Black Rock Shooter

The eponymous character of the Black★Rock Shooter series (abbreviated BRS) is depicted as a mysterious, pale-skinned, black-haired twintails girl with a blazing blue eye, and armed with a big rapid-fire cannon that shoots literal rocks.

Black★Rock Shooter originated from an illustration drawn by Huke and published on December 2007 in his blog and in the art sharing site Pixiv. Inspired by the character's cool design, musician-songwriter Ryo of the group Supercell created a similarly-titled song performed by Hatsune Miku, which quickly gained popularity on the Japanese video-sharing site Nico Nico Douga. Since the release of the music video, Black★Rock Shooter became a cultural icon in the otaku fandom, which has resulted in the creation of a multimedia franchise where each installment takes place in a different universe; thus, multiple versions of the character exist.

Black Rock Shooter made her anime debut in an OVA adaptation in 2010 and its related TV anime series in 2012, which shows the character as the parallel universe "other-self" of the protagonist Mato Kuroi. In the story, Mato is an outgoing but meek schoolgirl who befriends the shy classmate Yomi Takanashi; Yomi also has an "other self" called "Dead Master". Over time, the pair's close friendship and actions as BRS and Dead Master start to have effects in the real world. Due to Black Rock Shooter's iconic popularity, Mato was entered as a competitor in Anizone's Korean saimoe tournament, and successfully qualified for three editions of the International Saimoe League from 2011 to 2013, making Mato the most popular version of the character.

Other Black Rock Shooter incarnations include Empress (from the 2022 Dawn Fall anime, perhaps the only other relevant entry in this wiki), Rock (from the Innocent Soul manga), Stella (from the PSP role-playing game), and Elishka (from the Fragment mobile game).

Icons

ISML


Black Rock Shooter was entered in ISML under her Mato Kuroi incarnation as seen in the 2010 OVA. While unconfirmed, it is assumed that Mato Kuroi is considered separate from her Black Rock Shooter alter-ego and other versions of the character, but a typical voter doesn't care about that since if they are a fan of BRS, they will vote for her regardless of which version she appears in.

Mato was a fairly popular competitor during ISML's Stella-Nova era, debuting in 2011 and then making the Nova division playoffs in 2012, the same year where the TV anime remake of the 2010 OVA was released. In ISML 2013, Mato was transferred to the cut-throat Stella division and struggled to gain footing in a league full of powerful factions and old enemies, only managing to get a measly 9 wins in the regular season. This is her last appearance in a main tournament as of today.

In 2022, a new Black★Rock Shooter anime subtitled Dawn Fall aired in Spring, marking her potential ISML return via the Spring seasonal. However, Mato will not appear in that particular show since it will feature a different BRS codenamed Empress. Hence, her identity is likely to be changed to that name should the character be successfully nominated. Nevertheless, the Saimoe Wiki will consider the 2022 results as part of Black Rock Shooter's overall contest history — neither of Mato nor Empress.

Main Tournament
Overall record

Match history

Necklace record
 * Appearances: 2 (including division playoffs)
 * 2012: Ruby (8th), Sapphire (Nova 12th)

Exhibition gem record
 * Appearances: 1
 * 2012: Topaz earrings (4th)

Korea Best Moe Tournament
KBM 2011
 * Mato > Momo >  Manami (172 - 138- 100)
 * Ruiko Saten @ A Certain Magical Index — 127 - 248

KBM 2012
 * Shinobu > Nodoka >  Mato (132 - 65 - 34)

Navigation
Notes

References

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 * Wikipedia
 * BRS Wikia: Original, 2010 OVA, 2012 Anime, Mato Kuroi, Empress
 * MyAnimeList: BRS, Mato Kuroi
 * Baike Baidu (Chinese): Original, Mato Kuroi
 * Moegirl (Chinese): Original, Mato Kuroi
 * NamuWiki (Korean): Original, Mato Kuroi