Darker Than Black [1st season] generic discussion

[aardvark]

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]

Originally Posted by MrProphet

I never expected for them to present Hei in this manner.

Yeah.

Spoiler:

He seemed almost like the ronin hero of a romantic comedy at times. And then I noticed, his eyes are really creepy.

[Srin Tuar]

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]

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...

And what a slick move he made on the girl, screw hiding her in the bush, hide her with your face.

[WanderingKnight]

Spoiler for Thoughts on episode 1:

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.

Originally Posted by MrProphet

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!

[Jazzrat]

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

[White Manju Bun]

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...

Spoiler:

WHY CANT MY NARU SMILE LIKE THAT

~grumbles~

[Shinji103]

Spoiler:

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.

[Shiroth]

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.

[ThoHell]

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]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Spoiler:

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.

[wao]

Originally Posted by MrProphet

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.

[Jazzrat]

Originally Posted by Shinji103

Spoiler:

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
She would fit in very well in a classroom with her looks

[lommm]

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]

Originally Posted by Jazzrat

Kirihara Misaki already drawn in plenty of megane obsessed guys

I resemble that remark!

[7Th]

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]

Originally Posted by wao

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.

[wao]

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".

[lommm]

ahh, thanks wao. i already looked it up on the wiki but you told me more than wiki did.

[orion]

The first episode was violent and nicely paced. I like the OP better than the ED song.

Spoiler:

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.

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?