LETS TALK BRS ANIME !! SPOILERS !!

Okay, First BRS Review because I Just watched it. /without subs. But having no Subs at all really doesn't matter, because the story is VERY Easy to follow.

//Spoilers Included, Of Course;

Mato and Yomi become friends when Mato pushes herself onto her (probably out of admiration of her), and they actually begin talking, going out and hanging out with one another; Sharing stories, and experiences, and having matching cell phone charms.

Though when Yuu gets into the picture when Mato hurts her knee in Gym, slowly the girls start speaking less and less with one another as Mato is progressively interested in Yuu. To put more stress on the situation, They no longer have homeroom together.

When Yomi ends up missing, Mato realizes what she has done, and desperately wishes for her friend to come back. One night she gets a message from Yomi's cell phone, and she travels to their sightseeing spot and finds Yomi's charm, and Black Rock Shooter appears, giving the chance to Mato to find her lost friend.

//Story; 8/10
It's slightly over-used highschool drama/friendship testing that we're used to seeing, just mixed with a fantasy backdrop that's not even remotely elaborated upon due to time restrictions. You see Black Gold Shaw and STR, but they do close to nothing except /be/ there, and their appearances aren't even explained; Moreso with BGS than STR (Who must be Yuu, I'm sure). It's easy to follow even without subs, which is convenient but also saddening, because it lacks /depth/.

//Art; 9/10
Ordet does some amazing fight scenes, other times it seems a bit lazy and lackluster, especially in some talking scenes when the hands are reduced to blobby mittens. Also the lines seem to just "poof" out of no where in what you would think were easily animated parts. But the eyes are always nice to look at and the liquid style are a plus and outweigh the negative.

//Sound; 10/10
Oh my god. This soundtrack.
The fight scenes are orchestrated to the heavy metal/rock music almost perfectly, and add a sense of "poopie's hitting the fan" more so then most music I'm used to hearing in fight scenes. The everyday scenes are in perfect contrast and are airy, with happy undertones and make you feel carefree as well. The music shifts are done very skillfully and expertly executed.
I'd seriously love to know who made the music for the battle scenes though. They made my year with it.

//Character; 8/10
The characters are developed very nicely in the short time frame, though more so on Yomi than Mato, Yuu, or BGS/STR. We mainly only see how Yomi is affected for much of the show, and I felt more partial to her feelings than Mato, who completely ignores Yomi as soon as Yuu appears. We don't get to know much, if at all, Yuu's real personality. So for this the score slightly suffers, but I give it a lee way considering the time frame.

//Enjoyment; 10/10
This anime. Made me almost cry; and it made me jump. Oh, and It also made me have to tweet something every five minutes about SOMETHING THAT WAS JUST Too "Adorable" or "Angering" or "WHAT!!?". Overall, this was a very enjoyable experience.

And there's going to be an obvious continuation by that hint, Yuu.

So I'm eager for the next installment and even though some points were saddening, I loved every moment of it.

This has officially become my favorite anime of all time.

It's fifty minutes, so I'd classify this as a "short film". But that doesn't change anything. The fifty minutes had as much beautiful, beautiful production as a full season of some other typical anime with some other typical plot.

The first twenty-five minutes were, to me, a little boring when I was watching them - okay, some cute moments between friends, and random symbolic moments with BRS and Dead Master. Repetitive. But it wasn't until later when I realized how absolutely valuable every one of those twenty-five minutes were, establishing the bond between Mato and Yomi and how important getting Yomi back becomes to Mato. And, of course, building suspense.

Oh, the suspense building. The tension between Mato and Yomi. The tension when Mato discovers Yomi's gone. The tension with Mato and...herself.

Interestingly, BRS and Dead Master are supposed to be their other selves, and you see within each girl the opposite of herself exists. Mato is an excitable, tomboyish girl - but BRS is calm, collected, rational (and badass). Yomi is sweet and polite and adult-like, but Dead Master is showy, sinister, and completely insane and evil. That face she has when BRS makes the climax confirms it. She can't accept any form of love or affection; the only way to get the Yomi Mato knows back is to destroy that inner self completely.

Of course there are open ends left, and those are: how did Yomi completely vanish from this world into the other? What is that other illusion-world? Was the Dead Master possessing Yomi, or did Yomi lose herself in that other world? Who gets an "alternate self"? How did Mato get the mysterious text and what happened after she and BRS merged? And, most importantly, what's wrong with Yuu? But I don't think there's a sequel to remedy these. (Do you have any idea how much work they had to put into this thing?) These open ends are intentional, made to make one think.

The one open end that I don't think was intentional was Black*Gold Saw. If BRS is fighting her, that means Mato knows her counterpart somewhere, but said counterpart did not appear or get mentioned. Perhaps it was in the original; it shouldn't have been in the final. I was going to say the same for STR, but now I know: she is, most definitely, Yuu. STR's figure was ominously approaching while BRS and Dead Master were duking it out, and Yuu's feeling of being "left out" is increasing. Once again, probably not a sequel, although I have this image of BRS and a reformed-type Dead Master (not DM herself, she's dead) fighting against STR.

The characterizations were stellar. Mato at first appears to be your typical excitable tomboy, but BRS's mere existence reveals her as a deeper, more courageous girl. Yomi is a polite, drawn-back girl, but she has signs of jealousy and loneliness, and Yuu of course is more than your average lolicon genki girl. Each character has an in-depth, deeply explored personality that's always more than meets the eye.

The scripting was wonderful, especially in the climax where BRS meets with Mato for the first time and they merge. And of course, the killer line that just does it in the most perfect way:

"I am...Black*Rock Shooter."

No narm. No over-dramaticness. No passiveness. Just pure, pure epic.

The art, of course, was beautiful, down to the in-depthness of the energy blasts and the "special" eyes of the alter-selves. Pure detail, brought down with every single character and scene. Can't blame them for so much work in 50 minutes.

And finally, the most important part: ryo's song. I didn't like the song much originally because it made no sense; who is this girl and why is she so important to the singer? And now it all makes sense. BRS is the singer and not the singer, the person inside that's totally different from the original personality. And now, I want to hear Hanazawa Kana cover the song. It would be awesome.

Tanigawa Nagaru's wonderful contributions to the script mixed with an awesome plot, a talented animation studio, and loads of heartwarming that made me want to bawl near the end.

It's just pure, pure awesome.

i liked the anime didnt make senice at first but then when i relized that basiclly when it was BRS scenes that it was after when Mato combined with BRS. i relized it after the part when BRS breaks from the chains and hugs death master who falls out and yata yata.

i liked that there was a piano score of brs

like the pilot trailer thing, i thoght there was going to be alot more of the song

in the end after the credits, it leaves a little to be continued like thing, where yuu starts acting like yumi. which points to me that there is going to be more maybe yuu dissappers and becomes that one girl with the hands o-o