Black Bullet

Novel Series that has ceased translation

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How did you find reading Black Bullet?

It was good! Please do more!
367
98%
It was interesting.
5
1%
Not as good as I thought.
2
1%
Boring. Not touching it again.
1
0%
 
Total votes: 375

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Zenbu
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Black Bullet

Post by Zenbu »

I saw the illustrations for this LN and it caught my attention.
Image
Image
Image

It's written by Shiden Kanzaki and illustrated by Saki Ukai. First published July 2011. According to someone from AnimeSuki, it's about monster hunting and from a niconico video I saw, it seems to take place in an urban setting. That's all I know about this series.

Anyway, it looks interesting and I'd like to see this become a project. Thank you in advance.
Last edited by Misogi on Fri Jul 20, 2012 11:00 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Poll
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lnreader
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by lnreader »

I was looking at amazon.co.jp once and saw this series. Also, someone should give more information on the synopsis.
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vermiliongrey
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by vermiliongrey »

Love the art direction.

(Although is that skirt flutter really necessary? Sigh, Japan...)
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Misogi
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by Misogi »

Impressive art. If the story is interesting enough, it could be an excellent work.
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DoomCalibur
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by DoomCalibur »

can anyone give me a clear summary about this novel?
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Monoratique
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by Monoratique »

Not too sure about the translation (and my english), but hope it help !
The last hope of the humanity to save this world on the edge of the destruction is only... one boy ?

A near future, where men have been defeated by the viral parasites Gastrea. They have been exiled into a small territory and live in despair, side by side with terror.

In this world trapped in darkness--

Rentarô, a boy living near Tokyo and member of the "Civil Police" - a organization expert in fighting against the Gastrea - is used to accomplishing dangerous works. His partner is a precocious young girl, Enju. They fight thanks to their peculiar powers until one day, when they receive a mission order from the government. This top secret mission is to prevent the destruction of Tokyo...

Set in a near future, this thrilling heroic-action story... starts now !
Source : http://dengekibunko.dengeki.com/newwork/bank_1107f.php
青い空に高く
今なら飛べるかな
もしこのまま落下しても
今はそれでもイイ
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DoomCalibur
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by DoomCalibur »

Thank a lot my friend.
Hope i can pay you back sometimes.
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SolBalmung
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by SolBalmung »

Zenbu, you forgot to create a poll within this thread. You'll find everything in the New Project Guidelines on the top of the page.
As for the LN, it really looks interesting and the art is superb. I'd love to see this turning into one of the many LN project on Baka Tsuki. Also I'd like see some opinion regarding this LN, from one of our many readers lurking here =) .
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dammitt
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by dammitt »

Here's the prologue, in case someone is interested.
Please don't mind my English, since it's not my native language.
Spoiler! :
At the corner of a cracked road a boy was sitting with his arms wrapped around his knees looking at people who were passing by.
A narrow road that became muddy because of rain was surprisingly full of people — some were walking by, others were sitting on the ground and shouting as if they got drunk.
Even straining his eyes he couldn't see rationed goods being passed around, instead he saw aged people who survived from hunger by nibbling at dug up tree roots. They had protruded eyes and unusually swollen throats. Judging from his own experience, the boy understood that the majority of those people who were eating nothing but tree bark, will die from a disease in the near future, but he couldn't face up to such reality.
A man was walking around selling biscuits broken into small pieces at exorbitant price, his pockets were bulging with ten thousand yen bills that became nothing but a piece of paper. However, it seemed this emaciated man was the one who wanted food the most.
Right behind, near an improvised checkpoint was a large crowd of people holding placards and screaming. It can't be seen from here, but there was no doubt that these placards had "Let us live!" written on them.
All of these people left their household belongings and their homes and evacuated here, to Tokyo. But even Tokyo didn't have enough capacity to accommodate the refugees coming here from all over the country.

There was more than enough free space, but the tents were set up close to each other as if they were huddling together. It was obvious that the most effective place to cover from wind and rain are the buildings, but one should be really brave to live in half-destroyed buildings and department stores that could collapse any time.
The scene resembled the end of the world, and one might have though such thing could happen only in the movies, but that was exactly what this boy contemplated at this moment.
What all this people had in common was their deathly pale faces and despair and apprehensiveness about an uncertain future.
Hardly a small number of people who refused to lead such miserable life have died in dignity long ago by taking their own lives.
Probably no one will believe if he were told that once this place was the suburbs of the capital.
All of a sudden terrible languor assailed people bodies and their consciousness dimmed.
This boy also was uncertain of what to do from now on and he didn't have a place to return to.
Great number of people died every day and the war situation unilaterally became worse.
The corpses were piled up and burnt, although recently everyone became stingy over fuel, so the bodies were buried in mass graves.
There was not a single day without the smell of burning protein and the odor of decomposing bodies.
This boy was certainly a lucky one. He appreciated the help in organizing the funeral, and though he was trying to concentrate on this only thought, the grief continued to weigh down on his heart for some time.
He closed his eyes and the first thing that came back to him was regular but monotonous low voice.
The boy was sitting in a front row in a room filled with the mix of sutra chanting voices, the singing of cicadas and the distant sound of wind bells.
In front of a monk, who was chanting the name of Buddha, two coffins were placed. Just past them was a great number of floral tributes and a little further were the photographs of the deceased depicting their smiling faces.
The boy felt pain in his stomach as if it was twisted. He tightly clenched his fists and trembled all over. Though he was trying to endure the pain, the tears started dripping from the tip of his nose and soon his trousers became wringing wet.
Just a week ago the area this boy lived in was invaded by "Gastrea" and became the site of a fierce battle.
While the flames of missiles' jet engines and mortars colored the sky bright red, the father thrust his stubbornly resisting son in the night train, leaving him in the care of his friends in Tokyo. Right before the doors of the train were closed, he said with a serious face, "Your mother and I will join you soon". They turned into small charcoals.
A mass funeral.
Though he understood the meaning of these two mere words, he was receiving an explanation of it for hours.
At first, unable to believe it, he grabbed the charcoal that he received. Since it was just a lump of charcoal, when he crumbled it in his hand with unbelievable ease, it turned into small pieces and fell out of his hand.
The boy opened and closed his pitch black hand, and was trying to join together the explanation he was given and the reality, but without luck.
He just couldn't believe that several days ago this cinders were his mother and father. The cinders couldn't laugh or sleep by his side or make delicious meal.
When he came to his senses he grabbed the monk reading sutra, kicked the lid of the coffin and went berserk. He displayed an empty coffin to the people attending the funeral and screamed several times: "My parents are not dead!". He slammed through black-and-white striped curtains and ran outside. On the second day after he left the huge mansion of the man who was taking care of him, he was drifted to a makeshift tents of the refugees.
However he didn't have a ration ticket and no one showed any mercy and gave him something to eat. There was no other choice but to chew tree roots and sip grass sap, that's why before long he got explosive diarrhea and food poisoning and became dehydrated.
Not long ago he started experiencing giddiness from standing up too fast and contraction of visual field.
He wasn't able to stand up, so he was just sitting helplessly on the street his back against the wall.
When he looked in front of him with his bleary eyes, the only thing he could see was a great number of legs. The legs of many thousands of loitering refugees were passing in front of his eyes.
Thin legs, walking legs, legs of children, men and women.
His mouth was absolutely empty and dried up of saliva. He stretched his hands and with all his might cried for help in a feeble voice, but no one stopped.
A tear flowed down his cheek.
He didn't want to go back to that house—— to the house of Tendo.
To his new parents and his many brothers and a sister whom he met just a week ago. But he didn't have self confidence that he will be able to live side by side with them.
But it's all right. Strange, but when he thought like that, the fear of death grew less.
Even the children understood that this was the end of this country.
Eighty percent of its territory was invaded by Gastrea — the land, the water, the air. Self Defense Forces also suffered catastrophic losses. An incredible number of people was killed.
If he'd died right here right now he wouldn't suffer much pain.
But—— The boy was scratching the ground with all his strength.
Even if there was a slightest chance he could survive here, he would devote the rest of his life to find his parents. This cinders couldn't be his parents. If he manages to stay alive, he would definitely search for them in every corner of the world.

Suddenly a prolonged rumbling roar echoed throughout the neighborhood. The people wandering through the streets stopped and tilted their heads. One man who quickly assessed the situation climbed up the church belfry and with a fierce look rang the bell.
The boy slowly lifted his gaze towards the sky and saw a big shadow flying over the mountain ridge. When everyone realized that it was a giant flying creature, the camp turned into madness.
Screaming, pushing and shoving each other, trampling down old women and children — everyone started running randomly, trying to be at least one more step away from this creature.
Staying in clouded state, the boy continued to stare at the sky with his arms wrapped around his knees. He was hungry and dehydrated, thus unable to make even one step.
Several seconds later something else flew out of the mountains, this time some kind of machine.
It was a support fighter of Self Defense Forces.
The pursuit fighter making intense jet sound and the giant creature trying to break away from it, as if in dance, performed acrobatic maneuvers in the air. Ten years ago such a scene could only be seen on the TV.
The fighter finally seized an opportunity and launched an air-to-air missile. A sparrow missile, with its jet engine fired, rammed into the side of the creature who was trying to evade, and then a flame flower bloomed in the sky.
One of its wings torn off, the giant creature let out a long scream in the air. Upon seeing this, the crowd stopped and raised a cheer.
But the next moment the shouts changed into screams.
'It's coming here!——'
The falling creature changed its trajectory, and the boy's field of vision started expanding.
The shout and roar became twice as louder as before, and one could hear nothing but the scream.

When the creature touched the surface and the ground shook with a violent tremor, people in the crowd fell down one after another with screams. As if a plane trying to land on a runway, this mysterious creature adjusted its trajectory, but it couldn't easily counterbalance an impact produced by its weight. With a deafening sound it made a hard landing and started moving towards here, mowing down the buildings and makeshift tents on its way.
'I'll be smashed', thought the boy and tightly shut his eyes.
There was choke-inducing earthly smell, and someone was heavily breathing, but it wasn't this boy.
Alive...
He slightly opened his eyes and right before him—— was the head of this flying creature close enough to touch it.
"Gast...rea"
The boy murmured unknowingly.
About forty meters in length it looked like a bird since it had reddish wings as if of a big ancient dragon. But it also had this deep red eyes, protruded out in half circles, sparkling like a crystal. They seemed similar to compound eyes of a dragonfly.
It was a result of a double-factor cross between a bird and an insect.
A great amount of black blood was running down its sharp beak and a red light was visible inside its painful-looking swollen chest.
Thanks to him... no, because of him.
As if reacting to boy's hatred, Gastrea mustered all its strength and raised its upper part of the body. A long thread of blood dripped down to the ground. The monster opened its beak wide and gave a piercing scream right before the boy's eyes.
The blood mixed with drool sprayed all over his face. The wind from beast's stinky breath played with boy's hair. The monster's body shook and a scream started coming out from its throat.
"I'm done", thought the boy and curled up.
At this very moment he was pulled by his hand with a tremendous force, he barely escaped Gastrea's sharp beak.
"M-mister."
Though this man reached an age of sixty, he had a sturdy physique and a towering stature.
He was the one who was taking care of this boy — the head of Tendo family, Kikunojyo Tendo.
He came here looking for me? To such place?
While the boy a bit confused was thinking if it's a good idea to thank the man, the riot police finally arrived and surrounded barely breathing Gastrea, aiming guns at it.
Without looking in the boy's direction, the person who saved his life announced:
"If you don't want to die, then live, Rentaro."
At a sign from the commanding officer a ton of empty cartridges danced in midair and dry gun shots echoed in the sky.

In eleven months, the people of Japan conceded defeat, and closing "Monoliths" all over the country they started preparations to autonomous defense.
For the sake of Japan's survival, as a "temporary measure" the major world powers closed the Monoliths.
More than half of Japan's territory was invaded, a great number of people were dead and a dozen times more went missing.

And so, in 2021 the mankind was defeated by the Gastrea.
Ten years passed...
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Misogi
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by Misogi »

Thanks for the translation, it's quite interesting.
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Divine Conqueror
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by Divine Conqueror »

Sweet. Thanks for the trans.
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arczyx
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by arczyx »

It seems interesting, and the art is also very good too. Why don't you start set up a poll here?
Anyway, thanks for the translation!
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Misogi
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by Misogi »

I added it, if it helps. And because I would like to see this LN translated.
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Divine Conqueror
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by Divine Conqueror »

I found 2 more novel illustrations from Googling:
Image
Image


Oh, and apparently, Black Bullet is getting a manga adaptation on August 27th .
Image

Bigger illustration
Spoiler! :
Image
Even the manga art looks good.

Oh, and here's a video review for anyone who understands Japanese:
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Darklor
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Re: Black Bullet

Post by Darklor »

Hm, and no one has created a teaser project yet...
Please don't mind my bad english since I'm german.

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