Review of Black Rock Shooter

Black★Rock Shooter (TV) is an action, science, fantasy and drama anime, which was created by Ordet and Sanzigen studios, with Shinobu Yoshioka as the director and Mari Okada as the lead writer. The anime first aired on February 2nd 2012, finished on March 22nd 2012, and was 8 episodes long. In a nutshell. Black★Rock Shooter (TV) has a story that centers on the two different worlds that are connected and everything, which happens in the first world, will affect the second. The anime follows the story of Mato Kuoi, a girl who struggles to keep her new friend Yomi Tananashi and Black★Rock Shooter, a mysterious girlin the another world, fighting other beings for an unknown reason. The anime’s mixture of bright and dark art styles and its use of the animation to draw the viewer’s attention, as well as the splendid soundtrack, made the world of Black★Rock Shooter (TV) real for me. The strong message the show leaves to the viewer, we all feel pain and have our reasons to live on, but if we want to accomplish our aim, we should do it together, is impossible to ignore. I recommend Black Rock Shooter to everyone who is looking for a good; yet, short story; you won’t be disappointed.

Plot
The plot of Black★Rock Shooter (TV) revolves around the two worlds linked together: the first is the human world, where a girl called Mato Kuoi fights for her friendship with Yomi Tananashi, and the other world shows a mysterious girl, called Black★Rock Shooter, fighting other beings in fierce battles for an unknown reason. One thing is certain, there is some kind of a connection between Mato and Black Rock Shooter. Black★Rock Shooter (TV)’s story intertwines both worlds, so that negative effects in one are reciprocated in the other. The secrets hidden about each character will entice the viewer into wanting to learn more about what happens to Mato and her new relationship.

Now onto the main characters of Black★Rock Shooter (TV):
Mato kuroi – Voiced by Kana Hanazawa (Shiina Mayuri from Steins gate and Tachibana Kanade from Angel Beats) – She is the main character in the human world and has some form of a connection to Black★Rock Shooter. She plays for a basketball team at her school and is called the First Year Ace by other members of the team for being very skilled at the game. She becomes Yomi’s friend on her first day of school, but someone starts tormenting Mato because of that friendship.
Yomi Takanashi – Voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro (Asada Shino from Sword Art Online II and Hatsuse Izuna from No Game No Life) – She becomes friends with Mato on her first day at school after moving back from Germany. She is not used to making new friends as her family has been moving around throughout her life. She is a part of the school’s art club, as she is very good at drawing. She gets intimidated by her childhood friend, who has a lot of control over her because of something Yomi believes she did wrong, after she find out about Yomi’s Friendship with Mato.
Black★Rock Shooter – Voiced by Kana Hanazawa – She is the main character of the other world and has some kind of connection to Mato. She carries a rock cannon and a katana, she fights other beings in her world for some mysterious purpose. The message Black★Rock Shooter (TV) tries to deliver to us is that only we are guilty of our problems and that only we can solve them; however, the majority of people just want to run away or to give up, but with the help and support of the people close to us, we can overcome all difficulties.

Presentation
Black★Rock Shooter (TV) uses a mixture of very sharp, bright and dark color scheme to attract viewer’s attention, and to present the characters’ pain and struggles they face though out the story. The focus on how the two different worlds are connected, and can affect each other helps to peak the viewer’s interest about the show more. The animation of the characters is very well-made, specially the action scenes, as they show how much time and effort was put in, and it makes them one of best parts of Black★Rock Shooter (TV). While Black★Rock Shooter (TV) is a short anime, its story has depth, which may surprise the viewer, because many short anime don’t have this level of detail, which is a huge achievement of Black★Rock Shooter (TV). The voice acting was very well-done, with Kana Hanazawa’s voice of both Mato and Black★Rock Shooter. The soundtrack of the anime is beautiful, the music sounds soft and quiet when scenes take place in the human world, and heavy and fast pace when the action scenes in the other world happen. Finally, with the help of Supercell’s singers Hatusune Miku (Vocaloid and sings the Opening theme) and Koeda (Sings the ending theme), the soundtrack came to life to me.

My Opinion
It is an open secret that short anime don’t receive a good story’s and character’s development; however, Black★Rock Shooter (TV) proved to me that even a short anime might receive a good development. Black★Rock Shooter (TV) was able to do that in just 8 episodes and I think that it is a huge achievement. The connection of the characters, along with the blending of the two worlds, made it very interesting to watch as it creatively delivers the main message, "we all have pains that we want to run away from and most of the time, and we don’t know what to do about them alone." Lastly, Black★Rock Shooter (TV) doesn't do what some shows do, leave the viewer with a cliff-hanger, instead leaves the viewer with an ending that doesn't leave any loose ends.

Verdict
Black★Rock Shooter (TV) is a hidden gem in anime and has one of the most satisfying stories I have seen in a long time. It shows us that a story doesn't need to be long to be interesting. Throughout the story, Black★Rock Shooter (TV) describes that everyone around us has pain and struggles in their lives but we must stand up against them and help the each other overcome and accept ourselves. I recommend anyone who loves stories about hardships to give Black★Rock Shooter (TV) a chance and you won’t feel disappointed.