# Black Rock Shooter (2012)

> Two junior high girls bond over a shared interest while their alternate-universe counterparts, Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master, are drawn into a fated battle.

Canonical page: https://ember.film/tv/39312

## Facts

- Seasons: 1
- Episodes: 8
- Episode runtime: 23 min
- Status: Ended
- Genres: animation, action, drama
- Network: Fuji TV
- Cast: Miyuki Sawashiro, Kana Asumi, Kana Hanazawa, Eri Kitamura, Mamiko Noto
- TMDB rating: 6.2/10
- IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2198397/

## Ember's analysis

- Pacing: brisk
- Intensity: strong
- Complexity: layered
- Violence: moderate
- Tone: melancholic, brooding, tense, wistful, intimate

## What critics say

Audience reception is mixed to negative, with viewers finding the short run's striking visuals and action at odds with its underdeveloped story.

## Synopsis

Black Rock Shooter (2012) is a Japanese animated action drama series produced by Ordet and aired on Fuji TV, a single-season anime of eight episodes, each about twenty-three minutes long. The story follows junior high student Mato Kuroi, voiced by Kana Hanazawa, who befriends the shy and withdrawn Yomi Takanashi, voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro, after the two discover a shared interest in a bird decoration. Their everyday school life is shadowed by a parallel universe in which Mato becomes the armed heroine Black Rock Shooter and Yomi becomes her counterpart Dead Master, and events in one world ripple into the other without either girl understanding the link. Kana Asumi as Yu Kotari and Eri Kitamura as Kagari Izuriha round out the principal cast. The engine of the show is the tension between a fragile friendship and a destiny that pulls the girls into violent combat, with gunfights and swordplay punctuating quiet classroom moments. The tone is melancholic and angsty, with an atmosphere of quiet dread and emotional yearning. Fans of Madoka Magica, Blood+ and Kill la Kill will find resonance in its stylized darkness and its mix of girlhood intimacy with fierce action.

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