Anime Review: Darker than Black OVD Gaiden
Think I spelled that right (OVD stands for Original Video DVD by the way) and, before I begin I think I need to explain the time line of DtB since it's gotten a bit screwy. First we have season one (Darker than Black: The Black Contractor) which was 26 episodes, each of which was a two parter and were fairly unconnected (they focused around the same characters but were episodic) until the last six or eight which was when past jobs and events came together for one big explosion. Next up would be an on-going manga, Darker than Black: Shikkoku no Hana (usually referred to as that, the translation is Jet Black Flower), this one seems to be about Yin and Hei immediately after season one and should explain how they got to the beach for the OVAs and why Misaki had been demoted by the beginning of season two. Then we have the OVDs (this review) which was four half hour episodes that were released on the season two DVDs that were supposed to help bridge the gap between seasons and explain what the heck was going on. Then we have the actual season two (Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor), thirteen episodes this time and one continuous storyline and one strange ending.
Phew, and that's without summaries, I'm starting to wonder if Bones was on something when they came up with this whacked out plan since Jet Black Flower started coming out the same time as season two and the OVAs didn't finish until well after season two did and those two spoil each other now (being spoiled no matter which one you watch first doesn't strike me as a bright idea in the slightest). So, with the OVAs out it's time for a review:
Darker than Black Gaiden OVD
Summary: Hei and Yin are still on the run after the explosion at Hell's Gate but seem to be content as long as they're with each other. That is until Yin starts manifesting not only free will (which is impossible in a Doll) and a superpowered evil side which gains the interest of government agencies all over the world. Lots of contractor fights and not much explanation ensues.
The Good: So THIS is where all the cool Chinese Electric Batman fights went, I know I wasn't the only one who missed those in the second season and Bones never fails on cool looking fight scenes. It was also pretty cool too tons of other contractors because all the ones in the other seasons have only been from other government agencies and trying to kill the main characters so most of them came off as flat characters. Here it's interesting to see contractors who would rather live off by themselves away from everyone else (and apparently contractors can have kids, I know I wasn't the only one thrown by the idea of two perfectly logical people making babies).
The Bad: At the end of the second season the director said that everything has been answered (or would be in the OVDs) and there was no need to continue the story. Like heck it was, we do know more about what happened to Yin now but the show didn't explain how or why any of this happened*. Also, I'm not sure if it was just the horrible fansubs I found or the writing as well, but the various government agencies and other group's actions didn't seem to make a lot of sense and I was lost a few times as to what was going on at all.
The Art: The art is has it's smooth with little details style and there were quite a few good looking fight scenes in just four episodes so Bones hasn't lost it's touch there, certainly nothing to complain over.
The Music: It sounded a bit like a combination of the first season's smooth jazz and the second season's more techno-like themes which I thought worked well both thematically and for the scenes at hand.
So, I'll give this a 7.5/10 (and I plan to buy sometime), the series kinda bridged season one and season two but the manga is going to have to answer some of the questions, and I think Bones is toying with the fans by leaving a lot unexplained so they can make another series someday. And I'm really puzzled why they didn't take the manga story plus the OVDs, make that one 13 episode season and then do Gemini of the Meteor as a season three later on, things would have made a lot more sense and the fans still would've bought everything. Maybe they have some really good reasons behind it but at the moment I'm just frustrated with the story and feel like I HAVE to watch/read everything from the beginning if I want to know what's going on, not because I want to re-watch it**.
*Most people probably weren't expecting an explanation on contractors, the Gates, the false sky/stars, Dolls, ect, but either the fansubs I found were even worse than I thought or the show didn't explain why the heck Yin is special. Or I could have forgotten with the long waits between DVDs, I don't mind one or two extra episodes but not whole mini-series this way.
**Okay, that's a bit confusing, yes I do want to re-watch it but I feel like I HAVE to re-watch it if I want to make sense of it, usually you don't need to do a full re-watch to do that.
Phew, and that's without summaries, I'm starting to wonder if Bones was on something when they came up with this whacked out plan since Jet Black Flower started coming out the same time as season two and the OVAs didn't finish until well after season two did and those two spoil each other now (being spoiled no matter which one you watch first doesn't strike me as a bright idea in the slightest). So, with the OVAs out it's time for a review:
Darker than Black Gaiden OVD
Summary: Hei and Yin are still on the run after the explosion at Hell's Gate but seem to be content as long as they're with each other. That is until Yin starts manifesting not only free will (which is impossible in a Doll) and a superpowered evil side which gains the interest of government agencies all over the world. Lots of contractor fights and not much explanation ensues.
The Good: So THIS is where all the cool Chinese Electric Batman fights went, I know I wasn't the only one who missed those in the second season and Bones never fails on cool looking fight scenes. It was also pretty cool too tons of other contractors because all the ones in the other seasons have only been from other government agencies and trying to kill the main characters so most of them came off as flat characters. Here it's interesting to see contractors who would rather live off by themselves away from everyone else (and apparently contractors can have kids, I know I wasn't the only one thrown by the idea of two perfectly logical people making babies).
The Bad: At the end of the second season the director said that everything has been answered (or would be in the OVDs) and there was no need to continue the story. Like heck it was, we do know more about what happened to Yin now but the show didn't explain how or why any of this happened*. Also, I'm not sure if it was just the horrible fansubs I found or the writing as well, but the various government agencies and other group's actions didn't seem to make a lot of sense and I was lost a few times as to what was going on at all.
The Art: The art is has it's smooth with little details style and there were quite a few good looking fight scenes in just four episodes so Bones hasn't lost it's touch there, certainly nothing to complain over.
The Music: It sounded a bit like a combination of the first season's smooth jazz and the second season's more techno-like themes which I thought worked well both thematically and for the scenes at hand.
So, I'll give this a 7.5/10 (and I plan to buy sometime), the series kinda bridged season one and season two but the manga is going to have to answer some of the questions, and I think Bones is toying with the fans by leaving a lot unexplained so they can make another series someday. And I'm really puzzled why they didn't take the manga story plus the OVDs, make that one 13 episode season and then do Gemini of the Meteor as a season three later on, things would have made a lot more sense and the fans still would've bought everything. Maybe they have some really good reasons behind it but at the moment I'm just frustrated with the story and feel like I HAVE to watch/read everything from the beginning if I want to know what's going on, not because I want to re-watch it**.
*Most people probably weren't expecting an explanation on contractors, the Gates, the false sky/stars, Dolls, ect, but either the fansubs I found were even worse than I thought or the show didn't explain why the heck Yin is special. Or I could have forgotten with the long waits between DVDs, I don't mind one or two extra episodes but not whole mini-series this way.
**Okay, that's a bit confusing, yes I do want to re-watch it but I feel like I HAVE to re-watch it if I want to make sense of it, usually you don't need to do a full re-watch to do that.