BLACK ROCK SHOOTER

To start things off, I enjoyed this OVA much more than I thought I would. There were some things I liked and some things that I didn’t have an opinion about, but overall I liked it. Maybe it’s just the BRS fan in me.
Watching this felt as natural as an animated feature feature film; the art, the animation, the score… I can see this being shown at a theater even though it’s shorter than a movie. I wasn’t expecting the direction in which the movie was going. Basically, it has the real world and this otherworldly monochrome dimension, giving a very dark, gloomy atmosphere. Throughout the OVA it switches off between the two, which I thought would make it a little confusing or would just break the mood, but it wasn’t a hindrance to me, really. Each scene skips forward a lot, so the approach of switching between two worlds makes up for it. In the real world, the friendship between Mato and Yomi grew incredibly fast and before long, they became BFFs. It skips to their next year of school, so between their first meeting and this, they’ve spent a grandiose time together hanging out, shopping, etc.

Once Yuu entered the story, I knew something bad was gonna happen. Considering Yomi was always moving, Mato was her first true friend so it’s little wonder why she started to feel lonely once Mato and Yuu were getting along as close as her relationship with Mato. The feeling of solitude came back to Yomi and that darkness consumed her. How she got to the other world is anyone’s guess, but one could say that closing her heart opened up the dark world, and as I mentioned earlier, has that dark and gloomy atmosphere, so it makes some sense. When Mato finds the star cell phone strap that she gave to Yomi, she worries and wonders aloud, “Where are you?,” and in turn, BRS appears in the sky to offer Mato the chance to see Yomi (who is now Dead Master in the other world). I thought this was a very nice touch, as the first part of the lyrics in the original BRS song is, “Black Rock Shooter, where did you go?” The line is very close to each other so it could have been a nod to this. Other things that I think may be loosely based on the song is the theme of companionship and overcoming one’s hardships, which were main factors to the plot of the OVA. Other than the song, there were actually a lot of scenes that were replicated from some of huke’s artwork for BRS, another cool touch. The part here where BRS walks through a bunch of crosses is taken directly from this piece while the part where BRS looks up at the moon is similar to this piece.
One thing to note, this OVA caters a lot to the Black Rock Shooter universe, or rather, the universe that huke created. Because of this, there are plenty of characters that only fans would be aware of based on his art, leaving everyone else in the dark. I’m betting a lot of people who watched this probably only have seen BRS, but nothing else. Thankfully, you really don’t need to know these characters since they aren’t really involved in the story.
Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master were really the only ones we needed to know. Black Gold Saw only appeared in the beginning and as an enemy to BRS, who was defeated and presumably killed. However, another being (known as Strength, or STR) was seen a couple of times. Upon closer inspection one can see is similar to Yuu. Indicating something perhaps? (I also have a bit more on Yuu to say at the end.)

Because Ordet has connections with A-1, it may be no coincidence that Sawashiro Miyuki, Hanazawa Kana, and Asumi Kana got the main roles. Why, if Black Gold Saw had a seiyuu, I can see Tomatsu Haruka voicing her, just because I can’t stop talking about a Kannagi reunion. But something else crossed my mind while watching. The scene where Yomi explains her last name “Takanashi” is strikingly similar to a scene in WORKING!! when Takanashi explains his name as well. It really is a difficult name to read, huh? I’m betting the reason why Yuu decided to call Yomi by her first name instead is because she didn’t want to mispronounce it as “Katanashi.” That being said, it’s very fitting that Asumi Kana played Yuu then. =p
Production values were great. As I mentioned, it felt like watching an animated movie. The music was good; I liked the theme song, but I would’ve preferred if they actually used the BRS song from huke, but at least there were a few variations like a piano arrangement at the end which sounded beautiful. Animation was top-notch, moreso in the dark world where all the action happens. The presentation of the other world captures huke’s artwork extremely well, and the little details are incorporated into the real world as well, such as Mato and her love of stars, her hoodie with the star, and even the school grounds’ walls are checkered just like in the other world.
Once it got to the ending, it all started to become pretty clear that events taken place in the other world (minus the initial fight scene, as can be seen by BRS’ lack of a scar) took place once Mato and BRS became one. Yomi was freed from the Dead Master, but the epilogue appeared to tell a continuation of some sort. Things were back to normal, but something seemed to be off with Yuu. Her face was hidden. What was that all about? Was it because Mato and Yomi reunited? I don’t think it’s out of jealousy because she knew they were friends to begin with. I think it’s beyond that point (and could be connected to STR), but for now it’s a completely mystery until we see a continuation of some sort int he future.