Friday, August 20, 2010

:anime: Free/Low-Cost Anime Pick of the Month:: Black Rock Shooter

Black Rock Shooter

Official Site: Japanese, English
Additional Links: ANN Entry, Wikipedia
Video [Free]: Nico Nico Douga, ANN Article (embedded)
View Period: August 19 - 31, 2010

It's been a while since announcements were made regarding the worldwide streaming and release plan for the OVA Black Rock Shooter, but finally, the anime is officially being made available over the web in its entirety!

BRS has a very interesting history. It first came to life towards the end of 2007 as a single drawing, entitled "Black Rock Shooter", by the artist huke, which in turn inspired a Vocaloid song by ryo, leader of the popular Internet-borne music group supercell (Cencoroll, Bakemonogatari ending themes). Huke would eventually join its stable of artisans and contribute to the song's animated music video the following year, which would go on to garner over 2 million views and a special "pilot" DVD release in 2009, further increasing its popularity. Prior to it, an OVA "expansion" was announced, spearheaded by Yutaka Yamamoto's Ordet studio, of which would be their first chief production effort. Accompanying the project would be huke's design work, and a score by ryo, along with a script co-written by Nagaru Tanigawa, author of the Haruhi Suzumiya light novels (which Yamamoto helped adapt at Kyoto Animation).