I had seen the OVA episodes when they came out and I liked them a lot! The nicely choreographed fights of the alter egos of the personages were eye candy and the idea of the parallel world interested me a lot the way it was presented.
But then came the anime… and I loved it even more! The fights were still great. Even though they might seem a bit over the top at first, I soon got to like them as well. The ‘real life’ personages got the chance to develop more complicated relationships and the new personages gave new dimensions to the story.
...
Artwork and animation
The exceptional quality shown here is something that comes very close to the top. All aspects of good artwork are there, but BRS stands out in colour, camera angles, light fall, great contrasts and facial expressions. Yes, that is almost everything that makes artwork worth watching. The drawing style might be a bit less appealing to some than the drawing style of Guilty Crown, but for me it worked just fine =)
The animation is an enormously strong point in this anime. Most of all in the parallel world with the perfectly choreographed scenes accompanied by great sound effects. The close ups on the faces of the characters in both worlds were well placed. Slow motion moments in the fights are there, but only when necessary most of the action takes place at a dazzling speed. That is not meant as critics, but more as a compliment, because many details are still visible even with the constantly changing shots.
Plot
("This part" is copy paste)
"It isn't the world you know. There wanders a girl with jet-black hair, ebony clothes, and a strikingly blue, glowing eye. Her name is Black Rock Shooter. With a huge cannon in hand, she throws herself into a fierce battle...
Meanwhile, in another world, middle-school student Mato Kuroi is drawn to Yomi Takanashi, her classmate with an unusual family name. Mato does her best to talk to Yomi, who just won't open up. Yu Koutari mocks her best friend Mato's efforts but at the same time, supports her. Mato also finds herself surrounded by other colourful characters at school, like the eccentric school counsellor, Saya Irino, and the hot-blooded captain of her club, Arata Kohata.
Then, one day, the window of opportunity opens. After Mato sees that Yomi has her favourite picture book, "Li'l Birds At Play", they strike up a conversation and Mato is invited to come over to Yomi's house. There, they gradually break the ice, until a girl in a wheelchair appears. This is Yomi's best friend, Kagari Izuriha..."
The plot in this anime is not the strongest point, but still very interesting. The use of a parallel world this way is something I have not seen in any anime, movie or book before. Very original and it kept me wondering how it all was connected to each other. The metaphors used in the story are not always easy to understand, but that is something I like about the anime: It keeps you thinking. I think it is important to save some extra time after each episode of this anime to think about the meaning of everything. It makes things more interesting. Too bad this was only an 8 episode anime. I must say I have never seen a better developed plot in an anime of less than 12 episodes. I actually have never seen a better anime than this one with less than 12 episodes!
Characters and their development
This anime is about character development. The relationships that start and develop, the ones with unexpected, abrupt twists, the connections between all the girls in either the ‘real’ wold or in the parallel world, the connections between the girls and their alter egos, those are the things that kept me wanting to see more and more. Some characters also have a strong presence. In the very first episode, there was a scene that was more creepy to me than anything I had seen in 'Another'. Emotions of the characters are very strong and those emotions are brought in such a way that I can almost feel them myself.Saying anything more here might become a big spoiler, so I’ll keep it at this.
Acting
The acting was very good in this anime. If you know Ano Natsu, you know the feelings there are strong and they feel genuine; in this anime, feelings are enormously strong and even though you might not see people’s feelings this way in real life, for the anime they felt pretty genuine as well. It is an anime with a dark story and the seiyuus made me feel that. For some of you this way of showing emotion might feel a bit exaggerated, but if you keep watching till the end, you’ll probably understand better why these emotions are so strong.
Soundtrack (openings and endings included)
Soundtrack by Supercell contributes greatly to the awesomeness of this anime. Timing, volume, type of music all fit this anime perfectly if you ask me.
The opening is sung by Hatsune Miku. That makes this the first anime opening with an artificial voice. I am a fan of Hatsune Miku, and I have known the opening song for a long time, so I’ll leave the judging to the readers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wBJUN-lIF7s
The ending is sung by Koeda. I like the song (composed by Supercell), but for the rest there is nothing special about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C6p2SORPut8
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Sep 30, 2012
Black★Rock Shooter (TV)
(Anime)
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I had seen the OVA episodes when they came out and I liked them a lot! The nicely choreographed fights of the alter egos of the personages were eye candy and the idea of the parallel world interested me a lot the way it was presented.
But then came the anime… and I loved it even more! The fights were still great. Even though they might seem a bit over the top at first, I soon got to like them as well. The ‘real life’ personages got the chance to develop more complicated relationships and the new personages gave new dimensions to the story. ... 
Sep 30, 2012
Ano Natsu de Matteru
(Anime)
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This anime exceeded all my expectations. I was expecting it to be a good romance comedy with some Sci-fi, but instead I got to see the best Romance comedy ever! Yes, I even liked it more than Toradora.
Artwork and animation Strong colours: http://www.japanator.com/elephant/ul/21368-620x-Ano-Natsu-de-Matteru.jpg nice contrasts: http://randomc.net/image/Ano%20Natsu%20de%20Matteru/Ano%20Natsu%20de%20Matteru%20-%2001%20-%20Large%2002.jpg ... |
