(L+CR) Black Bullet

[Kakurin]

Now that I've finished episode 13, why did Tendou Kazumitsu explode at the end? It kind of looked like a person that was destroyed from within by a Gastrea, but we never saw one pop out of him.

[Xero8420]

Originally Posted by SigUp

Now that I've finished episode 13, why did Tendou Kazumitsu explode at the end? It kind of looked like a person that was destroyed from within by a Gastrea, but we never saw one pop out of him.

I'll call that the skullburster Gastrea then.

[Dark Paladin X]

Just a friendly reminder that I've created a TV Tropes page for this series. The info in each page also have info from the light novels as well:

• Main Page
• Characters
• Trivia
• YMMV
• Tear Jerker
• Heartwarming
• Funny

Personally, I enjoyed the anime, but seeing that it was rushed in 13 episodes made me feel that a lot of stuff from the light novels were either drastically changed or were cut out. Thus being said, the biggest problem I had with the light novel's writing is that it is too dependent on heavy exposition and characters' backstories as means of plot writing. And because some of the exposition is tied to the plot, the anime left out many plot holes and plot points unclear when most of the exposition were cut out. I also enjoyed the ending, as it ended with a heartwarming (and a bit of tearjerker) ending despite many of the plot points left unexplained or explored. I would have been more satisfied if the anime was adapted in a two-cour that covered up to volume 6.

Also, most of the series source of tear jerkers and drama involves making the characters suffer or killing them off (most of whom are lolis). Now, the light novel does better than the anime on the characterization of some of the characters. However, since the anime was rushed that gave limited time for detailed characterization, it actually caused some viewers to not care about the characters when they get killed off or if the main characters suffer (TROPE!). It also doesn't help to note that the light novel author is a fan of Urobutcher's works, and if you aren't familiar with Gen Urobuchi, he's known to be a brutal sadist by killing off a lot of characters or if they live, they at least make them suffer (note that even Urobutcher himself was criticized for his grimdark writing and his brutal sadism; with his Madoka Magica infamy). Apparently, Black Bullet is very similar to Urobutcher's works, many characters are brutally killed off, and the main characters (especially Enju) go an a emotional and mental suffering train.

Thus being said, would I recommend this anime to anyone who's a fan of Attack on Titan? Hell no, it's only similar in premise, but Black Bullet is way different. I WILL, however, recommend Black Bullet to those who are fans of Gen Urobuchi's works and sadism. Black Bullet has a lot of similarities with Gen Urobuchi's works.

[tsunade666]

huh? Novel has rape?

[ninryu]

Now I'm afraid to read the novel. Haven't these kids suffered enough?

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by tsunade666

huh? Novel has rape?

Well, how the group of cursed children that Rentaro taught to killed off was much darker than how the anime portrayed it.

In fact, I pretty much say that the anime toned down a lot of the darker plot elements and themes from the light novels and only covered up to the fourth volume. But then again, some of the information I put up at TV Tropes is loosely based on the light novel discussions in the forums (and other websites), so some of the information may be inaccurate.

[bakato]

Originally Posted by ninryu

Now I'm afraid to read the novel. Haven't these kids suffered enough?

If the author's direction of the plot is any indication, no.

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by bakato

If the author's direction of the plot is any indication, no.

Remember, the author happens to be a huge fan of Gen Urobuchi's works. And if you are familiar of Gen Urobuchi, he is known to be a brutal sadist who enjoys killing off a large number of characters (and even if he doesn't kill them off, he at least find ways to make the characters suffer instead). Shiden Kanzaki is like that, he's a brutal sadist who takes glee on killing off characters or if he doesn't kill them off, he finds way to make them suffer instead (most of whom are lolis and the most innocent and pure-hearted characters like Enju). In fact, most of the characters in Urobuchi's works who suffer the most or killed off happen to be one of the most innocent, idealistic, and kind-hearted souls in his works. Black Bullet is like that, most off the characters who are killed or go on a suffering train happen toe one of the pure-hearted, happiest, and kind-hearted folks in the series.

[tsunade666]

Originally Posted by Dark Paladin X

But then again, some of the information I put up at TV Tropes is loosely based on the light novel discussions in the forums (and other websites), so some of the information may be inaccurate.

This.

This is the reason why I'm not that familiar with it. The book isn't being translated and I'm not really that into discussion of something i haven't read.

[ninryu]

Originally Posted by Dark Paladin X

Remember, the author happens to be a huge fan of Gen Urobuchi's works. And if you are familiar of Gen Urobuchi, he is known to be a brutal sadist who enjoys killing off a large number of characters (and even if he doesn't kill them off, he at least find ways to make the characters suffer instead). Shiden Kanzaki is like that, he's a brutal sadist who takes glee on killing off characters or if he doesn't kill them off, he finds way to make them suffer instead (most of whom are lolis and the most innocent and pure-hearted characters like Enju). In fact, most of the characters in Urobuchi's works who suffer the most or killed off happen to be one of the most innocent, idealistic, and kind-hearted souls in his works. Black Bullet is like that, most off the characters who are killed or go on a suffering train happen toe one of the pure-hearted, happiest, and kind-hearted folks in the series.

Urobuchi may have his reputation as "the butcher" and put his characters through horrible things, but I never felt like he was enjoying the suffering of the characters or put them through unnecessary pain just for the kicks. The suffering always has purpose, both plot-wise and theme-wise. With Black Bullet however, I'm not so sure. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the anime, as much you can "enjoy" children getting massacred, but I have a feeling the creator make his characters suffer with no real rhyme or reason other than he wants to be like Urobuchi. With Urobuchi, at least I know his heart is with the characters.

[Mad Pierrot]

Also

[Mad Pierrot]

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by ninryu

Urobuchi may have his reputation as "the butcher" and put his characters through horrible things, but I never felt like he was enjoying the suffering of the characters or put them through unnecessary pain just for the kicks. The suffering always has purpose, both plot-wise and theme-wise. With Black Bullet however, I'm not so sure. Don't get me wrong, I really enjoyed the anime, as much you can "enjoy" children getting massacred, but I have a feeling the creator make his characters suffer with no real rhyme or reason other than he wants to be like Urobuchi. With Urobuchi, at least I know his heart is with the characters.

To be honest, Urobuchi himself has faced criticism for his dark and depressing writing as well as his habit of killing off his characters. In fact, a part of his audience pretty much don't care when Urobuchi kills off his characters despite building his characters because the audience find his works to be too dark and depressing (TROPE!).

Thus being said, Black Bullet has a lot of similarities with Madoka Magica, one of Gen Urobuchi's works (which the light novel was written around the same time with that anime). Madoka Magica have magical girls who fight witches and they become witches if their heart is filled with despair. In a similar vein, the cursed children are lolis born with the virus where they have superhuman abilities at the cost that they'll eventually turn into a Gastrea. The characters who are killed off or goes through a suffering hell happen to be good people at heart in Madoka Magica.

Same with Black Bullet, despite not giving enough characterization, the fact that many of the characters who are killed happen to be good people at heart (Kayo Senju, Midori Fuse, Shouma Nagisawa, and the group of cursed children Rentaro taught) is pretty much the reason why many of the death scenes are tearjerking. But perhaps what the biggest source of tearjerker often involves Enju, one of the most kind-hearted, friendly, most innocent, and all-loving lolis in anime and light novel history. The author finds ways to make Enju suffer one way or another, and he doesn't just do it out of sadistic glee. He wants the audience to feel sorry for Enju's suffering. Why Enju being rejected by her classmates at school after her cursed child status was found out is considered tearjerking? Why does Enju finding out her new friends of her kind killed off is considered tearjerking? Because Enju loves them at the bottom of her heart and she never hold any hatred to those who have wronged her and her kind. And why is Enju's high corrosion rate is considered tearjerking? This is because Rentaro lied to her since he absolutely refuses to see Enju sad. How would Enju, one of the most emotionally fragile characters in the series, react when she founds out the truth of her corrosion rate (and it's also implied that she doesn't know the truth of the actual fate of cursed children when the corrosion rate is left unchecked).

Also, Black Bullet does look into some philosophical and political themes as well. Black Bullet is an existentialist work because the characters constantly question themselves about their own purpose in life and reason of existence (particularly Rentaro). The series is also heavily left-wing politically since it looks into the evils of racism. Unlike Gen Urobuchi's works however, Black Bullet isn't fully in-depth with politics and philosophy (the light novels does go more in-depth with the philosophical themes and politics, but not as much as how Urobuchi does it). And much like Gen Urobuchi's works, Black Bullet brutally deconstructs utilitarianism with Rentaro. However, because the anime only covers up to volume 4, we may never see the utilitarian ethics deconstruction.

[Dark Paladin X]

There is a Tina Sprout figma that Shiden Kanzaki retweeted on Twitter, it looks really bland if you ask em:



UPDATE: All 13 episodes of Black Bullet is up at The Anime Network (Sentai Filmwork's own streaming service)

[Xero8420]

^
Woah, a M240 MG? No wonder she had no problems carry a .50cal rifle and a minigun. o.o

So any more latest news about BD/DVD version?

[Dark Paladin X]

Originally Posted by Xero8420

^
Woah, a M240 MG? No wonder she had no problems carry a .50cal rifle and a minigun. o.o

So any more latest news about BD/DVD version?

Are you referring to the BD/DVD release in Japan or BD/DVD release in United States (remember, this series is licensed by Sentai Filmworks).

If you are referring to the BD/DVD in Japan, the next volume (episodes 3,4) should be out August 6th. Keep in note that Japan is releasing a volume roughly every month up to 7 volumes. Here's a quick preliminary schedule for the Japanese releases:

Vol. Episodes Release date
1 1, 2 July 2, 2014
2 3, 4 August 6, 2014
3 5, 6 September 3, 2014
4 7 October 8, 2014
5 8, 9 November 5, 2014
6 10, 11 December 3, 2014
7 12, 13 January 7, 2015


Now, if you are referring to the North American release, I mentioned earlier that Sentai Filmwork's releases have a better deal and are cheaper than what the Japanese does. The average SRP for their releases is 12-13 episodes in one set for $50 for DVD and $60 for BD (the Japanese have to pay the same amount for way less episodes if the volume releases have any indicator). Now, for their dubbed releases, add $5-10 more in the SRP and you'll get $60 for DVD and $70 for BD. Sentai Filmworks also recently revealed their Highschool of the Dead limited collector's edition that is a BD/DVD combo pack with a price of $150 SRP. I have no detailed knowledge about their limited collector's edition, but I assume that if Black Bullet were to have a limited collector's edition in North America, the release date would be much longer than the typical 11-14 months after the initial debut in Japan release data (or 15-18 months if a title is dubbed).

Also, Sentai Filmwork's quality control happens to their weakest point due their rushed schedule, so don't be surprised if there are any hiccups in their releases (even in their sub-only releases). Although I can say that they are more mindful and careful of their own home video releases than the past ever since the hiccup they had with their Amnesia BD/DVD release.

Finally, Sentai Filmworks are very selective in their dubbing decisions. Some will get sub-only releases, others will get an English dub. But regardless, most of their dubbing decisions is based on objective data such as streaming views in various streaming sites (Crunchyroll, Hulu, and their own streaming service, the Anime Network) and Japanese sales. Streaming views in websites have higher weight than the Japanese sales, but low Japanese sales can have an impact on their own anime releases. Subjective opinion have a very low weight when it comes to their dubbing decisions, but noting this is Sentai Filmworks, it's hard to predict what titles will get dubbed or not.

EDIT: I forgot to mention this earlier, usually when anime licensors like Funimation and Sentai Filmworks handle the home video releases, they usually get the materials after the last BD/DVD volume release in Japan. So don't expect a North American home video release this year, but sometime in the spring or summer next year (since Japan's last volume release is at January 7, 2015. And about dubbing, IIRC, it takes about an average of a work week (5 days) to dub one episode of an anime. I may be wrong though, but I recall that information few years ago during the controversy with Bang Zoom! CEO where he stated that Bang Zoom will stop dubbing anime if fans don't buy their releases legally (he was addressing the piracy and fansub issue in the anime industry). Then again, technology has drastically changed since the early 2000s, so I'll have to ask someone at ask.fm about this.

[Dark Paladin X]

Found this picture in their official Twitter:

NSFW

Warning: Not safe to view at work or school!

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Used Google translate, it seems that they are having some interview with the light novel artist Saki Ukai, and the animation team seem to have created a bath OVA.

[Xero8420]

Originally Posted by Dark Paladin X

Found this picture in their official Twitter:

NSFW

Warning: Not safe to view at work or school!

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Used Google translate, it seems that they are having some interview with the light novel artist Saki Ukai, and the animation team seem to have created a bath OVA.

Pair with Miori don't seem to be a bad sight.

OVA, eh? Guess we would have to find out when.

[Dark Paladin X]

Blu-Ray and DVD rankings. Black Bullet volume 2 sold about 2.4k copies. Down by 17% from last volume.

Well, there goes any chances for Black Bullet getting a second season or an English dub.

[sky black swordman]

^ That's sad news to hear.

Originally Posted by Dark Paladin X

Found this picture in their official Twitter:

NSFW

Warning: Not safe to view at work or school!

Sorry; dynamic content not loaded. Reload?

Used Google translate, it seems that they are having some interview with the light novel artist Saki Ukai, and the animation team seem to have created a bath OVA.

An onsen OVA? I can expect to see Enju/Tina, and or Miori, trying to sneak into the males side of the onsen in order to bathe with Rentaro.