Darker Than Black [1st season] generic discussion

[White Manju Bun]

~makes sure not to the epi 5 spoilers~

I liked epi 4, at first I thought it was a bit slow, though Mai setting ppl on fire was interesting.
But then Hei breaks out his kick butt side and I was happy!! The glowing effect looked very nice
I still dont get the seeds and the flower being contacted to contracter's

[Skyfall]

Originally Posted by White Manju Bun

I still dont get the seeds and the flower being contacted to contracter's

The seeds of the flower could suppress the awakening of contractors powers - hence why one was planted in to Mai's wrist.

[mishka]

is it me, or Hei looks alot like Naru from Ghost Hunt! (in a twin-brother kindda way!) maybe they're related...now that'd be a cool twist!

it just crossed my mind....just ignore my jibbering

[wao]

O_o That was a slightly weird episode. But it was okay nonetheless. It definitely felt like more of a set-up than anything else but... ah whatever, it's 4:45 am and I want to go back to sleep

However, to think

Spoiler:

Hei's imouto is called Bai (=White in Chinese)...

LOL.

And what the hell, April's contract is WAY TOO DAMN GOOD! At least they made it clear that even the Contractors know that the prices various people have to pay can be vastly unfair. I still can't forget the guy who broke his fingers...

Bah, but now I want to know what happens next week. They ended on a rather nice note.

Also, Hei didn't appear for 90% of this episode (PS: This doesn't mean it's bad. Not in the least)

PPS: And Kazuhiko Inoue is \o/

[Shinndou]

Guys, I wonder what's the point of replying to wao's post (the one with spoilers about episode 6 and 7) if you forget to use spoiler tags when you are replying to it. Come on.

[Vanehei]

Shindou you are right!!! sorry!!.. (i read your message and say to myself... who in the world could something like that!!.. and when i check.... it was me!)
We need more spoilers from chapter 5 please!

[issei]

quick notes on ep 5:

Spoiler:

+ it's great seeing the organization from a different perspective (primarily kirihara's).
+ november and hei fight in a park, but again, since it's from kirihara's perspective, the action occurs off-screen. we, as viewers, only see flashes of light, and then huang gases kirihara & co. in order to retrieve havoc. what? an anime series using interesting filmmaking techniques? no way...
+ november is mi-6's "top agent." his contract forces him to smoke. he doesn't take it very well -- his very first reaction in the episode is hilarious.
+ yin's conversation with mao is priceless. yin was supposed to be with havoc, but when mao and huang go into their room, havoc is gone. mao asks, "where is she?" yin replies: "out." "where'd she go?" "i don't know."
+ we see the beginnings of an angry outburst by hei. the preview for ep 6 shows him completely outraged at havoc, presumably because she doesn't know what happened to his little sister.

[quina]

episode 5

Spoiler:

According to the earlier scan, Hei is suppose to be searching for Amber. This episode kinda tripped me off when they revealed that Hei is searching for his sister whose name is Pei/Bei.

Where does Amber fit in this picture? or is it suppose to be "after" this when Hei will start searching for Amber. If Amber has something to do with Hei's sister whereabout that might makes sense. For all I care, bring out Amber already >_<

Other than that, I like where the show is going. I would prefer if things develop in a faster pace, but that just might be because its in CG time slot.

[Deathkillz]

Originally Posted by quina

episode 5

Spoiler:

According to the earlier scan, Hei is suppose to be searching for Amber. This episode kinda tripped me off when they revealed that Hei is searching for his sister whose name is Pei/Bei.

Where does Amber fit in this picture? or is it suppose to be "after" this when Hei will start searching for Amber. If Amber has something to do with Hei's sister whereabout that might makes sense. For all I care, bring out Amber already >_<

Other than that, I like where the show is going. I would prefer if things develop in a faster pace, but that just might be because its in CG time slot.

Spoiler:

whos amber? ~ im rather behind on things

neways ep 5 was pretty good...the start of a new arc and the fight continues ~ november is pretty smooth for a guy i must say ~ but being quite dialog heavy i cant say more until after ive watch it with the subs >.<

[wao]

Amber is the name of that girl with green hair in the OP (the one who looks like C.C., she's also been featured in some scans).

There is one Animedia scan that says that "Hei has a purpose, and that is to look for Amber", but

Spoiler for ep 5:

there is no telling whether Pai = Amber.

Like I said before the ep when I read the spoilers, if Pai = Amber then O____O WHAT DOES THAT LAST SCENE IN THE OP MEAN *claws brain out*


By the way, did any of you catch that Hei called Havoc "Carmine"? Bingo, another colour...

Also, I'm wondering if July is not a contractor (meaning that Newtype mag scan was misleading) but a Doll? He seemed to act like one.
I wonder if his kansokurei thing moves through signs o_O

EDIT: The mag spoielrs should be coming any time soon now, but OI OI OI at the staff credits for episode 7. OK, it was already leaked earlier that an "Igarashi-san" was going to do storyboards for the 4th story (=ep 7 and 8), but to think it was the Igarashi-san I was guessing...

Takuya Igarashi. Ouran's director!

What's better is that this rumour/pasted thing/whatever seems to say that not only is Igarashi storyboarding 7, but one of Ouran's better directors, Shingo Kaneko, is directing and Ouran's hardworking character designer Kumiko Takahashi is doing the animation supervision.... no way? I had read on the production blog that that arc is going to be more lighthearted, which makes it very suitable for being done a bit by the Ouran team, but this is a bit too unbeliveable (It would be really unbelieveable if it was Enokido doing the script too...)

[Shinndou]

Originally Posted by wao

Spoiler for ep 5:

By the way, did any of you catch that Hei called Havoc "Carmine"? Bingo, another colour...

Spoiler for reply:

Carmine is also a person's name which is used in neo-latin languages (as far as I know mostly Italian, Spanish, and Portoguese). So that's really a perfect choice because it's both a real person's name and at the same time it serves the purpose to identify a colour as well like the other names we know so far do.

[Shiroth]

Originally Posted by wao

Spoiler:

By the way, did any of you catch that Hei called Havoc "Carmine"? Bingo, another colour...

Spoiler:

Yeah, and that made me lol at Bones --- only they could do something like this within such a story.

I think a chart is needed for the color names. & just have to say that Amber has to be the best name to date.

[Omniscient]

Episode 05 Screencaps and Summary

Spoiler:

I'm not sure if anyone's mentioned this yet, but it dawned on me that the girl from the very beginning of the first episode that stood on the edge of a lake could very well be Hei's little sister. She had the same hair color and there was a telescope in that brief scene too.

[nubby]

Who do you guys think the kids in the preview flashback is? I don't think it's Hei because they look too different. It kind of looks like November 11 except his hair color is different...

[lightbringer]

Spoiler:

Hmm, first time to see Kei get that really angry expression. Need more glares from him Looks like he's not below torturing girls either, next week will be fun.

@nubby: probably just Havoc's family. For all we know, she might have slaughtered them all accidentally due to her Contractor powers, or something like that.

[DangerMouse]

Those are some amazing screencaps, can't wait for episode 5 to get subbed.

[Guido]

I have watched episode four and at first I thought that all the hints an clues regarding Moratorium, the star, and what relationship holds with the Contractors was out off sequence until Tahara gave his proper explanation.

Spoiler:

After the events on how all concludes with Mai awakening as a Contractor, I have suspected a little while ago that the Contractors run a parallel with the mutants of X-Men.

Both races possess overwhelming, supernatural powers which make them be feared and loathed by the mainstream population of average humans.

In the former's case they have no trouble or issues to kill off ordinary humans that interfere against them in a regular basis, since the splitted factions of Contractors all remain in the grey zone. For the latter's case they are splitted between those who hate humans (black zone), and those who fight against that faction to preserve the humans (white zone).

In Darker than Black I presume that most Contractors are terrorists or work for any kind of organizations with terrorists agendas.
Hei's organization, while unknown at this point, is tasked to terminate the terrorists Contractors and whether or not it also handles the termination of those Contractors who have recently awakened, such as was in Mai's case, is ambiguous.
I mean Huang told Mai she was to be fetched to a boat ride to "Heaven". If we take his textual words on the literal expression of the context, then they retrieved Mai and truly disposed of her. However, if this is only a metaphor, then it is likely that Mai was taken to their organization.

Tahara's research.

Spoiler:

My conclusion for Tahara going to the other side of the Gate was the hope of finding something to use as raw material to come up with a cure to treat Mai's state.

Tahara travel to the Gate happened 10 years ago prior to the main storyline, therefore, I must assume that either Mai was borned a Contractor or her Contractor abilities started to manifest at that time.

Exactly how Contractors come to be?
Are they just like the mutants, who are borned with those powers at birth? or is there an external agent at work which influenced some sensitive humans to develop those dangerous powers, for example, the presence of the Gate?

In any case Tahara failed to supress completely Mai's powers. The star on her left wrist was implanted by her father.
I also suspected that the flowers he picked up played a critical role relating to the Contractors, and I was not wrong. The flowers produce seeds which are the stars. The catch is that those seeds do not last for long and have to be replaced at a certain interval in order to prevent the potential Contractor from awakening.

But there is a side-effect on what Tahara did implant the seed on Mai, the big issue is not the seed rotting away but when it starts to rot. I presume that when the seed begins rotting it changes color to blue, as Mai have shown to Hei.
When the seed rots the Contractor's powers go berserk against his or her, and that person descends to Moratorium.

In that state the person no longer is a Contractor but a being between the Contractor state and Doll. If he or she continues to abuse the powers on that state, he or she will eventually become a Doll and be destroyed by his or her powers.
According to Huang, there is no recovery or return from Moratorium, but to their surprise Mai became the very first one to revert from Moratorium and awakened as a full Contractor.

My guess about the main difference between those who are Contractors and those who go to Moratorium lies on the eyes. For the first ones their eyes are red, while for the latter their eyes are blank just that those of a Doll.
For example, throughout most of the episode Mai's eyes were blank but when she recovered from Moratorium they became red meaning that she turned into a Contractor.

The conclusion.

Spoiler:

The music was superb during Tahara's death scene, because it added emotion and made Mai realized that he truly loved here.

Maybe or not his death was the trigger for Mai to revert from Moratorium back to full Contractor.

I would have liked if Mai had died along with her father, consumed by the sea of flames because that would have incurred a powerful image and poignant climax for the conclusion.

I also realized a little detail. Perhaps Hei wanted that Mai have also died with her father, maybe he didn't wish for her to start walking the same life as they do. Possibly because by experience he full well knows that the life of a Contractor is hell.

My theory goes that when someone awakens as a Contractor that person casts aside her former personality and life. Notice that I am not stating that the Contractors lose their memories or anything else, but I am merely stating that they get rid of any attachments to the ordinary world.

Just look at Mai's behavior when she becomes a Contractor distant, frivolous, and unemotional.

[Joojoobees]

Originally Posted by Guido

Spoiler:

I mean Huang told Mai she was to be fetched to a boat ride to "Heaven". If we take his textual words on the literal expression of the context, then they retrieved Mai and truly disposed of her. However, if this is only a metaphor, then it is likely that Mai was taken to their organization.

Spoiler for Mai:

In the voice-over at the end of episode 4, it is stated that her star did not fall, so she is still alive.

Exactly how Contractors come to be?
Are they just like the mutants, who are borned with those powers at birth?

Well, Hei and most of the other contractors we have seen are older than 10 years, which is when the contractors started appearing (stated in episode 1), so I don't think they are born that way, but their exact cause certainly is a mystery.

My theory goes that when someone awakens as a Contractor that person casts aside her former personality and life. Notice that I am not stating that the Contractors lose their memories or anything else, but I am merely stating that they get rid of any attachments to the ordinary world.

That is a very interesting observation.

[Boukenxha]

Just saw ep 5.

Spoiler for ep 5:

Woah this show just got alot more exciting with the introduction of some new contractors and their cool powers. My favourite for now is November 11 for his suave demeanor, lame jokes and most definitely his hilarious pitfalls.

That long talk about the harmful effects of second-hand smoke was really amusing for the bewildered looks on the gangsters as he went on and on about the minute details. Even funnier for a meticulous person like him that his contract forces him to smoke and add to that the opposite situation with April's contract serves as a constant reminder of his plight, man it must really sucks for him.

Than there is the scene where he tried to get friendly with Kirihara but it backfired. And then the scene in the car with his canty mobile ringtone. Heh if he is only going to be here for two episodes, I might miss him.

Spoiler for speculations on Amber, contain names of new ep 5 characters:

Hmm considering how some characters in this show can be identified by more than one name, Hei has 3 (Hei, Li Shun Sheng Li Sheng Shun, BK-201), November 11 has 3 (Jack Simon, November 11, Mr Smith), Chiaki has 3 (Shinoda Chiaki, Ayame, Haraguchi)... ok maybe I'm pushing it, but couldn't it just be the same person with two names?

Looking at the trend of colors...

Hei - black hair, black cloak
Yin - silver hair
Carmine - carmine hair
Amber/Bai - amber eyes, white one piece

Huang? I don't know, maybe the writer is playing with us here. His hair is brown, eyes are black, don't seem to have a favourite color in his wardrobe. Maybe it's taken from his real name, the chinese surname "Huang".

I have another speculation which might support this one person two names theory: Perhaps Hei's organisation has many teams of agents in other parts of the world. The agents use colors as their code name (why Mao is an exception I don't know) and the language of the naming indicates their team affliations.

ie.

Hei, Mao, Huang, Yin and maybe Pai (was once with the group) as one team. Carmine, Amber (before her disappearance) plus other colors could make up another team. And who knows, maybe there's a team consisting of Akai, Murasaki or Kin out there in the DtB world.

[Zu Ra]

I finally finished the first arc of Darker than black it left a bitter sweet feeling . A few unanswered question which are better left that way, primarily though had Hei fallen for Shinoda . Apart from Hei’s chivalry these words also add to that

“ She wasn’t a puppet she was alive “

Overall a good arc reminded me slightly of the movie Entrapment , On a lighter note Hei’s beady eyes and appearance reminded me of L .