Friday, February 10, 2012

Black Rock Shooter: Why It Shouldn't Be an Anime

If you're an anime fan, then you probably have heard the name "Hatsune Miku." In case you have not, then I should inform you that she is basically  a god among some extremest, but she's basically a program that can generate music. With in a short time, her popularity caught on and she even started having concerts, and then they decided to make an anime about one of her music videos, namely the song "Black Rock Shooter." At first they decided to make an OVA , which apparently did so well that they made a "full" T.V. series. Now i use the words "T.V. Series" lightly because I do consider a full anime series eleven or more episodes, where as Black Rock Shooter is only eight episodes. Now, since that Miku is so popular, and the song was so popular, then why am I complaining about the anime being made? Simply, because the source was not that good to begin with.

I was watching the music video for the song of which the anime is based. To be honest, Miku was drawn awesomely, with black hair and an awesome jacket with a bikini top and practically booty shorts. She has the purest blue eyes, and looks like something I would cosplay as, to be honest. However, with as good as she looks, the art in the original is not that good. The hair concept is like Miku, with the twin tails, but the actual drawing is not that good. I will credit the special effects i the video, but other than that, the video art is ok at best.

Now, the anime shows this epic story about Black Rock Shooter trying to fight for her life in this odd world, along with the slice of life story with Kuroi Mato and her friend Takanashi Yomi. These two story lines seem to be intertwined, however separate at the same time. With that in mind, the execution in the anime for the story was not that good, and I wanted to see if the orginal source executed any better. It did not. In fact, it barely executed a story at all. In the original music video, all the only action sequences are the fact that her hair is waving in the wind, and even that motion is not well done because it looks like tentacles. The animation in the original sucks. Also, there are no epic fight scenes in the original like there is in the anime, and even in the anime, the story mainly focuses on Kuroi Mato, and not about the epic fight that was hinted at.

Also, the music in the original is supposed to be the story, and even so, it does a horrible job at telling a story. I think it's about a girl trying to convey her feelings to someone, but I am not that sure. I guess that could translate into the OVA, and perhaps the anime, but it does not seem like the story in the music video means the same as the story in the anime or OVA. The singing in the original is not that good in my mind. It has a whiney tone in my mind.

In my mind, I think if they wanted to sell Miku as an anime, I think they could at least try a different song. I think "The World is Mine," would have made a good anime. Also, "Triple Baka" could have made for a good one. In fact, I think that SHAFT could make a good "Love is War" anime, because at least that has more of a story than "Black Rock Shooter."

I'm not saying that Black Rock Shooter is all bad, because the anime has potentional. All I am saying is the fact that they could have chosen better Miku songs and the source material is not that good. I do hope for a good eight episodes, and I pray that they can improve upon an original music video.

6 comments:

  1. Are you *gasp* bad mouthing Hatsune Miku?

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    1. Just a bit. But some of her stuff is pretty alright and the whole vocalloid series is awesome :D

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  2. Well I have to admit that the OVA didn't have that much of a story, mainly because it is quite confusing with this whole new thing on Mako. I, myself really am a little confused and am guessing the story that all the fight scenes (excluding the one in the intro and all of the one's where BRS is fighting the brown eyed girl) are directly after Mako meets BRS (and become one?).

    As for the brown eyed girl she's probably Yuu.

    The producers should have a bit more thought on the story and a little better animation would help, but the soundtrack was pretty good IMO.

    What're your thoughts on the story of the OVA?

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    1. To me personally, the story in the OVA was really weak. It could have been a good action story or a good slice of life story, but instead they combined the two, and did not have enough time to expand the characters at all. Potentially, it could have gone ot a complete yuri story in my mind, due to the fact that Mato could not get Yomi off of her mind.

      The animation in the OVA was not that good either. The weird distance images, and the motion images were not that good. K-on style art worked ONCE, and that was in K-on.

      Also the black rock shooter is not that well explained in the OVA, but I will give the TV series that credit, they actually do try to explain the BRS.

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    2. Well I got all that in your description above, yeah I read it.
      But I was actually asking about the story itself not how it is.

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  3. It's not the greatest anime ever, but, you're wrong on one thing. Since Miku and all vocaloids are a program you buy and make music with yourself, it wasn't one of "her songs". The man who made Black Rock Shooter already had all his own characters and story. He was an artist. He bought Miku and created the song and video himself. Yes, it became popular. Then, he made a manga from his story, a game, and anime. It wasn't "made from a Miku song". It was already a planned out and drawn original story of the author and artist. Popularity of the music and video fueled it's fame, yes, but it is above decent at least.

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