Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall

Alternate Title

ブラック★★ロックシューター DAWN FALL

Synopsis

In the year 2062, the earth has been devastated by Artemis, a rogue AI that was supposed to help automate the worldwide workforce but instead chose to fight against humanity. Twenty years have passed since the Artemis Project failed, and a girl named Empress awakes in an underground research facility at a certain base. She is one of the three surviving guardians of humanity. However, she has no memory of past events. All she knows is what she is told by the colonel of the peace-building force.

She is tasked with destroying an orbital elevator connecting Earth to the moon, which is under construction by Artemis. If she fails, the mechanized army being mass-produced on the moon will invade Earth. However, standing in her way are Dead Master and Strength, whom she thought were her allies, Artemis’ unmanned forces, and a member of the "Educational Institution” cult named Smiley. Empress makes her advance on the orbital elevator along with the colonel and others, but what awaits them there…

Background

Black Rock Shooter is a media franchise that was spawned from original characters created by illustrator huke which were posted to his Pixiv account in December 2007. Composer Ryo of Supercell was inspired by the artwork and created the song “Black Rock Shooter” using vocals by Vocaloid Hatsune Miku, which was uploaded to Nico Nico Douga in June 2008 and garnered more than 2.2 million views by August of the following year.

Several manga adaptations have been created to date. These include the four-panel manga Black Rock-chan illustrated by Ringo, which was serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's 4-Koma Nano Ace magazine from the April 2011 to March 2012 issues and was released in a single collected tankobon volume in February of that year; Black Rock Shooter: Innocent Soul by Sanami Suzuki, which was serialized in Young Ace magazine from July 2011 to June 2012 and released in three tankobon volumes; and Black Rock Shooter: The Game, an adaptation of the video game of the same name by TNSK that was serialized in Comptiq magazine from August 2011 to September 2012 and released in two tankobon volumes.

The series has also spawned several video game adaptations, notably Black Rock Shooter: The Game, an RPG developed by Imageepoch and released on the PlayStation Portable in August 2011; Petite Rock Shooter, a browser game released on Nico Nico Douga in March 2011; and Petite Rock Shooter: Sexy Wakusei no Nazo o Oe, an iOS game also developed by Imageepoch that was released in September 2012.

The anime adaptations of the series began with a 50-minute original video animation (OVA) produced by Ordet and directed by Shinobu Yoshioka that was originally released as a "Pilot Edition" by Good Smile Company in September 2009 before being released on DVD the following year. This was followed up by the eight-episode TV anime series Black Rock Shooter which aired from February to March 2012 and was also produced by Ordet with CG animation by Sanzigen.

A new TV anime series titled Black Rock Shooter: Dawn Fall was announced in September 2021. It is being produced by Bibury Animation Studios and Bibury Animation CG and features Tensho as director, with series composition and scripts by Makoto Fukami, conceptual designs by Rui Tomono along with Makoto Ishiwata and Yojo Ota of Nitroplus, and character designs by Masayuki Nonaka and Yo Nakagawa. The anime’s opening theme song is "ASEED" by ZAQ, and the ending theme song is "Before the Nightmare" by Kanako Takatsuki. The anime will premiere in Japan on April 3, 2022 on Tokyo MX, Sun TV, KBS Kyoto, TV Aichi, and BS11 and will be available to stream in Japan exclusively through Disney+.

Characters

Black Rock Shooter (Empress) (Voiced by: Yui Ishikawa)
A girl who awakes in an underground research facility at a certain base. She has no memory of past events and is tasked with destroying the orbital elevator being constructed by Artemis before its completion.

Dead Master (Voiced by: Saori Hayami)
A girl who wields a Dead Scythe and stands in Empress’ way.

Strength (Voiced by: Megumi Han)
A girl who wields colossal Ogre Arms and stands in Empress’ way.

Colonel (David) (Voiced by: Takuya Kirimoto)
The leader of the peace-building force that opposes Artemis and works to save humanity.

Monica (Voiced by: Ayaka Asai)
A highly skilled systems engineer and a self-described hacker.

Black Trike (Voiced by: Misaki Kuno)
The military support vehicle used by Empress. It is highly maneuverable and has an onboard AI.

Music

• Opening Theme Song: "ASEED" by ZAQ
• Ending Theme Song: "Before the Nightmare" by Kanako Takatsuki

• Website (Japanese)
• Twitter (Japanese)

• Original Creator/Original Character Design: huke
• Director: Tensho
• Series Composition/Script: Makoto Fukami
• Series Composition Assistant/Script: Ryo Yoshigami
• Conceptual Design: Makoto Ishiwata (Nitroplus), Rui Tomono, Yojo Ota (Nitroplus)
• Character Design/Chief Animation Director: Masayuki Nonaka, Yo Nakagawa
• Animation Production: Bibury Animation CG, Bibury Animation Studio