The much anticipated Black Rock Shooter. Ever since its project was announced and green-lit on August 22, 2009 this show was instantly added on many otaku's "to-watch" list. The one hour OVA was delayed by an additional month earlier in the year. Now that it's out however, was it what people expected?
Story/Plot: It definitely had one. Mato Kuroi had just started junior high. She befriends a classmate Yomi Takanashi during the first year. The first third of the show basically covers their initial meeting and then basically does a huge time skip into the second year not too long after. In the second year, the two are in separate classes. Mato befriends the basketball club's manager, Yuu. Yomi begins to feel left out and her other self awakens causing her to disappear into the "other world" and hate Mato. More on this "other world" shortly. Mato then frantically tries to find out what happened to Yomi as a search warrant had been sent out for her. Mato finds the cell phone strap that she gave to Yomi, which transfers her to the "other world" by becoming her other self, Black Rock Shooter, in order to vanquish Yomi's other self, Dead Master, and bring Yomi back. That's the basic gist of the story. Like I said, the OVA had a story, but was it what people were expecting? Absolutely not! This is not what people waited for or expected since that announcement nearly one year ago. If anything the OVA had little to do with Black Rock Shooter (hereafter known as BRS). Although Mato is really BRS, it was more school-life/slice-of-life/coming-of-age related than the action packed OVA people were expecting.
Now as for the other world, the whole concept had me confused initially but I liked how they cleared it up at the end. However, to be honest and like Killer_Ossi said, either one world or the other was unnecessary. There are thousands of ways to make this story using one or the other, but the idea of mixing the two only makes things look stupid. A very simple generic plot overall about friendship and that's all that it was. The "cliffhanger" wasn't all that special either if there is to be a second OVA planned. Score: 7/10 for at least a decent story 4/10 if you were watching/expecting a BRS centered story.
Art/Animation: It started out very pretty. Animation and art quality were all nice and detailed as well as the character designs. However, as the OVA went on, the end quality became very grainy and sub-par. Details were beginning to be left out (like Yomi's green eyes in some scenes and were colored black instead), some the action scenes, particularly the gun shots from BRS were rather DBZ style-ish, though slightly prettier. What really caught my attention however was the pretty "other world" design. Although based on Huke's original concept, it was adapted and animated very well. Nonetheless, it made me sad when the car that drove by Mato in the second half of the OVA was in higher quality graphics than most other scenes. In short, the animation was of reasonable quality, but nothing that some of the regular studios couldn't do nowadays, especially considering the director, Shinobu Yoshioka, as well as project supervisor, Yutaka Yamamoto, have both worked on numerous KyoAni projects before. This I would consider is below average coming from two former staff members of that studio. If anything the fact that the quality was inconsistent betwee the real world and the "other world" annoyed me the most. It's as if two teams had no coordination on consistency and simply slapped them together when finished drawing. Score: 5/10 for non-BRS, 8/10 for BRS.
Sound/Music: The fact that Fujita Saki was not Mato/BRS really disappointed me. Fujita Saki is known for voicing Vocaloid's Hatsune Miku. If anything she definitely does not lack talent, let alone seiyuu experience (Momoha from Manabi Straight, Mana in Ookami Kakushi, Mina in Tokimeki Memorial ~Only Love~, and Tomoki in Sora no Otoshimono). Had they incorporated her, maybe we would have even got the BRS theme. That said, Kana Hanazawa definitely did a fairly good job with Mato so I'm not complaining. Kana Hanazawa has done numerous main roles as well so I had no problems with here in that position. The rest of the cast were all respectable as well so it's not like this was awful or anything.
Speaking of themes, what was up with that ED theme? If anything I was hoping for something from supercell? Whoever thought it was a good idea to include rock/metal type music was complete imbecile if you ask me. As decent as the instrumentals were, they simply don't make up for the lackluster decisions. Score 6/10 if you weren't expecting vocaloid/BRS content, 5/10 if you were expecting it.
Character Development: As decent of a plot the show had, the lack of developing any of the "other world" characters really annoyed me. The lack of any sort of dialogue bothered me the most considering this was "expected" to be a show about "Black Rock Shooter". Showing STRength mid-way through the episode as well as Black Gold Saw at the beginning bothered me. It's as if their role was for marketing purpose of the BRS franchise. And like Shinobu's_Lover pointed out, the lack of Insane BRS annoyed me. I was hoping for some craziness or a hint of it at some point whether it was this episode or any sort of future production. Back to characters in the show though, we never got to know any other characters besides Yuu, Yomi, and Mato. We don't know who they are or what their past is like. All I hear is talk but nothing visual or something showing the character they had become in the present day. The idea of "let's just put this here and make people believe it" or "let the audience's imagination run" is simply annoying for a 50 minute OVA. One would also think that delaying the production would also imply improvements too. Score: 5/10 if you weren't expecting BRS content. 4/10 if you were.
Enjoyment: I'm not sure what to say here. I definitely came into the OVA expecting a lot even for 50 minutes. Although the show was not very action intensive, the school-life moments did have its good traits. The mix and match however and the lack of chronology within the show bothered me a bit since it felt I was watching a spoiler the entire time. It definitely was not something I expected but the ending of the OVA does provide some hope of a sequel. Whether or not we get one is if Yutaka Yamamoto decides to be a jerk or not, which I hear he has been by publicly mocking the capabilities of seiyuu Kana Hanazawa at the moment as well as tearing apart K-ON! figures in public lately to mock KyoAni. I guess we'll find out more at one of the upcoming Comikets maybe....if not Tokyo Anime Fair next year hopefully. Score: 6/10 for both BRS and non-BRS knowledge.
Overall: The lack of dialogue from BRS and Dead Master is probably the most irritating factor for any vocaloid fan let alone the lack of Saki Fujita as Mato/BRS. All in all, this one hour OVA is actually not what vocaloid/BRS fans should expect if you haven't watched it. Simply put, it's a show about a girl who tries to save her friend from "the dark side" after girl #2 goes into depression after feeling she is being left out. All in all, this was more of a marketing scam if anything. It was basically to get BRS fans and those who don't know about BRS hyped up and to buy more of the products. It's a shame that the masterpiece that Huke originally developed has essentially gone to waste by a director who has never actually directed and a supervisor someone who disliked moe create moe. I just hope Huke's next work, Steins; Gate, doesn't turn out like this. Score: 6/10 for both BRS and non-BRS.
Black★Rock Shooter (ブラック★ロックシューター)
Deadmaster (デッドマスター)
Strength (ストレングス)
Black★Gold Saw (ブラック★ゴールドソー)
Chariot (チャリオット)
Insane Black★Rock Shooter (インセインブラック★ロックシューター)
Mato Kuroi (黒衣 マト)
Yomi Takanashi (小鳥遊 ヨミ)
Yuu Koutari (神足 ユウ)
Saya Irino (納野 サヤ)
Kagari Izuriha
Arata Kohata (小幡 アラタ)
