Black Rock Shooter (2012 anime)

Niconico but they won't be up until 11PM tomorrow, regardless of location. Well, if I'm understanding ANN's article right anyways.

11pm in what timezone, though?

My understanding is that the streams will be here.

Pretty good. I think I prefer the OVA thus far, but considering how high the esteem I hold the OVA in, that's not much of an insult

Some thoughts:

• Kotori kotori kotori kotori kotori kotori kotori kotori
• Less grounded than the OVA. Everything involving Kagari is more for effect than realism
• The new art style tends to make the faces look weird
• The otherworld is still desolate, but more surreal horror than gothic horror
• Yuu is basically a different character
• Despite feeling rather slow-paced, quite a fair bit happened
• Giving as much importance as they did to a picture book feels awkward
• We get an explanation of sorts for what's going on. Probably more to it than what we're told, though

I definitely preferred this to the OVA. It is amazing.

Maccaroons...goddamn...

Having watched it, I'm wondering why I should care about anything that happens. It's not flashy enough to get by on spectacle alone nor is it particularly compelling on the school-life side of things. Given what little I know about the history of this thing, should I expect it to be made for pre-existing fans and no one else?

edited 2nd Feb '12 9:30:33 PM by Clarste

No. Very much no. I doubt that'd even be possible. BRS has so little story behind it that this is functionally an original work

I wasn't talking about story. I'm talking about characters, art, setting, design, everything. If you already like, say, cool pictures of cool looking characters posing with absurd weapons in surreal worlds, then the anime is just fanservice for you. You get to see things you like animated and placed into some kind of context. The fact that there's no story to speak of doesn't bother you because that's not what you're here for.

On the flip side of the coin though, someone who simply doesn't care about any of these characters in the first place isn't given a reason to care. And frankly the action scenes didn't especially wow me.

edited 2nd Feb '12 10:03:03 PM by Clarste

They changed all the the character designs slightly to greatly and are using a different design sensibility for the environment than the other works. I'm fairly certain that it's trying to stand on it's own

As someone who's familiar with the Touhou fandom, you of all people should know that petty things like "art style" and "design sensibilities" or "tone of the work" have absolutely nothing to do with the popularity of derived works featuring the same characters. If anything, people's curiosities are aroused by reimaginings of the familiar.

Different things have different appeals. BRS has always been about it's art/design style more than anything else

Hmm... I still think you're underestimating the power of "character". People will see a movie just because it has an actor they like in it, regardless of what kind of role it is or how the make up/costume changes to suit that role. If people only wanted cool pictures then why were characters created in the first place? There are plenty of artists out there who draw random things in a consistent style. This is not that, and it certainly wouldn't have even been considered for an anime if it was. Ultimately, characters have to be the selling point, because if what you're saying is true then there is literally nothing else that would even identify this as a series.

edited 2nd Feb '12 10:28:15 PM by Clarste

BRS is more of a meme than anything else. The title character and general style are recognized, but that's it. There is a fandom of sorts, but it's dwarfed by the people that vaguely associate it with badassery

...and you don't think a meme is more likely to appeal to those already familiar with it? If you had just said that in the first place I think I could've come to a conclusion immediately.

edited 2nd Feb '12 11:01:32 PM by Clarste

Personally falling into the scale of "knew about BRS, knew the music video/singer, and nothing else," I don't think many people who haven't at least seen the music video will watch the anime. Maybe some general fans of "Romantic" Two-Girl Friendship s and Dark Magical Girl s. Still, that's thousands of people. And...I don't know. I think the actual story will end up being A LOT deeper and more epic than the first episode would make it appear, rather than just a bunch of Scenery Porn. I think it might even end up being a Mind Screw. So plenty of people can enjoy it.

...Then again, I love Scenery Porn. Origin Spirits Of The Past is even one of my favorite movies, even though it supposedly has an exceptionally poor story line and character developments. Art is the reason anime exists in the first place.

edited 3rd Feb '12 11:23:46 AM by Ruise

Just saw the first episode.

everything_went_better_than_expected.jpg

I can't help but feel like a lot of the things are symbolism for both the real world and the other world (e.g. Yomi's wristband, the picture book, the counselor and her talk with Mato, maybe the macaroons, Dead Master's veil and chains, etc.)

Also, Kagari is one creepy little cripple; that psychological hold. Regarding the preview for episode 2, do you think she's faking her disability or can she still walk but just for a short time period?

Huh, I had no idea what to make of the show from the ova and the PV, but it does make more sense than the former for what ever reason. Or at least it seems like it will. The pacing is a lot better, and the fights are awesome looking. I shall wait eagerly for next week.

Wait, what preview?

The one on the official site.

Ah. Thanks.

Is it just my imagining it, or do the fight scenes switch from 2D to 3D?

Anyway, just saw episode 1 and Kagari freaked me out. Really unsettling.

Please use punctuation. That sentence is kind of hard to understand.

edited 3rd Feb '12 2:58:57 PM by Grenedle

Interesting episode one and I agree it seems to be a connection between the real world and the other world, the actions on the first one affects things in the other.

sorry

edited 3rd Feb '12 3:03:40 PM by asellus111

It's the latter. It's mentioned in her bio on the official site

Looks like the Nico streams will be at 6:00 PST. Which is nice - even though it's 9:00 for me.

EDIT: And it might have been up for longer; watching it now.

edited 3rd Feb '12 5:56:21 PM by universalperson

In the middle of watching the first episode. So far, it seems hilariously bad. Is the main character supposed to be an idiot (as shown by her inability to form coherent sentences) or is she just written that way? Why are the subs so fansubbish, complete with Translator's Notes? Why is it that almost every middle-school-age girl in anime is gay, but adult women never are? (I know about the concept of "Romantic" Two-Girl Friendship, but the overuse of it comes across as creepy when you think about it.) Are we really supposed to take birds and rainbows seriously as symbols? Whose idea was it to have viewer comments appear in the video like that?

I'll keep watching this, but only for the trainwreck value.

Edit: Finished watching the first episode. The bit with Black Rock Shooter herself was wonderfully surreal—pretty much the only part of the episode I enjoyed unironically. Also, given the counselor's behavior, I take back I said about the lack of adult lesbians in anime.

edited 3rd Feb '12 6:39:14 PM by silver2195