Review of Darker Than Black By FUNimation
-== What is it? ==-
Darker Than Black (DTB) is an adventure drama anime from FUNimation that in some ways reminds me of the Heroes TV show. It was released in April 2007. Tensai Okamura directed, created, and wrote DTB. Tensai Okamura has worked on many well known anime classics including Neon Genesis Evangelion, Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo, and Ghost In The Shell.
DTB tells the story of a group of operatives who work for a secret organization known as the Syndicate. The main character is a Contractor with electric powers who is known as Hei. Contractors are super powered beings who appeared ten years ago when a strange territory known as Hell’s Gate materialized in Tokyo. These super powered beings are known as Contractors because they must “pay” for their power with some type of anomaly or strange behavior. For example, Hei eats a LOT. π The other members of Hei’s Syndicate team include the following:
- Yin – A quiet Goth looking Doll who can observe people through water. (Dolls are clairvoyants who came to be with the emergence of Hell’s Gate.)
- Huang – A gruff supervisor for the team. His role in the story is that of a liaison with the Syndicate. Huang is a normal human (i.e. he is not a Contractor or a Doll).
- Mao – A Contractor who has the ability to replace his sentience in animals. He is currently stuck in the form of a black cat. Mao is practical and brings an “everyman” view to the story…okay…maybe “everycat”. π
The other important character in the story is the Section Chief Kirihara who is assigned to Contractor related cases.
There is some nudity at the very end of the series but it is not graphic or sexual in nature. There is a good deal of violence in DTB but it is not excessively gratuitous. This is one of the few times that I think the RightStuff.com rating of “17+” is too high. I really think this one should be around “14+”.
I purchased the standard edition version of the DVD boxed set. The version I have includes only minor extras in the form of director/actor commentaries and cast auditions. There are 26 episodes in the run.
-== What I Like ==-
The main characters in DTB are extremely cool. I really enjoyed Section Chief Kirihara. She ended up playing off of several characters in a really enjoyable fashion. I thought the fact that one of her subordinates develops a crush on her is also very well done and quite humorous at times. One my favorite episodes included a good deal of screen time for the Section Chief.
As you can tell from some of the initial text the DTB setting is really intricate. There are Contractors, Dolls, various agencies, this strange Hell’s Gate thing, etc. One interesting bit of background relates to how the stars are linked to individual Contractors. When Hell’s Gate appeared the stars changed! After some research scientists realized that every star is uniquely identified with a single Contractor. If a Contractor dies their star fades away. If a Contractor appears then a new star appears. Several times Section Chief Kirihara visits a friend of hers at a local observatory where this is this strange Gandhi type figure who can interpret the stars and what they mean.
There are a couple of episodes that I wanted to mention for being really great or different. In general the series progresses in sets of two episode stories. This works really well for the most part and produces some very strong two episode arcs.
- Ep 1 And 2 – The Fallen Star Of A Contract – The first two episodes really come off nicely. Often I have issues with the first few episodes of longer series but not here. These eps are cool, sexy, fast, and smart.
- Ep 9 And 10 – The White Dress, Stained With The Girl’s Dreams And Blood – I really enjoyed these episodes which focus on Section Chief Kirihara and a friend of hers, Alice, who happens to be the daughter of a well known mob boss. There is tension, humor, drama, and some GREAT fight scenes. Very nice.
- Ep 21 Through 25 – At this point the series kicks into gear for a final sprint to the finale.
The animation style in DTB is nice but it can feel a bit simplistic at times. The animation was done by studio Bones who did the notable anime Cowboy Bebop and Fullmetal Alchemist.
-== What I Donβt Like ==-
Even though several of the two episode arcs are very strong I found the overall feel of DTB to be a bit TOO episodic in nature. At times I felt like yelling at the TV to get back to the main thread.
Unfortunately I think the storytelling in DTB could use some improvement. In my opinion it took at least 10 episodes to really get its feet. Even after what I thought was a FANTASTIC first two episodes the series did not carry it forward until quite some time. I was also not found of the strange ending. The ending really felt like a “cop out” to me. π
-== Summary ==-
DTB is a sexy, fast, and smart anime series with super powered Contractors that are very cool. If you want super powered spy action that reminds one of Heroes look to this series.
Recently FUNimation created a classic pack for DTB. Thus the series is priced at a much lower price point. Nice. You can get a copy at RightStuf.com at this URL for $37.49. Amazon has it for $35.99 at this
I give it 7 out of 10 paws.
