Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini

Darker than black: Ryuusei no Gemini is the second season of the first Darker than black. I Watch this season knowing the old story and hoping for the same type of sotry

But supprised it wasnt the same story it was totally different but in a good way. Hei is recovering from his loss in season one and is a violent alcoholic. He finds Suou and july and take then to japan. The story revolves around their journey and inconters in tokyo. Suou finds out the truth about her self along with her Father and brother. Hei finds out about yin and all the other ... contractots he meets, and fightsI can't say much without spoiling the whole plot, but If you've seen The first season and are sceptical about watching the seacond one (like i was) just do it. You will thank me (:

This season was actually(for me)better than the first season.Yes,YOU HAVE TO WATCH THE FIRST SEASON TO UNDERSTAND THE SECOND ONE,(Which I didn't do so I was alittle lost at first).
Hei,who ran away from the syndicate,met a 13 year-old girl.She then 'inherited' Hei's powers as a contractor because he was a contractor from the start.As a contractor,you lost the feelings of smiling naturally so i thought that it was sad not being able to see the girl smile anymore.
Then at the very end i actually felt so sad for the girl because(BEEP)I am not going to say it cause you'll have to watch it to find ... out.
I think this show was comedic yet touching yet sad so i think if you're a fan of tragedy* i think you should watch it.

So as a fan of the first Darker than Black series I was very happy to find out that there was a sequel, a continuation to a great series! I had jumped into it right away, without reading anything on it. I was confused, where was Hei and Yin? He doesn't show up right away? Okay I can deal with that...wait, he's a drunk? Why the hell does he look like that?!

And with disgust I had dropped the show after three episodes, vowing to never watch it again and pretend that it was never made.....until I decided to suck it up and watch it two ... years or so later.

I'll admit, it wasn't that bad.

Story: 7/10
Now I wouldn't say that the story in Ryuusei no Gemini was a direct continuance from the original. It's sort of it's own storyline with throw-ins from the last season with many of the same characters and names (IE The Syndicate). There is a two year gap between the first and second seasons and many things have happened to both Yin and Hei that are never directly answered (although there is a gaiden arc between the seasons, but I haven't seen it yet). Instead we are just left in the dark and are supposed to deal with it. Which may or may not be good, if you consider the fact that Hei comes into the show looking like a haggard empty shell of his former self that has a drinking problem, and WE DON'T KNOW WHAT MADE HIM THIS WAY.

If you're expecting a lot of Mao, Hei, and Yin action-- or any answers to questions you had in the first series then you will be sorely disappointed. Ryuusei no Gemini focuses on Suou, a 13 year old Eurasian/Russian girl; she is THE main character, the star of the show. Hei and Mao are kind of nothing more than mentors and guides for Suou to become the gun wielding emotional teen girl that she is. Yin doesn't show up until near the end, and she is incorporated into the plot in a way that you wouldn't expect.

This is rather disappointing because the first series had enough to go on to continue it, to try to answer some of the questions that it left unanswered. However, instead we get a separate story and a new main character that is vaguely (barely) connected at all. Ryuusei no Gemini is also considerably shorter too, which definitely gave no room to expand on anything but instead forcing us to gun through the plot.

Don't get me wrong, the story was good--on its own. If you let go of practically everything from Kuro no Keiyakusha then you should be alright. But if you are really holding onto anything from the first series, then you're going to be left feeling "what the fuck did I just watch, and what does this have to do with anything?" or at least, that's what I thought.

Art: 9/10
As always the art was great. Keeping true to the style of the first season Ryuusei no Gemini introduced some interesting looking characters as well as brought back characters that are easily recognizable. The animation was pretty great, but unfortunately not as heavily involved as in Kuro no Keiyakusha. This is because there are less actions scene compared to the first season. Mixed with the different color schemes and style, you can see just how tired and different Hei has become, and just feel when the mood is supposed to be dark or lighthearted (which the story/character interactions failed to complete) .

Sound: 8/10
In terms of heart pounding sound to get you pumped up for the upcoming scene, Ryuusei no Gemini did a great job with it's techno/electronic soundtrack, which seemed to fit the mood perfectly. The opening theme kind of didn't do it for me. I know I know 'but it was upbeat and refreshing!' you are telling me, I get it. I'll admit, it does have a certain charm to it, and I could probably listen to it over and over again.

But my question is- do I want an upbeat opener for an anime that is supposed to be dark, dramatic and mysterious? The opening for Kuro no Keiyakusha in my opinion, captured the overall feel for the show and how it would turn out. This on the other hand, made me feel like I was going to watch some dramatic slice of life/shoujo anime. Overall, I skipped the opener practically every time. I have nothing to say about the ending theme, as I most often skip those (because I'm binge watching, I don't want to waste my time on ending credits, dammit!) but I can tell you that it's by the same band (Abingdon boys school) that did the opening theme for Kuro no Keiyakusha-so there's that.

Character: 6/10
Hei! Why!? Hei was the single most reason I dropped the show in the first place. I HATED the fact that he had sunk so low, that the man known as BK-201, the Black Reaper, had turned into this drunken mope who slapped Suou around. But now that I came back I can see the importance of making Hei be like this. Even hero's fall, and anyone can hit rock bottom. Hei was our fallen hero, and it hurt to see him like that...but as the show went on, he became less and less of an important character and his problems were swept under the rug by the star, Suou. If Ryuusei no Gemini would have focused more on Hei and the Syndicate then him being the way he is would have been powerful.

Speaking of Suou, I kind of hated her. Yes, I get the fact that she's going through a bunch of tough ordeals in the series, and she's trying to struggle with who she is and how she's supposed to be. But it was because of this that I felt like I was just watching a girl go through puberty. And as we all know, puberty is never fun.

Other characters seemed rather unimportant to me. They were either there just to serve as a plot mover, a shit stirrer, or for cheap laughes (which there was a lot of). Many new people come and go in Ryuusei no Gemini, and a lot of them had potential to be great. Unfortunately, the time constraints of the show gave them no time to expand on any particular background story, leaving most of the cast two dimensional, and largely unsatisfying. Largely, I felt absolutely nothing for the vast majority of them.

Enjoyment: 7/10
This is a tough one for me to rate. I was holding onto Kuro no Keiyakusha for dear life, and ended up largely confused and unsatisfied with the ending. But the ride along the way was actually pretty great. I wish that they would have given Ryuusei no Gemini a longer season, because it might have made the show even better.

Now time for the Happy Panda and Sad Panda award; this is my little quirk where I point out the best and worst part in the anime and give them an "award".

Happy Panda goes to: Hei!
Even though his story had become overshadowed by Suou's I have to say I was deeply moved to see him hitting rock bottom and climbing his way back up. It goes to show that you can kick a hero down, but they will find a way and a reason to get back up.

Sad Panda goes to: Suou's gun transmutation scenes!
If you've watched the show already then you know what I'm talking about. The first time Suou's giant gun slides out of her chest it was kind of cool. But does that really need to happen EVERY TIME she uses it? I don't recall wanting to watch a sailor moon/shugo chara esque transformation sequence.


Overall:
37/50
7.6/10= 8/10

My advice is this:

DO NOT WATCH THIS IMMEDIATELY AFTER KURO NO KEIYAKUSHA!!!

You will be left disappointed and angry. Give it some time, let it cool down for awhile before trying to watch this. You'll enjoy it more that way. And keep in mind that you should look at this as a separate arc, rather than a direct continuance.

this is a rant overall and not much of your typical review so in turn it got spoilers aswell


my gripes :

1)story wise
so many unresolved things and uncertain ending leaving u not satisfied and a very bizarre stoyrtelling ,this is written while having watched the ova they made AFTER the 2nd season then going back

practically shion had the power to not only copy the whole world with its inhabitants body's but also copy a full sized moon and somehow like hid them in it or smth ?thats the part im not following completely maybe he created both a new earth and a new moon ... but earth was obstructed by the moon ??)

so their final plan,their absolute trump card were just to abandon humanity and just copy everyone and send them away in a capsule ...



souo's resurrection didnt mean anything at the end,just brought her back dramatically to be among hei's harem perhaps

they implied that either a) everyone's memory preserved in the me system will eventually fade away without a similar meteor core and then they go on just saying yep it will work without it,with no core in sight on any of the cloned humans or no alternative explanation given so are they just gonna forget everything and be soulless dolls after a while,is that a triumph for humanity in the end ? the ""experiment "" is then considered null,purposeless and thats the only conclusion to draw

or b) a theory that yin not only takes the souls of the deceased but also the memories and she can transfer them,it was never confirmed and we still dont know why the hell did souo's soul return to earth,assumptions that it was izanami at the time arent good enough but then people on the real earth are still there so it doesnt even matter if it's correct its a fallacy,their souls cant exist in both their original body and another cloned one



i still dont understand why they couldn't just kill izanami not to mention this overly complex,inconsistent ending and how things came to be specially how souo got revived,they misinformed us greatly if u werent closely keeping up and disregarding some of the dialog they say which just adds on the confusion



i was ok with the s1 ending even tho it was a cheese middle ground it was justified but holy hell was this shit,he scaraficed everyone,both human and contractor and himself facing unknown alien that is prophesied to destroy the whole world and he just says im gonna save yin,im gonna save this doll i know nothing about her or her past ,this being i somehow became in love with in less than a day (presumably as it depicted in the ova ) no context other than they ran and absolutely nothing in between them in part 1 happened not even im,hei was just nice back then,to everyone at that


for god's sake he grieved over that doll of that woman at the beginning that had already died and all what was left some of her memories in a programmed doll

2)art wise
its not as good looking as the first season and there weren't as many good fighting choreography and it seemed off most the time in comparison

3)sound wise
there werent that much memorable osts but the op and ed were alright so i will give them that

4) characters wise
the characters were so bland in comparison and even hei lost his glory and glimer and got reduced to a soulless drunken for the most part
no one else was remarkable ,way too few normal human being with you know,characters and personalities
most the cast was a contractor and wasnt that rich in alot of diverse ones and even then most were obnoxious

5)enjoyment wise :nothing ,there wasnt anything redeemable or anything retained from the alright first season
i probably just kept at it for the sake of it and to kill time and i somewhat found the first few ep decent atleast it was a different story to say the least
maybe souo had smth to do with it,she kept me interested ,perhaps im a pedo now
i dont know if i would consider that a merit

I won't say this is the worst sequel of an anime I have ever watched, but I would still say I feel like I have wasted a day of my life watching this second season. The first season was confusing enough with crapton of answered questions and cliffhangers.But this one only added more confusion to it and made my experience of this anime horrible.

Story 3/10:
They had SO MUCH storyline to work with.It's not that they were trying to come up with plot as it progressed.They already had enough.But they never bothered to touch on any of them.Bear with me but I sure need to list ... some of them.They did not explain:-
1.Why the 2 gates appear in the first place?
2.Who exactly are Syndicate?What is their story? Why and since when they start to exist?
3.Why and how is Amber related to the Heaven's gate?Who the hell is she anyways?
4.[spoiler]EXACTLY WHERE THE HECK DID THIS LOLI COPY-WATEVER SUOU OR SHION OR THEIR FATHER EVEN COME FROM?
5.[spoiler] What the heck eve happened to Misaki?
6.[spoiler]What the heck is Shion?What did he even want?
7. THE GODDAMN ENDING.WTF WAS THAT (sorry i just lost it.it was HORRIBLE)

Art 7/10:
The art-style was pretty nice judging that it came out in 2009.The action scenes was nicely done.I really enjoyed watching all the fight scenes,even though the first season had better and more scenes than this one.

Sound 8/10:
The music is astounding! I think the reason why I continued to watch it till the end is because of the background music.It really highlighted the scifi-ness of the show.

Character 2/10:
I think I am more disappointed by the character development than the plot development.It was even more horrible.Every single character are kept in mystery.And not even like mystery for the sake of making people think about them(like those psychological animes).It was just plain annoying and irritating.I would have to say- all of them are developed half-assed.I don't know if it has a novel or manga where they explain them better later on.But as for the anime,it was disappointing af.

Enjoyment 6/10:
I gotta say,I only enjoyed it because of the soundtracks it had.

Overall 5/10:
The ending was extremely weak.After watching both of the season,only thing I'm left with is pure disappointment and thought "I should've just ended it with first season.I shouldn't have watched the second season."The first season ending was pretty weak too.But it was WAAAAAY better compared to this one.I hope they would remaster this season or make a movie or something with better explanation about everything.

After I finished DTB: Gemini of the Meteor I was surprised that so many people disliked it so much. I was able to exhale after reading the reviews on here.

Story: 7.5/10 (but no half numbers of course -_-)
I always walk into movies late, so I was able to sorta-kinda catch onto what was going on- something went wrong and changed the charries. (More on that later.) Alot of people would say it became more of a girl's anime, which I can see, but at the same time the changes in the characters kind of contradict this. It wasn't as extraordinary as the first series, to ... be sure, but the sequels are never as good anyway. Held my attention very well and kept me wanting more, I was disappointed with the ending though, especially since BONES has said there won't be a 3rd season.

Art: 10/10
As always, the art blew me away. Character designs were awesome, and as always, my main eyecandy is that these characters are believable- no muscle-men or girls whose eyes take up half their faces. The visuals alone can evoke emotion, sound or no sound.

Sound: 9/10
I liked the soundtrack during the anime very much, although when I tried listening to it out of context I couldn't recall which scenes each song was used in, which IRKS ME GREATLY. Probably means I should rewatch. Voices were fine for me, I loved Suou's voice actor particularly because she reflected her youth and was pretty good with the constant indignation.

Character: 9/10
I actually LOVED these characters, especially because of their flaws. Hobo Hei was unexplained without the OVAs but I kind of accepted him after the first episode or so. The lack of his powers was a little bit annoying but the fact that he was able to hold off contractors without them put him on a more level playing field that I appreciated- and the humanness of him knowing when to run. Suou was a little repetitive but captured an element of teen angst that was interesting as an onlooker- easy to sympathize with, too. I HATED Mao's new body, though. Although it had its flying quirks, he could have been something like a hawk or bat or SOMETHING other than the ex-pet flying squirrel. The villains were decently developed- and as always, I love how they're not EVIL-evil, except for Izanami, which was probably the last twist I would have expected, but enjoyable.

Enjoyment: 8.5/10 (written as 8)
After tearing through the slightly irking beginning (which I later appreciated for context) I was captivated and loved it up until the end. The teen romance factor? Realistic and interesting- if you're stuck in an extremely stressful, miserable situation with one person, chances are unless they're incredibly unattractive in body or character that something or other will get fired up there. At the end I sat staring at my computer for a good few minutes before finally mustering up the will to go anime-searching again. I REALLY hope BONES changes his mind about a 3rd season, because there is nothing that could bring this thing up more. Only other flaw I saw was the repetition of certain things- although the quick flashbacks were powerful reinforcers for the storyline, some of Suou's lines were a little bit annoying after recurring more than once.

Overall: 8.5/10 (or 8)
Flawed characters are much more interesting to me than perfect ones. Although not as good as the first, it provided a fair extension for those of us that were hungry for more, even though it leaves you with a much deeper dissatisfaction. Although a couple of things could have been cut out (as always) I would definitely recommend this to anyone who saw the first season- WATCH THE OVA. IT ALL MAKES SENSE AFTER THAT. More or less.

It was better than the original DtB which was mediocre SF/action since Suou was at least *somewhat* interesting a character and there was an ending which didn't involve... preserving the status quo.

But many characters were drab, the plot was dominated by a slow trip to Japan, the real plot developments were really crammed into the last few episodes and as ever, logic is not something DtB excels at. (For example, if the copied Earth is different in only one respect and that respect is not having the Black Gates, then why isn't there a July and a Suou there already? Why *send* them there?)

I wasn't so much in love with the first season of this anime until I watched the second season. The second season just made the whole first season look like a golden masterpiece. Hei in season two, acts like some mental patient who broke out of asylum. It's not that he wasn't an abusive individual in first season but atleast he was bearable.
The ending was ambiguous but it was so rushed and poorly excuted.
And some things that don't make sense such as why the writers thought Hei and Misaki will fight against each other in season two. They both coincide by the ... end of season one.
The izanami crap added to the plot just made the show more confusing.
Why would madame Oreille help Shion? she just showed up as some random pretty face knowing everything.
I am okay with people who enjoyed the season two, but I just couldn't. And its just my opinion, different people have different tastes.

Going into season 2, we all had an expectation of Gemini. I was lucky enough to watch Gaiden before beginning this serious so I didn't have as much trouble wondering how the situation got to where it did.

The positives:
July got a real role that he didn't have in S1. He was very cute, adorable and Yin-like and seemingly took her role in the series since she was given the absolute shaft. More random contractors with epic abilities and badass fight scenes. The return of Misaki!! Im so glad she didn't just disapear. Mao the squirrel.

The negatives:
As a dedicated fan to the HeixYin ... ship, I was extremely disappointed with how things ended for them. The both became side characters and their reunion in the last ep was underwhelming and no one can be sure what actually became of them. The pseudo-shoujo atmosphere around this season. This time around we welcome a completely pointless main character: Suou. She provided us with a maho shoujo transformation scene and hours of blabbing in what should have been a show about Hei. The ending. What happened. To avoid spoilers I'll just say, "why?"

Given that the above tends to sound really negative, Ryuusei no Gemini is actually a great watch. It has AMAZING op/ed sequences that make up for Suou being a screen whore and some of the characters have great development like Mao, July and Misaki. Overall it is really enjoyable but make sure you watch the first season! It's even better!

First review don't be mean :3

On the whole... I LIKED this show. The main idea of the plot was very good so it would be very difficult not to, however, when compared to the original series/season, they somehow pulled it off and made a rather 'below par' storyline with countless plot holes obviously with the so often encountered over complexity of anime causing so many points leaving you like '...but...why...?' even for those who have seen the first series, this also creates the problem of so many characters being rolled in and off the screen that few backgrounds are truly developed to the fullest extent ... ( if at all).
But, these things set aside, the art style I think of this show is one of the best I have ever seen with detail that does help to immerse a viewer in the right conditions. I also couldn't fault the sound perfect synch runs we what I think of as accurate sound effects ( I don't exactly know how stabbing someone sounds)
I personally enjoyed this more than would be expected from my statements, mainly due to the fact that I found all of the characters to be humerus or quite relatable (Google says it's a word) at points both, and then those who didn't had a tendency to die.

Overall I say this wasn't particularly bad, but after such a large time skip, you would have expected much more of an explanation for how everything is at this point, I would recommend that they develop a prequel story to explain all of this, although perhaps only as a spin off,




















as the series ended with a cliffhanger






















Thank you for reading my review, hope you found it informing or agreeable

Preface:
I know purists will argue that series should always be watched in the order that they aired, but this is not "Kara no Kyōkai"- the mystery and artistic integrity of the show is not ruined by watching it in its chronological order.

I'd argue that this show is one of those exceptions were the CHRONOLOGICAL order is the BEST way to experience the show. So, watch the OVA, "Darker than Black: Kuro no Keiyakusha Gaiden" before this (Gemini), as the story will be more profound and make a lot more sense. Seriously, The OVA is literally is described as "Telling the story of ... what happened to Yin and Hei between the first and second series."

REVIEW:
I just finished watching this season of darker than black and I must say I don't understand all of the hate and claims that the show changed or switched moods from something darker and more mysterious to something more cartoonish and occasionally even dimwitted. That is not even remotely true.

If you watched and enjoyed season one of darker than black, then you know that occasionally they did throw in an episode or two of comic relief, and yes, even some slight fan service, and I feel that in this season they pretty much carried on the same tradition.

More importantly than that, and this is one of the chief complaints against this wonderful continuation of DTB, is the idea that Hei's character has changed too much and is no longer an enjoyable protagonist.

I'd actually argue the opposite. His depth as a character is finally more than a Batman-esque, thin excuse to be mysterious. He and his comrades all went through pretty huge changes and emotional trauma between the first season and this one.

You see, this season focuses on the fact that Hei went through a lot of heartbreak and tragedy during his time "on the run" (as shown in the OVA). However, many people don't understand that because there was so much information missing between the first and second seasons. Its a pretty big, important stretch of time for the characters. That is why I honestly believe that the creators made the OVA specifically to fill in a lot of the plot holes and bridge the two seasons together, so it just makes sense if you are just now getting into the series to watch it in order.

To reiterate: the OVA is the necessary bridge between the first and second seasons.

Getting back to the show itself:

The art style hasn't changed, and still maintains its charming neo-goth/ dystopian style of art. It's not up there with "Standalone Complex" or anything, but its still pretty beautifully crafted.

The music, both opening, ending, and the ambient music during the show itself, is still great and fits perfectly with the brooding and contemplative mood of mystery, and compliments the anxiety and depression of DtB's tragic romance.

The ending, just like most of the shows main events, is open to interpretation, and I think that's great. People should be more open minded and stop expecting everything to be spelled out for you, because that is just lazy writing.

I love that there will always be a sort of air of mystery to this show, and that we will all likely make theories as to what actually occurred, or what the writers meant. That is the sign of a show that will weather the years to come, and one that will constantly be revisited as a staple in the mystery genre.

Firstly I would like to say that please watch the specials before starting s2 because that’s how u can basically enjoy the anime without too many wtf moments like why tf is this so different from s1.

Overall at the start of s2 I didn’t like it very much bcz of Hei being very different and the idea of a loli as the mc instead of hei but hei is still very much the protagonist trust me it gets better as u watch more.

There is some mad story pacing like perfect the more I watched the more sense it made and the better it got ... until the end

Just hope hei is happy finally after the end and well an s3 would be appreciated but what reason has hei left to fight now. Man should be happy but still an s3 is much appreciated and specially cause Theres a ton of stuff to cover and lots of mysteries to still solve

But such a legendary mc. I like hei a lot as the protagonist peak guy.

If anyone was expecting more of Hei acting moody in a neo-noir-styled city, they would be incredibly disappointed. Going a 180 on the neo-noir influence of the first season, and the modern-episodic story structure, the second season of Darker than Black has many surprises, some pleasant and some very questionable, at the very least, it never ceases to entertain, at least for me.

Now that we are in 2021, Darker than Black: Gaiden is pretty much compulsory viewing before you start this second season. While I have no idea what the director and writers were thinking releasing the second season before Gaiden as a lot ... of plot points and story beats become a lot clearer once one has viewed the Gaiden OVA. Hell, Gaiden also strengthens Hei's motivation and character arc. Gaiden covers much of the details about Hei and Yin's conflict which this second season somehow assumes the viewer to pick up on these things through subtle and vague story reveals. While this sort of approach may work in a arthouse work where plot details are deemed less significant over experience and contemplation, Darker than Black has always been conventionally story driven where the emphasis on narrative detail has always been important. So yeah, Gaiden is a must-watch.

So, the noir stylings of the original have been traded for a more conventional, but still relatively mature tone. While I was quite attracted to the original's atmosphere, I still found the second season's tone to be quite agreeable. Mostly because the dramatic storytelling and writing remained at a nice and consistent standard. The second season introduces us to a deuteragonist in Suou. A seemingly wet behind the years gal who becomes entangled in a prophecy-conspiracy-plot with Hei. Though her introduction was at first incredibly conventional - the kid being taught by the weary veteran at the very least, the mature writing was good enough for me to be entertained. It was nice to see that this conventional story eventual twists to be something more interesting and contemplative. Still, Hei's personal story which is tied to the motif and narrative of prophecy and fate, feels inadequetly explored. Mostly because a lot of time was spent developing Suou's character and her theme of identity over others. As a result, Hei's ending feels underdeveloped as if it were baiting a sequel. (which we probably and sadly won't get)

While I did feel that the overall more conventional style in which the series concluded fit the tone of the series as a whole a lot better than in the original, in the end, it felt incredibly unsatisfying. This is likely because I was (and perhaps many others) were in for the ride for our good pals Hei and Yin, only to find that any clarity of their well-being has been tossed out the window for mystery and ambiguity. While this might perhaps be an interesting development in another kind of story, the focus on Hei's character throughout much of the episodes makes it incredibly questionable why such a conclusion was even thought to be favorable. Still, I was quite intrigued and satisfied with Suou's ending despite the bait and switch conclusion, which honestly while it felt rather out of the blue, still felt nice as it was contemplative while still being somewhat cathartic for her character.

Regarding music, the neo-noir jazzy sound has been replaced for a more electronic-house styled sound. While I really did love the original's noir inspired music, I quite enjoyed the new sound. Still, I have to admit that it was way less connected to the atmosphere and style of this second season than the noir sound was with the first.

Viewers who wanted more of the same or who have not seen Gaiden would likely find this sequel to be poor. I can't blame them for the series could have attempted for a smoother transition, but still, if the second season was more or less the same as the first, would a second season even be necessary? The first season may not have ended things as nicely as I would've liked, but it at least felt complete, as if the entirety of Darker than Black could've ended there. So, I really admire the crew's boldness and willingness to experiment and give a relevant reason for a second season.

Concluding, discarding its neo-noir influence, this Darker than Black sequel takes risky turns on the curved road. While it did make its destination, the path remains more or less in shambles of some kind. At least for me, this was a rather fun ride.

**Mild spoilers**

I see a lot of people talking about how they hate Hei's character change, and I disagree. If you havent watched the 4 episode ova before watching this, you might feel different, but him acting the way he does makes sense. He is a man who has lost everything, I found the first half of this anime extremely good, and only started to dislike it towards the end. My main problem is the new main character suou, and the amount of loli fan service that there is. why does every time she use her ability does it need to ... have a naked anime girl transformation? and why the fuck does she fall in love with Hei even though HE USED TO BEAT HER? which again, makes sense for hei to do so. idk, this isnt really a full review just my scattered thoughts about it. i dont think that it is god awful like some people say, but i still prefer the original series.

Watch the 4 OVAs before this.

I read multiple things telling me to watch this first.

What??

Why??

I was confused the whole time.

... The OVAs made everything clear without spoiling this season, only giving you an understanding of what to know going into it.

I regret not watching OVAs first. Would've made this season SOOOO much better for me... probably.

Sooo.... this is the first review I've ever written and I think it's super helpful, and it's not letting me post unless it's longer, so here we go... 3 extra lines of useless stuff to go for a post. Let's goooo!!!!

Summary: Darker Than Black's 2nd season is a better, but very different show than the 1st. Those tuning in expecting to see more of Hei being a cool guy and fighting villains like Batman will be very disappointed, as he becomes a secondary character to Suou, a middle school girl with all kinds of connections to contractors and an apocalyptic prophecy. It becomes something like a tragic magical girl story fused to the general neo noir structure and setting of the 1st season. However, the 2nd season benefits greatly from a focus on a single main story rather than the series of ... tenuously connected mini arcs that was season 1, and Suou is a more interesting character than anyone in season 1 was. Unfortunately a vague plot that leaves you with more questions than answers prevents it from being what it could have been, but it is an improvement on the original, though people that enjoyed the first season will likely disagree strongly.

Positives:

+ Suou is a good character. She's interesting, sympathetic and a tragic figure that isn't drowning in melodrama. I was very into following her arc, the development of her character, and how she reacted to some Big Secrets From Her Mysterious Past that I won't spoil.

+ The focus on a single storyline, in contrast with season 1, is a blessing. Season 2 allows you to stay with characters for the long haul and follow their progression. Rather than a series of unmemorable one-off stories and characters, there is more depth to season 2 because it has the time for it.

+ Art and animation looks outstanding for being more than 10 years old at the time I write this.

Negatives:

- Vague plot and ending that answers few of the questions raised throughout both the first and second series. There really aren't even enough clues to do informed speculation or theorizing on some of the big questions, like what are the Gates?

- Yin's disappearance and transformation is never satisfyingly explained. It would be one thing to remove her from the series the way they did if they showed the backstory of what happened between her and Hei and what caused her to turn into what she did, but you never get those answers, and they are never even really hinted at.

- Hei's transformation into Daniel Craig James Bond. The last thing I needed was another gritty, broken down former hero that's a jaded alcoholic wrestling with his personal demons now. I don't mind that they made a significant change to his character from the 1st season, but I have had enough of this archetype and wish it had been anything else.

- The weird pedophile guy that could turn into The Thing from Fantastic 4. Did we really need a pedophile and a serial child killer in the same series?