Black★Rock Shooter (TV Anime)

Black★Rock Shooter (ブラック★ロックシューター, Burakku Rokku Shūtā) is an anime series based on the Black★Rock Shooter Concept and is the second animated project to do so. The opening theme is Black★Rock Shooter, written by members of supercell and sung by Hatsune Miku. The ending theme is Bokura no Ashiato, written by supercell and sung by Kodea.

Plot
In spring, two girls meet: Mato and Yomi. They each sense something in the other that they lack in themselves, and are drawn to each other in spite of their contrasting personalities. Though initially hesitant, they form a strong connection. But they both have secrets - and in an empty world, two girls fight: Black★Rock Shooter and Dead Master. A strange being Black Gold Saw, watches their mysterious battle, laughing. This is the story of two girls, in two worlds, entangled by the threads of fate.

Production Staff

 * Original Concept: BR★S Project
 * Director: Shinobu Yoshioka
 * Series Scenario and Screenplay: Mari Okada
 * Character Concept: huke
 * Art Direction and Character Design: Yuusuke Yoshigaki
 * CG Director: Hiroyuki Imaishi
 * Animation Production: Ordet, Sanzigen

Development
The anime series was produced by animation studio Ordet, the same studio behind the Black★Rock Shooter OVA, with CG production by Sanzigen, and directed by Shinobu Yoshioka with series composition written by Mari Okada. The premise of the series appeared to be heavily based on the concept of the OVA, which involved two girls whose friendship is tested when they are dragged into an alternate world. The anime series has a total of 8 episodes and was released in the noitaminA timeslot, with the first episode airing on February 2nd, 2012.

All main characters from the OVA reappear in the anime. The human characters, Mato Kuroi (Kana Hanazawa), Yomi Takanashi (Miyuki Sawashiro) and Yuu Koutari (Kana Asumi). . The other selves, Black★Rock Shooter, Dead Master, Strength, and Black★Gold Saw also reappear in the anime. These characters have been redesigned for the anime, which is particularly noticeable with Yomi and Dead Master.

Aside from the OVA characters, several new characters appear in the anime. New human characters include Saya Irino (Mamiko Noto), a school counselor, Kagari Izuriha (Eri Kitamura), a childhood friend of Yomi, and Arata Kohata (Manami Numakura), the captain of the basketball club at Mato and Yomi's school. A new other self named Chariot also appears in the anime. Insane Black★Rock Shooter also makes her very first appearance in a BRS series as the main antagonist.

Over eight years after the anime series originally aired, Discotek Media licensed the anime series for a 2021 release in North America on Blu-Ray Disc. This release came with a new English dub by Sound Cadence.

Trivia

 * The anime seems to be corresponding to the flow of the Major Arcana cards of a tarot deck starting from the Fool card all the way to the world and ending back on the fool again. Asides from the first episode where the first 5 cards of the deck, namely, the Fool, the Magician, the Emperor, the Empress, and the Hierophant are seen present, each episode represents the flow of 4 cards where the first card is the ending card of a previous episode. There are cases where the meanings of certain cards in the episodes are the representation of a reversed card.
 * Aside from Chariot and Strength, who have names corresponding to the respective Arcana card, it could be implied that Dead Master, Black Rock Shooter and Black Gold Saw have small representations in the deck, with Dead Master representing the Death card, Black Rock Shooter as the Star card and Black Gold Saw as the Devil Card.
 * The order of the cards in each episode do correlate to an event that also occurs in Mato's world.

Blu-ray

 * 1) July 27, 2021 (Canada and USA). https://www.rightstufanime.com/Black-Rock-Shooter-TV-Series-Blu-ray

Gallery

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