Black Rock Shooter

It isn't the world you know. There wanders a girl with jet-black hair, ebony clothes, and a strikingly blue, glowing eye. Her name is Black Rock Shooter. With a huge cannon in hand, she throws herself into a fierce battle...

Meanwhile, in another world, middle-school student Mato Kuroi is drawn to Yomi Takanashi, her classmate with an unusual family name. Mato does her best to talk to Yomi, who just won't open up. Yu Koutari mocks her best friend Mato's efforts but at the same time, supports her. Mato also finds herself surrounded by other colorful characters at school, like the eccentric school counselor, Saya Irino, and the hot-blooded captain of her club club, Arata Kohata.

Then, one day, the window of opportunity opens. After Mato sees that Yomi has her favorite picture book, "Li'l Birds At Play", they strike up a conversation and Mato is invited to come over to Yomi's house. There, they gradually break the ice, until a girl in a wheelchair appears. This is Yomi's best friend, Kagari Izuriha...

Two worlds. Mato and Black Rock Shooter. This is the story of their "pain".

The story revolves around Mato Kuroi and another 4 girls in the real world which is linked to another world: the dream world, and each of them has another self in this 'dream world'. 

The actions and emotions of the girls from the real world are experienced by the girls in the ''dream'' world quite differently, they get all the pain and sadness and fight to the death without emotions or sorrow only for the girls of thereal world to suffer less as they follow their lives normally. The story may seems a little confusing at first, but make sense later on. So, don't just make assumption that the story line is rather twisted until you watched the rest of the episode.

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The plots concern about other dimensions or alternative realities that offer a nod to the genres of "dementia" and "psychological". In  BRS, epic battles are fought in these other zones, and they are portrayed with a dark and unique art and animation style that varies considerably from the bright palette that is used for the slice-of-life and drama scenes that comprise most of the rest of the series. In addition to this, friendship (and its strength) proves to be a strong theme , and it becomes even more heavily evident in the latter on.

The character designs and the animation is amazing. It's largely fluid despite going off model and derping out with in-between frames every now and then. The CGI is used pretty tastefully. The color design is great, especially in the checkerboard-laden battle sequences. The weapons and guns, wow, is godlike! Black Rock Shooter is very visually appealing. BRS opening theme is really good, the seiyuus too, but the sound effect could be better to give more mood, especially on the battle scene.

Overall, this is a superb anime. It could be better if it span into an average 12 episode anime, but still, it is full of dramas and action. Watch it several time, now!