OVA Review: Black Rock Shooter

Flaming eyeballs? There's a Visine for that.

In case you’re unfamiliar, Black Rock Shooter was originally a character designed by the Japanese artist Huke, which the band Supercell adapted into a wildly popular Hatsune Miku music video. The video itself doesn’t feature much plot; it’s just the titular protagonist travelling around a post-apocalyptic world, looking all emo and angsty. That means when Yutaka Yamamoto and Studio Ordet decided to make a full-length original video animation from this concept for their first independent project, they had their work cut out for them. Not only did they have to prove their little startup studio could produce quality anime, they had to create an entire universe and mythology for Black Rock Shooter from scratch.

So, did they succeed? Did Studio Ordet prove it could hold its own against the older, larger and better-funded anime studios? Sadly, no. This OVA was a disappointment on nearly every level. It’s a pity, since there’s a really interesting concept here. Unfortunately, it was dragged down by poor animation, badly paced storytelling and low production values.

Read more after the break.

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Black Rock Shooter and Project Diva Trailers Released

The first trailer for the Hatsune Miku / Studio Ordet collaboration Black Rock Shooter has been posted on YouTube… and it looks AWESOME.

As you may recall from one of our previous posts, Black Rock Shooter is an anime project being developed by Yutaka Yamamoto’s Studio Ordet, and is based on the popular Hatsune Miku song of the same name. It is currently slated for a Spring 2010 release. The project will be directed by Shinobu Yoshioka, an episode director from Haruhi, Lucky Star and Kannagi, as well as one of the many Kyoto Animation employees who left the company in 2007 and joined Ordet.

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Kyoani Responds to Yamakan

Yutaka Yamamoto’s thoughts on Endless Eight, which found there way onto Youtube last weekend, have elicited a response from Kyoto Animation. Essentially, they deny that Yamakan ever had anything to do with Endless Eight. Their attitude can best be summed up in this quote.

This person has absolutely nothing to do with our company.

Kyoani is also claiming that Kadokawa is the primary influence behind the current E8 arc. I’m guessing this is just the beginning of the finger pointing…

Originally posted on J-CAST via Sankaku Complex (NSFW)

Former Kyoani Director’s Thoughts on Endless Eight

Yutaka Yamamoto, the director of the first season of Haruhi who left Kyoani in 2007, voiced his thoughts on the current Endless Eight arc during an Otakon panel.
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To tell you the truth… I knew this was gonna happen a year ago.
Not to make self-excuses or anything… the concept of this idea was floating around when I was still at Kyoto Animation, and I was against it. I said, “Two episodes is the most you can do.” But, as a person who left Kyoto Animation of his own volition, I can’t help but feel somewhat responsible for the way Haruhi is now. So, I’d like to say, as a member of the SOS Brigade Committee, I apologize.

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