Black Bullet
This article is about the light novel series. For the aircraft prototype, see Northrop XP-56 Black Bullet. For the confectionery, see Black Bullets.
| Black Bullet | |
|
Cover of the first light novel volume. | |
| ブラック・ブレット (Burakku Buretto) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Dystopian, Science fiction |
| Light novel | |
| Written by | Shiden Kanzaki |
| Illustrated by | Saki Ukai |
| Published by | ASCII Media Works |
| English publisher | |
| Demographic | Male |
| Imprint | Dengeki Bunko |
| Original run | July 10, 2011 – ongoing |
| Volumes | 7 |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Shiden Kanzaki |
| Illustrated by | Hon Morino |
| Published by | ASCII Media Works |
| English publisher | |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Dengeki Maoh |
| Original run | August 27, 2012[1] – June 27, 2014[2] |
| Volumes | 4 |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Masayuki Kojima |
| Produced by |
Asuka Yamazaki Fuminori Yamazaki Mitsutoshi Ogura Yasutaka Kurosaki |
| Written by | Tatsuhiko Urahata |
| Music by | Shirō Sagisu |
| Studio | Kinema Citrus, Orange |
| Licensed by | |
| Network | AT-X, Tokyo MX, SUN, tvk, KBS, TVA, BS11 |
| English network | |
| Original run | April 8, 2014 – July 1, 2014 |
| Episodes | 13 |
Black Bullet (Japanese: ブラック・ブレット Hepburn: Burakku Buretto) is a Japanese light novel series written by Shiden Kanzaki and illustrated by Saki Ukai, published under ASCII Media Works's Dengeki Bunko imprint. The series began publication on July 10, 2011, and 7 volumes have been published as of April 2014. A manga series began serialization on August 27, 2012 in ASCII Media Works's Dengeki Maoh. An anime adaptation by Kinema Citrus and Orange was announced at Dengeki Bunko's Autumn Festival 2013 on October 6, 2013. It aired from April 8, 2014 to July 1, 2014.
Plot
In the year 2021, mankind is ravaged by the epidemic of Gastrea, a parasitic virus, and is forced to live within the Monolith walls, which are created from Varanium: a metal that is able to subdue Gastrea. Soon, children who were born with the Gastrea virus and obtained superhuman abilities as a result, are discovered and dubbed "Cursed Children". Due to the Gastrea virus' intervention, the Cursed Children could only be female. Civil Securities are formed to specialize fighting against Gastrea, operating with the pair of an Initiator, who are cursed children, and a Promoter, serving to lead the cursed children. Ten years after the epidemic, Rentarō Satomi, a high school student who is also a Promoter in Tendō Civil Security Agency owned by his childhood friend Kisara Tendō, along with his Initiator, Enju Aihara, conducts missions to prevent the destruction of the Tokyo Area and the world.
Characters
Tendō Civil Security
- Rentarō Satomi (里見 蓮太郎 Satomi Rentarō)
- Voiced by: Yūki Kaji
- Rentarō is a second year student in Magata High School and also a Promoter in Tendō Civil Security. Rentarō's parents died in the war against Gastrea ten years ago, and was adopted by the Tendō family, but left the family along with Kisara. Rentarō lost his right leg, right arm and left eye in a fight with Gastrea to protect Kisara, and was saved by Sumire's "New Human Creation Plan" which replaced his lost limbs with Varanium. He uses an XD and is a beginner in Tendō style martial arts.
- Enju Aihara (藍原 延珠 Aihara Enju)
- Voiced by: Rina Hidaka
- Enju is a Cursed Child, and is Rentarō's Model Rabbit Initiator in Tendō Civil Security. She lives with Rentarō and went to primary school normally until her status as a Cursed Child was revealed during the incident involving Kagetane Hiruko, and thus was forced to transfer. When first introduced to Rentarō by the International Initiator Supervising Organization (IISO), Enju had severe trust problems, but this has since improved through getting along with Rentarō and eventually becoming infatuated with him.
- Kisara Tendō (天童 木更 Tendō Kisara)
- Voiced by: Yui Horie
- Kisara is the president of Tendō Civil Security. Originally from the Tendō clan, she left the family after a certain conflict along with her childhood friend Rentarō. Kisara's kidneys are barely functioning due to the trauma of witnessing her parents being eaten alive by Gastrea. Believing that her parents' deaths were connected to the Tendō family, she swore to avenge them and has been searching for the murderers. She is extremely skilled at the Tendō style of martial arts, but is unable to fight for extended periods of time due to her condition. Kisara has feelings for Rentarō, who has shown the attraction to be mutual, but their attempts to communicate their feelings towards one another are usually interrupted, most of the time by Enju. However, her obsession with exacting revenge on the Tendō clan is a source of concern for Rentarō, who fears it may one day lead to them parting ways.
- Tina Sprout (ティナ・スプラウト Tina Supurauto)
- Voiced by: Tomoyo Kurosawa
- Tina is a product of Ayn Rand's mechanized soldiers and formerly his Model Owl Initiator. Tina was ordered to assassinate Seitenshi by Ayn but was instead foiled by Enju's interference and eventually defeated by Rentarō. Seitenshi gave her special treatment and only ordered to keep her under observation, and was hired by Tendō Civil Security when she was released. She later on forms a pair with Kisara, while becoming infatuated with Rentarō just like Enju, with whom she competes for his attention.
Tokyo Area
- Seitenshi (聖天子 Seitenshi)
- Voiced by: Aki Toyosaki
- Real name unknown, Seitenshi is the ruler of Tokyo Area, one of the five largest areas in Japan after the war. She is idealistic and wishes for everyone to be able to live in harmony. Recently pushed through basic human right laws for the Cursed Children and has incited dissatisfaction from the Deprived Generation.
- Kikunojō Tendō (天童 菊之丞 Tendō Kikunojō)
- Voiced by: Tamio Ōki
- Kikunojō acts as Seitenshi's adviser and holds the greatest political power. He is also Kisara's grandfather and also Rentarō's foster father. Due to his wife being killed by Gastrea 10 years ago, he is extremely unhappy about Seitenshi implementing human rights for the Cursed Children, thus requesting the Hiruko pair to create an upheaval.
- Sumire Muroto (室戸 菫 Muroto Sumire)
- Voiced by: Yūko Kaida
- Sumire is one of the Four Sages and the person in charge of the "New Human Creation Plan" and a researcher in a medical school near Magata High School.
- Miori Shiba (司馬 未織 Shiba Miori)
- Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu
- Miori is the student council president of Magata High School and Rentarō's sponsor. She and Kisara hate each other due to the fact that both of them have a crush on Rentarō.
- Kagetane Hiruko (蛭子 影胤 Hiruko Kagetane)
- Voiced by: Rikiya Koyama
- Kagetane is formerly a Promoter in a Civil Security, but had his license revoked due to excessive killing. Kagetane is a product of the "New Human Creation Plan", and was requested to destroy the Tokyo Area. His pair is eventually defeated by Rentarō and Enju, but later reappear to assist them in the Third Kanto War.
- Kohina Hiruko (蛭子 小比奈 Hiruko Kohina)
- Voiced by: Aoi Yūki
- Kohina is Kagetane's daughter and bloodthirsty Model Mantis Initiator.
- Shōgen Ikuma (伊熊 将監 Ikuma Shōgen)
- Voiced by: Hiromichi Tezuka
- Shōgen is a battle-crazed Promoter who die in a fight against Kagetane Hiruko. At first glance he is uncaring to his initiator, calliing her his weapon. In the manga only, in his last moments he revealed he viewed them as the same, beings who only had meaning in battle and together they proved each other's existence.
- Kayo Senju (千寿 夏世 Senju Kayo)
- Voiced by: Megumi Han
- Kayo is Shōgen's Model Dolphin Initiator. She has an IQ of 210 but is unsuited to front-line battles. During her mission to eliminate the Hiruko pair, she was separated from Shōgen and met Rentarō. As she protected the area from Gastrea led by the Hiruko pair's battle, the amount of Gastrea virus in her body exceeded the critical value, thus she requested Rentarō to shoot her while she's still human.
- Takuto Yasuwaki (保脇 卓人 Yasuwaki Takuto)
- Voiced by: Subaru Kimura
- Seitenshi's personal guard who is unhappy about Rentarō being hired as part of Seitenshi's protection squad from Tina's assassination attempts.
- Kazumitsu Tendō (天童 和光 Tendō Kazumitsu)
- Voiced by: Kazuyuki Okitsu
- Kazumitsu is one of Kisara's four brothers who conspired against their parents leading to their deaths. He is a politician who earned his position with money he embezzled during the construction of one of the Monoliths, by reducing the concentration of Varanium to cut costs. However, after the weakened Monolith is destroyed by a Gastrea invasion, Kisara obtains proof of his fraud and uses it to force a confrontation with her, succeeding to obtain a confession from him before he dies by Kisara's hands.
Third Kanto War Troops
- Tamaki Katagiri (片桐 玉樹 Katagiri Tamaki)
- Voiced by: Yoshimasa Hosoya
- Tamaki is Civil Security's president who accepted Rentarō's request to join his support group for the Third Kanto War.
- Yuzuki Katagiri (片桐 弓月 Katagiri Yuzuki)
- Voiced by: Rumi Ōkubo
- Yuzuki is Tamaki's sister and his Model Spider Initiator.
- Shōma Nagisawa (薙沢 彰磨 Nagisawa Shōma)
- Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki
- Shōma is Rentarō's longtime friend and senior in Tendō style martial arts. He joined Rentarō's support group during the war. He sacrificed himself to activate the bomb that destroyed the leader of the Gastrea Army, Aldebaran.
- Midori Fuse (布施 翠 Fuse Midori)
- Voiced by: Yui Ogura
- Midori was Shōma's Model Cat Initiator. She was attacked by a Gastrea that injected her with the virus to the point of shortening her life span to a month. She later committed suicide by a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head under a tree.
- Nagamasa Gadō (我堂 長政 Gadō Nagamasa)
- Voiced by: Tesshō Genda
- Nagamasa was the leader of the private security troops during the war. He disbanded Rentarō's adjuvant when the latter's team disobeyed orders and sent him on a suicide misson to kill the Gastrea Pleiades in lieu of capital punishment. He later died in battle.
- Asaka Mibu (壬生 朝霞 Mibu Asaka)
- Voiced by: Inori Minase
- Asaka is Nagamasa's Initiator. Formed an impromptu pairing with Shōma as both lost their partners.
- Hidehiko Gadō (我堂 英彦 Gadō Hidehiko)
- Voiced by: Shinji Kawada
- Hidehiko was Nagamasa's son and leader of Rentarō's division during the war. He was devoured by a Gastrea.
- Kokone (心音 Kokone)
- Kokone is Hidehiko's Initiator. She dies during the battle.
Others
- Shigetoku Tadashima (多田島 茂徳 Tadashima Shigetoku)
- Voiced by: Takashi Matsuyama
- Matsuzaki (松崎 Matsuzaki)
- Voiced by: Tomomichi Nishimura
- Matsuzaki is an elderly man who cares for the Cursed Children in the Outer Area of Tokyo.
- Sōgen Saitake (斉武 宗玄 Saitake Sōgen)
- Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka
- Sōgen is the ruler of Osaka Area, and an ambitious man who dreams of one day ruling the world.
- Ayn Rand (エイン・ランド Ein Rando)
- Voiced by: Kōsuke Toriumi
- Ayn is one of the Four Sages, and heads the American Division of the Mechanized Soldier Plan, "NEXT". Ayn breached the agreement between the Four Sages and mechanized healthy Cursed Children, creating mechanized Initiators called "HYBRID". Ayn is formerly the Promoter of Tina Sprout, but as Ayn does not possess combat abilities, he acts as a command tower instead.
- Arthur Zanuck (アーサー･ザナック Āsā Zanakku)
- Arthur is one of the Four Sages, and heads the Australian Division of the Mechanized Soldier Plan, "Obelisk".
- Albrecht Grünewald (アルブレヒト・グリューネワルト Aruburehito Guryūnewaruto)
- Albrecht is the leader of the Four Sages who assembled all of them, and heads the German Division of the Mechanized Soldier Plan.
- Kihachi Suibara (水原 鬼八 Suibara Kihachi)
- Kihachi is an old friend of Rentarō's.
- Hotaru Kōro (紅露 火垂 Kōro Hotaru)
- Hotaru is Kihachi's Model Planarian Initiator.
- Atsurō Hitsuma (櫃間 篤朗 Hitsuma Atsurō)
- Yūga Mitsugi (巳継 悠河 Mitsugi Yūga)
- Codenamed "Darkstalker".
- Rika Kurume (久留米 リカ Kurume Rika)
- Rika is a soldier of the New World Creation Plan. Codenamed "Hummingbird".
- Jūgo Katake (鹿嶽 十五 Katake Jūgo)
- Codenamed "Swordtail".
Media
Light novels
| No. | Title | Japanese release | English release |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Those Who Aimed to be Gods Kami o Mezashita Mono Tachi (神を目指した者たち) | July 10, 2011[3] ISBN 978-4-04-870596-7 | August 18, 2015[4] ISBN 978-0-31-630499-3 |
| 2 | vs Ingenious Sniper VS Shinsan Kibō no Sogekihei (VS神算鬼謀の狙撃兵) | October 8, 2011[5] ISBN 978-4-04-870820-3 | — |
| 3 | The World Destruction by the Flames Honoo ni yoru Sekai no Hametsu (炎による世界の破滅) | May 10, 2012[6] ISBN 978-4-04-886477-0 | — |
| 4 | Vengeance is Mine Fukushū Suru wa Ware ni Ari (復讐するは我にあり) | August 10, 2012[7] ISBN 978-4-04-886797-9 | — |
| 5 | The Fugitive, Rentarō Satomi Tōbōhan, Satomi Rentarō (逃亡犯、里見蓮太郎) | July 10, 2013[8] ISBN 978-4-04-891761-2 | — |
| 6 | Wanderer of Purgatory Rengoku no Hōkōsha (煉獄の彷徨者) | October 10, 2013[9] ISBN 978-4-04-866008-2 | — |
| 7 | Bullet of The World Revolution Sekai Henkaku no Jūdan (世界変革の銃弾) | April 10, 2014[10] ISBN 978-4-04-866472-1 | — |
Manga
| No. | Japanese release date | Japanese ISBN | English release date | English ISBN |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | May 27, 2013[11] | ISBN 978-4-04-891196-2 | September 22, 2015[12] | ISBN 978-0-31-634503-3 |
| 2 | July 11, 2013[13] | ISBN 978-4-04-891805-3 | — | — |
| 3 | October 11, 2013[14] | ISBN 978-4-04-891970-8 | — | — |
| 4 | June 27, 2014[15] | ISBN 978-4-04-866665-7 | — | — |
Anime
See also: List of Black Bullet episodes
An anime adaptation by Kinema Citrus was announced at Dengeki Bunko's Autumn Festival 2013 on October 6, 2013,[16][17] and premiered in April 2014.[18] The series was picked up by Crunchyroll for online simulcast streaming in North America and other select parts of the world.[19] The anime has been licensed by Sentai Filmworks for a digital and home video release in North America.[20]
The opening theme is "black bullet" by fripSide[21] and the ending theme is "Tokohana" (トコハナ) by Nagi Yanagi.[22]
References
- ↑ 電撃マオウ 2012年10月号 (in Japanese). Mangaoh. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ↑ 電撃マオウ 2014年8月号 (in Japanese). E-hon.ne.jp. Retrieved August 6, 2014.
- ↑ ブラック・ブレット 神を目指した者たち 電撃文庫公式サイト (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ↑ "Black Bullet, Vol. 1". Hachette Book Group USA. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
- ↑ "ブラック・ブレット2 VS神算鬼謀の狙撃兵 電撃文庫公式サイト" (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ↑ ブラック・ブレット3 炎による世界の破滅 電撃文庫公式サイト (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ↑ ブラック・ブレット4 復讐するは我にあり 電撃文庫公式サイト (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ↑ ブラック・ブレット５ 逃亡犯、里見蓮太郎 電撃文庫公式サイト (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ↑ ブラック・ブレット６ 煉獄の彷徨者 電撃文庫公式サイト (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ↑ ブラック・ブレット７ 世界変革の銃弾 電撃文庫公式サイト (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved March 14, 2014.
- ↑ ブラック・ブレット 01 電撃文庫公式サイト (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ↑ "Black Bullet, Vol. 1 (manga)". Hachette Book Group USA. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
- ↑ ブラック・ブレット02 電撃文庫公式サイト (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ↑ ブラック・ブレット(3) 電撃文庫公式サイト (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved December 14, 2013.
- ↑ ブラック・ブレット 04 電撃文庫公式サイト (in Japanese). Dengeki Bunko. Retrieved June 19, 2014.
- ↑ "『ブラック・ブレット』がTVアニメに！ 出演声優は梶裕貴さん、日高里菜さん、小山力也さん" (in Japanese). ASCII Media Works.
- ↑ "Black Bullet Light Novels Get Anime by Kinema Citrus". Anime News Network. October 6, 2013. Retrieved October 6, 2013.
- ↑ "TVアニメ『ブラック・ブレット』2014年4月放送開始！追加キャスト：堀江由衣、黒沢ともよ、悠木碧、甲斐田裕子、豊崎愛生". Yaraon. December 8, 2013. Retrieved February 11, 2014.
- ↑ Macias, Patrick (April 7, 2014). "Crunchyroll to Stream "Black Bullet" Anime!". Crunchyroll. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
- ↑ "Sentai Filmworks Adds Black Bullet". Anime News Network. Retrieved April 25, 2014.
- ↑ "fripSide to Perform Black Bullet's Opening Theme". Anime News Network. January 25, 2014. Retrieved January 25, 2014.
- ↑ "Black Bullet TV Anime's 2nd Promo Previews fripside Song". Anime News Network. March 16, 2014. Retrieved March 16, 2014.
External links
- Official anime website (Japanese)
- Black Bullet (anime) at Anime News Network's encyclopedia
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