Well, this is pretty good. The start was a bit slow but it's well compensated by the well-executed fights toward the end of the episode. I also like the way Hei and his group work together in a mission. It seems after the previous episode's incident, their teamwork becomes a lot more effective. Plot-wise, I like how everything is heading towards a climax involving the end of the Great Sunspot. I do wonder, however, if we'll ever find out about the diffection factions that exist in this story and their intention in regards to Contractors and the Gate. One thing that I feel is a bit extraneous is Misaki and her subordinates. I guess they need several characters to represent the normal human factions but at times they feel so removed from the general plot. Of course it doesn't help that they're always late and miss out on crucial informations.
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Sorry for the extremely late entry but for some reason I find it hard to go back into the routine of watching the series. Upon watching this, however, I remember why this is the case. The story while pretty good, is also quite depressing. It's like a chronicle of a group of people who could never find happiness and everything from the narrative style to the ending song are used to emphasize this. On a more positive side, the story contains some interesting discussion about the difference between humans and Contractors. There's also an interesting twist that I didn't expect although I'm not sure if it's a good thing for Huang's character. In a way, it actually made him look like a fool and erased the justification that he had on the previous episode for hating Contractors in general. On an unrelated note, I've updated Kongetsu as usual.
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Hige catches up with Darker than Black and curses spotty AVI fansub releases. *shakes fist*
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Once again sorry for the late review. I am just not in the mood to write long summary lately. Much to my surprise, this episode is actually a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much since the main subject deals with Huang, a character which I have little sympathy for. This episode, however, does a good job of fleshing out his character and giving him enough reason for his behaviour. In addition to this, I really like the atmosphere and the style that the episode decides to adopt. The black and white sequences really make the episode look more noir-ish. And the animation is unusually high quality, something which I hope will continue right down to the finale.
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It looks like the opening isn't so misleading when it comes to Hei and Misaki's relationship. I am not sure if there will be a romance between the two but it seems they will develop some kind of bond due to their high-risk job. Unfortunately, despite the potential that this arc promised, there's no exploration about the nature of the dolls whatsoever. In the end, the doll and Kenji are nothing more than just characters of the week that Hei must save. I'm even surprised at the lack of Contractors in this episode. If dolls are well-known commodities even amongst normal people, then I wish the writers will start informing us how dolls are used by non-Contractors.
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What is “deep”, for starters? Some of my other fellow bloggers, like Martin, Higevs, Bateszi, Hidoshi, and Impz might be able to tell you more about it. There’s a thousand and one ways with regards to how one might go about the issue if one were so inclined as to play the semantics card. Personally, [...]
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This one seems to be a one-off story but there are some Amber-after effects coming out of last week's episode. I do hope that this 2-parter will shed more light on the doll's background and mechanism. I just feel that lately they start to resemble the name that's been given to them. This is a contrast from the first doll on the show, Chiaki, who's as normal as any other humans until her programming over-rides her. Ever since then, however, other "Dolls" including Yin, seems to be emotionally stunted and robotic. This makes me wonder if there was anything special about Chiaki that makes her far more humane than the other "Dolls"? More importantly, I'd like to know how and why someone decided to make a "Doll" in the image of Kirsi. If Yin was created to remind someone of Kirsi, then wouldn't it be in their interest to infuse Yin with Kirsi's personality? If Yin is actually Kirsi, why do some characters treat her like a robot which can be re-booted easily?
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Hige belatedly reviews eps 13 and 14 of Darker than Black (damn you fansubbers and your fruity file formats. AVIs for life, yo)
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I'm sorry that this comes even later than usual but I haven't been feeling well in the past few days and didn't feel like writing anything until now. Anyway, this is a very gratifying episode because everything that I wanted to happen actually does happen in this episode. It's unfortunate that some of the incidents in question are not permanent because the show would be a bit more interesting if the writers actually killed a few annoying characters. In other note, I think the answer to Hei's love interest is provided in this episode. I think I was partially right in that it's a toss up between Amber and Yin. Misaki is still not on the picture though despite what the opening implies. In other note, the animation for this episode is unbelievably good. The flashback battle between November and Maki is a good example of this.
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This episode starts with a familiar face; April. She is shown leaving a club after drinking massive amounts. Once she gets outside she sees Amber and she starts to run towards her while making a call to November 11. He doesn’t pick up so she leaves a message saying that she just saw February. Just [...]
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Thanks to my unintended hiatus, this was the last episode I could download before Funi staked their claim on it so this will be all until next year. Fortunately it was an even-numbered episode so I saw the arc through to the end, which was a pretty decent one if not outstanding. Now that we’re [...]
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OP Theme: 「覚醒ヒロイズム ～THE HERO WITHOUT A “NAME”～」 (Kakusei Heroism ~The Hero Without A “Name”~) by アンティック-珈琲店- (Antic Cafe) - AVI version (960 x 540, 42.4MB) | PSP version (14MB) Well, things are starting to become interesting. I like how this time around the people targeted for extermination are the MI6/SIS guys. The series also come with a set of new OP and ED theme. I personally like the new OP better than Howling. I just think it's more consistent and there is some kind of rhythm to it. Having said that, the song is nothing special and the animation that accompanies it are not as good as the first OP. The new ED theme, which is performed by High and Mighty Color, is pretty good as well but I prefer Tsukiakari, which is far more melancholic in nature. This new song seems like a love song. It makes me wonder about the girl in the white hat seen with Hei and Yin in the animation. This brings me to another point, Hei's love interest, which I always thought is Yin. However, it seems like he'll either be paired off with Misaki or Amber.
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If I had the time, I would try to track down all product placements in anime just for the heck of it. In any case, let’s play, “find the Pizza Hut logo!” Can you find the logo? not so obvious this time, is it? Damn it! Where is it? I want to find some pizza…logos! DAMN IT! I’m desperate [...]
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Recently it's been Darker than Black's method of characterisation that made me question its quality, but after this set of episodes I'm starting to doubt its approach to plot continuity as well. These small story arcs have yet to genuinely...
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This episode starts with a flash back with Yin running in on her mom on the phone. Her mother tells her that her father died in a plane crash. Back in the present Yin is still headed towards her home town on a train with her teacher and the detectives. Yin is still insisting that [...]
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This is definitely the kind of episode that elevates the series to more than just an action espionage series. There are so much emotions poured into Yin's scenes that even though the character herself seems emotionless, one can't help but sympathize with her. Unfortunately even after this episode, the character's past is still not fully explored. It would have been good if the series could deal with her character again in the future. However, due to the 2-episodes arc nature of the series, it'll be a while before we see another Yin-oriented episodes. In a way, this series is kind of similar to Cowboy Bebop when it comes to character-based arcs. In other note, this episode also did a good job in making the villains of the piece, especially Berta, look sympathetic. The only thing that feels off here is the appearance of Gai and Kiko but their appearances are quite limited that they don't detract much from the parts of the story which involve Yin.
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After waiting for 12 episodes, we're finally rewarded with Yin's background story. It's interesting to know that her personality in the past is quite different from her current personality. It makes one wonders if Dolls actually retain the personality of the original person or if they have their own unique personality, even though they are limited by their program. In a way, the Dolls (and Contractors) can be compared to Replicants in Blade Runner or its literary source, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?. The main difference is that Replicants can mimic human emotion effortlessly while Dolls can't seem to do the same. There was actually some reference about Contractors not being able to see dreams on last week's episode so it's a natural extension for this episode to continue along that theme. As a side note, this episode also provides brief explanation as to why Tsukiakari is integral to Yin's story.
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Hello everyone at T.H.A.T Anime Blog the name is Keith but I go by Ackmm7. I am one of the new bloggers on the site and as my first post I am going to write about one of my favorite spring shows, Darker than Black. This episode starts with Yin playing the piano for her teacher. [...]
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This one is a little bit hard to watch for me because I don't find the supporting characters to be that interesting. There was potential in Nick and Hei's friendship but since both characters were in their 'persona', I have no idea if their friendship was genuine or not. I supposed one can argue the friendship was genuine because back then, Nick didn't know about Hei's identity. I wish the actor who played Nick gave more emphasis in his reading of "I am happy to have met you". I think that line, when said to a friend can be very powerful but in this episode it comes across as simple pleasantries. As far as 'love interest' goes, Meena is probably the most annoying thus far. It doesn't help that Hei has this cold attitude towards her. As a result, there was lack of chemistry between the two characters.
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I’m not too sure of what others have been saying about this series, but for me it has amounted to little more than an abysmal and completely unexpected failure, not nearly approaching the kind of excellence I expected based on the studio and the involvement of Yoko Kanno. Perhaps I should have looked more closely [...]
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