Catch a falling star.
I have to say I’m surprised at the amount of anticipation for the sequel to Darker than Black – although it clearly was popular enough in Japan to warrant such a thing, it never seemed particularly so amongst overseas anime fans. I myself had liked the first series, and was disappointed that other people were so underwhelmed by it; I knew it wasn’t terrific, but I had felt it was a pretty solid and interesting series. But, strangely, in the interceding time it seems that people have reconstructed their experience of it, and has remembered it as something they enjoyed more than they really did at the time. (Additionally, some bloggers decided to run through the whole series over again and truly look at it in depth, although they’re in the minority.)
Anyway, regardless, I was mildly pleased when I saw that Darker than Black was getting a sequel. The scant details also seemed intriguing… or, rather, the fact that it took place in Russia seemed intriguing. In Soviet Russia, renumerations contract you! Or something like that.
I was a bit surprised at how light the first episode initially was, even as I was feeling a disturbed sense that things were going to go south pretty damn fast. Suou, our young female protagonist, actually starts out pretty normally, which I hadn’t expected based on the promo art I’d seen. Things were pretty dandy, excepting everyone getting smacked by a meteorite at the very start (they all survived, though, so no bitching allowed). But, hey, its Darker than Black, so it didn’t stay that way forever.
The question of how one becomes a contractor is raised yet again in this sequel, as we have two transformations within the episode, and in neither case is there any real explanation of how it happened. Even Suou remarks that it happens without warning, implying that no one understands how it happens. Maybe that’ll get answered in this go round?
Anyway, there’s definitely been an uptick in BONES’ animation quality since the first season – which isn’t to say the first season had bad animation. In fact, quite the contrary, but you can nevertheless see how quickly animation techniques have been improving.
I had always really enjoyed the character designs of the first season, so it was great to see those once again. I don’t know how else to say it, but that the designs are pleasant – there’s just something very pleasing in the design of the eyes in particular.
But to get back to the main question – I can’t say I was blown away by the episode. I enjoyed it, and I’ll watch more, but its nothing earth-shattering. And did they really have to kill off April? Bad enough that they bumped off November 11 last season, geez…
GAR GAR Stegosaurus 