Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini

Well, if I had to explain my take on Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini, I would have to be this:... watching the series felt weird...

The story, was interesting... different and new... But its got its holes...

Art, sound and animations were amazing. Definitely one of the best I've ever seen in any anime ever made... Truly astounding. Oh and I loved the opening, just so you know...

Characters were pretty good, but they don't explain themselves well... Why was Hei a drunkard? Does it fit his character? What was Suou's drive to do the actions he did?

Really... Everything was perfect... But not refined... ... and everything had major holes including the story... which hurt my enjoyment...

WEAKNESS
Here, I'll tell you guys what this story is missing. This sequel lacks what Deathnote and Liar Game specialize in: Explanations. You always know how L figured out how to single out Kira from all other people. "He's Japanese? Yeah, this is because Kira's first kill was a Japanese person and he killed Lind L. Taylor when shown on a broadcast in Kantou."

This is missing in this pretty dark and serious anime...

It seems like it wants to be fast paced without the boring explanations, which was a good intention, but overdone... Hei's motive was too vague.... Suou's motives were too vague.. the ending was COMPLETELY VAGUE and well... I didn't really get much enjoyment from going "WHAT THE FRICK IS GOING ON HERE?!?!?!"

Okay... so Shion made a second planet earth? Did only Suou and July move over there? What happens to Kirihara now? How is Yin doing? What was the point of those two twin dolls?

If you can answer all my questions, send me an explanation for the whole show... cuz that is the only thing driving me away from the experience...

I really enjoyed the first I guess season of Darker than black. It was entertaining, had a good story and enjoyable characters.

Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini is enjoyable as well, but not as enjoyable as the first season. It feels like a completely different series. Like someone has taken the characters from Darker than Black and put them into a different Tv show. So I will list some pros and cons of this series.

Pros

1. The action is good and Hei still kicks ass.

2. The story is good and quite interesting. Quite different from Darker than Black but still enjoyable.

3. ... The characters are quite well done, the new ones and old ones.

4. I really liked the intro and outro music, this is just personal taste here but it is really good and fits nicely with this series.

Cons

1. There isn't that much action, and what little action there is, is over quite quickly. Now I'm not saying there should be non stop action, but the fight scenes they did have could have easily been dragged out a bit to make them more exciting.

2. The story was confusing as hell for me. Now this comes down to a fault of my own, I didn't watch the OVAs that connect Darker than Black with this series. So because of that I was very confused in a lot of parts and couldn't quite figure out what was going on. So anyone reading this, watch the OVAs otherwise you won;t have a clue what is really happening.

3. It was really nothing like the first Darker than Black, which I mentioned above. So anyone who is a real diehard fan of the first season might not like this one as much, though casual watches will enjoy it. I'm not saying fans of the show will hate it, but don't go into it expecting it to be the same as Darker than Black.

4. Since I didn't watch the OVAs this series felt a bit to short for me and could maybe have been a couple episodes longer. Because of the shortness of it, you don't really care as much for the side characters in it.

In conclusion, this was still an enjoyable anime. It had some really great moments in it and is a good anime to watch when you have a day off and just want to chill out. Even if you forget to watch the OVAs like me it's still pretty good, just a lot more confusing.

Sooooo disappointed. I made an account just so i could whine about how dissatisfied i was with this follow up series. To avoid spoiling anything ill just talk about this in a very critical way. The first season had a episodic type feel (2 episode arcs) and that worked well for its story telling. This season moved away from it and had a full continuing story that revolved around a new character. I was annoyed by this child that i wanted to stop watching, im not sure what her character was suppose to represent but it didnt add any depth at all to the themes ... darker than black had in the first part. I probably can troll on and on about how much i disliked the presentation of the plot but to culminate all that, it ends on a very confusing, abrupt manner. The style and art was like the first so i dug it. The fights and inventive powers the contractors had are always cool, but the centralized story wasnt developed enough for me to give a rats arse. I hear they are making 4 ovas about WTF happened before, but i would have wished they had shown those things before instead of after. Too many questions unanswered with too many loose ends to have my satisfaction. I hope they make another series and instead of killing off the entire cast from before build on them and make the story have more depth and feel.

Darker than Black (the original season) is the best anime I have ever seen. It is very hard for me to choose a favorite, but if forced to pick just one, it would be Darker than Black. Every aspect of it is tightly woven to create this incredible tapestry of imaginative concepts, enjoyable characters, heady philosophies, mystery and suspense, beautiful art, emotional music, and most of all the story has a very deep, important and relevant message to deliver to viewers about society and the consequences of treating minority groups as subhuman and unequal. There is immense social value to the story outside of just ... entertainment and art.

Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor takes everything beautifully crafted by the first season and smashes it with a mallet. Unfortunately it does not find its way back together to form a cohesive story. The returning characters from the first series are portrayed in ways completely counter to everything that's been set up for them in the first season and there is no believable reason for it. It actually destroys some of the characters' images so badly they are no longer likable in the full context of the story, despite they were incredibly enjoyable characters in the first series. For example some have gone from caring individuals to abusive degenerates. Not to mention some characters who we were glad to see make it through the first series get expelled quite unceremoniously from the second, which is really disappointing, while some characters whose fates were hinted to be somewhat conclusive in the first series are brought back, making their story arc climaxes in the first season seem meaningless or much less effective.

For the most part, the abilities of the contractors are far less imaginative in Gemini and border on cliche. As for the story, it is boring, trite and convoluted, with an ending that seems random, makes no sense, and leaves many unanswered questions. There are some very unsettling themes such as child abuse and pedophilia, and when you see such potentially harmful themes in storytelling, it's important for the writer to handle them tactfully and clarify the significance of them in the context of the story. There's really no tact or significance to be seen here. It seems careless and thrown together.

If you want to know the positive things about this series (there are so few), some of the action scenes and fights are entertaining to watch. Seeing returning characters can be fun for a moment but watching where the writer has the audacity to push their storylines quickly becomes disappointing. My favorite part of most episodes was the ending credits because of the beautiful song "From Dusk Till Dawn" by Abingdon Boy's School (who sang the opener "Howling" in the first season). It's one of the few things in the series that invokes enjoyable emotions or a sense of beauty, sadly. I had a bad feeling when I saw that Yoko Kanno would not be scoring this series. She only signs on to quality projects, as far as I've seen. I knew that either the budget or time constraints of Gemini of the Meteor had likely prevented it from being able to achieve anything like what the first series did before I even saw it. Shame I was correct. I don't know if Kanno was offered and declined the role as composer, or if she was out of the budget altogether.

My biggest warning to those who have seen the first season and loved it and are considering seeing the second is this: If you watch this show, a lot of what you will see will go against what you saw in the first show and will warp your perception of events in the first show, potentially harming the experience next time you watch the first season. For many viewers, myself included, it is sort of a slap in the face. I have trouble believing that the same writer wrote both shows because the first is so evocative and intelligent, while the second attempts to convert the series into a magical girl anime and is riddled with controversial fan service that deconstructs the first series in quite unwelcome ways. The first series was a self-contained story that needed no expanding upon, so to even create a sequel risks a lot. It'd be like a sequel to Cowboy Bebop, which if I'm not mistaken, the creator of the series actually said the reason he wasn't interested in a sequel to that show is that it is better to leave people wanting more and quit while you're ahead.

I watched Gemini of the Meteor before ever hearing any opinions about it from other people or reviews, so I had no idea whether or not it was well-received when I watched it. My opinion emerged independently from that, and while it is disheartening in a way to know so many find it genuinely poor quality, I'm glad in a way that so many others can see how awful this anime really is because it gives me hope that the integrity of quality storytelling like we saw in the first series is valued and defensible among the anime community. Sadly, Gemini of the Meteor really manages to take the humanity out of Darker than Black, and if you ask me the humanity of the first season's story is the most important thematic element that gave the series it's freshness and substance.

I'll give them credit for changing the approach in the second season but at the same time I didn't enjoy it anywhere near as much as the first season.
While the girl has an interesting story I'm still ultimately more interested in the story of the Grim Reaper who spends a lot of the series moping around and powerless.
The show still has it's moments though and the powers and their penances are still cool and original. The music is once again absolutely brilliant and the animation is quitre strong.
The ending was a little bit confusing and unsatisfying for me. Hopefully we'll get another season that is ... more like the first as this felt more like a mini-series/spin-off.

I think most of the people that wrote the reviews for this season of DtB were ones that were enraged right after watching DtB:RnG. What I'm trying to say is that these reviews are biased.

In my opinion, I think that everyone, after watching DtB:RnG, should just let everything sink in for a couple of days and then write a review. This is because everyone should seriously admire the beauty of DtB:RnG because for a 12-episode season, it was seriously in depth and captivating.
Trust me, I liked the first season of DtB WAY better than the 2nd, and I want a 3rd season as much ... as the next guy. However, I can see how good the 2nd season was and why BONES wished to end it here.

Story:
The story of DtB:RnG takes place a few years after DtB did and now it is about Hei trying to stop Yin from awakening and letting the "Izanami" come out. The storyline for this was great except it raised a few questions. One question for example is: Why is Yin the doll that becomes Izanami? Why can't it be literally any other doll out there? If the story really is following the Izanami/Izanagi Myth(Mitaka documents), who is Izanagi? Who is Katsuguchi? Other than this, the storyline was well thought out and it did well enough for to entertain the DtB fans and inspired them to keep watching.

Art:
The artwork took a HUGE turn because it was WAY better than the first DtB. The sinister/dark/gloomy look of Russia and Tokyo were good, but not great.

Sound:
The soundtracks especially the ending credits were good. However at times I found myself giggling at how "immature" the music was when someone was talking/when a serious scene was going on.

Character:
Ah, this raised the most criticism in DtB:RnG. Now instead of Hei/Yin being the main protagonists, a new Russian girl by the name of Suou is the MC. When I first knew about this, i was furious. I almost dropped the anime. However I'm glad that I didnt because only for the first like 2 episodes it only focuses on Suou. After about 2 episodes, you completely forget that Suou is the main character because Hei gets as much screentime as an MC should be getting. I personally really liked Suou because as a 13-15 year old, she was strong and tough as nails to be getting along with the new Hei. Even in depressing situations she never seemed to give up and she was always strong. On the other hand, even though most people HATED the new Hei, I really liked him. The new bum-drunkard Hei is still the same Hei in the end except he becomes a more harsh, unshaven, long hair-dont care Hei. This didn't bother me because lets think for a moment. Hei lost most of the things he ever had in the 1st season of DtB. Now in the 2nd season, Hei lost the only thing he had left: Yin. It makes sense that he would become a depressed bum after literally losing everything he ever had. However, as the time goes on in DtB:RnG, the relationship that Hei and Suou develop is beautiful and its mainly because of Suou that Hei slowly reverts into the Hei that we know and love.

Enjoyment:
Overall, DtB:RnG was very pleasing to me. Even though the usual feel of DtB is gone, DtB:RnG still maintains the strong characteristics that DtB had.

Overall:
In the end, this anime, if given time to understand it, was great. The possibility of BONES producing a 3rd season is close to 0 since it has been 5 years since DtB:RnG was produced, and the ending of DtB:RnG was very satisfying because it ended in a way for the viewers to interpret the future however way they want to.

First of all this is my first review so it might not be the best but I'll try to explain whats needed to know briefly.

Before I start I know that there is what I like to call the "in-between season" that came AFTER this one but I'm only judging this series based on the first & the second season because 4 OVA episodes aren't enough for me to justify how they turned this season.

At the beginning this season starts as a mystery which is not really unusual for DTB however soon enough the mystery turns to be a confusion and more questions begin to raise ... in your thoughts like how there are some characters that are missing and no one mentions them and how the hell is this related to the first season??

unfortunately my friend this season will leave you with far more questions than answers. especially the ending. I don't know what the author was thinking when they thought of giving us the future then hey don't worry there's 4 OVA episodes that'll come soon and it'll explain the confusion. Well that doesn't always work. I understand that it is exciting when you show the results then you go back on show how everything led to this result but YOU DON'T DO IT FOR A WHOLE SEASON!!!!

Overall I don't really want to say the second season was disappointing but rather confusingly disappointing. They made this season so gloomy and changed the characters personality 180 without really giving a good reason and then at the end it was like hey remember Yin the one you was wondering where the hell she was in the whole season well shes...bad??

DTB was one of my fav animes and the second season really screwed it over but It's hard to admit that since it is a good anime overall. To anyone who watched the first season I advise you watch the in-between season before you watch the second season so the level of frustrating would hopefully be less.

I'm inevitably going to talk a lot about the first season in this review, due to having watched the both of them back to back - note that I haven't watched the OVA's supposed to connect them just yet. I don't there's any issue with that however, due to the fact that there's no reason anyone should be watching the second season first, and because there's quite some differences compared to the first season.

Where the original series got to drag on at leisure with it's episodic structure, having very little progress at all for most of it's run, the this series was only half the ... original's length and had to stick to a strict timetable to be able to tell it's story. Where the first season could develop a great array of good characters with detailed backstories due to this, the second season by comparison was able to create better main characters due to their development with the main story, but the side characters for the most part were left very unfinished and were offered absolutely no closure on.
Overall I greatly preferred the structure and main characters of the second season and due to that found it even more interesting to watch than the first season I already liked plenty. I believe the short length of the season prevented it from reaching it's potential, and especially the ending was highly unsatisfactory.
I liked how the series established a good number of strong characters right from the beginning, and did so through showing their personalities in action. This is an improvement over the first season and a necessary one at that. Due to not having the luxury to create in depth backstories for every character like in the first season they had to make strong first impressions to establish them instead - it's also arguably just a superior way to introduce characters, period.
This lead to some unfortunate consequences also, however. The characters were introduced perhaps even too fast, stealing the focus from each other frantically all over the first episodes. This was another consequence of the short length, presumably, as was the fact that most of these side characters ended up receiving no development at all despite being at times very important to the story. A good number of them ended up dying off surprisingly quickly, used seemingly just to develop the main characters, while the others were completely forgotten. In the end, I think a lot of them should have been ditched completely to create an even more focused experience.
What this resulted to was establishing the actual main characters even better, making them more interesting - if not likeable - right from episode 1, compared to the first season where they all had long arcs to establish them but barely actually developed at all. This set up a very good ground to build their bonds between each other, which were the driving forces of the entire plot. This is probably the best part of the entire anime, the fantastic development of the characters in the middle episodes of the season.
Sadly none of the characters received what they deserved with the end of the season. Most of them were simply forgotten completely in favor of trying to desperately wrap up a decent ending. What the main characters got in turn were was some incredibly vague and surreal garbage that starkly contrasted what had been established of the world thus far. While the supernatural is an important part of the story, the general feel of the series is also focused on cold hard reality in which the characters live in. I have similar conclusions on the first season, but the incompleteness made it even worse in this case.
Again, there's no way around the fact that the series needed more episodes. The ending was incredibly rushed, but even beyond that the series is missing many important parts. The side characters were left husks despite strong characterization, the main plot was very vague and ended as soon at it was established, and a lot of the attention to detail that was present in the first season is gone now, due to the simple lack of screen time.
The production of the show was all around good, and overall even better than the first show. It did however lack a lot of the attetion to detail that made the first season so interesting, as well as the humor was almost completely gone - probably since it didn't fit the tone of the story as well.
In conclusion, I really liked the show. Thinking as a whole, I think the first season was a way more satisfactory and complete viewing experience, but I honestly think the second season showed a lot more talent on the writers' part at least. The original was entertaining, something I'd watch when bored, but the focused experience and interesting characters of the second season really grabbed me, compelling me to watch it all in one go, always wanting to find out what happened next. Sadly the conclusion was less than satisfactory. I'd say it's about as good as the first season, with both lower ilows and higher highs, and overall being more to my liking in style.

Surprisingly, I had a little more enjoyment on this season than Kuro no Keiyakusha.
The story is focused on Yin and even if it's the same universe, it differs a lot from the season1.

I enjoyed this season more because it's a new way to see the characters. Unfortunately, there is still this lack of something in the story to give this anime an amazing power.

But the end let you like you need more, because it ends worth than season 1. I mean there's this "fake end" you have in canceld TV-shows which doesn't fills your attends. Don't get me wrong, I still like it, but ... I'm ashamed to see that it could ahve been ways better.

I've never been so angry with an anime before, this was like a slap in the face for DTB fans. To start the story was about a little girl becoming a contractor she either puts up with getting slapped around by our main leading character or staked by lolicons, so child abuse seems to be the general aspect of this story and Hei being betrayed as a drunk child beater ticks me off, he's my favorite character! The story dragged through pointless crap, got to the point where I justed started skipping through it. I honestly don't know what they were thinking this new ... girl was just annoying.

Darker than black! One of my all time favorite anime. The ending of the first season was sort of messed up I was SO happy to hear it was coming back BUT...
I saw the first episode and i thought, "What the heck? What's up with hei? Why's Suou the main character? What the hell's going on? I don't like this."
And then I watched the 2nd episode, 3rd episode, 4th episode, which is all that's been aired and I must say, it is as good as the first season. There are a lot of mysteries to be solved yes, but the action scenes are amazing, ... Suou's not bad and the new contractors are SO KICK ASS.
Since it IS DtB, so far the plot has a lot of loose ends, but its still excellent and I know that as the show goes on, we have loads more in store.
The opening and ending are very nice, the seiyuus are brilliant, the animation is pretty good, it has interesting characters though compared to the first season, a bit more flamboyant, and it keeps you on the edge of your seat as you watch the episode.
If you haven't watched Darker than black, go SEE IT NOW.
If you have but haven't started with this season, SEE IT NOW XD
Overall: 10. Even if its only 4 episodes.

Many people described this 2nd season of DtB as a shitty show which is nonsense and not worth watching. But I think they are wrong and this season is truly great after the 4 OVAs was released. Bones made a risky move with this show: first they gave us a vague and messy show and then they give explanations.

Story: 8
There are 2 parallel stories in this show: The adventure of Suou and the story of Hei searching for Yin. While the 2nd is quite hard to understand, the 1st is still absorbing and good. Don't let the 2nd interfere with it and you will find ... it interesting
Now I will talk about Hei's story. It was vague and quite messy without the 4 ovas, I agree with this, but with those 4, it is clearer and more concise. It's very good and deep, but most of the viewers can't understand it, so I give it an 8.
It's quite funny that Bones was successful in tricking us during the whole story. They intentionally make us believe in something wrong and then we feel that this show is full of plot holes. I can't tell you what it is because it is a big spoiler, but if anyone want to have the true answer to this series' story, leave me a message.

Art: 9
The action scenes are still awesome, in fact, they are longer and more breath-taking than those in the first season. There are only a few contractors, but their powers are interesting and cool, like Mizuki's energy saber or the Magician's true magic... Hei was designed as a drunken hobo but when he put on the mask and black suit, he is still cool.

Sound: 9
The opening song is great, the back ground music is awesome! When Hei first appeared, it was the BGM that made me feel like jumping out of the chair and dancing :D The ending song is quite normal though

Character: 8
Hei turned into a hobo and that was quite disappointed, but that will make people think: "What happend in the 2 years gap?" Suou is an interesting and strong-willed girl too, and Mao is still the funny part of the show.

Enjoyment: 9
When I finished watching it, the OVAs was still not released, so I feel very uneasy about the ending, like when I watch "The end of Evangelion" but when I watch the OVAs and understand all of the meaning of this show, I have to say this is truly great.

Overall: 8

Review on rewatch. S02 of Darker than Black exists only to show us to be careful what we wish for when we ask for another season of something good. The world would be better off without this. It takes the most interesting and cool character of the first season (Hei), neuters him, gives him alcoholism as a cheap has-been trope, then focuses on a new character nobody cares about. Everything that was interesting about the first season, from the noir vibe, to scifi intrigue, to funny or gripping side characters -- all this goes out the window with terrible writing.

This stands right up there ... with Haruhi Suzumiya's Endless 8 as far as biggest middle finger to the fanbase goes. If you want more of what makes the first season interesting, I'd try Psycho Pass or something else. S01 would've been better off as a standalone, including the OVAs which just open the door to the nonsense of S02.

Bad. Simple. The original Darker Than Black series was phenomenal, they used an intuitive way of telling a story though a bi-episodic manner (bar the last few episodes), but apparently a standard over-arcing storyline using a singular episodic structure reigns supreme. It would be ignorant and stupid to say that a bi-episodic structure is what would have made this a good series, as this specific story just couldn't be told in that way. Still, the fact remains that they decided on removing what, in my opinion, was one of the key features that made Darker Than Black a fantastic series.

... I'd like to mention at this point that I only saw the first two episodes before I had enough and dropped it, so don't bother reading the rest if you don't think my opinion is 'valid'.

Phew, okay, second point. Hei. In this series they creators seemed to think that Hei's character is something that people wouldn't mind being moulded to suit a certain situation. We see Hei in episode 1(?) talking to a member of the FBI getting work or something similar from him. This angered me because why the hell would Hei work for the FBI, it just isn't coherent from the last series. After Hei's removal from the Syndicate in the last series I would have expected him to go freelance or anything but work with the FBI. It's like if he worked with MI5, it just wouldn't (and shouldn't) happen, why? Because it's just not something that is coherent or easily justifiable. Also, giving away as minimal spoilers as possible, messing with a main character like they did at the end of episode 2 is just, dumb, illogical, and an insult to fans.

I don't want to end on a bad note when it comes to something Darker Than Black related as the first season is something I love and recommend regularly to people, so I'll talk about what I liked about the series (or, at least, what I saw of it). They managed to keep a magnificent art style to the series with very fluid animation, and they upheld a reputation of providing exceptional opening and ending themes. What was also good is the fact that they left a lot things in the first two episodes that could have had a huge impact later on in the series providing a 'Woah, that was fucking cool' feeling in audience members.

So, I'll conclude by saying that this series demonstrated more reasons as to why this is the biggest disappointment to Darker Than Black fans in the first two episodes than reasons as to why this is worth actually watching. I'll try Darker Than Black: Gaiden to see if this franchise has redeemed itself.

I was so exicited when I first heard that Studio Bones was making a new season of Darker Than Black. Then... images of 13-year old girls started cropping up, later it was revealed that one of these teenage girls would be featured in the series as a main character. Personly, Suou, her twin brother and her friends ruined the whole season for me.

Whether Bones found out that teenage girls, like myself, who hacked their parental controls and faked their age to watch the first season, then thought that because teenage girls like the series better than the males for whom the anime was originally made ... for that they would actually put silly little girls in a violent assassin/cop science-fiction anime. The reasons why so many girls watched the series is because it wasn't made for them, they didn't want to see a bunch of jolly femnale teenagers go depressed, if they wanted that they only had to watch some shoujou anime, not a shouen.

The season disapointed me, but I still watch it, good God I own it on DVD. I enjoy watching it, though I would much rather watch the first season. There were points in the 12 epsiode season where I really, really enjoyed watching it, mainly, they were the episodes of momment that had a lack of young females, but there was even scenes with then I liked.

Story.

When I first read about Darker Than Black season two I thought that it would explain more about Hei and his mysterious life in South America with Amber and Pai before Heaven's war. However, we never actually found out more about that matter, which, of course, disapointed me.

Still I like the idea of organisations at war with each other, which what Darker Than Black is mostly about, first season and second season. The mystery in the series always kept me on the edge of my seat every time I watched it for the first time.

Art.

The art and animation was brilliant as most animes from Bones are. The anime has high quaity animation and art without doubt.

Sound.

The voice acting was good in the Japanese versions, but the first season was dubbed by Funimation (like most of Studio Bones anime are), which probably means that the second season will be poorly dubbed by them too. Such a shame.

The music featured in the anime was good, yet the two songs that were in the opening and ending I disliked. But hey, we're all entitled to our own say.

Character.

Well, some of the characters changed a lot, most Hei, who turns from an assissin bishouen to a drunk and homeless tramp. By the second episode I wanted to reach out into the animation and cut off his pony tail, it just annoyed me so much.

Characters like Suou and her friends, being typical defenseless character irritated me as they could never stick up for themselves. Except for Suou and her brother, who seemed to kill anyone who got in their way them ran back crying to either Hei or their father.

Enjoyment.

Okay, so after all my ranting about the season, I still enjoyed it very much so. However, I would only recommend it to someone who had watched the first season.

Overall.

Overall I rate the season seven. There are some aspects that I dislike and others where I thoroughly enjoy it.

Just finished Darker Than BLACK - Ryuusei no Gemini. I had mixed prejudices about this anime before i watched it, i read some reviews saying it was so poor in comparison with the first series, but at the same time i couldnt wait to watch the sequel as the first series was so brilliant. I purposefully waited a while before watching the second series because i knew i would make too many comparisons if i didnt. I have judged this anime in its own right, it would score lower if i was rating it as a sequel.

Story - 7 - I really loved ... this story, it wasnt necessarily the sequel to series one as it didnt pick up where the old one left off and revolved around a completely different story. However i thought it was a great story arc with the exception of the ending which i feel fell into place a little to brutally and didnt make complete sense. That aside it was fantasticly compelling :D

Art - 7 - Maybe a bit generous on the art mark, its pretty generic stuff nothing spectacular but what i love about these series is if you're paying enough attention you see logo's of real companies all over the place woven into the scenes. (Look out for the Sony laptop)

Sound - 9 - OP and ED were great, Abingdon Boys School impressed me yet again

Character - 8 - Some awesome new characters as well as new sides and developments of old characters. I really empathised with the main character Suou, not because I necessarily knew how she felt but because as characters go she was well crafted. I dont want to go into too much detail for spoiler reasons but some of the development of old characters was interesting and horrifying at the same time. Cant wait for season 3 to build on all of this.

Enjoyment - 10 - As i left DTB alone after season 1 to avoid being overly critical of this series i can honestly i thoroughly enjoyed it. It makes a great stand alone story in its own right so long as you dont have too many expectations

Overall - 8 - I said at the begining that this was based on Ryuusei no Gemini alone and i have to say its a great series on all aspects so long as your expectations arent too high

when sequels pop up you find a lot of disappointed people to go with them. sequels have it tough because people expect more of the first, so the second they come up with a new story it's too different. in this case i'm sure everybody wanted to see more "hei and yin" and how they escape and all that. *also, be sure to watch dtb:gaiden before season 2, it may have come out afterwords but should be watched prior; saves you a lot of "wait, where the hell is yin" drama*. SO! try not to look at this as a continuation but rather a fresh ... new story that goes a long with starting a new anime, because this sequel does in fact have a story of it's own.

the story itself i would grade better than season 1, frankly because the story in season 1 seemed forced into the end *like when you start writing a book, going really great, 100 pages in... then wait, what should the climax be?* also, i really hate filler episodes, season 2 doesn't really have any *probably just because it is only half as long as season 1* - could just be my own speculation but i liked the art in season 2 better as well, they didn't really change anything but quality wise anyway...

intro song - approved ^.

It slightly pains me to write this review because I have to write it completely based off this season alone, which dropped my overall Darker than Black score for me. And please note that this review in no way is based off the first season as well.

Darker than Black is set in a world where these mysterious and deadly things called Hell's Gate and Heaven's Gate appear and with it came along humans with super powers (called contractors because they each have a toll to pay for their power) and dolls, who are lifeless humans. There are many different organizations that are trying to ... uncover the truth of the Gates and part of one of them is Hei, the main protagonist. Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini still follows this plot but now everyone is racing to get ahold of Izanami and Izanagi, the new turning points to the story.

Story 6/10 - I couldn't grab hold of what was happening during a lot of the anime. The characters were jumping from place to place and a very weak plot was followed during this point. The storyline then picked up towards the end but it was still quite confusing and everything seemed a little rushed. The ending itself just left you mind blown (in the worst way possible) and the details leading up to it seemed random and pety.

Art 10/10 - This is an area where this anime cannot drop at all. As the rest of the series, the art was exceptional. The scenery was always well done and the amount of detail put into the background always shocks me. The fighting scenes are always done well and just seem oh so cool.

Sound 7/10 - The sound was decent and could have been a lot better. At the start, scenes which lacked complete excitement were over played with heart racing music which made the misplacement really easy to pick up on. Sometimes emotional sound tracks played while the scene lacked emotion which again was easy to pick out. But as per the first season, the OP and ED were amazing and really suited the style of the anime.

Characters 8/10 - The characters in this season took on a girly aura, there seemed to be a lot of feelings and love which felt out of place. We saw a whole new side of Hei this season and new characters were introduced. Most characters played a short role but their character art and personality were still unique. Shou was the main character in this season and she is portrayed as an innocent young girl which is different to see in such a dreading future and she is shown to see spots of happiness. We also get to see a deeper side of July.

Overall, I give Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini a 7/10. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first season or the OVAs but it was still a good watch. There were enjoyable scenes but I feel as though it had a lot more potential.

"Friends, huh? Even that very word is foreign to me."

A Review of "Darker Than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini":

So, I assume any interest in this show comes from having watched the first season already, so I'm doing this review on the basis that you've seen Kuro no Keiyakusha.

So this show feels like a very good continuation of the Darker Than BLACK series, and yet, it feels entirely unique all the same. That's not because the main characters are shifted around or because this season is half as long, but it genuinely feels different in overall tone. However, some things remain the same, such as some bland ... characters and crucial parts of the story not being explained well (which were the two things that greatly plagued the first season). That being said, the story, in my opinion, was much better than season one. It's not that season 1's episodic format and mini-arcs were bad, but having one continuous story feels like it fits the story of Darker Than BLACK much better.

Lots of characters from season one make a reappearance and they're essentially the same, and the new characters honestly don't bring that much to the show, except for the new main, Suou, who is pretty much the driving force behind the show.

Sound and animation are very similar to season one, as they definitely should be, with the soundtrack adding a lot to the story (though I don't consider it nearly as good as the first season's) and the animation being very dark and atmospheric, though it does feel SLIGHTLY brighter, but that's probably due to a lot of the show taking place in snowy territory.

Overall, Gemini of the Meteor is a competent second season that fits the first very well, being both radically different and very similar. It does suffer from the same things as season one, but it does so to a lesser degree and it works very well.

Positives:
+The opening theme "Tsukiakari no Machishirube" is PERFECT and instantly became one of my top favorites
+Interesting story that develops heavily off of season one
+Sound and animation are solid throughout
+Some characters, such as Suou, really drive the show and make it more interesting
+Quality show from start to finish, unlike season one which took some time to get used to

Negatives:
-The ending was completely unexplained and confusing
-Lots of characters are dull and uninspired
-Half the length of the first season, which wouldn't be bad if the ending didn't feel so rushed

If you enjoyed season one of Darker Than Black, you may very well enjoy this season. Then again, you may not, as both season feel different in very prominent ways. The only thing I can say about this show is to give it a shot, because whether or not you liked season one, you may enjoy this season. I don't know; it's really 50/50.
And that's why Darker Than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini gets a 7 out of 10

I....I wanted to like this show. I really did. The first season could have been better, but that's a different story. Perhaps I had high expectations, but when have the sequels ever beat the original? Darker than Black's universe easily could have brought epicness and awesomeness in a second season; instead, my hopes are dashed and I am left wondering: what happened?

Story: 7/10

WHAT HAPPENED HERE. This isn't a second season; it should be the first season of a different show in the same universe. The main character is now a side character and is replaced by a Russian girl?? I don't understand. I wanted to ... like the direction the story went, but it was just....bleh. And not to mention nothing was memorable. No scenes, no places, no plot twists - it all melded together like a gushy banana. No one wants a crushed banana. Besides the fact that nothing really stood out, the story chugged along anyway, grinding my nerves down to dust.

Art: 9/10

The artwork was, as expected, gorgeous. There never really was a time where I doubted what world this was, and how depressing everything is. Happiness is as rare as safety, and they kept the artwork stellar the entire time. This was where the show really shone; from here, it goes downhill very quickly.

Sound: 8/10

The sound was good as well. The intro and ending were both fresh and new from the first season instead of recycled, and it was a nice addition. Still, the original soundtrack was better. This one wasn't bad, however; the moments where epic music was needed, there was epic music. The voice acting, was, as usual, stellar.

Character: 6/10

I....I was disappointed here. Hei becomes this.....this pitiful excuse of what he used to be. Mao...what happened to you? The main character was whiny. And her power was so unorthodox from what everyone else had. There were hiccups and random unnecessary scenes here and there, and the characters themselves seemed static and unchanging. No one was memorable enough to really remember if and when they stopped appearing in the story, and continually I had trouble trying to remember the minor characters because there seemed to be so many of them. Overall, it was a disappointing cast.

Overall: 7/10

This fell far flat from my expectations and I was thoroughly disappointed to where the story led to and eventually ended on a weird note. The storyline seemed to stray far from the original, and the characters remained flat and irritatingly normal most of the time. I was expecting bigger and better - but I got a slimmed down version of what should have been something extraordinary. I stand by my score.