This is an episode that Black Rock Shooter fans will feel cheated/disappointed in. With so much setup for a minor character like Kohata and the very slow burn to setup the ideal that Black Gold Saw is Saya, plus the promising action we saw in the first two episodes, we now are forced to dial it back and let Mato and Yomi do the driving.
She's catching Linsanity, wanting to play the point.
After how episode 2 ended, it turns out Kagari just went to sleep, and hey, she’s all better now! If Black Rock Shooter cutting their head off is the way of freeing them from their nightmare, then that’s a pretty twisted path to freedom. Which leads to my next point a bit later, but while I’m talking school stuff, the featured character this week was Koha. The drama indeed goes over the top, as a confession letter gets share Utena-style and Koha tries to shake it off while her friends are literally weeping during lunch. Meanwhile, Mato still feels weird about her friendship with Mato, and she’s very quick to jealousy.
Yomi seems to know a thing or two about Mato, perhaps subconsciously.
One thing the episode focused on was dreams, which was hinted at last week. Mato’s talking about this dream gives off the impression that she can actually see what happens with her other self, Black Rock Shooter, though she doesn’t explicitly address it. At the end of the day, it is another dimension just labeled as a dream, but I kind of like this plot device. Why Black Gold Saw is growing slaves is a question we’ll have to save for another day, likely just a need to create these side characters like Koha, and it’s obvious that Mato is going to be the savior. Given how Kagari seemed to progress, I guess maybe the same will happen for Koha. Oh, and hey guy that rejected Koha, Saionji from Utena called, he thought that was a pretty cool thing ya did.
The other is Black Gold Saw, whose identity appears to be that of Saya, the school adviser of sorts. The underlings that she is growing in the other world are those of real life people, and it clearly defines the good vs. evil roles. I had mentioned BGS possibly being some kind of overlord-like person, and that pretty much seems to be the case. I also believe this is the first time that someone in the human world has given off the sense that they know something is happening in the other world, which makes me curious as to how Mato & Yomi come to discover this, unless Yomi already kind of knows as I mentioned in an earlier screenshot. Though I know the series is batting .111 when it comes to plot choices, I hope something comes out of her wanting to grow minions and the element of dreams.
Yuu is suggesting the Yuri route. I second this request.
The fear here could be that we will have another episode or 2 like this week where a side character is featured, but I think that’s not worth worrying about; of all the characters I’ve seen in BRS, she’s the only one with any speaking lines besides Mato’s mom and brother. Mato’s friend Yuu is Strength, another fighter we’ll see later on, so she would be exempt from this.
I will admit, Mato does look cute in this scene.
I’ve talked about the CG action in the series, but not the artistic production. In the school world with Mato & Yomi, it’s OK, but sometimes easy to spot some rather lacking spots in terms of character designs. As for the other world this week, after a purple-dominant sky and colored world the past 2 episodes, we go 95% black and white (save some of BGS’s red and BRS’s blue). I’m not really a fan of this design choice, as I heavily would prefer darker/grungier color schemes.
"I'll save you from this colorless world. Come with me."
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