Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW OF SEASON 1 ONLY** Darker than Black is a very cool, very unique show that is a great watch if you are looking for a nice change-of-pace anime. Darker than Black does not follow the traditional model of story-telling at all; in fact, it seems to create it's own rules. Rarely do you run into an anime that can balance its serious and depressing moments with light-hearted comedy so effectively all while being topped off with an intriguing plot, much like Fullmetal Alchemist. While it certainly has flaws (We'll get to those) and the FMA comparison is a bit generous, Darker than Black is undoubtedly a fantastic anime. Story: 8/10 Ten Years ago, an impenetrable field known as "Hell's Gate" appeared and psychics who wield paranormal powers at the cost of their conscience also emerged, becoming known as "contractors". Hei, the protagonist, is among the most powerful of these contractors, and along with his blind associate, Yin, he works for one of the many rival agencies vying to unlock the mysteries of Hell's Gate. Considering the involvement of the CIA, MI6, and other top secret agencies, Darker than Black's storyline gives off the an inevitable "secret agent" vibe that is pretty rarely portrayed in anime, at least not effectively. The most notable aspect about the show's plot, however, isn't the story itself, but it is the way the story is told. Rather then a continuous storyline, Darker than Black is told in a series of 2 episode long arcs that vary greatly in time, setting, and characters involved. The only real constant between these arcs is the protagonist Hei, but more on him later. This method of story telling was destined to be either hit or miss, and it was definitely a hit. It leaves the viewer intrigued as bits of information are revealed little by little in each arc until you finally have every piece to the puzzle and you can gaze upon the beautiful mosaic that has been assembled at last. The plot is really what gives the anime it's unique flair and that is the reason the show is so popular. That being said, there a few things that really irked me about the plot. For one, it didn't go in-depth enough about most of it's main plot elements. For example, what exactly is "Hell's Gate", specifically? How and why did it appear? Where did contractors come from? How exactly do you become a contractor? What exactly is a doll? How do you become a doll? etc. There are simply too many unanswered questions about the very foundation of the plot for this show to receive a 9 or 10 out of 10 in this category. Additionally, the ending was a bit underwhelming. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't good either. It didn't have the level of satisfaction that I was hoping for, but some people liked it. I'm well aware of the second season, but, well... I'll write a review on that season later. Art: 9/10 Incredibly fluent and crisp animation. It really stands out for it's attention to detail and for how visually appealing it is. Truly beautiful artwork. Sound: 8/10 A pretty cool sound track with great openings, endings, and in-show tracks. The voice acting is also above average, but the sound effects were a bit weaker then I was hoping for, but after watching Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom, all gun sound effects sound bad to me. Characters: 9/10 The characters of Darker than Black, in my opinion, are what tie the entire show together. Hei, the protagonist, is one of the most intriguing characters in anime history. He is cool, mysterious, and his motivations aren't entirely clear until you get further into the show. The idea of a contractor who retains his emotions and has actual pure intentions grows on you as the anime goes on and Hei's sheer complexity and backstory are just the icing on the cake. Everyone who has seen this show loves Hei. There are many, many noteworthy side characters, including Yin, the chief of police, Huang, and Mau. All of these characters have arcs dedicated to them and all of them have intriguing backstories, especially Yin. As previously mentioned, the plot may be the reason the show is so popular, but I think the characters are the true driving force of Darker than Black. Overall: 8/10 There really isn't another show out there that can be accurately compared to Darker than Black, and that is the reason that I highly recommend giving it a watch. The intricacy of the characters and story-telling technique is almost hypnotic and it makes for a very addicting experience. Check it out if you get the chance (Season 2 is very different from season 1, however, I'll write a review on that one soon).

I got to this out looking at Anime's similar to FMAB. The trailers I watched DO NOT depict what you'll be dragged through for 37 episodes (25 in season 1, 12 in season 2 if you get that far). To keep it simple, this anime kind of just doesn't explain ANYTHING that is going on in the anime. You have no clue what Hell's gate is, or where it came from. You have no clue who that old lady is doing the taboo reading with the stars, they dont explain who she is, or what she is talking about. You have no clue who or what the "syndicate is". I dont think I could reveal the plot if i tried because I dont know what is going on. Pretty much "contractors" are people that look, talk, act, heck even used to be humans that have some form of a power and someone wants to kill them all off, because they are killers? Even though they only kill for the most part unless instructed by some higher up suits to do dirty work? Trust me, if that doesn't make sense, it is because it isn't supposed to. The crazy thing is the end goal is erase all contractors, you often find contractors fighting each other, not really quite sure what they are fighting for other than to fight or because they were told to. The character development is awful, and season 2 was somehow worse despite knowing at LEAST something that is going on. The fights were extremely lousy, usually ending in 40-50 seconds or less. I wouldn't recommend it to a friend.

SPOILER-FREE™ Preface: I became extremely inebriated the night I decided to write my review of the Darker than Black franchise. While I admit this isn't my best writing ever (actually it's some of my worst), Darker than Black was one of the worse anime I've seen so it seems fitting. Yes it's going to be one of those reviews. This is intended to cover the entire franchise, meaning this review applies to every anime with "Darker than Black" in the title. So let me tell you a story about the other day. Actually it was longer than that ago I think, whatever it’s a story. So I’m hanging out with this girl, just me and her. It wasn't a date or anything, our relationship was completely platonic at the time. Nowadays I would describe our relationship more as “nonexistent” than “platonic” but that’s an unrelated point, probably. Anyways she’s an artist or some shit, in the art club at college at least, one of those go-getter types good at everything you know? She gets to talking about some art exhibition that just opened that she wants to go to, maybe she should go with a friend or something (nudge nudge wink wink). Just like I always do, I fumbled that shit like Eustace, that fat kid from your gym class in school, fumbled the football thrown at his nuts by Cliff, the 7th grader who’s identical to Tim Tebow in every way except his religious fervor is more likely directed toward the King of the Bottomless Pit than Jeebus. You probably laughed your ass you little shit, you’re going to hell, where Cliff will be a ruler and violate your every orifice with a spiked dildo (no homo man, no homo). Where was I? Oh yeah, I hardly could have handled the situation worse, it was one of those situations where I might as well have been juggling gas jugs and torches but couldn't think of anything but that itch on my ass. I basically acted exactly like the densest harem protagonist imaginable with a lot less charisma and a lot more anxiety issues. My verbatim response is kept in one of those memory centers that the booze hits first but suffice to say: it was something along the lines of: “y-y-you too *mumble*” This highlights a dire point in my personal life in that I can’t handle women for shit. I mean damn, I’m more than halfway through college and I just got over panic attacks when I form words directed in an angle more acute than 70° from a vagina, or was it obtuse? I’m a goddamn business student I can’t do math. Or girls come to think of it. What does all this have to do with Darker than Black, an anime made by the great (snicker) studio Bones in the Year of our Bush 0006? Well just thinking about this story makes me embarrassed, angry and depressed, exactly the same emotions I have when I recall watching Darker than Black. STORY 2/10 Did you know that in some parts of South America it’s totally normal for men to have sex with donkeys? I’m not making this up, there's a documentary on YouTube. I’d love to draw an analogy between these people and fans of this show, but no matter how I wrack my brain I simply can’t come up with any relation between being a zoophile and being a liar. The reason I say fans of DtB (Darker than Black) are liars is not because of the erroneous statement that this anime is the greatest thing since Death Note, although that argument could be made. The far more erroneous statement they will make is that the first and second seasons of BtDF (Black to the Darker Future) are COMPLETELY different and although the first season was AWESOME you can’t POSSIBLY rate the second season the same. Well I’m here to tell you they’re definitely shoving it in a mule’s pu-I mean they’re wrong. Anyway here’s the plot in a nutshell: There’s this guy named Pedro and he has sex with a donkey. I mean a mysterious event happens on earth where two “gates” (which are never properly explained or shown on screen, like a lot of this anime’s lore but ONE OF THEM WAS IN SOUTH AMERICA) open and lots of people lose their emotions, gain superpowers and their progress can be tracked by fake stars which have replaced the real night sky. You would think that NASA and such would notice if giant balls of plasma were switched with holes poked in a giant black tarp but then again you miss a lot of stuff when you’re having sex with a donkey. Scratch that. I’m not about to totally begrudge a series with some inconsistent backstory, what really matters is the characters, plot, donkey loving, etc. The “donkey loving” was just a metaphor by the way. Both seasons are the same: largely unrelated “action” and “drama” lead up to an incomprehensible ending. I don’t know what the author was going for: Evangelion-esque, a post-modern approach to consistency or maybe just screwing a donkey. By which I mean I feel like it was just supposed to leave a lot to the imagination. The goal here is to create a thriller balanced between the necessarily-authoritarian state and rebels just trying to find a place in this world. More often though it just winds up being one of Hei’s knives trying to find a place in the chest of one of many of a cast of almost interesting side characters. A lot is presented in the story, but very little is solved. The plot of this anime was tangled, barely linear, and left a lot of loose ends. Lots of sub-plots are raised, and then dropped, none of the lore is explored to any comprehensible depth, and in the end very little if anything is resolved. For example: what exactly caused this situation? How did this world change the way it did? What made the characters the emotionless blobs they are, other than a plot device? More specifically I think Hei’s powers relate to his time in South America. Maybe if you have sex with a donkey you could shoot lightning out your fingers, try it. ANIMATION 4/10 Desperation can drive a man to great lengths, I should know. But never mind that, religion can drive a man to lengths reasonable men could only dream of. I’m not trying to be a militant atheist or anything, far be it from me to criticize all religion. But anime reviews are meant to inform, so I feel I should make you a little smarter. I’m sure you already know about Mormons and Scientologists so I’m going to focus on Orthodox Jews, bear with me I’m going somewhere with this. Anyway ultra-Orthodox Jews do some crazy stuff: like the hats and the meat and not pressing buttons on Saturday. But did you know that some will wear plastic bags on airplanes? Apparently the rationale is that they can’t pass over a graveyard so the plastic bag is to keep them pure just in case. I wonder what the altitude limit on that is, the era of space travel is going to be hilarious if religion survives that long. What’s more, some sects will practice circumcision in a prehistoric way. They will cut off the foreskin without anesthesia and then (supposedly to prevent infection) suck, and not even I’m creative enough to make this up, ON THE BABY’S PENIS, THERE ARE OLD MEN OUT THERE GIVING HUMMERS TO 7-DAY-OLDS. That is absolutely disgusting, just like the animation of Darker than my Soul, I mean Darker than Black. This anime is (now) 7 years old so I don’t mean to criticize by the same standards that I might apply today, but seriously it would be sub-par even 7 years before that. The production values of this show are low, to say the least. It is seriously unimpressive and to be honest I think even the poorest studios should at least include a few moments where they try to impress us. But hashed CG, still frames and lazy design are just the tip of the iceberg of an anime more than 40 episodes with not even one decent scene. Even in action, where most studios dump their money, there was really nothing to see here. Bones may not be on the same level as a Shaft or Gainax but they must have really hit a tough patch in 2007 and 2009 respectively. SOUND 6/10 Maybe my problem is that I’m a weeaboo. I mean I’m drinking sake in Japan, writing an anime review. Maybe if I gave up my childish habits I could g…

Summary: Darker Than Black is a neo-noir crime thriller that has some nice pieces, but is held back by an incoherent story and a lack of progression in either the characters or the plot. It's structured as a series of 2 or 3 episode arcs, and many of the arcs are filler and don't link back to a single unified story, leaving the season as a series of floating, unconnected pieces that are fairly unsatisfying in the absence of a central story. Positives: + Many of the arcs are strong individually. They're relatively compelling, if simple, crime thriller plots, and the action is good. Each arc will individually hold your interest for the most part. + Action scenes and animation look pretty good for the show being almost 15 years old. Negatives: - Unfocused plot. There's no real central story here, unless you count the final arc, which you can't really, since it only lasts about 4 episodes and is only vaguely alluded to before that. The show is basically a series of short stories that don't really connect to each other. A lot of things happen in these shorter stories, but it isn't really anything of significance. There are two separate arcs following the internal power struggles in minor gangs that are never once referenced outside of that particular arc. This kind of episodic storytelling can work in a show with stronger themes or by framing it around a strong main character, but Darker Than Black has neither of those, so it ends up largely being a collection of entertaining stories that don't mean anything or have a larger narrative when they're put together. - Difficult to care about the characters. Especially early on, the main characters in the series are almost an afterthought. Even Hei, the nominal main character of the series, is sidelined for long stretches, only showing up to foil a bad guy at a critical moment after being largely uninvolved in the rest of the story. They almost seem tangential to the oneshot characters that are only in for their particular arc. A lot of energy and attention is put into making these temporary characters worthwhile, but it comes at the expense of the actual characters that will be with us for the whole series. Other characters, such as the private detective and his slacker assistant, could have been done away with entirely with virtually no impact on the show. They are also far too cagey about the main character, his past and his personality in particular. It's clear the intention was to make him a dark and mysterious Batman type figure, but it comes off as simply boring and unrelatable instead. - Predictable storytelling. For a mystery/noir thriller, the mysteries in this series are not very entertaining. The plot twists will all be easily spotted from a mile away. It also has a bad case of Cowboy Bebop Syndrome, where it unceremoniously kills off its new character of the week at the end of their arc so the status quo is always preserved (Huang's lover is the most obvious example of this). After you start noticing this happen regularly, it becomes impossible to care about side characters that are virtually guaranteed to be in the ground by the end of the next episode at the absolute latest. - Weak ending. Slight spoilers ahead, but I'll keep it vague. The ending is a real disappointment, teasing an impossible choice for the protagonist only to have him choose option 3, which is for everything to stay exactly the same and for him to not have to make the choice at all. In the end, we end up basically in the same place we started, only with a lot more people dead. It's an extension of the show's broader problem with a lot of things happening, but none of it ever really meaning much.

Overview: Darker Than Black, despite the hilariously emo sounding title, is a series that came to me highly recommended. Like the title suggests, it tells a story with a very dark tone, brooding characters, and is not exactly a jovial "slice of life" series. Does being so dark make it actually good? I will try to explain Plot: 5/10 Spoilers!!! The plot is that 2 inter-dimensional gates have appeared on Earth for reasons that are never explained and all of the stars in the sky have disappeared and have been replaced with fake stars. The reason for this is also never explained, but each fake star represents a powerful magic user that can perform amazing feats, but must "pay a price" every time they use their powers. This price is performing a certain deed that could be anything from hopping 3 times on one foot to breaking a bone, to eating a certain food. There is no rhyme or reason to each user's contract. Magic users are also all sociopathic for reasons that are never explained and only act in rational self interest. Basically the world is now filled with wizard Ayn Rand's suffering from extreme OCD. A war was apparently fought over one of these dimentional gates, but the details are never given as to how the war started, why it was fought, or how it ended the status of the US as a world power despite the war taking place in Brazil. What we do know is that the US is now run by the Chinese Triad gang...for reasons that are never explained. Are you seeing a pattern here? Darker than Black has cool ideas, but never actually fleshes them out and virtually EVERYTHING goes completely unexplained. You just have to accept really ridiculous shit and move on. This wasn't intended to be a highbrow art film, yet fucking Eraserhead explains more about the plot and background than Darker Than Black. There is a way to let the audience fill in details and correctly do what Darker than Black tried to do. The videogame Dark Souls explains very little in terms of plot, but has an extensive lore that allows players to slowly piece together the details and make theories. The writer of Dark Souls said he was inspired by reading Western Fantasy books during his early youth when he couldn't really read English and could only grasp a fragment of the plot. With only a partial understanding of what was going on, he had to fill in the rest with his imagination. The difference between Dark Souls and Darker Than Black is that Dark Souls at least gives clues in the form of extensive lore. In Darker Than Black, the writing is so lazy that even the dedicated fan wikias don't have fan theories as to how the fuck most events happened or what the fuck is going on. Perhaps Darker Than Black referred not to the series tone, but to the clarity of the plot. Characters: 6/10 Darker than Black is largely episodic, so characters are introduced and abandoned every couple episodes. The only character that really gets development is Hei, who is basically Chinese Batman. Hei is a cool character, but not a great enough character to carry the entire show. He isn't really that unique, amazingly badass, or THAT interesting at a character psychology level. Like most other aspects of this show, the characters are fine, but not great. Art and Sound: 7/10 The art and sound are both pretty good in this series. This is a modern production with a big budget, so you would expect them to execute well in this area. I was not disappointed. Although I am glad the writer/director of the series wasn't in charge of art. Otherwise half the screen would be covered with a black bar and we the audience would have to guess what is going on in the left half of the screen during every episode without any answers ever being given or even hinted at. What is going on over there? Who the fuck knows? I don't need to explain shit! Enjoyment: 6/10 Have you ever wondered what it would be like if David Lynch directed HBO's series Heroes? That is pretty much EXACTLY what this is. A version of Heroes that rapes your mind and nothing is ever fucking explained...EVER. Overall: 6/10 Obscurity in art can be valuable. When the author holds the hand of the audience and explains every last detail, it eliminates healthy, intellectual discussion and interpretation. We wouldn't still be debating TS Elliot's 4 Quartets if Elliot left behind a Cliff Notes that explains everything he meant. On the other hand, just leaving out details and not explaining anything in your plot doesn't automatically make your work good. In fact, without leaving any clues that even give hints as to the explanations of key plot points, it could be viewed as lazy and utterly pretentious writing. However, I will point out that Darker Than Black does do a few things well. It is a technically well made series with a decent main character, cool atmosphere, and some unique ideas. It had the daring to try something different, even if it could have been executed far better. It isn't a great series, but it certainly isn't a bad one.

Darker Than BLACK is an anime which came to my attention as I was scouring through the works of the Studio Bones. Since I liked stuff from Bones I decided to give it a whirl and here I am. Let's Begin. Story – 7.3 The story of DTB centres on the actions of Hei, our “protagonist” and I use the word centres very loosely. This is because of the story telling narrative that DTB employs, as each arc is told from the perspective of usually someone other than our MC. Furthermore each arc is told over the course of 2 episodes rather than one, which allows for far more character development and depth of storytelling within each arc. This is a unique feature and it works very effectively as it draws your further into this mysterious world. But therein lies the problem; Most of it remains a mystery. Hardly anything is actually explained within the course of the anime which leaves the viewer without a sense of closure, which for an anime such as this one, is key. This feeling of dissociation can reduce the immersion and therefore reduce the enjoyment one can get from this anime. However these negatives are outweighed by the interesting premise and the unique execution of story-telling narrative of the anime. Art – 9.2 The animation for DTB was done by Studio Bones and like most of their mid-2000s stuff is of a high quality. The movement is fluid, the character designs are detailed and I can’t seem to remember any point where there was a drop in animation quality. The background too is very interesting as it uses a colour pallet which creates both an aura of darkness but, more importantly, it alludes to the idea that there is a great deal that we don’t know about this universe and all that it entails. However the quality of the action sequences would’ve sold the whole anime to me without anything else. Each one is brilliantly executed with such style that I found it hard not to just sit back and admire it. Also the character designs were all very interesting as they reflected the type of character that each person was. Overall the animation is brilliant with the quintessential style that Bones can bring to the table. Sound – 8.65 (OST – 9.2 and VA – 8.1) The sound for this anime is absolutely brilliant. It is both able to capture the mood of the scene when necessary but also be able to reduce the dark nature of some scenes too and show it in a new light. The perfect examples are some of the chase scenes where zany music is played and, contrary to initial thought, it works to a tee as it makes the chase feel more exciting. On the whole it is an excellent soundtrack with memorable pieces dotted about here and there. Also a special mention to the first opening, TM Revolution I love your voice. The voice acting is very good throughout the anime and the voice actors deliver lines brilliantly at times. However the problem that arises with this dub is the script itself and even with the actors’ best efforts it still shows some weaknesses here and there. Overall it’s a very good dub which is very occasionally let down by some flaws in the script. Characters – 8.0 The characters in DTB are a key reason for why the deep, dark nature of the anime never became overwhelming. There was a massive pallet of Characters within this show and allow for the different personalities to shine in their own given moments. This could vary from down to Earth and very human to superbly eccentric and out there. This variety allowed for the anime to never become stale. I also really enjoyed the fact that there was never a main antagonist of sorts, which allowed for clashes of ideals to occur rather than a fight between good and evil. This factor also added to the dark nature of the anime as our “protagonists” were never pure at nature and did delve into some morally questionable activities. However I did feel there were certain things that could have been executed better. For example most of the character development was left until the latter stages of the anime to occur. This did cause me to become a little disinterested with the characters and their actions. Furthermore some of the characters did feel as if they were surplus to necessity. On the whole it was good cast of characters portrayed in interesting ways and moral dilemmas which develop the characters. Enjoyment – 8.2 I really did enjoy watching this series and it had a brilliant blend of action and exposition. Though the lack of explanation of some finer details and the delay character development did irk me a bit it never detracted massively from the action and the unique story-telling narrative. Overall it was highly enjoyable series to watch. Overall – 8.27 On the whole this was a very good anime to watch. It excelled in the OST and Art departments being highly stylish in both whilst creating a good plot, albeit a little thin at times, and solid cast of varied and vibrant characters. I would recommend this anime to anyone who is a fan of Studio Bones and/or a fan of action. I hope that you found the review helpful and any feedback would be greatly appreciated =D

This series may not be appropriate for everyone. It doesn’t contain the most gore, nor the most violence in a story, nor the most amount of dialogue. However, the convolution and supernatural aspects of this series are bound to confuse some people, but if you’re like me, you’ll find it enjoyable. Story (or otherwise the convoluted background you need to understand) Ten years ago, an inscrutable and abnormal territory known as Hell’s Gate appeared in Tokyo and altered the sky and decimated the landscape. The heavenly bodies disappeared, replaced by false stars. During this time, people who possess various special abilities emerged. Kept secret from the knowledge of the masses, these individuals, known as Contractors, are able to murder in cold blood. Various nations around the world use Contractors as spies and agents, often resulting in violent battles for information. Each fake star has a corresponding contractor, and they vibrate when their contractor’s power is being used. As such, contractors are usually identified by their star’s Messier catalogue number. However, their abilities are gained at the edge of their humanity. They lack human emotions, especially aversion to killing. Contractors usually work for one of various rival Syndicates as spies and assassins, although the ultimate purpose of the Syndicates is initially unknown. (wikipedia) This is basically the background you need to start out with to understand the premise of Darker than BLACK. The series opens with the protagonist, Hei an elite contractor with the Messier code BK-201 and the plot begins to unravel the mysteries surrounding the abnormalities of Hei and his search for his sister Pai, that then pulls in the past that seems to be horrifying and bleak. Art Great animation is what I’ll say for this series. It’s good for the series, perhaps not the best, but still really entertaining. I’ll say its very good for its genre and you’ll find it satisfying to watch. The action scenes are fluidly animated and overall animation is not bad at all. The setting painted by the colors are right for the mood, dark at times, contrasting with the aptly placed humor at others. You wont find a problem with this series in terms of art, though I have to say some scenes maybe one or two seemed like it was cheaply done…. Character Alright, we’re down to the most redeeming aspect of this series. *Takes a deep breath*. For a sci-fi series that I’ve seen, this has some of the best character development you’ll ever see; each character really except for some has an incredibly detailed and intriguing back story that doesn’t detract at all from the overall enjoyment of the main plot. Taking into consideration the mood of the series, the backstories of often grim, realistic, and oftentimes tragic. I’ll say this; lots of people die. The protagonist, Hei, or his alter persona (the alias he uses when not on missions) Li Shengshun is a fascinating case of character study. Very little is revealed about him in the beginning and you begin to wonder if he’s just another one of those silent dominating protagonists. Then very soon, you’re brought into his alias, the gentle, clumsy Chinese transfer student Li Shengshun who has an enormous appetite yet is still thin. Character interaction for the most part aren’t as illuminating or enjoyable as series like Spice and Wolf, where the essence of it is the dialogue, but what makes Darker than BLACK an unique series is each character’s backstory. From Hei’s troubled past and the mysteries surrounding his sister and his lover in the South American disaster, to Yin’s equally bleak past, to Huang’s unbelievably bitter past history; each backstory has relevance to the main plot and provides considerable food for thought on their actions. Enjoyment How do I put this. At first I put this on hold due to the beginning not quite drawing me in. However after a while I returned, and quickly became fascinated by its intriguing storyline. Darker than BLACk is a plot driven series, so much, that I didn’t really care about anything else when I watched it. So will you, when you see it, of the betrayal, irony, friendship, love, and political machinations. Such is the value of Darker than BLACK. I give it a 9/10.

DTB reminds me a lot of Witch Hunter Robin. Both series feature people with supernatural abilities except in DTB they are called Contractors, and both are boring. The premise is boring enough. How many times do we have to see people with superpowers? But the biggest problem lies in the writing by trying to do too many things. A good writer hits two birds with one stone, a bad writer wants to hit ten birds with one stone and misses all of them. The series tries to show the lives of different contractors and how their Contracts affect them, at the same time it also wants to blend in some government conspiracy. Hei's background and storyline (if he actually has any) also attempts to reflect a serious theme, that is don't hesitate in what you believe in. The result? The series turns into a mess and fails to deliver any of them. A lot of times it even gives me this feeling that DTB is more about style than substance. I wasn't able to feel anything for most of the contractors. In the end my only conclusion about their lives is that contractors have feelings and that's it. The government conspiracy isn't very believable either. Hei's serious theme is just jokes because the only times I got to know his character are episode 1 when he said "I hate Contractors" and the final relevation in the last episode when I finally understood why he hates contractors. DTB has other issues too. It features these two detectives that serve no purposes to the story and are very very annoying. The music is at most decent and the two OPs are just average, although I do like ED2 by High and Mighty. The animation is good but nothing outstanding. I would only recommend DTB for its atmosphere if you are majoring in animation. PS Almost forgot. It also has some big plotholes like how did the contractors got their contracts and wth is the Hell's gate etc.

Lately, I got tired from all new anime and I decided to watch some old (10-15) year anime and it was Darker Then Black and wanna tell something for you, I am a guy, who never put in anime ( in overall) 1/10-5/10 becouse its not right and no one underestimate. I never done anime, which in general I will put 1/10, 2/10, 3/10 4/10 and 5/10 most likely I'll drop it instead wasting time. This review contains only first season. OP intro 7/10- nothing special, nothing spoiled in direct Story 5/10- like the old anime the main story line starts in +/- in every 5 series(example 5 episode-10,15,20,25) and end, as usual only main story not side storys. Art 9/10- art like in Phantom: Requiem for the Phantom (its only my thoughts). Sound 7/10- nothing special Character 9/10- the characters are almost completely told, what they are, it was, except Cat, who likes me most from all characters. Enyoyment 9/10- the anime was depressive, but something holded me to watch all first season. Overall 8/10= Very Good, but that's one genre- mystery- is a reason why it holds me to watch it.

"If you pretend to feel a certain way, the feeling can become genuine all by accident." -Hei Darker than Black is an action-packed anime featuring quite a few unique and aspiring concepts. Some are done well, while others fall short of expectations or are entirely unexplained. Sometimes in animes you have to accept the unexplainable, but when it such an important part of the plot, it can leave a bad taste in your mouth… or make you feel unfulfilled. There are numerous highly positive reviews of Darker than Black, and while the show is not bad, some of its weaknesses need to be addressed. Try to keep an open mind as you read my review. The show has many positives, so I don’t want to sound like I’m ripping it apart. It’s an anime that you will be instantly gripped by, or one that will make your mind meander due to the structure of its pacing and various loose ends. Contractors are one of the most interesting concepts I’ve encountered in an anime. Certain humans in this futuristic world exhibit special powers at the price of performing an action serving as their contract’s terms, or remuneration. The catch is, this is NEVER fully explained in the anime. Who made the contracts? Were they forced to sign them? Why is the sky fake, and what do the stars have to do with contractors? At least give me a hint as the viewer, and not chock it up to PFM (Pure Effing Magic ). I feel like the series fell short of greatness due to the sheer amount of unexplained plot points. Hei is a fantastic lead protagonist, quiet and justified in nature. He is not technically a contractor making him more intriguing, and he easily possesses the most character development of any other main in the series. The writers do a decent job of not focusing on him 100% of the time as well… although, some could say this led to the first 8-10 episodes feeling quite episodic in nature. They would introduce a character, I’d wonder how they would impact the plot, and they’d be dead or cast to the wayside before the ending theme played. It reminded me a bit of the character attachment problem “Attack on Titan” also suffers from. Here’s a new character, here’s their background, you like them? Well BAM, they’re dead now. On to the next episode! You could take an alternate approach to this blemish however. Seeing the background to the contractors themselves, and how different each of their remunerations were (most notably the rotund woman who belted catastrophic sounds and her choking remuneration), can help you relate to them better. It’s all in how you perceive it. The rest of the Hei’s syndicate group is written in well, I really enjoyed Huang and Mao the most of all the characters, even though you never really take a step back into Mao’s past. A few of the characters were almost entirely unnecessary however. The intelligence agent, Misaki Kirihara served as nothing more than an unfulfilled love interest for Hei, and her uncovering of the syndicate’s involvement with contractors could’ve been accomplished in another way. The private eye team of Gai Kurasawa and Kiko Kayanuma were completely pointless, serving only as a comic relief trope. Their episodes felt mostly like fillers, and may have only existed to expand the 25 episodes. Maybe that’s just me. The ending seemed to blast into a screeching halt with Darker than Black. Once inside the gate, interactions between Hei and the rest of the cast defied all logic, somewhat as expected. But once the curtain was lifted on the story’s final result, I found myself saying, “really, that was it?” I wasn’t stricken by the plot or the dark atmosphere portrayed in the series enough to feel a sense of fulfillment at its conclusion. It was semi-disappointing, and I was partially hoping for a blow-your-mind style ending due to the widely positive opinions of the show… it just didn’t come for me. This type of animation is my favorite, the early to mid 2000’s with life-like character models that aren’t over-exaggerated in any way. The action scenes were laid out quite well, although I wished they put more of them in the show. Most of the fight scenes were rather short or entirely one-sided. The overall aura of the anime was illustrated well in the environments, and I liked how the inside of the gate was drawn. Voice acting was average, with Hei again taking the cake. The way his voice would change based on which side of himself he was playing was exciting to watch. The OP were both strong and gave me an “on the edge of my seat” feel coming into each episode, whereas the ED concluded with a somber ballad. The OST did an amazing job of heightening the suspense at the appropriate time, and I really enjoyed the dramatic string track that played in the most intense moments of the anime. All in all, Darker than Black is an anime you’ll love or hate depending on your opinion of the first few episodes. I wasn’t necessarily hooked from the get-go, but I did hold on to discover the many mysteries the plot had lying beneath. Not all the mysteries were answered, but the story trudged onward. I did enjoy many elements of the anime, but I don’t feel that it lived up to the hype for me. Thank you for reading!

DARKER THAN (EVERYTHING) BLACK REVIEW: MINDSET: Bones can't really make a plot that actually makes sense at the end of it all, so just watch this for the action. Because You'd understand this review better than understanding where babies come from. SYNOPSIS: Where in this near future world like its 2020 or something, two massive gates appeared out of nowhere, and for some reason, the birth of humans known as “Contractors” have appeared out of nowhere because they have contacted a contract, with something... (the plot is a confusing mess) It tries to have some level of different story telling as the camera zooms in through different characters for us to give a shaft about. REVIEW: Kicking of with this review, lets start with “Hei” our protagonist. Really, he doesn’t get barely to no development at all because of BONES couldn’t even have the brains to come up with a logical plot, they couldn't even make logical characters! There is LITERALLY NOTHING to him, he has like no personality other than looking emo and reacting to situations in a less naturally humane manner. He's just some over powered assassin who has no personality except for a few quirks like the amount of food he eats per minute, and no, very small character quirks and being completely OP does not equal character depth, overall personality or development of such character(s). This indicates that if Hei has no humane trait that will create depth and is just left there as a ruthless killer with bare motives and the vaguest excuse for a flip back story, then this makes him some sort of pseudo one dimensional character that has half the complexity of a talitubby! Sure, seeing him doing different things will equal depth like how he was supposed to assassinate this red head, but instead saves her, but because Hei's motives are so dimmly expained, it builds no complexity, tension or sympathy if he meets such character we don't even know about! And that’s my biggest issue with 95% of the cast, they are often defined by one or two traits and don't even lack a half-cut motive of there actions and personality! Most don't tend to show no care or empathy for others and colleagues. This makes everything feel unnatural, without depth, tensionless, and a failed attempt for basic methods on how to make three dimensional characters. Too many of the contractors (who are the vast majority of the side characters) run in the same category, and tends to feel as if the writers were trying to put more effort into making the powers look cool to somehow create such humanely complex traits, but again, cool super powers are more of an aesthetic plot device to excuse the fact that there are cooler fight scenes. There is again, the occasional good character(s) that fill a small unit percentage of the entire cast, but it all pales down to a very lazy written cast that is only excuse was to show how “Cool” there powers were. (or make them more emo if they don't have powers) Speaking of trying to look emo, when I said that there were a small amount of good characters, all of those characters are human. (not all humans) but if where trying to talk about a world when there seems to be a higher being of humans going out of control because of the original human race, You expect something much deeper and thought provoking than a bunch of lousy writers saying “OOOOOH LOOK AT THIS COOL SUPER POWERS!” If Bones Company don't have the logical senses to make a plot that doesn’t confuse the heck out of You, then this show is also just as confusing as knowing the difference between a mouse and a mouse. There is far too much horribly place pieces of foreshadowing, they don't clearly explain things but makes it so unclear that it drives You into confusion, and at the end of it all its just a big mess. At first, the show runs in simple arcs that last about a few episodes, but as soon as the writing team decided to put all of these smaller stories into one large arc that was meant to put all of these little pieces altogether into a decent conclusion, they started throwing plot holes that don't go anywhere, characters who don't go anywhere and the whole story collapses into itself as a confusingly jumbled mess! And soon enough, You forget about it... BTW: No one develops. At least the fight scenes look pretty damn cool, the budget remains very consistent and above average all the way through. Action scenes have a sense of fluidity, a lack of cheap chibi scenes to create forced comedic scenes, creates an illusion that there is a lower level of realism and maturity. The designs of the characters are all memorable in some way in their own right, with each one having very recognisable designs without being too flashy, and they all have this very fine finish. You can clearly tell the effort the animators have put out on this project. Which is the biggest redeeming factor about bones. Musical scores are simply great, there is such a large variety of memorably great tunes, and the opening gets me damn Hyped to see the next episode, what I really love about this OST, is just the amazing variety that has been put in the style and instruments while still having this really snazzy jazz-like feel. They really do portray the emotions greatly, and serves an impact if You listen to them alone. LEGACY: I really do think that this Anime is usually going to be remembered for its visuals and music really. Sure, these are very shiny gold keys, but the door that You unlock with is a little boys room in absolute shambles and fire! I too, back when I was a tasteless casual never understood why this show was so great to begin with when I finished watching it, and this review were still these thoughts of the show. But now that I have grew smarter My knowledge of what’s good storytelling grew, and hopefuly, and slowly, the more Anime fans expand to such hierarchy of knowledge about there mediums way of writing, a story, the better they can tell the difference of a shiny mess, and what’s actually considered to be on par with Legend of the Galactic Heroes! SCORES: 2/10 – BONES CANNOT MAKE A PLOT THAT MAKES SENSE AT TIMES! DEAL WITH IT! 3/10 – Characters lack depth, a few good pieces of writing, but nothing much there any ways. 7.5/10 – Bones Animation is great. Period. 8/10 – Give. Me. That. Jazz. 3.5/10 – For an absolute shamble of writing. This makes the show enjoyable due to anyone not caring, and spamming the confusion attack. But brace Your self for some great action and music. FINALE: 4/10 – Sure its a mess, but its flashy and doesn’t leave You too annoyed like Tokyo Ghoul. Oh wait.

Darker than Black is one of those anime that have you clicking the “Next Episode” button at 2 o’ clock in the morning. I really enjoyed watching it and I fell in love with the characters. Story: 9/10 The story takes place in our everyday world—the only difference is that two gigantic ‘gates’ have appeared on Earth, all the stars in the sky are unreal and there are human beings with supernatural powers called “Contractors”. This season of DTB mainly focuses on Hei—a young man who identifies himself as a Contractor but displays the characteristics of an average human. The first few episodes are about the adventurous missions that Hei and his team complete. The story is actually pretty fun and exciting to watch. The pacing isn’t perfect though—I feel like some of the scenes would’ve been more interesting if it was fast-paced. The last few episodes give us a glimpse into Hei’s past and we begin to see the formation of a plot. Art: 9/10 The art was very good. The backgrounds were breath-taking and most of the character designs really did match each characters’ personalities. The only character whose design I didn’t particularly like was Kirihara’s—but that’s just my opinion. I also liked how the difference between “Hei the Contractor’s expressions” and “Hei the average student and part-timer’s expressions” were highlighted. Sound: 10/10 The soundtrack of DTB was amazing and it really did a lot to enhance my experience watching this anime. The voice actors did a great job in embracing their characters and each character could be identified by their voice alone (this was especially helpful in the case of Mao). Character: 10/10 Each of the characters were unique and they all had their flaws and strengths. Kirihara, hard-working and justice oriented; Amber, smart, positive… and somewhat insane; Yin, strange and melancholy yet so lovable; Gai the goofy detective and his cosplaying, money-loving sidekick Kiko; Hei, dark, mysterious… and always hungry; Mao, wise but and self-preserving; Huang, the man with a lot of tough love; and so on. Enjoyment: 9/10 This anime was like a roller-coaster ride for me and I think most people would find it enjoyable. There are some deep and tense scenes but there’s also lots of comedy. I wouldn’t watch this anime for the romance but there are definitely some notable ships. All in all, this anime is, in my opinion, very enjoyable as it gives you that feeling of wanting to see more.

Damn it I wanted to like this so badly. The setting and world making developed for this series were incredibly interesting, I just wish the rest of the series would've followed suit. The art was much better than most series. There are a few fan service scenes but I let it slide because it was handled nicely versus other shows with less moral (re: High school DXD) The sound was good but has a very limited selection. They beat the deadhorse on this one. Half of the characters were hit or miss. Some were cool (Hei and November), some annoying (Kiko and Gai), and one was show stealing (Amber). Now the story. It really annoys me that a story with a good badass lead in a good setting doesn't receive a good review from me. The reason, the plot stunk. I think half the episodes were written by a gorilla banging on a computer. So many parts don't matter and take away from the parts that do. Few shows can make the episodic thing work (like Cowboy Bebop) but this one didn't. Hell, it took me almost a year to watch this entire show because I just couldn't power through. The only reason I finished instead of dropping this series was the appearance of Amber. This is one of the few shows that I can genuinely say if they made it shorter It would've been better. So many questions are asked that are never answered. Throw in a few plot holes for good measure. Finally finish it off by having the character bend to the plot's will instead of having them behave in character and leading to a believable conclusion. A bit of a waste but if you enjoy action and ignore the near non existent plot you'll enjoy it.

Darker than Black is one of those popular series I find hard to like. By no means I find it a lousy show, but despite the number of praises the series received, I can't seem to find myself really enjoying the show. I've finished watching this series ages ago, but I could only find so little to write about. Hence the review the delayed until now. Let's start with the stuff that I really do appreciate. The songs are awesome; the animation remain high quality and consistent; the writing and pacing is solid; and the character's roles are well played and developed through the course of the series. Here's the problem: I find it really hard to relate to any of the characters, and actually liking them. I guess the most likable guy for me would be Huang, for being more humane, thoughtful and mature than most of the other cast. I feel that most of them either too one-dimensional (the main characters, mostly) or developed too late in the series for me to care about them (the key characters late in the story). The plot, as it turns out, it actually incredibly simple, because most if it turns out to be needlessly complicating. Why keep feeding us bit of information about the events of the Hell's gate and Heaven's gate when what we really want to know is our main character's motives, background and relation to the other main characters? I mean sure, he's pretty cool and had an awesome fighting style, but that itself doesn't make him stand out amongst other anime protagonists without the story, which comes almost too late in the series. The series is also irritating in a sense that we kept learning about the supporting characters who are half as interesting and care about even less. I did find the series enjoyable, really. But it seems like every time I anticipated something interesting to happen, I find myself saying "oh great, what now?" because some ELSE boring happened instead. It feels like they're not really interested in selling the main storyline, and that's probably not very healthy for an anime production. Plot/Concept: *Groan* Story Style: Excellent Audio/Visual: Great Value: 7

In short, this anime is where the minority must do what they have to in order to survive-it's kill or be killed. After mysterious gates have appeared on Earth, beings known as Contractors and Dolls appear. Contractors are humans who have lost all their reasoning and gain special powers; each time they use their powers they must pay a 'price'-anything from singing a song to smoking to throwing up. Dolls are humans who have lost all emotions and can send out 'spectors' through certain objects (such as glass, water, metal) to find and track people. Most Contractors and Dolls do the dirty work for other people or organizations- infiltration, spying, killing- doing anything to survive in the same world that hates them. Hei is a Contractor who works for the Syndicate, along with a Doll, Yin, another Contractor, Mao, and a human, Huang. Together they do the dirty bidding of the Syndicate, while Hei also searching for his lost sister. This anime may not be everyone's cup of tea. It is fairly serious, action directed and starts off basically episodic, as the arcs last 2 episodes long. However in the end, Darker than Black made me very contemplative, about what it means to be human and what justice really is. About how in the large scheme of things, life will continue to go on as if nothing has happened and even if one does something great for the overall population, few will notice. For about a third of the season, it is episodic, and while interesting and entertaining to watch, doesn't seem to do much towards plot. But as the anime goes on and the story gets thicker and more details are revealed, you realize that the episodic nature was necessary in order to establish the character of Hei and to introduce the other characters. Also, it helps demonstrate the condition and environment that Contractors and Dolls must live in. Once the initial introductions are complete, the plot becomes much more advanced as you learn people's motives and the arcs tie into one another. What I found most interesting is how the characters evolved, and that is because throughout the anime I didn't really notice that they were changing. It wasn't until the last episode when everything tied together, that I realized this. I was also surprised how much I liked Hei. Hei is supposed to be the bad guy. He kills innocent people, but you end up feeling empathetic for him. He cares about his friends (which is unnatural for a Contractor) and when he is under his alias Lee, he actually is a good guy. Darker than Black is a great anime that is paced differently and some may like that and others may not. Once started, I think it has to be finished in order to understand the plot, characters and to experience it properly. It isn't until the end that everything makes completely sense. All in all, I'm really glad that I ended up watching this anime.

This anime revolves around mysterious people with special power, known as "Contractor". These powers can be anything from teleportation to controlling animals. This anime particularly focus' on a man with electric power and his journey to find out what happened on the 30th February 1969 and where his sister mysteriously disappeared to after that day. The story does seem quite intriguing however the anime does not tell it well. This is because, since he works for CSI, most of the time, you just see him going on random missions killing other contractors with his happy-go-lucky band. The anime is somewhat old so the art style my not be to everyone's liking. There is not too much music from what I can tell other than during the opening and ending. All the characters have quite a fleshed backstory to them and you learn a lot about each of the member's of his group. The fight scenes are what most come for (I came for the romance and was left in tears by the end), and they are definitely worth watching. They aren't too long and most fights are done so creatively that the fights don't become repetitive. Overall, I am pretty satisfied with the romance and all so I give this anime a 7.69/10, which coincidentally rounds up to 8/10

When I look back on my time as an Otaku, one particular moment sticks out more so than any other and it’s probably my most fond memory: The time I watched Darker Than Black for the first time. Now, you may be wondering, “What’s so special about Darker Than Black?” Well, if you read the About Me section in my profile, it will say that I had about a 10 year gap of watching anime and only watched my first “new” show in 2010 and it was Darker Than Black. Now, don’t get me wrong, I’ll be the first to say that DTB isn’t the greatest show, but I will say that it’s a really great show that has some amazing things going for it and I would say it’s a true cult classic as the show is not HUUUGE but does have a large and loyal fan base and is popular enough to be noticed. So it gives me great pleasure to review, in my opinion, an absolute gem of any anime and without further ado; OTAKU’S ON THE LEFT (cheer!), OTAKETTE’S ON THE RIGHT (cheer!) & THE YOUNG ‘UNS (sit down it’s passed your bed time) welcome to my review of Darker Than Black (whatever the fuck that means). HISTORY CLASS!!! Your favourite lesson of the day: Darker Than Black (whatever the fuck that means) is an original anime (meaning it was not adapted from a manga) released in 2007 and was created, directed and written by a wonderful man called Tensai Okamura, who was also a director on Wolf’s Rain, a little show called Neon Genesis Evangelion, Medabots (how awesome is that XD) & Soul Eater; he was also involved in the key animation of little known projects like Totoro, Ninja Scroll and the marvellous Cyber City Oedo 808. Back in track, DTB was animated by Studio Bones, a studio I’m a massive fan of, who other work include Wolf’s Rain, Eureka Seven, Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 (which is sensational) and Ouran High School Host Club. The anime spanned 25 episodes, generated a 4 episode OVA “bridging” series, a full-fledged 12 episode second season and two manga series. Story The story goes a little summin’ like this: Five years before the beginning of the series, a special anomaly dubbed “Heaven’s Gate” appeared in South America causing a 1500KM radius size of chaotic space. The appearance of such an anomaly sparked a huge scale war, then promptly disappeared (the special anomaly) along with everything inside the 1500KM radius. The results of which caused the stars to disappear and be replaced by fake stars (stay with me here) which act as an identifier for certain people who have now been given “super powers”, cool enough when the people use their powers the star their aligned to flickers. Now on the opposite side of the globe, in Tokyo, ten years before the beginning of the series, a similar (or indeed opposite) anomaly appeared dubbed “Hell’s Gate” which prompted the Tokyo government to erect an Attack on Titan sized wall around the anomaly. The appearance of Hell’s Gate leads to a rise of people with powers dubbed Contractors and their assistants/counterparts known as Dolls. Flash-forward to ten years after Hell’s Gate and we are introduced to the events currently happening. During the first episode we are introduced to two of the “main players” in the story to come; Misaki Kirihara, a police officer (to keep it simple) who is part of force specifically tasked to investigate Contractor incidents, basically the Contractor police. She gives us the gist of the Heaven’s/Hell’s Gates and about Contractors & Dolls. She is investigating a specific Contractor, known only as BK-201(the location of the star), trying to find out his identity and some other things that I really didn’t care for. We are instantly introduced to BK-201, introduced to us under the name Hei, known by other Contractors as The Black Reaper; his power is the manipulation and projection of electricity, which is pretty awesome. Now I could go on and on about how badass Hei is but I won’t, just Google Image search him and that will show you. Just know that he has some baggage and mystery – baggage because we learn that Hei was present in South America during Heaven’s Gate and mystery because it appears that he doesn’t have to pay a price for using his powers, evident by him using it multiple times in one go and it also seems that he is able to bypass the emotional restrictions that other Contractors have on them allowing to blend perfectly into normal society, which leads me to our third character; Li Sheng Shun, REMEMBER THAT NAME! This is Hei’s human persona and it works flawlessly well. Other important characters (that I can’t go into more than the little I’ve went into with these characters because it’s soooooo much more meaningful to be caught in the moment when their development goes great, plus spoilers and all) include, Yin – Hei’s Doll, Amber, Mao the cat, November 11 & Havoc. What Darker Than Black’s (whatever the fuck that means) story does, what I think rather well, others don’t, is it presents not just the main storyline, but also other well written tales confined to two-part episodes, mini-stories if you will. It really eases you in and gives you character development for Hei that is so great is addressing his personal problem with being a “Human Contractor”. These stories also fall into different genres away from the main genre. The first story deals with betrayal and lies through the idea of finding out you have been implemented with a false life because you are in fact a mindless Doll is quite the tragic tale that does nothing but eradicate a person’s entire existence and memories and feelings in an instant. Hei also is at odds with his Human and Contractor sides which really (mind you this is the first two episodes) puts real weight to his character. The second story (episodes 3 & 4) is just as bad, maybe even more tragic, with the tale being about a girl who has repeatedly had her mind wiped (and her life replayed) by her father who is desperately trying to produce a cure for her as has contracted the rare strain of being a Moratorium, a person stuck in an in-between stage of becoming a Contractor or a Doll and having no payment for their powers but to suffer severe mental trauma when they do use the power. Her father traverses into Hell’s Gate regularly to procure plants exhibiting the same strain that creates Contractors so that he can experiment on them. It is a really sad situation that Hei finds himself in and these two episodes are probably my favourite of the series. The story does even out and becomes quite the cluster fuck with so many details and made up terms that it’s tends to run away from itself. But when it comes to Hei, the story and cause is always clear and does really come to a tense and exciting end. It’s overall fairly pleasing. One thing I’ll say about DTB’s story is that it tells us how or what something is, and that’s that, no explanations, which can be alright because it can save a show from being too descriptive which does allows us to enjoy the present tense of the show without over-killing us with monologue after monologue, Sosuke Aizen comes to mind. BUT! It can also leave the viewer frustrated to the teeth because the show presents some baffling situation or event that is so pivotal and integral to the plot it’s just by existing, in need of explanation, Attack on Titan anyone? What I’m getting at with this is that Darker Than Black (whatever the fuck that means) sits right in the middle of these two; it explains what it needs to explain within the context of the moment so that the story is ever progressing but it does mention loads of things that are made out to be very very important to the characters and the world that it does leave massive gaps in the chronology. Characters Let’s talk about Misaki Kirihara, & Hei: Misaki Kirihara Misaki is a great human character who isn’t really part of the overall fabric of where the story goes but she does appear enough times to become the female lead although Yin will eventually don the mantle by the end of the series. She’s always wanted…

Review in short: - Batman electrocutes a bunch of dudes, makes scores of women fall for him (and leaves them out in the cold) and saves the world. It's basically Nolan's Dark Knight. ______________________________ How does Hei like his coffee? Darker than Black!! Terrible puns aside, Darker than black was a lot of fun. (Sorry, I won't do it again). In terms of setting, Darker than Black puts a new and surprisingly original twist on a very old question i.e. what happens when individuals with superpowers appear among the populace. The similarity to X-men is obvious but the method of approach is different as in X-Men are mostly products of evolution (The science is wrong though) whereas the contractors' (The X-men in this show) are granted powers due to a mysterious structure called as a gate, the appearance of which caused the night sky to vanish. Also, the usage of the contractors' abilities requires a remuneration which can range from mundane stuff like chugging a beer or smoking a cigarette to really bizarre as in aging or cutting your veins. This is quite an interesting addition and separates it from most other superhero stories. The story proceeds in an episodic format. With the exception of the final arc, we get 2 episode arcs. The story of the particular arc is effectively resolved at the end of it but through these short arcs, we get to learn about another facet of the world of Darker than black. At first, this format perturbed me a lot as I could find no overarching plot but trust me, there is indeed one but it runs in the background and rears its head only after the main characters and their backstories are established. In the end, I was very satisfied with the format and while I did find some arcs to be boring, I must admit that none of them were filler material and every single one must be watched to learn more about the universe and the characters. That said, the main plot itself wasn't all that great and having read more than my fair share of detective mysteries, I had more or less understood the big reveal a few episodes before the ending. It was kind of anti-climatic. I also felt that the series left a large number of loose ends like what is the purpose of the contracts? Why did the night sky disappear? It would have been great if these questions had been answered. As for the characters themselves, Hei was my favorite. He is basically a far more badass version of Batman who has no qualms about killing people (or does he?), can electrocute people, throws knives better than Deadpool and uses grappling hooks with a proficiency that would make Spiderman envious. Oh! and he is popular with the ladies too (So, we can add Tony Stark to the mix, I guess). That said, the guy has quite a few quirks, a dark past and an air of enigma around him that makes him a compelling character to watch. The other main characters Yin, Huang and Mao were also developed well and it was good to know more about them and their tragic pasts. However, I felt that the police detective Kirihara had very little to do with the story and served mostly as shipping material. That was kind of sad, considering that she seemed to be a strong female character who could have been used in a better way. As for the main villain, well, there wasn't any. Saying more would probably spoil the plot so, all I would say is that all the characters, even the kinda evil ones have strong motives behind them so, it is difficult to point fingers and say Hey! That guy is bad! This gray morality is one of the best things about this show and adds to its appeal. Among the side characters, I felt that the British contractor November 11 ( a more suave James Bond) and Amber ( a cuter version of C.C. from Code Geass). I also enjoyed watching the misadventures of the bumbling 'No. 1' private detective Kurasawa and his cosplaying assistant. The show also has a separate host of side characters who appear for only 2 episodes (We'll call them mayflies). You may think that 2 episodes are insufficient to develop a character but surprisingly Darker than black pulls it off and there were quite a few mayflies whom I liked and sympathized with. All in all, I would say that this show takes its characters very seriously and Bones! (the studio) deserves plaudits for making efforts to present such believable and likable characters. As for the artwork and animation, I thought that they were quite average. The same can be said for the background music, voice actors and opening themes. I also felt that the action scenes in this series were quite nicely done and while they were short compared to fighting sequences in say: - DBZ, they were intense, highly violent and exciting to watch. In spite of his abilities Hei, never seems to be invincible, overpowered or a Gary Stu. This makes the scenes even more riveting as you keep trying to guess how Hei can survive the fight (Of course, he'll survive but how?). So, in conclusion, Darker than black packs a decent story, excellent characters, tastefully done action sequences and an original and interesting universe to sink your greedy otaku fangs into. It ain't the best anime out there but it's not bad either. Definitely recommended for people interested in a gritty, action-packed, sci-fi (or supernatural depending on your interpretation of the Gate's powers) anime.

Darker than Black (DTB) is a story that's shrouded with mystery. DTB is an interesting story that has plenty of action, mystery, exposition, and most importantly; originality. The characters are interesting, the soundtrack is good, and the explanation given for everything is actually pretty solid. There's not much else to say Okay, just kidding, there's plenty to say. DTB follows Hei, just your average emotionless superpowered killing machine who wears a peculiar mask and a pretty badass looking knife... or is he...? Hei works for the Syndicate and often goes undercover as weak-willed Lee Shangsun (geez, I hope I spelled that right) for his missions that usually require him to spy on certain individuals, but of course, spying isn't the only thing Hei does in his missions. Hei is a contractor, a type of being that people consider no-longer-human due to having no emotions or desires outside of making rational decisions, oh almost forgot (not really) contractors each have some sort of power that comes at a price. Both the power and price of power for a contractor varies person to person, each having a different power and a different price to pay. Our MC, Hei often has to fight against other contractors which makes for some cool fighting scenes. Heaven's gate and Hell's gate have some side effects and even though the sky and its stars are fake, they still have a purpose. The story of DTB is good but as I was watching it, there were a few flaws in the story. For example, there's the contractors being emotionless, which as I observed the characters that were these contractors, I realized that these people are not emotionless, that's a big fat fuckn' lie... but the story ended up answering for each flaw I caught on to, including the emotionless bit I mentioned. Exposition on all the small things did the story justice. Speaking of exposition, this story has a lot of it. You won't get a single episode that doesn't constantly explain what's going on. I'm used to heavy loads of explanations but at times I felt there was overkill with this story trying to stuff information down my throat that I already figured out myself without them slowly explaining why something happened when someone else already did. It's not a bad thing to have a lot of exposition (sorry, I'm using this word more than I need to) as it helps to use it in drama with lots of crazy shit, but sometimes it's best to just shuddup and let the viewer try figuring stuff out, the best example that DTB shows of this is in the ending of the final episode, an event happens and without explanation, short scenes are shown that allow the audience the piece together everything after the main event. There's plenty of cool fight scenes but unfortunately they don't actually last very long and they become a bit predictable at times while other times they will catch you off guard (maybe) but regardless, they're still fuckin' awesome, especially since each contractor has a different power. The art is good, nothing else to say about it. The soundtrack is cool. The characters are all interesting from Hei and his small team to the serious police chief Misaki Kirihara to the hilarious private investigator kurasawa and his assistant. Even the antagonists are interesting but for some reason, they just weren't all that memorable other than the reoccurring ones. There are about 25 episodes+special but I guess there's also a short OVA series and a second season that's only 12 episodes or something, I'll be sure to check them out at some point before someone kills me. Darker than Black was easy for myself to get into but sometimes I didn't feel interested enough to care about the characters like I do with other anime. The story is original but nothing truly ground breaking but that's okay, because not many things are. I would highly reccomend this to people who like action and/or mystery and remember, Heaven's gate may be closed but Hell's gate is still open, waiting for you...

If you haven't watched this anime series yet, PLEASE GO WATCH IT. A friend of mine just kept recommending it and I just didn't understand why; I mean, was it really that good? The story is in my opinion just beyond intelligent and this series is definitely worth a watch. I must say, I didn't get everything in the beginning, I mean what the heck was a contractor, doll and a gate? But as the story continues, you get to understand more and more of the series. This is just one of those special, non-mainstream series that can become one of your favorites very easily. In some ways I agree with people who say it's underrated, but then again, it's not that badly rated. The bonding with the characters went really well for me. All I can say is stop hesitating and go watch it already, I'm pretty sure this one won't be a let-down as it just drags you along into the story!