Darker Than Black - The Complete First Season [DVD]

I love this anime so I bought it

This show is great. Anime has always been good at coming up with novel ways of giving their characters superpowers and this is one of the more original. Basically people known as contractors have X-men like powers but have to pay a penance for doing so. the penance can be anything from, spilling bood, reading poetry or giving away magic tricks and i found this aspect to be really fun. A big mystery of the show is trying to work out what the main character's power and penance is (as it's not obvious). With these types of show the battles have to be really good to stop the show from becoming repetitive and DTB manages this with apparent ease. Each story is usually a double episode and each "villain" has to be defeated in a different way according to their power. On the whole the main character defeats each villain through his ingenuity and cunning as opposed to magically having a "level 10 instant-kill power" appear from nowhwere (which is a bad anime cliche) and I think this is what makes the show so entertaining. It's not merely just about the action though and there are several strong character moments throughout the show that makes you really empathise with them and often realise that the "villains" aren't so clear cut.Special mention should also go to the overall high quality animation and the truly excellent soundtrack which is good enough to listen to on it's own.The only negative I can think of is the annoying PI and his assistant which appear twice in the show. Luckily their story is interesting and I guess it could have been worse - it could have been a recap episode.

I've just finished watching Darker than Black and it's definitely the most enjoyable anime series I've watched in a while, probably since Cowboy Bebop. No need to waste time going into the plot. The anime itself is quite dark without being excessively negative or nasty. It's nicely paced with a cool atmosphere and music. It strikes a good balance between the overall plot as well as the development of the individual characters and their own relationships with each other. The end doesn't disappoint which I find to be a pretty common complaint with other series's. There's also some good humorous moments to balance our the darkness.My only word of warning is that the main story arc finishes on episode 25. Episode 26 is a novelty comedy episode of the "lots of girls fancy our hero" genre. It's a stand alone episode that is set somewhere in the middle of the series time-wise. If you're the type of person who watches several episodes in one go, and lets face it who isn't, I strongly recommend switching of after episode 25. You can then sit down and watch 26 after a day or two to give you a bit of time to think about the end of the main plot before watching the series being lampooned. Just a tip.

Well needless to repeat the synopsis, check it out before reading this review.Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha doesn't follow a single plot line nor does it have plot twists that keep you intrigued in the story, but nevertheless this series managed to make it to my favorites, why? Because it has a wonderful atmosphere which of course was supported by Yoko Kanno's amazing music composition, I've never some across such unique feeling in any form of fiction.The other strong point in the series is the cast. I absolutely love the main cast's chemistry and development thorough the story, let's start with our main protagonist Hei. The first impression of our Black Reaper? A total kickass! But as we saw him living a double life as Li Shengshun, you couldn't help but feel empathy for him even though you didn't know anything about him. He just seemed very melancholic and lost, and at this point I completely fell for his character. Other important character I wanna bring up is Yin who's considered to be an emotionless 'doll' used by the syndicate, but her wonderful development is one of the high points in the series.Animation, character designs, the overall pacing and Japanese voice acting, they're all top-notch.

This is a really strong anime series. The style of animation is great, the story is extremely compelling and the characters are lovable and memorable. The main characters are extremely well done and you follow them throughout their individual journeys. The only downside is the action, when they show the action it is fantastic, fast paced, interesting and heart pounding... However, they tend to glance over a lot of potential action but, the show is still incredibly strong! Great introduction song as well!

This one is a must have. One of the best i ever seen actualy. And i have seen a lot of anime. I like the mix of thriller, Sci-fi, fantasy that this one contains. Someone rated this 3 becaus of the lack of action. There is action, but the main thing with this one is the storytelling.(If you have seen mushi-Shi and Kinos journey you know what i mean. And if you dont, buy them too). ;) And besides the storrytelling, the animations and sound are very good, the characters interesting, funny, or both. ;) If you only like action, you might think this is ok, and if you like a good story, you will likely love this one. Have fun. =)

This anime deserves even more praise than it already has, I don't think I've ever seen an anime that blends so well psychological and emotional themes with slick, faultless action sequences. I would even go to say that this just peaks over death note on my favourite anime's list.The character of Hei throughout the story is so masterfully portrayed and intricately woven into the storyline, along with his alter ego Li Shengshun, the lovable naive student, the depth and exquisite story writing really shines.Overall, if you're looking for a new, intelligent, bursting at the seams anime experience, look no further. After watching just one episode, I promise you will want to watch more.