Review of Black Rock Shooter

Firstly, I want to start off by confessing that I was (and still am) a huge fan of Black Rock Shooter before the OVA and the TV series came out. However I will try my best to write this review as if I know nothing about Black Rock Shooter. All good? Awesome, let's go! Story 7/10 & Characters 7/10 For me, the weakest areas of this series are the story and characters. The story centers around Mato as she struggles to understand pain and the feelings of hurt, and Black Rock Shooter in an alternate world trying to save others from their pain and suffering by fightingtheir alternate egos. There is depth to the story (mostly apparent in the last few episodes), but the execution of it leaves much to be desired. The last few episodes in particular was very messy, and I had to rewatch them again to fully understand what was going on.

To summarize the characters, we have Mato, a bright and cheery girl who has not really experienced much feelings of pain; Yomi, a quiet girl who has difficulty making friends due to certain circumstances; Kasuga, a girl who is obsessed of never letting go of her friend; Yu, another happy girl who is not who she seems; and the school councellor. Most of the characters are rather bland, with the only standout being Kasuga. However the interaction of the characters and their extreme reactions when they feel the world is crashing down around them was one of the standouts of the series. It created a darker feeling to this series compared to the OVA, and while it can be extreme at times, I can imagine some people in real life will act the same way as well if they were thrown into this situation. You won't like many characters from the get-go, but in a way it is refreshing that an anime series isn't going full throttle to make the audience like every single female character, and allows the viewers to be more subjective rather than taking sides.

Art 9/10
The animation of the fighting scenes is a stand out for the most part. Occasionally something doesn't look quite right with the CG work, but it's only the odd scene or two. The non-CG scenes are also amazing, especially the character's expressions. However I did not really like how young Black Rock Shooter looked, and it was hard to tell what was going on during some of the fast paced action scenes.

Sound 10/10
I felt that the BGM generally fits each scene very well. I also like the occasional lead into the OP or ED. A standout for me would have to be the way the OP and ED was used in the final episode.

Enjoyment 10/10
Personally for me, I felt that this was probably THE standout series of the season, where many other series are more light-hearted or less story driven, and I judge how good a series is based on what else was available that series rather than against all other series I have watched in the past. I was planning to drop this series as I wasn't a big fan of the OVA but decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did in the end.