t possibly dislike anything she sings, but this has also grown to be one of my all time favorite songs.
The lyrics and overall mood of the song also fits pretty well with the series itself.

The sound also receives bonus points, since it features one of my favorite VA’s, Hanazawa Kana. I feel like she fits the role of Mato very well, and while the other VA’s aren’t anything fantastic, they all did a good job in adding to their characters.

Character: (7 / 10)

Putting character designs (art-wise) aside, I think the characters in BRS are quite... interesting.

I feel like the characters are pretty relatable (even if some character’s actions seem rather stupid), and a character like Kagari really helps to balance out the cuteness of Mato & Friends.

Other than that, I also think they did a great job with Kagari, because to this day she remains one of the most disturbed little girls I’ve ever seen in an anime...

As for the “otherworld” characters, there isn’t really any dialog or anything to go by, but somehow I still get this feeling of they all being very awesome and in some way “well developed” characters.

Enjoyment: (9 / 10)

I can certainly see why many people may not like this, but personally, I enjoyed this show a lot. I found the mix of “cute girls do things” (at first, at least), and awesome fighting scenes to be very good, and even if the story isn’t anything amazing, it still managed to keep me interested.

I’m a bit disappointed that it’s so short, though (only 8 episodes), as I feel it could have been longer.

I picked this series up not being a fan of the Black Rock Shooter franchise; just a guy who gave into watching a popular series which was short enough that I could finish in little time.

Story: 3/10

There story is based around 2 different settings. 1 being a different world where there honestly isn't much going on in it till like the final 2 episodes. The other is an over the top school based drama that tries way to hard. You could fast forward through the first 6 episodes and not miss much in terms of plot progression.

Art: 8/10

Probably the only reason I carried ... on watching this series was for nicely animated fight scenes happening in the other world. Fast paced action scenes that keeps you entertained. I did notice somewhat of a drop in the animation sequences in the middle but they brought it back up to par in the final 2 episodes. Outside of that the animation is pretty fair. No real complaints here.

Sound: 7/10

Voice acting and songs used through out the series were good for the most part. Nothing to really criticize nor was there anything that really stood out in terms of quality.

Characters: 2/10

Oh boy...why is everyone in this series seem to be an over dramatic lesbian? The interactions between the characters were so over the top sometimes I would just chuckle and shake my head at what I was witnessing. This is one of the few series were I found myself not caring for any members of the cast.

Enjoyment: 3/10

I realized half way through I stopped caring for the shitty characters and lame story line and just looked forward to the next action scene to take place. That was the only thing that kept me going. Thank god this series was only 8 episodes long because I think I would have dropped it if it was the usual 12+

Overall: 3/10

Not much else to say here. With only 8 episodes it doesn't take that long to watch through the series to make your own opinion about it. Hopefully to whoever decides to go on that journey enjoys this show a lot more than I did.