Black★★Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall

Black Rock Shooter, where did you go? Never has that line been more true. I guess this adaptation definitely evoked this line of the song, by destroying everything else.

I really don't feel this is fair to call a BRS story, as it really feels like a subpar light novel (which it was) that only got greenlit by attaching itself to the BRS identity. None of these characters, plot, or setting has to be a part of BRS, and as a consequence of that none of this feels like it is.

This show is an absolute edgelord nightmare of mediocre writing. In early episodes it tries its ... best to be gritty and dark, throwing around copious curses, death, and rants about sex as well as repeated on screen rape. None of this serves any purpose other than trying to establish this as edgy, though once it goes away in the second half I found myself missing it because a desperate attempt at shock value, while crude and unnecessary, was still more entertaining than the run of the mill second half plot full of the same tropes and archetypes acted out by characters with no likeable traits or interesting personalities. Again, despite being called Black Rock Shooter, most characters and premises in this story are entirely new, and maybe I would've been slightly more forgiving if this wasn't trying to milk marketability from the heyday of late 2000s anime. What the story adds sure isn't GOOD but if it tried to stand on its own maybe it would've been forced to do something interesting. Granted the characters we do take from BRS are so devoid of anything that originally made them likeable, to the point that we even renamed them based on tarot cards (since Strength already was a tarot card). Not only is it weird to want to drag an IP through the dirt for clout, it's even weirder to then not even call the lead character her own name 90% of the time. And in universe the justification is equally dumb, saying that Empress and Death are passable names for orphan children. Again there's just no valid reason for the changes regardless of the quality.

The show is CG, which does knock it down in a lot of people's eyes. In its defense the CGI is completely passable, and the weaker parts are masked by fog and dim lighting like a Marvel movie. That being said the designs themselves are completely average at best with nothing standing out or interesting, and the redesigns for the established characters are downright criminal. When Black Rock Shooter, Dead Master, and Strength had their intros I couldn't help verbally crying "what have they done to you?" Redesigns aren't foreign to this franchise as it had a lot of fandom power in its prime, but the problem is these designs are downgrades both visually and in expressing character.

The music commits the taboo of disregarding the old OP (yes it plays in the final credits but that's to be expected and a slap in the face being attached to this nonsense) and what replaces it is unoriginal butt rock. I enjoyed hearing ZAQ for the first time in a while, but the song shouldn't be attached to Black Rock Shooter. The OST reminded me of forgettable Marvel movies to the point I was convinced I heard some Disney Marvel copyrighted sound effects. This could be entirely possible considering Disney was involved and this was exclusive to their streaming service. (God, I can't imagine a child stumbling upon the edgelord first episodes after watching Lion King or something, did Disney not see the script before greenlighting?)

I had many problems with both other adaptations of Black Rock Shooter, but as early as five minutes into this show I was apologizing to Mari Okada for being so harsh. For all its flaws and weird choices it still felt more like BRS and had much more to appreciate. Those adaptations had heart and understood the show needed to stand on its strength of emotion, this story feels like a military otaku grabbing figures and smashing them together. With this iteration there's nothing to appreciate or take away other than the...I guess bragging rights to have seen the true train wreck of the franchise that was a mistake from earliest conception to completion. The voice cast does their best to inject some humanity and there are enough competent choices or moments if you watch closely that I'm sure much of the staff also tried their best. But this was never going to work no matter how much effort was put in, and many of the decisions made only hurt it more.

My, my, my. What have they done to you Black Rock Shooter?

I do wish to state before I go on, that this isn't a bad show, there are a lot that you can enjoy from it. Just there are very much plenty of WTF moments, that really seem super weird, it's as if the directors were high when making this. While it's not all bad, but it's certainly really questionable. Will say though, if you are expecting the BRS from te previous anime, then you are sadly mistaken. Your best bet, is to wait how this wraps up, before checking it out. But let's go ... through it now.

Story and characters: 6??
It's hard to really grade this, as the story is actually pretty wicked in a sense. It's fast paced, and the start really gives of Matrix style vibes if you know that series. There are also very wacky moments, that if they're not an issue for you, then it can be wild fun. It's in your face, it's crazy and mental, of which I can only see it going more bat shit insane as it goes along.

But this could also be a let down.While being wild can produce good content at times, it can also be a drawback, as if you're all over the place, and trying to be offensive to draw attention for no real reason. It really gives off that kind of vibes, while it can be good, in here it just seems to be super weird and odd, considering the title it's under.

The characters too, while its interesting how a lot of them aren't afraid to say anything and speak their minds, some of you just wish they shouldn't lol. Again, its why this is no way like the previous version, as it can come off as very surprising with the sense of vulgar and lewdness about it. That's not even touching the hyper active talking bike Rock has LMAO.

I get a lot of this can be impacted from the Game and such, I did feel like I was rewatching, or should say rereading some of it, with how it started, as I've read all the BRS mangas. Which can be cool, but with how massively over the top this is, it can be very weird honestly. Which can be both good and bad, depending how it is done.

Art and sound: 5-6
Again this is hard to grade, as the whole atmosphere of the show can really look standout, but then at times, it can look plain, or lack of funding and effort in other areas. I normally don't mind CGI things too, but some of it....Just feels eh, which is a shame, cause a lot of the backgrounds, general areas, and shots, are quite impressive. It just feels like you're trowing something lacking in quality in front of something quality.It's not a great look, and can drag down the brilliant looking parts of the series.

The sound though, there isn't really anything really bad to say about it. It captures te tension witin each and every scene, and does it really well. So cannot fault those in the sound department, compared to how the art ones look.

Black Rock Shooter Dawn Fall, or more like Bat sit crazy fall, can seem like a wild mesh up of wild insane shit. But can come off as just a plain WTF moment and you move on. It's best you wait, and see the reviews for yourself.

Hello and good day to you BRS fans and readers and anime lovers and video game fans. I am writing this review to give you a FAIR review for the anime, which a LOT of BRS fans are claiming this version of BRS is crap and saying lines like "what have they done to BRS?" Its trash and bad etc. Clearly those BRS fans never saw more than 1 of the BRS anime and certainly didn't bother to play BRS: The Game when it came to the US many years ago on the PSP. Let me just say this, BRS is like many series like ... Megaman and Sonic the Hedgehog for example. What do I mean by that? I mean, it doesn't stick to 1 setting, nor 1 timeline/universe. Perhaps it'd be better to say its like all them DC and Marvel etc. Super Hero series in the US. See, BRS: The Game was a story set in a post apocalyptic world where Aliens invaded Earth and the Humans are fighting back against the Aliens.

BRS having just been awakened helps fight alongside the humans to fight off the Alien invasion and try to save the human race which is almost extinct...If some of this sounds very familiar thats because this anime is closer to the game's story in terms of setting than it is the previous 2 anime series however, despite this, some of the same themes from past anime series are still here. (Hope and despair and not giving up) Make no mistake though, the anime is NOT telling the game's story, the two stories are COMPLETELY DIFFERENT. Just as one example for this anime that's not a spoiler, instead of Aliens from the game its an AI that humans created thats trying to kill humanity. BRS' origins are also completely different between the two and, as said before, each BRS series, whether anime, game or otherwise has different characters who yes, may share the same name as another character in another universe, but are not the same character at all. BRS is one of a handful of those individuals who shares the BRS name.

Now that you know this, I want you to go into this with an OPEN MIND should you decide to watch any BRS anime, especially this one. This one has some cliches yes but those don't ruin the anime or hinder it and it is my hope that BRS fans will be more open minded in the future. This anime doesn't deserve the low ratings which are, imo, over reactions and thus unfair and unjust ratings just because its nothing like the 1st two anime series and I DOUBT the mobile game thats set to release this year (barring a delay or cancellation...) will be like what BRS fans might be expecting from a character and story perspective too. Fyi, I HIGHLY recommend playing BRS: The Game if you are able too, its a great game and has 2 endings, maybe more I forget but 2 for sure endings as there may've been a 3rd ending being a bad ending, I forget (Look up a spoiler free guide for how to get the endings, I forget how to get the endings) If nothing else I believe the game has playthroughs on Youtube though its more fun to actually play if you can vs. watching the game being played

Back to this anime, despite a few cliches (emphasis on a few, not many), its been interesting and good and I love the mystery the anime had but I have to say the anime needed 1 more episode but that aside, I rate it a 7.0 out of 10. Its a GOOD anime and a GOOD adaptation of BRS and again, they've done a similar story for BRS with BRS: The Game on PSP but as stated before, both the game and Dawn Fall anime have very different stories and characters and endings too. So many fans calling this not BRS when it is very much so BRS. BRS' CORE theme is hope in the depths of darkness and despair and BRS is typically that hope. How this plays out in Dawn Fall is interesting and BRS isn't alone in trying to save humanity. There are some twists you may not see coming, for example in my case I did not see why Lunatic, aka Artimis, aka the AI trying to wipe out humanity, is trying to wipe out humanity. She chose the perfect name for herself alright, Lunatic suits her both in her craziness and in the reference to the moon with the luna in her name. I won't spoil why she's doing this, that's for you to find out as it was one of many mysteries. I enjoyed BRS: Dawn Fall, just wish it got 1 more episode to tie up some loose ends... and I really enjoyed the mystery aspect BRS: Dawn Fall had, it, alongside the characters are what helped to bring this story, the characters and world and their reality to life and considering what kind of story this is, that's a MUST and they nailed it.

It is my hope, you will look past the negative reviews and misguided beliefs on who and what BRS is as this review has tried to point out who and what both the character and the series BRS is/are. Many don't like the slight changes in her design for example, thats nothing new, she always gets changes to her design and so on with every adaptation yet some people make it sound like they butchered both her design and story of BRS when they did not and her design is close enough to all the other BRS characters. Dead Master's design changed a lot here, that is true, but again she is not the same Dead Master as in previous BRS series and I actually liked this Dead Master. What I'm trying to say is, its better if you go into this with an open mind instead of a closed off one and if you like mysteries you might just enjoy BRS: Dawn Fall, long as you have an open mind.

This review was brought to you by a BRS fan whose seen all the anime pretty much and played BRS: The Game, for whatever that's worth to you. Its my hope this info and my review will help you have a more open mind to this anime and thus a more enjoyable experience.

At first I felt this anime was the definition of "almost". It could have been great but many subcategories lack in critical ways that makes it fall off, ending up as simply "alright" overall. As the story progressed it started to feel like somebody wrote this story to appease their fetishes.

Story: 4/10
Some people might wonder why this story feels so weird to watch, and some may even think "I can't tell if this show is good or bad". However, if you are somebody that's familiar with JRPG games, this story format might feel incredibly familiar. Essentially, the entirety of the story appears to follow a ... JRPG story structure.

The reason you can't tell whether the story's good or bad is probably because the story SHOULD BE very good, except the actual way they're telling the story isn't a good format for the anime genre. They're using a JRPG "show don't tell" format, where only the most basic information is being conveyed while everything else is meant to be extrapolated from the fast-paced visuals and character interactions.

That format is something like:
1. Setting/Mood establishment through an opening cutscene
2. Introduction of main character
3. Introduction of main character's personality through event(s)/quest(s)
4. introduction of essential character(s)
5. Introduction of essential character(s) personalities through event(s)/quest(s)
6. Quests that make the hero grow while building relationships
7. While on these quests there are "mobs/monsters" and there might be introduction to side characters and villains that may help or impede the quest for reasons explained down the road to give hints into a greater plot.
8. Fight a boss to unlock new realizations, friendships, and/or resolve some internal conflict.

So on so forth, all which is meant to support a player's GAMEPLAY experience.

This is usually a great format... for GAMES... since much of the game's entertainment value comes from actual gameplay, and you can often walk around the world to see background information for yourself. However, this is an ANIME and so the best way to make up for the gameplay would have been with outstanding art/action and complex character personalities--- which is only somewhat the case here.

So that brings us to the main point of this segment, "Is the story good or bad?"

Some parts of the story are exceptional, but the story progresses and becomes pretty bad overall because the characters are shallow, the dialogue is shallow, and the way the the story's being told isn't a great structure for anime.

For example, the setting's great so far, the dystopian world is unique and you can feel that there's a story happening in the world beyond what's being shown, the characters each bring some form of value to the overall story's dynamic, and each episode thus far has served to enhance BRS's understanding of the current world while giving some insight into the state of the world. HOWEVER, the story is incredibly shallow in terms of actual characterization, character interactions, and plot elements.

One thing I do like about the story is that the episodes are meant to convey concepts simple concepts like: "who am I?" "I want to save people." "Where should I go?" "you can't save everybody". However, that simplicity is something that's very difficult to pull off well, and they didn't do it well.

Art: 7/10
The art direction is great, you can see some great angles and shots in the anime and they did a great job for what the studio has produced in the past. However, the actual art and animation is incredibly iffy at times. Character designs are fantastic (Looks like we have Huke, designer of BRS, Stein;Gate, and Kiara from hololive to thanks for that), with each character giving off a unique "vibe". However, there are also a lot of 3D elements. I don't think that's necessarily a bad thing, but I know that a lot of anime fans don't like 3D. If I had to guess what's happening behind the scenes, the director might have had great input, but perhaps without great animators or perhaps without a higher animation budget to create what was envisioned, the art didn't reach its true potential.

Character: 6/10
Interesting/unique superficially but incredibly hollow in terms of depth. The main characters give off unique vibes but it feels like there's no depth to any of the characters, which is probably the main reason the story format isn't working well.

Enjoyment:5/10
As a writer, I can see what they were trying to do with the story and it allows me to fill in details that are lacking, but you would probably find this show to be boring if you can't fill in those details. When the story started becoming more fetishy, I started losing interest

Overall/TLDR: 6/10
This installment of BRS is "almost" a great show, but it is lacking in a bunch of key areas, which makes it simply "alright" overall. The setting is great, characters are unique visually with interesting personalities superficially, and the storytelling method is somewhat unique for the anime genre (it's been done before, but it's not common). However, the dialogue is shallow, the characters have no depth beyond their superficial personality, and because nothing is being explained it feels like everything is a string of random events... so far... (the series is still ongoing so this might change)

It's also... oddly sexual...?

Do I recommend it to you?
If you like BRS, action, JRPG games, yes.
If you like story elements, definitely not.

Feel free to send me your thoughts/let me know if you agree/disagree!

Story 9/10, The reason that i have marked the story 9/10 is the fact of the story for me, is very interesting, it introduces alot of mystery and action which i find interesting

Art 10/10, The reason for 10/10 art is the fact is the really good CG, i personally find the art for this anime fantastic, the CG does not look absolute ass and actually fits in really well with the anime, the actions scenes blendedin aswell, the action and the cg was probably the main factor which allowed me to give the art a 10/10 aswell.

Sound 8/10 Opening is a banger theres your 8/10 ... otherwise the sound blends in well with scenes, not much to say about this

Character 7/10 the reason that i give this a 7/10 is the way they introduce the characters kinda just random, they introduce the characters as if they were already introduced really.

Enjoyment 9/10, i personally enjoy this anime alot, its just really interesting and mysterious which is what makes it interesting, there is still alot to uncover within the story which links back to it being mysterious and interesting.

overall 9/10 i enjoy this and i like it.

Black Rock Shooter, for the third time in a row, is a swing and a miss. Apparently, Black Rock Shooter was initially designed by Ryohei Fuke, but I think almost all of us came to know and love this work from Supercell’s music video, “Black★Rock Shooter.” I love Vocaloid, I love Supercell’s works, yet I never watched the anime or OVA when it came out since I basically knew that an anime based off a music video is basically destined to be terrible.
I watched them both by sheer coincidence just months ago, and it’s safe to say that both of them were pretty horrendous. I ... think anyone who watched the music video would have just wanted a stylized Miku fight some baddies with her cool motorcycle and katana. Instead, you were subjected to the most mediocre and edgy melodrama, with intermittent scenes of actual fun action in between. It’s safe to say that the OVA and the anime series both were poorly written. Yet, despite that, both shows had a surprisingly good production quality. The anime actually used CGI, which honestly still is better than 99% of the garbage anime CGI out there today. So I came with very low expectations for the 2022 adaptation, especially with Disney collaborating on the show, considering that Netflix has created just about zero good shows so far. Well, safe to say, production value wise, Disney trumps Netflix by large margins.

This show too, uses CGI, and it’s also one of the very few anime whose CGI isn’t terrible. It’s not amazing, but the show uses a mix of hand animation and CGI on the models, like the hair and eyes, so this works out. I was pretty disappointed with the fight scenes. The main reason to use CGI is to have good fight scenes that would cost way too much to animate in 2D unless you’re Ufotable. The original Black Rock Shooter does show a good depth of space and fight scenes that highlights the CGI usage, but I just don’t see it here. The 2022 adaptation’s fights aren’t really impressive, and it’s actually the high detail CGI backgrounds that impress me the most. That’s when the show bothers to put on a background. 60% of the show’s backgrounds are desert, flat ground, or white space, so there’s that. However, fights are still passable. Production value of the show is still nice. It’s got a good budget, and certainly not the reason for me to hate the show

That brings me to the thing that kills this show of any joy: the story. Remember how I said that anyone who watched the original music video would have been satisfied with a stylized Miku fighting some baddies? At the very least, this show DOES get rid of the crappy melodrama plot from the previous adaptations, but instead, it brings in the most underdeveloped, “ambitious”, and trope filled sci-fi plot. I say “ambitious” since a lot of shounen/action media tend to fall under two categories: overly generic, or overly ambitious with all of the problems of the former, but with a plot that doesn’t make any sense at all.

This show starts off with Black Rock Shooter saying cringe stuff like “I gotta find lighthouse 8,” while also suffering amnesia. Later on, there’s also a “special drug” that the MC takes to gain super strength, but only for a brief moment of time. Any longer, and there will be permanent damage! Wow, that doesn’t ring any bells at all. Did I mention that Black Rock Shooter also is kind and wants to save humanity? Already off to a great start! But wait! It’s also “Sci-fi.” The sci-fi part is complete bullshit. The show introduces a bunch of sci-fi jargon that doesn’t matter because it never gets expanded upon. Worldbuilding is non-existent. Most of the humans that you see in the show get mowed down immediately like npcs because they’re part of an “evil organization,” because that’s exactly what they are: they do not matter to the story at all. Also, for an MC that grieves at any human dying, they really don’t care about saving humans when killing anyone that belongs to the evil “education institute” organization.

I could go on and on about why the sci-fi is horribly executed, but I’ll just mention one of the many plot holes. The show’s entire foundation and premise is that there’s an evil AI that went rogue. Ok, great, but if humanity is still functioning (which it is), why the hell hasn’t there been another AI created to counter it? There’s so many plot holes and poorly established worldbuilding principles, that the only purpose of this sci-fi is an excuse for the characters to have OP abilities, weapons, and their badass motorcycles. This is where I ask: why not just make the genre fantasy? If you’re not expanding on the sci-fi principles, the only reason you’re even introducing the stuff to begin with is to have people have OP superpowers, then just stick with magic. It’s just so much simpler. Instead, you got girls with sci-fi superpowers fighting alongside humans that still have fucking and use military vehicles that don’t look any more modern than what we have now. Apparently, only a select few people can have OP superpowers, while the rest of the humans are forced to stick with their centuries old weaponry. I kid you not, despite having the easy option of having an evil demon lord or something try to destroy the world, in episode 11, they decide to have the villain explain the “nuclear fusion reactor” that’s going to destroy humanity for 73 seconds straight. There’s 73 seconds of sci-fi bullshit being explained on how the planet is going to be destroyed. Lovely. The ending itself is pretty generic, the only noticeable thing about it is that they finally pay homage to Supercell’s Black Rock Shooter at the very end.

Characters are asinine. The Colonel and Monica are the only two remotely good characters, but even they are quite generic and boring. The characters with superpowers, especially the “good guys” are terribly made. There’s a gimmick to all of them. One of them is a yandere, the other has a split “gap” personality. The MC’s only personality trait is that she’s “kind and wants to save humanity.” There’s conflict between the MC’s group of friends. The yandere wants to kill her, and the girl with split personality also wants to. Not that it matters, since once the MC recruits them, they’re just there to add to the numbers. There’s a comically short amount of time dedicated to their character development in which they turn from foe to friend.

What is the time that should have been spent on character development? Yes, it’s the story. Yes, there really needed to be an entire episode dedicated to fixing Black Rock Shooter’s motorcycle. There also had to be like 6 episodes dedicated to destroying the “educational institute” for no reason at all. There was this one side story episode focused on Isana, which was one of the better episodes since Monica was the main focus. Yet, even then, Monica is also a comic relief character that says stuff like “let’s have sex” to Black Rock Shooter. Oh yes, peak comedy. Get it? It’s funny, since Black Rock Shooter doesn’t know what sex is, and Monica gives a misleading definition of it to her. Wow, I’m sure that won’t be brought up again!

This show could have been a generic fantasy show with focus on character development, and I probably would have liked it. Instead, it’s an overly complicated sci-fi filled with plot holes and irrelevant plot points. Rather than explaining anything, the show’s main focus is still just “kill the baddies.” Even towards the very end of the anime, there’s still exposition dumps everywhere to make sense of the crappy story.

What have they done to this franchise!?
I like to point out I have watched the original series and loved it, but this...I have no words. Nothing about this is the same as the original. I think the only thing that is the same are the designs for the characters..

Story:5/10
It is just a generic story. Nothing felt unique in any way.

Art:6/10
This part of it wasn't that overly terrible as there were a few times where the art was pretty good but was let down at times.

Sound:5/10
... Again nothing overly good. Some song choices were weird at certain points.
The sound effects were mediocre, nothing to comment on really.

Character:3/10
As I have mentioned I've watched the original so was expecting at least that they would keep the kind of personality traits at least, but no. Nothing is the same.
They kept the same design for the characters, that's all.
The new characters were not interesting at all.

Enjoyment:3/10
Didn't really enjoy this series. Such a disappointment!
To me it felt like it took a while to move on from certain situations. Also with it not being similar to the original, has also thrown me off guard too. No characters stuck out to me, to keep watching.
It was all very basic and bad so I'm choosing to find a better show to watch rather than spend my time watching something that is just overly bad.

This is just my opinion of the show. You can agree or disagree with this review all you like.
Also I like more simple reviews as they are quick to read, hence why there are no spoilers and so short.


This is just my opinion of the show you can agree or disagree with this review all you like.
Also I like more simple reviews as they are quick to read, hence why there are no spoilers and so short.
-CuteChaff
x

People gets Dawn Fall wrong and they forget a lot of things about the first anime.
First of all, BRS is originally a character created for a music from Ryo. The lyrics are about surpassing obstacles and the past.
Then the first anime, which had a story based on the lyrics on the view of the anime's creators, Ezaki and Yoshioka (won't elaborate to avoid spoilers), it's very beautiful and deep.
The ... second adaptation is also based on the lyrics but in a different way, you have to remember that Black Rock Shooter is a music video character based on Miku and that's it. All adaptations have all the freedom they want to create stuff. And the post apocalyptic world was the choice this time.

Arts: it's a fresh take much appreciated since we already had an adaptation with the original artwork. They kept the roots but adding freshness to it and with that enabling the creating of more figures and merchandise (smart move).

Graphics: yes, it's 50% or more CGI, but some folks tend to forget that the first adaptation was also the same way lol. And honestly? This is one of the best blended CGI I've seen, this is high hopes for the future. Of course there were some bad CGI here and there but that was only for small moments, crowds and stuff like that. If you are complaining about CGI you should first worry about the lack of frames per second that almost every anime has. We have tools that even I can use AI to increase FPS without hurting quality.

Story: it's a whole new take on Black Rock Shooter. And it was much appreciated by me. I'm not going to lie and pretend I wasn't expecting something like the first adaptation. But it was their choice and it was good. A lot of references from classics like Blade Runner and The Matrix and a conclusion that brought tears to my eyes when I thought of the lyrics.

With all that said, Dawn Fall is a new take on the original lyrics and they managed to keep the emotions, even if in an unexpected way.
Black Rock Shooter will always be there, for all of us, helping us overcome all of our difficulties, it doesn't matter when, how or where.

Black Rock Shooter has a wide array of good media out there. This is not one of them.

The story is interesting in premise, for about 15 minutes, at which point it turns pretty rote and goes pretty much where you expect it to. The badassery that the franchise banks heavily on is absent. The mix of CGI and 2D art is worse than Inuyashiki; there were a number of times when I questioned how static the Colonel's model was attached to that vehicle's gunner seat.

This was an effort to get through, and I had to choke it down. If you're a fan of the franchise, ... I suggest you stay away. And if you insist, I'm sorry.

This series is an insult to the BRS franchise.
Story is a generic post apocalyptic scene with 1 hero trying to save everything
Music never fits with any scenes and is pretty generic
Animation is complete garbage for the technology available today. God damn 2003 Hot Wheels movies make better use of CGI than this garbage.
Art is also complete garbage. Character redesigns were unnecessary and for some reason sexualized as much as possible, the 3D textures look lower quality than early 2000s console games and basically everything looks fucking plain as shit
I had low expectations for this and tried to have fun watching it and laughing at how ... bad it is but its so bad its not funny at all this just hurts to watch

While well animated with very dynamic action scenes this show makes me ask the question of why I should bother giving random action animes the time of day.

Nothing too out of the ordinary in character design though the power-loli MC is somewhat striking in design. In terms of characteristics the main cast themselves by and large come across as rather forced and shallow constituting various flavours of the "bitter because the world made me this way and that's my character" archetype but there is enough there to be carried by a decent story... only that's where it all falls down:

What really makes me genuinely angry ... about this anime is that despite some considerable effort and budget clearly having been put into the art the story is absolutely abysmal! Shallow Mad Max rip-off with some ridiculous straw man villain using cheap shock in place of genuine characterisation while the overarching plot is your run of the mill amnesia hero has to blah blah blah: appaling and flat out unimaginative tat.

Honestly it might be flashy and look high budget but save yourself and don't bother, there are much, much better options for high-impact action out there that won't leave you hating yourself for giving them the time of day or developing expectations for something enjoyable.

This anime is one of the most reactively reviewed on MAL. As far as I cab see this is because of two reasons. The animation seems completely CGI. And because this tory is based very loosely on a previous anime amd/or game. So two reasons for the EdgeOkus of MAL to find fault with it: CGI=BAD and This Anime is DIFFERENT from my first encounter.

Well they are SOL. No, BRS is not profound or pathbreaking, but it is a thrilling and compulsive mash-up of a lot of oughts anime, which looks gorgeous almost at every point, no matter how fabulistic the very idea ... of an Iron Ocean is on its face. The most comical objection of MALLIES is the supposed edginess of BRS: Dawnfall. It is almost symptomatic, because the real reason gor the objection is that the supposed Edgelords are Girls, especially Empress and Lunatic. Except that edginess tumbles almost immediately into comedy. The very worst edge of the 1st episode, the clown faced messiah that Lunatic seems to be supporting is at the the head of a troop of clowns. Somehow the absurdity of it makes the Bad Guy even worse. But this Big Bad goes by the name The Education Institution. Do I laugh or scream?

This is the real sin of BRS. It can expertly set the table of a edgy, nihilistic post-apocalyptic shooter anime and then the execution looks cool and comedic at the same point. And say what one might about the skimpiness of Empress and her colleagues outfits, they are all so skinny and affectless so as to be sexless. In any case, ever since Tank Girl and Tomb Raider, affectless nihilistic graphic and animated heroines basically have to go around in two piece swim suits to even track.

No, BRS: Dawnfall is not profound but it is almost as knowing about its tropes and as fun to watch as Chainsaw Man. Except the protags and antags are moe girls. Which is pretty Edgelord of the studio that made it.

I just watched the last episode and I'm extremely sad because I really like this franchise, they rushed through practically the entire anime and in the end it didn't show the outcome of the story.

On the other hand, I really liked the villain Lunatic who was very charismatic

The characters, Strength and Dead Master are pretty cool.. I missed the Black Gold Saw that unfortunately didn't appear due to the change in the anime's story

The anime has a vulgar image/language and at times I laughed at some +18 jokes

In my opinion it could have been much better, but if you're a big fan like me of ... the Black Rock Shooter series then it's obvious you should watch it

When this anime was first announced I was immensely excited for it, I missed out on the first Black Rock Shooter hype trains my anticipation was through the roof.

Before you go into this show, let me warn you about one thing.
It's different, very different from the other 2 installments released prior.
Don't go in expecting more like that, if the previous 2 weren't to your liking however, you might enjoy this one more.





...




Story:
I didn't like it very much in the beginning, the topics it touched on aren't my kind of topics. I don't like to see that sort of stuff in anime.
Later on it got better as the focus shifted away from those to some more to my liking.

Art:
Buyers beware, it's a CGI show. Though I didn't exactly mind it, during some scenes it really amused me and only a few times did it stand out poorly.
I enjoy the designs of the characters (except for one). I much prefer this version of DM. Strength also got a makeover which to me looks fine, same with Black Rock Shooter herself.

Sound:
Not sure what to say about this. The themes are fine, the audio too. The characters didn't sound "off" or anything.

Characters:
From the beginning episodes I already really liked Black Rock Shooter's personality, her chemistry with most early other characters is pleasant to watch. Some of the other early characters unfortunately weren't as interesting, some made me curse they'd go off-screen sooner rather than later. Further on this changed, a dynamic and lovely trio was established who really bounced off of each other well.

Enjoyment:
My experience with this show was very mixed as you can probably tell by the other points. There were some really good highs, some awful lows... the majority of the anime was just alright, though.
If it hadn't gone with the early topics and gone straight to "the meat of the show" I would've liked it a lot more. A lot of the conflicts seemed unnatural to me and forced into there to have something happen to one of the mains. One of my favorite scenes contained a bit of a backstory for the character names which was surprisingly creative and I really appreciated that.

I honestly really like black rock shooter as a franchise so I'm grateful we at least got this show.
What I hope for is that if they make a sequel or a spinoff, they'll do a slightly better job at writing the story for it.
Black Rock Shooter has a lot of potential so I hope they utilize more of it next time. It was an attempt. Not a good one, but merely a tolerable one. Plenty room to do better next time!

Thanks for reading, I hope you have a wonderful day!

i personally am generous when it comes to expectations, i was a big fan of BRS as a kid.

I liked the anime because of how it tries a unique art style mixed with CGI.

however i find it weird how some designs in this show are sexualised. i can only point out one of the non humanoid monsters, which looks like they have a pp for a blaster.. so weird.

the story was decent at best, i am generous when it comes to expectations. they offer some major choices yet also find a way to work around any bad things happening, leading up to ... a desirable ending.

I like it? I'm really confused about the ending though, it seems like they ran out of budget and had to cut it short.

The story is cliched, the characters designs are uninspired, the music is generic, the action is okay at best, the new characters aren't that interesting and the original BRS ones had most of what made them cool interesting and slashed by 95%, the only positive thing I can give this show is the animation and even then, it's just okay.


This series plays out like a bad fanfiction based off of the PSP game.


I tried to give it a fair chance but 5 episodes were all I could handle, give me the 2012 series any day.


I just hope that this is just a flash in the ... pan and won't become the staple for this character!

Wowie. I normally don't post reviews on here, but this series pushed me past the breaking point.

Key Points:
The soundtrack is strangely forgettable; not bad, but surprisingly average to the point of not standing out.

The content feels empty, meaningless, and like hollow filler. Nothing really happens; most scenes feel like they drag on forever, and mostly seem to focus on tanks firing bullets. When it’s not focusing on that, the fight scenes between characters aren’t enough to make you fully engage in what’s happening.
Also, can I just say that the 13 minute mark in Episode 1 gave me such intense physic damage? What was the point ... of that… uh, “story content”?

Regarding the plot: I don’t even know where to belong. While I acknowledge that this series is trying something original, it just… isn’t that good. The writing quality is rather poor, and the story comes across as a strange, heavy-worded, confusing mess. It also was a little jarring seeing some parallels between the first episode and the BRS spin-off manga; especially seeing as the manga wasn’t done well either.

The enemies feel favor-less, and aren’t enjoyable to look at. Something about their designs, while perhaps may fit in this original world, look out of place next to Black Rock Shooter and Co. Not to mention at times, regarding certain enemies, the more you look at them the more you can’t help but think, “What even IS this design?” (Looking at you, creepy Ken Barbie Doll… Looking riiiight at you...)

The character redesigns just don’t look right either. All the little changes added up feel more like a strange, fan-design rather than RYO themselves having helped make them. Not to mention the personalities given to said characters, in my opinion, just don’t work. They feel unlikable, foreign, and unrecognizable when you added up everything else that is unfortunately going on in this show. (Black Rock Shooter herself seems to work the most, but still feels like she's missing some flavor.)

Perhaps everything will be wrapped up and properly tied together in the end, but that isn't a journey I'm able (or willing) to make.

I have never seen any form of Black Rock Shooter other than reading negative reviews of the first few anime. So I watched Dawn Fall with low expectation.

For the most part, this anime heavily reminds me of Mad Max.

Some extremely vulgar stuff like sex and gore that aren't fully displayed or animated, so it feels a little light-hearted despite the horrible context.

Most the characters are messed up and stupidly volatile. The main protagonist and friends have the classic plot-convenient amnesia and rely on it for easy development. The plot is straightforward.

Despite mainly using 3D animation, the show doesn't have stellar action scenes. ... Throughout the show, most of the action sequences are sloppily animated, and some important boss fights are awful. However, the first and last episodes have solid action.

At least the sound is done right, music is constantly played and build up to the scene. Sound effects are decent, sometimes wonky.

Unfortunately, I did enjoy the ending. It has the right amount of tension and some nice character moments. Not enough to redeem the overall quality of the series, sadly. At the very least, Dawn Fall isn't a horrible show.

What to say about Black rock shooter?!

Huke sold the rights to his characters to people who suck at scripts and animation.

I think Black Rock Shooter would be a good game if it was scripted in a similar way to "drakengard". This new anime made me think a lot about it, because it has many interesting characters. If the universe of BRS were really a game, we could unify the stories of the high school characters and the warrior characters of this new BRS, in addition to the characters from the mangá. We would have three plans in this game: Black rock Shooter (First anime) ... - School, Black rock shooter (Dawn Fall) - Adult life/Futurist/Pos apocalyptic dystopian world and Black rock Shooter (mangá) - Spiritual/Astral. Working out timelines where everything comes together would be perfect, Yokotaro or the author of Aldnoah Zero would have done a good job if they were responsible for the script.

I loved the nods to the previous animation, especially the final scene. I personally think that you will be hooked from beginning to end without any doubt, I assure you, the ending is not predictable at all, on the contrary, you think that it is on a safe course and suddenly it gives us an unexpected slap in the face, I really liked that aspect, the change in the animation style is considerable, but personally I loved it a lot because of the use of cgi for the theme of the machines, but especially the scenarios, which I feel it makes them very realistic, the ... soundtrack is not even mentioned, it is excellent, especially in the action scenes and in the drama, to conclude I think that this anime is made for true fans of black rock shooter.