Black★Rock Shooter Episode 8 – A Confrontation of Self (Final Episode and Overall Review)

I care about you- more than you can ever imagine.

Strength and Insane Black Rock Shooter continue their battle, but the mind of Kuroi breaks through. Insane Black Rock Shooter tries to destroy “normal” Back Rock Shooter (Kuroi), but with the help of the real and other selves, they take her out. The merging of the worlds makes the group realize that they can’t always deny the pain that they bear, but that doesn’t mean that they can’t work through it together. They all return to the “real” world as friends, and the “other” selves continue their struggle on the other side.

Impressions:

So there we have it, the end of Black★Rock Shooter…and it ended, more or less the way it began. The story comes full circle, with the conflicts with the characters resolved, each growing in their own way.

The final confrontation defied my guess of Strength versus Black★Rock Shooter- instead, it was the “insane” Black★Rock Shooter versus the Kuroi (original) Black★Rock Shooter. Essentially, it was a battle of the self, the fight for understanding of what each side of the coin stands for. On one hand, there is the desire to not be hurt, and the other…the other is not to hurt others. But does not hurting other people really work? That’s the strangest question, because I kept thinking in this show…pain is growth.

Kuroi had intended to lie down and let insane Black★Rock Shooter take her down, and that led to the most violent scene in the anime so far. The last few episodes had featured fights that have gotten progressively more aggressive as stronger personalities face off after taking down the weaker ones. Yuu with her denial of reality is fighting with all of her will to continue existing in the “other” world, but to throw that off, to help her grow, Strength sacrifices herself. This aspect of the episode really touched me, because despite Strength doing all she can to take care of Yuu, she ultimately know she had to destroy herself to force Yuu to come back. Yuu can’t possibly continue living in that half-and-half state, and it hurts- but it’s for the best.

The other selves come back to help Kuroi take lock away the insane Black★Rock Shooter, and this led to you typical multi-coloured canon of friendship. The point is not the violence, but I think even the person that doesn’t pay attention to the anime they watch can see the obvious metaphor between the fighting and the clash of personalities.

Overall Review of Black★Rock Shooter: The TV

It wasn’t too short. I know I complained that there was only 8 episodes, but considering the sheer number of developments in the show, there was enough detail and content to have a fleshed out show that touches anyone who wants to see the conflicts of friendships brought to the screen.

Don’t watch the frickin’ OVA. Watch the anime.

DRAMA. SO MUCH DRAMA. Not like Chihayafuru, but just enough to mask the school-life-happy that I hate, and I just couldn’t stop watching. And the character designs? And the music. Win on all fronts. It’s not every day you have huke on character designs, and Supercell taking care of your OP. I really can’t think of anything more to point about this show I haven’t gushed about in the last 8 episodes’ worth of entries. I’m sure, if I came back to watch this when I’m older, I’d have something new to learn from it. It’s one of those kinds of shows.

Always something to learn, always something new to be found. I’ve had so much fun watching and writing about this show this season, and I’m really glad that the AAB gang gave me a chance to do something like this. Thanks for reading, if you’ve been following, and sorry for the delayed post. “>_<

But yeah. WATCH IT NOW IF YOU HAVEN’T. ERASE THAT RAGE ENDING FROM GUILTY CROWN WITH GIANT GUNS AND FRIENDSHIP TALK.