bria.heidenreich - 2015-01-26 06:10:04

"Darker than Black" is an average show. ...it's okay.

Animation for fight sequences was pretty clean, and nice otherwise. No complaints. Consistence was okay. OST and Voice were good, but not stellar.

Characters were hard to bond with, and didn't have a lot of backstory.

Setting was a bit cliche, but had originality sprinkled throughout. Pretty good use of it was made.

Episodes were enjoyable... half of the time. There was enough filler to drag on the series a bit; things seemed disjointed quite often.

The storyline overall had a destination, but it took a hell of a long time to get there. I easily got bored, because things weren't explained, and it seemed to be going around in circles. Only the last few episodes really offered some information, and even then, a lot was left uncovered.

jeffry.schulist - 2014-08-12 09:52:16

A solid series with some flaws in its plot development.

cassin.rex - 2014-03-07 04:13:26

I remember watchign Darker than Black for the first time. I was still getting into the whole "watching anime" thing. So this show holds a special place in my heart. But going back and re-watching trying to avoid this attachment, is the series really worth it? Rest assured, I can safely say so.

STORY
The premise of the story of Darker than Black is what really make this an interesting series. Its a time after a major incident, leaving the city surrounded by a fake sky and what is known as "Heavens Gate". In these walls there are people who are known as contractors; soulless people with incredible powers....that come at a cost. That aspect right there already makes the show interesting. For these contractors they must do something as a price for their powers, whether it is as simple as smoking or organizing pebbles, or something as extreme as breaking your fingers. In this fictional universe there is a group known as the syndicate, with a powerful contractor named Hei on their side.
Now this sounds really cool, I know. And In this atmosphere with the episodic portions, this show kicks ass. Overall plot, however is kind of a weak point for the show, as halfway through it develops a degree of a centralized plot, but then forces it all together towards the end, and the conclusion does feel a bit confusing and the general plot does feel a bit off. That being said, the episodic nature leading to that point is quite enjoyable.

ANIMATION
The show goes from normal looking day to dystopian gloom by night which matches the show very well. It looks great and is complimented with really nice action sequences. Everything flows really well and its fluid. Characters also have their own distinctions as well, most obvious being Hei. Its a nice looking show.

SOUND
The soundtrack works well for this show and during action sequences it does a fantastic job. This adds to the great atmosphere and helps make moments much more lively and memorable. One other thing worth mentioning is voice acting which is pretty good, and I'll make a note on the dub (which I'll do if there is a dub for a show and I have seen that version). Its pretty good for the most part. sometimes it feels kind of average but it is definitely a decent enough cast to enjoy in English.

CHARACTER
If my obvious love towards the concept of contractors was not enough let me tell you that characters in this show are great. The way it works is there's a general story going on each two episodes, generally focused on one specific character or contractor. Each one has these two episodes focused on them and makes for interesting development at a macro level. Though this cannot be said for Hei because almost the whole time he is shrouded in mystery, which honestly works well I think. This makes the episodic format work so well for me.

ENJOYMENT
Though there are some small flaws with the development of plot and our main character, I still found this a very fun show. I would say this: If you watch it, watch it/enjoy it at an episodic level. If you try and watch it as a single, developed, plot driven anime, you won't enjoy it. Watch it like you'd watch a show like cowboy bebop.

OVERALL
A fun show that has a really neat and original atmosphere, with a fun journey that ends with a rather awkward conclusion. This show has a second season but...it is not quite as memorable

spencer.geovanni - 2014-01-22 08:46:51

Year 2007, the golden age of anime (in my opinion), where a lot of critically acclaimed anime such as Code;Geass, Death Note, Lucky Star, Baccano, Afro Samurai, Clannad, Kanon, School Days, Gurren Lagann and Darker Than Black were airing.

Story-10 years ago, an impenetrable field known as Hell's Gate appeared. During this time, all the stars disappeared being replaced by fake ones and psychics known as 'contractors' start appearing.

These contractors posses abilities ranging from flying, freezing to super-human strength by paying certain price such as cracking your fingers, lining stones on order to smoking weed (I'm joking about the last part, but it would be cool if it was true). It has an interesting premise and every episode is an episodic side-story except for the last few episodes which I find enjoyable.

Animation-The series handled by studio Bones famous for Ouran High School Host Club, Soul Eater and the critically acclaimed Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood. Like any other of their works, Darker Than Black gets top marks for animation ,especially during the well crafted fight scenes.

Sound- Not much to say , but the soundtrack fits very well during scenes with some OST standing out.

Character- Character fleshed out and have plenty of development through series each having their own specific arc about them and their back-story, it also makes Hei more mysterious throughout the series of how he is involved in every arc while just making a brief scene making him look badass.

Every side character is given a back-story and character development to be the least bit interesting and likeable.

Enjoyment- Darker Than Black was a very entertaining series with a few negatives where there some scene where I just can't fully appreciate the amount of law & order of the world because of contractors which I can't stand too long. I give this anime a 9 out of 10.

okertzmann - 2013-11-06 01:53:00

To be honest I only watched the first season(So far at least) Since I been to busy to watch more :(

But onto the review....

I'm not the biggest fan at these types of anime much depends if it interests me though.

But I did enjoy it the characters where rather interesting as well I love Hei and love the girl with white hair I haven't really watched it in awhile so I don't remember her name I think it was Yin or something I don't remember well enough. And the black cat reminded me of mine cause of it's chubbyness which honestly was one reason I kept on watching the anime till about a few episodes to the middle of it then I got way more interested then I was before cause I started to understand it better after talking to a friend who explains anime's very well in short summaries so I kept watching it till the end of season 1 I do hope to continue it more when I have the time and remember in the future.

Overall 9

orland.collier - 2013-09-18 06:03:39

Critic's Log - Earthdate: June 17, 2012. Review #9: Darker Than BLACK

A heart of Darkness is a heart full of Hatred and Deceit, A dark heart's lust for power can never fill his avarice to the fullest, he will continuously consume power because he resents people that have it. His wrath will eventually lead to his despair and his arrogance will give him a heart that is Darker Than Black. Is it possible to have a heart that is lighter than black or darker than white? I do not know myself because I still search, and then... The trials of a journey begin.

Okay... Enough with the poetic philosophical mumbo-jumbo. Here's Darker Than BLACK!

Ten Years ago, an unknown and abnormal area known as Hell's Gate appeared in Tokyo, altering the sky and wreaking havoc on the landscape. The real stars disappeared and are replaced by fake stars. During this time, people possessing various special powers have been appearing, each capable of different supernatural feats. These people are known as "Contractors". Each fake star has a corresponding Contractor which reacts to their activities. They are also kept secret from the masses. These contractors are known to murder in cold blood. They also kill their emotion with logic and rationale. Their abilities on the other hand at the cost of their humanity, Contractors are also named because of a involuntary compulsion to pay the price each time their power is used. Various nations and organizations around the world are training these contractors as assassins and spies resulting in aggressive battles for objects of value and information. After the Heaven's War, The United States have lost their position as a superpower to a mysterious organization named The Syndicate, The story is about a Chinese contractor named Hei as he undertakes various espionage and assassination missions in Tokyo under the direction of The Syndicate.

To be technical, this is a Studio Bones production and Studio Bones still has good animation quality. Darker than Black does not disappoint in the animation department. The animation looks really good even though computers may have been used as part of The Animation. The animation isn't perfect in this show, but it looks really nice. The action scenes are nice. Kudos to Studio Bones.

Even though the animation is great, there are some big problems with Darker than Black. The story may vary your mileage and I have many reasons why I say this... The pace in this show varies on speed and that might not be so bad. The big problem with the story is that the narrative tense does feel disorienting. Let me explain this, there are times when flashbacks are shown in the prologue of some episodes and then you see the present events occur after the opening. There's also a lot of things explained as the show progresses, this is an anime you need to pay attention to so you need to wake the fuck up while watching Darker than Black. I will give Tensai Okamura some credit that his direction in this anime is a bit different than some other anime out there.

One of the major flaws of Darker than Black is that it feels like the story isn't developing where it should be, Darker Than BLACK does develop a bit at the start of the second half in the show but it does take a while before the show gets somewhat interesting. The ending is rushed and at the time I am writing this review, I am a bit skeptical about the second season of Darker than BLACK.

Another major flaw is that the Minor characters seem to have the more interesting storylines than the main characters themselves and I did find some of these minor character's intriguing. The main casts of characters do get backstories but they are not as intriguing save for Yin's Backstory and Huang's backstory. Hei's backstory was a bit interesting but I don't have much to say about what intrigued me about it. The variety of the powers that the contractors have is nice too. The character development is a mixed bag for me and I was this close of calling the character development "Shoddy". There are some characters I find boring and I found some to be quite interesting. Hei is a bit complicated for me to enjoy watching. I admire the fact that when he assumes the alias "Li Shenshung" you wouldn't suspect that he's the infamous "BK201" or "Black Reaper", but when he is the Black Reaper, he's a badass (to some degree). Yin on the other hand does develop a bit but not too much, since she is a Doll, your expectations will vary. Huang is the only main character that is 100% human. I like the two part episode about him and Shihoko. Mao is okay. Again, the minor characters seem to have the more interesting storylines than the main characters and that can be considered a big problem. It may also feel a bit unoriginal at times.

The music for Darker Than BLACK is composed by Yoko Kanno who is well known for composing the music for animes such as The Vision of Escaflowne, Cowboy Bebop, Wolf's Rain, and Ghost in The Shell. The music is okay in Darker than BLACK, but Kanno- san has done better, Also, I found it quite nice to hear Mai Yamane in a song or two. If you don't know who she is, I'll tell you... She's the singer that is well known for her work in Cowboy Bebop, if you know the song "The Real Folk Blues", she's the one singing it. But I will say that the first opening kicks ass, and the first closing theme is pretty good too. Last but not least, the moments where you hear some jazz in the show. I think it's a nice touch... Kind of reminds you of Cowboy Bebop a bit.

When it comes to voice acting. The subtitled version is excellent, however... so is most of the dub. I will admit the subtitled version is good, The dubbed version might be the most appropriate choice because of the settings and some of the character backgrounds. Even though Funimation is notorious for re-casting the same voice actors at their disposal, I did not mind the dub too much. Hidenobu Kiuchi is great as Hei and Jason Liebrecht isn't bad as Hei either. Misato Fukuen is pretty good as Yin while Brina Palencia was okay as Yin, Masaru Ikeda and John Swasey play Huang pretty well. Ikuya Sawaki and Kent Williams are pretty good as Mao. If there is one character that had a pretty good performance on both the dubbed and the subbed version, it was the late seiyu Tomoko Kawakami and Laura Bailey as Amber. You can't really go wrong with either version so whether you want to watch this dubbed or subbed is totally up to you, they are both pretty good. Zach Bolton (who worked on Shin-Chan) was repsonsible for the ADR direction and he did pretty good on the dub on this show.

Darker than BLACK is available by Funimation, the OVA "Beneath Cherry Blossoms in Full Bloom" is released with Season One and is a side story of the show. The Second season of Darker than BLACK called "Gemini of The Meteor" is also available by Funimation, there is also another OVA called "Darker than BLACK: Gaiden (Side Story)" it is also available from Funimation. A manga of Darker than BLACK is available from Yen Press and there is another Manga adaptation of Darker than BLACK but hasn't been licensed here yet at the time I am writing this review.

With that said, Darker than BLACK is a somewhat unique series that might have some unoriginal elements. You might find this show really cool if you can get past the mixed bag of character development, and the story's narrative tense. This is one of those animes that I think is not really bad but I think it's not really good either. Do I like this show? Yeah, I thought it was pretty cool. It's not really on my favorites list...

I give Darker Than BLACK a 7 out of 10. It is GOOD!

Feel free to comment below, and have a good evening

dana.halvorson - 2013-08-23 01:55:16

So I read the person's who review said that this anime was lacking, to give an ACTUAL review of this anime I will say that it is one of my favorites honestly. So what makes this anime great is that it always keeps the viewers on their heels trying to figure out what would happen, it also does not keep onto its characters which some persons might not like because in the NORMAL anime there is usually the scenario of good always wins and everyone is alright, the great thing is that DTB breaks away from that norm and spurns its audience with the death of a loved character,in short they try to keep away from character biassism where even the good should suffer .The main character carries a great background story which will also catch anyone. There is more that I can say but then it would be spoilers to persons who use this site for its real purpose of anime recommendations so that will be all.

giovanna.goodwin - 2013-08-21 01:57:46

Ah. Darker than Black... Split, into two seasons, this show is among the better original anime series not based off another source-material. Since the second season was intended to be able to be watched separately, I will only review the first season of 26 episodes in this review. So! Let's begin!

Darker than Black is a sci-fi action thriller mixed with a sprinkle of mystery. 10 years ago, two "gates" appeared on Earth. One in Tokyo called Hell's Gate and the other in Brazil called Heaven's Gate. The basic premise is that because of these two gates, there are now people called "contractors" that have special powers ranging from electricity to gravity-manipulation. These powers come at a price though, and this is where the "contract" in contractor applies. After using a power a contractor must pay a price, such as breaking a finger or lining up pebbles into a perfect grid. These vary from contractor to contractor. The show follows Hei our lead protagonist and his team comprised of a talking cat, an emotionless girl and a grumpy old man, as they do various jobs for an underground organization called the "Syndicate"

Darker than Black divides its 26 episodes into 2 episode-long arcs which allows for more enjoyable and fleshed-out stories. These 2 episode arcs usually involve Hei's team being assigned to a job as we are introduced to side-characters or character back-stories. For the first half of the show Hei is constantly coming in and out of the spotlight, sometimes making a random appearance to combat another contractor or in disguise to infiltrate a target. In the latter half we are finally introduced to the main story line and begin to learn more and more about the past of our main protagonist Hei.

This 2 episode arc format is where this show truly shines. Each arc is varied yet cohesive, able to link together easily with the rest while also being satisfyingly conclusive. One feels a sense of completion at the end of each two-episode arc. From infiltration jobs to assassinations, these stories allow for us to learn about characters and how they react to various situations. We may follow the police chief Misaki Kirihara or contractor-assassin Hei (or both) as they try to learn more about the mysteries behind Hell's Gate.

We've seen this type of story telling in shows such as Cowboy Bebop, and Darker than Black is able to pull it off as well. Now, this may not be for everyone. Because we are introduced to the main story-line much later in the show, the first half or so of the show may feel sluggish. There's not much heavy plot development right off the bat nor are there much explanations about the world but if one actually pays attention to the dialogue, it's not difficult to understand.

In terms of themes the main one would probably be "loyalty to superiors or loyalty to one's judgement". Hei often has to decide whether or not to actually listen to the Syndicate's often ruthless orders. The Syndicate believes him to be an emotionless killing machine but we see him as a man with a dark past that still seems to care about the people he's interacting with.

Overall the story of Darker than Black although slow, is able to entertain with the use of episodic stories as it slowly reveals the mysteries behind both Contractors and Hell's Gate.

Produced by Studio BONES, Darker than Black is among their best works. The art style is detailed yet sharp and defined. There's no uinnecessary shine to the characters. Eyes vary from typical anime eyes to dull ones to tell apart contractors from the rest of the population. Action scenes are animated very well while also being choreographed excellently. Contractors use their powers logically in fights which makes for great fight scenes. As long as you aren't expecting fancy overly detailed character designs you will be more than satisfied with the art style of this show.

The soundtrack composed by the talented Yoko Kanno is a great companion to the animation. With fight scenes come heavy, rhythmic tunes and with slow or wistful scenes come relaxed peaceful pieces that complement the tone. There's not much to complain about with this soundtrack.

The openings are catchy yet not annoying, thus I didn't mind listening to them every episode.

I feel I have to mention the first OP HOWLING by Abingdon Boys School as one of the best anime Openings out there.

Both the English and Japanese dubs are great, though I have to mention the notable fact that the English dub actually has British accents for the characters that are from Britain. Otherwise it's just a matter of preference whether you watch it in Japanese or English.

Darker Than Black has a large cast of characters due to the fact that it's an episodic series. However, these characters usually only last for one arc, being quickly thrown away after it is finished. There are some recurring ones who not-surprisingly play more pivotal roles in the main story.

One of the problems with the characters though, is that there really isn't much character growth. Although Hei is our main protagonist, he's not always in the spotlight, which keeps him mysterious. Unlike some other shows, instead of character growth we gradually learn more about his past and his motivations instead of seeing him mature or change. This also applies to some characters like Yin, Hei's partner.

Another notable character that must be mentioned is Misaki Kirihara the police officer. This adds a whole other side to the show, changing from assassin story to a police woman's account of various events. Eventually the two are woven together, which then becomes the point where we see the introduction and development of the main plot.

Generally, although weak in character growth, Darker than Black manages to introduce us to some interesting main and side characters.

Darker than Black by Studio BONES is among the better anime series out there. With it's high-quality animation and soundtrack, and above-average premise, it's able to captivate you as long as you are willing to put in the time and pay attention. If you're a fan of series such as Phantom: Requiem of the Phantom, this will be perfect for you. Linked by two episode long arcs, the show was able to thoroughly entertain me with its cool cast of characters and varied story lines.

I highly recommend you watch this at least once in your anime career.

cruickshank.garett - 2013-08-11 19:51:00

(This review cover the entire series, season 1,2 and Gaiden included.)

I don't know where to start with this show, Darker Than Black became an unexpected favorite of mine recently. The show's first season is amazingly addictive, and the plot is very promising. But when you get to the end you are left with a lot of questions. and absolutely none of them are answered in the second season or the OVAs. They completely forgot the first season, turned the main character into a lolicon alcaholic hobo, and changed the music from the highly talented Yoko Kanno to Yasushi Ishii. The second season isn't bad, but compared to the first one it falls short.

As far as animation goes, this show is almost always stunning, even during the second season, one of my few complaints though is every time Suou uses her power, she does this magical girl transformation-esque scene while her rifle materializes out of her necklace, every time that happens it just bugs me for some reason. In regards to music, Yoko Kanno did an amazing job with the show's first season and fit her own musical touch in there very well, and while Yasushi Ishii's music isn't bad, as usual with this show, it didn't live up to the first season.

I would be remiss to not mention the dub on here, because in my opinion, this show is actually improved by the english dub, it might just be me though I really don't know. But if you're like me and don't mind giving dubs a try, this is definitely one to listen to.

Near the end of the second season, Hei finally goes back to being himself and then everything gets actually interesting, but then it ended really abruptly and we still haven't seen a third season yet, and believe me, this show needs a second season, desperately. So little of what happens goes unexplained and maybe if they make another season, they can fix thatt.

Overall, Darker Than Black is a great show, it may sound like I'm trying to be negative about it for the most part, but it's actually one of my most favorite series. And by the time you hit the second season you're able to bear the problems since the plot pulls you in so much. Both seasons of the show can be streamed on funimation, but the OVAs are not available to non-premium users. And for the love of god please don't pirate it, the more people who watch it legally, even streamed, The more money they have to make a highly necessary season 3.

If you like action, mystery, superpowers, badass characters, and beautiful animation Darker Than Black is definitely a show that you would enjoy.

leanne.lang - 2013-07-01 19:46:49

This anime severely disappointed me. It's a story that has so much potential but thanks to plot lines which spring up at the last second, characters which die off every other episode and its general long windedness, I found it lacking.

STORY:

The overall storyline was very poor. The first initial episodes were well done in my opinion. They provided nice insight to the characters we would be getting to know but as the anime progressed, I found myself looking at a series of one-shots which lead to no discernable plot.

It was like they threw in the 'major' villains at the last moment because they thought the series was getting too long then tried to pass it off as a fully planned story.

Very Badly done

Score: 3

ANIMATION:

The animation for this anime is well done. It gives you quite a lot to work with and can be very creepy at times. For a modern anime, somethings didn't mesh very well such as certain cars and buildings, but for the most part it was nice.

Score: 5

SOUND:

Meh. The music didn't make me feel... the Theme songs were nice though.

Score: 2

CHARACTER:

The characters really irritated me because many of them were well done. The main characters were interesting to watch because they took on 'humanity' from a very unique point of view i.e. logic vs emotion. However, the quality of the characters was brought down due to the bad storyline as well as poor planning.

Quite a few of the interesting characters which appeared earlier on were either killed or brought back towards the end as un to semi-important cameos.

Score: 5

ENJOYMENT:

Did I enjoy this? Not really. It DTB left a lot to be desired and irritates me because it had the potential to be so much greater than it actually was.

Score: 2

OVERALL - 3