Darker Than Black 2nd Season - Episode 03 Discussion / Poll

[Joe_fh]

I haven't watched the episode yet but on the topic of the school kids - I think they are really important characters. I must say that I never watched DtB with expectation about couples and what some see as Hei's "harem". - watch it for the awesome story and characters. And here come the school kids. Their goal was to be in contrast with everything we're used to seing in DtB. Also they were there to provide background info about Suou and to make us feel her emotiones when she losses everything when she was leading such a paceful life just a day ago. You have to admit that was pretty well done and you can even seen that contrast of the past and present very well in the OP (that's one of the reasons I also think the OP is very good)
I guess we all agree on their initial purpose. (or most of us)

"They outserved their usefulness when Suou awoke her powers"that might be true to some extent. Actually Suou isn't a genuine contractor( I think) so she still has her emotions. And if all her friends are dead what is there to be emotional about. Yes sure there are thing but not with such a huge impact on her,except her brother but thats another story. Here we have a conflict that will probably develop between Tanya and Suou. I haven't watched it yet so I have no idea what happened between them in this episode, but I think that the reason they keep these characters alive is to keep that contrast alive throughout the series and to have more drama and inner conflicts as "how can I kill one of my best friends even IF she's a contractor".

If DtB is what the first season was they'll probably die but if they die later that might have more emotional impact on the viewers. Besides you can't say they are normal school kids since they've been dragged in the world of contractors - in other words a living hell compared to their previous life.

[arkxkra]

I thought Suo power is similar to Hei, which need not to make any payment. Finally awake, with a sniper? And now Hei no more power, i wonder how will he gain back his power.
I was shock that Mao still alive @.@".
wow, thought Yin is dead, but from Hei that hatred, is Yin betray?

[cjl]

Could Suou's power be stopping/absorbing another contractor's ability? Because Hei had his powers in episodes 1 and 2, then we see something flowing from Hei into Suou when they're both in that machine/force field thing.

Also, since Yin is a doll, could she have been captured and re-programmed? Causing Hei to want to kill her, since she won't be Yin anymore?

[orion]

Originally Posted by neshru

So this girl is gonna awake, and for whatever reason it looks like a big, big deal, and what happens? She summons a big ass sniper rifle from her necklace. Seriously, could that scene have been any more random? It was plain ridiculous.

I liked new Utena reference. The ED is channeling Utena imo.

[Tokkan]

Originally Posted by arkxkra

I thought Suo power is similar to Hei, which need not to make any payment.

She states that contractors need to pay their remuneration when they use their powers as she was folding a crane, fairly certain she's making payments like any other.

[forgottendiary]

Is this becoming a magical girl show? There's even twins with huge curly hair involved.

Ah well, at least I still got some Yin.

And Hei, thank you for at least tying up your hair.

[Kaoru Chujo]

Originally Posted by monir

...Are we still talking DtB and not just a typical harem series?

DtB is still DtB. It's we who are stuck in harem-series mode. Not that the producers didn't know exactly what they were doing, in terms of sales and interest. They know their audience. The nakedness of both Suou and Hei was true fanservice: just a dusting of something to excite the fans. Along with oozing blood and explosions.

But it also fit the story well, emphasizing Suou's perfect vulnerability, which in turn helps push her to the psychological extreme needed for her power to come forth. "All contractors should just die." Does that include her and her brother?

I want to mention again how amazing I think Hanazawa Kana is here. This is as far from her norm in one direction as Potemayo was in another. And as Zange was in yet another.

I'm pretty sure that Suou's pendant holds a shard of a meteor, and that connects her more directly with whatever led to the Earth's whole change, so she gets the power to materialize things through the pendant, such as the rifle, the form of which was in her mind from Nika's shack. Not random. The pendant was also what sucked energy from/to the confining sphere around Hei, I think.

I was extremely happy to have the students, at least for a while. This is connecting us to the story, rather than it just being a distant shoot-em-up full of unreal heroes. This is my preference, anyway.

The twins are not from a magical girl show, but from old fairy tales, for me. The chilling strangeness of powerful duplicates.

[V4sH]

yay mao is alive, and that means the squirrel now has plot armor! (although that means nothing in this series...)
And about Yin, Im not sure what to think so many possibilites. at least now there is a chance she isnt dead, and it seems she will become a major plot point through the course of this series

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Zaseka

Because they are annoying fillers who make this anime too school-cliche-herem-ish, for me at least. They outserved their usefulness when Suou awoke her powers.

So, another one of those "all normal characters suck and should just die" people. Great.

P.S., I don't see how Nika, or any of the school characters, is annoying. (Tannya doesn't count; she's a bad guy, and few bad guys are liked) And I think you would be hard-pressed to find comparisons between DtB S2 and "school-cliche-herem" stories. The only thing you have to draw a parallel with is the age of some of the characters.

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by ac195

Wow, that last back and forth between Mao and Hei... just... wow...

Spoiler:

Like people have been saying, Hei's last lines could mean two things:
1) Yin is alive and there was some epic betrayal and he wants to kill her.
2) Yin is dead. And the person that killed her is out there somewhere and Hei wants to kill her.

Oh the suspense. It really looks like it's gonna be a DtB season.

Sorry for double post, but to clear it up, Hei is definitely saying

Spoiler:

He's out to kill Yin. In Japanese, he's refering to Yin as "that woman."

It's hard to translate this full meaning into english, so subs won't make much of a difference in the understanding I'm afraid, but the term meanings and usage in Japanese make it clear.

[davie]

Was a horrid way for that Nika kid to die. What kind of bugs do Tanya control?

The music during the train scene was pretty beastly. Episode was well done, can't wait for next week. Hope Hei gets his power back!

[orion]

I'm now more suspicious of Suou. When Suou awakened, the twin contractors started spouting stuff about this being the beginning of the end.

Could this be another plot to wipe out the Contractors?

It seems like things so far have been done to bring Suou's abilities out.

Dad taught her how to hunt down to the aiming instructions.
July parrots the instructions at the train station to take out Contractors.
Shion is conveniently near the Gate in Tokyo.
Nika got killed in front of her sparking her Contractor hatred.

Suou in contractor-mode is slightly more robotic though she did pause when trying to take out Tanya and started to cry.

But a good point was brought up by Tanya. Shion was never shown talking to someone outside of Suou's dad or Suou. So we don't have a third party verification that he truly exists.

[Strange]

Originally Posted by davie

Was a horrid way for that Nika kid to die. What kind of bugs do Tanya control?

The music during the train scene was pretty beastly. Episode was well done, can't wait for next week. Hope Hei gets his power back!

Looked like any random bugs, although at the end it seems like a swarm of roaches.

Finally watched the sub! Here's what I took away from it:

--Hei's lost his powers. You have three instances where this is shown--first, when he hooks his rope around the soldier's throat, and there's a brief moment when nothing happens, and he looks surprised, and then just pulls him off the bridge. Second is with Tanya, when he leaps on her and squeezes her face, yet nothing happens. You could say it was because of Suou, but afterwards Hei takes a good look at his palm, grimaces, and runs off.

--The magical rifle is stupid. Not only that, the goddamn transformation sequence. Couldn't they just have materialized it out of thin air? Instead it pops out of the amulet with lots of pink lights.

--Oreille is some kind of french term for ear? That woman the CIA is talking to obviously sells information for a fee. I was tempted to think it might be Yin all grown up, due to pale hair, skin, and lip gloss, but she'd be way too old and the VA doesn't match.

--I think when Hei said he'd kill Yin, it wasn't because she betrayed him--rather, he thinks she abandoned him, and he's fucking pissed about it, while also extremely depressed.

--July's tagging along with Hei because his team got wiped out, I guess? Or he could be a spy, although that seems unlikely. You have the team all assembled now, though, from last season: you have Hei and Mao, then Suou takes over Huang's role and July obviously equals Yin. Suou, as in sniper support, although Huang never got his hands dirty.

--Finally, Suou's renumeration is so nice. I think almost any contractor would love to fold paper cranes.

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by davie

Was a horrid way for that Nika kid to die. What kind of bugs do Tanya control?

Well, as the old anime saying goes "they're not dead until you see 'em die." We don't actually see Nika die, we just see him struggling under those bugs, and then Suou whips out her rifle, so I wouldn't drive the nails into his coffin just yet. If he's truly dead, we'll probably find out soon.

Originally Posted by Strange

--July's tagging along with Hei because his team got wiped out, I guess? Or he could be a spy, although that seems unlikely. You have the team all assembled now, though, from last season: you have Hei and Mao, then Suou takes over Huang's role and July obviously equals Yin. Suou, as in sniper support, although Huang never got his hands dirty.

Actually, I'd say that Huang's slot is pretty much still open because Hei and Suou are both front-line fighters, but if one of them is going to be relegated to Huang's role, it's more likely to be Hei, because a) he's powerless right now (powerless, not useless), and b) Suou's the main character of DtB S2; she's not going to be on the sidelines, especially between her rifle aim and July's targeting support as seen in this episode.

[orion]

Originally Posted by Strange

--Finally, Suou's renumeration is so nice. I think almost any contractor would love to fold paper cranes.

That would depend on how many you had to fold. 1 is okay. If you had a busy day and had to fold 100, then...

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Actually, I'd say that Huang's slot is pretty much still open because Hei and Suou are both front-line fighters, but if one of them is going to be relegated to support, it'll most likely be Hei, because a) he's powerless right now (powerless, not useless), and b) Suou's the main character of DtB S2; she's not going to be on the sidelines.

Mao is partially filling the Huang slot imo as he's the one relaying the orders so far. Suou has the sniper portion imo.

[Manji Midou]

Originally Posted by Strange

--I think when Hei said he'd kill Yin, it w'sasn't because she betrayed him--rather, he thinks she abandoned him, and he's fucking pissed about it, while also extremely depressed.

Wow, that's some separation issues Hei has if that is the case....

l would like to know what led Yin to leave/betray Hei.... seeing
as l saw her as being so attached/loyal to him.... even more as to how she cried out in the end of season 1 not to leave her alone....

l wonder if she is being held captive/being manipulated and the only way Hei sees in saving her is by killing her....?

[sirn]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

It's hard to translate this full meaning into english, so subs won't make much of a difference in the understanding I'm afraid, but the term meanings and usage in Japanese make it clear.

Not really, it's as vague as it is when translated. The part between "About Yin--" and "I'll kill that woman" can be two different but related context together. "That woman" may refers to "that woman" Mao was talking about at the beginning the episode. It's still uncertain at this point.

[Strange]

Originally Posted by Manji Midou

l wonder if she is being held captive/being manipulated and the only way Hei sees in saving her is by killing her....?

Yeah, I know some people here have speculated that she could have been reprogrammed as a Doll again. In that case, it would make sense for the subbers to have put quotes around "woman," when Hei talks to Mao about Yin; Yin as they knew her no longer exists.

[Shinji103]

Originally Posted by Manji Midou

l would like to know what led Yin to leave/betray Hei.... seeing
as l saw her as being so attached/loyal to him.... even more as to how she cried out in the end of season 1 not to leave her alone....

That's exactly why I think it wasn't anything Yin did, at least not by choice. Some nasty $hi- would have had to have happened to make Yin willingly screw Hei over.

l wonder if she is being held captive/being manipulated and the only way Hei sees in saving her is by killing her....?

Exactly what I think.

Originally Posted by sirn

Not really, it's as vague as it is when translated. The part between "About Yin--" and "I'll kill that woman" can be two different but related context together. "That woman" may refers to "that woman" Mao was talking about at the beginning the episode. It's still uncertain at this point.

No, the Japanese makes it very clear:

"Ore wa Yin wo......ano onna wo korosu."

The "ano onna" part is Hei referring (rudely) to Yin. See how the underlined parts can be swapped:

[Ore wa Yin wo korosu] <-> [Ore wa ano onna wo korosu]

[Megrim27]

I really don't think it's Yin he plans to kill, because being betrayed by someone close to him has too much of an Amber vibe. No point in rehashing that plot device. I wouldn't be surprised, as someone else mentioned, if "that woman" and the woman Mao said changed their orders, are one and the same.