Wow, I can't believe I finished that proposal. I thought it'll never end. Anyway, I'll have to play catch-up with the blog now, which will be hard but I'll try to do what I can. Things will probably won't return to the way they were until 1 or 2 weeks later though. It doesn't help that Summer season is about to start and I haven't decided what I want to follow yet. Thankfully at least 2 series that I follow right now is about to end soon. I'm referring to Death Note and Nodame Cantabile. This means I have at least 2 new shows that I can follow without much difficulty. The only problem that I have now is choosing which shows I want to follow. Anyway, Nodame Cantabile will come a bit later after I get a rest.
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Kirhara looks hot in that quipao dress. Seriously, the slit is never high enough. Contractor Kick!! Oh right, serious plot here. I quite liked this Kirihara arc, mainly for focusing on her more feminine aspects. Really fleshed her out beyond cold police chick. Now the fact that the best friend was evil was pretty obvious from the [...]
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What's with Pizza Hut getting their hands all over anime series screened in Code Geass/Darker than Black's timeslot? It's not hard to tell that unlike other, barely recognisable brand, such as the infamous McDoness Burger, theirs is one of the few real-life brands which make it into the show without being disguised as something else. Personally, I don't mind in-series advertising, providing that the series' animation and writing quality remains good. Unfortunately, I feel that the series hasn't been as good in the past 2-3 episodes. I think the main problem that I have with this arc is Wei and his silly ability. His ability feels too over-the-top even for a series about super-powered people. I feel that I went from the usually constrained but stylish series to a tacky, over-the-top Speed Grapher wannabe.
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Darker than Black takes a decidedly comedic turn as a private eye and his pink-haired teenage assistant are sent by an attractive widow on the trail of a missing cat. This change in tone would be bad news for many shows but in this case the end result is really entertaining: the parody aspect raised [...]
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I've been kind of disappointed with the last 2 episodes of this series. I especially dislike this one because the ability of the Contractor is starting to remind me of those freaks from Speed Grapher. I just think the new ability is a bit out there even for a show about people with super powers. At any rate, I hope we'll get to see more character arc. I've been wanting to know more about Yin, for example, but we never have a story about her. I suppose this episode was meant to give Misaki a background story. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything surprising about her background.
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Hige briefly comments on episodes five and six of Darker than Black.
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A great conclusion to the Havoc arc, this. As promised with the detail thrown in at the end of ep #5, there’s some backstory to Hei filled in that sheds a little light on things. I particularly enjoyed the exchange between Havoc and Hei - initially it was the standard torturer/victim setup but the barriers [...]
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This episode is highly unusual but much to my surprise, I really enjoy it. To begin with, I like the pseudo noir style that the episode tries to adopt. What I meant by this is the use of typical noir elements such as the brooding detective, his cheerful secretary, the dangerous villain and most importantly, the seductive and mysterious femme fatale. The amusing thing about these elements is that the series doesn't hesitate to make fun of them. For example, it is a norm in a noir film for the detective to smoke cigarette and the poor secretary rarely have problem with this. In this episode, however, the secretary, Kiko, immediately coughing a furball and tries to open the window as soon as possible. I find it amusing because although a detecting standing in a dark smoky room is an important image of film noir, I'm sure that it's not a pleasant experience to stand inside such room.
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Hei’s character certainly proves extremely interesting to watch, and even though I really didn’t expect something like this to happen, I am perfectly happy with the way this episode went. In fact, I am even more pumped up about this show with this episode. A basic run through with minimal spoilers: Hei tortures Havoc to try [...]
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This episode begins with a lengthy pre-credits intro sequence that introduces a new character in the form of the very English-named(!) Jack Simon, who is trying to clinch a deal with some shady types and ends up getting the info he needs with the help of a Contractor and what appears to be another Doll. [...]
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This episode is amazing and I'm not even talking about the action. I am just amazed at how touching the dialogue and interaction between Hei and Havoc turn out to be. It's been a while since I've seen a one on one conversation which actually interest me. However, their conversation turn out to be really heart-warming and arresting for some reason. Maybe it has something to do with the jazz music that plays on the background or maybe it is because this is the first time I see a Contractor with an unguarded emotion. So far we've seen Hei 'acting' like he has some kind of emotion but I suspect he's actually pretending all of those times. In this one, however, both he and Havoc actually show something resembling true emotion. In fact, it's actually kind of creepy seeing Hei acting like he is in the first few minutes of this episode.
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Bloody hell, this show can be downright brutal when it feels the need to be! This episode delivers some pretty visceral scenes in which hapless police officers get scliced up and some innocent souls get burned alive; the perpetrator of the latter event did not even intend to do so. In a rare moment of [...]
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Rie Fu - Tsukiakari (45MB, for PSP/Quicktime) Tsukiakari is the ED theme for Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha. The song is performed by Rie Fu, whom most people knew after her single, Life is Like a Boat. I've been looking forward to this PV but unfortunately the full song doesn't feel as powerful as the short version. I keep hoping that there will be a crescendo part of the song but it always ends on a plateu. The PV itself is nothing special but it's better than just showing the actress singing the song. It basically shows Rie Fu in various locales and in one instance, she can be seen jumping from a real world to a canvass. It makes me wonder if this has any significance to the actual Darker than Black plot. Tsukiakari will be released on the 23rd of May this year.
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It looks like James Bond is going to get some supernatural colleagues in the future if this episode is an indication of where MI6, the British Secret Intelligence Service, is heading in terms of recruitment. At the moment these agents seem to be okay although just like other Contractors, they seem to have no sense of mercy and are bordering on cruel. I think this is the interesting thing about the series. Having said that, I'm getting a little bit tired with how every single foreigners in this series seem to be either evil or have suspect personality. I guess Hei and his friends are supposed to be representative of the good guys. The problem is, I'm still not sure if I'm actually supposed to root for him or against him. After all, I know little about the organisation that he works for and what he does to all of the contractors that he finds in his missions.
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Hige reviews episode four of Darker than Black and thinks fire is pretty.
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Well, Mai’s story was certainly something to cry about. Maybe I should of expected it from the beginning, but it felt more visceral than the first story. Or maybe just crueler. Mai had no idea what was going on, but in a short amount of time killed many people, including her own friend and that [...]
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A new arc, a new character…this time it’s a high schooler named Mai who has been suffering from memory lapses. Hopefully she’ll last a bit longer than the previous character did when she suffered similar symptoms because Mai could explain a lot about what the devil is going on. She’s also a pleasant sort of [...]
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This series continues to impress me episode by episode. Just when I thought that things will get boring and repetitive, the writers and animators prove me wrong. They've done such a good job in maintaining an episodic storyline while still including the overall arc in it. The action also doesn't let up and some of the things that have been shown in this episode are quite violent. This, however, serves as a reminder of the dangerous nature that each Contractor brings into the world. Those who can control their power may use it for their own greed while those who can't control the power will be an even bigger danger for the society. I know I keep comparing the show to Heroes but after this episode, the similarity is striking. And in a way, this series one-up Heroes because it presents the plotlines that Heroes want to show faster.
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This ep wraps up the events of the first one but in doing so delivers a nice twist in its second half. Hei (a.k.a. Li) is trying to help his new lady friend Chiaki escape Jean and the other Contractors but they are proving impossible to shake off. I can’t say Hei’s true nature was that much of a [...]
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