I usually don't write reviews, but this one deserves it. In a word: Epic. Awesome. Impossible. Insane! But mostly epic.
In a sentence: Toradora! meets Tenga Toppa Gurren Lagann, with less mecha and more PvP.

So what is Black★Rock Shooter? Originally it was a music video about the eponymous girl with a huge gun, who wears not much more than what is needed and has her left eye on BLUE FIRE! The singer was Hatsune Miku.

Cue the 2012 TV Anime. Here, we have a young girl named Mato, who is cheerful, friendly, if easily distracted, who wishes to become friends with another girl, Yomi. The both of them happen to share interest in a picture story about a colourful bird who flies through coloured worlds, soaking himself and die. However, Mato cannot reach Yomi, because a third girl who is in a wheelchair constantly holds Yomi on a leash by way of domestic abuse. Can Mato break the chains and free Yomi? And what role does Mato's childhood friend Yu play in this?

All this is an equivalent to the "Otherworld", which is where the awesome battles take place.

Here, Black★Rock Shooter, the titular girl, is on a rampage, killing people left and right in her fights, until she finds enemies worthy enough. One of these is Dead Master, a green-styled Necromancer with a huge scythe and control over chains and zombies; another one is Chariot, a yellow-styled princess type on a huge chariot moved by a mechanical spider.

As it turns out, whenever someone or something moves in the "real" world, this has effects on the Otherworld, mental states included. Among such things are the arriving of yet more powerful fighters, the devilish Black★Gold Saw and the tiny but insanely powerful Strength and breaking of the Otherworld into new parts, such as the realms of Dead Master, which is a sick looking graveyard or the ever-shifting maze of Strength.

If any of this sounds highly interesting, well it should. First and foremost, I watched this show in Bluray Quality. If you want the downloads, ask in private. Due to that, the visual and audio representation was excellent. The Otherworld heavily constrasts with the real world, by virtue of being unstable and usually mono-coloured but at the same time dreamy and vivid. A LOT of destruction ensues whenever Black★Rock Shooter or the others fight each other and it's quite an eye catching process. The sound too, never were single-statements as creepy as here. When they happen that is, since Black★Rock Shooter and her enemies are mostly silent.

The plot just from watching WILL appear confusing at first. No explanation is given whenever the narrative switches from real-world girl problems to otherworld-death-battles or back. At first. Black★Rock Shooter is one of those anime where the plot unties and explains itself about half-way in (at 8 episodes that's not so difficult) and then it suddenly clicks. So word of advice, observe and don't try to figure out so much at first, it will work out in due time.

However, by all the praise, it has some negative points. At 8 episodes, one feels they wanted to do more but could not. The first and second episode are the most remarkable. They feel rushed. The characters hurry from one scene to the next and it's, as stated above, hard to follow what is going on, especially when the narrative constantly switches between reality and otherworld. Second, some of the decisions the characters make appear rather illogical. This may be chalked up to them being somewhat young and under emotional stress, but some things are really really dumb. I won't spoil that though.

Still, in the end, Black★Rock Shooter is a fine piece of entertainment. It's overall feeling is one of constant awe and the urge to cry and for the ressources it uses (such as only 8 episodes) it is damn well done.

There's actually an hour-length OVA that predates it and in my opinion that one was quite excellent as well.

Also, HanaKana and Sawashiro Miyuki. <3