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.

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.

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.

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.

The only thing that's worth watching here is Black Rock Shooter herself as she is a totally hardcore badass. The series reminds me of Sonic Colors which wouldn't have been a bad thing but it was short and because of that it had a rush story, lacking character development, and it was hard to continue watching it. The only things that were rewarding were the fighting scenes. In short, if you have a thing for the main character silent, female, and a love for battle, I recommend that you beg the creators to make a better series around our silent female shooter. I know I ... am.

The first 6 episodes where just shit, cringy and pretentious kind of shit.
But then, the actual plot came up at the 7 or 8 episode, and it got kinda interesting, but, it ended terrible too.

It had so much potential, and it turned out just terrible.

At some point, I felt like two people worked on this: the first person who had the basic idea of the plot, and the second person who worked all this amazing plot and wrote it all like a 10 years old kid, making every character cry over anything and making it like it was a dramatic master piece.

Its sad when some ... anime have some amazing character desings and use them for... for this kind of mounstruocity.

5/10

Black★Shooter: Where you learn new colors each day!
Note: I've used my own scoring scale. View my MAL page for more info.

Story: (6/10 - Decent)
It had a lot of potential but the delivery was "meh." There are over 7 billion people on Earth... imagine if there are over 7 billion BRS. Insane right? So instead of this, they took the colorful bird picture book path. LOL!
8 episodes is just not enough for the story to fully develop.

Art: (9/10 - Amazing)
The visuals are outstanding with out question. Very colorful and eye appealing.
Animations are silky smooth and very detailed. Like I noticed BRS's hair strands moving individually on ... multiple scenes!

Sound: (8/10 - Great)
Opening is sang by supercell feat. Miku. What could go wrong with that?!
The ending on the other hand is less superior compared to the OP but that doesn't mean that it is a bad song. It is very balad like, very fitting for an ending.
Nothing really stands out on the BGMs and sound effects department. They are all decent.
Finally, they did a great job assigning the voice actors. Their voices matches their characters.

Characters: (3/10 - Bad)
I normally don't mind the names of the characters but on this one, it is kinda too "try hard cool" for my liking. For example Black Gold Saw:
She is wearing mostly black (check)
Her weapon looks like a saw (check)
Gold is no where to be found (X)
In my opinion, the characters are the weakest part of the series. Watching insecure kids is NOT ENTERTAINING! While the character designs are eye candies, it is not certainly not enough to stop me pimp slapping these little girls.

Enjoyment: (4/10 - Poor)
I didn't felt like "I need to watch the next episode ASAP." I only watch the new episodes when I had the free time. In other words, I did not enjoy it.

Final Verdict: (6/10 - Decent)
It had a lot of potential but poorly executed. It is definitely better than the OVA.

Black Rock Shooter (BRS) began as a Vocaloid song, where Miku’s uniform was inspired by some illustrations made by a guy named Huke. An OVA was created in 2010 based on that song/illustration combo, which received a ridiculously huge hype by all the Vocaloid fans. Not a surprise since it was after all a fan catering title. Two years later (2012) NoitanimA decided to take this title in its timeslot and to expand it further, thus creating the current version, which lasts 8 episodes. Weird number I must say since all its shows last 11 to 22 episodes. On the other hand it’s not like ... it deserved 11 or more; the theme is pretty simple in terms of plot and the pacing is deliberately slow just to manage filling it with something.

Both animation and directing are done by newcomers in the field. This is Studio Ordet’s first main animation project and if the girl designs remind you of K-On, this is not a surprise if you know the staff is actually ex Kyoto Animation employees.

The story of BRS is nothing much; it is just about a bunch of schoolgirls going through an emotional maelstrom, caused by jealousy. The heroine Mato is looking for friends in her new school (yeah, we can’t have schools without transfer students) and manages to befriend another girl named Yomi. This causes the other girls who were friends with to feel betrayed for loosing the full attention. It sounds silly but it makes sense if you think they are spoiled teenagers who have no control over their hormones and where the slightest event can make them angry or sad.

The above is what we see half the time, as the other half is something completely different in presentation altogether. While we watch the simple everyday lives of some normal girls, the plot will be going back and forth to an alternative reality, where we see them dressed in weird gothic clothes and fighting each other with very fantasy-themed ways. This alternative world is a hellish place which is supposed to symbolize their mentality. Chaotic, dark, depressing, violent, dangerous. And them fighting is supposed to symbolize their emotions and their friendship being challenged because of jealousy. These parts are practically non-stop action with all sorts of over-the-top weapons and it looks like a fantasy videogame. It is very eye-catchy thanks to its weird imagery and fast paced action, and makes a complete contrast to the rest of the normal scenes.

And that is basically the main attraction and lure of this show. Watching some girls having an everyday emotional conflict, made to look in their minds like it’s an all-out war in that other world. I must say this symbolic conflict is quite interesting in terms of character immersion and it hasn’t been used much in anime as of yet. There is for example Real Drive doing something similar but it was very unimpressive in terms of excitement. There are also many fantasy anime where demons turn people to monsters that represent their negative feelings; with the most famous examples being the witches’ mazes in Madoka Magica and the tv shows in the Persona 4 game/anime. So in terms of allegory it is quite fascinating to have an entire world being the projection of one’s mentality. Sorta like those weird Picasso/Van Gogh paintings that are supposed to be symbolizing something.

Despite all this artistic value though, have no illusions of what the core purpose of the franchise is all about. It is still nothing more than a fan catering work that promotes the song/illustrations and intends to sell a lot to the Vocaloid fans, or anyone else who is into fighting lolis.
"Oh my God! She has a flat chest, a big gun and blue flame comes out of her eye; this is SO COOL; I must buy everything with her face on!"

Of course I could say the same about any other anime or movie ever made (Gundam plamos anyone?) but in this case it is done in a too obvious way and aside from the fighting and the visual flavouring there is absolutely nothing complicating about it. It is just a simplistic concept presented in an extravagant way. Yes, it is art, but it caters too much on a specific type of audience instead of being the pure thoughts of its makers; thus turns sour from a point on. I really don’t care much about girls getting all emo and insane just because some other students don’t want to be friends with them. As cool as it sounds on paper, the show overdoes the whole insanity thing to crazy high levels and you are just not that attached to it after awhile.

Other than that, I was actually pleased they remade the whole thing; since the OVA hardly explained anything that is going on, such as why Yomi disappeared or how did Mato find her later on. When the explanations came though, it all felt like random nonsense and I guess it was silly for me to expect some good reasoning from a fan catering loli show.
So these alternative girls are some sort of magical mental defence. They fight the cause of their grief (usually another girl) and the one who loses makes the problem to disappear. That is, people simply forget it like it never existed. Contrived and messy but that is what they came up with. It kinda reminded me of that Fade to Black Bleach movie, which was equally stupid. The ending is also quite a cop-out, with the girls all naked and crying and saying “We must embrace the pain and keep going.” Yeah, ok, did we really need 8 episodes of this mess just for that obvious line? When did we even see the girls trying to run away from the pain and thus excusing all this mess? It was nicely presented in Neon Genesis but here it just came out of nowhere and was resolved in a dull way.



So once again it is proven how NoitanimA sucks hard in sci-fi shows (Fractale, C, No.6, Guilty Crown) and does wonders with slice-of-life or light fantasy (Tatami Galaxy, Kuuchu Buranko, Usagi Drop) so they better learn from their mistakes and just give up on trying to make supernatural, action, or science fiction anime. They just can’t do it right.

And now a warning for all those of you who have watched the older OVA. Be aware that the production values in the series are worse. The girls in the normal world are drawn in a more simplistic way, while the girls in the fantasy world are now made with computers and have a hell of a lot more armour and fancy accessories on them. Makes you wonder how the hell they even move in those things. The battle scenes also lack the cool fluent fighting choreographies of the OVA and now just seem like a loose line of random special attacks using familiar monsters and trashing the sceneries. It feels far more artificial and distant. And I guess not explaining anything was better than giving this ridiculous reasoning; thus the OVA was better.

So in all it is a somewhat different watch but definitely eons away from being great. Not recommended for any other reason that watching lolis fighting in an extravagant pretentious fantasy way.

And now for some excused scorings.
ART SECTION: 9/10
General Artwork 1/2 (well-made but feels artificial and cold after awhile)
Character Figures 2/2 (generic moeblobs and cool fighting lolis)
Backgrounds 2/2 (hellish in that fantasy world)
Animation 2/2 (very good during the fights)
Visual Effects 2/2 (bizarre during the fights)

SOUND SECTION: 7/10
Voice Acting 2/3 (corny but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Music Themes 3/4 (not great but fitting with the feeling of the series)
Sound Effects 2/3 (ok I guess)

STORY SECTION: 5/10
Premise 2/2 (interesting)
Pacing 1/2 (slow)
Complexity 1/2 (seems complicating at first but it ain’t much after awhile)
Plausibility 0/2 (none)
Conclusion 1/2 (cheesy)

CHARACTER SECTION: 6/10
Presence 1/2 (generic)
Personality 2/2 (cheesy but well founded)
Backdrop 1/2 (generic and simplistic but it’s there)
Development 1/2 (overblown but it’s there)
Catharsis 1/2 (overblown but it’s there)

VALUE SECTION: 4/10
Historical Value 1/3 (meh only the Vocaloid fans care about it)
Rewatchability 0/3 (too boring to deserve a second view)
Memorability 3/4 (interesting presentation)

ENJOYMENT SECTION: 2/10
Starts in an interesting way but towards the end it becomes a pretentious pile of emo nonsense.

VERDICT: 5.5/10

English:
Black Rock Shooter is a well-produced anime. But, story-wise, it SUCKS. The first episodes are really boring, and it ended really terribly, since it's short, it didn't had time to explain everything. The characters are not great, the soundtrack is.... Decent. The thing that I most liked about this anime was the PRODUCTION. The production of this anime is one of the best I've ever seen. It's just amazing. The SFX, the music, and the character designs are great.

Português (BR):
Black Rock Shooter é um belo anime em termos de produção. Mas, em termos de história, o anime é bem RUIM. Os primeiros episódios são extremamente ... tédiosos. E o anime terminou muito ruim. Como o anime é curto, a história não foi explicada direito. Os personagens são ruins, a música é... Decente. A coisa que eu mais gostei foi a PRODUÇÃO. A produção desse anime é uma das melhores que eu já vi. É simplesmente bela. Os efeitos, a música, e o design dos personagens são legais.

I was looking forward to Black Rock Shooter as I enjoyed the OVA and always enjoy Huke’s fantastically stylized animation. The problem I found with Black Rock Shooter was the fact that the story was as dull as an overused knife and really wasn’t as good as it was trying to be. The problem here is the fact that there are eight episodes with which to build characters that I care about, but I never do care about them. So from the start it’s a tear-fest where I feel that I should relate to the characters, but can’t because I don’t know them. And I ... felt that way throughout the entire series. On top of that, the supposedly “adult” metaphors weren’t that adult. There were two main metaphors, the bird that takes on all the colors, and the world of Black Rock Shooter itself. Both were rather basic metaphors for emotions, and neither were at all adult. You didn’t have to truly think about what the chains around Dead Master meant, or the heart they connected to. It’s pretty simple.

The story, I’m just going to say it bluntly, sucks. Mato wants to be friends with Yomi but can’t because Yomi’s best friend, Kagari, has her in chains essentially. Everything Kagari wants, she gets, because Yomi feels bad about her getting hit by a car as a child. Kagari thinks that Mato will take Yomi away, so treats her like crap. It’s an unbelievable relationship made even more so by the metaphoric fight that takes place between Mato and Kagari so Yomi will be free. When Kagari is defeated, she forgets everything and seems to act like a normal person. After that, it just gets worse. A girl gets made fun of because she confessed to a guy, the school counselor turns out to have been best friends with Yuu as a child. Yuu hated the real world so much she and her “soul” (her personality in Black Rock Shooter’s world) switched places. It’s a convoluted mess of emotions and nonsensical plot twists that don’t work well. Maybe you have to watch it twice to get the full impact, but this is a review based on my first time watching it.

And I shouldn’t have to watch it again. And I don’t think it’s because I missed something that I came out of BRS feeling like a lost kitten. I think it’s the sheer convolutedness of the show. It tries to be an emotional masterpiece, but is instead a fairly nonsensical, and kind of dumb anime. And it’s not dumb because I didn’t get it, it’s dumb because of the things that do make sense. Switching with your soul because you’re scared of the real world? Staying confined to your house and not being allowed to have any friends because of a crazy bitch in a wheelchair you feel bad for despite the fact she’s a faker?

I enjoyed the Black Rock Shooter sections because of their action and unique artistry, but otherwise, the story wasn’t that great. It wasn’t smart, it wasn’t adult, if anything it seemed to be aimed at angsty teenagers, especially the bullying parts. Otherwise, I can’t commend the story. I’m sorry to people who did enjoy it and may have understood it, but it was too damn convoluted and the fact that I had to deal with characters crying every ten seconds didn’t make me all that happy. I might have cared, as I said, if the characters had been built up, but they were never given time to develop and give you a reason to care for them. BRS wants you to feel emotions and be moved by what is happening, and it seems to kind of hinge on that fact. Too bad I can’t be emotionally attached to such cardboard, unexciting characters.

Such as Mato, who is made to sound like a robot because she doesn’t display emotions. When she does, you don’t care. It’s funny really that her alternate personality, Black Rock Shooter, seems to have more character than she does. Oh sure, she plays basketball and makes friends and does some normal stuff, but the emotional connection you are expected to have with her is never established, so the second half of the series especially is ruined by that very fact.

The girl she tries to be friends with, Yomi, isn’t much better. She’s as uninteresting as watching paint dry. She’s being manipulated by a girl she knows is faking the fact she can’t use her legs and for what, because she feels bad about something that happened years before? Yomi has a heart stitched into her chest by the bitch, and yet she puts up with her crap? Oh sure, Kagari threatens to kill herself, but would you really care if she died? Even if you were in that situation I am certain that you would be happy she was dead, so that you could make new friends and be free of those shackles? The shackles are cut, but then Yomi goes crazy thinking Kagari is popular and she doesn’t have Kagari and…

…convoluted emotions of teenage girls. Either that, or terrible writing. I still can’t decide.

I did enjoy early Kagari. She was crazy, she was a bitch. Watching her push Mato away was hilarious. “You get all the dirty colored macaroons.” She was the only character with any sort of effective emotions, at least, until she changed and became a goody-goody.

As I said before, the animation is perhaps the best part of the entire series. Well, half of the animation. The real world portion was not the greatest looking thing, but Black Rock Shooter’s world was gorgeous and the fight scenes were spectacular. Black Rock Shooter and Black Gold Saw, as well as the others, were very distinct and awesome in appearance.

Protecting your friends, carrying emotions, finding the color and happiness in the world. These are lessons to be learned from Black Rock Shooter, and they are conveyed, but not as well as they could have been. I don’t know whether the series should have been longer, or it should have focused on Yuu and Strength more so than the others. I can’t really constructively criticize how the show could have been better.

Convoluted, sometimes exciting, sometimes dull and emotionally challenged, Black Rock Shooter is not as bad as I make it out to be, it has its moments where it does shine, but it is otherwise a pretty basic specimen. It’s safe to say that BRS is decent, but it is in no way something you’ll remember or want to watch again and again. And if that is the case, it’s more than likely to watch the other-reality portions rather than the waterfall of tears in the real world.

Watching and reviewing Black Rock Shooter was a complete last-minute thing for me. Since it started well into the Winter anime season, I picked it up on a whim because it looked at least semi-interesting. To my dismay, that's exactly what it was. Semi-interesting, nothing more. I have a pretty neutral stance on this show, I suppose. I've never watched the Black Rock Shooter OVA, but I've heard mixed opinions on it in comparison to the anime series. Judging on how average this show is, I don't think I'll even spend time watching the OVA.

Story [5]
I suppose the story was original for the most part. ... I just thought that the whole idea was rushed, especially towards the end. That, and some of it just straight-out didn't make any sense. The story is about a girl who fights in an alternate world to fight off her pain in the real world. The main premise seems pretty interesting, right? Well, it would have been, had the producers done it better. This show had a lot of potential just based on the plot summary, but the actual show does not do it any justice. I suppose that, for some, this would be an interesting watch, but it just didn't cut it for me.

Characters [5]
The characters are a bunch of whiny middle school characters with hardly any depth to their personalities. None of them really stood out, save for maybe Kagari in the first few episodes of the show. I found the characters to be rather generic and bland. They had no outstanding traits, which makes for a bunch of rather boring characters.

Visuals [9]
After all the bashing I've just done on this show, I have to say that the visuals are the strong point of this show. Maybe not so much in the real world-there's nothing too memorable about the art there. But in the other, alternate world, the visuals are pretty amazing. The battles, weapons and character designs are very nicely done in the alternate world, as well as the background imagery. Even if the plot of it all didn't make much sense, it still looked nice.

Sound [7]
Both the opening theme and ending theme were really good in my opinion. The music throughout the show didn't do much for me, though.

Overall [6.5]
I really wouldn't recommend this anime. The first few episodes I actually enjoyed for the most part, but it all goes downhill from there. If you're just looking for some kick-ass battles and animation, I guess you can give this show a shot. But otherwise, it's really not worth the time. (Or, at least, it wasn't for me). It's just one big mess of an anime that's pretty mediocre in my book.

It's gonna be a rather short review. For reference, I watched the anime before the OVA.

Story: 4/10

When i first started watching it I was trying to figure out exactly what was going on. Are these parallel universes or dream worlds or whatever. Filling in blanks in an anime is fine, though... until there's too many blanks.

They tried going for a complex story with complex characters. Sadly the story just ended up being really bad. I could not even accept the "ending" they chose. The anime was going at a steady pace and then suddenly BAM developments coming from nowhere near the end of the anime. ... With little time left they tried to explain some things half assed which is almost as bad, if not worse than not explaining at all.

Art: 10/10

Beautiful artwork. The parallel universe seemed was like a well drawn junkyard. Probably the only thing that kept me watching was the fight scenes

Character: 7/10

There were characters and they did have some form of development. Pretty well done with variety.

Enjoyment: 6/10

At least I can say the anime was not boring

I have to apologize for my english in advance. I am sorry, but I hope you understand me.

Well, I watched this anime, read some reviews and I realized that many didn't understand that this anime was created for teenagers, for whom the smallest problem turns into a huge tantrum.

I agreed with some people about computer graphics. It's the best and I think it's really weapon, blood, battle.

I think it's good anime, because I want to be more effective in evaluating this title.

BUT AFTER THIS ANIME I HATE RUSSIAN VOICE ACTING. THEY ADDED STRANGE JOKES THAT FIT THE SITUATION VERY BADLY. Of ... course, I didn't take this into account in the assessment.

Thanks for reading)

Numbers: Story: 5, Art: 6, Sound: 8, Characters: 4, Enjoyment: 4.

I don't think Black Rock Shooter was bad, it was not good either. Truth be told this was one of the most genuinely bland and uninteresting animes I have ever seen.

Short review:

The show was presented well enough, the art, while uninspired in both worlds, did it's job, while the sound was the strongest aspect. The characters felt bland and not once did I feel like I had any sort of sense of time, I never felt like I understood the character's motives, I never felt like I connected to anyone, and I never felt ... like I cared about anything happening at all. The anime felt very mediocre.

Long review:

The story follows a few girls, Mato, Yu, Kotori, and Yumi, doing... something. Find friendship, I suppose. The show never did a very good job of explaining anything anyone did in the show. On top of that the girls never had any reason to do anything they did in this show, besides that they were friends. Now before you go friendship is enough to do something for someone, listen, Mato and Yumi literally know each other for like a month probably (another thing the show didn't do a very good job of was giving you a logical sense of time) and the lengths Mato goes to for this girl are just not justifiable. The argument could be made that she's just a good person, but no. No one is that good of a person.

I can't fault them for what they were trying to do with the story, its something fresh and different, but it was executed quite poorly. The pacing was terrible (I'll give it the benefit of the doubt and say that it was only 8 episodes) and for a talky drama anime, all of the dialogue felt forced. They'd say things to each other, but it sometimes felt like they were robots. Also Mato is overly obsessed with a children's book, to the point of creepy, and talks about it constantly. She always stares off into the distance and says every color she sees, and wants to go see "the multicolored world." Of the children's book. Fiction. Which is stupid.

The characters were by far the weakest part of this series. They were the most wishy washy group of characters I had ever seen. At one point a certain girl screams at another that she can't take it anymore and wants her gone, and the very next episode she is bawling her eyes out because said character is gone. "I can't be friends with you," one girl says. Fifteen minutes later "Aight, lets be friends." It was like the characters couldn't make up their minds on anything, not to mention they were all archetypes, so they didn't have originality going for them either.

Mato is the kind caring protagonist, Kotori is nuts and a half, Yomi is lonely glasses-kun, Yu is the cheerful best friend, it goes deeper, but not saying because spoilers I guess.

The (Japanese) voice acting was pretty decent. The actors did the best with what they had. They did a good job conveying the seemingly unwarranted emotion brought on by the writing, and to that I give an applause.

Now before I poop all over undoubtedly someone out there's favorite anime, it isn't all bad. In fact it isn't even bad, just uninteresting. The music is fantastic, every song feels like it fits in perfectly to what was going on (except maybe the show's base, Black Rock Shooter by Supercell, but Supercell rocks so I'll forgive it), and when the show tries to do comedy and action they do them surprisingly well. Action was fast paced and intense, with plenty of flair. The CG is even done very well, its almost barely noticeable. When the show tried to be funny it was genuinely funny, like in a scene where they make fun of the popular shoujo scene of girls running with a piece of toast in their mouth. That stuff was good, but it wasn't there nearly enough, and the show suffers.

The art felt incredibly uninspired. The shoujo/drama part of the anime looked like any other shoujo on the market, and the main characters didn't even really stand out, except for Kotori, because blonde. The shonen/action scenes had some cool designs, but all of them could have been stripped of their color and thrown in any other shonen ever and fit right in. Except for Black Rock Shooter's design (which was what the show was based on anyway so by all means it should've been good) the other character designs were just bland cut and pastes.

Conclusion:

While I did not enjoy this anime all that much, and by all means I probably should have, but I didn't, I can see why someone would. Its something different, and while I can't wholeheartedly recommend this show to anyone who hasn't exhausted their resources, I can say that it wasn't bad. Just genuinely uninteresting.

5/10

Black*Rock Shooter (TV) is a spin-off franchise based on an illustration by -"supercell" member- Huke, which inspired the songwriter of "supercell", Ryo, to create a song for the illustration, which spawned a music video, OVA, an abundance of merchandise, and then this series.

The story was originally the brainchild of the director, Shinobu Yoshioka. The script writer of this series is Mari Okada, who many would know of from "Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae wo Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai." (myself included), "Canaan", "Fate/Stay Night", "Toradora", and many more.
She has a style of incorporating Moe into her characters, as well as realistic character interaction, and decides ... to focus on the details of feelings, that most people would look over. She also delves into the territory of melodrama, quite often.

This particular series focuses on a slew a characters, which is one of its shortcomings.
The series is only 8 episodes, and there are at least 5 characters to focus on, there's not enough room for explanation, especially when it comes to the melodrama in this series. But I have seen stories handled worse with 13 episode by other writers, so that does show in her ability to write.

The story is incorporated between two dimensions. The idea of the story is based around a story book that the main character has always liked since she was a kid. A little bird flies across different parts of the world, and collects the different colors the world emulates through it's wings. But the bird collects too many colors, and its wings turn brown and gray, then black, and then the bird dies. Sounds like your general everyday nursery rhyme to me (No, seriously, it does)!
Mato Kuroi (alter ego- Black Rock Shooter), Yomi Takanashi (Dead Master), Kagari Izuriha (Chariot), Yuu Koutari (Strength), and Saya Irano (Black Gold Saw). And a few more are introduced along the way.
It's the beginning of the school year for Kuroi. While she familiarizes herself with her new school, she decides to make friends with Takanashi, who she mistakens her name as "Little Bird Games (because of the Japanese pronunciation)".
Takanashi's sister (or friend, or something), Izuriha, is, well, crazy. She doesn't want Takanashi to be friends with Kuroi, because of her conceitedness.
And it basically just snowballs to depression, jealousy, deceit, manipulation, rage, ect.
As you can tell, this show is very depressing. And at times confusing, with plot hole abound.
In the other dimension, it is only stylized fighting with some narration every now and then.
Over the course of the series, you will understand, or at least be given an explanation, as to how the second world is connected to this reality (particularly in the last 2 episodes).

I will say this. The feelings that these characters express, are definitely real ones. We all have had these feelings over our lifetimes, especially during puberty. But that doesn't mean I want to watch a dramatization of those emotions that I have grown out of. Especially when they're as embarrassingly immature as they are.

I wish the writing was dealt with more maturely, despite the characters age. I have met a lot of younger kids, and they are much more mature than these characters, even with the same problems.
One of the biggest problems I have with are the adults in this series, they're even more immature than the children (Which is sadly a truth in this world).
Only an immature adult who cannot level-headedly handle a situation, let alone tackle it at all, could create such a disruption of emotions withing these children.

On another note, the music, the art, animation, and CGI are outstanding. The seiyuu do an excellent job with their respective roles. The direction of the cinematography is very stylish, and sometimes can evoke an emotional response. But there has to be something there to make it impactful. What could it be?
The writing. That is where this series falls short.
I think the series would have done much better if they decided to focus on 1 or 2 characters, build up the story a bit, and not have an emotional breakdown over the most menial things. They could also throw the whole "Other-world" idea out, or just stay in the "Other-world", because no matter what message you send with this anime, you cannot place your burdens on this non-existent entity in true reality.
Enjoy life. Be happy that you have the ability to eat hot food, with clean water, sleep on a soft bed, and have a loving family.
There are so many people in this world who go without, and just because "She isn't paying attention to me" 24/7, does not make it the end of the world. Not at all.
We all have those stages in life, but I don't think we want to see them again.

Despite all of my complaining about the writing, the story is surprisingly entertaining to watch, but extremely shallow and over the top.
So if you want to watch this anime, watch it as a step up from a generic, turn your brain off, thriller.
But the writer makes the story feel more important than it really is, and that will annoy many people who have seen how important stories can be told.
The ending will make an accusation to face all of lifes trials, and that you can never live without pain, or happiness. But there are many stories out there with that explanation, and they are better told stories.
___

To conclude, the story is very shallow with many holes, so the water of life will start draining out of it.
But the story is fun to watch, as the art, music, cinematography, acting, and direction are very good.
Watch this as a thriller, with psychological tendencies, and a little heartwarming message at the end, and you'll enjoy it.
Be prepared for the over-dramatic melodrama along the way though, because it's a doozy.

Keep pursuing your dreams! ~ Wynn

Story: 6
The beginning was great, psychological, solid and little confusing, but still good enough to understand.
Then it went wrong from the moment Yuu made Mato sleep. It was confuzing until the last episode, that's what I liked, but there was too much symbolism. The story started to go about how everybody is that stupid bird and how the whole other world revolves around that f*cking bird!

what a cliché Hollywood ending! Seriously horrible! I still gave it a 6 because I liked the first part very very much. That was deep, touching and insane. In the second part, there were suddenly 4 worlds and only ... two made sense. And what was with that teacher wanting to kill mato?


Art: 7
I was kinda displeased because I didn't really like it as much as the OVA, but you'll get used to it

Sound: 9
BEST IN-ANIME SOUND TRACKS EVER!!
They only lost the point because of the OP and ED. Don't get me wrong, I like Miku Hatsune, but this just seemed experimental. It sounded like nothing.

Character: 7
Mato is a whine baby, just like Yuu. Black Rock Shooter was not as good as I expected, but I liked all the other characters, especially Kagari (I also love her name)

Enjoyment: 7
It's a feast for the brain, and that's something I love! I want an anime to make me think about things but it should still make sence. That last part stopped in the second part. Than I thought: 'what would they mean with that? oh... shame... next!' over an over again. Though, I enjoyed the fighting parts very much (except for the last fight, screw that!)

Overall: 6
Just what the hell went wrong?
If you like touching symbolism, you should watch this because this has a massive overkill of that. If you like action, it has few of the best action scene's ever and it is greatly animated, but don't do it for that, you'll just get bored.
It was nice having seen this anime, let's never speak of it again.

(Note: This is my first time writing a review, so go easy on me please.)

To be frank, I went into this anime with very low expectations, seeing some of the reviews are 10/10 and some of them are 1/10, I decided to watch this 8 episode anime and see what it was about, and to my surprise, it wasn't as bad as I thought.

Plot

The premise of the anime is pretty unique. The main cast of girls goes through shit irl, while their other selves in another world, the embodiment of their thoughts, fight and when their other version dies, their main cause of that anxiety ... vanishes. Interesting premise and unique concept, but when you only have 8 eps to work with, you can't but rush a bit, and that was the biggest issue of this anime. They rushed it hard and in turn messed the whole thing up. Plenty of plot holes and rushed character development killed the anime.

Animation
Even though the rushed they fuck out of this anime, the other world fights were made using CGI, and this might be one of the best. CGI action anime I have watched. Using the smoothness CGI provides to the fullest advantage, it delivered some fast-paced, epic fights. I really do wish they fights were a bit longer, some of the fights felt a bit short. But, considering the fact that most anime tend to kill themselves with their awful use of CGI, this anime showed me a ray of light that if CGI is used properly, it can deliver more and more amazing fights like what this anime had.


Characters
The characters, well, uhhh.... were meh. For real though, they had to potential to be a really good cast of characters, but rushed development made me confused as fuck. The way they shove scenarios into every character, made it seem like a joke to be seen seriously. They undergo too much too fast. And that is the major issue with the characters.


OST

OST wise its got a solid one. Its OP and ED were actually pretty good, seeing vocaloid being used in an anime op for the first time, I was really happy. The soundtracks during the fights weren't very memorable but it was very good nonetheless.

Art Work
The character designs for the other world characters were so fucking cool, it really looked badass and rad. Their irl versions reminded me of characters from Madoka Magica. Also, the other world for each character looked really unique and amazing as well. I wish they'd have taken the time and explore the other world more, but sadly that didn't happen.


Verdict
This anime had potential to be at least Madoka Magica level stuff, the interesting premise and the unique concept was killed by rushed development and plot holes. But the amazing and proper use of CGI, banging OST and really good character designs makes me not to put it in the trash can. Its fine, neither a masterpiece nor trash.

Scores
Plot: 5/10
Characters: 5/10
Animation: 9.5/10
OST: 8/10
Art: 8.5/10
Enjoyment: 8/10

Overall: 6/10

If action defines whether you like a show, this show is for you.
If you're looking for a meaningful story, steer clear.

The show is worth watching the first four episodes, either way. It's just like they made four episodes of a series with really cool characters but no point, and suddenly decided they needed a "moral of the story" about friendship inserted at the end. *sigh*

--- Action ---
The combat is bloody gorgeous, the fights are amazing, and the music is fitting. Amazing if you're just watching for this. A 10/10 for the fights alone.

--- Story ---
I began watching this show, loving it. It was mysterious as ... to how the alternate world related to the real world, and actions performed in both worlds were ambiguous and difficult to tell if they were results or representations from the other world. I loved the show but got the feeling it might turn sour.

Then episode 5 hit, and turn sour it did. The story turned into the biggest "friendship" story ever. It leaves you with a bitter taste in your mouth because the alternate world is the most unfulfilling reveal I've ever seen. The world was not cohesive, and the explanation for girls was nonexistent. Just friendship and seemingly dynamic characters turned into cardboard cutouts.

- Characters, Enjoyment, and Misc -
The first four episodes are really enjoyable. I would recommend watching the series just for those. However, the drastic shift in theme of the last four are really quite depressing. Characters are about average, their real world parts are pretty meh with their alternate world counterparts as intriguing but hollow.

Enjoyable? Mostly. Worth Watching? Only for the first four episodes.

I admit that I didn't even try to really dig deep and figure out what this show is really about. The plot is unnecessarily cryptic and abstract. The action sequences (which is what probably attracts a lot of people to the show) are few and far between. For the most part its a dark school drama which tries way too hard to be sad, and only comes off as cruel.

It has some neat action, and it's pretty to look at, so it has that going for it. Also, it's only 8 episodes so if you do decide to watch it, you won't feel as ... though you wasted too much of your time.