Dead Master (TV Anime Character)

"I want to love. I don't care if it hurts. It's worth it, as long as we're together!"

- Dead Master in Let's Go Beyond This World

Dead Master (デッドマスター, Deddo Masutā) is the incarnation of the Dead Master character in Black★Rock Shooter 2012 anime. She is the other self of Yomi Takanashi.

Appearance
Dead Master has green eyes, wavy black long hair brought to the front of her shoulders with straight cut bangs, a pair of green horns on her head that resemble vertebrae curving somewhat inwards, and a sheer white veil that falls past her shoulders.

She wears a backless black dress with frills at the collar and hem, green and white frills at the ends of her sleeves, and a white ribbon adorning the left side of her waist. She has two thick green wings framing the back of her dress, which is tied with a green ribbon choker around her neck, and has another green ribbon on the back of her waist. She also wears large skeletal gloves with green tips, black capris with green rose-like adornments, black and green ankle ribbons, and black shoes with green heels.

Her green eyes have a circular pattern with white pupils in them. Below her eyes sits a pair of green-framed eyeglasses.

Personality
As Yomi's other self, Dead Master reflects her personal struggles in the real world, often wearing a melancholic expression on her face. In her first appearance, she is shown helping Chariot in battle by preventing Black★Rock Shooter from attacking her, but it is later revealed that she is forcefully bound by Chariot and kept away from Black★Rock Shooter's attempt to save her, representing Yomi's strained relationship with Kagari Izuriha and how she hesitates to truly be friends with Mato Kuroi because of it. Once Yomi manages to stand up to Kagari with Mato's encouragement, Dead Master breaks free from the literal chains that bound her then. Later, when Yomi's darker feelings begin to grow in the real world, Dead Master represents this by descending into a vortex of chains that gradually amasses, and emerging from the chains after her human counterpart snaps and breaks down.

Dead Master has the same love for her human counterpart that all the other selves have for their human counterparts.

History
Dead Master first appears at the end of How Much More Do I Have to Scream?, where Black★Rock Shooter looks to her side after being chained and restrained against a wall, and sees Dead Master as the one who summoned the chains and prevented her from directly shooting at Chariot. When Black★Rock Shooter gets free later in Dawn Envelopes the Sky and has the opportunity to shoot at Chariot again, Dead Master restrains her once more and brings her face-to-face with Dead Master herself.

Dead Master attempts to crush Black★Rock Shooter with the chains binding her, but the latter reverses the chains to bind Dead Master instead and kicks her away. The impact reveals a heart-shaped scar above Dead Master's chest, and Black★Rock Shooter relents once she sees the scar. Suddenly, a large group of spiders carry Dead Master away, and Black★Rock Shooter gives chase, all the while Yomi's voice pleading for someone to help her echoes. Mato witnesses these events in a dream, and the next day, she sees Yomi with the exact same scar above her chest that Dead Master had.

Black★Rock Shooter continues chasing after Dead Master and is led to the house in the sky in Chariot's world. She breaks into the house to find a grotesque doll in a chair, with spiders crawling out of its face. She breaks open the doll with her bare hands and discovers a chained-up Dead Master within it. Just as Black★Rock Shooter is about to reach out to her, Chariot intervenes on her vehicle and attacks Black★Rock Shooter again. As they fight, the conflict between Mato and Kagari in the real world intensifies with Yomi in the middle of it. When Yomi is apparently happy that Mato called Yomi her friend, Dead Master puts her hand on her heart. She looks up at the stone heart in the sky she is bound to, and as Yomi gains the confidence from Mato to stand up to Kagari, Dead Master begins to break free of her chains. She manages to shatter the stone heart in the sky once Yomi persuades Kagari to change, and causes the destruction of Chariot's world.

As everything around them begins to be swallowed up, Dead Master joins Black★Rock Shooter and watches Chariot be nearly swept up in the destruction. But before any of the other selves even realize it, Black Gold Saw suddenly appears and halts the destruction of the area around them. Black Gold Saw then drives Dead Master into a fissure, separating her from Black★Rock Shooter, and vanishes soon after.

In The World I Once Dreamt Of Closes, as Yomi's darker feelings are incited as she feels left behind by Mato and Kagari respectively and made worse by Saya Irino, Dead Master descends into a vortex of chains in her own world. Unbeknownst to her, she is observed from afar by Black Gold Saw. She descends further down into the chains as Yomi can be heard saying that, even if she disappeared, the world wouldn't change.

The vortex of chains begins to pulsate as Kagari unknowingly brings Yomi closer and closer to her breaking point. Black★Rock Shooter is shown heading for the vortex of chains, and once Yomi completely breaks down, the vortex of chains explodes, giving rise to numerous pillars, legions of skeletal soldiers, and a throne for Dead Master that all make up her world. Dead Master, now armed with her Dead Scythe, is the last to emerge as she steps forth and sends one of her skulls to knock Black★Rock Shooter away. Dead Master and her army of the dead loom before Black★Rock Shooter, who summons her ★Rock Cannon and fires.

The battle between Black★Rock Shooter and Dead Master's army of the dead is well underway in the next episode, Black★Rock Shooter. The army advances against Black★Rock Shooter's ★Rock Cannon turned double gatling gun relentlessly fires upon them while Dead Master watches from her throne. A giant soldier attempts to crush Black★Rock Shooter with its hammer while she is immobile, but Black★Rock Shooter transforms her cannon back to its default form and destroys the giant soldier. As the soldiers show to be no match for Black★Rock Shooter's fighting prowess, Dead Master sends her two skulls after Black★Rock Shooter. The skulls use the innumerable skeletal soldiers to form a massive body beneath themselves and attempt to slam Black★Rock Shooter with its hands. Unbeknownst to them, Black Gold Saw observes the battle from afar.

The continuation of the battle is seen by Mato in her dream. Dead Master has left her throne and begun heading for the battlefield herself. Black★Rock Shooter manages to destroy the giant formed by the skulls and the army of the dead, but Dead Master is hardly fazed by their destruction. They are left to clash directly with each other, and Mato cries out for them to stop fighting and wakes up from her dream. Later, as Yuu Koutari tells Mato about the Otherworld and the other selves, Dead Master continues to fight with Black★Rock Shooter until their battle comes to a head when she is stabbed by Black★Rock Shooter.

Moments before this happens, Yuu sends Mato's consciousness to the Otherworld. Mato then finds herself within Black★Rock Shooter, and from her perspective, sees Yomi before her. However, she is horrified to find her stabbed before her eyes. Dead Master lets out a horrific scream, causing the destruction of her world to swirl around herself and Black★Rock Shooter. As Dead Master's body slides off Black★Rock Shooter's blade and falls to the ground, Mato is traumatized by the sight, and Black★Rock Shooter is consequently affected by Mato's mental trauma. Black★Rock Shooter looks upon Dead Master's body until the blue flame in her eye merges with a red flame and turns it purple.

Spikes then penetrate into Black★Rock Shooter's body as she undergoes a gruesome transformation into Insane Black★Rock Shooter, with what remains of Dead Master's world consequently transforming to reflect her new state. Black Gold Saw, who was still in the area, witnesses these events occur, and immediately takes a stand against Insane Black★Rock Shooter. She rushes straight for her and leaves a deep gash in her right arm, the impact of the attack being strong enough to reach Dead Master's body from afar. As Black Gold Saw and Insane Black★Rock Shooter fight in the distance, Strength passes by Dead Master's body and takes her away to the colorless abyss where she previously tossed Chariot's head and body into. As a result of Dead Master's death, Yomi does not remember Mato at all or any of the events following her breakdown.

In Make a Wish on a Star Racing Through the Darkness, when news comes out at school that Mato is apparently missing, Yomi starts to remember Mato and their friendship with each other, calling her name as she leaves to find her. At the very end of the episode, Dead Master is shown at the bottom of the aforementioned abyss alongside numerous fallen other selves. Dead Master's eyelid twitches as Yomi calls Mato's name once more.

In Let's Go Beyond This World, Dead Master has been resurrected and shown to be back in her own world. She, along with Black Gold Saw and the resurrected Chariot, are heard quoting their own feelings and how their only wish is to protect their human counterparts. They each pray as their respective realms in the Otherworld break apart, becoming colored rays of light that shine upon Black★Rock Shooter's realm. They are used by Mato to summon a gigantic ★Rock Cannon that fires a rainbow-colored blast at Insane Black★Rock Shooter, annihilating her and shattering the walls of her realm.

Now in the unified worlds of each respective other self merged into one, Dead Master is last seen with Chariot, Black Gold Saw, and the resurrected Arata's "Other Self" and the Incomplete Girls, watching Mato and Yuu around the dying Strength.

Abilities
Dead Master is capable of freely manipulating chains to accost and restrain Black★Rock Shooter. She is only shown using this ability while she is fighting for Chariot; these same chains were also the ones binding her to Chariot and the stone heart in the sky of her world, both figuratively and literally. Befitting of her name as Dead Master, she also leads a massive army of the dead comprised of numerous skeletal soldiers, armed with shields and axes, and two floating skulls much larger than herself and the rest of her army. The army of the dead are able to fight autonomously and as one humanoid giant with the skulls as its heads. Even without her signature weapon and/or her army, Dead Master is shown to be more than capable of fighting on her own.

Trivia

 * Her blood is green.
 * Her Nendoroid does not have the green-colored tips on her claws. Her figma, however, does.
 * The TV Anime incarnation of Dead Master is the only incarnation of the character not to be embraced by the respective incarnation of the Black★Rock Shooter character.

Gallery

 * Full article: Dead Master (TV Anime Character)/Gallery