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Black Rock Shooter would have to be one of the most hyped animes of the year; And rightly so. An anime that started as a simple drawing and turned into a popular song? It's a classic story of how something so small can turn into something so big.

And with how it turned out to be much, much different from what people expected... Backlash is very prominent from disappointed fans. I'm here to write an unbiased review, so without further ado...

Story: 8/10
Ah, the main part. Ah, the part with all the backlash...

The story of BRS in and of itself, is a good one. Not what anyone ... expected at all, but a good one nonetheless. What we got was a straight out Slice of Life, with some cutscenes to action ones with BRS. I respect the creators of this anime for trying something different. Having Slice of Life with action scenes going back and forth isn't something you've really seen before. To say it works... Well, that's a bit more polarizing. And even now I couldn't give you a straight up answer to that question, but I found it enjoyable nonetheless.

The main story is mostly Slice of Life, and a pretty well done one at that. However, I think the creators would have been much better off revealing that in the first place. Much of the backlash is from angry fans who wanted action. While there is some, it is not the main plot. The story gets a solid 8 from me.

Art: 8/10
The art was definitely something different, and again I respect the creators for trying something new. Like most parts of BRS, whether it worked or not is a matter of personal choice. There's no denying that it matched the overall tone of the story, and the original music video that it was based off of, though.

While it could get a bit spotty here and there, the art was nice and pretty to look at. It gets a 8 from me.

Sound: 7/10
I'll go ahead and get the question most are asking out of the way right now: Did they use the original Black Rock Shooter theme?

No. At least, not in it's original form. A few times we heard a rendition of it during the course of the OVA (the most prominent time being the last scene) and the renditions were very simple but pretty. Music wasn't too prominent in this anime, and I do feel it should have been worked on more, especially since the anime started off with a musical background. It gets a 7 from me.

Characters: 9/10
Now here is where I feel the anime shines.

People may disagree with me, but I felt the characters were very well written. Yes, the characters aren't all that original in theory; But they added enough quirks that I enjoyed them quite a bit. Take the character of Mato for example. It seems like every anime nowadays has a innocent and naive character, and indeed these are traits of Mato. However, I really felt she was developed better then most characters of that archetype. She was more then just naive and innocent, and you could see her character shine, especially towards the last part of the OVA. The same could be said for Yomi; I felt Yomi was especially easy to relate to, and she doesn't really fit one archetype.

I'm happy to say the characters get a 9 from me.

Enjoyment: 9/10
I quite enjoyed this anime. I didn't feel like my time was wasted, and I don't regret staying up late to watch it. I enjoyed it through and through, even if it didn't resemble anything of what I expected. I would recommend it to someone look for something different in terms of animation and style; This is definitely the anime for you.

Overall: 8/10
I feel this anime gets a firm 8 from me overall. Despite all the backlash, it came out as a polished anime that, while certainly not something amazing, is something enjoyable nonetheless. Thanks for reading, and I hope I helped potential watchers. ^_^

This is my first review, so hopefully this will go over well. ^_^ I haven't seen the series in a while, so I'll try to accurately try to portray how I felt when I watched it the first time.

Story:6/10
Indeed, the story summary was what pulled me in. It sounded like and interesting spin on a old storyline, and it was a bit. It certainly was interesting to see the interactions of he characters of Sawako since so many were afraid of her. But when you really get down to it, this is a lot like other high school romances. Outcast girl likes most popular guy, ... they get close, and fall in love. And of course, there's high school drama along the way and plenty of morals and such. This definitely isn't something you haven't seen before if you've been a long time anime fan. Still, it's at least worth a look if you're interested.

Art: 9/10
The art in this anime get's the highest score from me. It was certainly amazing and breathtaking in quite a few places. The artist of the anime definitely took the time to add every detail, sparkle, and breath correctly. It was really great to look at. Of course though, there were a few parts that had not so great animations. It was few and not too bad, but still there and prominent.

Sound: 8/10
The opening and ending song was fantastic. The opening especially caught my eye. It really captured the essence of a slice of life romance. It fit perfectly. The ending was also quite good, although I didn't like it as much as the opening. That's probably more of a personal taste, so you should definitely give it a listen. Other music throughout the anime was quite good and done well, too. The opening and ending definitely stand out, though.

Character: 6/10
Now here is where the anime started to go a bit downhill for me. At first I wast entranced by the characters and thought they were all great, and for some that is indeed true. Others... Not so much. This wouldn't be as bad of a problem if it wasn't the main characters who were the not so great ones. Sawako and Kazehaya didn't get very much development throughout the series; It was very, very little. Kazehaya remained pretty much the same through the whole thing, and after a while you just get kind of tired/used to it. Sawako is the biggest example though, since she is the main character you follow. She's decent I suppose, but not really main character material. She got very little if any character development. For example, even after she's had friends for a long time, she still cried her eyes out every time they did something nice for her. I believe this series would be a lot more heartwarming if you actually got to see her get used to these things; That way you could know she truly has made good friends. The side characters of Ryuu, Ayane, and Chizu on the other hand were fantastic. They did a great job with these characters, and went in a really good direction with them. I was happy with them for sure.

Enjoyment: 7/10
During the first half of the series, I did enjoy watching it. It was interesting, and seemed like a pretty good anime. Towards the middle though, the series slammed on the breaks. Kazehaya and Sawako went nowhere in their relationship all of a sudden, and the story just started to seem all the same. I would sometimes find myself watching the clock to see how long the rest of the episode was because I wanted it to end. That's not to say it was bad; Just decent. Taking a look back on it I realize it wasn't all that fantastic, but it is enjoyable when watching it the first time. It's gets a solid 7 from me.

Overall: 7/10
This anime is worth the watch of a few episodes if you're interested, and you can see how you feel about it from there. I would recommend it mostly to anime fans who love the slice of life romance genre, because this is the anime for you. Personally though, I just can't give this anime a score higher then seven. Hope this review helped to people who were considering watching, and thanks for reading!