Hello everyone,
Let's go do some new review instead of ramblings this time. We're going to review an original action anime project named "Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha" that got two seasons and an OVA series (that act like a prequel to the second season).
Let's start up with a synopsis :
In Tokyo, an impenetrable field known as "Hell's Gate" appeared ten years ago. At the same time, psychics who wield paranormal powers at the cost of their conscience also emerged. Hei is one of the most powerful of these psychic agents, and along with his blind associate, Yin, works for one of the many rival agencies vying to unlock the mysteries of Hell's Gate.
Yeah, the first thing I thought when starting to watch this series was "Wow!". This is an interesting story that have some chance to get truly a masterpiece.
The story as narrated by the first season (the only one I truly recognize) is quite nice and attracting, each of the short stories (it's divided in mini-arcs of a few episodes) narrated a different side of this world situation and all converged in a wonderful way into the final arc and the ending.
A real masterpiece of the last ten years...
...and then we had the sequel (they tried to milk up the cow). I cannot describe simply with words how that season has been an insult to first season.
Everything that was making Darker Than Black a success was missing, our protagonist (Hei) reduced to a powerless drunkard and the new protagonist, a little girl named Suou, terribly annoying and emo-ing over every little things.
I watched the second series with pain and sadness as they ruined the possibility to create another hit and another beautiful story around this world.
The recurring characters in the both season are few, but quite nicely defined. Each one of them has a particular retribution to pay for their own powers and it get interesting to watch how that affect the storyline!
The visual quality is top notch in both seasons, even if I liked a lot more the Japanese metropolis backgrounds more than the Russian one. The animation is mostly consistent in the whole series with maybe some little screw up in the second season.
The sound quality is also top notch, I loved all the OP/ED of the first season. ("Tsukiakari" from "Rie Fu" is the best one to me).
The seiyuu also did a nice job. I particularly liked the "Nana Mizuki" role as the police officer following Hei (Misaki Kirihara) and "Hidenobu Kiuchi" role as Hei.
My favourite character is by far Yin with her complex character hidden behind that emotionless face of a Doll, she's wonderful in the ED dedicated to her!
What were we saying again...Ah yes...
Concluding I suggest everyone of you to go watch this series, it's a wonderful one that will keep you attached to the monitor for the whole duration of the story. It has only one fault...
IT HAS NO SEQUEL (*)
See you soon,
feal87
* At least that I recognize! 