Black Rock Shooter is like a glorious return to a now almost forgotten age when creators would pour their efforts into telling a poignant and complete story with high production values in a smaller amount of time than an average theatrical production.
The Review!
Audio:
The feature only has the one audio track and it is the Japanese track in 2.0. It is a fairly good 2.0 track with no distortions or dropouts noticed and most of the dialogue and effects are split between the front side speakers that helps add a sense of depth to the audio track. The single audio track is compensated for by the presence of seven subtitle tracks-English, Japanese, Chinese, German, Spanish, French and Italian given quite a large potential market to this Region free release.
Video:
Created in 2010 the video has very strong colors with no color bleed where they appear and the subtler colors come across as well. The blacks look particularly great if no blocking or distortions in them either. The video does have a few technical problems as there is some minor dot crawl issue with a few backgrounds and some noise that the PS3 on its high setting for noise manages to almost play down to blending in with the grain of the feature but not quite.
Packaging:
The packaging on this feature is a bit unique as the feature itself is an extra in a couple of magazines. The review copy was obtained through the September 2010 issue of Megami magazine. As well as the disc itself the magazine provided a DVD cover sleeve which Black Rock Shooter standing front and center wielding her sword as a large image of Dead Master looms behind her. The back cover features a painted looking image of Black Rock Shooter drawn by huke, the original creator of the character. She is illustrated with chains wrapped around her arms and there are three stills from the OVA.
Menus:
The disc has an auto start directly to the feature and does so with no subtitles select. You can either use the subtitle feature on you remote on go to the menu screen. The screen has a static image menu with the main characters Mato and Yomi front and center and their alternate personas of BRS and DM standing just on the other side of them. The only thing to select on the screen is your choice of subtitles and to play the feature as there are no other extras on the Megami version.
Extras:
The Megami disc itself contains no extras but one of the things included in the magazine is a DVD sized booklet with some images from the show, character and set designs and some interviews (Japanese text of course).
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The feature opens with a fast transit onto a desolate isle with a series of rock formations that appear to be a nightmare castle. The camera continues inside to see two figures fighting against a checkerboard back ground in mid air. Black Rock Shooter is fighting with her sword against Black Gold Saw her very large serrated blade. The fight turns against Shooter as she is first knocked through the floor and as she attempts to find regain her sword which was knocked from her hand Saw approaches and the ceiling falls on Shooter-leaving her open to a devastating attack shown only as a silhouette. The screen fades to black as the title appears and is then chased away by the beeping of a cell phone alarm. At this point the audience is introduced to Kuroi Mato a new first year junior high school student who is excited about starting her new life and bears an uncanny resemblance to Black Rock Shooter. Life proceeds in what appears a normal fashion as she goes about getting ready for school which includes making breakfast and attempting to wake her younger brother. A shift in the narrative and the audience is returned to the alternate reality as a close up shows Shooter and her new scar from the previous fight as well as her new choice in weapons-she now possesses a gun as she looks out unto a barren horizon. A return to Mato finds she has made it to her favorite spot- a hill overlooking the city and she uses her cell phone to capture an image of her and see the time-just in time to make a mad dash for the train.
As she arrives at her new school she sees a tall girl with green eyes getting out of a car in front of the school and is immediately taken with her. As she sits in her class she sees that the girl is in her class and attempts to read her name off the seating chart. Shift to Shooter as she is walking along another nightmarish interpretation of a city and stops to look at the moon. Then a sudden return back to Mato as she leaves the opening ceremony and tries to strike up a conversation with the girl she saw. After a flawed start she eventually gets a conversation going and discovers that they both live in the same neighborhood. The other girl introduces herself as Takanashi Yomi and finds her and Mato exchanging pleasantries. Another return to Shooter finds her walking a dark landscape and finding a Cathedral inspired castle. From here the story starts to alternate between showing Yomi and Mato first growing closer over the course of a year while facing school and their choice in clubs but then drifting slowly apart as the two friends wind up in separate classes their second year. Yomi starts to feel that Mato is who drifting away from her as the scene changes and Shooter is seen fighting Dead Master who bears an uncanny resemblance to Yomi. As the scenes shift between reality and the fight between Shooter and Dead Master Mato is suddenly shattered one day when Yomi disappears and can't be found. What are the connections between Mato, Black Rock Shooter, Dead Master and Yomi? And can friendship triumph over all or is the fate of those involved to end in tragedy?
Black Rock Shooter features some great visuals and different techniques to clear establish a difference between the real world and the world Black Rock Shooter inhabits. The shifting between the worlds as provides a great catch as it serves to change scenes and time in the real world while also building a sense of tension and foreboding as the layers start to peel away and the events of the other world seemed tied to the real one. It is a tightly told story that sets up its characters and breathes some life into them and their struggles to play with the audience and make them care about the trials and fear the possible outcome. The high production value of the OVA also helps make the two worlds separate but also very impactful in their appearance. The only downside might be that parts of the story seem a touch cliché and some may not be pleased with the disjointed nature of the two worlds which the OAV never attempts to explain but overall mystery is usually preferable to a copout anyway.
In Summary:
BRS is like a classic return to the OVA days of old where creators could make a self contained story that didn't rely on explaining every nuance but making a setting and telling the story they want to in the time frame provided. BRS is a gorgeously animated piece that interspaces the bizarre world created with a blossoming friendship that the intercuts start to fill with ominous undertones and lead to asking the question of what is friendship and how does one balance one with others so someone doesn't feel abandoned and a wonderfully surreal where the emotions can play out in a far darker manner than in conventional reality. Recommended.
Features
Japanese 2.0 Language, English Subtitles, Japanese Subtitles, Chinese Subtitles, German Subtitles, Spanish Subtitles, French Subtitles, Italian Subtitles
Review Equipment
Samsung 50" Plasma HDTV, Denon AVR-790 Receiver with 5.1 Sony Surround Sound Speakers, Sony PlayStation3 Blu-ray player via HDMI set to 1080.
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FYI, this 5 minute trailer simply repeats the same trailer 3 times.