Insane Black★Rock Shooter (TV Anime Character)

Insane Black★Rock Shooter (インセインブラック★ロックシューター, Insein Burakku Rokku Shūtā) is a character from the 2012 Black★Rock Shooter anime. She is Black★Rock Shooter gone insane from being affected by Mato Kuroi's mental trauma.

Appearance
Insane Black★Rock Shooter retains much of her original concept's design while also adapting parts of her normal self's design. She has black hair in spiky, uneven twintails, her eyes and flame versus that of her normal self are purple, and much of her body is encased in black armor. On the left side of her head is an asymmetrical crown-like adornment with three spikes and a white cross design. Her chest is partly covered with armor plating that has various designs, such as stars and a checkerboard. The string of her bikini top and her torn jacket are partly visible. Hanging off the left side of her chest armor is a white and black strap that wraps around to the corresponding section on her back. Her left shoulder has a plate similar to the crown on her head, but with one spike. Her midriff is exposed and lacks the scar of her original concept. She wears black shorts with two large light grey belts worn in a cross-shaped manner, and black thigh-high greaves.

Like all of the "other selves" in the anime, her eyes have a white circular pattern in them. However, unlike all the other selves who have white pupils in their eyes, including her normal self, Insane Black★Rock Shooter has black and red pupils. While her normal self ignites her eye flame only at certain points during battle, Insane Black★Rock Shooter's eye flame is constantly active.

Personality
Insane Black★Rock Shooter is mostly silent, but also quite stoic. Like all the "other selves", she hardly says anything. She is absolutely merciless in battle, perhaps even more so than some of the "other selves;" she presses her assault even after sustaining severe personal injury.

Interestingly, although "other selves" claim that they have no emotions, Insane Black Rock Shooter does seem to express some emotion - including surprise and fear - at certain points. She also appears to enjoy a good battle, as she is seen grinning insanely when she is about to strike Strength, and again when Mato stands up to her and brings out the ★rock Cannon in its rapid-fire incarnation.

When the battle is not particularly challenging for her, I.BRS rarely shows any emotion and maintains a blank expression. An example of this is when Black★Gold Saw severely injured her right arm, yet she didn't react at all. She also seems to disregard any injuries that she receives due to her high regenerative abilities. Examples of this are when she simply tears off her injured arm during her fight with B★GS and when she willingly shoots herself in the leg to prevent Mato from hindering her.

History
When Yuu Koutari sent Mato into the Otherworld, Mato was asked by a voice from nowhere if she is willing to face all of the pains and sufferings that she have gone through and will not run away from them. Mato willingly accepts, with her left eye purging blue flames. Mato merges with Black★Rock Shooter moments after the latter had stabbed Dead Master through her abdomen. From Mato's point of view, she finds herself in the presence of Yomi Takanashi instead, and saw Black Blade went through her, mentally traumatizing Mato. Mato's condition affects Black★Rock Shooter as well, who ignites her blue flame further and further until it died out. Seeing the corpse of Dead Master, she suddenly became unstable and ignites a red flame, which then merges with her blue flame to create large amounts of purple flames, and turning her blue eye color purple. B★RS' iconic star breaks, matching Insane Black★Rock Shooter's iconic broken star.

Spikes start to penetrate into Black★Rock Shooter, and purple light glows from her, turning her into her iconic insane form. Nearby, Black★Gold Saw is startled by the sudden change in the area and looks behind her. Both ready their weapons and lunge at each other. Within Insane Black★Rock Shooter, Mato writhes in pain as Black★Gold Saw cuts Insane Black★Rock Shooter's right arm. Insane Black★Rock Shooter simply tears off her injured limb and Mato shrieks. She then went limp as Insane Black★Rock Shooter and Black★Gold Saw continue to fight. Insane Black★Rock Shooter uses a chain to replace her arm and hurls her Insane Cannon Lance at Black★Gold Saw. The Cannon Lance begins firing rapid-fire purple blasts while in mid-air. Black★Gold Saw avoids the attack and knocks the Cannon Lance into the ground, but the Cannon Lance deploys a turret on its underside and shoots her arm off, forcing her to retreat. She opens a rift in the floor and slides through, closing it behind her. Insane Black★Rock Shooter takes Black★Gold Saw's fallen King Saw and uses it to tear open the rift to follow her. Black★Gold Saw turns to fight again, and uses her watering can to summon several armed hooded figures to attack Insane Black★Rock Shooter.

Insane Black★Rock Shooter simply blasts through the hooded beings as she slaughters her way to Black★Gold Saw, but when she heard Saya's voice pleading to Mato, Insane Black★Rock Shooter stopped her blade right over Black★Gold Saw's head. A reaction is triggered in Mato and suddenly Insane Black★Rock Shooter is swatted away by an unseen force and pinned to a bunch of pillars.

After Saya's flashback, Insane Black★Rock Shooter screams in rage, smashes free from the pillars and attacked Black★Gold Saw again while Saya continued to plead to her. Insane Black★Rock Shooter showed no further reaction to the pleas of Saya and was in position to impale Black★Gold Saw with her own King Saw. At the last moment, the blade was jettisoned to the side where she would have killed Black★Gold Saw. It is revealed that she was pushed aside by none other than Strength. Strength's massive fists send Insane Black Rock Shooter flying into a pillar. She quickly recovers and charges Strength, but Strength slams her Ogre Arms into the floor of the Otherworld, breaking open a fissure to her world, and escapes into it with the unconscious Black★Gold Saw. Insane Black★Rock Shooter leaps into the fissure and chases after them. While they leap between areas, many colors pass by.

In the tumult, they reach Strength's world. Strength puts Black★Gold Saw's body away, and she and Insane Black★Rock Shooter continue to fight. Insane Black★Rock Shooter uses her Cannon Lance to fire at Strength, but Strength manages to avoid the attack and punch Insane Black★Rock Shooter with her Ogre Arm, knocking her several yards into a wall. Insane Black★Rock Shooter follows up with her Insane Blade Claw, but Strength simply grabs the sword, breaks it with her sharp tail and throws her away. Insane Black★Rock Shooter tries to resume her assault, but Strength switches places with a large block and attacks Insane Black★Rock Shooter from behind, crushing her against the block. The scene ends with her bringing both of her fists down on the heavily injured Insane Black★Rock Shooter.

However, Insane Black★Rock Shooter regenerates and overwhelms Strength. Due to her regenerative abilities and armour, she is able to withstand both Strength's machine guns and gatling guns. Eventually Mato manages to delay Insane Black★Rock Shooter, allowing Strength to wound her, but Insane Black★Rock Shooter manages to get her Cannon Lance in front of her leg and activate the rear vulcan, wounding Mato. Insane Black★Rock Shooter is not troubled due to her high regenerative capabilities. Insane Black★Rock Shooter regains control of the fight, but Strength suddenly seems to go insane and overpowers her, grabbing the Cannon Lance and throwing Insane Black★Rock Shooter away. The two have another shoot-out, vulcans against machine guns, and Strength is again overpowered. However, she seems to enjoy this and manages to grab the Cannon Lance and punch Insane Black★ Rock Shooter in the face. She commandeers the Cannon Lance and intentionally activates all the vulcans at once to wound herself. The world they are fighting in is consumed by fire and "Strength" reveals herself to be the real Yuu Koutari, who switched places with Strength in the Otherworld. Insane Black★Rock Shooter uses her Cannon Lance to propel herself over the flames to safe ground and charges at Strength, but Yuu activates several more Ogre Arms attached to her back and whacks Insane Black★Rock Shooter repeatedly on the block she is standing on and throws the Cannon Lance away. As Insane Black★Rock Shooter lies on the ground, Yuu and Strength recount their story to Mato.

Yuu continues to smash Insane Black★Rock Shooter on the block she is standing on. Insane Black★Rock Shooter attempts to retaliate, but Yuu overpowers her. However, Strength tries to destroy herself to stop Yuu, freezing Yuu in place. Insane Black★Rock Shooter pulls her Insane Cannon Lance back with her chain and goes in for the kill, but Mato refuses to let her do it. Mato's resolve causes the area inside Insane Black★Rock Shooter to fill with light and both Mato and Insane Black★Rock Shooter are transported to Black★Rock Shooter's world, with Mato in the normal Black★Rock Shooter's body. Mato apologises to Insane Black★Rock Shooter for making her bear all her pain and suffering. Insane Black★Rock Shooter speaks to Mato, saying the she is fine with accepting Mato's pain as her "other self". Mato tells her that she does not want to hurt anyone, not even Insane Black★Rock Shooter; she wants to be hurt by herself. Insane Black★Rock Shooter shows a slight unhappy expression, drops her Cannon Lance and begins pummelling Mato with her fist and knee, causing her to bleed red blood. Insane Black★Rock Shooter tells Mato that her wounds won't heal as quickly as the "other selves" would. Mato collides with the ★rock Cannon, inexplicably embedded in the ground and Insane Black★Rock Shooter asks her why she won't use it. Mato says she never wants to use it. Insane Black★Rock Shooter attacks her again, forcing her to grab the cannon and block the attack. Mato continues to shield herself with the cannon, while Insane Black★Rock Shooter tells her it is "unfair" to get hurt without hurting others. Mato accidentally manages to non-fatally stab Insane Black★Rock Shooter in the side with the cannon, and feels the pain of hurting someone. Insane Black★Rock Shooter simply breaks the cannon on her knee and resumes her assault, injuring Mato severely and breaking one of her legs. While Mato struggles on the ground, Insane Black★Rock Shooter notes that the attack was "hardly anything" compared to the battles between "other selves". Mato still finds that she can't hurt someone. She reflects on the picture book she read when she was younger and how the bird in the book died. She has a vision of the bird regaining its colours and gathers her resolve, summoning the ★rock Cannon in its tri-barelled gatling gun form (as well as healing her damaged leg), and begins firing at Insane Black★Rock Shooter. Insane Black★Rock Shooter smiles sadistically and fires back with her Insane Cannon Lance. The two then start a massive shoot-out, but are evenly matched. Insane Black★Rock Shooter manages to destroy the ★rock Cannon again, but Mato, with the help from all the "other selves", summons a giant ★rock Cannon and aims it at her. As Insane Black★Rock Shooter looks on in fear, Mato fires a giant rainbow-coloured beam at her, annihilating her and her Cannon Lance. After Insane Black★Rock Shooter was destroyed, Black★Rock Shooter returns to her normal state.

Abilities
I.BRS may have great powers of regeneration as she was shown reattaching her right arm without any worries and uses it as if nothing happened to it at all; her arm can still pull the trigger of the Insane Cannon Lance mid-air even after being ripped off. I.BRS also doesn't seem to feel any pain, no matter how fatal the opponent's attacks are. I.BRS can also resist Mato's ability to control I.BRS to a limited extent enough to injure herself and thereby injure Mato.

As mentioned in the anime, I.BRS is said to be able to destroy the "other world" and the counterparts within it, thus making her the strongest antagonist in the anime series.

Her weapons of choice are modifications of Black★Rock Shooter's ★rock Cannon and Black Blade, named Insane Cannon Lance and Insane Blade Claw respectively.

Trivia

 * Her blood is purple, compared to Black★Rock Shooter's blue blood.
 * Insane Black★Rock Shooter's appearance in the anime was first teased during Wonder Festival in February 2012. At the Wonderful Hobby Life for You booth by Good Smile Company and Max Factory, attendees could peel off tin badges made to form a giant "B★RS" logo. The removal of all the badges revealed Insane★Black Rock Shooter's design for the anime, as well as that a figma of the character would be included in the limited edition Blu-ray & DVD box sets for the anime.
 * Insane Black Rock Shooter appears to have fangs like that of her original concept's, though they are only shown very briefly during her battle with Strength.
 * If Insane Black Rock Shooter were to be considered a separate character from Black★Rock Shooter, then I.BRS would be one of three other selves not to be referred to by name in the anime.

Gallery

 * Full article: Insane Black★Rock Shooter (TV Anime Character)/Gallery