Darker than Black - Ryuusei no Gemini - 06
It’s episodes like this that really show how good this series’ soundtrack is. The soundtrack of the first season was of course great, but this one is completely original and doesn’t try to rip it off in the slightest. This time we also have insert songs. Nice touch.
Anyway, this episode is probably going to be hard to buy for the people who were turned off by the new direction that the second season went in: a lot of emphasis is yet again put on whether or not it’s right to kill others. Don’t worry though: Suou doesn’t revert back to her old whiny self. Instead, the goofball’s mother gets killed in front of his eyes, and Suou nearly kills Yin (yeah).
Still, let’s take a look at the concept of death in this series in terms of storytelling. The problem with a lot of series that jump the shark is not the fact that they’re jumping the shark, but instead that they’re just jumping the shark for the sake of jumping the shark: they don’t put enough thought in how to make it work well and it’s indeed just seen as a cheap rip-off.
I believe however that Darker than Black avoided this. The pacing has been quick and varied: no episode looks like the other, and the action-scenes are imaginative, detailed and have a great sense of location, and the story has really been well-crafted so far. The themes of life and death are very new indeed. However, as long as they’re well explored, I’m not going to complain. At first they indeed seemed half-assed, but they’re getting quite a bit of depth at this point, and this episode really shows different sides and views.
Goofball isn’t a contractor, and therefore the loss of his mother forms a sharp contrast with this series habit of “one-hit kill”-attacks. Call this a series that kills off characters too fast, but I actually applaud this series for it: in so many fantasy-series, I keep wondering how the heck characters can stay alive and even survive without any sort of serious scratch after they’re hit by a wave of fire, struck by a very sharp sword, fall in the middle of an explosion, plummet hundreds of meters off a cliff, get hit by lightning, et cetera. I’ve gotten tired from those bad guys with their “well, I could kill you but I don’t feel like it today”-speeches.
In fact, while the themes of life and death are one point, I think that that’s just a part of one of the main themes of this series: contractors versus humans. In this episode, the only ones who acted with morals are the ones who aren’t contractors: goofball (yeah, I forgot his name) and Hei. Suou meanwhile remains a contractor, but you can see that she’s still very young. Contractors can make decisions regardless of their emotions, but Suou remains a typical teenager beyond that: still struggling with her identity.
And yeah, the fanservice returns again. It’s annoying, but in a way I can understand why it’s used. The first season aired in a time of economic prosperity. The second season was produced in the middle of a recession. Sex sells, and I guess that even Bones would run out of money, trying to keep up with these amazingly looking series they’ve been producing.
Of course, this also means that the conclusion is going to be very important for this series. I agree that when it’s simply going down to the message of “thou shalt not kill”, it will be really lame. But at this point, there’s no telling whether this is going to happen or not.
Rating: ** (Excellent)
That was a good episode and a good review. So Suou ends up with Stockholm syndrome…I wonder if she has real feelings, is faking it or just thinks she needs to feel this way?
Comment by Megaman0 — November 14, 2009 @ 1:36
I appreciate your composed analysis of this episode but… Yin!
Comment by Eirias — November 14, 2009 @ 3:36
Have you guys seen the preview for the OVA? It looks awesome.
http://www.d-black.net/gallary/pv02.html
Comment by Cheese-kun — November 14, 2009 @ 3:44
DtB has officially become the #1 series for me this season, while my other favourites keep getting worse, this keeps getting better… This episode was just amazing to watch, and like you said the soundtrack is just great
Im enjoying this even more than the 1st season actually, because Im not a fan of episodic series, and its nice that we have a continous story here even if its only 12 episode (boooo why cant it be 24), better than “2 episodes of hei dealing with a random contractor” last time
Comment by Frost — November 14, 2009 @ 5:12
I don’t think the second season could ever replace the first season for me, but this is so far among the top animes from this season.
Anyone else glad that Hei stopped drinking? I am, hopefully he will shave soon.
Comment by pgal — November 14, 2009 @ 5:39
Well if the story is predictable he will end getting back the look of the 1st season… I hope not, he looks cool this way actually, fits his personally more than the “pretty boy” look
Comment by Frost — November 14, 2009 @ 6:26
For once, i feel bad that hei has lost his powers,he seems to run away from every fight
Comment by Gunslinger — November 14, 2009 @ 6:51
Huh, there was fanservice? At least it doesn’t really take anything away from the series, so it’s all good.
Comment by Reltair — November 14, 2009 @ 7:00
I can understand all the positive aspects of this anime, but I can’t get the appeal with the lack of depth and emotion in all those contractors. Yeah, animes are full of annoying girls, but I’d rather have 100 annoying girls than this one bland, blonde kid that follows them around.
Everyone here looks like “your first RPG character”. Those overpowered ‘Mary Sue’ (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MarySue) kind of characters that are easy to write and easy to enjoy when you’re looking for cheap entertainment and don’t have much time to relate to the series.
But, at least they’re only cutting budgets on facial animation…
Comment by Glass — November 14, 2009 @ 7:41
hei off the bottle and his powers stolen not destoryed? things are looking up :P
Comment by Seien — November 14, 2009 @ 10:44
At glass, contractors are supposed to lack emotion. The “blond kid” is a specific type of contrator which lacks the most emotion. I can’t really refute you as you give almost no support to your argument.
Not sure why you bothered to post if you’re not going to back up your argument.
Comment by Chris — November 14, 2009 @ 11:49
(About Glass’ comment)
I am confused as to why contractors are compared to Mary Sue characters. Isn’t Mary Sue someone who is perfect and everyone likes?
Comment by pgal — November 14, 2009 @ 14:47
I was worried about the Suou plot for this season at first, but it has turned out to be great.
Yes, it is “goofball” and his transvestite “father” who are annoying. First of all, the whole transvestite angle seems to be shock, just for shock’s sake.
And “goofball” himself is a bit unbelievable too. Even if you buy the whole love-at-first-sight thing, and the subsequent goofy attempts to woo suou, he is what? 17 18? The girl suou is probably barely pushing 12. The whole thing is a bit disturbing and creeps me out.
I would have found the whole “goofball-losing-his-mother” story a lot more moving if goofball and his father weren’t such over-the-top characters to being with. If you are going to try and tell a serious story, don’t make the characters crazy comic relief at the outset.
If they are going to be comic relief, fine, let them be the goofy over-the-top comic relief, but don’t expect me to feel sympathy for them when something tragic happens.
What I think they should have done is make the father a more “normal” single father. Maybe he has some other issues, which could make for good drama, but having him in a dress all the time? It is hard to buy into.
Also, make the kid a bit younger. Make him maybe a year older than suou. At least then, it would be a bit easier to believe, and a lot less creepy.
But don’t get me wrong. I freaking LOVE this show. I have been evangelizing the show on my Podcast ever since the first season. I can’t get enough.
Comment by Alex_AnimePacific_Podcast — November 14, 2009 @ 19:57
HA! I was right! Her remuneration is origami, not just cranes, and she will only have to pay if she shoot.
Comment by d — November 14, 2009 @ 21:51
Such a great episode i liked the Michael jackson poster in the boys room
also anyone know what that insert song is called?
Comment by jmaster5 — November 14, 2009 @ 22:12
i am happy they are finally going to Tokyo- i want to find out more about Suou’s twin.
and i have to agree, that Norio and his father were too much over the top characters to feel simpathy for them. well, father had some good moments and even in this episode he had some good lines, but the impact was ruined by theatrical crying and cake eating afterwards…
Comment by Ilsa — November 15, 2009 @ 23:04
I’m also curious about the insert song, i couldn’t find who it was by or who sung it, anyone have any idea?
Comment by Allison — November 16, 2009 @ 8:55
One of the best Animes and I love the music too.
Comment by TopAnimes.net — November 17, 2009 @ 11:03
@pgal, I hope he gets a haircut too! Ha ha ha! XD
I don’t really like Norio and his father too. I did think it was a tad over-dramatic but oh well.
Was I the only one super hyped about Yin? Is Yin still a ghost? @_@ I don’t recall ghosts ever being able to use their ‘element’ and attack other people.. Could someone explain that to me? =(
Also, didn’t Suou hate Hei? At the end of this episode it made it seem she actually loves Hei (She mentioned something about Hei calling her by her name as if it was something quite moving. And she only kicked the pole where Yin was at when she hugged Hei’s arm)…
Comment by Pi — November 18, 2009 @ 5:23