Line #9 Fridge/BlackRockShooter


1	!Per wiki policy, Administrivia/SpoilersOff applies here and all spoilers are unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.
2	!!FridgeBrilliance
3
4	[[AC: ''Black★Rock Shooter'' (2009 OVA)]]
5	* You can interpret every single B★RS sequence (minus the first fight) - or the last part, when B★RS breaks the chains and gives the CoolDownHug - as a flash forward to after Mato found the cellphone charm at the very end.
6	* Neither B★RS nor Dead Master were trying to kill each other. Dead Master would have been perfectly happy keeping B★RS in chains (so she can never leave her ''or'' not get too close), and observe how during the fight B★RS slowly [[WreckedWeapon destroys all of Dead Master's weapons; her floating skulls; her scythe, and then her chains]], before doing the CoolDownHug. Her bullets also never hit Dead Master.
7	* The checked patterns in the Otherworld might be a reference to the checkered walls outside Mato's school, or the checkered wall next to the hill or the checkered pattern in Mato's house, etc. The constantly recurring ★ motif is a reference to all the stars Mato has in her room and on her clothes. In short, all the Otherworld battles can be interpreted as a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind. Or maybe their school is the [[VideoGame/Persona3 Tartarus]].
8
9	[[AC: ''Black★Rock Shooter'' (2012 TV Series)]]
10	* In the TV series, the [[WorldOfSymbolism direct effects]] of the real world on the Otherworld are more noticeable. Easier details to miss include the swarm of spiders appearing in Kagari's world ''after'' she gets a kick out of a nature documentary. Showing a [[EnfanteTerrible dog eaten by ants]].
11	* From the 2012 anime: Yuu-as-Strength's line: "You're not running away from your problems. But who is?" The line just sounds like part of Yuu's insane rants, but in fact, she's referring to ''herself'' - a girl who, rather than simply trying to help others with their own problems and shouldering hers, ran away from the real world to isolate herself in the Otherworld.
12	* The appearance of the otherselves is based on the teenage / young adult depictions of their human counterparts. This explains why they all have voluptuous figures despite having younger [[AlternateSelf alternate selves]]. And this is later reinforced when Saya Irino's past is shown, she had long, reddish hair and greatly resembles Black★Gold Saw.
13	* The state of Yuu having [[MultiArmedAndDangerous four arms]] is a Buddhism/Hindu-ism reference, by becoming a spirit that only exists for violence; Yuu is becoming an [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asura_(Buddhism) Asura; possibly literally.]] The multi-arms only exist for Yuu as Strength.
14	* The lyrics of the theme song in the 2012 anime refer to the Otherselves assigned to the characters:
15	** "How much longer should I continue shouting?", which are Mato's attempts to become friends with people.
16	** "How much longer must I continue crying?" refers to Yomi's crippling loneliness.
17	** "No more, I can't run anymore." is what Kagari ultimately needs to do; she can't just run away from the world anymore.
18	** "The world of dreams that I once saw is shutting down." reflects Saya's attempts to stop B★RS's rampage and Strength's plight at being in the real world.
19	* The entire conflict is caused unhealthy ways of dealing with pain and trauma:
20	** Bottling up one's trauma instead of facing it results in their Otherselves getting more powerful and violent.
21	** Black Rock Shooter in a sense could personify denial, as she kills Otherselves, removing their pain but also burying the memories associated with them.
22	*** Black Rock Shooter may also represent hesitance to fight back or stand up for yourself, as all her shots against the Otherselves either take too long to fire compared to the other shots, and are always interrupted by an outside force, symbolising being held down by others.
23	** The heroes have to accept their trauma and take it back to defeat Shooter in the end.
24
25	[[AC: ''Black★Rock Shooter: The Game'']]
26	* From the game, Nana's selfish personality isn't surprising after finding out she's a clone of White★Rock Shooter, a supremely selfish being.
27	* By the start of the game, only 7 out of the 15 Apostles remain. This is quite an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome for Earth's forces, such as the UEF-PSS for taking out more than half of the Apostles even without the help of a super clone like Stella. And if the Apostles' SortingAlgorithmOfEvil is considered (where the weakest is 1 and the strength ascends by number), eliminating Apostles #8-15 from the start meant that Earth was able to hold back and defeat the stronger half of the fifteen!
28	* There are subtle lines of dialogue spoken by White★Rock Shooter that imply the game being in a state of a GroundhogDayLoop or a [[HereWeGoAgain never ending cycle]]:
29	--> (When approached by Stella): "This is my wish for another Game"\
30	(In the opening cutscene): "Is this the second time we've fought? The third?"\
31	(After being defeated): "Let's meet again in the next Game"
32	* Just like how the 2012 anime has lyrics referencing events in the show, the "NO SCARED" single composed by ONE OK ROCK specifically for this game contains lyrics making allusions to some plot points of the game.
33	** "We hurry on, 'cuz we are coming to the end" refers to the status of the remaining survivors of humanity, and the PSS initiating the plan to awaken Stella just before humanity goes extinct.
34	** "I've got leave you nothing to take anymore" refers to the part where Stella has lost all of her comrades, there's nothing for the Apostles to take from her, aside from herself. However, this later gets [[SubvertedTrope subverted]].
35	** "Now scared to death with the burning blue flame we are" directly alludes to the protagonist, who has a blue flaming eye, while also subtly noting her CharacterDevelopment and growing emotions.
36
37	!!FridgeHorror
38
39	[[AC: ''Black★Rock Shooter'' (2012 TV Series)]]
40	* The "other selves" exist for the purpose of taking your pain for you physically so that you won't feel it other than psychologically. Yeah, every time you feel heartbreak, someone in the Otherworld is taking all that for you.
41	** So in an alternate universe, your highschool crush beat the shit out of you. Kinky!
42	* If other selves are awakened when a girl's psychological suffering reaches critical levels, and Saya has been purposely pushing guilt onto the girls for their traumas, consider the scene in Episode 3 where Black★Gold Saw A.K.A. Saya is seen 'gardening' what look like immature other selves. The one that looks like Kohata steps out from the crowd in correspondence to the scene where Saya is trying to make Kohata feel miserable about the love letter. If B★GS is able to create other selves through Saya's interactions in the real world, consider ''how many'' of those otherselves she tends to in the otherworld. As a councilor, this means ''Saya is in the perfect position to traumatize every girl in the school''. It just so happens that no one in the school has greater pains than Mato, Yomi or Kagari, but she was ''close'' to awakening Kohata's other self.
43	* In the TV series, one considers how badly it could have gone. Looking back at all of Mato's interactions with Yuu; since nobody can see Yuu; she would have been considered a very strange girl and ostracized. Look back at all the scenes of them being silly; and we'll see people staring at a girl talking to herself. Fortunately, this didn't bother her; and her situation at the end of the series turned out differently.
44	** In addition, who knows how many girls that B★GS Saya has been sending against B★RS/Mato before this? She screws up their heads, creates an Otherself; sics it on B★RS who kills it (and likely kills Mato's memory of any unpleasantness). Mato's High School years must have been filled with girls freaking out at her; then the next day nobody remembers anything. Saya justified it in feeling that the erasure was ultimately cleansing for the girls.
45	* The fact that it is possible for a girl's life on Earth to become ''so'' horrible between the abuse, the bullying and the depression that an existence of eternal, unthinking battle in a nightmarish Otherworld would be ''a relief''.
46	* Yomi's Breakdown over Kagari makes so much more sense when you realize it's almost a textbook display of StockholmSyndrome.
47
48	[[AC: ''Black★Rock Shooter: The Game'']]

Context Fridge / BlackRockShooter