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http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/dkblea7.jpg (http://imagesocket.com/view/dkblea7.jpg)
Production Company: Bones (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/company.php?id=198)
Genre: Fantasy
Expected Release Date: 2007
Website: http://www.d-black.net/
This is a original Bone concept and it will be directed by Okamura Tensai (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=4143). The animation director is going to be Komori Takahiro (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=1570). Both of these names have been involved in good serieses such as Wolf's Rain and Scrapped Princess respectively. The synopsis in the following is taken from animenfo (http://www.animenfo.com/animetitle,3944,xesbcb,darker_than_bla.html):
Suddenly anomalous field impossible to analyze appears in Tokyo. As if they responded to the field named “Hell’s Gate”, people that have new powers and completely different from the current human begins appear. They have lost their minds and sometimes kill people cruelly. People call them “Contractor” with fear.
I guess I'll copy the stuff I crappily translated out from Newtype + the DtB website over here.
I never realised there was a prelude in the official site though, that's where the animenfo synopsis was translated from. It seems that these "keiyakusha"="contractors/contractees" (I don't know which of the two it is) have got supernatural powers (this is mentioned in the scans as well) which is related to the Hell's Gate.
But what I want to know is, what's with all the Chinese? Surely they're not going to put something stupid like saying that the Hell's Gate is really a conspiracy of the Chinese government or something, right? :eyespin:
Anyway, the following info is taken from Newtype Jan. and also from the Darker than Black website both.
It's not all direct translations, I kind of threw them both together and picked out what I understood. I don't think I left out any details though.
---
Characters
The main character, 黒 (Hei (Black)) is some super top-class agent, at The Organisation (well, it's just called plain old 組織 in Japanese)
He's one of the best in this group of people with supernatural powers, called "keiyakusha". As such he's an invaluable member of The Organisation...
The scan describes him as a 他人に心を許さない孤独な男 - a solitary guy who won't allow others in his heart.
Currently he is posing as a timid Chinese university student called 李舜生 (Li Shun Sheng, if I am not wrong).
The seemingly lead female, 銀 (Yin (Silver)) is a support staff in Hei's team. She seems normal but she's got absolutely no emotions at all and is sometimes called "Doll". She's also blind, but her other senses have been honed to such a level that she can... instantaneously understand the physical situation around her for a radius of 50m (半径50m以内の状況を瞬時に把握する)
Then there's your customary oyaji, 黄 (Huang (Yellow)). He's the team's manager and supervisor, collates information and acts as the team's connection to The Organisation, but he is not a "keiyakusha". (Going by the site it seems that he's a bit jealous of them, too) His age is unclear but it seems that he's younger than he looks. He's the type of guy who'll do anything for money.
And finally there's 猫 (just plain ol' Mao - means cat.). It can talk and acts as the team's information gatherer... but that's because he used to be a man - and a "keiyakusha" to boot - but for the time being he's posessing a black cat and I think he's lost his original body (本来の肉体を失ってしまった) so he can't revert back. The parts of his mind that couldn't be supported by the cat's brain are stored on a LAN server where they're connected wirelessly to the brain...
---
Story
The show is billed as a 独自の世界観が光るスパイアクション (a spy action show featuring a characteristic worldview?). Seems like it's the director's pet project; he really just had the idea of doing a spy show set in Tokyo brewing in his head I think... Not only did he come up with the original concept, he's directing and will be involved in the script as well.
Except that it's not really Tokyo, because now there's a 10m wide, pitch-black dark space called "Hell's Gate", stuck right in the middle of it. It is impenetrable and is called an 異空間 so perhaps it's some sort of alternative dimension.
---
Production
The character designer, Yuji Iwahara 岩原裕二, had this to say: "It might possess a very complicated sort of worldview, but this is ultimately about human drama. It's about investigations being carried out by underlings; and we are going to make the interactions between Hei, who's at the bottom of the hierarchy at The Organisation, and each episodes' guest characters a regular feature (組織の末端で働く黒と、毎回のゲストキャラの交流をメインに描いていきます)
Iwahara, who is by profession a mangaka and is doing his first work in anime production, will of course have to draw a lot of guest characters.
"I was asked [to join this project] because I'm the sort of person who draws lines a little differently from animators. It might seem a bit like manga, but they're also characters designed to be moved realistically and have appeal at the same time." (「アニメーターとは違う線が描ける人ということで、お願いしました。漫画っぽいけれども、理屈にあった動 きができる、すごく魅力的な人物を描いてくれるんですよ」)
There were many difficulties because everything from the characters to the atmosphere/worldview had to be created from scratch [or so they say, anyway], and furthermore while the number of anime has been continually increasing, less and less of them are original projects [i.e. not based off manga or an original work (gensaku)]
"While I do think it's true that it's easier to make things based off existing material, I also believe that for all the extra work that you have to put in, you should get a correspondingly more interesting and unique result. That's something I would like to express, I think" [I don't know who said this, it's probably the director or character designer.]
Techno spy action anime from BONES! From the director of Wolf's Rain!! A talking cat with a wireless network!!! SOLD.
...
Production
...
There were many difficulties because everything from the characters to the atmosphere/worldview had to be created from scratch [or so they say, anyway], and furthermore while the number of anime has been continually increasing, less and less of them are original projects [i.e. not based off manga or an original work (gensaku)]
"While I do think it's true that it's easier to make things based off existing material, I also believe that for all the extra work that you have to put in, you should get a correspondingly more interesting and unique result. That's something I would like to express, I think" [I don't know who said this, it's probably the director or character designer.]
Fascinating comments, the last paragraph in particular shows why BONES remains one of the most exciting and inspiring anime studios. They want to produce original IP despite the commercial pressures to adapt manga, games etc...and this is why we get gems like Eureka 7. Hopefully DtB will be something memorable. I'm hoping for something like Kurau: Phantom Memory as I'm getting similar sort of vibes from the visual style.
Anyway, the following info is taken from Newtype Jan. and also from the Darker than Black website both.
Any chance of a scan? :p My Newtype is still 'lost' in the Christmas mail.:(
LOL at your first comment. Well, I'm hoping it has a mood like Kurau too, like all.... whoa, and cool and stuff. Although I haven't watched all of Kurau...
That's one thing that makes BONES loved by some fans and hated by others. True, it's not like they've been extremely successful with their original animations - that's a risk that always comes, but it's really quite amazing how they put in so much effort into these and have so much clout with the producers to not only get a great job done on it, but to get featured prominently enough (think of the advertising Eureka 7 got, and Ayakashi Ayashi getting featured on doroku).
On the other hand there are more than enough people who think BONES should just give up producing "half-baked" original ideas and instead do more things like Ouran and FMA. I'm sure BONES will do that every now and then - they do, after all, have to make money, but at the same time doing original concepts is a great way to build up a unique studio image as well as give a lot more room for the creative staff to try new things. Plus it bonds them together if they enjoyed doing it, doesn't it...
Personally, I say, keep it up BONES - I might not enjoy all your original anime, but it's certainly one of the things that makes anime so varied and ever colourful. And no matter what it is they're never so bad that they're unwatchable, which I can't say for a number of manga adaptations... and to hell with the complaining fans; after all if you do a manga adaptation you just have to deal with a different set of fans who complain that this wasn't there and that wasn' there.... sigh.
And of course I can provide a scan.
But... you've seen it before in the New Announced Anime thread, though :heh: Pardon the bad scanning, I'm still n00b at scanning nicely and the pages are larger than A4, plus the mag's a tad wavy... and I refuse to dismantle anime mags unless there is some phenomenally amazing art, or there's like... an Iroha spread. >_>
Plus I am lazy to re-scan and adjust... and I have to disappear now
http://s01.imagehost.org/0708/dtb01_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0708/dtb01.jpg)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0708/dtb02_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0708/dtb02.jpg)
If you would like any other scan from any of the other mags even I would be glad to provide you with one. There's a kind of nice Romeo (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0707/newtype_jan_rxj2.jpg) and Juliet (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0707/newtype_jan_rxj1.jpg) one for starters which I've been thinking of doing a better and larger version of one day....
Cheers wao, those scans are great. I wanted to take a closer look at the char designs and actually I quite like them up close. The eyes are especially affective on Yin, which is ironic as she is blind. Hei looks quite enigmatic though.
As you said elsewhere (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=769811&postcount=1065) BONES's characters always have a particular look about them that transcends their actual design. Sort of solid and uncluttered lines, even when their design is quite elaborate. I don't think I've seen one of their shows that doesn't have credible and likeable characters. This is the area they always seems to excel in, I guess, that and building convincing worlds in which they inhabit. It seems this is one of the key aspects to DtB, the 'world view'; but I hope it's not a Code Geass style 'them and us' standpoint.
From your translations I detect this might be a kind of supernaturel casebook format? Possibly. With each episode centred on a case for the Organisation, revealing an aspect of the keiyakusha and the wider plot. I like that approach, it works well in Ghost Hunt for example.
Nightengale
2006-12-17, 09:07
Interesting. Is it weird that first that pops into my mind when I connect chinese + spy is Jong Quo Len Te Ling Ling 7 aka From Beijing With Love? XP
Even the main character, Hei looks a weeny bit like a young Stephen Chow back before his GoG days....what's with the eyes and hair and all....
Was it ever mentioned if DTB was inspired from any particular sources? Chinese to be more exact? I can't say too much about it, but the whole setting of spies using chinese colours as codes seems eeriely similar to an old chinese drama I've watched about 10 years back, similarly where a divided family of a scholar, traumatized girl servant, and beggar who answers to an emperor works behind the shadows as dark assassins using coloured hankerchiefs to differentiate themselves. I can't really remember much besides that, other than the servant being smitten with the main bad guy, and there was a whole slew of chinese mystical arts with magic circles that seem almost voodooish in nature.
They didn't mention where they got their inspiration from; I suspect that'll come in later. Actually they're unlikely to reveal much at this point of time, really... got to keep the information in so you can release it timely (and hence force suckers to buy the magazine).
They also didn't mention anything Chinese apart from Hei posing as a Chinese student. Hm, I'm still curious why they're doing it, I hope it's not just some 'cool' thing only.
Of course I haven't actually like scrutinized the other parts of the mags to see if there's any other bits talking about it...
As for the type of show it's going to be - I'm not totally confident with my understanding of the Japanese language myself so I might have missed out the nuances of what was being said, but my own guess based on the text plus my own warped expectations... I think they'll probably unwrap the standard mystery behind the Hell's Gate through the individual encounters with the guest characters in an episodic manner, and then around ep 18 or 20 or so (if this is 2 seasons long) they'll have some continuous conclusion arc. Or they could go with the mostly-episodic-with-2-or-3-short-continuous-arcs approach.
For 'world view'... I dunno, I think they might be talking more about the flavour of the show and the way of looking at things being carried out? I'm not sure. But I don't think they'll make it very Code Geass-ish, it seems more like a mystery detective thing than a political/"whose side are you on" type of thing. And I'm sure it'll be a lot more um... "calm" than Geass. I think.
Well, for now I'll just keep a vague eye on it... I'm not particularly hooked to it, yet.
なんか全然盛り上がらないねー、このスレ...
Uh... Darker than Black was in February Newtype. Because I am useless and pathetic and Hei is turning more and more into the irresistable "zomg I won't tell anybody about my ANGSTY SECRET PAST!" type of silent low-key guy, I scanned it in.
We also get to see more of the characters from the Agency.
Misaki Kirihara 霧原未咲
The section Head of the whatever-department-it-is-which-I'm-too-lazy-to-translate. Being at such a level at the tender age of 27, she is obviously the "elite of the elite". She's out to find out about the shadowy activities of foreign "contractees". Or something.
Yuusuke Saitou 斉藤雄介
Assistant section chief. A faithful underling who provides support for Misaki's work. 4th grade Judo, 2nd grade Karate. It's rumoured that he's slightly interested in Misaki.
Yutaka Kouno 河野豊
Misaki's underling. Playboy who is popular with the chicks. Saitou is supposed to be his senior but their looks and personality are the complete opposite. (Well, that's what this says.) Despite all of this, he does his job well.
Nothing substantially new about Hei (except that he won't open himself to anyone and has TEH MYSTERIOUS PAST ZOMG LIKE WE COULDN'T GUESS!).
And about Yin, they say that ii seems that she used to be a bright girl who loved music, but obviously... Something Happened!
Finally, there is this unintroduced mysterious C.C.-ripoff in the background. I swear I thoguht she was C.C. the first time I saw her. No, really. Go look at the scan and tell me she doesn't even look vaguely like CC.
Some info from the text at the bottom: the Tokyo they intend to depict is full of foreigners. They said they chose Tokyo as their background because they wanted to get a feeling of reality (現実感が欲しかった) and they didn't want to create a completely unreal type of spy show, also they think that mixing fantastic elements (people with superpowers fighting) with a realistic backdrop would produce Interesting Results.
They aparently did a lot of location-hunting and spent a helluva lot of time taking photos and stuff (they seemed to be stressing on this). They claim that the level of detail to which Tokyo is portrayed in various episodes is so good that you could almost do a tour of it by just looking (if I understand this correctly). Okay.
http://s01.imagehost.org/0721/dtbfeb01_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0721/dtbfeb01.jpg)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0721/dtbfeb02_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0721/dtbfeb02.jpg)
There's a spread on Kissdom - Engage Planet - or whatever, but it's getting late.
Bizarre, she looks a lot like C.C, same eye colour too. That's an really odd creative decision, unless they designed her way in advance of CG's debut and it's just a coincidence. I like the way Hei looks in that first pic. He looks cool and mysterious and less dorky, unlike that char design on the website.
EDIT: Incidently I was flicking through the January Newtype (as I wait for the February issue to crawl its way to me from Japan via Europe via Pluto...on the back of snails >.<) and I noticed that Hei has a kaonashi-type mask with a zig-zag marking on it. Any ideas what that's about?
Haohmaru
2007-01-15, 15:53
Thanks for the news Wao. I just thought I saw C.C. :).
Well this is the 3rd anime I am picking up this spring... will watch a couple of eps to make sure if it is worth continueing... but i am sure there wouldn't be a doubt as like eureka 7, you will never go wrong watching a bones production
ZeusIrae
2007-02-08, 16:56
Intresting,the character design is a little weird(the eyes) but I am looking forward to this.I am sure it will be intresting.
MrProphet
2007-02-10, 00:29
I just visited the website (to watch the new trailer) and I must say that your comment about the eyes is something that I wanted to mention as well.
The characters look really... sneaky. Like they are a bunch of tanukis, for lack of a better comparison. But, interestingly enough, in the teaser trailer the main character looks rather manly. 8)
Pardon me for being a n00b, but how did you manage to access the trailer? I get a 404 even when I change the URL to movie.html... maybe I'll find out something on 2ch...
...the wait, IS IT TRUE YOUKO KANNO IS DOING THE MUSIC FOR THIS SHOW?
Oh my god! Seriously is it true? People who watched the trailer, does it say so on it?
I'm sorry if I'm jumping the gun and getting too excited or possibly spreading misinformation, but uh... man, if she's doing the music then I don't care, I've got to watch the whole thing.
EDIT: I saw the TV spot here: http://anime.nifty.com/d-black/ Which has nifty music!! But... no mention of Kanno. And I still cannot access the trailer.
I'm having the same problem as wao at accessing the trailer. I tried Opera and Firefox with the same result. Guess the page has run out of bandwidth? Here are the links by the way for those of us who are wondering about, "what trailer?"
LQ Version (http://douga.nifty.com/cs/catalog/douga_story/type_asxstory01/catalog_21450002001_1.htm) and HQ Version (http://douga.nifty.com/cs/catalog/douga_story/type_asxstory02/catalog_21450002001_1.htm).
Pardon me for being a n00b, but how did you manage to access the trailer? I get a 404 even when I change the URL to movie.html... maybe I'll find out something on 2ch...
.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LFbEiEabr3o
Oh. That's the same as the TV spot on the anime.nifty.com site.... Surely these 2chers are not spouting out Yoko Kanno from nowhere? How do they know? I'm dying to find out. I'm flaming in the pits of agony, clutching at the sky in angst and crumbling in suspense. I really, really, really, really want to know.
Argh!
aardvark
2007-02-10, 04:00
Oh. That's the same as the TV spot on the anime.nifty.com site.... Surely these 2chers are not spouting out Yoko Kanno from nowhere? How do they know? I'm dying to find out. I'm flaming in the pits of agony, clutching at the sky in angst and crumbling in suspense. I really, really, really, really want to know.
Argh!
I think they're only speculating based on the music from the trailer. AFAIK it hasn't been revealed yet who is doing the music.
But, it DOES sound like Kanno imo. I wouldn't be surprised at all if it was her.
The trailer was rather uninteresting. Not because the series will be so, though, probably for it shows nothing about what the storyline will be about nor in demostrates some animation quality since they're all still images. The music was still pretty fitting, nevertheless.
FireChick
2007-02-10, 10:45
For those who watched Ai Yori Aoshi, have anyone noticed? Darker than Black and Bluer than Indigo?
MrProphet
2007-02-10, 11:02
Well, Kuro no Keiyakusha seems to mean "Agent of Black", so it's not exactly a direct translation.
Yeah, and Bluer than Indigo comes from a proverb in Chinese (and Japanese as well I believe), it's a simile describing when the student becomes better than the teacher. 青出于蓝.
I think I haven't mentioned that I like the logo design for this anime. It's kinda cool. There, I said it.
I hope those people really weren't speculating just on the music that Kanno is doing the BGM for this anime, hopefully it's another case of those staff members leaking information. I did like that music...
Yeah I really liked that music too! Hope it's Kanno. :)
I think the whole design of the anime looks really cool so far. Considering that I don't much about the anime yet besides its appealing title, I'm really looking forward to it already.
Yeah, and Bluer than Indigo comes from a proverb in Chinese (and Japanese as well I believe), it's a simile describing when the student becomes better than the teacher. 青出于蓝.
Oh, I should have thought of this! Now the title also makes sense.
Fyi, the full quote would be 青出于蓝胜于蓝, but it's mostly shortened to 青出于蓝. It's pretty much not possible for me to translate it (literally), sorry, but actually it rather says "Indigo is bluer than blue". *ugh*
Shinndou
2007-02-12, 16:08
The music of that trailer gave me Cowboy Bebop vibes. o_O
Haohmaru
2007-02-12, 17:10
The music of that trailer gave me Cowboy Bebop vibes. o_O
QFT. Though CB character designs>>>>>>>>>>>>>Darker than Black. I hope this one will be good. Didn't really like Ayakashi Ayashi.
duckroll
2007-02-13, 15:01
I agree the music sounds a lot like Kanno's work, but if it is indeed Kanno then this would be a trend-breaker. Darker than BLACK is an Aniplex production, and there has never been an Aniplex production which did not use Sony Music exclusively for the music. Sony is very protective of their own, and well, Kanno is under Victor Entertainment.
WanderingKnight
2007-02-13, 22:02
Though the trailer was too short to take any sort of conclusion, this series seems interesting enough. And while it's true that the music in the preview sounds like Kanno, we have to admit that she's not the only one that's used jazz in anime. Besides, I'm sure they would be announcing Kanno with all their might were she the composer of the music for the series.
Character designs aren't too bad either. I particularly loved the design of a girl that flashed during a moment through the trailer.
The full site opens in two weeks... I wonder if the release date will be out then?
psycho bolt
2007-02-13, 22:16
Nice, this looks promising. Been waiting for good action anime. The character designs are good for me. I really like how the designer made the eyes of the characters. Of course, that is if you seen Rahxephon and Eureka7. Nothing new there. I'm also a fan of jazz music which gives this show something to look foward too. And I believe the animation will be top notch stuff because of BONES producing.
Hm? It appears the official site updated with the cast... let's see, who do we have here..
copy-pasta from ANN:
Hei by Hidenobu KIUCHI (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=5658)
Huang by Masaru IKEDA (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=1156)
Yin by Misato FUKUEN (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=5916)
Mao by Ikuya SAWAKI (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=1013)
Kunio Matsumoto by Nobuaki FUKUDA (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=3484)
Mayu Ootsuka by Yuuna INAMURA (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=37191)
Misaki Kirihara by Nana MIZUKI (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=436)
Misuzu Ooyama by Chika SAKAMOTO (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=663)
Yoshimitsu Horai by Michihiro IKEMIZU (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=426)
Yutaka Kouno by Kousuke TORIUMI (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=3445)
Yuusuke Saitou by Tomoyuki SHIMURA (http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/people.php?id=11972)
Kiuchi!... I still can't shake off the image of Tenma and Toshihiko when someone mentions his name, and Tenma and Toshihiko totally do not go with the image of Hei I have. (...Especially Toshihiko and his bowel problems.) Well, whatever it is here's hoping it works out fine.
And ahahahaha Torikou as Yutaka! I am not surprised they picked someone with a solid fan following (well, sort of) for a character like that. :cool:
In case anyone needs their memory refreshed, this (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=771511&postcount=2) and this (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=801377&postcount=8) is what we know of the characters so far. Was this show featured in March Newtype? Anyone here who's read it?
Who's Kunio Matsumoto, Mayu Ootsuka, Misuzu Ooyama and Yoshimitsu Horai... I suppose one of them is le C.C.-ripoffe? I'm not in the mood to go dig out information from elsewhere right now..
MrProphet
2007-02-20, 06:41
The only one I know even remotely is Nana Mizuki. :3
Who's Kunio Matsumoto, Mayu Ootsuka, Misuzu Ooyama and Yoshimitsu Horai... I suppose one of them is le C.C.-ripoffe? I'm not in the mood to go dig out information from elsewhere right now..
Oh, please. It's not a C.C-ripoff. Ruri Hoshino is the original. 8)
And I believe that this role is filled by Yin.
Uh... are we misunderstanding something here? The C.C. ripoff I'm talking about is clearly a separate character from Yin, go see a scan I posted some posts back. There's Yin appearing in the same picture as some mysterious unnamed girl at the back who, design-wise, is nothing but a C.C. ripoff to me.
Hence, C.C. ripoff != Yin. (Unless you are suggesting that they're alternate personalities, which I deem highly unlikely because they look way too different)
And I would be delighted to hear your explanation as to why Ruri Hoshino is the template for C.C. seeing that I am a poor ignorant fool who has yet to watch Nadesico.
CelesAurivern
2007-02-20, 13:31
And I would be delighted to hear your explanation as to why Ruri Hoshino is the template for C.C. seeing that I am a poor ignorant fool who has yet to watch Nadesico.
Tsundere ;)
duckroll
2007-02-20, 13:45
http://www.d-black.net/staff.html
YOKO KANNO CONFIRMED! AND THE WORLD REJOICES IN HARMONY! :D
http://www.d-black.net/staff.html
YOKO KANNO CONFIRMED! AND THE WORLD REJOICES IN HARMONY! :D
http://content.imagesocket.com/thumbs/dynamites88f.png (http://imagesocket.com/view/dynamites88f.png)
Hurray! Hurray! :D
http://www.d-black.net/staff.html
YOKO KANNO CONFIRMED! AND THE WORLD REJOICES IN HARMONY! :D
Ooh fantastic news. My interest DTB has somewhat rocketed up of late with the teaser and now this. I hardly know any of the cast though, except Nana Mizuki and Kousuke Toriumi (from Pumpkin Scissors and Iroha) oh and Chika Sakamoto (who was Mei in Totoro). Interesting seiyuus though.
MrProphet
2007-02-20, 16:30
Hence, C.C. ripoff != Yin.
Wasn't Yin the emotionless one? And isn't she the light-blue-haired girl with weird eyes?
http://s01.imagehost.org/0708/dtb01_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0708/dtb01.jpg)
Ergo... C.C.
Oh, and Ruri is the original Rei, if you can understand this explanation. 8)
I think wao means the unnamed C.C clone in the bg in this one:
http://s01.imagehost.org/0721/dtbfeb02_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0721/dtbfeb02.jpg)
Zappster
2007-02-20, 18:24
Who else could it have been? Since the first post wao made on the matter and the first mention of C.C. ripoff she's always talked about how strikingly similar the characters look not their personalities. Seemed pretty obvious to me...
Wasn't Yin the emotionless one? And isn't she the light-blue-haired girl with weird eyes?
http://s01.imagehost.org/0708/dtb01_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0708/dtb01.jpg)
Ergo... C.C.
Oh, and Ruri is the original Rei, if you can understand this explanation. 8)
Huh? Can't get to how you got to that conclusion since C.C. is far from being another Rei/Ruri weird-haired girl quiet girl. :heh:
And Wao, don't worry I wouldn't call C.C. derivative from Ruri, hell Code Geass character hardly fits in the tsundere term after all.
http://www.d-black.net/staff.html
YOKO KANNO CONFIRMED! AND THE WORLD REJOICES IN HARMONY! :D
*DANCES AROUND LIKE CRAZY POSSESSED RABID BABOON FROM SOME REMOTE PART OF AFRICA*
I love Japanese 4-letter phrases. So here's a suitable, fangirl-inspired one:
視聴決定
Knowing my luck with series, it'll probably end up being stupid halfway or really cliche or boring, but hey - give me Kanno and I'm more than satisfied. That's how brainless I am...
And MrP, you're looking at the wrong scan.
Anyway. Thanks to this news I'm decimated. Oh maaaaaan. Those 2ch folks sure as hell guessed right (or again, a staff member popped in...)
What little I've seen so far has piqued my interest. It gave me a R.O.D vibe, just more stylish and less over the top. The fact that Yoko Kanno is involved just made the deal sweeter. And it's by BONES. Does it get any better than this? Well okay, it could still fail horribly, but I'll be watching out for this one that's for sure.
Knowing my luck with series, it'll probably end up being stupid halfway or really cliche or boring, but hey - give me Kanno and I'm more than satisfied. That's how brainless I am...
Same here. At the very least, hopefully I can place this under my "guilty pleasures" category. :p
Shinndou
2007-02-21, 09:21
HAH! I knew it!
I mean, hearing the music of that short trailer, the instruments, that rhythm, that style. It had to be Yoko Kanno.
I am even more looking forward to this.
Heck I'll almost probably end up watching the whole show regardless of its plot or animation quality just to get to hear more of Yoko Kanno's wonderful soundtracks :D
I've been loopin' Aquarion's OSTs so much these past weeks.
I think the "C.C. Clone" bears a decent amount of resemblance to Anemone from E7. I can vaguely see how you might see CC in her, but the vibe the character gives me is totally different, and I think she gives off a more freakish disturbed vibe like Anemone.
duckroll
2007-02-22, 12:31
I just uploaded the new teaser! :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llSFjvFunoY
I just uploaded the new teaser! :D
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llSFjvFunoY
Cool, is that the one that aired after Code Geass 18?
BONES are really going for brooding and violent this Spring :p
MrProphet
2007-02-22, 13:39
It'd call it more of an "action adventure" series rather than brooding and suspenseful. At least, this latest trailer definitely looked like it belonged on an unban fantasy series, a la X.
BTW, am I the only one hearing Read Or Die in the music that Kanno wrote?
BTW, am I the only one hearing Read Or Die in the music that Kanno wrote?
That's what I thought after the first teaser. And it's got secret operatives of some sort in the spotlight as well.
WanderingKnight
2007-02-22, 22:26
View Post
http://www.d-black.net/staff.html
YOKO KANNO CONFIRMED! AND THE WORLD REJOICES IN HARMONY!
OH MY F*CKING GOD!
I think I just pissed my pants from the emotion >.<
WanderingKnight
2007-03-01, 11:28
Bumping it up, website updated.
Airing date seems to be April 2007.
A new and rather superb 3mins PV is now online (http://www.d-black.net/gallery/move.html). Some more Kanno, more action and a better look at the animation/backgrounds (both being pretty impressive in the details). If anyone needed convincing DTB is a must-see this should probably do it. :p
Uooaaahh!!!!
Man, I'm sorry I'm such an immature little fangirl, but that trailer definitely had me excited alright.
I haven't had this real, true sort of "wow I am really looking forward to see this" feeling in me for quite some time now, and...
Well, I could say that the trailer and ep 1 of Noein still had me more excited and stuff. But hey, it's not just Kanno's music - this proves like it could be bucketloads of fun after all; while I'm still not completely sold on all of the character designs at least they're putting in clear effort into the layout and animation (...is dat sum Yutaka (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g3UVuJ7GpY) Nakamura (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poFHdlzKN1E)? YES PLEASE - actually, considering his history he's probably very likely to turn up in this show... which is, of course, awesome. :cool: )
And I guess I'll just be honest and straightforward about it - I fell for the main character :/ I know, I have this stupid soft spot for all them coldhearted guys with high collars (cough hack), but I think it must have been that shot with him in his normal clothes.
Nothing excites me more than the hardass coldfaced killing machine sort of guy who occasionally shows emotions and has a plainclothes life as well! Even if it's been done loads of times.
(This is why I need to get my ass off and watch Ghost Hunt one of these days.)
Definitely much more interested in this than I was in the beginning. And I guess I will be a fool and end up following this all the way through just because of Kanno, BONES and possibly because of Hei (and Kirihara seems interesting too) ... even if it turns out boring or sloppy or whatever. 8D
*goes to watch it again and act like a gibbon*
Well, I hope to be able to enjoy this anime normally.
MrProphet
2007-03-02, 08:21
Oh, wow, the trailer looked really-really promising.
I LOL'd at the cat called "Cat" (mao), but the rest of it was pretty serious. The animation of the fight scenes reminded me of Cowboy Bebop movie (another BONES production), while the cars and other 3DCG were quite reminiscent of Ghost in the Shell SAC style.
I do not doubt that what we've see are the prime cuts and the rest of the series would hardly be able to stay so cinematic, yet I am heartened by the fact that the very best they can offer is so damn good.
It sets the right kind of high bar.
WanderingKnight
2007-03-02, 10:57
Someone please, please upload the new PV on youtube, the freaking page tells me that I can't view it with my PC (and it won't tell me what the actual problem is)
Here's the link (http://www.d-black.net/gallery/m/dtbPV300.asx) to the stream and if that doesn't work try this (mms://stream7.gekimedia.net/SME/MORRICH/anx/dtb/07301/dtb3300k.wmv) (the .wmv source for the stream). Hope that helps :p
You need to watch it using IE when accessing the webpage, or it won't work. And in WinXP.
But I guess Sonhex's links are helpful too... anyway, the page does tell you what's wrong, except you have to click to another page to view the "viewing requirements".
P.S. You can see a 500k/1MBps stream of it at anime nifty, follow the link on the trailer page to ttp://douga.nifty.com/cs/story/title/21450002/1.htm
MrProphet
2007-03-02, 12:24
I have FireFox. Had no problem watching it using WinAMP (I hate WMP for streamed video, but winamp works like a charm).
It didn't work for me in Firefox at all. Odd. So I had to use the dread IE to watch it. I would have Youtubed it, but it's a WMV :(
...Definitely much more interested in this than I was in the beginning. And I guess I will be a fool and end up following this all the way through just because of Kanno, BONES and possibly because of Hei (and Kirihara seems interesting too) ... even if it turns out boring or sloppy or whatever. 8D
...
I feel much the same way, although not about Hei but Kirihara (she's had more impact on me than Yin so far). P.S Go watch Ghost Hunt, it's great fun and you can join the Naru fanclub too :p
Incidently I quite like the way BONES are marketing DTB. They're showing these PVs after (or during) Code Geass and releasing them to a regular schedule to build up the expectation. They're targeting the intended audience straight off and clearly don't want to be vague about who it's aimed at. I guess they can't afford two Ayakashi's in a row (more for their reputation than money). Oh and I can also see Skull Man being over-shadowed by DTB, even though it's also got potential.
Now, that was some good editing. Japanese anime trailers are usually pretty boring and disgracefully expository, although that's understandable since most non-movie advertisements have actually little footage of the animation itself, but this was actually an example of how to create real interest in the plot of the show. Even if technically it hadn't been of that high quality, which it is although it was merely above average for some minor segments, I would still have been quite excited for this production on this video alone.
Haohmaru
2007-03-02, 15:44
The trailer doesn't work for me. It give me an error: the protocol isn't supported :s
prince leon
2007-03-02, 16:08
Bah, I can't view the newest trailer. Stupid licenses. >.<
White Manju Bun
2007-03-02, 16:42
So I watched the trailer after wao left me an lj msg and I can totally see myself fangirling over this when it starts....what can I say I like guys in all black...plus Hei carries a sword!
Shinndou
2007-03-02, 17:31
Well I hope this show will prove to have more than just fangirl bait though... (but BONES has rarely disappointed me anyway :) )
I sure hope it has too. I've bitten the bait, but I would really, really like to see other things of substance in it too. I won't hope too hard though, I was sort of disappointed by Eureka 7 (yeah the show everybody likes a lot, blasphemy, etc.) But I watched it through the end anyway and still think it was above average, so I'm quite sure I can watch through all of this...
I liked the touch in the trailer where they had made The Wall look like the sky, and earlier when Kirihara said something about how "it's hard to imagine what the place was like without it [the wall]". Would I be being too hopeful if we get to see insights of people regarding the effect on having The Wall/The Zone (lol) creeping into people's lives, or should I just expect lots of fun and action and leave it at that...
And well, I guess I could say not all of the animation was superawesome or what, especially the bits with glowing guys rising up (was a bit tacky), but like MrProphet said it's encouraging to know that they can do it this well.
At least this definitely feels like it can go much further than Ayakashi Ayashi (which I think must have been the definition of 地味 itself - not that that's necessarily a bad thing though).
There's also what I said about Yutaka Nakamura, I guess... I have a feeling this really would outshadow Skullman because I think it's got a director who's more likely to attract the better animators, should they have a choice between the two.
I suppose this is running for 26 episodes? Or 13? I can't remember what those rumours/spoilers/whatever for Geass said about its 2-season structure; whether there was a gap of one or two seasons in between the first and second part.
And I can still view the thing, normally I get blocked by the silly DRM licenses but it worked fine this time :confused:
I had said it works only in IE because I stupidly trusted the "Viewing REquirements" thing they had on teh site, which said 1. IE 5.5 and above, 2. Windows 2K or XP, 3. Flash 6 and WMP 7.1 and above, but seeing MrP got it to work in Firefox...
I can't actually load the page properly in Firefox (it adamantly says "Your PC does not meet the requirements"), however when I load the .asx linked by Sonhex earlier (which is here (http://www.d-black.net/gallery/m/dtbPV300.asx)), it loads quite fine.
WanderingKnight
2007-03-02, 19:38
Well, I'm actually able to access the file and run it, but when Media Player tries to run it, I get a message that says I can't view because it requires some stupid license or something. What the hell does that mean? It's the first time I've got something like that.
PD: when I click on "yes" for it to take me to the page where I can obtain that "license", a jap message comes up telling me there's no license (or that I've got no license--ライセンスがありません).
Haohmaru
2007-03-02, 19:45
I hope someone can put this on youtube or some other site.
And well, I guess I could say not all of the animation was superawesome or what, especially the bits with glowing guys rising up (was a bit tacky), but like MrProphet said it's encouraging to know that they can do it this well.
At least this definitely feels like it can go much further than Ayakashi Ayashi (which I think must have been the definition of 地味 itself - not that that's necessarily a bad thing though).
There's also what I said about Yutaka Nakamura, I guess... I have a feeling this really would outshadow Skullman because I think it's got a director who's more likely to attract the better animators, should they have a choice between the two.
I suppose this is running for 26 episodes? Or 13? I can't remember what those rumours/spoilers/whatever for Geass said about its 2-season structure; whether there was a gap of one or two seasons in between the first and second part.
Well, Bones CGI has always been quite subpar and really, really out-of-place, but some of the static scenes composition were really overshadowed by the movement, probably by the fact that animation misleads when it comes to character consistency. Still a head above most things you usually see in anime and probably only Dennou Coil, Gurren Lagann and Seirei no Moribito will keep the technical-artistic qualities in a higher level.
My guess would be 13, everything points to Geass' structure being "two tiers", or 25 episodes, of show followed by "two tiers" of another series airing and ending it with the following "second season".
duckroll
2007-03-02, 20:50
Darker than BLACK will be 24-26 episodes. Skull Man is 13 episodes.
DangerMouse
2007-03-02, 20:55
I'm also really looking forwards to this. The sweet intriguing trailers and naturally the new revelations about the staff working on it have only made me even more interested. This one's right up there with Seirei no Moribito and Claymore for my most anticipated series.
IMO, perhaps since I'm looking forwards to it so much and almost always consider 12/13 episodes too short :) I suspect it will be around 26. It being more clearly now (with the suddenly continuous new trailers and new magazine spreads and strategic staff announcements) a highly advertised Spring series also strengthens my expectation of this.
As it as an all-original production with quite an impressive staff list I don't believe that they've gathered this much animation talent and re-united with the mad-popular Kanno (for the first time in years) for something short. I think judging from the limited information and the trailers this has all the "window-dressing" of a full season (26 episode) show, also taking into account that this appears to be a pet project of Bones'. But that's just my opinion :)
I really hope it does, because I would love for this project to get the depth of a 26 episode run and Studio Bones' signature first-class skill at producing original material.
It also seems to be broadcasting on quite a number of channels according to ANN's broadcaster list (if those are all separate stations?) so it seems to have quite the backing.
Darker than BLACK will be 24-26 episodes. Skull Man is 13 episodes.
Has this been reported somewhere already? Because I'm thinking along the same lines, though a tokusatsu-type show only being 13 could be tough :)
duckroll
2007-03-02, 21:19
Has this been reported somewhere already? Because I'm thinking along the same lines, though a tokusatsu-type show only being 13 could be tough :)
Yeah, the official Skull Man site listed it: http://www.skullman.jp/news/index.html
As for Darker than BLACK, it's definitely the fill between Geass seasons, so it'll be a full length show ending in Fall.
DangerMouse
2007-03-02, 21:33
Yeah, the official Skull Man site listed it: http://www.skullman.jp/news/index.html
As for Darker than BLACK, it's definitely the fill between Geass seasons, so it'll be a full length show ending in Fall.
Cool, can't wait for both shows. Thanks for the info!
Yeah, the official Skull Man site listed it: http://www.skullman.jp/news/index.html
As for Darker than BLACK, it's definitely the fill between Geass seasons, so it'll be a full length show ending in Fall.
You're right. I made I typo. Between both parts of Geass there are 2 tiers, which translates to 24-26 episodes.
aardvark
2007-03-02, 22:10
I liked the touch in the trailer where they had made The Wall look like the sky, and earlier when Kirihara said something about how "it's hard to imagine what the place was like without it [the wall]". Would I be being too hopeful if we get to see insights of people regarding the effect on having The Wall/The Zone (lol) creeping into people's lives, or should I just expect lots of fun and action and leave it at that...
Yeah I loved this part as well. I love how one part is seamless while right next to it you see it's still being built.
Reminded me of the Truman Show (Jim Carrey movie, dunno if youve seen it) where the city was basically self contained and the sky was basically the walls of the dome that surrounded it. The effect was the same.
Nightengale
2007-03-02, 22:53
Can anyone tell me how the hell can I watch that trailer?
I tried Firefox, IE, Opera, direct links to BSPlayer, WMP10, and none of it freaking works.
DangerMouse
2007-03-02, 22:59
It works for me when I launch it using IE but not Firefox (on Windows XP).
Also the one http://douga.nifty.com/cs/story/title/21450002/1.htm from the post above also works for me, but also only when I click the link in IE. The first trailer is the new 3 minute one. I'm on WMP 11 if that helps...
MrProphet
2007-03-03, 06:42
I am really surprised that none of you got it to work.
I swear, I didn't do any magic. Just opened up the page in Firefox 2.0.0.2, clicked the stream and it opened up in WinAMP automatically. No licenses, no bullshit.
Reminded me of the Truman Show (Jim Carrey movie, dunno if youve seen it) where the city was basically self contained and the sky was basically the walls of the dome that surrounded it. The effect was the same.
Actually, I thought more about FLCL and the giant conspicuous Medical Mechanica building. It had the same effect as the Wall does in Darker than Black. Everyone sees it all the time and they sorta get used to it, but sometimes it freaks the hell out of people.
WanderingKnight
2007-03-03, 07:43
I swear, I didn't do any magic. Just opened up the page in Firefox 2.0.0.2, clicked the stream and it opened up in WinAMP automatically. No licenses, no bullshit.
Well I GOT it to work with firefox, but instead of opening with winamp it opened with Media Player...
Ah, that might have been it. I'm not using Firefox 2.0 (yeah yeah, I'm still sticking to 1.5.0.8 thank you very much), so that might've been the case.
But I didn't get any licenses either, though I opened it in WMP. Strange, I usually get those bloody things in so many other cases (mutter grumble)
I was reminded of the Truman Show too, actually, but I didn't remember the name of the movie. The thingy from FLCL didn't occur to me but that's quite a good comparison. Except that this has more of a "shielding" aspect to it I suppose?
It's actually like the inverse of the Truman Show, ironically (if I understand it correctly). There the sky inside the dome was painted so that the people inside it thought it was the real sky; here the sky outside the "dome" of the Zone is painted so that everyone else can pretend it wasn't there.
Onizuka-GTO
2007-03-03, 10:47
#LOL!!
I saw this trailer at the end of code Geass Episode 18 RAW,
i was curious to find out what it was, it sounds pretty cool, need another detective drama with some cool stuff in it, and as for a talking cat with a wireless brain.....SOLD.
I'm easily pleased.
:D
Haohmaru
2007-03-03, 10:50
#LOL!!
I saw this trailer at the end of code Geass Episode 18 RAW,
i was curious to find out what it was, it sounds pretty cool, need another detective drama with some cool stuff in it, and as for a talking cat with a wireless brain.....SOLD.
I'm easily pleased.
:D
Which raw did you download? Can you pm me the link.
DangerMouse
2007-03-03, 15:41
and as for a talking cat with a wireless brain.....SOLD.
I'm easily pleased.
:D
Heh, I thought that was great too.
Kisuke06
2007-03-03, 17:11
The trailer is very good! I'll check this one for sure.
Quajafrie
2007-03-03, 17:19
Was it me or the backgrounds on the trailer were too bland? And the characters seemed to stand too much from them.
Pretty good trailer anyways, I'll sure as hell check it out. Jazz Yoko Kanno ftw! Even though I'm not really into crazy bat-shit insane comedies, like FLCL, and I hope it doesn't follow its style.
Pretty good trailer anyways, I'll sure as hell check it out. Jazz Yoko Kanno ftw! Even though I'm not really into crazy bat-shit insane comedies, like FLCL, and I hope it doesn't follow its style.
I don't really see the relationship between Darker than Black and FLCL, the trailer showed me a grittier Read or Die with a (pseudo)sci-fi background and a more traditional Bones animation that mixed Host Club’s designs, or am I the only one seeing the similarities here, with fast paced yet still “realistic”, in terms of not cartoony I mean, movement. Nothing in it was actually reminiscent of FLCL.
Haohmaru
2007-03-03, 18:02
Youtube version of the 3 min trailer http://youtube.com/watch?v=0Gc0zSN_D34
WanderingKnight
2007-03-03, 18:27
Yay! Finally I was able to watch it!
Though character designs aren't of my particular liking, animation seems good enough (but this is a trailer, so it's no guarantee... wait, studio BONES is on this, there IS guarantee :D) and there's lots of cold-blooded action going on... and of course, Kanno-sama's music, which would be enough for me to watch it anyways xD.
Haohmaru
2007-03-03, 19:03
Yeah I love the music. Character designs aren't that bad. Animation was great. I'm pretty sure they'll keep that animation quality consistent since it's 26 episodes.
Can't wait till it starts.
DangerMouse
2007-03-03, 22:20
The main character's weapon is pretty interesting. The trailer already has him using it some deadly ways.
I really like the character designs, though perhaps the main guy's face is a bit sharper shaped than the usual Bones design which was noticeable for just a moment, but I think I'm already used to it seeing it in motion in the trailer and it seems fitting since the look of him is really cool and the other designs weren't effected like that in any way. Yin looked great in that short shot of her in the alleyway, I assume we'll get a peek of what she can do in a later trailer, closer to air time ofcourse heh. The description of her abilities are damn cool, she better get into the action, perhaps as the smooth hand-to-hand fighter. (If anyone's seen any of the second season of Avatar, you know why I'm praying for Bones to give Yin the action attention she looks like she deserves from the magazine spreads, fighting with that emotionless look and neat eyes :))
Huang looks very tricky and interesting, Misaki looks quite cool and the cat is going to rock, I hope.
I think the "C.C. Clone" bears a decent amount of resemblance to Anemone from E7. I can vaguely see how you might see CC in her, but the vibe the character gives me is totally different, and I think she gives off a more freakish disturbed vibe like Anemone.
I was thinking the exact same thing.
Joojoobees
2007-03-03, 22:33
Youtube version of the 3 min trailer http://youtube.com/watch?v=0Gc0zSN_D34
Awesome! thx for posting that. :D
The show looks even better than I imagined.
I got to finally see that new trailer, and I'd have to say that it's oozing with sex appeal already. Thanks, Haohmaru.
I actually also like the style of the art. This one is definitely right up my alley. Simple, sharp and clean—not too shounen-ish nor doll-like jousei. I'm not expecting RahXephon-level awesomeness, but I'm really crossing my fingers here. Don't disappoint BONES!
Quajafrie
2007-03-04, 02:57
I don't really see the relationship between Darker than Black and FLCL, the trailer showed me a grittier Read or Die with a (pseudo)sci-fi background and a more traditional Bones animation that mixed Host Club’s designs, or am I the only one seeing the similarities here, with fast paced yet still “realistic”, in terms of not cartoony I mean, movement. Nothing in it was actually reminiscent of FLCL.
Dunno, that was the vibe I took from the trailer. But maybe you're right.
The main character looks great, by the way. I always love characters with masks.
Nightengale
2007-03-04, 03:10
Personally, I found the trailer kind of bland as well. The animation was good and I thought the designs and colours were solid as expected of BONES, no questions there and the music was good as well, but the feel of the trailer felt...I dunno, empty? Maybe it's the boring narration or maybe the trailer itself felt...generic?, but whatever. Either way, it didn't really 'hyped' me up like I thought it would, considering some of the positive opinions towards the trailer before it was tubed.
Though I couldn't really see the FLCL connection. Sure it had a fast-paced action-feel, but how many action series trailers don't?
And yes, I STILL CAN'T GET THE GODDAMN TRAILER TO WORK. I did WinAMP, FF 2.0, EVERYTHING. I gave up.
@Nightengale: Maybe you don't have all the DRMs on your computer. It worked for me in WMP 11, but I had to get all the DRMs and upgrade WMP to view Reideen ep. 1 and GR: Giant Robo episode 1 prior to this. At any rate, it looked better on Youtube than at 56K offered on the website.
DangerMouse
2007-03-05, 14:40
At any rate, it looked better on Youtube than at 56K offered on the website.
If you have a really fast internet connection, the Nifty site from earlier in the thread has a 500k and 1M version of the extended trailer...ofcourse you need a rather nice internet connection to view those ;)
I've seen the trailer, it is another anime to add to my "must watch" anime list for this spring, along with StrikerS, Devil May Cry and Lucky Star.
Yoko Kanno's music did flow so good with the noir-like (the genre, not the anime) setting.
Yin reminded me a lot of Shizuma from Strawberry Panic tho. ;O
Onizuka-GTO
2007-03-07, 08:34
@Nightengale: Maybe you don't have all the DRMs on your computer.
Watch your language.
In some parts of the interweb, you'll be literally murdered for saying that, or sued which ever way you look at it.....
:rolleyes:
Anyway, does anyone have any more information on the characters or when this will be aired?
MrProphet
2007-03-07, 10:35
Anyway, does anyone have any more information on the characters or when this will be aired?
Try this post which wao has written (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=771511&postcount=2) in the beginning of the thread.
As for the air time, I believe it starts on the 5th of April on MBS at 25:25 at night.
It's the same time slot as Code Geass. And, apparently, after Darker than Black finishes, Code Geass will continue in the same timeslot in October.
Well well, as befits the shows of the well-connected MBS network, Darker than Black is having tie-ups for its OP and ED...
OP is by Abingdon boys school (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abingdon_boys_school), who last did the D.Gray-man OP, and is fronted by, well, none other than Takanori Nishikawa - aka T.M. Revolution. Famous for singing the first OPs for Gundam Seed and Seed Destiny, as well as Rurouni Kenshin's 3rd OP, which I must say I have a very particular fondness for...
ED "Tsukiakari" by Rie fu (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rie_fu), who did the BLEACH ED "Life is like a boat" and the GSD ED "I wanna go to a place..." (which I like a lot more than Life is like a boat).
WanderingKnight
2007-03-08, 13:15
ED "Tsukiakari" by Rie fu, who did the BLEACH ED "Life is like a boat" and the GSD ED "I wanna go to a place..." (which I like a lot more than Life is like a boat).
Stupid question here. Is that Bleach ending the first one (the only one I've ever seen)? Because I hated that one.
Stupid question here. Is that Bleach ending the first one (the only one I've ever seen)? Because I hated that one.Yes, it was the first one.
EDIT: I kind of sped through Wao's posts - when does this start again? Isn't it soon?
WanderingKnight
2007-03-08, 13:30
Yes, it was the first one.
Meh, ED expectations down :(. Though maybe Kanno-sama will do the music for her :D (not her style, though, unless that's Sakamoto Maaya we're talking about >.>)
Ahhhh... don't know what to say about this but it's so easy to get drawn in by Yoko Kanno's music. From the trailer alone, i can say it's gonna be fun listening to her work in DTB even if the anime itself sucks.
Hopefully this won't end up like another Speed Grapher.
DangerMouse
2007-03-08, 15:27
The D.Gray-man OP was very nice. I hope they do a good job.
Destinyblade
2007-03-08, 20:16
as well as Rurouni Kenshin's 3rd OP, which I must say I have a very particular fondness for...
Actually, T.M. Revolution did the 3rd ED of Rurouni Kenshin, not the 3rd OP. Probably just a typo you made, but just to inform others out there... :)
Hmmm... Should be a good OP, especially since Takanori Nishikawa and his band is doing it. I haven't checked D.Gray-Man, but I thought I checked out the OP for it, and it was okay.
As for the ED... meh. I'm not a big fan of Rie Fu, but her music is tolerable to my ears.
Well, at least this anime is actually getting some attention compared to Ayakashi Ayashi. I just hope BONES won't disappoint (which they usually don't).
Watch your language.
In some parts of the interweb, you'll be literally murdered for saying that, or sued which ever way you look at it.....
:rolleyes:
Anyway, does anyone have any more information on the characters or when this will be aired?
Oh, I didn't mean to offend. It's just that when I upgraded to WMP 11, it wasn't enough to view the Japanese episodes. I had to get a further upgrade so I assumed the DRM stuff on my computer after the original upgrade wasn't enough. :)
It was all legal and above the board. So no lawsuits in my direction. :)
Stupid database error ate up my post...
Anyway, yes - 3rd ED, sorry. And it was sort of the 4th ED after 4th Avenue Cafe got pulled due to that silly thing with Laruku. Bleh. How could I mix it up when it was a nostalgic precious memory of my primary school days!!1!1
rooboy: according to the official site I think the first broadcast is on the 5th of April.
Strangely enough the school computer blocks Moonphase for "pornography". ...
WanderingKnight
2007-03-09, 05:01
rooboy: according to the official site I think the first broadcast is on the 5th of April.
6th of April :p
MrProphet
2007-03-09, 05:10
They count the night as the same day, so, it's 25:25 on 05/04, not 1:25 on 06/04.
Yeah, and to most of you west of Japan (including me) that's pretty much the 5th, anyway...
It isn't that far away but damn, there's too many nice things out this season. I hope I won't have to cut this one out.
DangerMouse
2007-03-09, 11:03
Yeah, almost too many good looking series :heh: Guess I'll be kissing away my free time come April, and in some bizarre way I love it. It's been too long since I was looking forwards to so many anime at once.
Wewt, good quality scans from Newtype grabbed off 2ch!
http://s01.imagehost.org/0758/dtb01_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0758/dtb01.jpg)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0758/dtb02_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0758/dtb02.jpg)
I'm too lazy to actually look at them for info right now, but for anyone who just wants to look at pictures...
And you can see a smaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaall picture of C.C.-ripoff (yes, she has an Anemone thing gone with her but I still think she's C.C.-ripoff) here:
http://www.famitsu.com/anime/news/2007/03/08/681,1173289974,68189,0,0.html
I haven't seen that promo image before.
-KarumA-
2007-03-13, 07:02
http://www.famitsu.com/anime/news/2007/03/08/681,1173289974,68189,0,0.html
I haven't seen that promo image before.
bwaah why is it now that when i made simulair looking outfits l3 years ago that they pop up in anime series.. specially if i wanna produce them to comic or game projects...
i had a simulair mask design for one of my characters and im scared that things will look a lot alike in basic story line nyuuuh!~
however this anime still gets my attention, i cant wait till it starts airing.. but heck i should start thinking of a different mask... >.> *rmapages against her computer*
You can hear a sample of the OP now. Either at http://www.sonymusic.co.jp/Music/Arch/ES/abs/ESCL-2943/index.html or you can go to http://www.aabbss.com/ and hear it on repeat once the thing fully loads. It doesn't play the whole song though, but I figure the TV cut would sound something like that.
Weeeell... it doesn't fit my preferred image of the show, but it does fit the typical MBS-shiny-show sort of image... I think I preferred their D.Gray-man OP :heh:
Also, there's a lot more stuff to share like:
A cast interview on the web (where the female seiyuu have positively fallen for Hei :p and it's confirmed that there's lots of female guest characters, and a good part of the show follows a biepisodic format)
A tiny synopsis of episode 1 + staff
A spread from a little booklet that came with Animage
But the time...
If it's going to be semi-episodic, I hope the episode stories are actually good and not trite or overly familiar. Hearing this makes me nervous not because I dislike episodic shows, but because you need better than normal writing to pull one off.
I hope BONES manages to hold onto the Geass audience. They kind of need to redeem themselves for Ayakashi and Juu-Oh-Sei.
If they hype Hei's "uber-sexy brooding badass" type angle and Yin's "im so much like rei it hurts angle" with some wacky convulted plot it probably will do at least moderately well in fan circles
Plus i think despite flaws, both of those shows were good overall
honeysempai
2007-03-20, 16:08
I want to watch this series! Its premiers on April right?
I was hoping that after Ghost Hunt ended I would be able to start watching another anime that was of the same genre.
Shinndou
2007-03-20, 16:47
I want to watch this series! Its premiers on April right?
I was hoping that after Ghost Hunt ended I would be able to start watching another anime that was of the same genre.
I don't think they sort of belong to the same genre, unless you're referring to the presence of a bishounen as protagonist. :heh:
honeysempai
2007-03-20, 20:29
I don't think they sort of belong to the same genre, unless you're referring to the presence of a bishounen as protagonist. :heh:
Well both of the shows involve mystery and drama. And, I agree with you on the bishounen part. Hei kinda looks like Naru.... XD And it also looks like Hei and Naru are going to share the same qualities in personality, at least from the preview that I saw.
MrProphet
2007-03-20, 20:37
Well both of the shows involve mystery and drama.
*snorts*
You have just described every single anime in existence.
*snorts*
You have just described every single anime in existence.
lol.. well, as long as the show doesn't become as mysterious and dramatic as... say... Ikkitousen, I'm all in. :heh:
*snorts*
You have just described every single anime in existence.
Well, if even Shin-Chan gets to become dramatic at times...
Argh, I was going to scan in the spread in this month's Animedia, but I ran out of time again. Anyway, I might as well say it - the name of the girl who looks like C.C. + Anemone + whatever, it's Amber. The mag is somewhere else so I can't remember word for word, but Hei's been trying his whole life to track her down, apparently. He even joined The Organisation for this purpose. Also, if I remember correctly, there's the you-knew-it-was-coming "everything started 10 years ago" bit as well.
Oh cool, do we get to see chibi Hei? You know I can't think of anything better to say :cool: .
If this has already been mentioned then I am evidently going blind.
The scan isn't particularly stunningly nice (out of all three spreads in the mags this time around, I think Newtype's was the best by far). That might have more to do with my opinion of Animedia being the worst out of the 3 major mags both in terms of approach, design/style and writing...
EDIT: Oh yeah, and the latest TV spot has gone on air. So far I think the spots have largely shown footage that can all be found in the 3 minute trailer, but you hear different music!
DangerMouse
2007-03-21, 23:13
Thanks for the update on Amber and the other bits wao :)
Hope Amber's not a villainess. She looks like she may have her act together.
Cast interview...
Not like anything of much importance is actually said in it, but for the heck of it. Like I said, it's kinda cute how Mizuki and Fukuen are gaga over Hei.
The original is here: http://hobby-channel.net/content/view/2411/67/
I literally fell asleep at the end of it, so pardon me if it becomes totally undecipherable near the end...
---Please introduce the character you're playing to us.
Kiuchi: Hei's like one of those professional killers you see in anime, and carries out missions as a Contractor under the orders of The Organisation. Normally he passes off as Li Shun Sheng, a Chinese university student living in a nondescript apartment. As Li he's a warm person, but when he's on the job as Hei he takes on an emotionless, cold facade, so he's really a character with two personalities. He's still a mystery even to me, the person voicing him, so I too am looking forward to what'll happen next.
Mizuki: Kirihara Misaki is a detective from Section 4 of the police's Public Safety department pursuing the "Contractors". As a section chief she leads her subordinates in going after Hei, the "Contractors" and "Dolls", but because her opponents are supernatural beings possessing special powers, it's an uphill battle where they constantly get outdone. It's hard to predict the story right now, but by the later half of episode 2 she finally comes in contact with Hei and co., so it'll get very interesting from there on.
Fukuen: Yin is a "Doll", meaning she's a mere soulless body, and she's rather devoid of expressions. She works with Hei, Mao and Huang but rather than fighting on the frontline, she uses this thing called a Spirit of Perception (観測霊 kansokurei) to find out where the target is, and gather information about the enemy. Normally she works part-time at a tobacco store.
---What are your thoughts on the dubbing and this work?
Kiuchi: There are many people here who are coming to work for the first time, but I enjoyed myself greatly. Personally I think it's a really interesting story so I'll put in my best while having fun at the same time.
Mizuki: Misaki's a cool lady who has older people working under her and gets the case solved quickly and efficiently, uses words like a man and is very much a detective; basically a mature career-oriented woman which is a type I haven't really done before, so I'm always full of nervousness each time I enter the dubbing studio. (laughs) In such a nice atmosphere, I've been learning new things every time I act out her character.
This show features a continuing series of bi-episode stories, so I think you get to see a lot of characters possessing special powers different from Hei's and Yin's. These "Contractors" have to perform some sort of special action in order to activate their powers, so for some of them it's cracking their knuckles, or eating dandelions... you get to see some pretty strange stuff so it might be rather interesting in that way (laughs) It's a pretty hard-going anime but if you manage to enjoy it anyway I'll be glad.
Fukuen: The main group of 4 people, namely Hei, Yin, Huang, and Mao are so wrapped up in mystery to the point you'd end up thinking "Isn't Misaki pretty much the main character~?", so I'm really looking forward to see what'll happen from now on. I love the whole dirty sort of atmosphere of busy streets, and this show's worldview and character relationships are very much the late-night type aimed at adults, so I reccomend this to those of you who like this kind of thing. For me I was really most surprised by Hei's personality! There's new guest character heroines replacing previous ones every other episode, but....
Misaki: They just keep coming like Bond girls (laughs) Hei's really popular with the girls, you know. In the first episode the girl he saves kisses him, like... from out of nowhere? But it was so nice... ... I went all ♥ (laughs)
Fukuen: And it wasn't just a kiss, either (laughs)
Misaki: It felt very adult, didn't it ♪
Kiuchi: He's a determined desparado... and that would be a lie (laughs) Hei's doing this totally naturally, he isn't a scheming sort of guy.
---Tell us what's your enthusiasm behind this show.
Kiuchi: Putting aside the fact that I'm acting the main role and all, from the viewpoint of wanting to create a great show with everyone I'd like to put in all my effort into this.
Mizuki: For me, since I don't have that much of a chance to be dramatic with my character, I put in a lot of force when I'm in the studio. It's to the point where I get told "Relax a bit more" when I overdo it, though (laughs) I'm really glad to be able to be involved in such a deep and charismatic work.
Fukuen: Like Mizuki-san I was also so nervous that I strained myself so much on just one line I ended up fumbling over my words anyway (laughs) It shows how much I want to take each and every single thing seriously. It's a show made quite prceisely to the point where you start thinking "you sure can't go around telling lies now, can you?", so it'd be nice if people enjoy the acting also along this line.
---Darker than Black -Kuro no Keiyakusha- goes along an original plot not based off an existing work, but do you have a message for the people looking forward to this show?
Kiuchi: It's an original work with no preexisting story behind it, and you can't find out what's going to happen by reading the original novel or manga, so I'm just thinking you could come in with with fresh expectations and enjoy this every time.
Mizuki: With shows that have an original work you know what's going to happen in advance and end up thinking that the acting of the characters, who are living in the present, feel fake, so in order to react at the same time as the characters the original story goes right along with the anime. But for this show it's quite fun in how the audience, like Misaki, keeps getting outdone by Hei.
Fukuen: It'd be good if you could keep yourself firmly in one place and see this show from a long-term perspective. Just watching the first episode alone will leave you with many unanswered questions, so do enjoy it slowly but surely.
---From the eyes of a female... what's Hei's charming points?
Mizuki: It must be that unscheming, calm and unassuming nature after all. Especially his gentlesness when he's Li, now that's just against the rules, you'd think (laughs). He quite innocently does certain things that would come across as rather sobering towards girls who've fallien for him. But as Hei he's very cold and I can really feel how he's acting under cool, caluclated instructions.
Kiuchi: Actually, he's schemed out a lot of things, you know... >Hei
Fukuen: Eeeeh...! At least I hope he'll stay nice when he's Li, at least (everyone laughs). Even if I actually met him without knowing who he was, I swaear I'd get just as equally attracted to Hei as the guest heroine from episode one [Chiaki Shinoda]. He's mysterious but still shows a bit of his kindness here and there, so I was thinking he's a rather nasty character in that way (laughs)
And Animedia scan: http://s01.imagehost.org/0761/dtbanimedia04_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0761/dtbanimedia04.jpg)
So now I have pics of scans from all three mags out this month - except Newtype Romance Spring. That had a rather nice image with Yin looking extremely doll-like and Hei holding her, but unfortunately I missed buying the last one at Kinokuniya :(.
The latest TV spot has just got the OP again, nothing much in the way of new pictures. I do like the last still at the end of it, though - you can see a good version of that at BONES' production blog for this show here (http://www.bones.co.jp/darkerthanblack_yota/index.html). Is that Hei looking through a telescope! *giggles stupidly*
Which reminds me, I might as well mention I was thinking about this:
-The Animedia spread mentions something about everything starting 10 years ago.
-The beginning of the trailer has a young girl (young Misaki?) talking about the stars
-We have Hei looking at a telescope and him against the same sort of star-filled night sky.
-Hell's Gate is described as having "stolen" the sky of Tokyo.
I expect some sort of dramatic tension along those lines. Eh, I don't know why I'm spoiling myself so much by thinking so much about what'll prolly be an average animu, but there it is.
DangerMouse
2007-03-23, 12:30
Hope Amber's not a villainess.
Yeah, I think that would be good too.
This one needs to hurry up and air so i can hear more Yoko Kanno goodness (of course, i'm not going to be watching it just for that :3).
Well, how do you like that, if you look in the right places you can hear the full version of the OP in reasonable quality. I'm surprised that they included these lines in the prelude to the song itself (and the prelude is pretty damn cool, I must say - very fitting to this show).
This is what it says:
A night sky full of cries
Hearts filled with lies
The contract:
Is it worth the price -
A soul pledged to the darkness (?)
Now I've lost it
I know I can kill
(something I can't make out)
And in a sort of British accent too, I think!Obviously it's talking about Hei/the contractors. But doesn't this mean they sort of made the OP with the anime in mind? Of course it's possible they just threw it in later on, but still, pretty cool how it ties into the anime nicely and isn't just a featured-artist sort of thing. :D
EDIT: I forgot to mention you can listen to a sample of the ED here: http://www.barks.jp/listen/?id=1000017782 until the 24th of April.
I actually like it a lot more than the previous anime songs I've heard from Rie fu! Definitely a lot better than Life is like a Boat, IMO anyway.
For all the coverage and shiny tie-ups this anime has thanks to its audience and timeslot, I just hope the show itself can be decent too ._.
DangerMouse
2007-03-27, 18:20
Very true, I hope this is as good as it looks, I want another Bones hit, I've enjoyed each of their shows and I don't want them to be pressured into being more formulaic or "pandering" to get an audience, I want them to keep making original amazing shows with depth like they've continued to do.
Matt Soulblade
2007-03-28, 01:02
Well, Takanori Nishikawa will be really angry at me if I dont watch this, so well, wishlist GO!
:)
Well, there's screenshots from a preview screening (only to selected participants) of the first two episodes that I found...
They're small but big enough to see what's going on, and there's so many of them you can pretty much see the outcome of the story here.
So see them at your own risk - a number of the scenes were in the trailer that was released, but at any rate it's quite spoilery. Here you go: 1 (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0763/preview01.jpg), 2 (http://basket.bjacques.org/dtb_pics/bomber38802_h48.jpg), 3 (http://basket.bjacques.org/dtb_pics/bomber38803_h48.jpg). Oh, there's screenshots of the OP and ED too.
Anyway, it doesn't look fabulo-super-zomg-tacular or whatever, but I believe Bones tends to spread out its resources - instead of making the first episode jaw-droppingly awesome and sacrificing like, a good third of the budget on it, I get the feeling they distribute their resources more evenly. I remember with RahXephon the first episode hardly impressed me but it largely just kept getting better after that.
About the guest female character you see these two episodes, Chiaki Shinoda (voiced by Meyumi Toyoguchi), I'm not sure about what exactly she is but from what I read on a blog, it appears that she is actually a Doll (like Yin) who had the emotions and memories of a human put into her. Or there are actually two Shinodas but one is a Doll who looks pretty much the same, I didn't really understand (actually, neither did the blogger, I think.)
I don't know why I must like spoiling myself so much for a show that hasn't even aired yet. -_-
Anyway for now I am kind of pleasantly surprised and highly amused by how different Hei's two sides are. He's so adorkable as Li. And way too good with girls! Argh.
[QUOTE=wao;882925]
I don't know why I must like spoiling myself so much for a show that hasn't even aired yet. -_-
[QUOTE]
Cause Yoko Kanno is composing the music for it? :heh:
well, even if the anime itself suck, the music should be something to listen to.
hmmm the screenshot is nothing spectacular indeed but the original trailers didn't really wow me with it's animation either... hopefully the actions would be smooth/fluid and animation quality consistent.
It's the character design and the detective sorta story that got me interested in the first place.
Bah, if it was about Yoko Kanno only then I wouldn't give two hoots about the story, let alone to the extent of looking for spoilers and spoiler pics and all :)
But talking about the animation, I am a bit worried. I read the latest blog post by BONES on their production diary for this series, and would you believe it or not - they only finished production of the OP and ED last Tuesday morning?
I don't know if this is standard in anime production but for something like BONES I would have thought they'd have done it aroudn the same time as the first episode... And it's kind of tight because they had to show the preview screening on Friday :heh:
The poor production runner... After they finished production he returned home sleepily at 6:30 am, but after having a bath he had to leave at 9:00 am again for the dubbing of episode 7. Ergh. And I think he's been pulling all nighters the past few days, too. I guess it shouldn't be surprising...
Turns out he didn't have to sleep for episode 7 because it was, apparently, interesting enough. He did mention a bit about episode 7's content: ７話はホストな面々がガッツリつくっているので、これまたダーカーの違った一面が出せた爆笑アフレコ話数に なってます。
I don't know if I'm understand it correctly, he talks about the various aspects of "host" - is it a term for the main characters (I assume it isn't), or is he talking about hosts from host clubs? And I mean the real ones in Tokyo, the ones with tons of pretty guys and girls that are hopelessly addicted to them.
But anyway, if it's that type of host, then I suspect the episode is about them because he talks about their various facets being acted out to the best of the actors' abilities, and it showed quite a different side of DtB compared to what it had shown up till then, so it ended up being quite a hilarious dubbing session, apparently.
Also turns out that the whole thing about the night sky <-> past is important after all, the staff dude mentioned it at the end of the entry with relation to the ED, which also features a night sky.
He mentions what we already know: that in the world of DtB, they've lost the starry sky they had until Hell's Gate appeared, and in the fake sky they have now there isn't even a moon. The thing is, it's common for people to look up into the sky when they think of the past, even if it's a fake sky and it doesn't have a moon or whatever. I guess it's fitting that the ED theme is "tsukiakari" (moonlight).
Also turns out that the whole thing about the night sky <-> past is important after all, the staff dude mentioned it at the end of the entry with relation to the ED, which also features a night sky.
He mentions what we already know: that in the world of DtB, they've lost the starry sky they had until Hell's Gate appeared, and in the fake sky they have now there isn't even a moon. The thing is, it's common for people to look up into the sky when they think of the past, even if it's a fake sky and it doesn't have a moon or whatever. I guess it's fitting that the ED theme is "tsukiakari" (moonlight).
So, they are cocooning like in Gilgamesh?
New teaser thanks to Manuloz. Looks decent enough, not impressive but not bad at all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04HA7Crzqd4
Very similar that Speed Grapher.
"Dark spy action anime", eh? :heh: Looks pretty exciting to me. I can't wait until it comes out so I can squeal over Hei. :D
Shinndou
2007-04-02, 17:50
New teaser thanks to Manuloz. Looks decent enough, not impressive but not bad at all:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04HA7Crzqd4
I really liked the bits where there's Yoko Kanno's soundtrack playing, her style seem to perfectly match this anime, apparently. But I also disliked T.M. Revolution's song during the first bit of the teaser, it just didn't feel alright nor it seemed to fit with the style and mood that this anime seems to convey. I don't know but I'll never understand why producers (because I am almost sure it wasn't Yoko Kanno's decision to have T.M. Revolution performing that song) have to stick the usual average, random but yet notorious jpop band/singer in it, having them do the OP or the ED song, even when their songs or music styles don't seem to match the one shown and conveyed by the anime itself. I feel that Yoko Kanno along with one of her long time partners (Steve Conte, or Ilaria Graziano, or others) might have produced a far better fitting OP song.
Oh, and lol@the talking cat, it reminded of Salem, from "Sabrina the Witch". :heh:
Destinyblade
2007-04-02, 18:11
I don't know but I'll never understand why producers (because I am almost sure it wasn't Yoko Kanno's decision to have T.M. Revolution performing that song) have to stick the usual average, random but yet notorious jpop band/singer in it, having them do the OP or the ED song, even when their songs or music styles don't seem to match the one shown and conveyed by the anime itself. I feel that Yoko Kanno along with one of her long time partners (Steve Conte, or Ilaria Graziano, or others) might have produced a far better fitting OP song.
The reason producers stick in JPop bands and singers and have them do the OP and the ED song is for advertisement for the anime and the song itself. By having T.M. Revolution's band (Abingdon boys school) do the OP, they can attract an audience that are fans of Takanori Nishikawa and his band. On the other hand, those who watch the anime will be tempted to buy the single of the song. The same applies to the ED.
So yeah, it's all about hyping up the series with the JPop artists, as well as for advertisement. Personally, I like the artist tie-ups; I tend to prefer songs by those artists than songs by someone else, such as a VA. However, if you look at the posts by wao, you'll see that the songs for this show actually DO go with the anime. Maybe you were expecting something more along the lines of the BGM by Yoko Kanno in regards to "fitting" with the anime, but the lyrics for the songs do fit with the theme of the show.
This one needs to hurry up and air so i can hear more Yoko Kanno goodness (of course, i'm not going to be watching it just for that :3).
that's the only reason i'm watching it!!! :P
actually, if wao's excited about it then the odds are in favor of the show being something special. this gives me two new shows to watch. yay.
WanderingKnight
2007-04-02, 18:40
Umm, the price Jan pays for his power is... lining up stones...?
変な奴
Shinndou
2007-04-02, 18:53
The reason producers stick in JPop bands and singers and have them do the OP and the ED song is for advertisement for the anime and the song itself. By having T.M. Revolution's band (Abingdon boys school) do the OP, they can attract an audience that are fans of Takanori Nishikawa and his band. On the other hand, those who watch the anime will be tempted to buy the single of the song. The same applies to the ED.
So yeah, it's all about hyping up the series with the JPop artists, as well as for advertisement. Personally, I like the artist tie-ups; I tend to prefer songs by those artists than songs by someone else, such as a VA. However, if you look at the posts by wao, you'll see that the songs for this show actually DO go with the anime. Maybe you were expecting something more along the lines of the BGM by Yoko Kanno in regards to "fitting" with the anime, but the lyrics for the songs do fit with the theme of the show.
Well yes, I know it's all for the sake of advertising the show, which is a good marketing move. Still, I think a jazz-like piece might have fitted better. But I guess I'll have to wait and see the first episode (hoping they'll include the OP as well) to really be able to tell if T.M.Revolution's song works or not for me. :)
Considering i nearly always skip the OP, it doesn't bother me that much :p
Only anime that i always watch the OP is FLAG and Hataraki man :p
that's the only reason i'm watching it!!! :P
actually, if wao's excited about it then the odds are in favor of the show being something special. this gives me two new shows to watch. yay.
Nah, I suggest you don't base it on that. You would end up watching a lot of crap anime too :P
I'm really excited this most for Yoko Kanno too, and then for the fangirl factor - not really in a "whoa this is going to be a really good anime" way... I'm excited for this in a shameless-fangirl, consumerist, ooh-fun-and-shiny sort of way. It's got a goddamn cat with a brain in a wireless LAN and generally cartoony designs and people flying up and glowing - how the hell could I enjoy this in too serious a manner? :P (Anyway I find I'd enjoy it a lot more if I did it, considering a recent case where I got sadly disappointed for misjudging the intended seriousness-level of an anime...)
Destinyblade is correct about the tie-ups. It's the same reason why they ended up getting Jinn for the 2nd Code Geass OP. I certainly think this is more successful than that :heh:
And while I think an OP ala Cowboy Bebop would have been perfect, I'm happy enough with this (so sue me, I have a tad of a soft spot for TMR). I think it'd still fit in better than L'arc en ciel did for Seirei no Moribito, at any rate.
Actually the OP video's apparently been uploaded somewhere on this Japanese video site called nicovideo.jp. However it's only open to the first 30,000 people who registered (I recently registered but I'm only like, #45355 or something like that.)
I would have liked to see it, but ah well - I'll wait till Friday or whatever. The comments I've heard about it from the folks who watched the advance preview were that it was a. cool and b. didn't move a lot. (I'm not surprised considering it was only done last Tuesday) The scant few screencaps of the OP I saw were nice enough anyway.
Anyway I get a feeling this show'll be more entertainment than anything despite the two-episode format that doesn't really lend itself to being so; however I nevertheless shall not get my hopes up high.
Almost wish I didn't spoil myself for the first two episodes, but there you have it.
Shinndou
2007-04-03, 05:55
Considering that this show is going to use Code Geass' timeslot, I don't expect this to be terribly serious either, but more like the usual fun yet well done shounen show, pretty much like Code Geass has been so far in my eyes.
Adventury
2007-04-03, 06:18
And here we have the opening: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnoWgY07PHU
Might add it is fairly nice, cool and not as unfit as I may have initially thought...
Quajafrie
2007-04-03, 07:03
Cool animation, crappy song.
Adventury
2007-04-03, 07:13
I don´t really think the music is that bad, at least it's, in my opinion, much more tolerable than the L'arc en ciel song that accompanies Seirei no Moribito's opening, which is considerably more unfit and, I would dare say, a lot more generic.
Haohmaru
2007-04-03, 07:48
Both the OP video and song suck IMO.
Nightengale
2007-04-03, 07:56
N(Anyway I find I'd enjoy it a lot more if I did it, considering a recent case where I got sadly disappointed for misjudging the intended seriousness-level of an anime...)
Code Geass? To be honest, it was obviously going to be cheese from the start. Good for entertainment and fun discussions, but that's about it.
As for the OP...well, I wouldn't go so far to say that it sucks, but it's dissapointing. The flow of it, the feel behind it, along with the accompanied song... I didn't really like it. The visuals and animation were solid, but that's about it. The feel behind it was lacking, and looked really generic, despite attempts to do the whole "Black of Two Worlds" + multiple backdrops thing.
I'm getting some Witch Hunter Robin vibes from the little things I've seen of DTB...which is both a good thing...and bad. I just hope the episodic-sense they're going for is well-written.
MrProphet
2007-04-03, 08:01
Oh, stop it.
Takanori is good. Not the best opening EVAH (though, obviously, some people expect no less), but it's suitably intense.
And if people are calling Shokotan's song for Gurren-Lagann great, then they have no right to criticize T.M. Revolution... 8)
:(
Well, I wasn't expecting the best either - especially after hearing the problems they had producing the OP, but I was disappointed too. I think it was especially after having listened to the full version (a few too many times for my own good I must say), and imagining all sorts of really cool fighting sequences and stuff.
Nightengale pretty much took the words out of my mouth - I wouldn't say it sucked but it was disappointing, because the pacing and the choice of frames and all... Come on, for such an active song you don't use stills and play around with the camera so long! And it lingered on the title screen for way too long.
A real pity, I was hoping it could get a snazzy OP like BONES usually does (I watched through the Eureka 7 OPs every single time although I'd end up skipping through the episodes, hell I even watched the Juuousei one a number of times). But this time it felt like they were out of time so they slapped something together.
As for the song itself, I was quite disappointed by the way they cut it - what a weirdass place to start the song from! It hardly does justice to the whole song if you ask me, but oh well. I shall say no more or I'll be branded as *gasp* someone who does not mind abs/TMR! The blasphemy. Guess it's a guilty pleasure.
Nightengale: Oh no, not Code Geass. That was so obviously teh cheese from teh start and succeded most brilliantly in being so. I haven't watched it since episode 10 or so but it's so deliciously cheesy I follow the summaries just to amusedly watch people explode when $character dies or $character goes mad.
Nightengale
2007-04-03, 08:10
Hey, I liked most of Takanori's songs. It's just that I didn't really like this one.
I wouldn't say it doesn't fit the mood of the series. I didn't like the flow of the song accompanying the visuals. The timings and animation were half-decent...It's just...not so there.
Then again, I like Jinn songs, both of them even if they should never ever sing for an anime OP again so whatever.
Edit : The full song for the DtB's OP is released? When? Where?
I see. Well, if I were basing my judgement of the song from the video alone I'd say I dislike it too. It may be that we are judging the mood of the show wrongly, but I just felt it didn't flow well with the images at all. Sadly. But I like the song since I heard the full version first. So it might be unfair since I was expecting too much (though once again I'll say it really helps to read the production blog, let me "mentally prepare" for it. Perhaps they posted that specifically for that reason? I don't know. I shall not beat a dead horse...
As for the full version - a radio rip was released sometime ago, look in the library. Not a bad quality one if I may say so myself (cough hack guess who found a rip of the whole radio program on 2ch and extracted it excitedly.)
Shinndou
2007-04-03, 08:34
Just watched the OP. I have to reconsider a few things. First the song alone, sounds good. The "problem" (if it can be addressed as a problem, it's just a discussion about a freakin OP anyway, heh) is that, just like in that teaser I couldn't really feel a strong connection between the animation and the song, rhytm-wise and style-wise. Maybe I'm demanding too much, maybe (or most surely) I am expressing a clear opinion too early on it, or maybe I should just don't give a damn about it and just wait for the show to air and skip the OP, but that's the impression I had regarding that song and how it seems to be matching this anime after having watched both teaser and OP. :/
Must be the season for crappy OPs. Havent seen any OP for the new series that i can think as good so far.
Deacon Blues
2007-04-03, 09:07
Well, I watched the opening and from a video perspective, it wasn't all that bad. I don't have any sound because I'm in the library atm, but... if the full version of this OP is out can someone PM me where it's at? Thanks =D
Edit: NVM, found it =D
It's... decent. Won't comment on the song as I have a disliking of general mainstream Japanese music but the storyboard wasn't really that bad even if it full of fairly static somewhat uninspired illustrations and it certainly don't manages to create much excitement in the show. There's just no feeling in it, nothing to look forward other than a broodingly emotional Hei in a... although the Speed Grapher reminiscent edition of the Anemone's silhouette in the background was somewhat interesting, probably the only part of the video I am able to use this adjective in.
Must be the season for crappy OPs. Havent seen any OP for the new series that i can think as good so far.
Gurren Lagann is actually quite well animated and story-boarded even if the song is extremely, and I really mean it, generic, gives a real feel of a big and epic old-school-styled adventure to come. Besides, the mecha scenes in the middle are pure LOVE and the gattai-secuence for Gurren and Lagann is probably the best animated scene in the whole year.
Destinyblade
2007-04-03, 10:30
Well, I just watched the OP. Here are my thoughts:
- I like the song; it's not the best song I've ever heard, but it's a good one. At least to my ears.
- One HUGE problem with this OP: the scenes do not fit with the song. This song by abingdon boys school has a fast pace, so I was expecting a fast paced video OP as well. Instead, we get some slow scenes. What's a little surprising was that there were little to no action scenes in them, which is what I expected when I first heard the OP song.
- Like someone else said, the title of the series was in the OP for too long. Strangely enough, though, that was the part of the OP that seemed to "fit."
- I'm also surprised that not a whole lot was shown in the opening. I was somewhat expecting Hei with his mask on and maybe some antagonists in there. Then again, if this is an episodic series, I guess I could understand the antagonists part.
- The scenes were a tad disappointing, as it didn't feature a whole lot.
- And to top it all off, it seems that Seiji Takeda is in the credits as well. More Anti-Americanism, anyone? lol j/k
- All in all, it was a disappointing OP.
After hearing Rie Fu's song, I think I may actually enjoy the ED more than the OP for this show, which is unusual for me (I usually like OPs more than EDs). I said earlier that I wasn't a big fan of Rie Fu, but I did like the sample portion that I heard of "Tsukiakari."
EDIT: Just to make sure there's no misunderstanding: When I said "After hearing Rie Fu's song," I meant the 30-second portion. I haven't actually heard the full ending or the TV sized version.
I'll try not to repeat what everyone's said so far, but it did feel disappointing. I knew I'd love the music the instant wao pointed out that you could hear a part of it on ABS's website, and I thought the screenshots from the first 2 episodes' preview looked very stylish - but they were the only interesting shots. The scrolling title felt way too long.
Edit: I feel like I should add that I don't think it's bad, it's just that I expected it to be awesome. It's still good, and I thought it had some interesting parts.
About the way the OP was cut - I don't think the music will end up being that way. It sounds exactly like the radio rip, so I suppose the beginning might get fixed. Same think for the ending, you can hear that it's supposed to continue. Maybe the video was recorded without any sound and the part of the radio rip that seemed as most fitting was added accordingly.
Meh, it's only one kind of disappointing aspect so far - my love for the show still is growing thanks to the various screenshots that are now available. God, Hei...
Yep, I'm the only one who liked the OP. It sort of felt more like a rock video than an anime OP to me. The heavy use of Amber is very exciting imo. Hope she survives unlike a certain someone from Cowboy Bebop which the OP is reminding me of by the way.
Deacon Blues
2007-04-03, 12:32
For those who wish to sing along with the opening version once it comes out, I present to you my format of the lyrics. Please be advised that I do not want to see these used in fansubs because I can tell when groups get lazy and use my versions. Trust me, I know where my intentional changes are in these, so be warned. If you do want to use them, credit me at least. I offer no guarantee for these as they are my own version.
塞がれた瞼から流れ出した涙
繰り返し蝕まれる 熱愛と血の欠片
don't worry I need to any more
I know he don't it ask for
絡めた二つの胸の隙間で
欲しがるだけの渇いたこの体が
穢れた指先で
夜を誘い込んで
千切れるまで君をこじ開けて
浅い眠りの中
剥がれた想いが軋む
何もかも今はすべて消し去れたら
soul in rise
close your eyes
downfallen
cold inside
just howling in the shadows
fusagareta mabuta kara nagare dashita namida
kurikaeshi mushibamareru netsuai to chi no kakera
don't worry i need to anymore
i know he don't really ask it for
karameta futatsu no mune no sukima de
hoshigaru dake no kawaita kono karada ga
kegareta yubisaki de
yoru wo sasoi konde
chigireru made kimi wo koji akete
asai nemuri no naka
hagareta omoi ga kishimu
nanimokamo ima wa subete keshi saretara
soul in rise
close your eyes
downfallen
cold inside
just howling in the shadows
My blog post (http://deackychu.blogspot.com/2007/04/darker-than-black-opening-howling.html) will have the full lyrics up soon. I completed the original, I just need to romanize them for everyone and run them through a check. Translation coming soon.
Joojoobees
2007-04-03, 15:31
The OP song isn't that interesting to me, but I don't think it is unsuitable.
The animation in the OP was an odd mixture of interesting and uninspired. I didn't like the part with the floating pink woman, but the flashes of red towards the beginning were interesting. I kind of liked the part where he stumbles and falls into the gutter -- he looks like he is drunk; probably not the intention, but I found it entertaining. ;)
@wao: i think you must be referring to Kenpuchou, right? as i recall, you weren't taking that show seriously until i showed you the true light. after that, you understood all the religious references and realized that it was actually the most serious and dramatically intense show on air. ever. in the universe.
so does ep 1 air tonight/now? i thought this was about what time geass aired. i wonder when they will release the ost? anyone have any news on that subject? i'm more interested in the ost than in the actual show. though i say that now, but i could have a Kenpuchou conversion....
EDIT: am i retarded? i like the OP song. the animation and the choices are meh, but i liked this song a lot. i would say that the first 30 seconds of the OP animation are good, but the rest of it is kind of sub-standard. there is an awful lot of holding on certain shots for longer than needed. and the overlaying at the beginning looked a lot like some BeeTrain OP's i know of. i'm hoping that the OP will seem better after having watched a few eps. oh well, at least the song is good.
BluWacky
2007-04-03, 18:24
so does ep 1 air tonight/now? i thought this was about what time geass aired. i wonder when they will release the ost? anyone have any news on that subject? i'm more interested in the ost than in the actual show. though i say that now, but i could have a Kenpuchou conversion....
Thursday night is when DtB airs (it's in the Code Geass timeslot). No news on the OST yet.
Joojoobees
2007-04-03, 20:20
i wonder when they will release the ost? anyone have any news on that subject? i'm more interested in the ost than in the actual show.
I know what you mean. The OST is definitely on my wish list. :)
Alohomora
2007-04-03, 23:42
Is this the real OP ? I'm not sure, though ...
... I like it, I'm a big fan of T.M.Revolution and Nishikawa's voice, and I really like how he use it in 'abingdon' now (more rockish :heh: ). Well, the full song is amazing, yes I like it more than 'Innocent sorrow' itself, and as somebody says it really fits in the mood of the show and even Hei's personality! ^^
As for the OP sequence, I'll wait till thursday to see how it'll fit in the series ^_^
So sad...Sony got the OP removed from YouTube. But the raw is out now! :)
Takanome
2007-04-05, 16:03
Just thought I'd share: Darker Than Black HQ Opening:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/d802l4
http://img378.imageshack.us/img378/1935/dtbintropreviewow2.jpg
chupacabra
2007-04-05, 16:04
After watching the raw, i would say it's good so far but i didn't like that the main story was split into 2 episodes because it lets you with a ton of questions between other things.
I know what you mean. The OST is definitely on my wish list. :)
I know what you mean --- i haven't even heard the musical score for the series yet, but its Yoko Kanno, thats all i need to know. As for a OST release --- give it a few episodes before something appears. Thats if the OST doesn't come with the first DVD.
Just thought I'd share: Darker Than Black HQ Opening:
http://www.sendspace.com/file/d802l4
That makes up for the OP being taken off YouTube! Thanks~ :D
Omniscient
2007-04-05, 16:55
Episode 01 Screencaps and Summary (http://randomc.animeblogger.net/2007/04/05/darker-than-black-01/)
The first episode was good - perhaps not great - but good enough to keep watching. The animation was solid, though I expected a bit more from the background music (really liked the ED). Story and character-wise, this first episode involved mostly only Hei, so I'm looking forward to seeing more of the others.
I agree with cmage. Thanks a lot! :)
... Story and character-wise, this first episode involved mostly only Hei, so I'm looking forward to seeing more of the others.
Based on the OP, I've decided they're hyping the show based on Hei. We see the other characters for about a second each, but there's lots of Hei walking, being angsty, and even being exhausted. I'm wondering if it'll be all about the bad-ass bishounen. :heh:
DangerMouse
2007-04-05, 17:44
I really do love studio Bones, the first episode may not be ultra flashy but talk about smooth and solid with nothing to take you out of the animation, pure Bones (their signature smooth animation character designs no matter whose art they are adapting are still a favorite of mine and here too), the action scene at the beginning was nicely animated I thought as well.
I thought Kanno's music was just as amazing as I expected, though the first episode had less incidental (I think that's the right word?) music than I expected (ie more moments with no music so it might be worth waiting for episode two to really judge the soundtrack) which was perhaps nice since the choices of when to use the music in DTB's first ep reminded me of Bebop, when her music was called for it was typically awesome and rather lengthy hence my Bebop comparison with long sequences of great music. Particularly the first action song which built up nicely for several minutes, which an extended version of the beginning of worked wonderfully as the chase song at the end, and the "town song" that started at the end of the meeting (awesomely Kanno-esque so probably my favorite). The short bit of the dramatic piece at the end was pretty nice too but too short to really judge on it's own without taking the scene into account.
I like Hei but I do hope the other characters will get enough close attention to be very memorable too (the cat needs to be cool too lol, I like how he broke up the chase giving the girl a head start even though they really didn't give anything away with Mao's character yet heh), that's always been one of my favorite features of Bones shows (and the other 3 members besides Hei seem rather interesting too and the police characters seem like good supporting ones) and we've got 26 episodes. Bebop may have been about Spike but the other crew members got their episodes too, same with FMA, Eureka 7 (with the amount of time Renton got early on I was quite pleased how much the other characters got built up later), Wolf's Rain.
It sounds like Hei's sold the show to the female fans already lol.
More caps if you want them, but I don't say anything interesting.
http://www.seiha.org/blog/?p=38
I was kind of overall disappointed. I came out of the first episode more confused than interested. And I'll echo Omni's thoughts that for a Yoko Kanno scored show, the music wasn't anything particularly special. I actually preferred the first segment with the battle between the psychics to following Chiaki running around and 'randomly' running into Hei multiple times. That was just me though.
I think it's well worth watching another few episodes and was well done all around, but I was expecting greatness and my impression from episode one is simply good. *shrug*
Joojoobees
2007-04-05, 17:44
Just checked out the raw and it really is impressive. Visually almost every shot is a treat. I found myself marveling at just the shots of street traffic. The character designs ALL look great. Reaction shots really convey emotion. The BGM sounds great, too, of course, with a variety of moods.
the "town song" that started at the end of the meetingYes! that was excellent!
This is going to be a show to be savored.
dxgarten
2007-04-05, 18:04
Episode 01 screencaps and summary (http://www.designchronicle.com/memento/archives/darkerthanblack_ep01.html)
Well, this seems to be better than the other Spring offerings that I've seen so far. At least I like the premise and the characters. On a glance the series look like a cross between NBC's Heroes and the Sanwara from Jigoku Shoujo. Overall, the first episode was pretty interesting with a lot of mysteries laid out in advance. I just wish the special effect is a lot better though. As far as characters go, Hei and Yin are pretty high in the cool meter.
MrProphet
2007-04-05, 18:11
Excellent first episode. I liked the attention to minutiae even in the most umimportant of scenes.
Despite earlier reports, this series doesn't seem to be episodic yet, since the storyline from episode one would carry over. Still, I liked the deliberate pacing that Darker than Black took and the fact that they are taking their time before revealing all the flashbang they've got in store.
The opening scene was almost completely in the previews, but the rest of the episode was mostly new and quite surprising stuff. I never expected for them to present Hei in this manner.
Looking forward to more quality stuff from BONES.
aardvark
2007-04-05, 18:21
I'm glad to see BONES doing another series in widescreen. I'm hoping they permanently abandon using 4:3 ratios for their shows, they're one of the few studios I can name atm who insist on making all of their shows in this format (Jyu-oh-sei aside...)
Joojoobees
2007-04-05, 18:23
I never expected for them to present Hei in this manner.
Yeah. He seemed almost like the ronin hero of a romantic comedy at times. And then I noticed, his eyes are really creepy.
Srin Tuar
2007-04-05, 18:41
Ep1 worked well.
The episode was mysterious but not confusing.
The art is realistic style, and the fights and chase scenes were eminently believable.
One thing I especially liked was that its not clear who the good guys and bad guys are. Its obvious that Hei is the protagonist, its not clear what his attitude and motives are. But he clearly has style.
Whatever this show is about, sign me up.
Crystal_Method
2007-04-05, 18:46
Very solid first episode. Not much more can you ask for. Both the female lead and the male lead are very interesting characters. My favorite though was the old lady... :heh:
And what a slick move he made on the girl, screw hiding her in the bush, hide her with your face. :D
WanderingKnight
2007-04-05, 18:47
Excellent episode. This is the only series that hooked me instantly--what with BONES doing the animation and Kanno-sama with her hand at the score, I had already set my eyes on it some months ago. But, the first episode caught me completely off guard. Seems like I'd forgotten what real difference does to the animation to have Kanno-sama at the score.
But not only the music, which had Kanno's usual magic, inventive touch about it, was the good thing about it. Direction was very good, and animation, a work of art. I liked the visuals, though I'm not really into bishounen heroes, the rest of the characters had a very appealing design. The female detective was cool, Haraguchi-san was OK, and the evil keyakusha looked badass enough. But what I really wanted is to see more of the blind girl... Shame she was given so little screen time. But, I take this as a teaser--it gives you enough hints and leaves enough suspense to hook you into watching the rest of the episodes.
The opening scene was almost completely in the previews, but the rest of the episode was mostly new and quite surprising stuff. I never expected for them to present Hei in this manner.
I raise my hand here, too. But, I believe his innocent manner when dealing with people is nothing but his facade. I mean, how many times can you bump into the same person coincidentally in the same day?
PS: To see what I really mean by composing geniality, take a few seconds to hear the track played at the preview. A simple track that plays no major role in the series, but it's still so damn good!
Very interesting first episode, i like the ED a lot more than the OP.
Can't make a lot of the story since it's pretty dialogue intensive but it's shaping up to be a pretty good mystery type of anime.
Other than being a fangirl bait, Hei's pretty interesting, like a secret agent... his expression and attitude changes as required :). And yeah, those black pupil-less eye are creepy indeed.
Animation are pretty top notch especially facial expression and motion.
Music, as expected are good (yay yay waiiii waiii Yoko Kanno) for episode 1. Mostly are more towards jazz and blues. Of course, i m her fan, so this is a very biased view :p
White Manju Bun
2007-04-05, 19:03
Pretty good first epi :) Im happy with it. I hope this is subbed fast since I had absolutly no idea what was going XD
Must resist fangirling over guys who wear black XD One thing tho...
WHY CANT MY NARU SMILE LIKE THAT :(
http://i6.photobucket.com/albums/y202/YamiKakyuu/snapshot20070405195251.jpg
~grumbles~
Shinji103
2007-04-05, 19:47
Huh, I expected Yin to be used as fanbaait in episode 1, or at least appear mre often, but it looks like she's just background fodder for this episode.
I just watched the first episode -- and yes, that was an amazing watch. Sure its only one episode, though already i can tell Yoko Kanno has done another epic musical score. At first i didn't think she could write music that would fit something like Darker Than Black, though its Yoko, and i knew it could be done.
I'll be rewatching this a few times until the second episode next week, very happy with it.
WOW, nice new anime. After watching episode 1, I'm totally looking forward to this anime. Hei (I think that's the main hero's name) reminds me alot of L from Death Note with those eyes of his!
DangerMouse
2007-04-05, 21:14
Huh, I expected Yin to be used as fanbaait in episode 1, or at least appear mre often, but it looks like she's just background fodder for this episode.
Yeah I thought so too, hopefully the second episode will properly introduce us to the others and maybe give them some good screen time next week anyway :) If that's the case I won't mind that we got a Hei-based episode introducing what they are up to, the setting and the police characters as it seemed quite interesting and Hei is very cool and rather sly and dangerous. Now...if only there were some subs so I could actually understand it LOL.
Despite earlier reports, this series doesn't seem to be episodic yet, since the storyline from episode one would carry over. Still, I liked the deliberate pacing that Darker than Black took and the fact that they are taking their time before revealing all the flashbang they've got in store.
It's a bi-episodic structure. Notice the episode's title has a "前編" in it. Coincidentially the second episode has a "後編". It isn't really a spoiler to say that this current story with Chiaki gets wrapped up by episode 2.
Huh, I expected Yin to be used as fanbaait in episode 1, or at least appear mre often, but it looks like she's just background fodder for this episode.
Kirihara Misaki already drawn in plenty of megane obsessed guys :heh:
She would fit in very well in a classroom with her looks :p
erm...
the beginning of ep 01 reminded me a lot of the beginning of ep 01 of Witch Hunter Robin. that's not a bad thing, but it was set up in a similar manner. our protagonist is even presented in that "is he or isn't he" manner. i love anti-heroes and i think Hei is definitely going to be an anti-hero. unless they are just trying to make him badass and super macho (like the new bond movie's opening). i hope he's more anit-hero than he seems here. but he can't be a traditional hero when he's already been shown being so brutal in his first seen.
it's quite interesting to show him being so innocent and normal during the rest of the episode. his demeanor during the first scene behind the mask reminded me of V, another anti-hero. i'll assume the title DTB refers to our protagonists heart, soul, etc., since he is so cold.
interesting choice for an ED. no cuts. one slow-moving tilting shot. i don't want to be a big complainer, but this show gets a 4/10 for OP/ED. it doesn't mean much since Monster had a less than stellar OP, and it's one of the greatest shows ever maid. oh well, just my minor complaint. and honestly, after the first ep i usually don't look at OP/ED's anymore unless i think they have spoilers. and even then...
i am hooked though. i will be with this show all the way through unless they make some kind of colossal blunder and it turns to crap. but a Yoko Kanno OST means i will probably watch even then.
i also have to say how much i love the fact that the cat is named Mao because i have a friend who named her cat Chairman Meow.
Joojoobees
2007-04-05, 22:41
Kirihara Misaki already drawn in plenty of megane obsessed guys :heh:
I resemble that remark! :uhoh:
Great, even if far from impressive, first episode. Even if nothing really stood out it was well done and accomplishes it's objective of getting you interested in keep watching it. Not really Tensai's best work at the director's seat but thoroughly entertaining and interesting. The animation itself wasn't anything special and merely above average, somewhat disappointing taking into account that we're talking from a high-profile product by the Studio that brought us Eureka Seven, Wolf's Rain and RahXephon. Kanno's OST was good, not really something I'll listen by itself but it fitted the show and managed to keep the mood excellently. I'll wait for the subtitled version for commenting on the plot itself.
DangerMouse
2007-04-05, 22:41
It's a bi-episodic structure. Notice the episode's title has a "前編" in it. Coincidentially the second episode has a "後編". It isn't really a spoiler to say that this current story with Chiaki gets wrapped up by episode 2.
i also have to say how much i love the fact that the cat is named Mao because i have a friend who named her cat Chairman Meow.
Yeah, thanks for that important piece of information back before the show aired, I like the choice, the early storylines should be quite intriguing since they will each get two episodes to develop, I hope they take advantage of it :)
Having a cat like this is awesome and I love the profile of Mao, I hope he's impressive to back up the too cool wireless human brain intelligent cat concept. :) Perhaps like the knowledgeable action-ready smart cat in Bleach (I've only seen it on CN so I dunno if something later changes that description lol) or something like that.
i'm not sure if i didn't catch or if it wasn't said, but what is the name of the girl with white hair from the ED?
That's Yin. Her name means "Silver". Following the colour code, our main character Hei's name means "Black", Huang's name means "Yellow" and that mysterious C.C.-ripoff girl with green hair in the OP is "Amber".
ahh, thanks wao. i already looked it up on the wiki but you told me more than wiki did.
The first episode was violent and nicely paced. I like the OP better than the ED song.
Poor Chiaki is getting set up by Hei and company. Moral of this is not to trust a guy who you meet after you see him fall off a bridge onto a railroad track with a train coming. :heh:
She's just too trusting imo.
So they don't have free reign with using their powers? They have a contract to keep. I wonder with who?
I resemble that remark! :uhoh:
Don't worry, 90% of the men likes women with glasses and i m among those 90% as well :p
Plus, Misaki is the finer specimen of the meganeko. Reminds me of the OLs i see in cafe during lunch hour.
Yin is for the ponytail lolicons :heh:
The first episode was violent and nicely paced. I like the OP better than the ED song.
Poor Chiaki is getting set up by Hei and company. Moral of this is not to trust a guy who you meet after you see him fall off a bridge onto a railroad track with a train coming. :heh:
She's just too trusting imo.
So they don't have free reign with using their powers? They have a contract to keep. I wonder with who?
i'm telling you it's just like witch hunter robin. the same limit on their own powers existed in that series as well. and in WHR they turned on their bosses when they found out they were being used.
pony tail loliconism is not bad as long as it stays within anime. lol
DangerMouse
2007-04-05, 23:10
I doubt I'm the only one who thinks Yin is nice eye candy until we get to her story so I guess I'm in that boat lol.
Misaki has a really cool and distinctive hair style.
i'm telling you it's just like witch hunter robin. the same limit on their own powers existed in that series as well. and in WHR they turned on their bosses when they found out they were being used.
pony tail loliconism is not bad as long as it stays within anime. lol
I'm hoping that the contract grantor is a neutral entity so that a moral debate ensues since we have "dolls" in this title. These guys prob already know that they re being used. They are contract killers after all. So, it's basically what's in it for them?
I want to see Amber in action. :)
DangerMouse
2007-04-05, 23:40
I want to see Amber in action. :)
I'm looking forwards to that.
WanderingKnight
2007-04-06, 00:06
Yeah, well, this was bothering me since the 5 minute ad, but...
Why is Jan's way of "replenishing his power", or whatever, lining up stones?! And if Louie's way of replenishing his power was to break his fingers... then that would've been the first time he used his power...
I hope it gets cleared up in the coming episodes (well, it certainly will).
It seems like according to some of the people who went for the real-life preview screening, the producer said that Hei's contract has something to do with astronomical observations. Once again it seems like there's something to do with the stars and such.
Also, apparently Dolls like Yin don't have to make a contract for their powers. But I guess there must be something else they're losing.
Anyway, for anyone who would like to read another short interview with the director that was originally here (http://www.presepe.jp/m44/sp/id/fqfANnHR_UY%253D), here is a loose translation:
Very loosely translated from ttp://www.presepe.jp/m44/sp/id/fqfANnHR_UY%253D
Slightly interesting bit from the blurb before the actual comments:
"Hei encounters many kinds of people in the story. A female researcher running away from her life, a blind girl, and a middle-aged man who believes only in money after having lost his ability to love. While each of them embraces the darkness in their own hearts, they are nonetheless struggling, and living. Through dealing with all these people, gradually a change starts taking place in Hei as he develops feelings of sympathy for his targets, feelings of guilt, and feelings of distrust towards The Organisation.
Eventually the bonds between Hei and the people around him slowly firm up, forming a loose pseudo-family around him."
Interview with director Tensai Okamura
Accessed April 01 2007
--The title "DARKER THAN BLACK -Kuro no Keiyakusha-", when translated directly means "darker than black" (nb: they're talking about the English), but could you tell us why you decided to give it this title?
Okamura: It somehow ended up that the "Kuro no Keiyakusha" part would be included somehow or another. I actually wanted to have the title to be (Hei's) codename "BK201", but I got told "it's too weak as a title" and so it instead ended up having "DARKER THAN BLACK" which was the idea of Takeda-san from MBS*.
I actually said that "I don't really like having English text and a colour nobody really understands" but the moment I came out with this it turned into "Oh, this is good", so (laughs). I can agree with it (laughs).
*Seiji Takeda, executive producer at MBS (Mainichi Broadcasting Station), behind many MBS anime including SEED, Code Geass, Blood+, FMA, Ayakashi Ayashi etc.
--How did "Darker than Black" come about?
Okamura: I kind of wanted to do a story with modern Tokyo as the setting at least once, and I also thought about doing something with spies in it so this story got created.
More than, say, 007 and Hollywood blockbuster-esque spy battles, I did have this thing about wanting to do realistic spy battles.
--The main character is a spy but his outside appearance is that of a Chinese university student?
Okamura: Rather than a spy, he's more of an assassin. Even as a student the bit about him being Chinese is just an official title, but what nationality or race he really is is a mystery.
As for Hei as a person, I wanted it so that his exterior face is that of a nice young man of good character, someone with that unpolished/rugged feel. The story might be containing many stories where he tricks certain people who've got a secret and are trying to escape with it, and extorts information from these people.
In the process, however, he manages to interact with these people he's cheating and starts wavering with the thought of "Does this guy really deserve to be killed".
--Please tell us about this character "Yin". What relation does she have to Hei?
Okamura: The details of exactly what changes Yin might go through, I'm afraid, can't be released yet. Right now she's a character with no personality, but the stories about her will probably be about how she somehow or another manages to start returning to being human.
--About Iwahara Yuji-san who's doing his first job as original character designer for an anime here, tell us about the charm of his characters.
Okamura: Previously he had drawn this manga for a game called Koudelka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koudelka) (nb: Iwahara did the designs for the original game too), and when I read it for the first time I was left with the impression that this person's drawings are pretty interesting. It's like manga, but the characters can be animated realistically and I thought they were extremely suited as characters for an anime, so I thought someday I'd like to work with him.
--Please tell us your intentions behind making this have a bi-episodic structure.
Okamura: Please think of it as a 1-hour drama spread over two episodes. If you're forced to finish one story in 30 minutes the episode finishes before you're really able to delve into the character, so I made it into a bi-episodic structure. There's hilarious stories and detective tales and so on, so each episode can end up being about completely different things.
--Tell us about Kanno Yoko-san who's in charge of the music.
Okamura: I actually had requested something like folk music from the 70s, but she produced was quite like fusion music. It was pretty awesome how while weaving in romantic tunes and more hard beats with more muddled sort of stuff she managed to really expand the worldview of this anime. I think she brought out this sense of something like "darkness with an element of transparency" really well this time around.
--It appears a lot of time was spent going location-hunting since Tokyo is the backdrop for the anime, so what sort of places did you visit?
Okamura: We ended up in all sorts of places. Episode 1 and 2 spans from Shinjuku (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shinjuku) to Ookubo (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%A4%A7%E4%B9%85%E4%BF%9D_%28%E6%9D%B1%E4%BA%AC% E9%83%BD%29) (nb: which is in Shinjuku?). Although we needed a bit of courage to photograph the police station (laughs).
--Please tell us what detective shows or films you were influenced by.
Okamura: The movie I've been most interested in recently (?) would have to be Munich (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Munich_%28film%29)*. With regards to "Darker than Black" though, I was influenced by stories from way back to around the 70s, stories of wild youths such as in Kizudarake no Tenshi (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E5%82%B7%E3%81%A0%E3%82%89%E3%81%91%E3%81%AE%E5%A 4%A9%E4%BD%BF)** and Kogarashi Monjirou (http://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%9C%A8%E6%9E%AF%E3%81%97%E7%B4%8B%E6%AC%A1%E9%8 3%8E)***.
*By Steven Spielberg. Only released in Japan on the 4th of February.
**A late-night Japanese TV drama that aired from 1974 to 1975 on NTV. It follows the life of Osamu Kogure and Akira Inui as they rebelled against authorities or solved problems and so on, with a sort of theme each episode.
***Originally a novel by Saho Sasazawa that was adapetd into an action-oriented film in 1972 as well as a TV drama in the same year. It's about Monjirou who roams around after leaving his family at the age of 10.
--Any final message you may have?
Okamura: I think you'll be able to see pretty big-boned* drama unfold here, which is something you don't see very much recently. Also, there's the appealingly evil part of the double-faced Hei as well as the side of him that is worried about it - if you could see it while feeling a bit of empathy for Hei then I would be most pleased!
*He literally says "骨の太い". I don't know whether this euphemism is intended to be translated directly.
As for the other two peoples' powers, I really dunno. I think they're supposed to be bizarre. I guess the problem with the stone-lining thing is that it's very painstaking and can really be very irritating to some people. According to a previous interview I translated here (http://forums.animesuki.com/showpost.php?p=873465&postcount=125), there's apparently going to be one where they have to eat dandelions or something :p If I understood correctly, anyway.
I feel awfully sorry for the guy who had to break his fingers....
nothing in the first episode completely blew me away, but it was definitely a solid effort, and gave me that witch hunter robin vibe that had me tentatively excited for that series. i see definite potential here in the delivery of a rewarding storyline, and mao is too cool.
in particular, the contrast between the two sides of hei shows a lot of promise, and even within his foreign exchange student personality, contradiction was used to great effect (both dramatic and humorous): kissing haraguchi/chiaki against that tree to provide cover, then being embarrassed about it, then shaking off getting knocked into a moving train in order to come to the rescue again...he's indefatigable!
I feel awfully sorry for the guy who had to break his fingers....
seriously!! that's one of the most painful bones to break due to all the nerve ending in your fingers!! i imagine if this is popular, gintama will parody it and gintoki will either have to drink strawberry milk or organize his jump collection to recharge....(sorry, just watched the funniest gintama ever so i have silver soul on the brain!)
and did we actually see Hei hit the train? didn't he just go over the bridge? he probably used that nifty hook wire that he had in the first scene and hung from the bridge a la bruce wayne.
EDIT:
@wao: you should be getting paid to do all that translating! seriously! that interview is highly appreciated!
nothing in the first episode completely blew me away, but it was definitely a solid effort, and gave me that witch hunter robin vibe that had me tentatively excited for that series. i see definite potential here in the delivery of a rewarding storyline, and mao is too cool.
in particular, the contrast between the two sides of hei shows a lot of promise, and even within his foreign exchange student personality, contradiction was used to great effect (both dramatic and humorous): kissing haraguchi/chiaki against that tree to provide cover, then being embarrassed about it, then shaking off getting knocked into a moving train in order to come to the rescue again...he's indefatigable!
I am sooooooo watching this show if only for Hei, and after watching the most recent trailer, Mao.
*mutters at certain conditions at the present moment that disallow the watching of DtB* I want to hear more of Hei's voice and disintegrate into silly goop in front of the computer while I can! Curses.
I am sooooooo watching this show if only for Hei, and after watching the most recent trailer, Mao.
*mutters at certain conditions at the present moment that disallow the watching of DtB* I want to hear more of Hei's voice and disintegrate into silly goop in front of the computer while I can! Curses.
if the opening is any indication, this series is going to be heitastic. good news for fangirls! i can only hope that the actual characterization and plot development live up to their potential.
Hahaha, I just watched the first episode and you're quite right. Heitastic it was! He's exactly liek what the seiyuu were describing him as - the type who could make girls go a little silly for him and then he ends up being so mean that it pains us. Man, it was so cool seeing him go all crafty and evil-looking after being so overwhelmingly zomgwtf with Chiaki after the telescope thing. And he's so nice and kind looking and totally the sweet transfer student in front of Misuzu, but when it comes to serious business he's so evil even Mao has to tell him to stop.
As you can see I am getting a major kick out of this. Waha! And I actually like Yin too despite her not getting much play. There's something about that way she looks that is really attractive. That seemingly pensive look and somewhat lonely kind of way she sits.
Count me pleasantly surprised anyway, once I figured from the promo materials that this wasn't going to be all-out stylo-milo coolness ala Bebop, I was ready for a very subdued episode but this episode made me happy aside from that too. I do like how despite the setting and all it doesn't try hard to be uber-cool, and I really love the "normal" parts - things like Yutaka's glib talking with Chiaki in that bar, and most of all when Hei was walking to his apartment. It felt so realistically suburban-like! And his landlady is very amusing, I didn't think she was annoying. Speaking of annoying, even Chiaki herself was a lot less annoying than I had expected her to be.
Anyway, it remains to be seen whether Bones can continue with this level of effort but I'm going to keep watching for now. Even if it's only for Hei! Sheesh, I am so weak, but who cares. :p
EDIT: Forgot to mention, I liked Kanno's score for this. It wasn't too flashy but it had the right amoutn of coolness and eerieness to make it interesting. And yet we all know there's going to be some awesome stuff to follow - remember that bit from the trailer? Tattara~ tattara~ *whistles*
Last thing - I quite liked the acoustics for this show. Not on the level of Noein perhaps, but I like how they kept it such that the voices and such don't feel detached from the surrounding noises.
Hmm this looks very appealing to me. This i'll surely watch ( hopefully with good subs too )
Deacon Blues
2007-04-06, 13:25
Eh, for those that are interested, I'm starting screenshot pages for the series. Most of the episodes should have 175 screencaps to a page. I'll probably write up a summary as time goes on if I get to it, but for now this is how it'll be.
Episode.01 Screenshots (http://d-black.zeonic-republic.net/episode01.html)
DangerMouse
2007-04-06, 15:36
--Please tell us about this character "Yin". What relation does she have to Hei? [/B]
Okamura: The details of exactly what changes Yin might go through, I'm afraid, can't be released yet. Right now she's a character with no personality, but the stories about her will probably be about how she somehow or another manages to start returning to being human.
--About Iwahara Yuji-san who's doing his first job as original character designer for an anime here, tell us about the charm of his characters.
Okamura: Previously he had drawn this manga for a game called Koudelka (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koudelka) (nb: Iwahara did the designs for the original game too), and when I read it for the first time I was left with the impression that this person's drawings are pretty interesting. It's like manga, but the characters can be animated realistically and I thought they were extremely suited as characters for an anime, so I thought someday I'd like to work with him.
--Please tell us your intentions behind making this have a bi-episodic structure.
Okamura: Please think of it as a 1-hour drama spread over two episodes. If you're forced to finish one story in 30 minutes the episode finishes before you're really able to delve into the character, so I made it into a bi-episodic structure. There's hilarious stories and detective tales and so on, so each episode can end up being about completely different things.
Thank you for the interview.
Ooh, the Yin stuff and how secretive he wants to be about her definitely peaked my interest even more about her. Even without much screen time at all I was already drawn in by her. I love the various colors they've chosen for her design.
Cool, no wonder i like the designs, I didn't realize Iwahara Yuji had worked on Koudelka, I loved everything about that game, especially the art, except the horrible battle system. I agree, they are really well suited designs and adapt really well to Bones' animation.
I am really glad to hear the approach Okamura is taking with the bi-episodic structure, it sounds like he really means to take advantage of it's benefits. I'm glad there will be some hilarious stories spread into this as I'd love to see what these serious characters can do with it. And detective tales should be great given this cast of characters so that should be addictive too.
Haha, I just found scans of the Newtype early-release scans (it should only go on sale on the 10th but today's the 7th) It's nearly 5 am and I haven't slept though so I'll upload them later, but it's full of new information!! There's stuff about upcoming characters, and another interview I think, etc. Haven't even read through everything X)
I might have to buy the actual Newtype for one of the scans though, can't read the text quite well. Have to wait ill the 10th for that though.
zzzz
odm and shinsensubs subbing tis anime if anyone wanted to know :)
WanderingKnight
2007-04-06, 20:30
Yay! Shinsen-subs! *starts dancing frantically*
DangerMouse
2007-04-06, 23:02
Nice, glad to hear it!
Forgive me if i simply missed it somewhere in this thread, but is there a release date for the soundtrack in the US or elsewhere?
Thanx.
They haven't even announced a date for the Japanese release of the soundtrack, so be a bit patient...
/me continues to pore over the scans
is there another show with people flying up in the air like this? when i was watching it those parts looked so eerily familiar...
aardvark
2007-04-07, 02:10
is there another show with people flying up in the air like this? when i was watching it those parts looked so eerily familiar...
Phantom Memory Kurau from Bones had plenty of it.
hmmm.... i wonder if i've seen some of that before.... probably in clips of that stuff somewhere....
It does feel in similar territory to Kurau in more ways than just the flying bits. Unless that's just me? Anyway I enjoyed it a lot. It was slick and accomplished and feels effortlessly cool, if unspectacular. Maybe it's the kind of show I'd prefer to marathon, as one episode didn't really satisfy my interest - it seemed to zip by leaving me wanting more and few questions got answered. I guess that's the mark of good entertainment.:p
I like Hei, in both flavours, his nerdy stargazing alter ego is a bit of a surprise. Rin is enigmatic, need more of her I think. Mao is the best cat since...that talking one in the Mars Daybreak. Kirihara is hotness (I have a thing for prim onee-san types it seems). I'm looking forward to seeing Amber, I guess that's her lips in the OP? Speaking of which, the OP is spot on, does the job for me more so than I'd thought and Kanno's music is both cool and esoteric - a joy as always. Will get that soundtrack without fail. I have most of hers. The wonderfully varied and mystical Earth Girl Arjuna's being my favourite.
The Darker than BLACK preview has been subbed (http://bt.shinsen-subs.org/%5BShinsen-Subs%5D_Darker_than_Black_-_Preview_%5BD2955257%5D.avi.torrent).
DangerMouse
2007-04-07, 15:30
Thanks for the news, downloading it now, looking forwards to when they release the first episode.
glad to know an experienced group has picked this up!
Iggy_Pop
2007-04-07, 18:44
Excuse me, but is Darker than Black going to have 13 or 26 episodes?
It should be 25 episodes IIRC
From the 14 second promo nothing much can be said but I must say the visuals in that promo look really awesome. Darker than Black with a title so intriguing need I say more on reasons to watch the show : D . I might be wrong but I think number of episodes is 13 . The Op and Ed are
Opening Theme : HOWLING by Abingdon boys School
Ending Theme : Tsukiakari by Rie fu
No, the number of eps is 2 seasons (anywhere from 24-26 eps). Code Geass's second season is having a gap of 2 seasons from the first so DtB is going to be that long too. I keep seeing 2 seasons in a lot of places too... unless I'm highly mistaken.
WanderingKnight
2007-04-07, 20:41
I keep seeing 2 seasons in a lot of places too... unless I'm highly mistaken.
Yeah, luckily it seems most studios went back to the sane tradition of releasing 24-26 episode series instead of the dreaded 13 episode series that were popping up like hell in the last few seasons.
Code Geass's second season is having a gap of 2 seasons from the first so DtB is going to be that long too
Can i assume that means they ll be airing both season back to back?
Deacon Blues
2007-04-07, 20:44
glad to know an experienced group has picked this up!
This is neither the time nor the place to bring something like this up. I don't think people want a flame war over the quality of this said groups subbing style.
No, the number of eps is 2 seasons (anywhere from 24-26 eps). Code Geass's second season is having a gap of 2 seasons from the first so DtB is going to be that long too. I keep seeing 2 seasons in a lot of places too... unless I'm highly mistaken.
Yeah clamp is very well known to do that not for Code Geass alone but XXHOLiC Tsubasa Chronicle and so on . As you said Darker than Black may follow the same trend release 13 ep in 1st season than the 13 more in season 2 . According to ANN there are 13 for this season
2007-04-05 01. The Star of Contract Flowed... (1st Volume)
契約の星は流れた…(前編)
2007-04-12 02. The Star of Contract Flowed... (2nd Volume)
契約の星は流れた…(後編)
2007-04-19 03. A New Star Shines in the Sky of Dawn... (1st Volume)
新星は東雲の空に煌く…(前編)
2007-04-26 04. A New Star Shines in the Sky of Dawn... (2nd Volume)
新星は東雲の空に煌く…(後編)
2007-05-03 05.
2007-05-10 06.
2007-05-17 07.
2007-05-24 08.
2007-05-31 09.
2007-06-07 10.
2007-06-14 11.
2007-06-21 12.
2007-06-28 13.
OK, first thing.
CLAMP has nothign, if little, to do with the episode count and airing structure of adaptations of its manga (and even less so for a show where they only did the original character designs).
It. Is. Not. About. Clamp.
I'm sorry if I got overly annoyed at it, I don't hate you, but if anything it's a pet peeve when people start saying it's CLAMP's decision about this and that in Code Geass totally unrelated to character design... Aaargh.
There is no official statement, afaik, that says it's 13 or 26 episodes. However, considering Code Geass part 2 is starting only in Fall (and not Summer), and there has been no word of a Summer show for this timeslot...
Correct me if I'm wrong but normally for a show in this timeslot/channel they'd announce a show at least one season ahead, and if DtB is only 13 episodes and CG in Fall, there should be another show in Summer - and there's been no word of such a thing at all, hence I conclude it's 2 seasons long.
WanderingKnight
2007-04-07, 21:25
However, considering Code Geass part 2 is starting only in Fall (and not Summer)
Are you sure? Didn't they state that the last 2 episodes from season 1 would air in Summer?
Yes, but define summer. It can refer to August even :(
Last two episodes != next season.
Even that itself was unscheduled; by the time they had decided to put in those recap eps that were purportedly for the benefit of viewers who had requested them, I figure they had already slated DtB to start at that certain time and could not change it.
So I wouldn't be surprised if the two episodes got aired at some separate time or something-or-the-other. I just hope they don't eat into DtB's time.
Actually I do agree with you on there being two season for Darker than Black
CLAMP has nothign, if little, to do with the episode count and airing structure of adaptations of its manga (and even less so for a show where they only did the original character designs).
It. Is. Not. About. Clamp.
I'm sorry if I got overly annoyed at it, I don't hate you, but if anything it's a pet peeve when people start saying it's CLAMP's decision about this and that in Code Geass totally unrelated to character design... Aaargh..
Clamp was an arbitrary example in conjunction with there being 2 seasons. Nothing to do with Code Geass or Darker than Black for that matter. But I do have to disagree with you on Code Geass not being stamped by Clamp. Just for starters the character design of Leouch and Suzaku has clamp written on it . Elongated bodies i.e. like stick figures / proportions are wrong. The same art style was used in XXXHOLiC chracters
After reading the Rant , Clamp Fanboy got scared ): ^__^
DangerMouse
2007-04-07, 22:11
Also, if they are doing most of the show in 2-parters, I'm going to go out on a limb and say it's either 24 or 26, a nice round figure. It also feels like a 24-26 episode series judging from the premise of the show.
Juu Oh Sei and The Skullman also seem to be odd-shows-out when it comes to Bones' catalog. They have mostly been 24/26 or their recent longer series.
It also seems to be a big project for the studio, so I don't think it's going to be short.
ScreenCaps and Summary of Episode 1 here (http://www.designchronicle.com/memento/archives/darkerthanblack_ep01.html)
DangerMouse
2007-04-07, 22:27
But I do have to disagree with you on Code Geass not being stamped by Clamp. Just for starters the character design of Leouch and Suzaku has clamp written on it . Elongated bodies i.e. like stick figures / proportions are wrong. The same art style was used in XXXHOLiC chracters
I don't want to get involved in this but I read it as the point she was trying to make was the one thing you mention, the original (non-animation, but the ones adapted for animation by someone else) character designs, is actually the ONLY thing clamp has their fingers on in the Code Geass project. Hence they probably have little influence over the actual production anymore since they have no involvement in the story construction or animation production/directorial work unlike in the other shows actually based on their personal properties. ^^;
DangerMouse
2007-04-07, 22:45
ScreenCaps and Summary of Episode 1 here (http://www.designchronicle.com/memento/archives/darkerthanblack_ep01.html)
Nice long write up, thanks :) I'm looking forwards to the subs so I can fully take it in.
Destinyblade
2007-04-08, 00:05
I wonder why Animesuki on Darker Than BLACK's torrent page has it as a 13-episode series. As far as I know, there isn't even a confirmation of how many episodes this show has.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to this. Episode 1 looked interesting, so I'll be watching more episodes to see how this turns out at the start.
Scans, dudes. A bit late. Nicked off 2ch.
Animage May (I like this spread; this month's issue has a Dennou Coil spread as well which the scan I found was not too good of, so I'm going to buy Animage!)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0765/animagemay_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0765/animagemay.jpg)
Newtype May - they had a special feature on DtB with all the designs and stuff
http://s01.imagehost.org/0765/newtypemay_00_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0765/newtypemay_00.jpg)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0765/newtypemay_01_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0765/newtypemay_01.jpg)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0765/newtypemay_02_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0765/newtypemay_02.jpg)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0765/newtypemay_03_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0765/newtypemay_03.jpg)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0765/newtypemay_04_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0765/newtypemay_04.jpg)
http://s01.imagehost.org/0765/newtypemay_05_jpg.t.jpg (http://s01.imagehost.org/view.php?image=/0765/newtypemay_05.jpg)
As you can see they even include info of upcoming characters Bond girls Hei girls for upcoming episodes, and other... info and Stuff.
A translation is forthcoming, so hold on.
Wow really nice pics Wao -saves them- : D
DangerMouse
2007-04-08, 01:36
I wonder why Animesuki on Darker Than BLACK's torrent page has it as a 13-episode series. As far as I know, there isn't even a confirmation of how many episodes this show has.
Anyways, I'm looking forward to this. Episode 1 looked interesting, so I'll be watching more episodes to see how this turns out at the start.
Currently I'm not sure if there has been official word on length, so I think Animesuki's count is unreliable, whoever last updated the Wiki has it listed as 26 but anyone can update a Wiki so that's also unreliable.
Just going by my subjective feel I think the large amount of work (look at the rather large cast of characters in the upper non-guest characters b&w sketch character cast photo in wao's recent mag spreads, obviously they won't all get a lot of attention but there are about 14 reoccurring characters) and the pacing as well as the director's intention for the majority of the show to be told in 2-parters my subjective mind is expecting 24 or 26 episodes, anything shorter would be short changing this show's potential I think. While there are exceptions to the way 13-ep series are told, to me the first episode and it's rather non-confined world-view feels like that of a longer show that can take it's time and really build something nice. But I guess we'll see, episode 2 will also help develop a larger feel for the show.
Personally I definitely feel this show is a big enough set piece and large enough cast of interesting characters who need screen time to go 26 so I hope it does.
And the pace doesn't seem to be set up for anything to be finished in 13 episodes. It's a bi-episodic structure - you'd only be able to tell 6 stories in 13 episodes and leave what, one episode for a "finale" of sorts. But given 26 eps you can make 75% of it bi-episodic or so and then leave a few to deal with the "main" story - Hei's backstory, Amber, the riddle of the Gate and Contractors and how it all unravels.
Coincidentially though, the height comparison chart of the main characters from one of those scans seems to show a lot of people but actually we've seen pretty much all of them in ep 1. Most of them are Misaki and her coworkers. The old guy next to Misuzu and the african looking dude appeared as well (ooh, so he's a recurring character? Interesting).
The only one I haven't seen is that bizarre hag sort of person in the corner...
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