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| Black Rock Shooter, where have you gone? |
With the click of a mouse, or the typing of a few keys we can access almost incalculable troves of information instantly. People connect with one another in real time from almost anywhere in the world. We can literally watch an idea be born on the internet and flourish into something greater than anyone could ever imagine it being. Years ago something as massive and prevalent like Youtube (or video streaming in general) was just a pipe dream. Now people can share their content with the greatest of ease and at minimal cost.
One such product of the information age is Black Rock Shooter. Born on the internet as a simple music video (hosted on the Japanese streaming site Nico Nico Douga) Black Rock Shooter quickly became an online sensation back in June of 2008. Shortly after its Japanese debut it made the jump over here to the west, and while it wasn't quite as popular, it still became viral nonetheless. "How big of a sensation is it?" you ask. To put things into perspective, Black Rock Shooter has since become a major merchandising franchise that has produced a fifty minute OVA, an eight episode anime television series, a PSP game, two manga series, several music albums, and dozens of statues based off of the characters. That isn't counting the copious fan works the community creates on a near daily basis.
Contrary to the common belief surrounding it, Black Rock Shooter wasn't initially created as a music video from the start. It is also a fairly common misnomer that BRS is directly connected to the Vocaloid program Hatusne Miku. The character of Black Rock Shooter has always been, and will always be a separate entity from that franchise. Before Supercell (the band responsible for the song) ever came into the equation, Black Rock Shooter had its beginnings as just a simple character image drawn by an artist named Huke. Wanting to make a name for himeself, Huke conceived and submitted his work to the Japanese art sharing website Pixiv and his own personal blog.
The original concept for the character of Black Rock Shooter was shared with the world December 26th 2007 (along with several other related characters) to not much fanfare. A few months later Huke became a creative member of Supercell as their graphic designer and album artist. After joining the band, Huke's pieces would inspire Ryo (lead member of Supercell) to write a song about the character. Utilizing the Vocaloid program Hatusne Miku for the voice, Ryo's and Huke's collaborative efforts would eventually lead to them making the iconic music video and slightly changing Black Rock Shooter's design to be a homage to Hatsune Miku. From there its instant and highly viral success would cause the fictional universe of BRS to be expanded, as well as form the merchandising powerhouse it currently is.
If you couldn't tell by now, I'm a bit of a fan when it comes to Black Rock Shooter. While I will concede that it isn't the GREATEST TING EVARZ! I will say that it is a series of media that really manages to speak to a lot of my sensibilities. I'll admit that I'm an outright sucker for Huke's art style and design. His use of heavy blacks/whites, washed out selective color, and integrated patterns just catch my eye in a way that's difficult to describe. I guess I could say that it is essentially something that I feel like I would design, and that's why I love it so much. Having an entire music video, let alone an entire franchise built around Huke's aesthetics just works fine for me. The other aspect has to do with the fact that it was born on the internet. Part of me loves the fact that this was something that started out so small and now sits as a major multi-media establishment. Knowing that us netrunners had something to do with its success just puts a big smile on my face.
What stands above all other aspects though is the song's lyrical content. Thanks to the efforts of one youtuber Soundares (as well as others over the years) we have a fan translation of the original music video. I'll admit that it isn't the most perfect of translations, but in spite of some of the broken english, the meaning of the song still comes across well. The video and song tell the tale of a person who has lost someone (or possibly something) close to them known as Black Rock Shooter. They find that they're now aimlessly wondering through life, finding little motivation to keep going. Upon reflection of what Black Rock Shooter would think of their current state, they resolve to move forward in their life to make Black Rock Shooter proud. In so many ways this is a song about coming to terms with loss. Everyone to some degree has had a Black Rock Shooter in their own life, making for a song that is significantly endearing to an incredibly wide audience.
Of course on the opposite end of the spectrum, the lyrics could be seen as schmaltzy insipid cliche's that everyone says in songs like this, or of a similar nature. Honestly (and oddly enough when you take the time to consider the singer here isn't real) I think it's the emotion conveyed that resonates with so many people. There is a genuine quality to the sound of the song that almost feels like a good friend giving you one of the best reassuring hugs they can, telling you that everything is going to be alright as long as you work hard. Laying my cards on the table here, whenever I'm feeling a little down I'll pop this track up in my browser and come out feeling worlds better by the end of the song. For all intents and purposes I've taken the end of the song's advice and actually listen to this whenever I begin to forget the importance of letting go and moving on. Overall, it's just an uplifting/motivating piece that has helped pull me out of numerous funks.
While there is little to no real animation going on in the video, I'm actually rather glad for it. The vast portion of static scenes allow for the viewer to take in all of Huke's fantastic art, as well as experience a lot of the core emotions right up front. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and coupling these pictures with the words of the song, you can pull a pretty compelling story just from its four minute and fifty three second run-time. I'm personally fond of how a lot of the earlier shots simply show the character standing alone amid a barren landscape. It plays to the notions from the lyrics of how lonely one can feel after the loss of someone close. As the song progresses and the music picks up we see more and more color become injected into the frames and the character now moving forward in some way. All of this helps to symbolize the internal struggles one has when trying to move on in their life from a major loss.
Who knows, maybe I'm looking for something that isn't there, but it's subtlety like this in a music video that I absolutely admire. This is a video that can be just as entertaining as it is touching or motivating. In the end I recommend, if not outright encourage that everyone reading this review at least give the above video a shot. You may see what I see and really like it as I do, or you may just see a bunch of pictures with an auto-tuned robot clanking out some indecipherable mumbo-jumbo about some black rocks being shot or something.
The original concept for the character of Black Rock Shooter was shared with the world December 26th 2007 (along with several other related characters) to not much fanfare. A few months later Huke became a creative member of Supercell as their graphic designer and album artist. After joining the band, Huke's pieces would inspire Ryo (lead member of Supercell) to write a song about the character. Utilizing the Vocaloid program Hatusne Miku for the voice, Ryo's and Huke's collaborative efforts would eventually lead to them making the iconic music video and slightly changing Black Rock Shooter's design to be a homage to Hatsune Miku. From there its instant and highly viral success would cause the fictional universe of BRS to be expanded, as well as form the merchandising powerhouse it currently is.
If you couldn't tell by now, I'm a bit of a fan when it comes to Black Rock Shooter. While I will concede that it isn't the GREATEST TING EVARZ! I will say that it is a series of media that really manages to speak to a lot of my sensibilities. I'll admit that I'm an outright sucker for Huke's art style and design. His use of heavy blacks/whites, washed out selective color, and integrated patterns just catch my eye in a way that's difficult to describe. I guess I could say that it is essentially something that I feel like I would design, and that's why I love it so much. Having an entire music video, let alone an entire franchise built around Huke's aesthetics just works fine for me. The other aspect has to do with the fact that it was born on the internet. Part of me loves the fact that this was something that started out so small and now sits as a major multi-media establishment. Knowing that us netrunners had something to do with its success just puts a big smile on my face.
What stands above all other aspects though is the song's lyrical content. Thanks to the efforts of one youtuber Soundares (as well as others over the years) we have a fan translation of the original music video. I'll admit that it isn't the most perfect of translations, but in spite of some of the broken english, the meaning of the song still comes across well. The video and song tell the tale of a person who has lost someone (or possibly something) close to them known as Black Rock Shooter. They find that they're now aimlessly wondering through life, finding little motivation to keep going. Upon reflection of what Black Rock Shooter would think of their current state, they resolve to move forward in their life to make Black Rock Shooter proud. In so many ways this is a song about coming to terms with loss. Everyone to some degree has had a Black Rock Shooter in their own life, making for a song that is significantly endearing to an incredibly wide audience.
Of course on the opposite end of the spectrum, the lyrics could be seen as schmaltzy insipid cliche's that everyone says in songs like this, or of a similar nature. Honestly (and oddly enough when you take the time to consider the singer here isn't real) I think it's the emotion conveyed that resonates with so many people. There is a genuine quality to the sound of the song that almost feels like a good friend giving you one of the best reassuring hugs they can, telling you that everything is going to be alright as long as you work hard. Laying my cards on the table here, whenever I'm feeling a little down I'll pop this track up in my browser and come out feeling worlds better by the end of the song. For all intents and purposes I've taken the end of the song's advice and actually listen to this whenever I begin to forget the importance of letting go and moving on. Overall, it's just an uplifting/motivating piece that has helped pull me out of numerous funks.
While there is little to no real animation going on in the video, I'm actually rather glad for it. The vast portion of static scenes allow for the viewer to take in all of Huke's fantastic art, as well as experience a lot of the core emotions right up front. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, and coupling these pictures with the words of the song, you can pull a pretty compelling story just from its four minute and fifty three second run-time. I'm personally fond of how a lot of the earlier shots simply show the character standing alone amid a barren landscape. It plays to the notions from the lyrics of how lonely one can feel after the loss of someone close. As the song progresses and the music picks up we see more and more color become injected into the frames and the character now moving forward in some way. All of this helps to symbolize the internal struggles one has when trying to move on in their life from a major loss.
Who knows, maybe I'm looking for something that isn't there, but it's subtlety like this in a music video that I absolutely admire. This is a video that can be just as entertaining as it is touching or motivating. In the end I recommend, if not outright encourage that everyone reading this review at least give the above video a shot. You may see what I see and really like it as I do, or you may just see a bunch of pictures with an auto-tuned robot clanking out some indecipherable mumbo-jumbo about some black rocks being shot or something.
Positive Factors
- Fantastic lyrical content and emotion that almost anyone can relate to on some level.
- A legitimately uplifting and motivating song that also is incredibly catchy.
- Spectacular art associated with the video. Huke's pieces are a feast for the eyes.
- Brilliant subtext throughout the video provides a nice bit of symbolism to anyone looking for it.
- One of the cooler things to have been born from the internet.
Negative Factors
- Not everyone is going to be on board for the Vocaloid singer, and the song could be seen as cliche'.
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