Otakuism

In the future Tokyo, Hell’s Gate has appeared, an area of unknown physical laws that covers the Tokyo sky. Shortly after its appearance, Contractors showed up, people with abnormal powers and no emotions. One such Contractor is Louise, a French Intelligence operative fleeing from the Tokyo Police. He is cornered by the mysterious BK201, true name Hei, a Contractor who hunts other Contractors. He gets information from Louise on a woman and the supposed “stash” she’s carrying before killing him. The focus then moves to Hei in his daily life as Li Shun Sheng, a Chinese transfer student. He has just gotten a new apartment and meets his new female neighbor, Chiaki. Chiaki is actually the woman Louise spoke of and is wanted by the police. A couple detectives find her at her work later and begin chasing her when she runs into Hei again, who quickly hides her. She runs away again and is found by another associate of Louise’s, Jean. However, when Chiaki won’t give Jean the information he seeks he tries to kidnap her, only to be stopped by Hei.

Hei and Chiaki run off again, but Jean corners them both with his contract power, the ability to move through walls, and knocks Hei into an oncoming train, apparently killing him. Chiaki is rendered unconscious and taken. She later wakes up in Jean’s hideout where he is along with two other men. She tries to escape but is locked in. It is then that Jean notices a Doll is in the room, a remote viewer that only Contractors can see. An electrical surge hits the building and unlocks the electronic lock, freeing Chiaki. The others chase her but our stopped by a black cat, the same one seen by Hei earlier. Chiaki runs into Hei again where he comforts her and the episode ends. I have no idea how accurate that all was, because this was a pretty confusing episode. Lot of unexplained terms thrown around. The wikipedia article helped a lot with that.

Well, Darker than Black was better than I thought it would be. It’s really more of a detective story with supernatural elements that really grabs you with the mysteriousness of everything. What is Hell’s Gate? What are Contractors and Dolls? Why are the stars fake and so important? What kind of secret is Chiaki carrying? So many questions for a first episode that aren’t really answered. But, then again, that’s the point of this kind of story, and it will be interesting to see where the show will go with all these different elements. The characters right now are pretty interesting and enjoyable for the most part. Hei as a badass masked fighter is awesome and I definitely want to see him use those wire skills more often. Face it, anyone who fights with wires is just awesome. His gothloli partner is pretty interesting, partly because we have no idea what it is she does and she’s a gothloli.

The police are less interesting, with the exception of Kirihara. I see her having an “I love you, but I’m going to capture you,” relationship with Hei in the future. Chiaki and Jean probably aren’t going to be around for much longer. Jean’s a bastard, too. I hope there will be more interesting powers in the future instead of the old flying and phasing abilities. But maybe the show can’t be that original. The animation was very good, exactly what you’d expect from a Bones production. The music was, meh, okay. I’ve never really been a fan of Yoko Kanno’s work. Blashpemy, I know, but I’ve never really liked it that much. The OP was very good, though. A song to keep a look out for when the full single hits. Overall, Darker than Black is looking to be another promising show in the already star-studded spring season. It’s probably going to be episodic, but it’s stylish as hell, so I have to keep watching it. Hopefully Bones other “man in black” show, Skull Man, airing later this season can be just as awesome.