Opening Songs
OP 1 - Black Bullet (Fripside)
Ending Songs
ED 1 - Tokohana (Nagi Yanagi)
Genre: Action, Mystery, Science Fiction
Episodes: 12
Trying something new won't hurt, and it surely pleases me when I watch an anime that tries something new WHILE making it awesome as hell. While we've seen plenty of cliches with high school students beating down on monsters or having little girls with special powers kicking other people's asses, "Black Bullet" still feels surprisingly fresh. With rather bleak themes such as prejudice impressions, human experimentation, mass murders and other inhumane shit, "Black Bullet" manages to put up a rather disturbing front. Mix in a world of big, badass monsters (that can be quite disturbing to watch a human transform from) with can only be defeated by certain special teams, along with a post apocalyptic setting where the rich and poor are treated very differently...you get a pretty awesome show. If you like action, endearing characters, a bleak world, or any of these mixed together, "Black Bullet" will be a captivating experience, I assure it.
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| Thing's aren't going so good in this world. |
Since this is "Dengeki Bunko" title, "Black Bullet" has some pretty amazing songs (don't ask me why, just look at "Index", "SAO', "Accel World", "DRRR!"....all of them have some badass opening/ending themes). The opening theme is the anime title, "Black Bullet", and its by Fripside. You all know I love the shit out of Fripside, and while "Black Bullet" does sound a bit different than most of their other songs (it sounds a little bit like "Guren No Yumiya"), its still pretty damn catchy, while remaining some of that synthy awesomeness. The ending theme is "Tokohana" by Nagi Yanagi. Even though she usually does slow songs, "Tokohana" is decently paced and sounds powerful, even for her.
Rating: 8.5/10
I really enjoyed "Black Bullet". The constant fast pacing of the show always keeps me on my toes, and trust me, there WILL be action in almost every episode. Fight scenes are intense and exciting. While Enju and Rentarou are a powerful duo, there are rarely moments where they will overpower an enemy significantly, making the battles worthwhile to watch. To top it off, the characters are simply wonderful, but in a different way. They're not super lovely, super kawai, or sexy beyond hell. In fact, its not even about their personalities, its about their character development throughout the show. Because of the bleak world and constant emphasis on prejudism, you WILL feel for the characters, especially the main protagonists, Rentarou and Enju. It's hard to not care for them, and I found myself silently rooting for their successes throughout the show. Yet, despite all this bleakness, "Black Bullet" still manages to remain comical and routine in many segments, even giving Rentarou his mini harem at times.
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| Kagetane does not give a shit. |
The story stars a world where monsters known as the Gastrea roam around the world. Gastrea are like a virus, whoever comes into contact into one, becomes one. Because of mankind's inexperience with the Gastrea, many have fallen to their grasp. Slowly but surely though, mankind fought back, and created obelisks to shield whatever remaining cities they had from the Gastrea. To fight the Gastrea, cursed children were born, little girls that had the Gastrea virus within them and could CONTROL them. They utilized this to fight the other Gastreas. As a pair engagement, every cursed child had to have a civil officer, and they would work together to fight other Gastrea. Satomi Rentarou is one such civil officer, he along with his initiator, Enju (a cursed child), take on jobs for the Tendo agency. One particular case had them deal with a strange man, Hiruko Kagetane, who seemed to have an initiator of his own. Hiruko is insanely powerful, and declares war on the current state of the world, devastating dozens of pairs with his single appearance. He seems to have his eye on Satomi...what in the world is he planning?
Its a shame that "Black Bullet" only had 12 episodes, because I really wanted it to go on. There was so much that could have been done to make it even MORE badass, which it already is. Here's hoping there's enough light novel content for a second season, because this might be one of my favorite shows this year already. If Rentarou and Enju get to shine again...I'll be there. I won't miss it for the world.
Peace.
