Darker than BLACK

Title: Darker than BLACK Genre: Action, Drama, Sci-Fi, Supernatural Rating: 9/10

Summary: In Tokyo, an impenetrable field known as "Hell's Gate" appeared ten years ago. At the same time, psychics who wield paranormal powers at the cost of their conscience also emerged. Hei is one of the most powerful of these psychic agents, and along with his blind associate, Yin, works for one of the many rival agencies vying to unlock the mysteries of Hell's Gate.

Review: Darker than BLACK had one of the best styles of story telling I have seen. Why may you ask? Well it pushed away from annoying (and frankly common) flashbacks. There have been tons of anime that are too lazy to explain a situation so they just throw a quick flashback scene. This is all fine and dandy, but I really enjoyed the way Darker than BLACK explained the situation. Since it takes place 10 years after Hell’s Gate appeared, obviously there is a need for explanation. The viewers have to piece together the bits of information gathered throughout the anime, and finally bring it all together at the end. It leaves a nice open ended stream of thought. I admit that it can get confusing at times, but I loved coming up with my own reasoning for how the world worked. The best part is that the dialogue was very natural. It doesn’t seem like they tried to force in information. The conversations between characters did explain how the world came to be, but it wasn’t like a boring monologue. After finally bringing together all the information I gathered, I found to story to be fairly interesting. The idea of contractors and dolls in the world was quite exciting. The action could have used a little work. The actual fight scenes were fine, extreme actually. They just needed to have more of them. The lack of action was picked up by the anime’s character development. The steady change in personality gave a realistic feel to Darker than BLACK. All the characters had their purpose. Even side characters were well developed, and I admit I grew attached to a couple of them. The soundtrack consisted mostly of hardcore rock, very fitting for the atmosphere. Both openings really got the viewers ready for some crazy firefights.

Final statements: This anime brought out the best in character development and story. I didn’t want to stop watching episode after episode. I was in so much awe during this anime because of how different it is from so many others. The storyline is very well done, and it actually gets the viewer thinking. The action scenes were cool, but a little scarce for my taste. Never the less I would consider this a must see for any anime fan.