Anime Corps

While we don’t get the massive battle I was hoping for, Black Bullet throws curve ball by ripping your soul out, chopping it up and handing it back to you. Yep, hard core feels in this week’s ep. I was not expecting that in anyway.

Here’s my review.

Things start off back at the loli school where Rentaro and Kisara are teaching the lolis once more, enjoying their time spent there. Rentaro gives them an assignment where they have to write out their dream for the future. Pretty simple stuff, I can remember doing something along those lines way back when. So as usual, Enju hands hers in first saying she wants to marry Rentaro and kiss him as much as she likes. Haha. Tina hands hers in after saying she wants to marry Onii-san and also kiss him as much as she likes. Marrying Onii-san, eh?

There still is the looming disaster with Monolith 32 coming down in a few days, something both Rentaro and Kisara will both be taking part in the battle to follow, but today isn’t a day to worry about that, today is a day to enjoy things. Rentaro, along with Kisara’s help (and money), take the class of lolis on a field trip to show them around the town. Personally I liked this moment as it showed the lolis the outside world which they probably wouldn’t normally get to see. What I didn’t like about this was that I felt it was too short a sequence. I would’ve liked them to be shown going around and doing more in the town, but I guess it was good enough.

Death flags should’ve been popping up in my mind around the half way point of this episode, as I should’ve realized something bad was going to happen, but I didn’t catch on until it’s too late. Before we reach that point though, there is another scene with Kisara and Rentaro talking about the situation. This is done at night as the two of them go for a walk to Monolith 32 to inspect the damage themselves. The fluid sprayed on by the Gastrea has reduced the once proud wall into a flaking mess, soon to come down and let the monstrous hoards in. I liked the conversation between Rentaro and Kisara as they both are trying to stay positive despite the impending doom that’s on the horizon. Kisara states that she’s enjoying the happiness of having people she cares about around her, but is also very worried that she’ll lose this happiness in the coming battle. This has got to be some foreshadowing here as bad things will happen to everyone. I’m still saying Kisara and Tina will have tough times, maybe even one of them (or possibly both) will die at some point too. I’ve had a feeling for a while that Kisara will die and it feels like she’s got the most death flags, especially in the past few eps. Please no spoilers if you’ve read the manga (or light novel; whatever this is adapted from).

Out for blood

Another interesting part is when Kisara and Rentaro are talking about Monolith 32 and why it was attacked and not any others. Rentaro suggests that maybe it was targeted for a reason, something that Kisara also thinks is very plausible. After getting that looked into through her sources, she comes to the shocking truth that Monolith 32 is indeed being targeted because of it being purposely built not as strong as the others. What’s more is that the one signing off on this is none other than Kisara’s father.

One more point I should bring out is that while Rentaro is out one day, he notices a group of people tormenting the one blind loli, the very one who he told to stay away from public areas. Coming to her aide, Rentaro tells the group to leave on their feet or get shot.

The next day Rentaro and Enju are up early and ready to leave for school. Tina is still very tired and will be along later with Kisara. Today is a special day as Enju is bringing her DVD box set of her favorite anime along with her for all the lolis to watch. Things nosedive at an insane rate and really catch me off guard. As they’re walking up to the open air classroom, they notice police tape and officers standing around the area. No… no… what’s happened? Rentaro rushes up to the police tape and sees the horrible truth: someone has bombed the area, killing all the lolis.

Hearing her screaming in pain… ugh not a fun scene to watch again

Ugh, I won’t lie, the following scene in the morgue is pretty tough to watch. 18 bodies lie covered in white sheets, all his students. It’s heart wrenching to watch as Rentaro has to identify the bodies for the records, but man having to actually do something like that, identify the bodies of all those girls, most probably 10 or younger, wow I couldn’t imagine doing that. But as if that scene isn’t hard enough to sit though, the following one is worse. Rentaro has Enju to go home so she doesn’t have to see the horror, but she’s confused and wants answers. Breaking free of the hold of the police officers with her, she rushes past Rentaro and into the room. Listening to her scream in agony is just too much. All her classmate are dead in front of her eyes, nothing she can do will change that. It’s just another thing I can’t imagine actually being in a situation like that, it’s too much to bear.

The rest of the episode is, needless to say, very grim and morose. Rentaro is questioning why he’s fighting to protect the people of the city if they’re going to stoop as low as killing little girls. Kisara says that if they can successfully protect the city from the Gastrea, then maybe some people will understand and have a change in heart about the Cursed Children, but it’s still a long shot. This scene is made even more powerful as Monolith 32 starts to collapse, a day ahead of schedule. Why? The wind. Strong winds are something to be reckoned with, and in an already weak state, the large structure is an easy target for the invisible force. The episode ends with Rentaro returning to Enju, who looks in a terrible state, and informs her that Monolith 32 has collapsed and the war is about to begin.

All in all I’ve gotta say this might be among the best episodes of Black Bullet as it really shows the harsh reality of discrimination towards the Cursed Children; people really hate them and bombing little girls like that is about as low as you can get. Looking ahead now Rentaro is going to be on beast mode as he faces not only the Gastrea, but also those responsible for killing his students.

Let’s take a look at some screen shots from the ep.

So there you have it, my review for Black Bullet ep 10. What are your thoughts on it? How did you take the lolis being killed? Did you have a tough time sitting through the morgue scene? I’d like to hear your thoughts on this, and every, ep I write a review for. Next week I hope there will be an action packed battle ep, as the final 3 eps should be very intense. I’m looking forward to seeing Rentaro in beast mode as he’s going to be beating ass all over the place. Here’s a screen from the preview:

Up next I’ll have my weekly look at No Game No Life and hopefully, if all goes according to my plan, I’ll also have the WIXOSS ep 4 review out too. Until then I’ll leave you with my usual closing words.

Cya in the next post!

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-Nick