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View Poll Results: Darker Than Black - Episode 04 Rating
Perfect 10 14 16.87%
9 out of 10 : Excellent 23 27.71%
8 out of 10 : Very Good 21 25.30%
7 out of 10 : Good 15 18.07%
6 out of 10 : Average 5 6.02%
5 out of 10 : Below Average 1 1.20%
4 out of 10 : Poor 1 1.20%
3 out of 10 : Bad 1 1.20%
2 out of 10 : Very Bad 0 0%
1 out of 10 : Painful 2 2.41%
Voters: 83. You may not vote on this poll

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Old 2009-10-30, 23:43   Link #81
Canas
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Well I already stated that they, especially from Suou's side, are on very bad terms right now. I'm just saying maybe they will change their minds. I really like seeing people change in the stories I'm interested in. Though I hear this season is only going to be 12 episodes so maybe not.
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Old 2009-10-31, 00:21   Link #82
xKeen
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The training was funny,somehow.Suou looks annoyed by the training,I'm starting to like her and her skirt xD
Hei practiced a lot to show his emotions huh,Suou and July should too (:
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Old 2009-10-31, 01:03   Link #83
DragoonKain3
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Hmm... first I thought it was odd that Suou developed contractor powers when Nina was attacked. Then this episode has Suou admitting her heart tightened when Nina confessed to another girl, but didn't when another boy confessed to her? Much squeeing ensued, because it can be interpreted as something much different. Move over HeiXMisaki, my new OTP is NinaXSuou (quite ironic considering Yin doesn't seem to be around anymore lol)


On a side note, Hanazawa's role in this anime reminds me heavily of her debut role, as she also did normal girl then emotionless girl there. Which of course is nothing short of praise, since that role is the reason why she's number #2 on my seiyuu favourite list, and that character is still my #2 most moe character of all time.
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Old 2009-10-31, 01:31   Link #84
jonli
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Quote:
Originally Posted by hero147 View Post
A smaller problem I had with this episode was Suou becoming a contractor. I had hoped that she would stay human and keep her emotions intact. It's much more interesting to see a girl who develops as a character by her tribulations than a contractor who probably will be stagnant throughout the season.
It's pretty obvious that her character will not stay stagnant throughout the series. At the end of this episode when she said "Contractors lose their emotions, but I hate you." Already foreshadows something in the future, either she's going to revert or she's special.

Another good thing is that she narrates the story, and we get a clear view of her Contractor logical thoughts still has a hint of human curiosity. We've never actually understood how contractors think, since Hei wasn't actually one in season 1 and we don't dive deep into his conscious mind. Time and time again we've seen Contractors have some form of emotions that they're not suppose to have. November 11 doing something illogical to "save the world". April showing signs of honoring November 11 (which is completely not needed if ur a logical being because you don't benefit from that except from making your own heart feel better).

It's about time they explain these inconsistencies, if they do have an explanation that is.
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Old 2009-10-31, 04:31   Link #85
Aqua Knight
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Quote:
Originally Posted by DragoonKain3 View Post
Hmm... first I thought it was odd that Suou developed contractor powers when Nina was attacked. Then this episode has Suou admitting her heart tightened when Nina confessed to another girl, but didn't when another boy confessed to her? Much squeeing ensued, because it can be interpreted as something much different. Move over HeiXMisaki, my new OTP is NinaXSuou (quite ironic considering Yin doesn't seem to be around anymore lol)


On a side note, Hanazawa's role in this anime reminds me heavily of her debut role, as she also did normal girl then emotionless girl there. Which of course is nothing short of praise, since that role is the reason why she's number #2 on my seiyuu favourite list, and that character is still my #2 most moe character of all time.
You mean Nika?? Because Nina is a female name
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Old 2009-10-31, 05:23   Link #86
SuperKnuckles
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Jesus, Suou's running meme this series is about how she's a jailbait and has every men in the planet hitting on her. Sorta good that she lost a lot of her emotions in her pseudo contractor state now.
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Old 2009-10-31, 05:46   Link #87
RedWing
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Suou is rather underdeveloped for a 13 year old, so I don't see why the characters would find her particularly attractive.
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Old 2009-10-31, 05:51   Link #88
Aqua Knight
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What do you want from her ??
H-size boobs?
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Old 2009-10-31, 06:42   Link #89
jaykaylol
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Season 2 is definitely different from Season 1, but it's good so far. Suou is a great character, we finally get to see how a contractor acts when they become one, she's also adorable. :3

I was hoping they wouldn't use the transformation scene again, it's really unnecessary and doesn't fit the DtB style. Only complaint so far, hope they don't throw it in in future episodes.

Season seems pretty slow, is it really gonna be only 12 episodes? O_O
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Old 2009-10-31, 07:20   Link #90
Joe_fh
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A really good episode.

Got to say I loved the first few lines in the episode. It was a very good contrast with the scene from the first episode. We see Suou as a contractor. She loved taking pictures but now she thinks there's no point in taking pictures. "why did I think of that? There's no reason to take a picture of it" - that's the rational tinking you get as a contractor. You not only lose your emotiones but also the things you enjoeyd doing.

Next interesting thing to note is that they sayed they need to capture Shion -"the one BK 201 is dragging around" and from the previous episode the line "Continue to be mischievous and I might just fall for you prince"(I think this line was a bout Suou not Hei but even if it was the first one still remains) kind of make me wonder what's going on? Didn't they know that Suou isn't Shion in the second episode?
And why are the hiding the reason Hei lost his powers? I guess they're just using Misaki but that's only natural. But the interesting question is why are they doing it? It's not like Hei loves her and he'll come rescue her so they could use her as bait. They don't need informaiton and they don't need a good detective to investigate since well they seem to be good enough and Misaki isn't that good that they'll need her just for that.It's something else but I have no idea what it might be. So there is a lot of room for speculation about this.

The look Kirihara got when she saw Hei's picture and the line about saving her virginity for him were a nice touch though the second one wasn't really necessary.It served some purpuse I guess - it was a provocation of sorts. What was the poit of it? Could be a lot of things.

Skipping a bit Mao seems like a comic relief character. Being chased around by that cat and taking out two police officers was there just to relief tention though there wasn't really any to begin with in those two scenes and be plain funny. Either way those moments were entertaining to watch.

Another finny element was Hei talking with that "man". He was over polite and it was really good since it was such a big difference from his usual self. The moment where Suou and July smiled was really funny as well. Got to love those tiny details even if they're not really relevant to the story.

The Nori character seems like he'll play a big role in Suou's character development. Can't really say much about him but I think he'll be the first character to see Suou as a girl after she became a contracotr.

Getting to see Suou get her first period was also a nice touch of reality. It was an event that aslo showed she's still a normal 13 yeard old girl that has to expirience the same thing every girl does even if everyone treats her as just a contractor. Though when she said "I'm already a woman" you coul tell she just said it like it was nothing. That is a pretty major thing in a girl's life and her reaction didn't really showed any of that. I think that also served to show how people change when they become contractors.

And now for the biggest part of the episode - the Hei Suou interactions. Got to say I really don't like violence against women and especially children (even if most animes with a drak theme are full of pretty much both) so the part s with Hei hitting her were a bit too much. Despite that they were really important and need to be there for several reasons.

First Hei needs to make Suou understand what has happened now she's a contractor and that if she can't kill she'll die. That's really hard to do without beating her if you consider she's a 13 old girl. She needs to lear the brutal relity of the world.

Second he doesn't really have time to teach her in a less violent way. The same things about the harsh reality could be understood without all that but that takes time. You could go with the "you have to see it to believe it" but after what Suou's been through I don't think that this approach will work on her.

Third Hei treats her like a contractor. For him it doesn't really matter what her age is. A contracotr doesn't have an age. They're just contractors- that's all the are and everything else is irrelevant.

And finally Hei doesn't want to be emotionally attached to her. Everyone he loved seems to be dead or missing. He's a drunk hobo for a reason. Strange said it really well - "he's afraid to be hurt again, and abusing her is one way of insuring that there's no feeling of loss when something happens to Suou." It was the same in season one- he tried to play the emotionless role but it didn't work out in the end because he still has his emotions. Now...well know he's drinking all the time. I'm sure that somewhat helps whith him suppressing his feelings and playing the "cruel sadistic I don't care about any of you" role.
Though he actually shows them once in a while - when he stoped Suou from killing Tanya for example. There was no rational reason why no to shoot her especially if you consider he tried to kill her a few minutes earlier. Hei saw Suou crying and I'm sure he knows the pain of killing someone close to you and at that moment he showed he didn't want to see someone do the same thing when there's a choice not to do it. He aslo acted on his emotions when he slapped Suou after she said he could probably kill his friends and familly without feeling anything.

About the preview. The Nori guy will probably play a major role as I said earlier. It looks like there will also be a new contractor that manipulates water and since we haven't seen him/her so far I guess he/she will die. Misaki is getting really close to Hei. That could mean that that blond woman really has some sort of power to know all sort of things that are happening all around the world or more like the twins have that power and she's just using it. maybe they could even predict the future since they said "the end has begun" last episode.
Aslo that scene with Suou and July sleeping in the bathtub was really cute.Really looking forward to it

About the magical girl thing - I don't really mind it. Sure it doesn't go with DtB well but you have to consider that they are actually trying to appeal to more viewrs. After all they want to earn money and since more fanservice always seems to work they added a bit. I'm just glad they didn't go over the top. The first season had those fanservice moments as well but they seemed to fit better. You had that woman who always ended up naked after using her power and you also had Amber's outfit for once. I mean that outfit was pure fanservice.

And if anyone read the whole post - congratulations you're awesome
oh and sorry for the many spelling mistakes that are probably up there. >.<
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Old 2009-10-31, 07:22   Link #91
Tsuchi
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I've been thinking... If Suou has been going through 'that'... Does that mean Contractors can have children?

And the children of a Contractor is born a Contractor too? Is there any record of that in previous episodes?
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Old 2009-10-31, 07:36   Link #92
Kyosuke_Nanbu
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Contractor's body is still a human body man

With the condition of awakening so far,i don't think there is any contractor by birth
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Old 2009-10-31, 07:38   Link #93
Tsuchi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Kyosuke_Nanbu View Post
Contractor's body is still a human body man

With the condition of awakening so far,i don't think there is any contractor by birth
I don't think so either, but it's still interesting to think about it, right.

I guess the child would be completely normal, but since I don't recall any Contractor with kids in the previous episodes I felt like thinking about it.
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Old 2009-10-31, 07:40   Link #94
hei
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Put aside all the meaningless service scenes and secondary characters, I think there is one important thing in the episode 4 to be mentioned, which could be related to the future development of the show.

It's about the National Astronomical Observatory. The Observatory now becomes an abandoned place. Misaki already knows it, so it seems to have happened a while ago. Probably it is related to the events during last 2 yeares.

Naturally this will bring a lot of questions and speculations. What happened to the observatory? Who did that? And Why? Then, where are all the dolls including Stargazer-sama gone? Could Stargazer-sama be "that woman"? etc. etc...
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Old 2009-10-31, 08:26   Link #95
risingstar3110
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Not as epic as the last ep, but still get a 10/10 from me

I admit that if you have a transformation screen every time you use your power, it will not be convenient, at all. The first time she summon that anti-gun, i thought it was a cool moment. Now i fear that she may not be able to survive at melee combat xD

I suspected Stargazer-sama to have same ability with Amber and get younger and younger until she become the mystery woman in the end of this episode.

Not sure if being a contractor help, but Suou surely learnt fast. She now have pretty good fighting skills. This partly must thank Hei as he's a pretty good mentor. He probably trained several fresh agents during his career to get such discipline . Also, Of course Contractor have emotions, Suou have to cover her skirt during her practice, and later feel really embarrassed dancing in front of that mirror. I remember Mao said the same thing back when he's captured by Amber.
Suou's still a kid, trying to save up money to escape (she can kill or steal from Hei and take all money in one go). But yeah, Suou's my favourite character of S2 atm (considering Hei still in his Hobo mode).

Btw, do Hei really have to train Suou as an order, or did he do that out of good will? He had no time to contact with "that woman", and his objective 's still getting back the Meteors' fragment. Maybe later we will know that Hei supported to abandon Suou since it's problematic to bring her with him. Surely it will less works and less dangerous for him to go alone instead of bring July+Suou.

The fan service targeted me, so i'm vulnerable against them xD
Well, Suou have her period would be a good event for character development. Because then she would have vulnerable moments even outside of the battle===> Hei have to stop acting cold and start taking care of her.

PS: lol at the "international collection of siblings"

@Joe_fh: yeah i'm awesome ^^
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Old 2009-10-31, 08:53   Link #96
xKeen
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July is a really good ally for suou,ability to snipe with anti-tank >=D
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Old 2009-10-31, 09:10   Link #97
4zure
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jonli View Post
Another good thing is that she narrates the story, and we get a clear view of her Contractor logical thoughts still has a hint of human curiosity. We've never actually understood how contractors think,
It's about time they explain these inconsistencies, if they do have an explanation that is.
risingstar3110 just highlighted it.

I believe that the explanation was given in S1, when mao got captured by Amber.
He said that contractors have emotion but their logical sense is stronger.
He feel the fear from being in the enemy territory but, it doesn't prevent him from thinking logically of an escaping way.

And then, there is the evolution that Amber stated. The emotions become stronger to the point they overpower the logic. A good example is, the little bomberman-contractor (the boy with different eyes colour) that went after Hei by jealousy ("I'm the only one Amber needs") and ended-up killed by november.
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Old 2009-10-31, 09:12   Link #98
orion
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Quote:
Originally Posted by risingstar3110 View Post

The fan service targeted me, so i'm vulnerable against them xD
Well, Suou have her period would be a good event for character development. Because then she would have vulnerable moments even outside of the battle===> Hei have to stop acting cold and start taking care of her.
Suou doesn't have much body fat. Regular menses depends on body fat and maturity. Females aren't regular until approx 18 yo. It's not that much of a vulnerability. You don't hear of Olympic athletes not appearing due to menses. You take ibuprofen or get on OCPs, shots, patches to lengthen or stop it from happening. Become a member of the 21st century guys.

Menses may have been a big deal long ago but if you're in a Western society nowadays a lot of females look on it as an inconvenience until they are ready to have children and an annoyance after they are done having children.
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Old 2009-10-31, 09:28   Link #99
risingstar3110
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Originally Posted by orion View Post
Suou doesn't have much body fat. Regular menses depends on body fat and maturity. Females aren't regular until approx 18 yo. It's not that much of a vulnerability. You don't hear of Olympic athletes not appearing due to menses. You take ibuprofen or get on OCPs, shots, patches to lengthen or stop it from happening. Become a member of the 21st century guys.
My apologies......
My only similar experience is with my younger sister back when she's 13...... and it seemed to be quite terrible back then. I was really worried that i even afraid to yell at her whenever she looks like she's in pain D:

Compare to my sister, Suou don't have anyone to take extra care of her. Of course i overestimate the scale of such incident...
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Old 2009-10-31, 09:45   Link #100
orion
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Originally Posted by risingstar3110 View Post
My apologies......
My only similar experience is with my younger sister back when she's 13...... and it seemed to be quite terrible back then. I was really worried that i even afraid to yell at her whenever she looks like she's in pain D:

Compare to my sister, Suou don't have anyone to take extra care of her. Of course i overestimate the scale of such incident...
Well, it wasn't directed at you personally as more than 1 post said similar things.

That's why ibuprofen exists. If girls are in a lot of pain during menses, they get stronger medication or are put on OCPs/depoprovera etc.. Suou did take 2 tablets and was given a pad during the episode. Besides some girls may experience less cramping with more physical activity.

If anything, her having a menses during this episode doesn't have any value imo.
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