Jul 24, 2015
Black★Rock Shooter was perhaps, at the time, the first full anime I had ever watched, so I had next to nothing to compare it to going in.
To be honest, I thought it started off really strongly.
The premise is that there is an alternate dimension where warriors who represent the people in the real world take on the troubles and problems of their counterparts, except in really blown up and intense ways. This leads to many metaphors being portrayed, and overall I really enjoyed the premise on it's own.
However ....
I completely see where other people are coming from when they claim that the story was
...
lost potential, and I agree. As much as I adored the idea alone, the story felt rather shallow and truly failed to capitalize on what it had. It didn't take me long to figure out the show's main problem:
It's far too short for what it's trying to accomplish.
Now, to be fair, I actually liked the characters quite a lot. They all felt appealing and charming, and I wouldn't mind watching a longer anime surrounding them and their counterparts. But ... none of them really felt fleshed out or particularly interesting, and I think this comes from the shortness of the series.
Given more time, they could have all developed very interesting and unique personalities and connections, but we really don't get any of that. The worst offender in my opinion was Yomi and Kagari. They seemed like two girls who had gone through a lot together, and possessed a really strange, creepy and interesting relationship. I wanted, more than anything, to learn about their history and why they both ended up in this weird bond, but all I got was a (very) brief flashback to when they were both children. This barely cleared anything up, and I was left just as confused as before. With more episodes, these characters could have been fully ironed out to a great potential.
The ending of the series felt extremely -- and I mean EXTREMELY -- rushed and confusing. It all felt like last minute fan fiction to me, and really soured the last couple of episodes. Although the characters were likable but weak, the story wasn't too bad up until the final act. It was immensely confusing and goes back to what I said before: with a longer series, this could have been easily fixed. I didn't really find myself caring about anyone, especially Yu. She was suddenly a centre plot point, despite being probably the most forgettable of the cast and having a 'my-life-used-to-be-terrible' backstory shoehorned in at the last minute to give me the feels. It didn't work, because I was too busy waiting for the next fight sequence to commence.
Now, there are a lot of great things about this show.
The music and OST, for one, is awesome. Hatsune Miku is always a win, and the soundtrack that plays throughout the fight scenes complements the quick paced, furious action.
Speaking of which ...
The art style is amazing, like, some of the best I've ever seen. The mix of CGI and 2D animation blends really well, and makes for unique battle scenes and effects. The action sequences are fantastic, and are animated beautifully and fluently. They keep you on the edge of your seat and sometimes even give you chills at just how badass and spectacular they are. This easily makes the fighting the most enjoyable aspect of the show by far, and I'll happily replay those scenes any day.
Overall, I enjoyed this anime to an extent, and that extent was perhaps up until the final act. It's definitely not a masterpiece (far, far from it), but the intense action and fighting keeps it afloat and memorable. I would recommend it only if you enjoy fast paced action and slow emotional drama bits surrounding mediocre (but cute) girls. Fix the characters, fix the pacing and fix the ending, and this would be one heck of an awesome show.
6.5/10
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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