Black Rock Shooter

Black Rock Shooter (ブラック★ロックシューター), often stylized as Black★Rock Shooter, is a Japanese media franchise based on independent character illustrations created by artist Ryohei Fuke, also known as Huke. It revolves around its eponymous character, a mysterious black haired girl with a blazing blue eye. The original illustration inspired a song of the same name by Supercell featuring the Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, which gained popularity on the Nico Nico Douga website.

A 50-minute original video animation based on the franchise was produced by Yutaka Yamamoto's studio Ordet, written by Nagaru Tanigawa and Shinobu Yoshioka, and directed by Shinobu Yoshioka. A "Pilot Edition" was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc in September 2009, before the full version was released on DVDs bundled with select magazines from July 24, 2010, subtitled in seven languages, followed by a retail release on December 17, 2010. An eight-episode anime television series, produced by Ordet and Sanzigen, aired on Fuji TV's Noitamina programming block between February and March 2012. A new anime television series titled Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall ran for 12 episodes aired from April to June 2022.

The franchise has also spawned several manga series and a video game for the PlayStation Portable titled Black Rock Shooter: The Game, each set in their own universe.

Plot

Production

Background

Original work and Supercell song

The origins of Black Rock Shooter date back to an original character illustration titled "Black Rock Shooter" by illustrator Ryohei Fuke, best known by his handle 'Huke', who posted it on his blog and the online artist community Pixiv on December 26, 2007.[4][5] Ryo of Supercell was inspired by the illustration and created the song "Black Rock Shooter" based on that character using vocals from the Vocaloid singing synthesizer Hatsune Miku.[6][7][8] Huke joined Supercell and provided the illustrations used in the music video of the song, which was later posted online on the video sharing website Nico Nico Douga on June 13, 2008, which as of August 2009 had over 2.2 million views.[4] The song was later used as the opening theme for the 2012 anime television series. The song has also been included in Hatsune Miku: Project DIVA F as a playable song.

OVA and pilot

Produced by Yutaka Yamamoto's studio Ordet and directed by Shinobu Yoshioka, an original video animation (OVA) project based on "Black Rock Shooter" and its music video was announced on August 22, 2009.[9] The screenplay was written by Nagaru Tanigawa and Shinobu Yoshioka, and character design was done by Yuusuke Matsuo. The music was composed by Ryo and the ending theme song is "Braveheart" performed by The Gomband.[10]

A "Pilot Edition" of the anime was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc (BD) on September 30, 2009, by Good Smile Company.[9] The pilot contains three short animated videos showing the same scenes from the anime while playing different versions of the song "Black Rock Shooter", much like in anime music videos. The first video uses the instrumental track from the original version of "Black Rock Shooter", the second video uses the "2M Mix" remix of the song with vocals using Hatsune Miku Append, and the third video uses the instrumental version of the "2M Mix". The DVD/BD also came bundled with an image booklet and a CD containing the vocal and instrumental versions of the "2M Mix".[11]

Original work and Supercell song

OVA and pilot

Anime adaptations

An eight-episode anime television series of Black Rock Shooter[16][17] was produced by Ordet with CG production by Sanzigen, and was directed by Shinobu Yoshioka, with the script written by Mari Okada, animation direction and character design by Yusuke Yoshigaki and CG battle direction by Hiroyuki Imaishi.[18] Fuji TV, Good Smile Company, Toho, Mages, Aniplex, Dentsu and Ultra Super Pictures were involved in the production. The opening theme is "Black Rock Shooter" (ブラック★ロックシューダー) by Supercell, sung by Hatsune Miku, while the ending theme music is "Bokura no Ashiato" (僕らのあしあと) by Supercell sung by Koeda.

Black Rock Shooter

Dawn Fall

On September 16, 2021, a new anime television series titled Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall was announced.[20] It is produced by TMS Entertainment under its UNLIMITED PRODUCE by TMS label, animated by Bibury Animation Studios and Bibury Animation CG and directed by Tensho, with scripts written by Makoto Fukami in cooperation with Ryō Yoshigami. Character designs are provided by Masayuki Nonaka and Yō Nakagawa, both of whom also serving as chief animation directors.[3] Disney licensed the anime as one of its first in a move to release more Asian-produced content on its streaming platform Disney+.[21] The opening theme is "Aseed" by Zaq, while the ending theme is "Before the Nightmare" by Kanako Takatsuki.[22][23]

Spin-off media

Video games

A role-playing video game, titled Black Rock Shooter: The Game (ブラック★ロックシューター THE GAME), was developed by Imageepoch for the PlayStation Portable [35] and was released on August 25, 2011. Set in a different universe to the OVA, it features animated cut scenes by Ufotable.[36] The opening theme for the game is "No Scared" by One Ok Rock.[37] A limited edition Premium Box of the game was released, bundled with a Figma figurine of the game's antagonist, White Rock Shooter.[38] The game was published digitally by NIS America via the PlayStation Store in North America on April 23, 2013, and in Europe on April 24, 2013.[39]

A browser game titled Petite Rock Shooter (ぷちっと★ロックシューター) was released on Nico Nico Douga on March 9, 2011, featuring illustrations by CHAN×CO.[38] Imageepooch are developing an iOS follow-up titled Petite Rock Shooter: Pursue the Mystery of the Sexy Planet! (ぷちっと★ロックシューター　セクシー惑星の謎を追え！) for release in September 2012.[40] Various Black Rock Shooter elements have been made available for the Japanese PlayStation Home.[41] Characters from Black Rock Shooter also appear in the PSP game Nendoroid Generation, produced by Namco Bandai, Good Smile Company and Banpresto, based on the Nendoroid series of figures.[42] The game was released on February 23, 2012.

On September 27, 2024, Black Rock Shooter was added as playable character in the action RPG game Punishing: Gray Raven.[43]

Manga

A four-panel comic strip manga titled Black Rock-chan (ぶらっくろっくちゃん), illustrated by Ringo, was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's 4-Koma Nano Ace magazine from the April 2011 and March 2012 issues. The series features super-deformed versions of Black Rock Shooter and Dead Master, respectively, named Rock-chan and De-chan.[44] A single tankōbon volume of Black Rock-chan was released on February 4, 2012. Another manga by Sanami Suzuki, titled Black Rock Shooter: Innocent Soul (ブラック★ロックシューター -イノセントソウル-), was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace magazine from the July 2011 and June 2012 issues.[45] Three volumes were published for Innocent Soul from November 4, 2011, and June 4, 2012. A manga adaptation of Black Rock Shooter: The Game illustrated by TNSK was serialized from September 2011 and September 2012 issues of Kadokawa Shoten's Comptiq.[46] The first volume of The Game was released on February 10, 2012, and the second and last on September 26, 2012.

type	tv
title	Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall
director	Tensho
producer	Megumi Suzuki Tomoyuki Oowada Ryouta Hasegawa Bungo Kondou Akihiro Sotokawa Kento Yoshida Cao Cong Yoshirou Manabe
writer	Makoto Fukami Ryō Yoshigami
music	Yasunori Nishiki Shingo Nishimura Ren Tsukagoshi
studio	TMS Entertainment (production)‡R3R‡ Bibury Animation Studios Bibury Animation CG (animation)
licensee	Disney Platform Distribution (streaming rights)
network	Tokyo MX, SUN, KBS Kyoto, TV Aichi, BS11, Animax
first	April 3, 2022
last	June 19, 2022
episodes	12
episode list	List of Black Rock Shooter episodes#Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall (2022)

Black Rock Shooter

Plot

Production

Background

Original work and Supercell song

OVA and pilot

Original work and Supercell song

OVA and pilot

Anime adaptations

Black Rock Shooter

Black Rock Shooter

Dawn Fall

Release

Reception

Spin-off media

Video games

Manga

External links

References

Dawn Fall