Otakuism

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 beginning, so she wasn’t very interesting. But the whole stabbing yourself with bees thing was awesome just for the insanity of it. Really wished they would of played with that idea more, like having the bees as a new kind of drug the mafia was selling or something like that. Zhi’s ability was interesting I think, no more weird than the traveling through walls guy. The fight between him and Hei was the best yet in the series, especially when Hei missed slashing him by an inch and everything slowed down. Real cinematics there. And the whole interplay between them on who’s was faster was cool. Next week we actually learn some more about Hell’s Gate. I’m really curious about this, as some of the wilder aspects of the series - no stars, contractors - have gone unexplained long enough. Now I wonder if those stone flowers will ever be mentioned again at all?

And I’m back.

The plot deepens on Darker than Black with the introduction of that gar, superspy badass that even puts James Bond (Daniel Craig, not Sean Connery) to shame, November 11. Oh, and there’s the black woman and her shota, but they’re not badass, so they don’t matter. There’s something refreshing in a guy like November 11. It’s not that he’s exactly a bad guy, he does work for Her Majesty’s government after all, he just does whatever it takes to complete the mission. If this means killing a few people, decieving the Japanese government and the UN, and killing a character I liked, then he’ll do it. You also know that, if he wanted to, he could bag every lady in the show. And I mean everyone. On another note, I liked the dose of real world physics in his ice powers, where he needed a medium like water to freeze something over long distances and just couldn’t freeze the ground itself. Also, smart thinking using rubber boots to protect against Hei’s electricity. Now just use rubber armguards next time.

Now for the other side of the story, there is this week’s damsel in distress, Havoc. I also really liked Havoc here (Imagine, liking two new characters in an arc!). Maybe it had something to do with her just wearing a torn negligee the whole time, though, certainly it wasn’t the heroin shiek look. Probably it was because she was such a pathetic character you couldn’t help but feel sorry for her and like her for it. I guess you could say she was just incredibly moe, if going by the classical definition (or maybe not). Sadly, in the end, she went the way of all DtB women and died at the hands of November 11. Perhaps she wanted that, but she probably could of got away without her powers. DtB really loves to make its women heartbrakingly tragic.

There was a nice contrast between Havoc, without powers yet all the more emotionless, and Hei, contractor supreme who doesn’t really act like one. Again it’s commented that Hei really doesn’t act like a contractor at all, going out of his way to protect people he should kill and looking for his little sister. That one was a nice throwball for the series; Now we got Hei looking for his sister. There was also more about the mysterious Syndicate Hei works under, which is seen as a threat by several governments. It will be interesting to see how DtB will expand this world espionage part of the plot. It still is following the two episode per a girl storyline, but that can be forgiven when the storylines are so interesting. Next time we have a pink haired girl voice by Nono, and as we all know, Nono is loev. Should be a fun time.

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 friend’s father. Perhaps it was a miracle that at the end she got to become a Contractor, and thus not warrant being killed at that exact moment, but at what cost? Contractors have no conscience, so she can’t even feel bad about her father’s death anymore, even though he sacrificed himself for her. I wonder if Contractors really are just killing machines, or if they are that way because people tell them so. Hei seems somewhat different, but I think that’s because he can just act like he cares really well. Sometimes it’s hard to believe that he doesn’t care about the girl at all, and maybe he doesn’t. He is the central mystery of the series. I’m still not quite sure what his power is yet. Something like Telekinesis, but also like electricity. He seems to enjoy using that knife more than it though.

Though, I did get an answer to one of my questions. I was wondering how the police knew shooting stars correlated to certain Contractors. Turns out, it’s just a bunch of mediums in glass tanks. Reminds me of Minority Report. Oh, and their controlled by that evil granny from spirited away. All joking aside, I can definitely see this leading to something big later on, maybe like the Mediums rebelling or something like that. And more hints at what lies beyond Hell’s Gate; evil flowers. Reminds me of Betterman in some ways, since in boths series plant life has amazing supernatural effects. Or I think that is where Darker than Black is heading. I was surprised by the level of violence DtB is showing. I mean, I know it’s something of a mature series, but I didn’t expect hands and heads being chopped off so suddenly. DtB is doing good so far. While being episodic, it seems to be stringing things along to show a bigger picture. Next episode looks…interesting. The Crimson Dream of Disaster Disappears in Eastern Europe. How oddly specific. I wonder if this will actually take place outside of Japan, which would be pretty cool.

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.