Are you a huge fan of the popular voice synthesizer Vocaloid, and all the characters in it? Well, guess what? Artist and character designer huke has something in store for you – and I’m sure you’ll love it!
We all know Hatsune Miku as the most popular Vocaloid character among the lot – a cute, vibrant girl with long, flowing, blue-green hair, and an adorable costume to boot. We usually see her carrying around a megaphone as she enchants us with her angelic voice. Miku, along with her friends, has all sorts of colorful personas to go with her. But what if we put a dark twist to it? Hmm...
Imagine Miku with jet-black hair, clad in a black trench coat. And, instead of carrying a megaphone, this dark Miku is wielding a huge and deadly weapon! The result? BLACK ★ROCK SHOOTER.
Today, I welcome you to the dark and twisted world of Black Rock★Shooter; including all the other feisty weapon-wielding vixens that are sure to make your eyes pop! What’s more, I will show you some of the world’s sexiest cosplayers that brought these characters to life. Exciting, right? But for those who haven’t heard about B★RS yet, allow me to give you a short introduction. ^_^
Black Rock★Shooter is the titular character and main protagonist of various projects, including a 35-minute anime OVA (2010), an RPG (2011) under the same name, a brand new anime series (which premiered just a few weeks ago, by the way), and a manga entitled Black Rock★Shooter ~Innocent Soul~.
B★RS was conceptualized from a Hatsune Miku song entitled “Black Rock★Shooter”, performed by the group Supercell. She was designed by huke, who also created the music video for the song. Not long after that, a lot of B★RS fanarts circulated all over the net, followed by various figures of the characters. No surprise there because the characters are uniquely designed and intricately detailed!
Now that we’ve come to talk about its origins, I'll introduce to you some of the main characters. And while we’re at it, I’ll also be showing you the best B★RS cosplays I’ve ever seen. Check them out! ^_^
Black Rock★Shooter
B★RS is often mistaken as Hatsune Miku because they sport similar hairstyles. But bear no mistake! B★RS is not your ordinary hot chick!
B★RS is a girl with milky-white skin, long, jet-black hair tied in twintails, and with deep blue eyes. A blue flame flares out from her left eye, making her look more formidable. She also bears two scars on her waist. It was believed that she acquired the scars from her previous battle with Black★Gold Saw – as shown in the OVA – where B★GS emerged victorious. In huke’s original design concept, B★RS’ outfit consists of a black string bikini top and tight-fitting shorts under a zip-up black trench coat with white stripe along the length of the sleeves, a white star emblem on the front (left side) and back. She also wears a pair of black gloves, and black knee-high boots. B★RS wields a katana called Black Blade, and a large cannon-like gun called ★rock Cannon.
Here are my top three B★RS cosplayers:
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Japanese Cosplayer AIRA striking a sexy pose as Black★Rock Shooter. This is the original concept of B★RS and Aira managed to get every detail - even the scar on the midriff. We'd like to see you with the ★rock Cannon as well, Aira-chan! |
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One of the most popular cosplayers around the world, KIPI! She has also cosplayed Hatsune Miku in the past, and now she's cosplayed B★RS and was able to give the character a "moe" aura. Way to go, Kipi! :D
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Beautiful cosplayer SAYA as B★RS. Like Kipi, she has cosplayed Hatsune Miku before, and she's one of the best ones yet to have portrayed such a character. Sadly, Saya passed away last year during Japan's most catastrophic disaster in history, the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami. We miss you, Saya! You will forever be cherished! :(
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Dead Master
Dead Master is a pale-skinned girl with curly dark green hair (long at the front, short on the back) and straight bangs; and light green eyes. She wears a black, Gothic Lolita inspired outfit: a black thigh-length dress that’s bare on the back (to accentuate a pair of devil wings); highlighted with a white ribbon attached on the right side of her waist. She also wears a pair of black leggings and a pair of black pumps (to which she can gracefully and confidently strut around with even during battle! O_O). She also wears a pair of black gauntlets with pointy skeleton-like fingers. Dead Master also has a pair of long horns that resemble that of your spinal column, with the tip looking like your tailbone (only that it’s pointy). To make her look even more like the female rendition of Death, her weapon of choice is a large scythe called Death Scythe. Dead Master is usually companied by two huge floating skulls with glowing neon green sockets, which she also uses as projectile weapons from time to time.
If you get to see the anime series, however, you’ll notice that DM’s design concept is a whole lot different compared to its original concept. It is one of the most notable changes in the lot, and has received mixed feedbacks from the fans.
And now for the cosplayers:
Black★Gold Saw
Black★Gold Saw has long, flowing black hair and red eyes. Unlike BRS, a red flame shoots out from her right eye (although it wasn't shown in the OVA). Her outfit is somewhat similar to B★RS’, except for the accents on her jacket and her bikini top. In the OVA, her jacket is shorter compared to B★RS’. She also wears a pair of thigh-length armored boots with pointed semi-circular accents. In the original concept, she wears a black coat just like B★RS’, but with a tattered cape that’s dyed red at the end. Just like DM, she has a pair of black horns; only that it looks more like buffalo horns with reddish tips. She also has similar skeleton-like gauntlets, but are much bigger in size.
Her weapon is called King Saw, a large sword with a golden blade on one side, and a black saw edge on the opposite side. It has a long handle with skull-like highlights at the top; and a crescent-shaped hilt. Unlike the other characters, B★GS has a more violent and sadistic nature. She’s also responsible for the scars found on B★RS’ waist.
The three best B★GS cosplayers:
The three best B★GS cosplayers:
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| Japanese cosplayer GOGATUUSAG/ May Rabbit. She has cosplayed more than 15 different characters in the past few years, mostly from Vocaloid. She even cosplayed Strength. :D |
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| 18-year old Canadian cosplayer sachie in a wonderfully detailed B ★GS cosplay. |
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| Korean cosplayer Go Eun Oh/ TASHA in a sexy B★GS cosplay. |
Strength
Strength has tanned skin and short, white hair. Originally, she has a pair of white eyes. In the OVA, however, she has hazel brown eyes - presumably to give a connection to Yuu, Strength's "other self". In the anime series, her eye color turned from white to orange, shortly after she gained emotions. Strength has a black robotic tail that looks a lot like DM's horns. She can move it around freely. Her feet appear to be black metal knee-highs. She wears a black hood with white flames, and white ribbons found at the base of her robotic tail and knee-highs (although it was white on the anime series).
Strength has tanned skin and short, white hair. Originally, she has a pair of white eyes. In the OVA, however, she has hazel brown eyes - presumably to give a connection to Yuu, Strength's "other self". In the anime series, her eye color turned from white to orange, shortly after she gained emotions. Strength has a black robotic tail that looks a lot like DM's horns. She can move it around freely. Her feet appear to be black metal knee-highs. She wears a black hood with white flames, and white ribbons found at the base of her robotic tail and knee-highs (although it was white on the anime series).
Strength wields a heavy, mechanical weapon (which appears to be much heavier than a person could handle!). Both her arms are made of two mechanical arms called Ogre Arm.
My top three favorite Strength cosplayers:
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| It's GOGATUUSAG/May Rabbit in yet another awesome cosplay. Here, she's cosplaying Strength. |
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| 18-year old Russian cosplayer and manga/anime fan Rubee Amadare in one of the best Strength cosplays I've ever seen! <3 |
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| Japanese cosplayer ~iwannabecute/Cassie showing off her tough side with this awesome Strength cosplay. And it's no coincidence that she's also a big fan of Vocaloid. :3 |
As always, feel free to leave a comment. I hope to see you again soon! Sayonara~ ^_^V
