Review of Black Rock Shooter
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 thereis 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.