19 Apr 2007
Posted by Martin [Tags: Darker than Black]
Nope,
Darker than Black isn't the name of the new Metallica album (unfortunately). It is however the most impressive opening episode of this season's new shows. Titled
The Star of Contract Flowed...Part 1, ep #1 had my eyes glued to the screen, thinking "This is great!" without knowing exactly why. I love it when that happens.
The general setup of the story is that a wall in Toyko has been built around a mysterious entity known as Hell's Gate. The appearance of Hell's Gate heralded the appearance of the Contractors and the Dolls, two groups of people who have paranormal abilities and seem to be engaged in some sort of conflict; the police are investigating a case connected with them, concerning a missing scientist. We meet a comfortably small number of characters, including a Contractor whose ability is that of defying gravity, the young female researcher who has knowledge of Hell's Gate and the Contractors and a Chinese guy called Li who has a habit of bumping into the said researcher (who by a strange coincidence lives next to the flat Li's moved into). Lots of questions, of course, but it's not too confusing so I'm eager to see more.
Visually
Darker than Black is a winner. There's no one particular aspect that makes it so damn good but the whole aesthetic style in general just looks...
right. Musically it can't be faulted either - anyone who knows my taste in anime soundtracks is probably aware of how highly I rate Yoko Kanno's efforts but this is another impressive addition to her CV. The op theme is an energetic rock tune and the end one is a pleasant piano-driven ballad; the background stuff in between is quite blues/jazz based with one or two orchestral harmonies here and there. It's varied, unobtrusive and has a nice 'film noir' vibe to it. Another OST to buy in the future then...
The clincher for me, and probably plenty of others too, is that it feels like the spiritual descendent of Wolf's Rain: it shares many of the creative staff of studio BONES and if all goes well it'll be at least as enjoyable. Just don't do the 'four episode recap' thing, okay guys? All in all though, it's an impressive opening act for a series that shows a lot of promise.
[Filed under Anime Reviews] [Tags: Darker than Black]
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Posted on April 19th, 2007 @ 11:52 pm
Hah. I’ve always thought ‘Darker than Black’ sounds more like Spinal Tap.
How much more darker than black could this be? None, none more darker.
Episode 2 was good, too.