Review of Black Rock Shooter

Anime Review No.14 Black Rock Shooter (TV) is the latter version of the 2010 OVA Black Rock Shooter. In a span of 8 episode the anime was expected to clarify the bizarre world of the BRS franchise while the OVA’s is just more focus on the relationship of mato and yomi’s. Black Rock Shooter franchise original came from the character illustration of Ryohei Fuke best known for the pend name “Huke”. The black rock shooter first came out as a 4 minute music video that was sang by a computer software called “Vocaloid” , a singing synthesizer, .The vocaloid use was non-other than HatsuneMiku itself. I didn’t known this before when I first watch the OVA but I knew it by the time the new anime adaptation was about to be release. This is the obvious reason why the anime was so hype back then. The anime plot was just simple but it caters massive amount attention of a lot of people.

There 3 sides so far I see that gives feed-backs to the anime.

1.Are the fans that mostly likely the Hatsune Miku’s fans that hype franchise towards the moon and other non-vocaloid fans who just really liked the series.
2.Those who have a different perspective. People who dislike the series with reasonable ideals.
3.The Neutral ones that liked it but doesn’t disagree with the 2nd wave.

I stand to the Neutral Side. I don’t disagree for the people who don’t like it since the anime have a fair share number of flaws but I still like the anime.

Time to Start the Overview:

Warning: This text might contain spoilers and I will compare the former which is the OVA version.

Art style and Character Design (8/10) Very Good

Let’s first with the basic of this anime. The character design of the series of the anime is in the iconic level for you easily remember the looks of the character for they have distinct design different from other characters. From the color, the logo of the clothes, the way they are dress and the weapon they hold the characters looks steps away from a mediocre design that most other anime have that made its easily forgettable. People said that the character design of the anime TV series different from former OVA and I agree. The characters in the OVA have much simpler design unlike the anime series which designs of the characters are cuter but I won’t deny the visual is cleaner because of the higher budget. CGI for the battle scene is good for it feels like you are playing 1080pixel HD Graphic video games which will make you intensify.

The character design is segregated in two forms:

-The characters Personas are in 3D form meaning the different world is also 3D format while OVA is 2D all the way but even the animation became different it didn’t take away the creative art work in designing the landscape. Spoiler each Personas of the character have different landscape design that matches their personality and even the color fits the moods.

-The base form of the characters or in short the real life appearances of the characters are closely to the standard anime character design of most anime of today. This were complains of the OVA fans came forth. In my opinion it is just a minor detail. Sudden change of character design doesn’t interfere with the series real content so I advise you guys to just ignore.

Music (8/10) Very Good

The opening song “Black Rock Shooter” was sang by Hatsune Mikue herself. The song was cool for the opening and in presenting it themes so the opening is just fine no negative comment added. The Background music for the mood is also fine and good. The Piano background music does really made the atmosphere serious, gloomy and at the same time a little positive. The ending song Bokura no Ashiato is also good ending made by Supercell it’s colorful and the message is direct. The Music did a good job.

Plot (6/10)

Time to check up the major parts of the show. I can on give an above average because there are a lot of circumstances that make the series confusing. In the span of 8 episodes it is highly expected many small details will be left unanswered and will be ignore.

I going to Summarize the Positive and Negative parts of the Plot.

Positive:
1.Given the duration more team exploration will be made and additional character will be introduced to build up the series unlike the OVA which only focus to Mato and Yomi.
2.The World of BRS will be more explained and these make the anime a little more unique than the OVA.
3.It has a happy ending same as the OVA.

Negative:
1.Yomi’s family is not explored properly to the point that you don’t know what is happening. How did Yomi suffered in the first place. It’s hard to give sympathy to the characters if you don’t know much about their entire background and this how the plot fails to do it. Even though the plot wanted you to feel sorry for them.
2.It gets more confusing when Strength and Black Gold Saw take in the seen. Black Gold Saw is Irino Sensei persona. Her objective was to collect negative emotion by concealing the girls puberty issues but in reality she just suddenly making it worst and when it was gotten out of hand and the “Insane Black Shooter” came out she suddenly change of heart. Completely confusing even though it’s was for the benefit of strength it is just too far for an excuse.
3.In the ending the anime became psychological for the main heroine is left to confront and beat up her own self but for some reason it become a shounen for the power of friendship always prevail came about which I think is out of place. The message about hurting others to benefit yourself is there and to clean your mess you have to dirty others and face the entire consequences of your actions is great message but the power of friendship out of the blue is really out of place.

Characters (6/10) Above Average

Because of the other world thing it’s hard to take seriously if the action and emotion of the characters are realistic or superficial in a point. In the plot it is clearly explained the personas of the girl is to protect them to not have an emotional breakdown or protect them from getting more fatally hurt on their emotions but the problem it’s different from the Chariot, Death Master, and Gold Saw. I understood BRS is there for Mato to make her less overthink and not hurt herself and I understood strength purpose for Yuu bullying problems and misfortunate life but Chariot and Death master is the opposite they exist on the sole purpose of not forgetting the pain they suffered and after their personas were killed Yomi and her sister become totally a different person which is another plot hole I want to point out. More minor character details flaw I have seen but I leave that to you guys to decide. The characters did develop here since all their conflicts were resolve in the simplest manner and live life as a better person fueled with the power of friendship.

Enjoyment (6/10)
I like the show but the problem is that there are so many confusing events that I failed to understand. The Music and CGI action did make me enjoy the show but I won’t say much about the characters and the confusing plot.

Overall (7/10) Good
The anime is not bad and not very good since minor parts of the show was handled properly while the Major parts become extremely confusing which naturally other people to dislike. The message is good but the presentation using power of friendship is awkward since the conflict is internal and personal not social. The show try it’s best to say you’re not alone there is some hidden force protecting from your suffering and that sounds like what I hear and read in our local Christian church. And of course your friends are there to back you up even though the parents here were supposed to have a critical role here to helping their children cope up with puberty and identity crisis.

Final Thoughts about the Comparison about the OVA and the series:

1st the OVA wins in character development and Plot for being simple and understandable unlike the anime series which have flaws that is very hard to ignore. 2nd the anime did make the best of the production values of minor details concerning the music and animation even though the music and animation OVA is also good I put it the balance since it’s only minor details. 3rd last the BRS franchise is good for an action show, and creative presentation in art work. The characters are simple and the plot is simple meaning the anime is average but for me it’s good since the effort for creativity is given consideration and the anime is short enough for you to experience the dullness of slow pacing.

Worth Recommending for a: “Spectacle and for Entertainment purposes”

If you haven’t watch the BRS yet I recommend the OVA since the OVA is still good enough for non-anime fans to enjoy for the action and basic plot and afterwards proceed to the anime series if you wanted a little.

Thanks for Reading My Review: