Darker Than Black: Series Review

It's been a few days since I finished Darker Than Black, and I now feel like I've had enough time to collect my thoughts about the show to go ahead and write a review. I'm going to make this as spoiler-free as I can muster, and this absolutely should be safe reading for anyone who hasn't seen the show.

I'm not sure why I never got around to watching Darker Than Black sooner. I have a pretty big weakness for superpowers, and not only is Darker Than Black full of them, but it injects new life into the concept with the introduction of payments. Half the fun of seeing new characters show off their powers each week was finding out what sort of price they'd have to pay for them. The writers got really creative with this, with payments that ranged from silly and lighthearted downright monstrous.

Darker Than Black was a pretty solid series right from the get-go, and by the time I'd watched the first 6 episodes I'd fallen in love with the slow. It's rare for an action series to spend so much time on character development, but it paid off bigtime for Darker Than Black. Scenes from older episodes were often given new significance, making this a great series to rewatch, and the series managed to have some really emotional moments. Yoko Kanno's soundtrack for the show was masterful, but I wouldn't expect anything less.

However, as much as I liked Darker Than Black, it was rarely everything I wanted it to be. The show frequently built up momentum and then didn't take advantage of it, and several of the show's story arcs seemed really oddly placed. I think if the series had had a little restructuring, it could've really been a masterpiece. As is, it's a throughly entertaining show, but it had the potential to be even more.

Now that I have some distance from it, I'm a little less satisfied with the ending than I initially was. If I had watched the show when it initially aired, I think I would have felt pretty disappointed. As I said, I'm not going to spoil anything here, but people who want all their questions answered might find themselves a little frustrated with the show.

All in all, Darker Than Black is still a pretty great anime. It has its flaws, sure, but diving into the green hued city the show was set in was a wonderful experience. A compelling plot, well-written characters, and terrific action scenes are a terrific combination. If you're a fan of anime, then there's a lot to like about this show.

Rating: 92/100

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Darker Than Black Episode 26: Beneath Cherry Blossoms in Full View

And now it's time for me to properly finish off Darker Than Black. To be honest, it felt a little weird watching this episode after the roller coaster that the season ending was. I'm glad that they did a genuine episode for their last one instead of a recap like a lot of series would've done, but it just felt so out of place.

Episode 26 of this anime is, as I said before, a fun little side story. It's a silly tale that takes place probably somewhere in the middle of the series, and it involves BK-201 getting written into anime fanfiction. Seriously.
It was nice to see all the major players working together again, but as I said, watching it felt a little off. I probably would've had more fun with it if I hadn't watched it almost directly after Episode 25. That's what I get for trying to plow through the series and finish it up quickly, I guess!

If you were wondering, watching this episode absolutely isn't necessary to get the full story of Darker Than Black. If you can't wait to see more of the characters, check this one out, but don't feel like it's something you need to do.

Rating: 85/100

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Darker Than Black Episode 25: Does the Reaper Dream of Darkness Darker Than Black?

Here ends the last proper episode of Darker Than Black season 1. There's one last episode to the season, but it's just a fun side-story and it doesn't take place after the end of the season events. I have a lot to say about this one, but to do it without spoilers would require me vagueing things up to the point of ridiculousness, so I'll just go ahead and bust out my trusty spoiler tags.

» Major Spoilers Under Here «

In my last recap, I mentioned that I hoped that some of the characters we'd lost would get a little time devoted to them as there wasn't time to focus on much of anything in the previous episode. When I said that, I never imagined that every character who was gone in the series would make a comeback. I loved seeing November 11 in particular, of course, and I'm glad he got some nice dialog, but I also found the appearance of many other characters to be particularly touching. The inclusion of the doll from the very first story arc was especially nice.

I'm really impressed with how they ended this one, overall. The major questions presented in this series, like how Li got his powers, were clearly answered, but many things were left open ended. I love how they handled the fate of Mao, and until I'm proven otherwise I'll choose to believe that he got himself back somehow. I feel like there's a million ways this next season could go- I'm not sure how many, or if any of the major characters from this one will be big players- and not being predictable is always a good thing.

All in all, I thought this was the perfect (sort of) end to the series. I'm really grateful that I was able to watch Darker Than Black online free and legally so that I could catch up with this before the second season started. I plan to do a review of the entire series as soon as possible so that I can go through everything else I want to say here. I'll be posting up a recap of the actual last episode soon as well.


Rating: 95/100

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Darker Than Black Episode 24: Meteor Shower

It seems that just about every storyline in Darker Than Black is either wrapping up or hurtling towards a climax. I think we'll be getting answers to some of the show's major questions soon, and I'm really excited to see them. I have to wonder at this point how much my predictions are based on my knowledge of the show's second season, but I imagine I'll get some surprises regardless.

At the risk of being a bit spoiler-ish, I have to say that this was probably one of the most tragic episodes of the series. However, because of the breakneck pace the show is now going at, I feel like the weight of some of what happened never really hit me. I hope a little more screentime is devoted to some of these things, if there's time to do it without leaving anything out of the story.

Because of everything happening, I don't think this episode had much room for a lot of the wonderful character moments I've become accustomed to- they didn't even have time for the opening theme- but they still managed to squeeze in a few anyhow. This one went out on a bang, and I had to force myself to type this up before starting up the next episode. Believe me when I say that I'll have it playing by the time this post is published.

Rating: 93/100

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Darker Than Black Episode 23: God is in His Heaven

Darker Than Black's first single parter episode is one part sweet and wistful, and one part action packed. The pacing on this episode overall was really wonderful, and it made me wonder how some of the weaker past episodes might have benefited if they hadn't had to stretch their story across two episodes. The writers of this show can clearly fit plenty of events and character development into 22 minutes or so.

Things in the Darker Than Black world seem to be headed pretty quickly towards a climax, and it certainly seems like the next few episodes will be pretty interesting. I am worried that a few things aren't going to get addressed before the season's end, but that's when I have to remind myself that there'll be plenty of time for wrapping up loose ends in season two.

I particularly liked the moments between Li and Misaki in this episode. One of the things I enjoy most about Li as a character is that I'm never sure how much of what he says is an act and how much is really him, and their time together kept me guessing. You really get the sense of what the world must have been like before the Hell's Gates events in this one, and I imagine that'll add quite a bit of emotional weight to the stories yet to come.

Rating: 94/100

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Darker Than Black Episodes 21 and 22: City Under Crankdown, Moist With Tears

It looks like my worries about the show taking another dip in quality as it ended are unjustified so far. This was without a doubt one of the best story arcs yet. We were hit with an explosion of stuff happening, and I'm very anxious to see how each piece of it will wrap up. The episode was full of new characters and old familiar faces, and it was wonderful to see.

There's no way I can talk about this episode without mentioning a certain spoiler-tastic scene.

» Major Spoilers Under Here «

November 11 is such an awesome character, and it was awful to see him die. I never felt like we got enough of him, and there's so much I'd love to learn about him. But man, what a death scene. It's the best one I've seen in an anime since the end of Cowboy Bebop. I was fighting back the urge to salute my computer screen.

This is the last of Darker Than Black's two episode story arcs, and I'm excited to see what they do with single episode pacing. Because of the massive events of this episode, I'm hoping things will all be pretty continuous from here on out with no filler. I'm glad that season two is not far away, because it's going to be really hard to see this series end.

Rating: 96/100

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Darker Than Black Episodes 19 and 20: Dreaming Swallow, Uninebriated

And with this episode, Darker Than Black is right back where it needs to be. There aren't many story arcs left, and although this episode was terrific, I'm still feeling a little nervous for the future of the show. It's been back and forth in quality for so long, and there's not really enough time for the series to do any more stories that don't move the main plot forward at all. I suppose no matter what happens, there's still the second season to look forward to.

This episode finally let us see a little bit of Huang's backstory, and his character makes a lot more sense now. I think I'll have a new appreciation for a lot of scenes when I go back and re-watch them. During the first episode, I enjoyed the flashbacks a lot more than the main story, but the second episode of this arc was much stronger, and the story was at its best when the past and the present were running into each other.

In spite of my misgivings about the future of the show, there was some interesting set up that I hope they follow through on, and the episode itself had some beautiful scenes, especially near the end. If the series continues on an upwards path from here, I'm sure this season will go out with a bang.

Rating: 93/100

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Watch Darker than Black Online

If you've been following my Darker than Black recaps and are curious about checking the show out for yourself, you're in luck! Funimation has free episodes of Darker than Black available to watch on their site. You're able to choose from dubbed or subbed, and quite a few episodes are available. If you're already watching Darker than Black, fear not! There's lots more free anime on their website. Just go to the video section of Funimation.com. Have fun watching!

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Darker Than Black Episodes 17 and 18: A Love Song Sung with a Trash Heap

Darker Than Black has fallen into a weird little pattern, and it's starting to bother me. The show will start getting better and better, until I'm totally psyched up for whatever's coming next, and then the show drops in quality a bit and doesn't do much with the awesome storylines they have set up. Even the animation in this arc wasn't anywhere near as good as the last few episodes.

I enjoyed these episodes in spite of that, but it's really frustrating to keep going from amazing episode to stuff like this. I wish the show had had more of a slow build to awesome instead of this constant back and forth. If this episode had taken place earlier in the series, I think I would've enjoyed in quite a bit more.

That said, there were still some wonderful scenes. Mao didn't play a huge role in this episode, but he absolutely shone in his limited time on screen. I liked the continued development of Yui's relationship with Li as well as her interactions with one of this arc's new characters. I hope that we'll learn more about dolls in an episode soon, but I suppose there's always manga and the next season for that.

Rating: 89/100

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Darker Than Black Episodes 15 and 16: Memories of Betrayal in an Amber Smile

In case the picture didn't make it obvious, this story arc marks the triumphant return of November 11. He didn't get quite as much screen time as I would've liked, but he's still such an enjoyable character, and I loved every minute of it that I got.

The story seems to be heading in a bit of a different direction, and with that new direction comes a new opening and closing theme. I always have a hard time adjusting to new themes, but I'm very intrigued by the animation in the new opening. I wonder if it'll turn out to be at all spoiler-tastic. Openings do tend to be full of spoilers.

Things have really kicked into high gear by this point. My jaw dropped several times at the events in this episode, and I can't wait to see the impact that some things have had. It was so hard not starting up the next episode immediately after finishing this one. I still have so much I want to find out, and at this point in the series, that's a pretty perfect place to be.

Rating: 92/100

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Darker Than Black Episodes 13 and 14: A Heart Unswaying on the Water's Surface

At long last, we get a Yui centric episode, and it was well worth the wait. This was a really lovely episode, in more ways than one. There were some beautifully animated scenes, wonderful, touching writing, and some of the best music I've heard in this series so far. If you're a fan of piano music, I really recommend trying to track the music from this episode down. It's exquisite.

This episode introduced some interesting new characters and brought back some that I wasn't expecting to see again. While I didn't laugh at them as much as I did the first time, I felt that they worked better in small doses overall. I hope that they sneak them in again sometime, even if it's just for a scene or two.

While the series has been full of sad scenes, this episode really brought out the waterworks for me. The more stirring scenes really made me appreciate how well they've developed the characters thus far. They managed to be sad in a subtle way and without being at all emotionally manipulative. I really love that this show has turned out to be so character driven and isn't just another fun action show, and I hope it continues on that path.

Rating: 95/100

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Darker Than Black Episodes 11 and 12: When One Takes Back what was Lost Within the Wall

As soon as I saw this story arc's title, I knew it was going to be a good one. This was a bit of a change of pace from the usual missions we've seen The Syndicate take on, and was full of fascinating information about the strange version of the world that Darker than Black takes place in. This is another character backstory centric episode of well, with more of the blanks being filled in about Li.

This episode had a wonderful creepy and mysterious tone that the series hasn't had much of so far, and I really enjoyed it. There was a minor story arc that I found distracting and a bit annoying, but the episode had some really terrific moments in it, and really got me psyched up for all the things that the series still has to come.

The music in the episode was beautiful as always, and there was a tiny little moment at the end that I really loved. I think I've gotten to the point where I'm pretty attached to these characters. Knowing that there's a second season starting next month gives me some hope that they'll all be okay, but you never know with anime. Here's hoping I don't have any big watershed moments coming up soon.

Rating: 92/100

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Darker Than Black Episodes 9 and 10: The White Dress Stained with the Girl's Dreams and Blood

The backstory driven story arcs continue with Darker than Black's ninth and tenth episodes. This time Misaki is the one to get the spotlight, though Saito and Kanami get some nice moments as well. The syndicate is once again barely in the episode, with only Li getting any real screentime. I've enjoyed learning more about other characters, but I'm hoping to get back to more stuff like what I saw in episodes 5 and 6 soon, or better yet, some Yin or Huang centric stories. While I'm making a wishlist, I might as well add that I can't wait to see November 11 again either.

I'm not sure if my expectations for this show have gotten too high or not, because while I did enjoy this arc, it just doesn't feel like it was as good as some of the earlier episodes were. I'm not complaining yet, exactly, because I do feel like this arc in particular will probably make some of the earlier episodes even better upon re-watching, but I feel like I got so pumped up about this show and haven't gotten a really epic episode since. Here's hoping I don't have long to wait.

There was some lovely music in this one, and the new characters were intriguing and well done, as always. I hope to see more of Li and Misaki together soon- they make a fun pair.

Rating: 89/100

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Darker Than Black Episodes 5 and 6: Red Giant Over Eastern Europe; Episodes 7 and 8: The Scent of Gardenias Lingers in the Summer Rain

I'm sorry that I've fallen a little behind with this. I've had a busy week and it was just hard to find the time to sit down and really pay attention to something. Since I had a bit more time today, I decided to go for break and knock out four episodes at once. So first off, episodes 5 and 6.

I really, really loved this story arc. I've been enjoying the series up until now, but this is when I feel like I was really sold on the series. These episodes manage to really move the story forward while introducing some intriguing new characters who I felt were really well written. It reminded me a bit of Cowboy Bebop around episode 6, where the story really starts to pick up.

Speaking of Cowboy Bebop, it's worth mentioning that the music in this series is terrific, and it's done by Yoko Kanno. I'm not particularly into anime music, so if I feel like it's comment worthy, tha'ts saying something. It's nice to know that the two series share something outside of pacing.

In case you couldn't tell, I was a tremendous fan of these two and I was sad to see them finished. I can't wait to see more like this, and more of some of these characters.

Rating: 95/100

Now, onto episodes 6 and 7!

As the above image might suggest, this was a pretty big departure from the series thus far.  I feel like I'm being harder than this story arc than I should due to the awesomeness of the last one. A good part of these episodes was genuinely hilarious, and I laughed a plenty, but it's just not what I felt like seeing after getting all caught up in the story.

These two episodes revolve almost entirely around characters we've never seen before and I imagine we'll never see again, although I could be wrong. It's definitely going for a humorous filler feel, and as I said before, there were a lot of great jokes. The first episode is a lot stronger than the second one, and it goes from silly to just plain weird.

In case you're thinking of skipping this one, I did want to say that there is a little backstory for Mao in this arc, so if you don't want to miss that, don't miss these. And hey, if you like fan service, it's got that too.

Rating: 82/100

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Darker Than Black Episodes Three and Four: A New Star Shines In the Dawn Sky

Darker Than Black continues on a good path with its third and fourth episodes. It seems to have a pretty consistent formula thus far, and feels pretty episodic, but there've been enough info dumps that I think there might be some interesting long term plots coming up soon.

My hopes that the pacing would improve as the series progressed seem to be fulfilled so far. These episodes didn't have any of the lags that the previous two seemed to have, and I felt like overall I was more drawn into the story of this episode. There is more gore and violence in these episodes than in the previous ones as well.

Ultimately, I really enjoyed this story arc. I wish we could have seen more of the secondary characters from the first two episodes, but they did a great job with the new characters that were introduced, and it had some really great emotional moments. I'm really enjoying this series so far and look forward to what comes next.

Score: 89/100

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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

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