Hey everyone. I’m Marth, and I’m going to be writing some reviews for this site. To start things off, I’m going to go with Darker than Black. This show is set in a modern date, but with a bit of a twist. In this storyline, two gates called the Heaven’s Gate and the Hell’s Gate appear, taking away the night sky and giving certain people unique abilities. These people are referred to as Contractors, and are notoriously emotionless, because of the nature of their powers. These powers can range from gravity manipulation to freezing water, but they all have one thing in common: whenever a Contractor uses these powers, they must do something as remuneration (it’s done compulsively). For example, some may have to do something as drastic as breaking a finger while others need to do something as simple as smoking a cigarette. The night sky that disappears in this storyline is replaced with a fake one with fake stars. However, these stars correspond with different Contractors, allowing the law enforcement to track their movements. Also in this setting is a mysterious organization known as the Syndicate, which performs various espionage missions and assassinations. The story focuses around the Chinese contractor Hei, who is a Contractor from the Syndicate. The story of this series is incredibly interesting. The main problem is that they never reveal the secrets behind the Contractors’ powers or the natures of the gates at any point, which kind of leaves people guessing. Even with the sequel series (which I’m not going to go into…for various reasons), Hei’s past and the gates still remain a huge mystery. Still, I liked the setting that they created and the nature of the episodes.
Story: Score 8/10
The characters in this series tend to seem dull, but that may just be because some of them are Contractors. We have the main character Hei, who is a Contractor able to generate electricity working for the Syndicate. Although he takes on the cool, rational demeanor of a normal Contractor, those who know him tend to point out that he retains some of his humanity after becoming a Contractor. His main motivation is that he is searching for his younger sister Pai, also a Contractor, who disappeared in an incident at the Heaven’s Gate several years before the start of the series. While he’s not doing work for the Syndicate, Hei masquerades as a normal student name Li Shengshun, taking a more carefree and gentle-hearted personality. Other characters in this series include several of Hei’s associates in the Syndicate, such as Mao, the Contractor turned cat, Yin, who is a Doll (they’re like mediums that perform reconnaissance roles), and Huang, an ordinary human that acts as a sort of leader for the group. On the other side of the spectrum, we have Misaki Kirihara, a policewoman who finds herself investigating Hei throughout the series. Joining her (although she isn’t too happy about it) are some Contractors from MI6: November 11, who can freeze liquids, April, who can create hurricanes, and the Doll July. Most of these characters don’t have quite as much depth as Hei, but they each have very interesting personalities and tend to be pretty entertaining.
Characters: Score 9/10
The animation for this series is great. The fight scenes are all incredibly fluid and a pleasure to watch, and the characters are all designed superbly. The music is also pretty amazing, suiting the scenes very well and making for some epic battles.
Animation: Score 10/10
Music: Score 9/10
This series caught my attention because of the unique premise that it used. I found myself enjoying the episodes, but not so impressed with the ending. Although, they created a sequel, it’s actually much worse than the original series and incredibly disappointing.
Overall Score: 8/10
