Black★Rock Shooter (OVA)/WMG

Mato won because she did a preemptive strike on Dead Master.
In most series; someone going missing isn't noticed at first; or there's a week montage of them not showing up to school; the main character worrying, and the villain stewing their victim in The Dark Side. Mato was aware enough that something was wrong that she drew Black Rock Shooter into challenging Dead Master the very same day she made her move; DM was still resting from pulling Yomi into the Otherworld.
 * It's as if the Power Rangers did a Finishing Move on Rita Repulsa the instant she stuck her head out the Trash Compactor. "Ahhh, after 10,000 years I'm free, it's time to conquer *BOOM*."

There is more story planned.
Not say they're going to make any more but with a lot of unanswered questions and released artwork of characters who never appeared, it seems like there is more story to be told.
 * Exactly. Maybe not a whole series about the same plot, but it's definitely a "Promotion Project", and all this work they're putting into advertising (merchandise, etc.) probably means at the very least a sequel OVA. If it's a series, it certainly wouldn't be the first time an anime series has come out of an OVA.
 * They will release a new episode every time a model\figma of a new character is ready, so they could sell a lot of them.

Mato's bandage on her right knee has/will have some significance.
That thing can't be there for nothing.
 * Confirmed, it's how she met Yuu.

Yuu is either Black★Matagi or STR.
Black★Matagi has short hair like Yuu, and while STR's hair is white, it's still short and choppy like Yuu's. (And STR has been confirmed to appear, unlike Matagi.)

OAV Yomi is still going to have to deal with Dead Master.
As the personification of her jealousy (or a spirit attracted to it), Mato showing that she's her Most Important Person put Dead Master to sleep for a little while, but Yomi will surely have other friends.

The series takes place in the same world as Persona 3 and Persona 4.
Black Rock Shooter is Mato's Persona, and Dead Master is a Persona/Shadow that Yomi lost to.
 * I AM THOU, AND THOU ART I

Black★Gold Saw is involved with
If Black★Gold Saw found a way to draw out Black★Rock Shooter, she'd be able to kill he=r. Again.

Strength is part of an alliance trying to beat Dead Master in the other world. This is why is upset at the end of the (first) OVA
Dead Master and Yomi are obviously connected. In other world it's possible Dead Master is seen as some sort of tyrant. There's an alliance of Strength (Yuu), Black Gold Saw, and possibly Black Devil Girl fighting against Dead Master. Yuu found out about DM's connection to Yomi. She wanted to steal Mato away from Yomi because she knew she would be hurting Dead Master indirectly. At the very end she is (or maybe her Strength persona is) upset cause Dead Master hasn't been fully defeated, and she feels she has lost her friend and (also) an ally against Dead Master. -- Andaria

Every time BRS fights someone in the other world, it represents Mato trying to save someone from losing to their loneliness
=== "Otherworld" characters are from another dimension and merge with their "our world" selfs to power up in The One fashion, but taking the power needed without death of their target. ===

Dead Master merged with Yomi to gain more power and BRS decided to merge with Mato to stop her and return both "our world" girls" home.

Also if the fact that Yomi merged with Dead Master when she was highly stressed wasn't a coincidence, but because high stress creates some sort of connection that allows merging, then it seems that STR wants more power as well.

But probably the truth is way less Noein crossed with The One and more of " the girl got jealous\angry and her other self merged with her and went to fight BRS to resolve this conflict."

If Dead Master represents Envy, then BRS represents Kindness/Love
Apparently they are each other's opposing virtue/vice. Yomi merged with Dead Master when she became jealous of Mato and Yuu's friendship (having basketball to talk about), and BRS was able to defeat Dead Master through the Power of Love ...

It's a battle inside Yomi's mind
The Death Master is Yomi's loneliness/fear/anger and BRS is her desire to be saved. Since Yomi couldn't save herself, she need Mato's help. (Possibly the otherworldy stuff is a schizophrenic idea Yomi has about much less dramatic events.)
 * Rather, it's a metaphor. Much like gargling mouthwash is like a knight fighting the monster "The Gum Disease Known As Gingivitis"; all the chains and guns and explosions are simply Mato finding Yomi at their secret spot and talking past her defenses she mistakenly put up to prevent being hurt.
 * I figured maybe Mato and Yomi were roomies in a ward for coma patients. Most of this could be occuring inside a shared dream of sorts, with them never having met one another prior to being hospitalised. Haven't quite fleshed out where Yuu stands in all this.

In merging with BRS, Mato actually went back in time.
Despite the fact that most people are thinking Anachronic Order, the website says that it's all happening "simultaneously". This means that Mato and BRS went back in time to save Yomi, and the anime is following the correct order of time.

In order to materialize in the Otherworld, the "other selves" must obtain a body.
Yomi made a sort of Deal with the Devil to merge with Dead Master, and B★RS made thus her deal with Mato: she'll be able to save Yomi, but B★RS must use Mato's body. This is why Yomi and Mato seem more "possessed" than anything. Also, notice how B★RS's lips don't move when she talks, meaning that her existence isn't corporeal, until after the merge.
 * Then what about STR? She was seen in Otherworld when Yuu wasn't possessed.
 * Perhaps Yuu was already possessed by STR before the start of the OVA.
 * Also, while Mato was merging with B★RS and all, nobody knows what Yuu was doing. She could have been making the same deal as Mato. Another option is that she did something like Yomi; remember, after Yomi's possession, she still stayed behind for a bit and told her volleyball coach she had to leave early. Being merged doesn't mean a complete vanishment from the real world.

The entire original PV was a prequel to the OAV.

 * 1) The original B★RS's host was stabbed by Dead Master's host to buy herself enough time to secure her hold on her host. B★RS survived long enough to kill Dead Master's host and the Giant Robot Devil that appeared later.
 * 2) Both had to find new bodies.
 * 3) Perhaps the reason that the original B★RS host died was that Black★Gold Saw killed her. That scene wasn't out of sequence.
 * 4) This theory can be backed up by the fact that when B★RS fights Black★Gold Saw, she has no scars, yet when she merges with Mato she very clearly has them.
 * 5) Dead Master then found Yomi, and B★RS found Mato.
 * 6) B★RS gave Mato the same deal that she gave the original host; kill Yomi to save her from Dead Master.
 * 7) Mato veto'd any killing, however. B★RS wasn't too used to this Power of Love thing; (hence her ridiculously bland Take My Hand attempts), but Mato's Will still prevailed; and Dead Master was driven out; defeated but not destroyed.
 * So, Otherworld characters have Type XI immortality and after death they need to possess their Alternate Universe counterparts to regain their bodies. Then, Dead Master's host, who was killed in PV, was Yomi from a different dimension.
 * Perhaps this is why Dead Master didn't try to kill BRS in OVA. Because, if killed, BRS will simply find a new host and return for a rematch. And BRS killed Dead Master in PV because her death was needed to make that Giant Robot Devil thing reveal itself. Going further with this idea, DM was attacked because she was corrupted\made evil by that robot thing, and B★RS wanted to save her from possession, but the only way she knew how was through death of DM's host.
 * I figured it was influence from their Hosts. Yomi did not betray Mato like Proto-Yomi did, so the transformation wasn't complete and DM didn't have as strong a hold. DM was only able to corrupt Yomi's desire to keep Mato for herself, but not beyond that. Had DM been able to fully corrupt Yomi; the Power of Love would not have been enough to drive DM out, and only death would have saved her and her death would have had enough karmic imbalance to summon the Giant Robot/Devil.
 * It also helps that B★RS killed the skulls first in the OAV. They're part of the Giant Robot Devil, and fuses with it when DM is killed in the PV.

STR is the big bad of the OVA series or at least one of Dead Master's servants.

 * 1) While not everything is set in stone after one OVA, STR might have possessed Yuu already before the start of the OVA. Yuu got between Mato and Yomi, which allowed Yomi to become possessed by Dead Master while also telling Mato not to worry to much about Yomi, suggesting that Yomi might come to over time (stalling Mato from being possessed by BRS).
 * 2) This leads to another point. Could Yomi be special, potentionally someone that Dead Master could possess to make her more powerful (mirroring the same way with Mato and Black Rock Shooter)? After all, at the very end of the OVA, Yuu is visibly angry, which makes it look like her plans were foiled instead of just being jealous.

STR is B★RS's companion.
She found B★RS after Black★Gold Saw almost killed her and stitched her up. (Those scars were treated.) She stayed back during the "Rescue Yomi from BM" mission because her other existence as Yuu would have interfered. Yuu is confused because she's getting the psychic feedback that her other self and Mato's are close, and that Yomi/DM is the "enemy", but doesn't understand where these feelings are coming from.

STR/Yuu is not going to Face Heel Turn.
Her hell is more subtle. She was supportive, she didn't betray anyone, and didn't need saving. And for this, she gets to be second banana. But she is Strength. She will not fall, so nobody will save her.

B★GS and B★RS used to be friend's/allies.
They used to be partners, but B★GS turned into the rival gone enemy. Her sin could be wrath, and she turned again B★RS, and the same thing could have happened with their real world counterparts. Maybe the other Black★'s could be fighting against beings like DM and STR, and in the end they could form a Five-Man Band.

Yomi and Mato's School is one of the places where Gideon Gordon Graves tested The Glow.
Slowly at first, to avoid detection. However, due to Subspace in the local area being too alien for some reason, reliable results weren't able to be gained so the project was moved to other testing areas. Nevertheless, it eventually affected several students who got sucked into Subspace during strong emotional periods and their psyches twisted inside out.
 * It should be noted, during Battle in the Center of the Mind in Ramona's head? The floor was checkerboard...

The whole series of events is just Mato and Yomi playing around with hand puppets.
Implied by this (fanmade) image
 * Also, Yuu's been trying to make a doll since forever and was only able to make the doll stand there while she waited.

BRS and DM are Witches, and Kuroi and Yomi are their game pieces.
BRS is 'anti-fantasy' in the same way Battler is. She 'wins' by proving that Yomi's disappearance was not caused by DM. The 'other world' is the metaword - chessboard, anyone? Kuroi and Yomi are just innocent people caught up in the Witch's game.

Later in the series Yomi will make peace with Dead Master
Most likely to save BRS from some impending big bad.

Mato is B★RS's arm cannon.
Notice B★RS doesn't have it when fighting with B★GS, even though it would have been at an advantage. However, B★RS merging with her real counterpart gave her a boost in power, allowing her to harness the ★rock cannon.

Dead Master can no longer possess Yomi, and so it must possess Black★Devil Girl.
DM's symbol is a black skull, while BDG's symbol is a cracked black skull. The spirit/otherself could have been injured after it was banished from Yomi.
 * So, moving further with this idea, then Dead Master was possessed herself by something that takes the form of skulls. And if Black★Devil Girl is possessed by them next, then Dead Master might be different from her OVA self.

Black Rock Shooter is a Former Cherub turned Malakim; Dead Master is a Djinn.
By herself, BRS has had a lot of her empathy burned out; but Mato was able to ignite some of that old resonance. Djinns in In Nomine represent suppression of feelings; with the exception of one single obsession point. Otherworld is naturally set in The Marches. (Dreamworld)

The OVA is the Anime version of Bridge to Terabithia
Okay, I think I am the only one to make the connection, but the BRS OVA is Japan's anwser to Bridge To Terabitha.


 * Both are misleading, telling us that it's in the fantasy genre when it's really in the slice of life category.
 * Both start with the protagonist on their first day back at school.
 * Both protagonists meet the new kid.
 * Both protagonists like them as friends.
 * Both featured someone in the way of the relationship (Jesse and Leslie had the teacher, Mato and Yomi had Yuu) which ends badly because of it
 * Major difference is how important the "Fantasy" part kicks in. In Terabithia, the fantasy portions were just make believe. In BRS, the fantasy portions were really a rescue mission.
 * Another major difference is the fate of the friend..

Black★Rock Shooter is Mato's isolation/self-reliance.
Mato was hit hard by her father's divorce/death, and for a while in elementary school shut her emotions up. OAV Mato had an encounter with Saya that either intentionally or unintentionally killed Black★Rock Shooter via Black★Gold Saw; and this "cracked" her shield. However, she was able to grow her persona back in such as way that she was able to use this aspect of herself without it taking her over and still be emotionally open. The OAV was them "reintegrating" properly.