Ah, excellent. The Gaiden OVA is another one of those extra OVAs that aren’t just meant to be side-stories, but a vital part of the series. This episode yet again did a wonderful job of tying the first season to the second. It didn’t just explain what happened to Yin, but also some of the smaller plot-holes of the second season were explained.
The big question is of course: what the heck is that thing that took control of Yin? Izanami seems to be vital to this, and I guess that the entire point of the second season was to explore the possibilities of “Izanagi”. You know, that all just hints at a possible third season. There’s no way for the creators to have considered the end of Ryuusei no Gemini to be the end of this franchise.
I also stumbled upon an interesting article here (translated here), in which the general graphic director of Sora no Oto claimed the following thing: “People won’t be moved nor consented unless someone dies. Why aren’t they impressed by the character’s survival? It’ll be an easy job to create a war anime from now on. You can make a popular anime by letting the characters kill each other!”. To me, that’s not the reason of why I’m such a fan of Darker than Black’s habit to just kill off people. I’m perfectly happy with people surviving, as long as it’s done believably (which is exactly why I have no problems with Hei surviving all this time, because of how this series has shown how careful this guy works). It’s when creators start pulling Deus ex Machina to just keep a character alive that it becomes a big problem. It’s just as bad as them pulling a Deus ex Machina to just kill off a character. In the end it’s the story that should dictate whether characters live or die, not a desire to include more cheap drama.
I also have a small question about that Contractor destroyer thingie, shown after the ED. If that doctor knew how to increase the power of a contractor all along… then why didn’t he use it? And what exactly does it mean to become a more powerful contractor anyway? Will their abilities have less limits or something?
Rating: ** (Excellent)
there is just too many possible answers to that question. perhaps were going to find out the answer to your question soon…
eagerly waiting for Bones to announce a 3rd season
” It’s when creators start pulling Deus ex Machina to just keep a character alive that it becomes a big problem. It’s just as bad as them pulling a Deus ex Machina to just kill off a character. In the end it’s the story that should dictate whether characters live or die, not a desire to include more cheap drama. ”
This is exactly so, what I love about DtB is that my emotions aren’t just jerked around and manipulated for the sole sake of manipulating them, but because whatever happens makes the most sense given the events of the story. If someone takes a bullet in the brain and doesnt have a concrete mask on, they die. If someone is the most bad-ass, special-ops trained, gained-his-skills-slugging-it-out-with-contractors-before-he-was-one-in-south-america, then he is going to live because of those skills. A little realism in this regard goes a long way in science-fiction, fantasy stories. That is a mistake many sf and fantasy writers make, thinking that because the stories main premise isnt realistic, nothing needs to be…
Given the premise of Darker than Black, not having characters die would make the whole franchise a stupid joke. And having characters die does make the series more engaging to watch, if done right and sparingly (not like the last episode of Zeta Gundam).
The writers have proved that Hei isn’t invincible, but he’s just very good at what he does. He doesn’t need to rely on his Contractor abilities to get him through tough situations which is why he’s survived so long.
The others who are dying are killed out of necessity; those that pose an immediate threat to our protagonists have to be dealt with in a time-sensitive manner. But it’s not like all the bad guys are killed off at once: suspense and anticipation is created through villains who are biding their time.
As for Contractors getting stronger, I’m not sure what that entails, but the Contractor who can manipulate gravity said something about getting stronger too, didn’t she?
You’re quite right, the graphics director of Sora no Woto comes across as an ass who doesn’t know how suspension of disbelief works. I wonder what they were expecting? This was a war anime with a decent build-up to a pretty childish ending.. if it upsets them to hear it, maybe they’re the ones with the problem.
I actually hope they change up the “fights” in these OVAs a tad, at least for the next two. That’s two OVAs in a row now where Hei’s gotten beaten just to be saved by Izanami, so I’m hoping they mix it up in the next ones, before it starts feeling like a big cop out (granted that Izanami seems to only exist because of Hei’s influence on Yin).
Why would he want to create a more powerful contractor, when his goal is to neutralize them? They’re basically super-powered sociopaths. They had the right idea for dealing with them in the first series, only they were too indifferent to the collateral damage.
The first rule of villainy should be to never build a weapon that you cannot control. If your idea is to build a better contractor to conquer your enemies, all you’re doing is building a stronger tyrant to step on your neck once it ‘rationally’ concludes that you can no longer oppose it. A little Hannibal Lecter meets Rambo.
It’s not heeding that threat that makes Yin so dangerous in the end of Gemini.
Now what it would mean to make a contractor more powerful, I don’t know. Since the ‘power’ of the contractors seems to have more to do with which ability is manifested more than anything else, it doesn’t necessarily make any sense. Although I was wondering if that dialogue was intended to explain the meteor core that Shion had given Suou, or the resurrection of Pai’s star at the end of Gemini.
How many OVA’s are planned?
@Alex_AnimePacific_Podcast
Four are planned.
@PhantomX
I hope they do that too, especially since in season 2 he was able to kill so many contractors without his electric abilities.
@Alex_AnimePacific_Podcast
Four are planned.
@PhantomX
I hope they do that too, especially since in season 2 he was able to kill so many contractors without his electric abilities.