Black★Gold Saw

Black★Gold Saw (ブラック★ゴールドソー, Burakku Gorudo So) is part of the supporting cast of the OVA series Black★Rock Shooter. She seems to be one of the main characters in the anime series. Her human counterpart is Saya Irino.

Original Concept
Black★Gold Saw is a girl with red eyes and long black hair. A red flame shoots out from her right eye. She has a pair of curved black horns whose color turns to red as it reaches the tip. Like Dead Master, Black★Gold Saw also has skeletal claws. Her outfit is similar to Black★Rock Shooter's except for the design of her jacket and her bikini top; her jacket extends into a worn-out cape which is dyed red at the end.

Her weapon of choice is a large sword with golden blade and a black saw-edge on its reverse side. It has a long handle with a skull-like object on top and a hilt shaped like a crescent; its name is King Saw.

Black★Rock Shooter (OVA)
In the OVA, her jacket is shorter, and she also wears armored boots with pointed crescent designs. Like all of the "other selves," her eyes have a circular pattern in them. Notably, Black★Gold Saw's red flame is not present at all during her appearance.

Black★Rock Shooter (2012)
Her jacket seems to bear a little bit of resemblance to MEFE's clothing. Her sleeve have a red belt attached to it along with two white line running across just above the belt's line. Her jacket is tied together with a white ribbon. Her shorts is a little bit longer and had more details to it. Her belt is also different. Unlike the OVA design, she had no black thigh-high socks although her grieves are pretty much the same, except for some changes, notably at the base of the foot. Her claws are very much the same as that of BRSB now, but, it's still more skeletal. Her King Saw have a new look as well, with a very much shorter blade and a sawblade on the hilt.

Black★Rock Shooter (OVA)
She fights Black★Rock Shooter and after a vicious fight, she was victorious, presumably giving Black★Rock Shooter her scars.

It is unknown if she is an "other self" at all, and if she is, whom she is one for and how she relates to Black★Rock Shooter or Kuroi Mato. Her relevance to the plot as well as her origins are also still unknown, as they have not been disclosed. But in the 2012 anime it is revealed that Black★Gold Saw is Saya Irino's other self.

Black★Rock Shooter (2012)
Her eyes are seen opening in various areas in the Otherworld.

She finally makes a physical appearance when Dead Master causes the destruction of Chariot's world by breaking her chains while Black★Rock Shooter and Chariot were fighting. She sticks her blade into the sky, stopping the destruction's time, and cuts into the ground, creating a fissure that carries Dead Master into it. She then vanishes.

Black★Gold Saw is later seen in a deep canyon, with a sprinkler. The liquid that falls to the floor is transformed into hooded human-like beings. She holds out her hand to one, but it shivers; however, her lair starts to fall apart and Black★Rock Shooter appears. She aims her cannon at her, but Black★Gold Saw dodges and presumably escapes once again.

Later, she is seen observing the chaos in Dead Master's world as Yomi becomes more and more unstable as a result of Saya's actions. She walks into the green liquid covering the world and disappears again.

While watching Black★Rock Shooter and Dead Master fight she later jumps into the green liquid and disappears again.

Following Mato's link with Black ★ Rock Shooter and subsequent mental breakdown, causing B ★ RS to go insane, Black ★ Gold Saw is seen watching B ★ RS's transformation into Insane Black★Rock Shooter. Upon iBRS' appearance, Black ★ Gold Saw begins her attack, managing to leave a deep gash in Insane Black ★ Rock Shooter's right arm to which the latter rips it off as Black ★ Gold Saw backs away. She then uses King Saw to try and shield herself from the hail of bullets raining down on her due to Insane Black ★ Rock Shooter's Cannon Lance. As the fight continues, Black ★ Gold Saw manages to rush past Cannon Lance, which was being tossed around by iBRS' chains, and try to take advantage of an opening.

Cannon Lance reveals to have a backwards firing gun that shears off Black ★ Gold Saw's right arm, causing her to miss her attack as King Saw falls in front of Black ★ Rock Shooter and sending BGS skidding across the ground. Before Insane Black ★ Rock Shooter could begin her assault again, Black ★ Gold Saw retreats by dissolving into the ground, but is pursued as Insane Black ★ Rock Shooter uses King Saw (which she manipulates with a chain), Cannon Lance, and Insane Blade Claw to rip the portal open and dives in. In the next world, Black Gold Saw takes out her watering can and creates a small army of the hooded beings again which hardly slows Insane Black ★ Rock Shooter.

As Insane Black ★ Rock Shooter closes in, Saya links with Black ★ Gold Saw and tries to speak out to Mato within Black ★ Rock Shooter. The tactic seems to work as iBRS' attack suddenly stops and can't seem to get her arm down. Insane Black ★ Rock Shooter is then thrown back against a pillar by an unseen force and is then pinned and restrained by several more pillars. Black ★ Gold Saw, seeming to be under full control of Saya, then uses the watering can to create something of a mirror beneath her where Saya can relay her memories.

After the flashback, Insane Black ★ Rock Shooter breaks out of the prison and rushes Black ★ Gold Saw with King Saw. With one last plea, Black ★ Gold Saw closes her eyes, seeming to accept her fate but is saved by Strength, who manages to catch iBRS off guard and send her flying into a pillar. Before iBRS could continue her attacks, Strength breaks the ground beneath them, grabs Black ★ Gold Saw, and escapes to her own world. Black ★ Rock Shooter gives chase until they all appear in a rubix cube-style world with the cube structure floating in mid air. Strength sets the unconscious Black ★ Gold Saw down as she is then moved elsewhere for protection.

In episode 7 Saya mentioned that BGS is forever imprisoned in Strength's world.

Later on in episode 8 she is right back in the place where iBRS was about to stab her. She sees a bright light and she blocks the light with her hand. Later on Chariot, Dead Master and BGS's and the other worlds merged into one and later on she is seen with her hooded figures and standing next to Chariot and Dead Master. This suggests that she has been freed from Strength's world, disproving what Saya said in the last episode.

Abilities
Black★ Gold Saw has demonstrated many abilities in the 2012 anime, more than she ever did in the OVA. She may have some time or reality-altering abilities in terms of the Otherworld, as she managed to stop the destruction of Chariot's world as if she had stopped its time and had seemingly cut reality itself when driving Dead Master into the ground. She also has the ability to create beings, as she creates the strange hooded figures from a watering can. This watering can is also able to sprinkle a mirror-like surface on the ground that shows Saya's memories. She is also able to see things far away using her giant eyes as shown in Episode 1 and Episode 4. She can also summon a massive King Saw out of the ground.

Trivia

 * Black★Gold Saw is the second "Black" character to appear in the OVA.
 * Her claws are more "skeletal" in contrast with Dead Master's. Dead Master's claws are more of a pair of demonic gloves rather than a pair of skeletal claws.
 * She appears similar to the younger Saya Irino instead of Saya's older short-haired appearance.
 * She seems to have more violent and sadistic nature, as seen in the expressions of her Figma.
 * Black★Gold Saw was seen using a watering can on the ground, causing mysterious hooded figures to emerge. She thus may have the ability to create life and/or "other selves".
 * When BGS was redesigned (both in the original artwork and in the anime), the crimson flame that BGS were missing or rather, removed. Since then, there are no more artworks of BGS depicting her with her tradmark flame. Because of that, she became the first "Black" character never to show eye flames.
 * She may be the first character in the anime who fought (insane) B ★ RS and never died. However, she got her sword arm ripped off by iBRS's Insane Cannon Lance's back vulcan. She would have died if Strength hadn't saved her.
 * Black Gold Saw in the fight with Insane Black Rock Shooter is mostly probably holding back, as seen Saya is trying to communicate and reason with Mato rather actually fighting her.
 * Some of the drawings that depict King Saw are colored silver than gold.
 * Ever since her appearance in the OVA, her counterpart self has not been confirmed until the anime.
 * Just like how the flame on her right eye mysteriously dissapears, the star symbol on her name does not appear anymore on subsequent media after the premiere of the OVA.
 * Her figma has the problem of having its King Saw's point easily broken. The painting around the neck of its jacket also get easily faded.
 * She seems to be the counterpart of BRS, with BRS being a long-range warrior, and BGS close-range. Both also have the ability to summon larger versions of their weapons.