No, I'm kidding. But it is a bit of an improvement over the OVA, even though that wasn't exactly a high bar to pass in the first place. At first it seemed like this would be a re-tread of the OVA storyline; Mato, a friendly tomboy, starts at a new school and quickly befriends Yomi, a girl who seems perfect. Instead of getting matching phone straps, they bond over their mutual like of a children's picture book (apparently about a bird in a world of color from what I could gather) but for the most part, the start of their friendship was set up similarly to the OVA. But then Kagari shows up. Easily the creepiest character in the episode (not to mention her bullying of Mato), from her very first line it's easy to see what kind of relationship she has with Yomi. She blames Yomi for her circumstances and is sabotaging her relationships because of it, which makes for a far more reasonable conflict than in the OVA. "My crazy friend/relative/whatever won't let us be friends because she's guilt-tripping me" is a definite improvement over "My BFF is talking to other people! Obviously she doesn't want to be friends anymore! I should run away!" But "better" doesn't necessarily mean "good" in this case. The problem that I had with this storyline in the OVA is still present here; it's really hard to care about this conflict when it's not what I'm watching this show for. Middle school drama is largely self-centered, a combination of sudden hormones and the belief that no one else could possibly understand what they're going through. I'm pretty sure that no one is watching this show to see Mato get depressed after Kagari makes her eat the weird-looking macarons. We're watching this show because of the title character: Black Rock Shooter. Also like in the OVA, the episode is sprinkled with glimpses into the highly stylized, post-apocalyptic landscape where Mato's alter ego, BRS, wanders around in her bikini top and hot pants, getting stared at by unexplained red eyes and engaging in fights with the alter egos of the other girls. This is the stuff that I'm actually watching the series for. I'm really interested in the world itself, the how and why it exists, although I doubt that I will get satisfactory answers. Furthering the distance between the "real" world and the one BRS inhabits, everything in these scenes are done in CG. The models looked a little stiff at times to me, but the battles themselves were pretty well done, and I found myself cringing as I wondered how BRS could take that much abuse. Here I have to mention something that bugs me; I mentioned above that it's hard to care about the middle school conflict. Apparently in an attempt to make us care, BRS's battles are symbolic of (or at the very least, connected to) Mato's emotional state. I feel like this is a step down from the OVA, where BRS, Dead Master, and the rest were avatars of some kind. I'm hoping that there's some further connection with the storybook, because reducing that world down to symbolism feels like the writers are trying to force the teenage angst story whether we like it or not. On a similar note, I'm not sure how I'd react if a counselor told me that no matter how much emotional pain I was feeling, it didn't mater because someone else was actually feeling that pain in my place. Feels like your heart is being stabbed metaphorically? It's okay, because your alter ego has got it covered! It feels like that wasn't exactly what they were going for. Anyway, all nitpicking aside, the Black Rock Shooter part of Black Rock Shooter TV did not disappoint, and there is the possibility that the "real world" plot will improve, so I'll be continuing to watching it and blog it for that reason. Maybe next week we'll get further context for Kagari's strange behavior. Additional Screenshots                                                           Images from Nico Nico Douga.
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