Darker than Black Thoughts

     

     Darker than Black is a recent anime that came out in 2007. Let me break it down for you. A mysterious anomaly called Heaven's Gate appeared in South America, followed by Hell's Gate in Tokyo, changing the sky and destroying the landscape. The real sky and stars disappeared and were replaced by a different sky. During this time, people with special powers called Contractors appeared. Contractors are named by their Messier catalog number. Contractors are called contractors because for their powers they all have to pay a price each time their power is used. One woman had to kiss someone. Another had to drink alcohol. Another had to eat cigarettes. The main character is a Chinese guy that goes under the name BK201 but other-times just as Hei. Also, when Hei is doing contractor work he wears a black jacket, a white mask, and goes under the name by the police as the Black Reaper. He's pretty much the epitome of a cool character in an anime. These contractors are known to be cold blooded killers, using their powers to overcome their enemies.
     First, the anime is divided in two sections; the first season involving Hei trying to find his sister and his general work as a contractor, and the second season involving Hei rescuing and training a young Russian girl named Suo that just became a contractor. Although Hei is the main character of the anime, a lot of attention and focus is given to a young police woman who is trying to expose the syndicate, an underground organization that uses contractors for assassinations. Hei works for the syndicate and performs many jobs, killing high ranking officials and anyone who the syndicate wants dead. Hei's special power is that he can send electricity through his hands. He also uses a kind of weapon that is like a dagger but also has a rope to it, giving him a long range attack. The first season is twenty-four episodes and so much happens. The main storyline is that a girl from Hei's past has the power to go back in time, but each time she does she grows older. She's trying to prevent the government from using a weapon that will kill every contractor in the world. In the end Hei ends up helping her. Although at first, he was against her because she wouldn't tell Hei the whereabouts of his younger sister. In the end, Hei ends up saving the world, by saving the world I mean saving the contractors, and life in a world where contractors exist goes on.
     Second, the other part of this anime is the second season. This involves a Russian girl named Suo, and her brother Shion. Shion was born a contractor and has the ability to make copies of stuff, but his price is that he can't use his legs. Also, their father named Palichenkov was a scientist that worked on research involving the Gate. One day, while Paslichenkov is working at University, his children are there with him and there's an explosion, killing Suo. But Professor Palichenkov uses Shion's ability to make a copy of Suo and give her implanted memories, so its as if she never died. They played God in that case and it all works out fine until Suo finds out she's a copy. But everything really goes crazy when a government agency that the police woman from the first season works for raids her house looking for Shion. Suo is left on the run but Hei finds her and captures her. He ends up in a fight with an interesting contractors. She's a woman with a kind of lightsaber type sword with blue energy. Her price is that she has to kiss someone every-time she uses her power. She's one of the coolest characters in the whole anime, also her hair is really cool. Anyway, Hei kidnaps Suo but Suo ends up loving him, in a caretaker kind of way. Somehow Suo also becomes a contractor. Her power is that a long gun with a super long scope comes out of her body and she fires it at people. But the main focus is that Yin, a doll that Hei worked with in the syndicate now has a power that is killing contractors. A doll is someone who isn't truly human, but has cognitive speech and gives out valuable information. In this world though, dolls are more or not used as playthings. But the girl from the first season that could go back in time predicted that if Yin and some other character meet, then the world would end. So the whole point is to stop Yin from meeting that other character. But in the end it was kind of confusing because when Hei finally meets with Yin nothing is explained or happens. Instead we realize that everything we learned about Suo is erased, and she's back to being a schoolgirl in class with her friends, her parents are alive, but she says its as if she's forgotten something. And the police woman ends up being an even higher ranking job, and the people in the future even call her and her organization the syndicate. Oh yeah, and they also show hover cars. Interesting stuff but they don't really explain what happens. Obviously the world didn't end but we don't find out what happened to Hei. Maybe that's what Gemini of the Meteor is for. Its the sequel. It premiered in Japan in 2008. I'll have to check that out for more information.
     Lastly, it was a great anime and the fights were interesting because each contractor had their own set of special powers. There were some brutal bloody moments but it wasn't really about the fights or the violence, it was always about where the storyline was going to take you rather than lets have a big rival fight. Also, the artwork is great in this. Also, there's a talking cat that turns into a talking flying squirrel. Check this one out, you won't regret it!