Bringing to life the often thought to be boring...but totally not! (Darker Than Black)!

Fans!! LOYAL FANS!!!  I have not forgotten you, I have just been busy!!! *crickets* ... SADNESS! though my blog is not yet popular, neither is today's topic...Darker Than Black! Why you might ask, would I choose Darker Than Black? Nobody cares about Darker Than Black!


I care. I care with all of my heart for you Darker Than Black. Why? Because on the surface, you suck. You are boring, your lead in is slow, and I hate you.

But deep down, you mean so much to me Darker Than Black, and when I got to know you, I loved you like A contractor loves- .... err.. like..

Eh..


--------------------------

Darker Than Black - The Black Contractor (Dākā Zan Burakku - Kuro no Keiyakusha)

25 Episodes, 1 OVA 2 sequels (our first anime with sequels!)

Sequel 1:
Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha Gaiden (4 Episodes) - Tells the story of what happened to Yin and Hei between the first and second series. *

*(I sniped this description because that is literally the only way to describe this)

Sequel 2 :

Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini [Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor] (12 Episodes) - A direct continuation of the story. A lot more emotion went into this than the entire rest of the anime I say. (pip-pip) This sequel tells the story of *SPOILER* AND *SPOILER*. They meet up with a Eurasian girl named Suou Pavlichenko and shes awesome. Then more stuff happens and then there is a big gun. Hei is also 100x cooler from this point.

Age rating: Teen 17+

Tags: Action, Mystery, Drama, Sci-Fi, Supernatural




--------------------------
Ten years ago, a giant impenetrable wall called "Hells Gate" (I swear this isn't attack on titan) appeared in Tokyo, mirroring another gate, aptly named "Heaven's Gate" that appeared in South America. (Nope, no titans here) Around the same time, strange people with even stranger powers started appearing. These people are known as "Contractors" and are so named because every time they use their powers (unique to the individual) they have to pay some sort of price (also unique to the individual) like maybe drinking alcohol, smoking, folding origami, eating a boiled egg, etc. It really seems to me like some of these people got off lucky, where others have to break their fingers, cut themselves, rip out there hair, etc.

Just in it for the review? Click Here!

All in all, I feel as though the prices for these contracts were decided with a dart board. I mean, one of the prices is revealing the secrets of magicians' magic tricks.

Anyways, back on track here. Darker Than Black tells the story of these contractors, a large portion of which work for various agencies in a race to unlock the secrets of this mysterious gate.

Another interesting thing of note, is that after the gate appeared,  the real sky disappeared and was replaced with a fake sky, which though kind of similar, was not the same (each star now represents a contractor, and when a contractor dies, their star falls from the sky). And the area beyond the wall (FORBIDDEN, GUYS) was altered well, with a foreboding fog and ominous music. When you step beyond the wall, things get all kinds of crazy, so best if you stay in your fake skied "regular" world. At least there you only get screamed to death.

A few relevant classifications and relevant characters in their class:

Contractors - Contractors...were people. after the gate did its mojo these people changed, or rather...the powers had awoken inside of them. These people became cold and unfeeling, guided through life with machine logic and reason, rather than driven strongly by emotion, like normal people.Thus, things like murder are whatever if they feel doing so is relevant. It should also be noted that the existence of contractors is largely hidden from the general populace, because the last thing we need to do is live in x-men world again. (NOT AS FUN IF YOU ARE NOT ALSO A MUTANT, JUST SAYING)

Oooh...Mysterious.

:l Murr.. I'm Hei. But Whatever.

Hei (aka BK-201, The Black Reaper, Li Shunsheng, Lee Hyunsik) - Remember all that stuff I JUST told you about contractors? Well, forget it for a moment, because other than red eyes, glow, and powers, none of it applies to Hei. He has no price (it's for a reason), and displays emotion just fine. Why? Because he is the freaking protagonist. Hei most often plays the role of Li Shunsheng, a Chinese transfer student who loves to eat food..A lot of food.

He pulls a Vash and plays the idiot, however he is a genius at combat, logic, and being a badass almost constantly. He is able to examine and use his environment to his advantage, making use of anything available to gain a tactical edge over just about any opponent. Hei loves to stargaze. (Remember the fake sky? Well he remembers the real one.)

When he is fighting, he dons his signature mask (cooooooool) and a black, bulletproof trench coat. He uses wires, and a knife cleverly attached to... A wire. His contractor power is electricity. (see where this is going?) Before he was a contractor, Hei was a standard big brother, looking out for his little sister Bai (...really guys?) All in all, Hei is a pretty damn nice guy, and for a contractor, that's pretty special. Hei may or may not have been, or may or may not be part of an organization called the syndicate which may or may not exist.

Could you imagine if your cat did this?

Mao as Ricardo.

Ricardo (Mao) - Mao is a contractor whose power is to move between bodies of animals and people. as a result of his power, he lost his original body, and most often inhabits the body of a black cat with purple eyes, a red collar, and a golden bell. As a cat is not capable of maintaining a human conscience, part of his consciousness is retained in a server which he is in constant connection with (wifi?) If he were to lose this connection, he would lose consciousness and just be a cat until his connection with this server were reestablished. Mao also may or may not have..oh you get it.

Suou blushes a lot.

Petya

Suou Pavlichenko - Suou is awesome. I cannot say a whole lot about her without spoiling things, lets just say she is very similar to Hei. I like Suou and don't want to spoil her story because I find it to be really, really cool. Suou first appears in the sequel, and even if you hate the first series, the sequel is really good. Suou is really easy going, kind and doesn't like to hurt people or animals, however, she really good with guns (because stuff). She is also REALLY into photography (see the correlation?)  She has a pet flying squirrel named Petya. Petya is pretty cool.I also would also like to mention that she both is..and is not a contractor, a doll, but is not a moratoria (and if that confuses you, just hang around, it's explained)






Dolls - Dolls are emotionless (even more than contractors!!?) humanoids who are created (from humans) to mimic humans. They are often used for recon because of their unique ability to control and see what are called observer spirits, which are...you know, spirits that observe stuff. Some dolls are also used as sleeper agents, starting as a blank slate, which is then able able to transcribe a persons personality and appearance onto themselves. A few dolls are seemingly able to overcome their lack of emotion, and think for themselves, and in rare cases, are able to (avoiding over 9k joke) exhibit insane amounts of power. Dolls also use a medium to communicate with their spirits and see through their eyes.

Yin

Yin - Yin is the most prominent doll in the series and plays a significant role in the events of the sequel. She is a doll created from a young girl named Kirsi. Little is known about her transformation into a doll, however she does retain the memories of Kirsi which might tell you a bit about how dolls are created. At first, she appears to be like any standard doll; emotionless, and lethargic (even more so than a contractor, as stated above.) Unlike normal dolls however, Yin begins to develop a will of her own, and even more surprisingly, emotions and feelings, thus developing a close bond with Hei. Yin's medium is water. As a remnant of her past, Yin also plays the piano, despite being blind. (Oh yeah, she's blind)

He always looks like this. Really.

July - July is another interesting doll, he is a little kid who is somehow even more devoid of feeling than Yin. His medium is glass. Similar to Yin, though a little less significant, is that he displays a very tiny semblance of emotion, referring to one of his teammates as a "comrade" he doesn't display any particularly unique abilities, however he is quite perceptive, and has a very keen directional sense. He is even able to provide latitude and longitude coordinates on the fly. He is cared for deeply by Suou, who is one of few who treats him like he is human, and not just some doll.



Moratoria - A Moratorium is basically a mix of the two, an intermediate between doll and contractor. They have contractor powers, but do not require a price to use them, their eyes do not glow red when using their powers as a contractors does, and they also do not give off that crazy blue energy (that is most definitely not chakra) that contractors give off. When not using their powers, they are completely human, full of emotions and..human stuff. When they use their powers is not up to them and just seemingly happens at random, or perhaps during extreme circumstances. ("hey, how are you doing?" "oh, not bad" How is sc--!!!??? OH MY GOD I'M ON FIRE!!!") They also enter a trance like state when using their powers and almost always traumatizes the user because see above. The chance of morphing into a contractor when you are already a  moratorium is near zero, but is technically possible, however you cannot morph into a doll. If they do morph, they gain a price, and a contractors mentality just like normal. Also don't quote me on this, but I am pretty sure the creation of dolls is through artificial means.

Mai Kashiwagi

Mai Kashiwagi - This is the only moratorium I care about, because her episode marks when I finally began to raise my eyebrow and think to myself  "hmm, this..could be an interesting anime after all." When she was little Mai began showing signs of being a contractor...really subtle stuff, you know? Like lighting a beetle on fire with her mind. When he realized that she showed these signs, her dad, who is a researcher for PANDORA* used these strange seeds he found on an expedition inside of the gate to temporarily suppress her power. However because the plant that supplied the seeds required a significant amount of care, he ended up having to stay at the research facility to constantly look after the plant. 

After her mother died, this resulted in Mai having to look after herself. This resulted in her often going hungry, and being quite sad and lonely. At one point she attempts to shoplift, but Hei steps in and buys the items for her, resulting in a big brother type of relationship. Eventually she awakens as a full fledged contractor, losing her control, and every shred of whom she used to be. (Her awakening is really kind of sad.)


There is also one regular human I am obligated to mention.

Misaka

Misaki Kirihara(aka Ichinose Yayoi) - Misaka is heavily affiliated with the police force of japan, but because of spoilers I will not go into detail. She is She takes a heavy interest in contractors, particularly Hei. It could be assumed that she (like many others) has fallen for Hei. ~LADY KILLER~ By the end of the anime her interest shifts from trying to apprehend him, to strongly supporting him. From early on, she also has a soft spot for him (or rather, his alias, Li) due to his warm personality. Luckily because of his mask, she is not able to link Hei and Li until later.




 As always, there are plenty more characters to discover, so get out there and meet them all.

*Pandora  (Physicalquantity Alternation Natural Deconstruction Organized Research Agency) is an organization whose purpose is to research hell's gate and the associated phenomenon.

-----------------------------------------------------

Phew, that was a mouthful, wasn't it? Darker Than Black is really interesting in that most of the people (I know at least 7 off the top of my head) that tried to watch it, nobody could finish. 

It makes sense to me, the first few episodes are boring and slow. But all things in good time. I stuck it out and throughout the series, the plot gets better, more complex, and less nonsensical. It becomes easy to follow and understand, and by the time you are done, you are sad to see it end. But that's just it, if the entire first half of your anime sucks, it becomes a huge waste of time because 90% of your audience can't be bothered to stick it out.Your first episode should hook the viewer, and if it doesn't sometimes people can miss a gem.

All I can say is stick it out guys. It really becomes worth it. 8/10 (would easily be a 9.5 or 10/10 if the first half was as good as the rest)

----------------------------------------------



**DISCLAIMER: IMAGES ARE COURTESY OF GOOGLE IMAGES AND BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS**

The Anime: http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/darker-black-online

The middle(technically its considered a side story, but it's a Sequel Prequel: http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/darker-black-kuro-no-keiyakusha-gaiden-online

The Sequel:  http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/darker-black-ryuusei-no-gemini-online

------------

Authors note: Guys, I need your support, so do me a huge favor and like me on Facebook, share my blog, tell your friends. I work really hard to provide you with insightful, entertaining reviews, but like pandora, I hate playing for an empty room!