Black Rock Shooter Compete Series
Released By: Manga Entertainment
Rating: 15
Running Time: 250 Mins
Audio: English & Japanese DD 2.0
Release Date: 13/5/2013
Reviewed By: Sandra Scholes

Most people are only from one world, the one they live in, but what if there was another darker more dangerous world  out there? Yomi and Mato meet at school by accident one summer, but form a deep and meaningful friendship. Though they are very different and their personalities clash, they find out some truths about each other that don't add up.

What happens in the real world and in the mirror world seems to be similar as Mato meets Yomi's new friend, Kagari who develops an instant dislike to her. She gives both of them cakes and toys when they come to visit her, but only Yomi gets the cute stuff - Mato gets badly coloured macarons and an ugly doll to play with, and an insulting comment from her to "go away." In a mirror world, the Black Rock Shooter is a girl dressed in black with a flaming blue eye who uses her gun to fire rocks at her enemy in what seems like an eternal fight to the death. The one the Black Rock Shooter fights is a girl who rides in a scorpion craft. The relevance of this other world isn't easy to understand until you watch the series.

The two girls appear to be connected psychically in some way, and Mato has a dream that her friend Yomi is in trouble, but she doesn't know what is really happening to her friend while she is with Kagari. Kagari is the one who links the two other girls together, yet she is a jealous type who wants Yomi to be her friend, and only her friend. In the past, Kagari did all she could to make Yomi stay with her, even going so far as to blame her for a car accident she had as a child. Since then, she has manipulated her into being her slave, not allowing her to have Mato as a friend, or even text her. While Mato is defenseless in the real world, something else is happening in the mirror world, a battle she is unaware of.

Black Rock Shooter the Complete Series gives a new meaning to the word toxic friend, as that is what Kagari is in this anime, which is also part horror, part sci-fi and part friendship story. Once Kagari is introduced into the story, it becomes darker, and even disturbing in places as she is anything but normal when you consider Mato and Yomi as friends.


Bonus Material: Making of Black Rock Shooter Featurette and Text less Ending Song.

Verdict: Black Rock Shooter the Complete Series is compelling, fast-paced and action driven throughout!