-Overall
The story of Black Bullet is average. It's straightforward, which isn't necessarily bad. However, something that degrades the score for story is that the main character, like in many action anime, develops this "immune" status. The main character, Rentaro, is so "at the center of the show" and is so good at fighting, that the audience starts to believe that Rentaro is "immune" to the deadly fighting in the show. So, this sort of belief will remove the audience from the action, since we all know that Rentaro will win in the end. Moving on, the art seems above average. It's a lot shinier than other 2014 anime, and it, honestly, looks better than contemporary anime. Can't beat No Game No Life's art though. Don't know if anything can. Ok... getting back on track...
The sound is average, but the characters are flat and boring. They all fit into different action-anime-character tropes/archetypes. Their back-stories are unique, but their behavior, as well as beliefs, have all been seen before multiple times. That said, I still enjoyed this anime a good deal, and I'll be keeping my eye out for a season 2. Crossing my fingers!
Story: 6
Art: 8
Sound: 7
Character: 4
Enjoyment: 8
Overall: 6.6
It's fair enough, nearly good. Although in my mind the show deserves a 7. Well, rounded, 6.6 is 7 so...
More details down below:
-Story
The story is decent enough. The plot, for the most part, is pretty good and not completely predictable. The action is flashy and looks nice. The fighting is well choreographed, but never too immersive. This is because, over the course of the show, Rentaro develops this "immortal status" that, unfortunately, develops for most action-anime protagonists. The "immortal status" is when a character wins so many fights, is so good at winning, that we, as the audience, stop believing that this guy can lose. While at times, building the "immortal status" is great for plot twists, it doesn't really suit a straightforward plot like the one in Black Bullet. Because we know that Rentaro cannot die, the action does lose it's luster. But, it's not a bad story, and the action is good.
-Art
The visual quality seems somewhat better than contemporary works. It's shinier, and the effects look digitally added instead of hand drawn, (which most shows don't do anymore anyways) making things like blurred backgrounds look very refined.
-Sound
The sound is standard. The opening/ending and the soundtracks are pretty average, and the voices, while not bad, aren't amazing either.
-Character
For the most part, the characters are flat as a piece of paper. They have little dimension. However, it IS an action anime, so I guess it's not unexpected. The character's back-stories are interesting, but they all act like one archetype or another. Satomi Rentaro is the stereotypical hero. He's emotional, stronk, selfless, full of justice, nice, and cheesy as all hell. Enju is... just boring. She doesn't really follow an archetype, the closest one she gets to is "annoying companion." 49% of the time she opens her mouth, it's to declare that she will marry Rentaro or something along those lines. Another 49% of the time she talks, it's to "scare" off "competition" like Kisara. 1% of the time she says something normal and the remaining 1% is when she says something actually serious. The comedy is bland, and funny things just go and ruin the mood of the dark premise. Kisara for most of the series is just "childhood friend/crush" and the other characters aren't much better. But, this is all normal for an action anime, which focuses more on action than deep characters/story. So I'll give character a 4 instead of 3.
-Enjoyment
Despite all the negative stuff I said in the character section, I still enjoyed this anime. While I laughed my head off because of all the cheesy lines the characters had, the action was entertaining and the show was alright. Although it wasn't even close to my two favorites this season, (Woot Isshuukan Friends and No Game No Life all day every day) it was still fun to watch, and hey, it could've been way worse.
