Black Bullet / First Impressions

「紅黒の暗殺者」 (Beniguro no Ansatsusha)
“Crimson Black Assassin”

Original story or not, this week’s episode actually felt pretty good. With our fabulous princess Seitenshi becoming our new damsel in distress/assassination target and another cute cursed child who had the misfortune to meet Rentaro before finishing whatever job was assigned to her, I really want to believe this arc will be this show’s return to fame. Or at least make it more fun to watch, haha.

Seitenshi-sama

As the leader of the Tokyo area with ideals that completely contrast with those of her neighbors, it’s not a huge surprise that she’d end up being an assassination target. Toss in how she looks super young, is female, and doesn’t have the best public image and its almost surprising that nothing serious has happened to her yet. Especially with some half-assed bodyguards like these.

On the other hand, it’s nice to see that she isn’t a robot completely devoid of emotions. With the past few episodes painting her as a cold-hearted president, I’m glad to see that behind her poker face is a normal person who’s just as vulnerable as the rest of us. Then again, maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised since it takes some pretty traumatic events to screw up a person’s humanity — and this face was definitely one of someone who’s never been face-to-face with death.

Looking past all that, it’s hard to hate on someone who tries to embody the ideals of peace when the rest of the world is focused on seeing who has the biggest stick. Hopefully someone like Rentaro can guide her toward the world (or I guess more specifically a unified Japan) she’s aiming to create.

Tina Sprout

I had a feeling she was going to be a cursed child the moment she said she needs caffeine pills to stay awake because she was nocturnal! Anyways, unlike Kagetane who seemed invincible all the way up till Rentaro managed to sneak in a few devastating punches it seems that Tina is a bit more grounded to earth. Seeing how she isn’t the one calling the shots, I’m really hoping that she turns into something more than just the next villain.

Surprisingly Decent Pacing

It’s like this anime is trying to provide prime examples of all the ways you can adapt a show. Unlike Kagetane’s arc which we blew through at breakneck speeds, this opening to this second arc gives me the impression it’ll be a lot better. We weren’t fed huge amounts of exposition through lengthy conversations and instead there was a lot of showing instead of telling. Things like Seitenshi having a panicked look when faced with danger or how Tina is beginning to have an internal struggle with herself when her superhero prevents her from doing the dirty task she was assigned — its the small things like this that give me hope.

Looking Ahead

With the story slowing down and some tension slowly building, I’m actually excited to see what next week has in-store for us. Personally I’m hoping that Tina ends up siding with Rentaro because I don’t know if I can bare to watch her die q_q. Till next week!

 

Preview

55 Comments

  1. Enju… god damn it

    I was sure I wasn’t a lolicon. I’m not so sure anymore. This show is dangerous.

    Well, it can almost be considered a new start since the manga hasn’t covered this yet so I don’t know what to expect yet. Since I don’t have anything to compare to, like the previous arc, I won’t have anything to compare it with. But either way, I’m looking forward to it.

    inferno
    Reply

    4. I’m probably the only person who’s not really fond of Enju. While she’s an above average for a loli character, she’s still below average as the main heroine.

      I do like Tina though. She’d make a better partner for Rentaro. He and Enju are a little too similar.

      baubo
      Reply

      1. Well, perhaps if you strip all these Lolicon things and Fantasy you get the hidden Red Line in this Anime.

        What i am talk? Just exchange the Girl with “Soldiers” that are not welcome in their own Land. Sure in “War time” they where needed, and do their duty. But after that (Hidde behind these Stones) they are just “Monsters” of the past.

        You seeing the little sparkle light, hidden in this Anime? Then perhaps this open more your sight of view

        Sorry, to strip the Fun out of this and gone very Serious. Every Anime’s red line can be a secret Source of the creator

        Germanguy
        Reply

  4. Personally I’m hoping that Tina ends up siding with Rentaro because I don’t know if I can bare to watch her die q_q.

    Stop getting attached. There is no way to save these girls. I have concluded that the author is a sadist, thus everyone is going to die. Except Rentaro. Tina, Enju, Kisara, Seitenshi… everyone. Just because the author’s greatest pleasure is in making Readers/viewers suffer.

    Wanderer
    Reply

    2. Except Rentaro? Well, since they took the Speed up route, and he used these Drugs to heal himself. He surly has now a Time bomb himself. not only Enju

      That only knows of course the Scientist Woman

      Germanguy
      Reply

      1. Rentaro, of course, is the audience surrogate who has to suffer the anguish of losing everyone he loves, probably including having to kill Enju at some point. The author isn’t going to kill him, because making him suffer makes the audience suffer.

        Wanderer
        Reply

  6. Wow, Satomi kinda a dick in this episode. People want to shake his hand and he just flat up ignore them. Granted they wanted to scare him off later but it is what it is at the initial moment.

    I have a feeling blond hair girl will die, what is UP with this anime and blond hair girls dying!? Why?!

    The one thing I don’t get is how they say Satomi needed money, correct me if I am wrong but didn’t he get a big pay day for taking out the mask man AND prevent a level 7 Gastera from I dunno fucking up the entire city? He should have gotten a fat ass pay check for that shit.

    Other wise , I thought it was a pretty good episode.

    Duzz
    Reply

    1. Most of that probably went to Kisara for those weapons back in episode 3. There’s also the medical bills from the same episode. Plus replacing his right arm that he lost must be pretty expensive as it’s made of Varanium.
      So yeah, that big payday just went down the drain just to pay the bills.

      belatkuro
      Reply

    2. @Duzz: The one thing I don’t get is how they say Satomi needed money…

      I had the exact same thought.

      @belatkuro: Good points. I’d also add school fees since there was some line in an earlier EP about not being able to pay tuition if they didn’t succeed.

      daikama
      Reply

    3. Don’t worry about the whole running out of money thing. It’s not really part of the plot line. More like a running gag and making joke of Rentaro’s predicament. After all, if Rentaro was rich and living a good life, it would make for a much less interesting story, no?

      But if you want to know, here are some of the things I remember from reading. Not really spoiling any part of the plotline though.
      Show Spoiler ▼

      baubo
      Reply

      1. Well glad to here that it is just a running gag and not something that directly affect the plot itself. So I can assume the rule is as long as they need money they will have it but they will always ask for more because they are always on Empty so to speak?

        As for the weapons, I thought in the episode Satomi get free weapons from that girl the weapon maker?

        Duzz
        Reply

      3. @Duzz. Yes. There’s always an explanation for why they just happen to be still dirt poor regardless of what Rentaro accomplish and earns at his job. They also find ways to explain why Rentaro/Enju combo would always have trouble making loads of money despite (relatively) high IP rank and overall battle ability.

        Just accept Rentaro is and will always be a pauper.

        baubo
        Reply

  7. Definitely glad that they significantly slowed the pace from last episode so we could actually keep up with what was happening.

    My only irk was Rentaro again being made out like he’s the only “good” and/or competent human. Even Seitenshi looked like she was going to just give up against that other douchebag Area leader right away if Rentaro didn’t happen to be there with her. I mean, the guy didn’t even TRY to hide his intentions and attitude, even all but threatening Seitenshi right to her face. Not to mention the sleezebag “guards” and those punks about to beat up Tina for such a minor accident.

    I also won’t be surprised if that douchebag Area leader is Tina’s “master” given his egotistical, authoritarian attitude.

    HalfDemonInuyasha
    Reply

    2. NOT MEANT TO BE TAKEN SERIOUSLY, unless you think it actually would have worked:

      Douchebag Leader: Why did you destroy the railgun, Rentaro? I was going to use it to blackmail the world by putting it on the moon.

      Rentaro: That railgun plan would never have worked in the first place. It has no ammo, interferes with wireless communications (no commands), the manual firing mechanism has two crosshairs and apparently no zoom. Even if you managed to successfully arm and point it at a country, the 80mm round would probably just burn up in the atmosphere. Even if the railgun worked like it was supposed to, it doesn’t help that it can be accessed by anyone with a phone and a USB cable.
      If you tried to threaten a country with that, they’d probably just laugh and nuke you. Compared to your plan, Seitenshi could do better with a parachute and that red tricycle.

      ReverseTales
      Reply

  8. Seitenshi really live up to her name, She’s glowing 24/7, lol

    and damn Rentarou raising flags left and right this ep, too bad the story isn’t all rainbows and candies

    lol
    Reply

  9. Seitenshi’s blue line-art can look kinda odd, but at the same time it’s cool that only a single character has differently colored line-art. Certainly makes her different.

    Crook
    Reply

  10. @Takaii: It’s like this anime is trying to provide prime examples of all the ways you can adapt a show.

    LOL – true. This was a pretty big rebound episode for me after a very fast, WTF filled EP 04. Very different feeling, and what surprised me the most given the dark overtones of the series, was the comedy. LOL’d a lot at during the dinner scene. Sure it’s SOL, but quite entertaining nonetheless IMO. Plus it helps to offset all the grim/dark stuff not to mention give a little character depth. Good stuff and I hope to see more of it along with the action.

    — Personally I’m hoping that Tina ends up siding with Rentaro because I don’t know if I can bare to watch her die.

    IDK know here, I wouldn’t put any bets on that. TBH, I liked Senju better (at least so far). Nothing against Tina, but I have no real attachment to her at this point. However, one reason I’d like Tina to survive is simply that it would be different/not expected. As I commented before, killing off characters left and right leaves a viewer/reader inured to that stuff and can become repetitious rather than emotional, surprising or compelling.

    Speaking of character attachment, damn you Black Bullet! How am I expected to resist when Enju is this CUTE! Gah! I can’t get that 42.1% corrosion rate out of my mind. Will NOT be happy at all if Enju ends up turning into a Gastrea and Rentaro has to kill her. :< Next test better be single digit percentage whether it makes sense or not.

    One minor quibble and nothing particular to this show – Rentaro's response, well really lack thereof, to the death threat made by Seitenshi's head "bodyguard" (those guys are worthless other than disposable shields). That's one of those situations which irks me a little. There is some important event which happens to a character, but they tell NO ONE, and of course said event will lead to future trouble which could at least in part, if not entirely, be offset by the assistance of others… had the character taken a minute or two to advise said others about the situation.

    Again, minor quibble and on the whole, a better than expected and well received episode. Looking forward to next week.

    daikama
    Reply

  11. Wait, how did Tina not see Rentaro face when he was just beside Seitenshi?

    I mean, Tina was using a uber long scoped sniper rifle which ‘locked on’ to Seitenshi after all.

    infinitumxx
    Reply

    1. Cause her main target is seitenshi. She wasn’t focused on who was beside her so he would just look like a blur. Besides, from that distance, he just looks like a regular civil agent, but seitenshi is pretty much glowing with whiteness.

      Halper
      Reply

  13. i bet tiny is either bat model , owl model, or just nocturnal butterfly one, but i am pretty sure is likely a bat one , owl have excellent eyes and can see really well in the dark the fact that she can’t see rentarou face point it out

    PeTdo
    Reply

    1. There are 2 clues she to tell what kind of model animal she is
      1. She did mentioned that she is a nocturnal kind of person, that is the 1st clue
      2. The 2nd clue is already revealed, you just need to search carefully where the 2nd clue is in this episode

      BTW, Takaii, the masked person’s name is Kagetane, not Kurotane, you might want to fix that

      whryder
      Reply

  16. This episode had much better pacing and was a great start to this arc. I think i might already like it over the last one. The fight between those two girls was also funny especially when Rentaro and Enju just quietly moved the table out of the room.

    This is just a quick question but can we assume that Rentaro knew Tina was a cursed child? I really have problems deciding on if it’s true. On one hand I find it absouletly unbelievable for him to tell her to go to the police considering the past experience he had with them. But then again he did give her his phone number so that could indicate he wanted her to call him just in case she ran into trouble. But then AGAIN I’d think he would escort her home just to be on the super safe side. After all those thugs could have attacked her again as soon as she left. Don’t know it’s kind of unclear. I honestly thought Rentaro was completely oblivious to it but she gave so many obvious signs that I would seriously question his intelligence at this point if he wasn’t aware of it.

    leatherhead333
    Reply

    1. @leatherhead333: This is just a quick question but can we assume that Rentaro knew Tina was a cursed child?

      Hmm… didn’t even consider the possibility until you brought it up. I sure hope he’s not that oblivious. I’d be surprised (and disappointed) if Rentaro did not know that Tina was a Cursed Child (“CC”). If it was obvious to viewers, surely he must have figured it out as well. The “nocturnal” comment IMO was a dead give away.

      The reason I thought he told her to go to a police box was that the police would have no reason to suspect she was a CC (well, as long a she doesn’t down a handful of caffeine pills). The thugs sure didn’t think so until Rentaro pulled out his Promoter badge. The thugs would not be a problem after they thought she was a CC. JMO, but I took them running away as fear of her being a CC rather than any fear of Rentaro. As for his phone number, my impression was that it wasn’t intended specifically in terms of her getting home that night. She could call for his help whenever – that night, the next day, next week, etc.

      daikama
      Reply

  17. Black Bullet is really playing my strings here.

    The pitiful performance of last episode nearly made me drop this, yet this episode is surprisingly decent!

    As annoying as it might be, I guess i’ll find out next week if this episode is just a fluke

    Ginobi47
    Reply

  18. Definitely a nice episode, the rivalry between two girls at the table (and follwing wrecking-house-fight) was comedic gold, especially how Rentaro and Enju just moved the table out of the way with resignation…
    I really am interested for whom Tina Sprout works, because there are quite number of suspects for her boss: Seitenshi’s chief advisor who is suspiciously absent, her ostensibly imperial-ambitious diplomatic talks partner from Osaka, and Kurotane (They Never Found the Body trope…)
    I also expect an unbelieveing “Omae!?” (You!?) on both sides when Rentaro and Tina will find themselves face to face in combat…

    ewok40k
    Reply

  19. I thought that other girl and Kisara were the same person until Kisara walked in afterward! and they look like sisters!

    Rentaro is def being a bit of a prick, but those body guards were bigger douches.

    a box like Hippo
    Reply

  20. What a leap in quality!

    I’m not talking about the animation, which is already pretty decent, and I’m glad I stuck with the show despite my previous misgivings. This went from a bullet train to a car in cruise control. Not sure if the writers actually listened to criticism and took heed or if things were just going according to plan, but there was a vast improvement in the pacing starting from the introduction of characters, exposition peppered throughout the show neatly and with a decent mix of action and comedy (Rentarou’s “There goes the security deposit” made me chuckle. That was a good one 🙂 )

    Pretty good how the episode itself almost instantly turned Seitenshi from a one-dimensional character into a 3D one with some focus on her intentions as well as her reactions. The setting reminds me a little of Muv-luv Total Eclipse somewhat with humanity infighting, with a dash of politics. (See? Now we know why the heck the Railgun was sitting there in the middle of nowhere)

    Rentarou is also cast in a more positive light here as we realise that him being dragged around actually allows him to know more about the other leaders. Seitenshi’s getting more than she bargained for in this bodyguard.

    The social issues continue, and the tension builds. Nice episode. Hope they keep going at this rate and we just might see a turnabout in how good the series really is. 🙂

    Owaranai
    Reply

  22. I have to say Sogen is an idiot if he thinks he could have put that railgon on orbit, it should have mention in the previous arc when they talk about the Stage 5 Gastreas, one of them by name Sagitarious can creat an energy beam powerful enough to destroy satelites on orbit whit insane accuracy.

    haseo0408
    Reply

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