Strength (TV Anime Character)

"It's true that we don't have emotions of our own. But no one forces us to fight for you. We have free will, and we choose to fight, because we love you."

- Strength in Let's Go Beyond This World

Strength (ストレングス, Sutorengusu) is the incarnation of the Strength character in Black★Rock Shooter 2012 anime. She is the other self of Yuu Koutari.

Appearance
Strength has orange eyes, tan skin, and short white hair above her shoulders. Much of her head and face, save for her eyes, is obscured by a black hood with a collar that covers her mouth, decorated with a white flame pattern and matching zipper. She also wears a black dress with a white rim, white thigh-high stockings, and metallic black shoes. Past her shoulders are her Ogre Arms, a pair of mechanized arms with massive hands that are about half her size in length. On her lower back is a large, black scorpion-like tail that also appears to be mechanical. In Let's Go Beyond This World, after losing her Ogre Arms, she is shown to have normal arms with black elbow gloves.

Her orange eyes have a circular pattern with white pupils in them. In Make a Wish on a Star Racing Through the Darkness, it was revealed that Strength's eyes were originally a grey color before she gained emotions, after which her eyes turned orange.

Personality
In the past, Strength was no different from any of the other selves who fought each other purely on instinct, without any emotions of their own. When Yuu connected with Strength for the first time, she sensed how much her human counterpart was suffering, and it terrified Strength to the point that it forced her to feel emotions. Overwhelmed by the sadness she felt from this, Strength wanted to let herself die so she could take Yuu's pain with her, but was instead made to switch places with Yuu in the real world.

Strength's personality in the present time, as seen while she has taken Yuu's place, is that of a cheerful and supportive friend, especially to Mato Kuroi, whom she has been close friends with ever since kindergarten (according to Mato's memories). She teases her from time to time, especially poking fun about her friendship with "her tiny bird" at the beginning of the series. Mato was Strength's first and best friend, and the one who had taught her how beautiful the real world could be. She agreed with how Mato saw what the other selves go through for the sake of their human counterparts as wrong, which also showed how empathetic Strength was to the other selves suffering in their constant fighting. It was for this reason that she sent Mato's consciousness to the Hollow World to help her save Yomi. Strength is also close with Saya Irino, who was friends with Yuu in her youth and the only person in the real world who knew that Yuu and Strength had switched places.

Strength has the same love for her human counterpart that all the other selves have for their human counterparts. She has demonstrated this love the most with Yuu, whom she comforts and reassures that she would find friends and be supported by Saya and Mato in the real world, which she knew was wonderful. She tells Yuu this because she would never lie to someone she loves.

History
Prior to the beginning of the series, Strength was once like all the other selves in the Hollow World, who were born from the pain that girls in the real world suffer from and endure. Having no emotions of her own, she fought others purely on instinct. Eventually, she encountered Black★Rock Shooter. At that time, Strength could feel how powerful Black★Rock Shooter was, but nothing except fighting and winning mattered to her then. While they were fighting, Strength was pushed back and fell off a cliff behind her. Just when she was about to die from the fall, Yuu's voice reached her, saving her from death.

Hearing Yuu's voice allowed Strength to feel emotions for the first time and sense how much Yuu was truly suffering. The sensation overwhelmed her with such sadness to the point that Strength planned to let herself be killed by Black★Rock Shooter, whom she found mercilessly slaughtering other selves. Knowing that she could take Yuu's pain with her if she were to die, Strength hoped that Yuu would forget all that pained her that way, but Strength ended up not going through with her plan and left without being noticed.

Strength sat alone in a cathedral-like area, letting her wounds to heal almost instantly. Then, she heard Yuu's voice again, who was relieved that Strength did not die. Strength asks why she shouldn't die for Yuu's sake if it would allow her to forget her pain, but Yuu says that she'll never stop feeling pain for as long as she lives in the real world, which she called cold and vicious, and more trauma would only replace what Strength would be able to take away. Yuu believed that she couldn't survive without Strength, and goes on to express how simple and pure Strength's world is for being a place that does nothing more than battle. Yuu then decides to switch places with Strength, with Strength taking on Yuu's body in the real world and Yuu taking on Strength's body in the Hollow World. Between then and the beginning of the series, the real Strength meets and becomes friends with Mato under the guise of Yuu Koutari, while maintaining a close relationship with Saya.

She is first introduced in Episode 4, in which she is seen dragging the beheaded Chariot behind her, and then throwing the body off of a cliff, after which the red eyes of Black Gold Saw start appearing in the sky.

Later, while dreaming Mato briefly sees Strength standing in the same area where she was before, but does not take much notice because the scene quickly changes.

While Black★Gold Saw and Insane Black★Rock Shooter are fighting, she drags away the body of Dead Master to the same abyss she threw Chariot in. After the fight between Black★Gold Saw and Insane Black★Rock Shooter, Strength saves Black Gold Saw and, demonstrating the ability to manipulate the Hollow World, transports them all to another region and moves Black Gold Saw away for her own protection. She then fights Insane Black★Rock Shooter, using the immense strength of her Ogre Arms and her reality-altering abilites to gain the upper hand in the battle. She manages to crush Insane Black★Rock Shooter against a wall and then swings both of her fists down on her.

However, Insane Black★Rock Shooter again gains the upper hand. Strength fights back using machine guns and gatling guns in her Ogre Arms, but is again overpowered. She then seems to go insane and seems to enjoy getting hurt; she even activates all of the Insane Cannon Lance's vulcans at once to injure herself. The world they are fighting in is consumed by fire and "Strength" reveals herself to be the real Yuu, and Strength is the Yuu that Mato befriended. She then activates two more Ogre Arms on her back and easily beats Insane Black★Rock Shooter, throwing her onto a ledge. Strength then explains to Mato about the "other selves" of the Hollow World, how they are born from the grief and despair of the girls in the real world, and how the "other selves" do not have emotions, and are stimulated by their raw fighting instinct. She then tells Mato about how she fought Black★Rock Shooter, and while neither had the ability to feel emotions, Strength could sense that Black★Rock Shooter was exceptionally powerful; they fought, and Strength was defeated. Before Strength was about to die, Yuu had called out to her, and had gained emotions after she called out to Strength, turning her eyes orange.

<!-- Yuu's first appearance is when she walks home with Mato after school. On the way home, they discuss Yomi's last name, and Yuu guesses correctly that Mato wants to make friends with Yomi, or her "little bird". The next day, Yuu and Mato discuss the latter trying to befriend Yomi. They meet Saya in her counselling room and have coffee together. Later, Yuu applies for the position of team manager of the basketball club and comments on Arata Kohata overworking Mato while polishing basketballs.

After Mato dreams of the Hollow World, she visits Saya again and finds Yuu skipping class and drinking coffee. The three of them discuss Mato's dream.

Some time afterwards, Yuu finds Mato walking to school with Yomi, and reminds Mato to come to the club meeting with her. Unbeknownst to either of them, Yomi begins to gradually becomes jealous of how close Yuu is to Mato. After basketball practice, Yuu points out Mato's new friendship with her "little bird". They sneak a peek on Arata confessing to a boy in her class, but run off once Arata notices them.

As part of the basketball club, Yuu accompanies Mato to her training trip. During the bus ride, she introduces herself to Arata, who seemingly had never taken notice of her. That night, Mato wakes up after dreaming of the Hollow World again. Yuu talks with her about it and brings up Saya's previous words about "someone out there bearing Mato's pain for her." The next day, while they go souvenir shopping, they see Arata buying a present for the boy she likes. Yuu asks Mato if she wants a boyfriend, flustering Mato while Yuu teases her about her new "little bird". After they return to school, the two of them, along with Yomi, witness Arata being made fun of by other students due to her love letter addressed to the boy she likes being posted for everyone to see. Mato and Yuu empathically cry about it together, making Yomi realize how deep Mato and Yuu's friendship really is if they can cry together.

After Arata mysteriously collapses and recovers, Yuu tries to talk to her, but Arata doesn't seem to even notice her. While Mato is worried over Yomi acting strangely, Yuu becomes concerned as well and asks to text her as well. However, her text message only upsets Yomi further as Yuu is part of the reason why Yomi's dark feelings continue to grow stronger.

The next day, Yuu accompanies Mato to Yomi's house, and the three of them have an awkward walk to school together. On the way, Yomi gives an orange chain bracelet to Yuu to match with the blue bracelet she made for Mato, but Yuu discovers soon after that part of Yomi's hair was knit into the bracelet she gave her. Later, she confronts Saya about what she said to Yomi that caused her to mentally break down. Saya assures Yuu about what she did since Yomi "won't be in pain for much longer", alluding to Yomi's other self dying and taking Yomi's pain with her, which Yuu understands. It is then revealed that Yuu doesn't cast a shadow in the light of the sunset.

Gradually, other students start to forget about Yuu and stop realizing that she's there. Once Mato realizes she's also starting to forget, she recalls the memories she had of Yuu since they were little, and looks for her at the place she thought of as Yuu's home, only to find herself at the riverbank instead. There, she finds Yuu, who asks Mato if she wants to save Yomi. She begins to tell her the truth about the Hollow World and how the girl who takes on Mato's pain and fights for her indeed exists. Yuu explains what the purpose of the other selves are for and how their deaths ultimately frees their human counterparts from the pain they feel, stating that it's necessary for "the other Yomi" to die as well for Yomi's sake. She tells Mato that Yomi needs to forget about her as a result because Mato herself is the source of Yomi's pain, but Mato refuses to accept the idea that someone else has to die to solve her own problems, viewing what the other selves do and go through as horrible and insane. Yuu agrees with what Mato believes and tells her how she owes everything she is to Mato, who was the first and best friend she ever had; Yuu didn't know how to cope or deal with her own problems until she met Mato. She asks Mato if she wants to save Yomi once more and confirms her resolve to do so. Yuu then sends Mato to the Hollow World into Black★Rock Shooter's body. But the moment she did so, Black★Rock Shooter had already stabbed Dead Master, who Mato sees as Yomi from her point of view. The trauma causes Mato's body in the real world to cry, and Yuu apologizes to both her and Black★Rock Shooter.

As night fell, Yuu attempts to wake up Mato and return her to the real world. However, when she realizes that she wasn't waking up as she should have, Yuu takes her to Saya's apartment to ask for help. Once she explains what happened, she is slapped by Saya, who rebukes her for putting Mato through such a traumatic experience so suddenly and unhinging Black★Rock Shooter, awakening her power and making her capable of completely destroying the Hollow World as a result. In response, Yuu tells Saya how she didn't expect things to turn out the way they did and only wanted to awaken Black★Rock Shooter to help the other selves because she sympathized with how much they were all suffering. Saya then decides to try and reach out to Mato in the Hollow World, telling Yuu to stay while she goes and tries to save Mato.

Through her other self, Saya reveals memories from her youth that revolve around a Yuu who is rather different from the Yuu in the present day. The Yuu from Saya's memories was an impassive girl who quietly suffered terribly from bullying at school and a neglectful family at home. When Saya saw her get bullied by a group of students, she wanted to help her and be her friend. One day, when Saya said how much she admired Yuu for being so strong, Yuu tells her it isn't her who's being strong, but another girl instead who helps her through whatever causes Yuu to suffer, no matter how painful it is. Although Saya didn't understand what she meant at the time, she still wanted to be there for her. Then, one night, a fire broke out at the Koutaris' house and burned the place down. Upon seeing the blaze herself, Saya assumed that it was Yuu who burnt down the house in some act of revenge for what she was put through, but Yuu was shown to be alive, and she could tell what Saya thought she did. Yuu only weakly smiled as she was taken into the emergency vehicle. Saya, realizing that she had hurt Yuu, tried to run after her to apologize and cried out for her.

After that, Saya never saw Yuu at school again. One evening, when she was about to leave the burnt remains of the Koutaris' house after visiting, she found Yuu by the riverbank. She managed to catch up to her and apologize, saying that she would do anything for her if she forgave her. Yuu tells her how nothing's more painful than behind alive in their world, and while she wouldn't do anything bad herself, the pain she feels has become too much and has decided to let the "other girl" take it for her. Yuu asks Saya to protect her and identifies Saya's other self: Black Gold Saw.

Saya's attempts to reach out to Mato fails as Insane Black★Rock Shooter frees herself and attempts to attack Black Gold Saw, who falls unconscious, but she is saved by Strength. Saya wakes up and returns to the real world, wondering why she would have been saved by her when Saya believes she was so horrible to her in the past. Yuu comforts her and tells her that she had already forgiven Saya a long time ago. Yuu apologizes to Saya, to Mato for suffering while trapped within Black★Rock Shooter, and to Black★Rock Shooter herself.

As the fight between Strength and Insane Black★Rock Shooter goes on and Saya tries to connect with Black Gold Saw once more to no avail, Yuu decides that she must enter the Hollow World despite the risks, but is confident that Mato and the "other girl" will be alright. She thanks Saya and asks her to take care of her before leaving. Yuu connects with Strength in the Hollow World and calls out to Mato. Upon recognizing Yuu's voice, she responds and becomes conscious within Insane Black★Rock Shooter. Mato's consciousness interferes with Insane Black★Rock Shooter's body and actions, which briefly prevents her from fighting with Strength, but Insane Black★Rock Shooter forcibly regains control, and Mato, being told to deny Black★Rock Shooter to free herself, starts to lose sense of who she is. Yuu continues to call out to her and reassures how Mato isn't wrong or running away for not wanting to hurt or be hurt by others because she wants to live, but surprisingly, "Strength" begins to talk back to Yuu. Enraged, she overpowers Insane Black★Rock Shooter and retorts at Yuu for her hypocritical words, saying that she is the one who takes on her pain for her, and reveals Yuu's true identity as the real Strength.

As Yuu, Strength's body is found by Saya near the riverbank, who brings her back to her apartment. When Mato calls out to Yuu, "Strength" is the one who responds. She introduces herself as the real Yuu Koutari and tells Mato that the Yuu she knew in the real world was Strength, her other self whom she had switched places with. The real Strength confirms this and talks about how she used to fight for Yuu in the Hollow World. In the past, Strength had fought Black★Rock Shooter, and just when she was about to die after falling off a cliff, Yuu's voice called out to her, telling her she can't die. Then, Strength began to feel emotions for the very first time. She could sense Yuu's own suffering and how overwhelming it was, terrifying her to the point that it forced Strength to feel. Strength then planned to let Black★Rock Shooter kill her so she could take Yuu's pain and suffering with her, but this plan did not go through. Yuu was relieved to find that Strength did not die; although the latter wanted to put an end to how much her human counterpart was hurting, Yuu says that she'll never stop feeling pain as long as she lives in her world, and that more would only come to take the place of whatever would go with Strength into death. She admires that Strength and the others in her world only fight instead of argue, and switched places with her at that moment: The real Yuu took Strength's place in the Hollow World while Strength took Yuu's place in the real world. -->

Abilities
Despite her seemingly heavy weaponry, Strength is fast enough to beat down Insane Black★Rock Shooter and evade her attacks. Strength can also change her arms to become machine guns or gatling guns, which have an extremely high rate of fire. She can also deploy at least two more arms from her back. Strength also shows the ability to alter the Hollow World, similar to Black Gold Saw. A good example of this is during her fight with IBRS; she teleports and switches places with a large block to strike IBRS from behind. Strength may also have pyrokinesis abilities, as she demonstrated the ability to manipulate fire, expanding it through the entire floor, creating streams of fire that can lead to her enemy. One feature of these flames is that they can touch things as if they were solid objects.

Her weapon of choice is the Ogre Arm. This pair of mechanised arms allow her to punch her opponents with great strength (enough to knock Insane Black★Rock Shooter several yards and into various objects) and break open the floor of the other world to access new areas.

Her secondary weapon is her mechanical tail, which she uses when her arms are preoccupied. The tail can extend a short distance and is powerful enough to break Insane Black★Rock Shooter's Insane Blade Claw.

Trivia

 * Her blood is white.
 * In Episode 7, it is revealed the original Yuu Koutari switched places with the original Strength. The former was Saya's childhood friend, and the latter became Mato's friend. It is also revealed the Strength fighting Insane Black★Rock Shooter was actually Yuu, and the Yuu in the real world was actually Strength.
 * It was never revealed how Yuu was able to communicate with Strength, nor how they switched places. The only other person capable of this is Saya Irino with her other self Black Gold Saw.
 * Strength is the only other self shown to be capable of dialogue, doing so by moving her mouth to speak instead of echoing words without moving her mouth. This may be because she is not really Strength and actually Yuu in Strength's body.
 * Strength is the only "other self" who does not have pale skin.
 * She is one of two "other selves" whose weapons are attached to their body. The other is Chariot.

Gallery

 * Full article: Strength (TV Anime Character)/Gallery