Black★Rock Shooter (anime)/WMG

General

What Insane B★RS is to B★RS, Black★Devil Girl is to Dead Master.

IB★RS looks like an "upgraded" version of B★RS, with more gear and supplies. Likewise B★DG has a more sinister skull, and note how she shares Dead Master's horns.

Black★Rock Shooter Beast is a B★RS who mastered the power that took over Insane Black★Rock Shooter.

Similar "upgrade", but with more control.

The Others are Half-Human Hybrid demons.

Hence the horns, tails, etc. B★RS's demonic attribute? Her Blue Flame. Which makes her ancestor (if not parent) Satan. She's an Anti-Anti-Christ though.

• This goes for the OAV/Anime girls too, but their world is separated enough from the Otherworld that this aspect is muted except mentally.

2012 Noitamina Anime

The 2012 Anime will have Tarot Motifs

The new character is named Chariot. There's already a character named Strength. Both Strength and Chariot are the names of Major Arcana cards, and their character designs resemble the symbolism of the cards to some extent. In this context, Dead Master will clearly reference Death, while Black★Rock Shooter will represent The Star. Black★Gold Saw fits too if you remember she's red and has horns - that is, The Devil.

Speaking of Tarot cards...

There will be a boatload of Ship Tease between Yuu and whoever Chariot's other self is

It's not just that Strength has weird hands while Chariot has weird feet. In certain Tarot decks, The Chariot and The Strength are right next to each other.

• Jossed. There is no significant interaction between "Yuu" and Kagari. Indeed, there's no evidence that Kagari can even see Strength-who-is-Yuu.

Black Matagi will appear in the 2012 anime

One of the new characters revealed on the website, Saya Irino, doesn't seem to match any of the other selves. However, she wears an armband like Black Matagi, suggesting a connection between the two.

• Jossed. Saya is Black★Gold Saw's human counterpart.

Other self speculation for the 2012 anime

It's pretty damned obvious Kagari is Chariot with the new art making her hair identical to Chariot's. Black★Gold Saw's human counterpart may possibly be Arata due to her red eyes. I have no clue on Saya.

• • Gold Saw is Arata's because Arata seems to have a complex about her chest and so far, B★GS has the largest bust of the frequently occurring Blacks. It's a massive case of Compensating for Something.
  • While Arata has the red eyes, Saya's got the mysterious smile going on and brown can look red in the right light. Plus the little proto-Otherself or whatever it is B★GS is reaching out to in the third preview seems to have Arata's bangs and eyebrows. Then again it could be entirely irrelevant.
  • Jossed. Saya is Black★Gold Saw's human counterpart. Arata's Other Self was killed by B★RS before it could mature.

Saya-chan-sensei plays a significant role

The first episode has her patting Mato's head. Due to Law Of Conservation Of Details, everything you see in an anime is important, including that scene. My guess is she's giving Mato the power of Other-World Self to sort out her problems, not unlike Izanami masquerading as fuel station attendant in Persona4, secretly giving Narukami his Persona power.

• Jossed. What Saya is actually doing is playing up the psychoses of the girls with Other Selves to strengthen them, in the hope that they can curb Black★Rock Shooter's rampage in the Otherworld.

The 2012 anime is designed to raise awareness of Domestic Abuse

The relationship between Yomi and Kagari is richly layered with spousal abuse metaphors, from the guilt-tripping to the threats by Kagari to harm herself. She keeps Yomi imprisoned at home and refuses to let her see anyone, cuts her with clothespins and, by the end of the first arc, is basically crushing any semblance of resistance that Yomi might have had. The only thing that hasn't happened yet is Yomi telling Mato that she fell down the stairs and hit her head on the doorknob.

Chariot will get better

There might be precedent in the OVA, what with the possibility BRS died in the opening

• Confirmed. Chariot makes her return in the finale, except in a supporting instead of an antagonistic role.

The relationship between the worlds is different this time

In the OVA, the Other World was just where Yomi was taken away to. The similarities between events in the two worlds were largely superficial. But in the 2012 anime, Mato experienced part of the battle in a dream, and Black★Gold Saw's intervention seems to have affected events in the real world despite no real world equivalent of BGS showing up. So rather than it being another world that you can go to be becoming one with your counterpart there, it seems to work more like the battle system in The World Ends With You.

• Jossed. It IS different, but not in the way this theory suggests existing as a sort of parallel dimension that exists to shoulder the stress and grief of young girls. Also, Black★Gold Saw has a human counterpart: Saya Irino, the school counselor.

Chariot was semi-possessing Kagari

Since there was a lot of painful screaming and then a sudden change of attitude after B★RS lopped her head off. Likely to be proven wrong and no bets on whether or not she's not still a possessive, raving psycho.

B★RS is The Shrink in a town where There are no Therapists

Since after B★RS Beheaded Chariot, Kagari has calmed down according to Yomi. Now, at the end of Episode 3 of the anime, B★RS has beheaded the other self of Kohata, causing her to have the same reaction as Kagiri (Pain then collapse). Maybe Mato's Friendship comes with the added benefit of killing what ails you.

Saya is putting drugs in the coffee...

Alternatively, we’ve seen B★GS ‘growing’ immature other selves (or something) with that demonic flower sprinkler of hers. While Otherworld may exist normally, perhaps being ‘aware' of it spreads from person to person?

• Saya could have met Kagari pre-series doing some sort of internship/training to be a counselor, then Yomi comes home from Germany.. no idea why Mato was apparently dreaming about it before school started. Maybe she met one of them in passing at an open-house type deal before term began?

Saya is Black★Gold Saw.

This isn't a business of other selves anymore - she's actually B★GS's manifestation in the real world, and is trying to manipulate Mato and co. in order to affect their "other selves" (hence why Mato and Yomi are circled).

• Yuu doesn't "exist" in the real world fully either, hence she has no shadow; and only people with otherselves interact with her. (They're the only ones who can see her.)
• Jossed. Saya Irino is a very real person, unlike "Yuu", who is really Strength.

Killing an Otherself is not "curing" their Physical Self.

There's a piece missing.

Otherselves can "grow back."

We'll see Chariot again, hopefully grown "right" this time.

• Yuu said that killing the other self causes their real-world equivalent to forget the source of their pain; given that nobody only has one emotional struggle in life, this seems valid.
• Close, but not quite. Chariot does return, but isn't grown, and instead seems to have experienced a full-blown resurrection. That said, the finale alludes that, as long as their counterparts in the real world continue living, and as such continue to experience grief and sorrow, the Otherselves come back to help shoulder those emotions.

Mato's father "being on a business trip" is a lie.

Whether dead or divorced, it's something NOT TALKED ABOUT and part of the reason for Mato's stress/denial/pain.

Dragon Slayer's physical self wrote "Li'l Bird Li'L Bird Colorful Colors"

Or else commissioned it.

After watching episode 5, the TV series will end like this (spoilers ahoy):

• Since Mato saw Yomi die in the B★RS world, she is the next one to go insane (her trademark blue star cracking). And as this show dictates, since the only way to save someone is by killing them in that world, Saya is the only one able to kill Mato to save her. Hence her constant creepy talk about killing Mato.

(This may eventually become canon or already is from the manga, but I'm only going off episode 5.)

• Jossed. The series actually ends on a relatively happy note, though it is alluded that as long as the girls remain alive, and as such face problems and grief, their Otherselves will continue to exist.

Yuu was a childhood friend of Saya.

The episode preview for Episode 6 shows Yuu talking to what looks like a Saya in high school. However, Yuu died due to some unspecified incident, and Saya snapped because of that. Yuu has lately been able to show herself as a student to people, but as Saya is starting to go crazy and Mato, Yuu's current only friend, is falling apart, Yuu's existence is fading.

• Semi-Confirmed. The Yuu we see is actually Strength, while the real Yuu has taken her place in the Otherworld.

Saya/Black Gold Saw is a reverse Emotion Eater.

Something has seriously messed Saya up, and she deals with it by tormenting others. The other selves BGS creates represent her causing mental trauma in someone's life; because Saya can touch so many lives in the school, BGS has Reality Warper powers in the Otherworld. The fledgling other selves absorb mental anguish for Saya, which is why she started to cry when Koha's other self was killed. They also buff BGS somehow, which is why Black Rock Shooter kills them 'young' to lower her defenses and save them from a life as slaves.

• Jossed. All this time, Saya has been trying to fulfill the promise she made years before to Yuu. By awakening the Otherselves of girls under her responsibility, she keeps Yuu (who has switched with Strength) safe, as it gives B★RS other targets for her rampage.

The other selves are constantly killing each other because people want, deep down, to forget their pain.

How many times have you been told to forget about something and make a fresh start, rather than torment yourself over it? It may also be a Mercy Kill; other selves probably reincarnate for each new problem, but not letting your old issues die mean they bear the pain of it constantly. However, people making a real effort to better a bad situation (like Mato wanting to patch things up with Yomi) is what enables them to merge with an other self.

Killing an "other self" doesn't make them forget their pain. It puts people in severe denial that it exists.

It's one thing to lose your love for Mato, Yomi, but it's an entirely different thing to deliberately and knowingly delete Mato's mails from your phone...

Strength's real-world counterpart created the Other World.

The girl Saya met in high school is the earliest known instance of an Other Self, or interaction with Other World. Additionally, she has the ability to create Other Selves in other people. As such, she is the oldest and most experienced Other Self there is, and has a vested interest in keeping IB★RS from destroying it.

Yuu is Strength's Other Self.

Not in the same sense that Yomi is connected to Dead Master, or Kagari is connected to Chariot. The girl who created Strength died, and Strength created a replacement (Yuu) in the real world so she could continue her work and continue to associate with Saya. This is why Yuu only seems to interact with real-worlders who have Other Selves--They're the only ones who can even perceive her.

• Jossed. Strength and Yuu just switched places, with the latter taking over the former's body in the Otherworld.

Chariot could be resurrected.

If the end of Episode 7, where Dead Master is about to be Back from the Dead, is any indication, the same thing could happen to Chariot. There's one problem with this: she got decapitated by BRS. The resurrection is still possible though.

• Confirmed. Chariot, along with Dead Master, return in the finale, though in a more supporting role.

The otherworld is divided into tiers.

It would make sense since the only ones we see there are girls of about the same age while emotional problems continue throuhout life for both genders. The one we see Black Rock Shooter in is one tier while there are also older and younger as well as male tiers separate from the others. Then you might wonder what Saya/Black Gold Saw is doing in their tier. It might simply be cause of her strong bond to Yuu.

The events of the OAV/Anime have Awakened the girls involved, they can fuse or switch with their Otherselves at will now.

The genie doesn't get stuffed back into the bottle. There really isn't too much of a reason to, although Yuu may do so with STR from time to time because of social ties she made while they were switched.

The 4 girls now have a psychic link.

Since the final battle between B★RS and IB★RS shattered the barriers everyone's mental worlds.

Saya adopts Yuu in the end.

This also helps explain how Yuu is able to adapt into current day society so easily paperworkwise.

There are different rules the "deeper" you go into Otherworld.

Many of the girl's mental worlds seem to be "below" each other's. Black Gold Saw is below Dead Master; with Yuu/Strength's being below that. Black Rock Shooter/Insane Black Rock Shooter is the deepest of them all. Regeneration is fastest the deeper you go; hence Black Rock Shooter and Strength reforming instantly after crumbling. Strength knew this; actually, this is why she was seen dragging various Otherself bodies into a pit. This, in fact, seems to be the function of the pit she jumped into; as she started recycling immediately without even "dying" first.

The fallout of the B★RS Vs B★GS Struggle for the last ten years has been observed by other students; but only the ones who keep their mouths shut because they're terrified.

For ten years, here's how it looked to the outside world. Mato was cheerfully wandering around, talking to herself. Someone gives her grief or pain; usually made worse by Saya. Drama, shouting, crying happened....then suddenly EVERYONE forgets about it and stops talking about it. (IE, Black Rock Shooter killed their otherself.) B★RS even cuts off any parts of herself/Mato that would remember. Mato continues walking around school talking to herself, and nobody says boo or even gives her dirty looks. Because they don't know if its the Oni or the Men in Black or what; but whoever messes with her gets neuralized. And no passive aggressive Japanese indirect bullying either; that gets zapped too.

RPG

The Otherworld is Earth After the End.

Trailer for a B★RS rpg, that was recently released, has words that can be translated as:

• 2032 AD.
• Humanity is in collapse.
• A girl from the past awakens.
• She becomes RPG.

ANN has this version of translation.

• In the year 2032 AD, mankind was decimated. Before she wakes up…. She becomes RPG.

Whether this game is Otherworld's origin story, or Mato's distant future is unknown.

• • It is to be noted, however, that this game probably has nothing to do with Ordet; Ordet is not mentioned, and it seems to have nothing to do artistically-wise with the Ordet production. It likely have nothing to do with the OVA, and may not even include the Otherworld at all (although the characters could be retained). Also, an After the End scenario does not quite fit the "parallel universe" scenario presented in the OVA. Otherwise, B★RS and Dead Master would have to be time traveling, spirit traveling, and utilizing magic at the same time - so the After the End Earth would have to be a very different Earth. Ordet's website even says distinctly that B★RS and Dead Master are in a "different world" and that their fight is happening "somewhere simultaneously". Thus, Mato is not likely to be involved.
    • Then it very well might be B★RS origin story set in her dimension, before events of OVA.

3d PV showed what will be the final boss battle in the game.

3d PV involves BRS and friends fighting robots lead by a boss robot(the last of 7 Apostles?). And its easy to imagine some of otherselves siding with invaders.