Black Rock Shooter

Black Rock Shooter

The anime series is produced by the animation studio Ordet and directed by Shinobu Yoshioka. The series appears to be heavily related to the concept of the Black★Rock Shooter OVA, which involves two girls whose friendship is tested when they are dragged into an alternate world. The series is released in the noitaminA timeslot and the first episode aired on February 2^nd, 2012. The series has a total of 8 episodes^[1].

All main characters from the OVA reappear in the anime. The human characters, Mato Kuroi (Kana Hanazawa),Yomi Takanashi (Miyuki Sawashiro) and Yuu Koutari (Kana Asumi).^[2]. The other selves, Black★Rock Shooter,Dead Master, Strength, and Black★Gold Saw also reappear in the anime. These characters have been redesigned for the anime, which is particularly noticeable with Yomi and Dead Master.

Aside from the OVA characters, several new characters appear in the anime^[3]. New human characters includeSaya Irino (Mamiko Noto), a school counselor, Kagari Izuriha (Eri Kitamura), a childhood friend of Yomi, and Arata Kohata (Manami Numakura), the captain of the basketball club at Mato and Yomi's school. A new other self namedChariot also appears in the anime.

Insane Black★Rock Shooter also makes her very first appearance in a BRS series as the main antagonist.

While each piece of media takes place in its own universe, they each focus around Black Rock Shooter, a mysterious black haired girl who possesses a burning blue eye and a powerful cannon that can shoot rocks at high speed. Other characters also appear in more than one form of media.

The OVA focuses on a girl named Mato Kuroi, who befriends another girl, Yomi Takanashi, upon entering school. As the two start to drift apart, with Yomi becoming jealous of Mato's friendship with Yuu Kotari, Yomi suddenly disappears. As Mato searches for her, she is taken to a strange world where she meets the mysterious Black Rock Shooter, who merges with her and helps her search for Yomi, fighting off the evil Dead Master who possessed her. The television series uses the same characters from the OVA in a similar but slightly different storyline. As Mato enters middle school and becomes friends with Yomi, she soon faces personal troubles and the influence caused by another world where Black Rock Shooter fights other girls.

The manga series, Black Rock Shooter: Innocent Soul, follows Black Rock Shooter and her serpent partner, Ron, as they venture the Hazama, a world between Heaven and Earth where stagnant souls that have had regrets become trapped. Left alone, these souls can become demons that can pull in other souls, so it is up to Rock to stop them so they may ascend to heaven. Black Rock-chan is a comedy series following the everyday life of a chibi styled Black Rock Shooter named Rock-chan and her babysitter De-chan.

In the video game, which takes place in the year 2051, Black Rock Shooter is awoken from slumber and enters a futuristic battlefield where alien forces have invaded the Earth and have been terrorizing the planet for 19 years. She must fight off the aliens, while also trying to regain her memories.