Ah, so after the initial blast and fast pace, these few episodes take a step back in order to build up for the second half of this series. It’s a tried and true formula, and these episodes despire their quiet nature are still well written and make use of their time to develop and flesh out the characters a bit more. All that’s left now is to see whether the second half can deliver on the promises that are currently made. But yeah, with this series something really weird has to happen for it not to turn into something special.
It’s interesting how the mother/caretaker/whatever of the goth loli contractor twins paid a small visit to Misaki, of all people. She must expect a great deal from her to do such a thing, considering how she seems to be after Hei or Shion. This episode also showed the nature of the device that was used on Hei, two episodes ago: it’s a device to kill contractors. So yeah, I think we can pretty much call Hei’s sister dead now. Because Hei wasn’t a contractor, he was able to survive, but the star of BK-201 (a.k.a, his sister) is gone now. A very daring move; you don’t see much superpowered series in which the lead character loses his special powers seemingly forever.
I’m also glad to see that Suou’s Gun needs to be maintained, and her ammo isn’t limitless either. Very nice, because you really see too many anime which take their weapons for granted. In series in which characters fight once in a while this is excusable, but in action series where people fight in nearly every episode, it’s sometimes a miracle that their weapons don’t break, jam, shut down, et cetera. While this obviously doesn’t destroy a series’ credibility, it nevertheless is a very valuable addition if some attention is put on it.
The next episode is probably going to make an end to the quiet times in this series. We’re not still sure of the exact details, but something tells me that Misaki saw Hei’s plan coming, and prepared a dummy of some sort, which caused him to get locked up. The submarine shown at the end of the episode was probably meant to carry the real goods, and it’s indeed a good test for Suou whether she can carry this series as its co-main character.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
This show is really humming along now.
All my fears about the Suou character that I had (as outline in the episode 3 post) were clearly unfounded. thank god!
Well, it seems I am in the minority here when I say I am getting really disappointed over how this second season is forming up. I don’t believe I am saying this but this second season is not what I had in mind or what I hoped it would be. Nothing works in my opinion. Characters in season 2 are just boring, nothing interesting is happening, the I-am-acting-cool-so-it-shows-I-am-powerful type of characters are not what darker than black was about. Just see how many people fit in this description; the stupid guy in the Japanese secret agency who got trash can on his head (he is a copy cat of November 11) the two contractor girls in the organization, that guy with scar on his face, the woman who knows everything. They are all goddamn the same.
DTB was about a young guy searching his past, trying to fit in with the group who had having interesting adventures during all that; not necessarily with good results or happy endings but fun to watch. What the hell is this season? They recycled some dead characters from the first season (come on, the cat is bacl as another animal, just because they had noone to fit in?) and just threw them in saying “well, you liked this guy? Then he’s back! But because we want this season to be totally new, we are going to fuck everything up; from story to character developments. Enjoy! We worked hard”.
Really, anybody has found any of the characters interesting? Hei isn’t even the hei I liked in the first episode, the music is, well, I can’t recognize it because it doesn’t stand out in the episode. Why is the focus on the girl? She has completely replaced Hei as the main character and she is unbelievably annoying. I can’t stop watching the series because I loved the first one to death, I even got it on Blue-ray so it really annoys me to now end when I see them butchering it like this.
God I’m getting so pissed off writing this I can hardly type the words. Sorry to annoy your readers, just ignore this long message but I wish DTB could be DTB that I knew and loved. This is not it. This season is a different anime that just happens to have the same name.
Heh actually I agree with you 100percent man, I was gonn awrite a long as thrashing of this show but its not worth it, but since you did it for me, I wanna give you props for speaking out,
personally I stopped watching this crap after hei lost his powers and the annoying girl got his powers…I thought *uh ohhh I know where this is going…delete* nice to know I was right and not blinded by the awesomeness of the first series.
I’m actually quite liking this series. I stopped really comparing after the 3 episode. I’m looking at this as more of a spin off rather than a sequel, since the focus is on Suou and not really on Hei. Plus they haven’t really answered any of the questions that they left hanging from last season. Not to say they still can’t…
I did love the fact that they showed a bit of the old Hei with him scarfing down his dinner and then asking for more. Hopefully by the end of the show we’ll see his voracious appetite back to normal. (lay off the booze) lol.
I was wondering what Inazumi? was and if it might be Yin. This might just be wishful thinking, but we can hope.
BORING BORING BORING
Hey kets make a show about a guy with super powers…but hten take away his powers and give a girl a rifle.
Yey a show baout a drunk guy who never talks and a squirrel that does.
UNTIL HE GETS HIS POWERS BACK I DON’t EVEN FEEL LIKE WATCHING THE SHOW.
whoa, I really don’t think people should bash the show just cause “Hei isn’t the Hei I liked in S1”. I liked Hei too, but I wouldn’t look at DtB as a show that is about Hei, for me it is about contractors and regular people, Hei just happens to play a special role in the big picture, since he is(was) a special case.
On this week’s episode, i was really happy to see Hei show his nice side again, most likely cause he changed his view of Suou, from a contractor to a kid. That was probably why he was so violent, he was seeing her as a contractor more than anything else.
Regarding the situation with Hei. It’s called a character arc!
It’s classic story telling: He was a powerful contractor, on top of the world. He loses his powers, falls into a funk, doesn’t eat, just drinks, finds himself being forced to mentor this young contractor. We see in episode 5, the girl starting to grow on him. He sees himself in her – after his sister is killed, he inheriting her powers. Whats going to happen next? The upswing of the arc, he is probably going to grow to really care about suou, probably learning some life lessons along the way, maybe getting his powers back just as he learns to accept life without them. Something along those lines. It is sort of screenwriting 101.
Secondly, while back in episodes 2 and 3, I was worried that this show was going to turn into 90210, I am glad to see that I was wrong. Now that Suou is a contractor, she has avoided becoming the annoying teenager, or a Shinji like simpering ball of goo.
And you don’t like the music? I don’t know about you, but I freaking LOVE the opening song. The video of the full version is at youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkDlQ0qPu0Q&NR=1
It is so catchy, I can’t get the song out of my head.
Whoa… I guess character-development is overrated nowadays…
Am I the only one who enjoyed the first season, not because of Hei or Yin, but because of the stories and the characterization of the wide variety of contractors he met?
This show couldn’t be a repeat of season 1. And most of the time his powers was shown as a spark or somebody having a spasm. He just got to put in a little more work. Besides he’ll be back himself close to the end. Whether you love or hate you’ll still watch it to comment.
BK-201 is Hei’s star though. Also, whatever happened to his sister is still a mystery, since you never know what happens when meteor shards are involved and Hei causes some strange reactions with it when he’s around.
I wonder what happened to Yin though.
wow, can’t believe I used to think that everyone liked the show. For me, DTB2 fits nicely with the first season. Yes, things change, people change for better or worse. I think this point makes the show more realistic and unpredictable.
wow, can’t believe I used to think that everyone liked the show. For me, DTB2 fits nicely with the first season. Yes, things change, people change for better or worse. I think this point makes the show more realistic and unpredictable.
wow, can’t believe I used to think that everyone liked the show. For me, DTB2 fits nicely with the first season. Yes, things change, people change for better or worse. I think this point makes the show more realistic and unpredictable.
wow, can’t believe I used to think that everyone liked the show. For me, DTB2 fits nicely with the first season. Yes, things change, people change for better or worse. I think this point makes the show more realistic and unpredictable.
I’m terribly sorry for the repeated comments. there’s some technical mistake on my side! 🙁
I love season 1 for what it is, a slice of life arc based drama that escalates with subtlety to a grand finale. Every episode made sense, they had a story to tell and time wasn’t wasted on empty fan service like this one. As evidence of the popularity of Darker than Black 1, it works.
I don’t mind too much the loss of Hei’s power, I know he can adjust being the black reaper and all, but I do greatly mind how Bones had almost completely ruined the good impression we had of Hei, the rugged look and mistreatment of Suou I can stomach(barely) but the not so subtle hints of perversion was a big no no. I had read somewhere that the director for this season was changed to someone who used to direct ecchi animes and I can clearly see the influence. The recent episode wasn’t too bad mainly because the original script writer wasn’t changed just the directors, they’re still enjoyable but they would have been a lot better without the moe. Fortunately, I also heard that the original director will be back for the second half of this season so I’m expecting that the second half will be more to my liking.
Come to think of it, this episode might be the beginning of that turning point. Seeing that Hei has finally eaten something, did not hurt Suou and Suou in turn had man it up and kill that bird are good signs of improvement.
BKNY: where exactly did you read that the directors changed? The main director still is the same, and the episode directors so far are either carried over from the first season, or worked on other great series without an emphasis on fanservice.
Oh, that’s what I meant! The episode directors handling this past episodes are known for their ecchi animes, thanks for the clarification. I read that bit a few days ago, my memories are a bit vague. But I distinctly remember that those who handled season 1 will be back to manage the second half. I was particularly glad to hear that.
It might be screenwriting 101, but that’s exactly what I don’t want from DtB2. I miss season one. That’s really all I can say…I don’t even know how to put into words what makes me dislike Gemini so damn much.
lol u can’t please everyone… but i can say that I’m one of those people pleased by this show…. DTB1 – excellent.. DTB2 – excellent too so far…
I’m quite surprised of the severity of the bashes on this show.. i haven’t found anything that annoying yet in this show.. Just look at the point.. If you were in the place of Suou, what would you do? All the talk of this annoying brat bulshit is quite a pain in the ass… People talk like they can act cool when they’re in place of the characters they’re bashing.. Man am i pissed…
Ohh.. and Hei dealin w/ enemies without any help from his buzzap abilities is quite cool imo…
sorry but I think this show sucks and have stopped watching since episode 3, if I wanted bratty teenagers angsting through a series, Id watching gundam seed destiny, seriously
oh and to all those people getting mad because I bash a show, stfu its my godamn opinion, I dont bash YOU all for liking something that I dont, psgles bashes(and I use that lightly) shows he doesn’t like either, why dont you get mad at him?
anyway, whatever, I think the show sucks, and probably wont be posting on this show anymore, as I wont be watching it,
So to all those who got their pantsu in a bunch because a few people have different opinions than you…you can go suck on it.
ppl shrink: It’s certainly not bad that you have a different opinion, but I thought that you’d like to know that Suou completely changed character after episode 3 at which she became a contractor. She’s now level-headed, she stopped angsting and stopped being a brat. Just my 2 cents. 😉
I was always under the impression that hei’s powers got transfered to the girl. When he lost his powers lighting went towards the girl. His power is actually matter manipulation, so creating something like a rifle isn’t far-fetched. I doubt it would manifest the same way in all of them.
Oh, and deosn’t anyone find it cool that hei can take on contractors without his powers? In a fight to the death, with his powers, hei could take on any of the current contracters (we have info on). None of them have the combat skills of the exploding blood guy. They rely on their powers to much.
Exluding the blade girl, but he didn’t even use his powers against her.
ppl shrink: I do believe you’re the only one getting pissed at anything here, we (who like S2) aren’t bashing you (people who dislike S2). Just trying to change your perception a little so that you can appreciate S2, after all, we all liked S1. If you want to continue hating it with such passion, that’s just your loss
@shrink: I’m pissed. but it seems like ur pissed more than me.. and i didn’t even target anyone… O_o
I really don’t buy the fact that she ‘redeemed’ herself by becoming a contractor, that all of her previous personality flaws and annoying teenage angst just evaporated with her transformation. In my opinion, it’s a lot worse now that’s she supposed to be calm, cool and collected, or mature if you will. She just goes through all the phases of being bratty (“I hate you.”, trying to save up money and run away, please slap my face to balance out the pain, etc) without a blank stare.
Eh, as for trying to appreciate S2…I’m trying and it’s just not working.
IIRC Hei was known as the black reaper even BEFORE he got his powers, so it’s not really that surprising that he can take on contractors as he is now.
As with most people, I prefer the first season, but I still enjoy watching it. A lot.
I hope that we would get some answers to the questions left at the end of season 1, which I think should be the point of making a second season in the first place.
Hei was drinking in the episode before he lost his powers and BK201 is stillhis star. I think Hei’s powers got sucked into Suou’s necklace which might also be the meteor core that he is searching for. Everything Hei is doing is connected to finding his sister. Darker Than Black is still a great anime.
Have you guys noticed that Hei hasn’t really killed anyone since he met Suou?