Let's Go Beyond This World

Let's Go Beyond This World (世界を超えて, Sekai o Koete) is the 8th episode of the anime series of Black Rock Shooter. It aired on March 22, 2012.

Plot
The fight between Insane Black★Rock Shooter and Strength - that is, Yuu Koutari - continues. Yuu despairs of the pain of being ignored and of having no place to return to, and says that her heart was torn apart by those girls, leading her to believe that she would have rather been torn apart physically.

Mato Kuroi screams while Strength apologizes, saying that she wanted her to escape from Black★Rock Shooter. Strength, in the form of Yuu, is seen in front of a large pit, and she says that she can't let Mato be killed by her own hands. She then jumps down the pit, despite Mato's protests.

Strength starts to shatter, saying that she is Yuu's soul and if she dies, Yuu's pain will go away. Yuu starts to clutch herself as Strength says that she won't be able to stay in this world if she forgets her pain. Yuu protests, saying that she doesn't want to return to reality.

Insane Black★Rock Shooter is about to kill Yuu, but Mato resists, saying she won't let her kill her because Yuu is her friend. Flames glow around the area and Yuu finds herself glowing and absorbed into light.

Mato finds herself in Black★Rock Shooter's world (in the guise of a normal Black★Rock Shooter) and sees herself face-to-face with Insane Black★Rock Shooter. She telepathically asks Mato how it feels to be hurt.

Yuu awakens in the blank white landscape without her hood and sees Strength, cracked and chipped, and begs her why she did that, because otherwise she'd be sent back to reality. Strength says that she won't be lonely because Mato tried to help her and tried to help Yuu. The world starts to shatter and Strength takes Yuu away.

In Black★Rock Shooter's world, Insane Black★Rock Shooter says she doesn't mind shouldering Mato's pain since it's her nature, but Mato protests. She says she wants to be hurt by herself. She says that she won't look away, like the little bird from her favorite book. Insane Black★Rock Shooter tells her that then she will hurt her, and assaults Mato.

As Mato passively is hurt, Insane Black★Rock Shooter tells her that her wounds won't heal as fast as they would for "other selves" and attacks her. Mato collides with the ★Rock Cannon and Insane Black★Rock Shooter asks her why she won't use it. Mato says she never will. Insane Black★Rock Shooter says that that would be unfair, since Mato is taking pain from other people and not dealing any herself. Mato grabs the cannon and uses it to block Insane Black★Rock Shooter's attacks. Mato reflexively hurts Insane Black★Rock Shooter and feels anguish from hurting someone. Insane Black★Rock Shooter breaks the cannon with her knee and resumes her assault.

Insane Black★Rock Shooter knocks Mato down, breaking one of her legs, but Mato still says she can't hurt anyone.

She remembers that the bird died, but persists in wanting to see the colors of emotions like the bird wanted to. She sees a vision of the bird regaining its colors and flying again, and the light it creates summons the ★rock Cannon as a tri-barrelled gatling gun for her to wield as Black★Rock Shooter and allows her to stand again. A massive gun fight ensues between the two Shooters.

Kagari Izuriha sits alone at school long after it has ended, sitting at her desk and silently crying. Arata Kohata stares into space while she sits at basketball training, and Yomi Takanashi runs off, looking for Mato. She falls from exhaustion and cries, wondering why she tried to forget, remembering that she couldn't stand leaving Kagari behind and that she had no idea how to be friends with someone. She liked Mato because she wanted to share her pain and sadness with someone. She looks to the sky.

Bullets and sparks fly as Mato fights with Insane Black★Rock Shooter, as colors start to fill the realm. Both of the Shooters are wounding each other but neither is gaining any ground. Each other self sits within the realm of their worlds as they start to fall apart. Chariot, Black Gold Saw and Dead Master are heard quoting their own feelings and how their only wish is to protect their other forms. Strength carries Yuu into a pit to escape their world that is falling apart.

The girls from school start to stare into space as each of the "other selves" become realized. Kagari says that she thinks she loves Yomi after all.

Through the colors that pierce through Black★Rock Shooter's realm, the other "other selves" appear, and Mato says that she will hurt Black★Rock Shooter, because even if she herself gets hurt in the process, she wishes to reach Black★Rock Shooter's heart. She ignites her eye flame and advances on Insane Black★Rock Shooter.

The colors of the "other selves", containing their powers, envelope into a large cannon that Mato aims and shoots at Black★Rock Shooter. The explosion, rapidly changing colors, covers the entire realm and shatters it in a rainbow-colored burst that fragments it.

Mato wakes up, as herself in Black★Rock Shooter's clothing, wakes up in a large white desert expanse, where she sees Yuu and Strength. Mato addresses Strength as Yuu, who tells her to call her by her name. Yuu crawls up to Strength and says she can't die because she can't handle reality, but Strength says it'll be fine.

They are faced by the "other selves", and Strength says that Saya and Mato are there to help her. The worlds of the "other selves" had merged to help Mato, and Strength says that hearts can merge in the same way. Yuu says that nobody will like her, but Strength touches her, saying that she is her soul, and she can fight. However, even if they have no feelings, the "other selves" could never fight for anything they hate, because in the end they love their human counterparts and want to protect them.

Mato sees Black★Rock Shooter in her normal form, who repeats the sentiment.

Strength says that she wouldn't lie to someone she loves and that the real world is a beautiful place. As she starts to completely fragment and die, she thanks Mato for teaching her about how beautiful the real world is, and says that they will always be friends. Mato looks at the peak Black★Rock Shooter was standing on and sees her jumping down behind the peak.

Strength completely dissolves, painting the white desert a myriad of colors and causing Yuu to be sent back to reality. The area fades away.

Yuu wakes up in her proper body in reality to see Saya crying over her. Mato slowly walks home to be found by Yomi. Yomi says that she's relieved and that there are many things she wants to tell her. Mato interrupts her by embracing her and says that she's sorry that she may have hurt her.

Mato's voice starts to tell of the many colors as a montage shows of Mato getting ready for school, Kagari and Yomi walking to school together, Mato greeting them, Arata walking to school with Takuu only to be teased by the three girls, the teacher introducing Yuu as a new student, Mato dragging all of the girls into Saya's room, and Yomi making bracelets for all of them, including Yuu.

Mato says that they will all grow up together in this beautiful world.

In the Otherworld, in the blank expanse, Strength is shown to have re-formed and know her destiny to once again resume her eternal fight there. She catches a glimpse of Black★Rock Shooter, who says that she won't stop fighting, that she will continue to bear the pain and get hurt.

Characters

 * By order of appearance
 * Yuu Koutari
 * Insane Black★Rock Shooter/Black★Rock Shooter
 * Mato Kuroi
 * Strength
 * Black★Gold Saw
 * Kagari Izuriha
 * Arata Kohata
 * Yomi Takanashi
 * Chariot
 * Dead Master
 * Incomplete Girls
 * Arata's "Other Self"
 * Saya Irino
 * Hiro Kuroi
 * Mato's Mother
 * Yomi's Mother
 * Taku Katsuchi

Trivia

 * This concludes the anime series for Black Rock Shooter 2012.
 * This is also the first time where we hear all the Other Selves have short dialogue lines.
 * This marks the first appearance of a Prism Rock Cannon used by Mato in the guise of Black Rock Shooter.
 * Mato summons the same gatling gun Black★Rock Shooter used in Episode 2. However, while Black★Rock Shooter physically transformed her cannon into the gatling gun, when Mato summons the cannon, it is already in gatling gun form.
 * Mato is also able to ignite Black★Rock Shooter's blue eye flame while using her body.
 * The flow of the episode reveals the last 2 cards of the Arcana Order, the Judgement and the World. The Judgement card represented by the revealing of the lights in Black Rock Shooter's world and the World card represented by the mergence of all the realms into one dimension
 * This marks the first combat between the two Black Rock Shooter forms, the normal Black Rock Shooter and Insane Black Rock Shooter
 * Like in the OVA, the "other selves" speak telepathically without moving their lips.
 * The cliff peak where Black Rock Shooter leapt off is the same as the Sky Peaks, meaning that the Other World is not layered like before but in one entire realm.
 * The large rock cannon maybe a reference to WRS's skill, Grateful Sunray.
 * The shootout between Mato (as Black★Rock Shooter) and Insane Black★Rock Shooter may be based on a sequence during the battle against WRS.
 * It is also revealed in the anime that killed "other selves" can be revived, as shown in Episode 8 where Chariot comes back to help Mato along with the main "other selves" cast, and Strength being alive and well in the final scene of the episode despite dying earlier. How this happens remains ambiguous, but it appears that the act of their respective human counterparts remembering and coming to terms with their forgotten feelings and emotions plays a significant role.
 * In the same vein, a revived 'other self' seemingly retains some memory of their previous life; upon encountering Black★Rock Shooter in the post-credits scene of Episode 8, the reformed Strength lowers her Ogre Arms and even bears the slightest hint of a small smile, as though implying that she no longer regards Black★Rock Shooter as an enemy.

Gallery

 * Full Article: Let's Go Beyond This World/Gallery