The Black Rock Shooter OVA Blu-ray review is now available in the reviews section and here.

Boy oh boy is the OVA different from the TV series. The difference is so striking it’s hard to believe both were animated by the same company and were directed by the same director (the character designer was thankfully replaced though). It kind of makes you wonder if the OVA wasn’t some kind of experiment to test the grounds, a short deep in the water before the cast moves on into much deeper water with the Black Rock Shooter TV series. In a way this reminds me of the Strike Witches OVA. But in Strike Witches’ case the OVA was obviously a showcase to be used as a reference later while the Black Rock Shooter OVA does try to stand on its own with a semi-coherent story.

I had a really hard time deciding if I should review this OVA or not. On the one hand this OVA has become very rare and can be hard to find in the U.S. On the other hand it was officially distributed in the U.S. so you probably can still find copies of it lying around in stores. In the end I did review it, if only to show how different it is from the later TV series.