COLOR SYMBOLISM!

Now, there’s something I must confess before I begin. I am going to make a lot of comparisons to the OVA. While I am usually of the firm belief that a work should be allowed to stand on its own without comparison to its source or other adaptations, I am making an exception here because I watched the OVA and I had enjoyed it immensely; and in order for me to properly explain my disappointment with the anime, I have to point out what did or did not work for both. But I will still give a final judgment on how it functions even if I didn’t compare the two. With that said, let’s get started.

The real world in the anime is standard fare, but the other world where Black?Rock Shooter resides is wildly creative. It’s a beautifully animated world that seems to be built on a mishmash of dark colors and childish objects. It’s probably the most visually stunning thing in the anime. However, the same can’t really be said for the character designs. They look really sketchy and lazily animated. It’s as if they spent all their animation money on the B★RS world characters while leaving the real world ones to the interns. Although, I suppose it could have been to contrast the two worlds; but the shortcuts anime typical take in animation are very noticeable in this, so I really doubt that’s the case.

Hey, just be glad that it's not...erm...moving on.

The BGM was largely forgettable to me. I barely remember anything. The opening is nice though, and was done by Supercell with Miku singing. That was a nice touch.

A small thing I want to note before I get to my analysis was that the anime was surprisingly more violent than the OVA when showing scenes in the B★RS world. There was all kinds of bloody things happening to Black★Rock Shooter the character that would usually result in mashed-up and eviscerated bodies, but instead they just show a lot of black-and-blue blood explode out of her with no openings for the black-and-blue blood to explode from. It’s oddly effective in getting viewers creeped out.

Oh god with the blood and the gore and the HOYVIN!

If there was only one word I could use to describe the Black★Rock Shooter anime’s first two episodes, it’d be “cramped”. The story is basically like the OVA’s: Mato being friends with Yomi. However, the anime decided to cram all the events that happened in the OVA into the first episode and that resulted in so many things being rushed and not given enough to room to breathe, such as…well.

Mato and Yomi’s friendship. Here come the comparisons:

What I really loved about the OVA was how it clearly established the two’s relationship and just showed how deeply the two cared about one another. It took its time and gave both girls proper screen time to show how both girls felt about one another. But the anime basically immediately throw to two together and make them the best of friends before really showing why they felt so strongly about each other. Unlike in the anime, Kagari never existed in the OVA so it makes the situation even stranger as why would Mato feel so strongly about being friends with Yomi after one day of hanging out with her and then Kagari keeping the two being friends.

Which is ultimately the biggest disappointment about the series so far: Mato and Yomi’s forced friendship. The anime tries to play up the tragedy and drama levels in order to get the viewer invested, but it just felt extremely rushed and I didn’t care about their friendship. In the OVA, after a certain event that affected Mato and Yomi’s friendship, I quite honestly shed tears thanks to seeing how their friendship grew and developed. But here it just felt so faked, while also amping up the yuri levels between the two. That annoyed me a lot.

"Come play with us, Danny - I mean, Yomi..."

I have my theory that the anime producers probably made the anime with those who watched the OVA in mind and assumed they could just breeze through developing Mato and Yomi’s friendship so they don’t have to tread over old ground and continue the story. On one hand I can understand that, especially since the anime is only eight episodes long and they have a limited amount of time to tell their story. On the other, I just really wish they just dedicated the first episode to developing the friendship and then moving on to new ground in the second episode, because it was that element that really made the OVA special and is basically what the story was about. If you couldn’t get it down, you’ve basically ruined the series. But, again, this is only a theory.

Even without comparing the two, the anime character designs are rough at best, the story is rushed and tries throwing too many things out at once, and pushes the tragedy button way too often and early for the viewer to properly get invested in its characters.

Awesome Rule #36: Sitting off a cliff's side while looking stoic.

For the Black★Rock Shooter anime, I give two ratings: For Fans Only, and Check It Out only if you’re at all curious about this, but I highly recommend watching the OVA first.

Who knows? Maybe the anime will pick up after the first two episodes. But for now, it seems like a rushed retelling of the superior OVA.