DARKER THAN BLACK (VOLUME 1)
November 7th 2010 01:06
The truth exists beyond the gate...
- “Howling” Abingdon Boys School
Based on the original story by: BONES, Tensai Okamura
Director: Tensai Okamura
Written by: Tensai Okamura
Producers: Hiroo Maruyama, Ryo Ohyama, Yoshihiro Oyabu & Osamu Hosokawa
Starring: Jason Liebrecht (Hei), Brina Palencia (Yin), Kent Williams (Mao), John Swasey (Huang), Troy Baker (November 11), Cherami Leigh (Mai & July), Kate Oxley (Kirihara), Todd Haberkorn (Kono), Chuck Huber (Nishijima), Justin Cook (Louis), Colleen Clinkenbeard (Chiaki Shinoda), Duncan Brannan (Jean), Julie Mayfield (Misuzu), Mark Stoddard (Tahara) Christopher Sabat (Saito), Kenny Green (Matsumoto), Leah Clark (Otsuka), Monica Rial (Ishizaki), Nazia Chaudhry (April) & Luci Christian (Havoc)
English Version produced by: FUNimation Productions Ltd
Released by: Madman Entertainment
Running Time: 115 minutes Rating: MA 15
This particular series has been sitting in the back of my mind now for some while, I first saw a promo for it last year on one of the various other DVDs I was watching at the time and found my curiosity piqued. That being said it took me some time to actually get around to purchasing a copy – fortunately for me a sale at Madman Entertainment allowed me just that opportunity. So when the disc finally showed up on my doorstep I let it sit for a day or two, deciding that the weekend would be the best time to watch this anime. After all it looked like it was going to be extremely wet for the most of the weekend, at least according to meteorological predictions, and sure enough they were on the money. So as it bucketed down outside I sat back and watched...Darker Than Black...
There are five episodes on this disc; they cover three separate stories which are effectively episodes of what could be described as the metastory of the series as a whole. Set in the thriving capital of Japan the backdrop involves the appearance of what has been called Hell’s Gate, a mysterious phenomena that cropped up and after examination by a variety of international experts and researchers was deemed to be better off sealed behind a giant wall. The precise nature of this phenomenon is unknown and a UN controlled organisation known as PANDORA is responsible for an ongoing investigation into the region. Judging by the response of the initial investigation the gate must be something beyond the usual comprehension if the resulting response is to build a wall – kind of like the ancient Chinese response to barbarian incursions “Hey let’s build a giant wall, that’ll solve things”.
Of course when you get a mysterious phenomena appear amidst one of the most significant cities in the world the excitement doesn’t stop there. Days after the appearance of Hell’s Gate there also appeared individuals with superhuman powers known as ‘contractors’ and ‘dolls’, the later being mediums who can hone in on locations and people without the aid of any kind of technological devices. The powers of contractors range from gravity nullification to cryokinesis to electricity manipulation. But in spite of having such amazing abilities there is a price to be paid, this is the contract that each contractor must fulfil each time they employ their abilities. Such penances range from breaking the fingers in one’s hand to arranging stones in a particular pattern to smoking cigarettes. The penances vary from contractor to contractor.
The other unusual aspect of this story is that within Tokyo itself the stars have disappeared, replaced by ‘fake’ stars yet each of these ‘fake’ astronomical bodies corresponds to a contractor and when one of these falls from the sky it usually means that the contractor it was aligned with has died. Of course the average run of the mill Hanataro Yamada in the street has no idea about contractors, dolls etc. All they know is that Hell’s Gate has appeared in the midst of their city and that there are various unusual and strange occurrences going on. And anyone who has the misfortune to run into a contractor and survive usually ends up getting their memory wiped by ME (Memory Erasure) technology – one of the advances made through the investigation of the gate.
Within this series there are two key protagonists – Misaki Kirihara, an operative within the Public Security Bureau Foreign Affairs Section 4 and Hei, a contractor who works for an enigmatic organisation known only as the Syndicate. By day Hei appears to be nothing more than an average everyday Chinese exchange student who goes by the moniker of Li Shunsheng and at night he is the infamous Black Reaper, a contractor with the Messier designation BK 201. Whenever a contractor engages their abilities the star that is aligned to them undergoes a period of activity – such activity is constantly monitored by Astronomics, the astronomy laboratory which assists the actions of the law enforcement agencies. Darker Than Black takes the elements of the paranormal and fuses it with the intrigue of the Le Carre school of spy fiction; several of the contractors within this particular volume are affiliated with national intelligence agencies such as MI6 and the DGSE of France.
As I said earlier this series is something of a slow burner. The drama that unfolds in this first volume of the series is only giving you a taste of what is to come, as well as setting the stage for the metastory that provides much of the background and mystery against which the various episodes are set. One could say Darker Than Black (DTB) is the anime equivalent of the X-Files although I’d be more inclined to say that DTB whilst sharing paranormal elements with the X-Files is in my mind a far superior product and one well worth tracking down...remember the truth exists beyond the gate...
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