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Black★Rock Shooter OVA Review.

It’s been awhile since I last wrote a review. Black★Rock Shooter,something I wasn’t new to - having stumbled across artwork on Japanese artists websites as well as Pixiv-  but quite honestly, I never knew it was an OVA. I simply thought it was one of those ‘Japanese Things,’ pretty much like Nico Nico Douga Singers and or the Vocaloids (Which apparently did stem from). So it was quite a pleasant surprise to find this as an OVA.

Black★Rock Shooter by Ordet; Directed and written by Shinobu Yoshioka and also written by Nagaru Tanigawa. The pilot edition was released back in 2009, and was released as part of a DVD bundle on July 24th 2010.

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Well, where to start - the story follows two seemingly separate story lines; one which follows Black Rock Shooter, the title character battling an evil being named, Dead Master; the other, two junior high school girls whom are tied by friendship. Both stories tend to cut between each other and can be quite confusing at times - I found myself forever analyzing why something was happening and trying to relate both stories (curse media studies, can’t watch for the hell of watching anymore).  

Unfortunately, I feel like I can’t say much else without spoiling the story, so I’ll leave the summary short. Personally, I have mixed-feelings about the OVA, I enjoyed it but didn’t find it something fantastic. It has a nice story, though would make sense it you export the movie to Premiere, Final Cut Pro or whatever and separate both stories and reorder them chronologically. I was a little bit disappointed with the ending, not that is was bad, I just expected there to be more footage (though there could quite possibly be another OVA). The animation is pretty spectacular and consistent; the character designs are cute and I loved the soundtrack. Overall, it has a little Persona (Game) feel to the OVA and the title character constantly reminded me of Lenalee Lee from D.Gray-Man (I miss her). 

I would say it’s worth a watch, even it is for the awesome battle sequences or the fact the character designs are simply amazing. Just go, check it out.

That’s all for now, back to life ~

High School of the Dead [Episode 1] Review.

A recently released Summer 2010 anime. The manga adaptions written by Daisuke Sato and illustrated by Shouji Sato - the anime begun airing July 5th 2010 and has been set to air 13 episodes. 

The story follows a group of high schoolers at Fujimi High School named as they battle to survive a deadly disease that turns people into Zombies. 

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And, that is about all I can grasp from the first episode, for the main plot line anyways. Interesting turn of events - though very much expected from the ‘Zombie’ genre - I like the twisted monologue at the end from the main protagonist. 

“I killed my best friend and held the girl I liked for the first time.”

The animation is simply amazing - the timing of the frames at the beginning, were at first, very unexpected but conveys the situation very well. Being the person that I am - the gore is very amusing and I found myself chuckling a number of times. I also found the numerous ecchi scenes quite hilarious - especially in the opening sequence.

Overall, I wish I could say more about this. I must thank my friend who is a total fangirl over the manga, I remember seeing this on the Summer 2010 listings and I immediately thought of him. I didn’t expect myself to actually like this (I’m not a fan of Zombies, Vampires and all that other crap) - even if it’s only the first episode, it keeping my attention for more than 5 minutes is spectacular.

 Definitely a must watch - now I will have to go and check out the manga ~