Music / Black★Rock Shooter

Black Rock Shooter, where did you go?
Can you hear me?

— The opening lines of the song

Originally, Black★Rock Shooter was a character created by an artist known as huke, among plenty of other material that he uploaded to his Pixiv profile. One fateful day ryo, leader of Vocaloid synthesizer band Supercell, approached huke to create a song after having been inspired by his work, while also inviting him to join the creative team of the band. This way, the two collaborated on a music video, with huke making some small adjustments to Black★Rock Shooter's design and creating the version known today.

Once uploaded on Nico Nico Douga in 2008, and soon after on YouTube, both the song (performed by Hatsune Miku) and character became a massive success (on the internet anyway) during its time from the late 2000s up to the early 10s.

Links for the Hatsune Miku music video: Nico Nico Douga and YouTube.

Later on, a 5-minute PV of the song was released, featuring animated shots of the character.

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Tropes found in the original song and its promotional videos:

• Astral Checkerboard Decor: Features heavily throughout the PV. In one part, the sky is checkerboard.
• Badass Longcoat: The eponymous character wears a poncho that reaches her ankles.
• BFG: One of Black★Rock Shooter's weapons, a minigun-like weapon called the ★rock Cannon.
• BFS:
  • Black★Gold Saw's sword◊.
  • In the 3D PV, Dragon Slayer has one too.
  • Great Black Sword also has one.
• Breaking the Bonds: Some shots in the middle of the animated PV show chains breaking.
• Chained by Fashion: Most promotional artwork for the music video and the anime has the titular character being chained, so much that chains are integral in most of the anime's character designs.
• Changing Chorus: The chorus shifts from the narrator reminiscing about the eponymous Black★Rock Shooter to finding the courage to move on
• Character Title: Black★Rock Shooter
• Color-Coded Characters:
  • Black★Rock Shooter: Blue.
  • White★Rock Shooter: White... or Magenta, take your pick.
  • Insane Black★Rock Shooter: Purple.
  • Dead Master: Green.
  • Black★Gold Saw: Red.
  • Black★Matagi: Purple.
  • Black★Devil Girl: Green.
  • Strength: White.
• Cool Bike: B★RS has one in the original PV and the 3DPV. In the latter, it transforms into a humanoid robot.
• Dark Magical Girl: They all have "Dark" themes, but Dead Master follows the profile the closest.
• Dark World: The ruined checkered landscape.
• Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: Nearly all the characters have solid white skin and black hair.
• Elegant Gothic Lolita: Dead Master.
• Girl with Psycho Weapon: BFSes, BFGs, katanas, scythes, miniguns...
• Girlish Pigtails: Black★Rock Shooter.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: B★RS has two very prominent scars. One on her right hip, stretching from right above her pelvis around towards her back and a smaller straight one right below her left breast. Both scars are somewhat stitched up looking.
• Magical Girl Warrior: A bunch of Girls with Psycho Weapons duking it out in one world, and a bunch of girls dealing with problems in their friendship in another world.
• The Not-Remix: The 2M Mix, made to commemorate the original version having been downloaded over 2 million times, contains redone vocals and instrumentals, but follows the same structure as the original. Additionally, the song, along with the other songs Supercell initially released on their website, was tweaked for the studio release of their debut album.
• Sinister Scythe:
  • Dead Master's weapon of choice, Dead Scythe.
  • Also, Death Scythe, the character, has one with skulls on the handle.
• Small Girl, Big Gun:
  • Although probably not as extreme as other examples. The ★Rock Cannon is only as big as its wielder, though there are figurines depicting the ground cracking under its weight.
  • Black Matagi, for one, has a gun that's larger than she is tall.
  • Same does for Maid Gunner.
  • Underworld Vulcan has a gun/cannon thing that is wrapped around her, just so she can be able to move while using it.
  • For crying out loud, EVERYONE has a huge weapon! A big ass scythe, a huge robot, a big saw... why bother listing?
• Stripperiffic: Short shorts, a black bikini bra and an unzipped jacket (which falls off in one scene)! Case in point: Insane Black★Rock Shooter is even more covered-up than regular one.
• Spotlight-Stealing Squad:
  • B★RS / DM / IB★RS, and even before the animated movie, B★GS. Though it appears STR is receiving much fan attention as well. However, it is the mentioned four who continue to overshadow B★M and B★DG, even though the illustrations of Black★Matagi and Devil★Girl were uploaded a mere few weeks after Black★Rock Shooter.
  • Speculation wise it is likely the said three were designed around the same months, with the release of the song being the contributor for the titular characters popularity.
• Sword and Gun: B★RS's weapons.
• Technicolor Eyes: All of them have neon-type bright eyes with a ring pattern (although the latter is due to huke's Signature Style).

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If I ever start to forget,
I'll sing this song.