First Impressions: Black Rock Shooter

You all are probably thinking, “What is this blasphemy? A first impressions post done by someone other than ExtraCareful!?”

Well, don’t worry. The post is split half-and-half, since I need his opinions to supplant my half-baked ones. But for now, bear with BtB’s spiel on Burakku Rocku Shootuh.
Also, this post is rather image-heavy. Sorry, I couldn't resist...

Yippee, another series starting off with a girl falling from the sky. At least it doesn’t also start off with a random explo-

OH GOD IT EVEN STARTED WITH A RANDOM EXPLOSION.

Well, ok, fine, the plot’s not actually that stereotypical and formulaic, but more on that later (this thing called “plot” truly is a mysterious entity in this series).

Personally, I preferred the brighter, clearer colors of the OVA, as well as the more streamlined proportions of the face and the more rounded, innocent-looking eyes (this applies mostly to Kuroi Mato). However, I cannot deny that the dull colors (reminiscent of SHAFT) fit the darkish mood of the series well, along with the slightly flattened eyes, conveying a slightly more depressed, serious feel. Also, is it just me, or do their irises look like gears?

No lady, those are the eyes of a mecha. The red bracelet Yomi made for her is actually a  personal IS.

I can say with confidence though that the anime fight scenes outshine those of the anime. They’re flashy and fairly enjoyable to watch, albeit slightly strange, with lots of explosions, cool gun morphing scenes, and flying macaroons aplenty. Black Rock Shooter’s adventures in LSD world will probably end up being the main attraction for this series, but oh well...we seem to be getting quite a few series where the plot is either nonexistent, bad, or simply incomprehensible. In short, graphics are good, it's just that I prefer the original face design for Kuroi Mato more.

I swear the animators ripped off the design of the spider doll from Toy Story.

I had high expectations for this series’ soundtrack since Ryo of Supercell was in charge of it. The bgms seem to be decent enough. Most of them seem to be strings-based, and they do a good job of enhancing the depressing or tense atmospheres which seem to be prevalent throughout the series. However, the OP and ED failed to reach my expectations. The ED, Bokura no Ashiato Pf ver., is fairly nondescript, as well as slightly annoying to hear, as my ears have yet to fully adjust to Koeda’s style after countless hours of listening to Nagi Yanagi. As for the OP…Black Rock Shooter is a decent enough song but, well…it’s Vocaloid. It doesn’t sound bad but it frustrates me that Supercell decided to be lazy and recycle one of their Vocaloid songs without even bothering to make a vocal cover for it. I guess I’ll just start listening to Choucho’s cover for it…even if the instrumentals she used are subpar (where are the violins? It's not Supercell without the violins).

Meet the vocalist...yea, GTFO.

And now for the plot.

I think the producers intended to make Black Rock Shooter be a dark series. I say think because it's difficult to get a sense what exactly the plot is. From what I can tell, it's about an overly optimistic loli with twin-tails that are too short going around trying to make friends with antisocial people. I'm not exactly sure how the random hallucinogenic world of  ties into this- as of now, it just seems to be a dramaticized version of what the characters are feeling.

It hurts so much that I think Imma spew out blue lights from my body. Clearly a common feeling.

If this anything like the OVA, the two worlds will probably end up mashing together, with Kuroi Mato meeting and becoming our favorite gun-wielding loli. It feels a lot like the random world with the girl and the robot in Clannad in that both confuse the heck out of me. So, to enjoy the show as much as I can, I simply don't think about it and watch the explosions.

Don't question it. Just watch her take on those macaroons like a boss.

BtB's status: Up-to-date with relatively low expectations. I'm still not sure exactly why I'm watchin-OH right. Cool loli with gun. Gotcha.

Something I feel that we're going to be saying a lot throughout this series...

And now, ExtraCareful shall add his commentary.

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I think BartreTheBeast covered most of the points I wanted to hit. I think the production values of the thing outshine the plot - and that's rather to be expected of an adaptation from not a VN, not a video game, not a manga, LN or anime, but one simple Vocaloid song they decided to name "Black Rock Shooter". It's shiny, the girls look good, the music is Vocaloid, etc etc. Take it how you will. 

The plot is just filled with angst though...as I mentioned to BtB, episode 2 seemed to me a watered-down version of Higurashi, what with all the screaming and frenzied faces. Yes, I know hard decisions have to be made by people. You can be less obvious than that. Choosing between a schizophrenic maniac dependent on you and a girl who could be "your bestest friend" doesn't bring tears to my eyes - and if it does, it would be for all the wrong reasons.

Nothing much else to say. This is BartreTheBeast's show, after all.

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And now, as a parting gift from the blog crew, we present to you Black Rock Shooter's behind-the-scenes gun training...

At this point, she seriously considered using it for close-combat only. Kudos to Danbooru for leading me to this.