Darker Than Black Episodes One and Two: The Fallen Star of a Contract

Darker Than Black is a supernatural and action filled anime that premiered in Japan in 2007. It's based on a popular manga of the same name. The second season of Darker Than Black is coming out this October, and I wanted to recap it a bit for anyone new to the series.

Without going into spoiler territory, Darker Than Black is set in a world full of superpowered beings called contractors. In spite of the fantastical premise, the show does a good job of making its world feel grounded in the real one- or at least it has thus far.

The opening two-parter gets off to a strong start, but a word of warning for the faint of heart- I was wincing in pain within the first 5 minutes. While not an excessively gory show, the violent moments definitely make an impact and might scare some viewers away. The obligatory exposition dump was well handled and didn't feel unnatural. All the characters I've seen so far are well designed and have great voices.

However, there were problems with the pacing in the middle of each episode. Although I was at the edge of my seat for the beginning and ending of each episode, there were also times where I was a bit bored with the show and didn't feel particularly involved in what is going on. This was more of a problem in the first episode than the second, so hopefully, the series is just finding its footing and it'll be less of a problem the further I get.

Ultimately, after I finished each episode I immediately wanted to start up the episode; and to me, that means the show doing pretty well. It had some decent plot twists, and has already introduced a few mysteries. For the time being, I'll absolutely keep on watching this show.

Rating: 85/100