Darker Than Black: Volumes 1 And 2 [DVD]

Darker Than Black is one of the best anime I have ever watched. It's full of action, suspense, emotional discoveries and, of course, disturbing memories. I started watching it when it came out in Japan - 2007. I loved it and thought 'I can't wait for it to come out on DVD', and here it is! I'll definately be picking this one up. I reccomend it to all fans of anime/manga!

Darker than Black is a neo-noir anime series brought to us from the people that made Fullmetal Alchemist and Ouran host club. In this show, there exist beings known as contractors who possess mystical and supernatural powers that come at a cost. The show follows the adventures of a select group of contractors and special agents, the main one being the masked lightning wielder known as the 'Black Reaper' or Hei as he calls himself. The episodes progress through two parters that often have cliffhangers, a surprising amount of blood and gore and some smooth animation. This release sees a total of 5 story arcs, which include a contractor who cannot control her powers and a killer who makes his victims deaths look like suicide.The audience is given very little information on any back story on how the contactors came about, the series instead choosing to leave subtle clues and hints that may eventually lead to something. Furthermore, there is a real lack of characterisation in this first volume. While the character art designs are undeniably beautiful, unfortunately, none of the main cast are really fleshed out enough to make you really care about them. Ironically though, there is more characterisation and backstory revealed for the secondary and supporting characters who appear for one story arc and then leave the series than there are for the main protagonists.While the story arcs are easily enjoyable and often intriguing, the series overall seems a little unbalanced as it clumsily yo-yos between dark, thriller episodes, to more lighthearted, slapstick episodes. If each episode used a equal mix of these themes and styles then it may seem a bit more normal, but this erratic and almost schizophrenic style of the episodes left me a little confused. However, despite this, the quality of the story telling within the episodes is fantastic. Darker than Black does a superb job of drawing in the viewers attention and keeping them hooked until the very end. Most of the story arcs end on somewhat of a satisfactory ending with most of the loose ends tied up. However, at the same time, these early episodes of the series show potential for even bigger and better things to come. The discs in this set contain some fair special features which include cast auditions, commentaries and art galleries. Not a bad offering at all; and of course we get the choice between english dub and the enevitable addition of textless opening and closing animations (Is that really a special feature?). Darker than Black delivers an appealing yet luke warm selection of episodes in these first 2 discs, but things are sure looking set to heat up in future releases.

fully enjoyed, good plot, good charaters and settings.i can only pray that the next volumes continue this unexpectly hight standerd.i have high hopes for darker than black.

The brilliance of the work of the people at Bones studio shows up most clearly in their distinctive overall design of each new series.They work within the system of age targeting without trading in familiar clichés. They deconstruct and re-invent genre. They individualise even minor characters.It is visual design in particular that marks out Darker than Black, which has already had generous praise heaped on it in Japan.Black in the English title suggests film noir and Dark the genre of dystopian dark futures. The central thrust of the genre of film noir has always been distrust. Betrayal is its central theme. The settings are dark and threatening, empty streets, railway bridges overlooking desolate urban landscapes.Darker than Black employs serene and welcoming settings as well, places where flower petals are reflected in water, places that seem safe from violence.A child plays innocently on a swing in a city park.But then the detectives keeping watch on her are one by one, to her horror, literally sliced in half by her murderous gaze.A man on the run finds refuge by a door on the roof of a city building. He seems to have escaped from his pursuers. But a flash of light a few feet away shows that a pursuer has tracked him down.An ordinary black cat prowls along a suburban fence in the early evening. How totally ordinary! But the black cat could be a central character in the series, adding unpredictable elements of wit and vulnerability.The fantasy gaming crowd will recognise that the dystopian world of the series and the use by the characters of bizarre specific abilities comes directly from the dark future and cyberpunk gaming genres of the last 25 years.The popular Japanese rock band Abingdon Boys School performs the opening song with an attack as fierce as the Alabama 3 number that was used for The Sopranos.In Darker than Black the plotline is as much a source of confusion as the ambiguities of the action. The viewer's understanding of what is actually going on is continually challenged by contradictions. No clear goal exists at first for any character and there is no indication of a consistently sympathetic hero to identify with. Instead the camera gradually explores a world of threats and counter-threats, plots and counterplots.The world of Darker than Black is one of moral perplexities, anomalies and paradoxes.It was Rah Xephon and Wolf's Rain, a chance sample from a considerable number of successful titles, that first attracted me to this studio's work, but Darker than Black is more satisfying in the way it creates a gritty, almost credible setting for a future where beings who are not quite human pass unnoticed through cities where people are not permitted to know too much.

This show is my favorite so when I saw the price I was very excited, but unfortunately I can’t even watch it because the regional code isn’t for the US. I wouldn’t have even bought it if that had been in the description.