Wakaranai

An Animation project for the near-iconic and highly distinctive original character design by artist, Huke, Black Rock Shooter, was recently announced. The design was popularised when a vocaloid song was created for it (by ‘ryo’), ‘sung’ by the virtual idol Hatsune Miku owing to her similarity to the original design. While the origins of the design are frequently conflated and Black Rock Shooter is often regarded as an alternative design for Hatsune Miku, it’s still a great example of the Japanese visual culture in action - that an impressive character design of humble origins can be pulled into life through so many different mediums. Personally, I love the design and so much of the associated artwork. Black Rock Shooter evokes dark beauty, sexuality, and coolness. And by that I mean she’s damn hawt, looks pretty badass, and has real visual gravitas. The announcement that an anime would be made came as a surprise despite how well-known the design is rapidly becoming. This is an unconventional project in numerous respects.

While this could easily have been a quick money-grabbing exercise by some cheap studio, the staff list, primarily by the involvement of infamous director Yutaka Yamamoto and his own new company, ‘Ordet’, suggests that It could become a visionary and interesting anime. Yakaman has shown once again that he really is on the frontlines and has his finger on the pulse when it comes to the rapidly morphing otakusphere. With a resume including a number of tremendous geek hits such as Haruhi, his failed involvement in Lucky Star, and then Kannagi post-Kyoto Animation, he has proven that he knows what the otaku subculture wants and can deliver it. He’s really grabbed everyone’s attention with this announcement, showing that his studio Ordet are becoming a force to be reckoned with. For me, other than my attraction to the design, I’m really interested by the fact that this isn’t just another of your usual manga or novel adaptations.

The announcement, via ANN, translated from the webpage:

The official website for the “Black Rock Shooter” song from the virtual idol singer Hatsune Miku has confirmed that supervisor Yutaka Yamamoto and his Ordet studio are developing an anime project for next spring. A “Pilot Edition” of the anime will ship on DVD or Blu-ray Disc (BD) on September 30. The Pilot Edition will bundle a CD single with a new recording of the song’s “live perfomance” version, as well as a booklet with image sketches for the anime.

The song’s creator huke and musical composer/producer ryo are collaborating with Ordet on the project. Yamamoto (Kannagi, Lucky Star, The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya) is supervising the project, although Shinobu Yoshioka (episode director on Lucky Star, Haruhi) is the actual director.

The way in which the anime is being promoted is also a bit unconventional, with this ‘Pilot Edition’ Blu-Ray announcement. It sounds like that disc would be a worthy purchase indeed. It seems that they might be just testing the waters, and that the actual anime is an OVA to follow. This kind of project is much better suited to an OVA format than a TV anime. What’s most promising is the visuals that have already been released for the anime, on the official website.

These screencaps really grabbed me. They show that, befitting of the unique look of BRS’s design, it’s going to be a highly stylised production. Already you can see that there is a definite level of abstractness to the backgrounds, interesting use of colour and a gritty look to it. There’s almost a bit of a studio-SHAFT influence to some of the framing and visual style. The cel artwork is very reminiscent of Birdy the Mighty decode in its simplicity and colour-vibrancy. A PV has been screened at a couple of events, but sadly there’s no good grab of it for the rest of us to see. Comments for the PV have been very impressed though:

Big Boss Aki at GSC already showed the BRS video to some of us at the Tokyo Figure Show and I can tell you the anination quality is truly incredible.

-danny choo

This is the best quality we can get:

Even from that blurred glimpse I can say the animation looks really breathtaking, very fluid and stylish. Shinobu Yoshioka is the director, who has been episode director for similar projects as Yakaman (Lucky Star, Haruhi, Kannagi). This is probably his most ambitious staff role yet, and it’s shaping up to be a pretty big success. The announced staff are as follows:

Director : Shinobu YOSHIOKA (吉岡忍)
Supervisor : Yutaka YAMAMOTO (山本寛)
Character-Designer : Yuusuke MATSUO (松尾祐輔)
Animation production : Ordet

source

I really can’t wait to check this out and see the highly gorgeous Black Rock Shooter rendered in action. I think this will turn out to be stunning.

Updates

● 29 Aug Yumii-chan from animesuki provides an outline of the story:
* Two sisters (BRS och Dead Master)

* Dead Master stab BRS (who survives)

* Dead Master gets an army of dead people and monsters to destroy the world.

* BRS gets Black Sword and Rock Shooter

* Goes on a journey to kill Dead Master and becomes Black Rock Shooter

The school girls on the screenshots are BRS och DM (Pretty sure)

● 31 Aug AkibaHobby.net has posted a PV for Black Rock Shooter, and, despite still being recorded on a video camera, it is much higher quality than the existing promo video. Give it a watch, I’m sure others will be as impressed as I was by the animation quality.

 
 
● 13 Sept ameblo.jp has posted a bunch of new high-quality BRS screenshots. A couple of them are repeats of the caps we’ve already got, but there are some new ones. Follow the link for the full quality images. These caps once again show off the series’ stunning visuals. It looks like this anime will be a great mix of stylism and typical appeal in the form of super-vibrant colours and attractive character designs (or absoloutely fantastic character designs, whichever way you wanna put it). It already looks amazing, and I just can’t wait to see it fully animated, or even partially animated! It really looks like Ordet will be able to do Huke’s outstanding artwork justice.