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Dec 31, 2009 7:47 PM
#301
So Shion make Suou another world that she can live in... "You don't need that to where you're going." Suou went to heaven along with July. (heaven that Shion slowly created over the time) the only big WTF I'm getting is the izanagi and izanami thing with Yin and Shion... Nother dangerous really happened. A bit weaker than the first season, but they're about the same both get 7/10 from me. |
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Dec 31, 2009 7:56 PM
#302
can't believe I waited a whole week for this... let's all agree that this episode was the rushiest of them all... key plot points all revealed at once. Bam, bam, bam. Shion made 9000 copies of things. Oreille and Doctor P. had a supercomputer. Genma was the one who killed their team member. For the last episode you'd think there'd be some action. Nope. We are not going to see Hei own, we are not going to see Suou shoot any better than before (80% miss, and a headshot that doesn't kill), we are not even shown the fight between hazuki and genma!! The only action is that of Hei getting owned. The entire plot hinges on shion's copy powers. The main character was his copy. The new earth was his copy. The supercomputer's data was there for him to copy. Copy, copy copy. Kid's gotta own if he can copy an entire planet and populate it with billions of copied people (whose memories are not going to fade even though none of them had meteor shard necklaces.) A word about the romantics who want Hei to end up with someone: he didn't end up with misaki that's for sure (they got along quite well in s1, s2 not so much) Hei had a lil moment with suou but then she shuffled over to the other realm. That's it. And you see Hei end up with Yin OH WAIT Yin's dead. No Hei x Yin for you. But you see at the end of each season Hei gets to kiss someone. It was Amber in season one, but in season two none of you guessed who it was... haha. |
Dec 31, 2009 9:04 PM
#303
Everyone who says this season was rubbish or didn't like the ending are people who are to afraid to think for themselves. This was episode was really good, left a lot to open and for the viewer to come up with answers for. But i overall enjoyed it. It's probably going to take me awhile to put everything together. This season was overall better than the first one, less episodic(Beside a few episodes) and characters seemed to evolve more throughout the series. Overall a 7/10(Will probably bump this up to an 8 as i think about it more). |
Dec 31, 2009 11:53 PM
#304
burntlettuce said: Everyone who says this season was rubbish or didn't like the ending are people who are to afraid to think for themselves. *snip* Generalisation much? Personally, I like "thinking" type series as much as anyone, but the problem here is that 90% of the pieces came in the last one or two episodes. The other problem with the ending is not openness per se, it's because it's openness that opens up completely new questions not even touched on in the first season, which makes it feel like Bones is just milking the brand name for all it's worth, with no regard for the plot. |
Jan 1, 2010 1:11 AM
#305
This season have pretty much explain about everything they had... with the exception of izanagi and izanami. overall, I actually like the characters of this season a lot better than the last, seeing Tanya's changes and how Nika reacted to it. The OP is kinda misleaing though T_T I was expecting Suou to be fully trained by episode 4~5 and she'll start searching for her brother like a journey or something... Well, that's just me... |
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Jan 1, 2010 3:10 AM
#306
I thought it was relatively easy to understand the general jist of the ending. There where a lot of unanswered questions though. As people before mentioned, the earth that Suou ended up on at the end was a complete copy created by her brother. All the memory's of contractors from the past that where stored in the ME along with any contracters that wished it, where then transported to Yin's other self as a Noah's ark if you will. Her other half's job was to transport the memory's/souls of the contractors to this new earth where they could live their lives as the humans that they once where. We can assume the ME only contained the memories of when they where human. The contractor parts where left out to prevent the same mistakes from happening on this new earth. Whether or not Yin's dark half is a copy is not really clear. I'm sure once the prequel OVA's come out we'll find out. Also I believe the person in the coffin at the end is the offspring of Yin. In the epitaph, the second half that the head Section 3 guy reads off, he says "When it becomes full, Izanami will reach her final month of pregnancy". We can assume "becomes full" means full of memories/souls considering the whole end has everyone's little blue specters flying around her with some going inside her. Whether or not Hei was the spark that caused Yin to become pregnant remains to be seen, again we'll most likely find out in the OVA. It's much more likely that her constant evolving eventually gave birth to the next step in the doll evolutionary chain and Hei's guilt is because he feel's he caused her evolution. Whatever the case may be the new Yin hybrid looks like Humanity and the Contractor's worst enemy, just like the epitaph mentions. In the last scene when it wakes up, it sucks both the human soldier's and Agent Smith's Specters out (assuming agent smith was a contractor). As for the magician....he's magical lol. In all seriousness though half of his face looked crushed anyway so I'm sure he someone survived but didn't managed to get away unscathed. What I find funny is how he managed to get to the outer core terminal in hells gate, which was considered extremely hard last season, without a specter for him to follow. It gives me the feeling that there's more to him that what we all initially thought. PS. speaking of Hells Gate, why did it feel like they left that place unguarded? It felt like almost anyone could just walk in there and do what they wanted lol. Did Pandora just give up on caring that the Gate might cause something bad? |
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Jan 1, 2010 4:41 AM
#307
I really loved the music as well. It fitted in perfectly. |
Jan 1, 2010 5:08 AM
#308
So... all the people who died are on the other Earth that Shion created. However, there is still one fucked up world where Hei killed Yin in order to stop the destruction of the planet itself. What the fuck? Am I even on the right track? The fact that they were in the gate allowed Yin to grant Shion's wish to transfer all those people to the new Earth as a present to Suou who Shion thought should live a normal carefree life. Hei is missing, Yin is dead, a new doll-like thing is killing CIA members and the Syndicate is dead to be replaced by another Syndicate bent on finding out what happened. At least this means that there is going to be a 3rd season. It's like a big circle ending with the same officer looking for another set of answers. |
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Jan 1, 2010 10:28 AM
#309
While I'm not really too confused concerning the plot of the episode/season, I still think that the season should have been longer, or at least this last episode split into two. There was just too much that I wanted to see explored that was relegated to being referenced in Kirihara's ending monologue. Speaking of Kirihara though, while I'm not so sure about a straight-up Hei x Misaki ending, I really wanted to see more interaction between her and a Hei. I always liked their dynamic in season one, what with the drama the whole Misaki-Li-Hei triangle created. Then again, DtB is more about the action (I think?) and the show seems to lean more towards Hei x Yin, but whatever. Also, LOLWUT at the agency-head-dude-with-glasses pulling the Rambo at the end, what with the ripped up shirt, gun, and cheesy one-liner. Honestly, I think they were trying to top Norio's cake-eating scene in terms of moment killing. |
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Jan 2, 2010 5:44 AM
#310
I think Yin was copied by Shion so the copied Yin could stay on Earth(old) where contractors exist to continue killing people and send their memories to the new Earth. And for the last part most probably Hei and Yin killed each other so their memories would be send to the new Earth as well, by the copied Yin. However i dont think Shion was send to the new Earth..cause i dont remember seeing him. Or i might be wrong...Yin and Hei might still be alive on the old Earth..like what the girl with specs said at the last part of episode 12 " Even so, i believe that he is still alive ". ---> referring to Hei And you see Hei carrying Yin on his arms. So to make it easier to understand, Shion just copied the Earth and everybody on the old Earth...and Yin just kills people to send their memories to the new Earth where contractors and hellgate doesn't exist..a peaceful life everybody wished for. However i'm not sure why Shion died...maybe for the same reason? |
Jan 2, 2010 8:00 AM
#311
Did not like this ending at all. It's just a whole lot of 'wtf moments'. It is a shame we'll have to wait for another season just to know what's going on. |
Jan 2, 2010 7:19 PM
#312
Jan 3, 2010 3:14 AM
#313
Third season. Now. But seriously, I didn't see any 'wtf moments'. It was, in my opinion, a brillant ending, though I really want to know what happened to Hei. |
Jan 3, 2010 8:38 AM
#314
Why did they milk this show? The first season was nice. Period. There was no need to do this wtf-fest.Pedo scenes, strange character appearances, and NO Amber... I'm sad. |
Jan 3, 2010 2:46 PM
#315
A lot of unanswered questions indeed. Definitely needs a season 3 or else the entire series fails. By the way...doesn't Misaki Kirihaha look like Bayonetta here? http://i49.tinypic.com/mhfre8.jpg |
Jan 4, 2010 1:17 AM
#316
Wow. Talk about a thorough disappointment. I had high hopes for this season after watching the first episode, but it quickly took a direction I didn't like and went downhill (or rather, ran off a cliff) from there. This entire season didn't feel like Darker than Black at all. I tried hard to like it, I really did, but I just couldn't. Especially with Suou usurping Hei's role as the protagonist. I went in expecting Darker than Black and instead got some lame-ass drama centered around a hormonal teenager. I watched the episodes consecutively and I still didn't understand what was going on half the time. The writers were too ambitious with such a low episode count. From all the plot developments being thrown at me and the appalling amount of unnecessary characters that added nothing to the plot at all (Ilya, Russian guy who wanted to kill Ilya, Tanya, Nika, Norio, Norio's parents, the list could go on), it was hard to keep track of what was going on. Combining the whacked up story with the incessantly annoying protagonist, extreme lack of Hei and Yin, and a poorly executed ending made this season very unenjoyable for me. I did not like the ending. Yin... *boohoo* And what was with that Hei and Suou scene at the end there? Talk about out of nowhere and uncharacteristic of Hei. The only redeeming points of this season for me was the music and watching Mao and July. walk said: This ending just reiterated Suou's uselessness as a character. Honestly, she did not do SHIT the entire season except annoy most fans with her Sailor Moon transformation. The only reason she existed at all was because of Shion, but this could have all happened without her, too. She played such an insignificiant role, and the fact that she was the protagonist in this new season is utterly laughable. Couldn't agree with you more. But honestly, I think the entire basis for the second season is weak in the first place. I mean, Shion, a contractor, going to such lengths to "reviving" his sister and even giving his life to recreate a peaceful world...simply for his sister's sake? How very unlike a contractor to do so. I suppose it goes back to the whole debate of whether or not a contractor truly loses his/her emotions, but that won't change the fact that the story was poorly-executed. Isu said: Put simply, this season was bad. Removing everything about Hei that made him awesome in S1. "Replacing" him with a totally useless loli character that does nothing the entire season. Rushing the ending so much so that nothing makes sense. Having said that, I'd watch another season so long as it focuses on the actual main characters. I mean the ones that don't suck. AGREED. Except I'll watch another season anyway in hopes that it will rectify what a crapfest the second season was and wash away its bitter aftertaste. There SHOULD be a third season! XD The OVA episodes will clarify what's happened to Yin, at least. Well, even after this lengthy rant, I might like this season a bit more after letting all the information sink in and watching the OVAs. I do have one nagging question though... was there any indication of the Syndicate's presence in this season and I just totally missed them?? Hei had the CIA, MI6, FSB, and Section 3 after him, but I don't remember anyone mentioning the Syndicate other than at the end when Misaki said the Syndicate's age was over. I guess that means their organization has collapsed...? Makes me really curious who was behind the whole thing in the first place. |
sheruchanJan 4, 2010 2:19 AM
Jan 4, 2010 2:51 AM
#317
Sheruchan, you seem to me like a prime example of someone who doesn't like change. TV programs like Darker than BLACK can't win in the situation you sound like your describing, saying Suou is a useless character, or that Hei was bad because he was unlike he was in the first series. Whereas, if it had been like the first series, many would moan it was too much like more of the same. Like life, you have to evolve and adapt to stay interesting, and thats what BONES looks like it tried to do. And people are moaning at that. If you don't like change, go and watch an ongoing series like Naruto + Shippuden. The ending was NOT wtf, if you put your mind together and rewatch the series, while some of it was rushed, it can be understood. But you have rely on your own ability to put pieces together to understand it. If you think its a mind-fuck, then watch Ep. 25&26 of Evangelion (which to a certain extent, can also be understood). The Syndicate is a completely different story/arc to what S2 was trying to show, hence why there was a lack of their presence. It just happened that with the CIA taking over Japan, they were mentioned as the CIA knew of their exsistence and wanted to filter them out, hence why it collapsed. |
Jan 4, 2010 12:10 PM
#318
SpudUK said: Sheruchan, you seem to me like a prime example of someone who doesn't like change. TV programs like Darker than BLACK can't win in the situation you sound like your describing, saying Suou is a useless character, or that Hei was bad because he was unlike he was in the first series. Whereas, if it had been like the first series, many would moan it was too much like more of the same. Like life, you have to evolve and adapt to stay interesting, and thats what BONES looks like it tried to do. And people are moaning at that. If you don't like change, go and watch an ongoing series like Naruto + Shippuden. I don't like change because I didn't enjoy a sequel to one out of many series...? I don't think anybody likes stagnation. I appreciate change well enough, but there are good changes as well as bad changes and I'm saying I didn't like the changes in DtB2. Change is welcomed, but there should also be some consistency (like, say, Hei as the protagonist?), otherwise there will be no flow. I appreciate what BONES tried to do and some elements still shone through to me, but in the end, the story just didn't appeal to me. Funny you should mention Naruto because I do watch it. I don't really like Shippuden either, but that's another story, haha. SpudUK said: The ending was NOT wtf, if you put your mind together and rewatch the series, while some of it was rushed, it can be understood. But you have rely on your own ability to put pieces together to understand it. If you think its a mind-fuck, then watch Ep. 25&26 of Evangelion (which to a certain extent, can also be understood). I never said the ending was WTF, but poorly-executed. It was difficult to keep track of what was going on, but I do understand what happened at the end. SpudUK said: The Syndicate is a completely different story/arc to what S2 was trying to show, hence why there was a lack of their presence. It just happened that with the CIA taking over Japan, they were mentioned as the CIA knew of their exsistence and wanted to filter them out, hence why it collapsed. Okay. I didn't miss anything, then. XD |
Jan 4, 2010 1:31 PM
#319
sheruchan said: I don't like change because I didn't enjoy a sequel to one out of many series...? I don't think anybody likes stagnation. I appreciate change well enough, but there are good changes as well as bad changes and I'm saying I didn't like the changes in DtB2. Change is welcomed, but there should also be some consistency (like, say, Hei as the protagonist?), otherwise there will be no flow. I appreciate what BONES tried to do and some elements still shone through to me, but in the end, the story just didn't appeal to me. Funny you should mention Naruto because I do watch it. I don't really like Shippuden either, but that's another story, haha. While I disagree, I'll appreciate how you feel about it. Down to interpretation I guess. I felt Suou added to it while not being too much in Hei's way. But it was quite obvious what Hei's intentions were from the start. They probably concentrated on Suou because it wasn't the case as Hei (Where Shion was, What a contractor can do, finding her father etc. although not all intended). sheruchan said: I never said the ending was WTF, but poorly-executed. It was difficult to keep track of what was going on, but I do understand what happened at the end. By this point, I was talking in general rather than directed at you so apologies for not making that clearer. Ending wasn't great but I felt it was understandable to an extent, hence the comment I made. sheruchan said: Okay. I didn't miss anything, then. XD You mentioned about the Syndicate so mentioned a possibility of what happened to them. Hei was curious about the Sydicate and what morals were behind their actions to an extent in the first series. He didn't care in this one, and the Hells gate narrative made it hard for them to be incorporated in somewhere. Hence the lack of anything from them. ;) |
Jan 4, 2010 7:29 PM
#320
Jan 5, 2010 1:01 PM
#321
WALL OF TEXT OF DISAPPOINTMENT Wow, they managed to make DtB 2 even worse <3 First of all, the first season was enjoyable because it had a bright, chipper, Japanese form of noir feel to it. It had simple plots, but they were hard to complain about . good ol' salami writing, it works and doesn't make you sick. It didn't have much character development, but did have some clever moments of character revealing (especially for Huang. Who I incidentally missed a lot this time around). And it looked flawless, not amazing, but standard BONES flawless. It was basically a fine work. I quite liked how they didn't even begin to explain what on Earth the whole stars-disappearing business was, and it worked since it wasn't a plot point as much as flavour plot background. This season around was just... an incredible display of butchery of potential. First and most gratingly: Hei. What. The. Hell. Now I appreciate characters going totally unexpected courses as much as anyone. But I also appreciate it being shown in process. That's characer development. Our jump from slightly-human, jolly food-eating, sometimes-torturer somteimes-nice-guy badass to a hobo alcoholic who spends his time bitchslapping children would in itself make for a great story. Only it wasn't told. It was only barely alluded to, even. So they didn't show, but they didn't tell either, they just... did. That is incredibly bad writing. Leaving things for us to figure out ourselves may be a powerful device used cleverly, but this was just used lazily. We were shown a few clips of Hei screaming YIN over a heap of dead bodies, and that was as far as allusion to explanation of this drastic character change goes. Bad, bad character writing, that. At least his slide back to his old self - which never completed - was shown, even if it was a rather dull and bland type of character development. Second and pretty much as gratingly: The plot itself. Now as said, DtB 1 had a lot of totally unadressed mystery. And that worked, because it was flavour and groundwork, and it made sense no one knew anything about what was going on, and it was not at all important to the plot to understand it - the contrast of scale between the huge mystery of what the hell happened to the world, and the assassinations, mystery-muckracking and eating copious amounts of noodles, was nice and noir. This story more or less dropped that contrast, and thus lost a lot of the finely sculpted mood of the first any kind of mood. That may be subjective, of course; mood being what it is. So to put it more precisely, DtB 2 had no real thematic elements or forms of mood-setting. One might say that, hey, wait, this Izanami and Izanagi deal is mighty mysterious. However, it's importantly different in one salient respect - it's fucking important to the plot! How do we know their meeting will end the world? How will it end the world? Why? Why should we CARE? Is it even sure, why do they treat it as so sure? One'd think Hei of all people would have serious doubts, as he cared a lot for Yin once upon a time. So what convinced him? We don't get to see that. It's very important that we see something like that. How did Yin even BECOME Izanagi? Was she always? Why do the Americans think she is an energy source instead? Et cetera. And furthermore - what happened to the urgency of this? Iazanagi and Izanami meet. The world doesn't end. We don't feel much urgency or importance to the event at all. Of course, it's not really what does happen, but the characters had no way to know. Really, it's fll of so much nonsense. The motivations of characters in the first season were generally quite clear. But not so here. What did Madame Oreille want? Save the world I guess, but why side with the people she did in the way she did? It made little to no sense, she just did what she did because the writers needed a good way to give characters the information they needed to advance the plot. That's bad writing. Shizume and Kirihara has the clearest and most easily understood (though Kirihara is just ridiculous, what happened to her? How did she become so obsessed with Hei? I suppose, given how some fangirls act, it's comprehensible and possible, but she really doesn't seem the type for such fawning), but the rest... get muddy. And they introduced a lot of elements which doesn't matter at all. Like Hazuki's grandfather, and her dislike of him. Like the significance of Mao meeting Suou's mother that time on the stairs. Like that freaking pædophile we wasted three episodes with. And so on. None of them added anything to any plot whatsoever. And when Gai and that pink-haired girl add more to the story in five minutes of screentime than you do in three episodes, then you're a seriously bad mistake of writing. They didn't even fully utilise several promising setups, like Tanya or some of the fun contractors. Throw in, rinse, and forget what happened, was the course of the day. Yes, there will be a OVA explaining why. Maybe. That doesn't save this season from the sin of just throwing shit into an already established world with no justification just to get some plot going. Lastly, and this is more personal, I couldn't care for any character. Of course, the bad character writing is partly responsible, but such trifles haven't stopped me from adoring characters before. Still, I loved Hazuki and found Sizuma and July agreeable. Good thing Hazuki survived, that made the experience worth it. This last episode was a further exploitation of all those faults of the season. The one thing I thought was going to be awesome was Sizume and Hazuki duking it out... But nope. Nothing shown, past Sizume dead. (Maybe.) It had tons of similar 'TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT' events. Nothing much is shown, and barely even told - though admittedly, Sion's gift to Suou was shown rather cleverly. Kudos to the writer for not unnecessairly burdening us with exposition on what happened there. So basically, the wording may be show don't tell, but at least tell, or imply, things. Don't just... Do. I did enjoy this season (thanks to two more or less incidental side-characters), but it was also very bad. I've not even begun with all the misgivings I have with this. Shame on ya, BONES :c |
KaiserpingvinJan 5, 2010 1:04 PM
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Jan 5, 2010 2:10 PM
#322
Totally agree with Kaiser, except on two points: 1. Kirihara's obsession was explained, and pretty understandable to me: Hei is her first major crush, and she's treating him the same way any other teenage girl would--not seeing past his faults, and holding him to a ridiculous standard. I wish it would have been broken by the end of this show, but it didn't. 2. July. He's the most charming character this season, and even though he said little to nothing, he had the most profound development. Watching him grab Suou and run is miles away from where he was in the first season. The only touching thing that happened the whole season. |
Jan 5, 2010 2:24 PM
#323
noteDhero said: 1. Kirihara's obsession was explained, and pretty understandable to me: Hei is her first major crush, and she's treating him the same way any other teenage girl would--not seeing past his faults, and holding him to a ridiculous standard. I wish it would have been broken by the end of this show, but it didn't. I understand her obsession... Just not why it took over her personality. She had more to her than that. noteDhero said: 2. July. He's the most charming character this season, and even though he said little to nothing, he had the most profound development. Watching him grab Suou and run is miles away from where he was in the first season. The only touching thing that happened the whole season. Agreed. Hazuki and Sizume I like for... Well, not for sophisticated reasons. July was nicely written though. |
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Jan 5, 2010 2:34 PM
#324
Did she? All I remember of her from the first season was how she was this really self-righteous cop who, once she got tangled up in the BK-201 mess totally lost her perspective. It only seemed natural that after however long of seeing the star disappear that she would really lose herself in the case not having felt any closure. And it's still the same. She really was stagnant this season, from my point of view. |
Jan 5, 2010 5:00 PM
#325
She was a much better character in the first season. Her goal in life was to be a cop, and the effect BK-201 had on her and seeing the truth of the organization she was working under had a profound effect on her that ended up twisting her character around a bit, and thereby made her interesting (From how I interpreted it, that is). In this season, they introduced her in a reasonable position - Demoted for her actions. Then they made her the most boring character, arguably. All she did from then on was hog up screentime, either talking to Shizume (Which did nothing, considering all they ever said was "Hey, let's exchange info.", and then say nothing more) or sitting in front of a computer looking up stuff then finding stuff that that lead us nowhere (Ex: "Izanami?" Oh wait, the audience has heard this come up, what, 50 times already and we still have no idea what it is). Season 1, while essentially having no plot, at least had consistent and interesting contractors to introduce each episode. That entire season was about the oddities and misconceptions of the so-called "emotionless" contractors, and the way things were shrouded in mystery was actually pretty good. July is a great character in this season because they took a character that actually did something profound in the first season (Stating that he would miss November 11th), and in this season, unlike literally every other character, improved and become even more profound. In short, he was definitely the best character. I feel like they tried to develop Hazuki and Shizume but ended up failing in the long run. Like Kaiser said, Hazuki's grandfather showed up and they showed that she had a bad relationship with him, but really, it was completely random and had no relevance to the rest of the plot. Shizume was charming, but his character pretty much got no development and was pretty weird - The betrayal wasn't really explained whatsoever, and apparently a Tank Rifle shooting you straight through the forhead can't kill a guy because he has concrete armor on. I hate to bring up Season 1 to contrast with this, but this season was essentially the first season without the interesting character nor the action. You could go as far and say that Darker than Black is pretty much Anime X-Men. Looking back at all of the episodes, you can see clear stalling, followed by an ending that was even more rushed than the previous one and fifty times as horrible. Suou was terrible and should never be brought up again. In fact, if they do make a Season 3 (Which I'm not even sure I want anymore), I'm just going to pretend she never existed (Which isn't hard, considering she was never relevant despite being the protagonist). I would love to rant more, but there isn't much to add to the conversation. Kaiser pretty much said it all. The show's ranking is going down quickly, and for good reason. P.S. I have a strange obsession with making ranking lists out of almost anything, and I feel like a DtB2 List would be fairly easy to make, so here's my thoughts. Quintin Tarantino Tier: Goran Top: July High: Gai & Kiko Ilya/August 7th Mao Mid: Hei Hazuki Garbage: Everybody else |
JustVisiting03Jan 5, 2010 5:04 PM
Jan 5, 2010 6:34 PM
#326
Kaiserpingvin said: Ok, ok I find this the best logical disappointment written except on one point.....the point of what would have taken to make this a better season. Personally I though that Suou was a great character and her development was nicely done but not properly I would say. Also I think the OVAs will explain somethings Kaiser said but will it make up all this season? I don't think so personally. July was the best developed and it was because Suou was involved with him. I think the biggest mistake was not to bring back Hei's powers and also to not have explained Madame Oreille. Now read my theory about that in a different thread on this forum....which no one bothered to take a look.WALL OF TEXT OF DISAPPOINTMENT Wow, they managed to make DtB 2 even worse <3 First of all, the first season was enjoyable because it had a bright, chipper, Japanese form of noir feel to it. It had simple plots, but they were hard to complain about . good ol' salami writing, it works and doesn't make you sick. It didn't have much character development, but did have some clever moments of character revealing (especially for Huang. Who I incidentally missed a lot this time around). And it looked flawless, not amazing, but standard BONES flawless. It was basically a fine work. I quite liked how they didn't even begin to explain what on Earth the whole stars-disappearing business was, and it worked since it wasn't a plot point as much as flavour plot background. This season around was just... an incredible display of butchery of potential. First and most gratingly: Hei. What. The. Hell. Now I appreciate characters going totally unexpected courses as much as anyone. But I also appreciate it being shown in process. That's characer development. Our jump from slightly-human, jolly food-eating, sometimes-torturer somteimes-nice-guy badass to a hobo alcoholic who spends his time bitchslapping children would in itself make for a great story. Only it wasn't told. It was only barely alluded to, even. So they didn't show, but they didn't tell either, they just... did. That is incredibly bad writing. Leaving things for us to figure out ourselves may be a powerful device used cleverly, but this was just used lazily. We were shown a few clips of Hei screaming YIN over a heap of dead bodies, and that was as far as allusion to explanation of this drastic character change goes. Bad, bad character writing, that. At least his slide back to his old self - which never completed - was shown, even if it was a rather dull and bland type of character development. Second and pretty much as gratingly: The plot itself. Now as said, DtB 1 had a lot of totally unadressed mystery. And that worked, because it was flavour and groundwork, and it made sense no one knew anything about what was going on, and it was not at all important to the plot to understand it - the contrast of scale between the huge mystery of what the hell happened to the world, and the assassinations, mystery-muckracking and eating copious amounts of noodles, was nice and noir. This story more or less dropped that contrast, and thus lost a lot of the finely sculpted mood of the first any kind of mood. That may be subjective, of course; mood being what it is. So to put it more precisely, DtB 2 had no real thematic elements or forms of mood-setting. One might say that, hey, wait, this Izanami and Izanagi deal is mighty mysterious. However, it's importantly different in one salient respect - it's fucking important to the plot! How do we know their meeting will end the world? How will it end the world? Why? Why should we CARE? Is it even sure, why do they treat it as so sure? One'd think Hei of all people would have serious doubts, as he cared a lot for Yin once upon a time. So what convinced him? We don't get to see that. It's very important that we see something like that. How did Yin even BECOME Izanagi? Was she always? Why do the Americans think she is an energy source instead? Et cetera. And furthermore - what happened to the urgency of this? Iazanagi and Izanami meet. The world doesn't end. We don't feel much urgency or importance to the event at all. Of course, it's not really what does happen, but the characters had no way to know. Really, it's fll of so much nonsense. The motivations of characters in the first season were generally quite clear. But not so here. What did Madame Oreille want? Save the world I guess, but why side with the people she did in the way she did? It made little to no sense, she just did what she did because the writers needed a good way to give characters the information they needed to advance the plot. That's bad writing. Shizume and Kirihara has the clearest and most easily understood (though Kirihara is just ridiculous, what happened to her? How did she become so obsessed with Hei? I suppose, given how some fangirls act, it's comprehensible and possible, but she really doesn't seem the type for such fawning), but the rest... get muddy. And they introduced a lot of elements which doesn't matter at all. Like Hazuki's grandfather, and her dislike of him. Like the significance of Mao meeting Suou's mother that time on the stairs. Like that freaking pædophile we wasted three episodes with. And so on. None of them added anything to any plot whatsoever. And when Gai and that pink-haired girl add more to the story in five minutes of screentime than you do in three episodes, then you're a seriously bad mistake of writing. They didn't even fully utilise several promising setups, like Tanya or some of the fun contractors. Throw in, rinse, and forget what happened, was the course of the day. Yes, there will be a OVA explaining why. Maybe. That doesn't save this season from the sin of just throwing shit into an already established world with no justification just to get some plot going. Lastly, and this is more personal, I couldn't care for any character. Of course, the bad character writing is partly responsible, but such trifles haven't stopped me from adoring characters before. Still, I loved Hazuki and found Sizuma and July agreeable. Good thing Hazuki survived, that made the experience worth it. This last episode was a further exploitation of all those faults of the season. The one thing I thought was going to be awesome was Sizume and Hazuki duking it out... But nope. Nothing shown, past Sizume dead. (Maybe.) It had tons of similar 'TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT' events. Nothing much is shown, and barely even told - though admittedly, Sion's gift to Suou was shown rather cleverly. Kudos to the writer for not unnecessairly burdening us with exposition on what happened there. So basically, the wording may be show don't tell, but at least tell, or imply, things. Don't just... Do. I did enjoy this season (thanks to two more or less incidental side-characters), but it was also very bad. I've not even begun with all the misgivings I have with this. Shame on ya, BONES :c |
Jan 6, 2010 8:30 AM
#327
9/10 for me it was a great series (a bit confusing at times but easy to understand after 5mins of thinking lol) cant wait for the OVA's and a possible S3. =) |
Jan 7, 2010 6:40 AM
#328
How I look at things…(this post might be edited a lot) So Izanami (Yin) and Izanagi (Shion) meet and the ‘prophesy’ is fulfilled so the ‘entity’ is created it looks like a fusion between Yin and Shion with the power to eradicate contractors. It has been shown that Izanami could use that power but she was in ‘spirit form’. Izanagi is know functioning as the body for Izanami and that’s what I think the ‘fulfilling of the prophesy’ has produced. Furthermore, I think that Shion wanted to create a world for his sister Suou after she died in that explosion, where she could live happily. That’s what his plan/dream was. The supercomputer that Dr. Pavlichenko made, which contained all the memories of mankind, was one of the things that Shion needed, to create this ‘copy world’. Shion closes the deal with Izanami( Yin). Izanami sucks up Shion’s (Izanagi’s) spirit and in exchange will copy the earth with her power(which she had required by absorbing the spirit of Shion). This whole deal is the key element in the fulfilling of the prophesy and was just meant to be somehow…(I think Amber was the creator of this with her ‘writing the memories of the future’ thing) There is also the thing with the meteor core where I didn’t have an explanation for at first. But I think they needed it to maintain the memories for Suou until the ‘deal was closed’. Dr. Pavlichenko also stated somewhere that Suou needs to keep it until Shion would say that it isn’t necessary anymore. And then there is the thing Dr. Pavlichenko said (yes indeed Dr. Pavlichenko said a lot of important stuff in a very short time) about the copy ability of Shion. There is always a single flaw/difference in the copy with the original…. In the copy world Suou states that ’There is a certain something/someone that she is missing in her life’. This is also said in the second season that when you’re in the gate, and you’re wishing for something, you’ll lose something too. Well I think that she is missing Hei in her 'new' life. And then there is something Misaki said at the very ending of the series to kobayashi: ‘I think this is just the beginning’ I think that she means by this that the world is about to change, looking at the fulfilling of the prophesy(Izanagi and Izanami fusion)…. Well with all of this said I think you must look forward to a sequel!!! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAwIU1bupWY That’s just a very nice song about memories;P |
reaghtJan 7, 2010 6:44 AM
Jan 7, 2010 10:39 AM
#329
Still a bit confused, but good ending :) |
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Jan 7, 2010 11:05 PM
#330
I'm really confused...did Yin really died? did Suou lost her memories completely but the feeling? and how did Suou's parent back?? This season have really less episode to explain things clearly, it should have atleast 25 episode to explain more clearly and make it more interesting. =) |
ReoJan 8, 2010 7:19 AM
Jan 8, 2010 4:28 AM
#331
Yeah, i was confused too, but thanks to all of you, i managed to understand some things. I am 50/50 about the last episode. There were things i liked and things i didn't. I can't wait for season 3 xD (i am sure there will be S3). |
Jan 9, 2010 11:02 AM
#333
I love Suou. Just wanted every1 to know that. |
Three Thousand Realms in a Single Moment |
Jan 9, 2010 2:19 PM
#334
Sorry to disappoint everyone, but sadly, from what I've read around many forums, the creator has stated that there won't be any season 3. He says that, between this season and the upcoming OVAs, all the important questions have been answered. (God, I so wish that this is a joke or something...as long as season 3 is similar to the first one. If it turns out to be the next twelve episodes of the Gemini of the Meteor arc... no, thanks. Leave it as it is.) So no season 3. Unlike many people, I think that I could understand what was going on throughout the second season and I understood the ending. Certainly not as gratifying as I hoped it would be, but it answered most of the questions that I had. I agree with to a certain extent with reaght's hypothesis, although there are a few points which I've interpreted differently. Nevertheless, it's quite a nice way to explain it. I also agree with everyone who thinks that the first season was superior to the second one. While the two-episode arc format somehow managed to mess up the storyline's pace consistency, I think that, overall, it was better than this season. Maybe that's because the "two-year gap" was actually full of events which affect the second season which should have been shown as for people to actually understand and enjoy what was going on during the second season (hopefully, OVAs will solve that). Okay, I know that this season was so disappointing that if they don't put the OVAs in the DVDs, they probably won't sell any. But come on, fans want to know what happens and why it happens while we're watching the series. Not two or three months later. I think they tried to aim too high. They stuffed in unnecessary plot elements, put no action into an action series, putting in too many "emotionally deep moments" of unnecessary talking, tried to develop characters either too quickly (making it feel rushed) or too slowly (making it seem like nothing has happened at all), put in way too many characters (seriously, who needs 30+ characters in a 12 episode anime?), made some of the characters take irrational decisions without even explaining how or why... now that I'm writing this, I'm realizing that, for me, the greatest flaw of this season are the characters. While I prefer this kind of storyline (consistent, fluid and not "each arc has nothing to do with the following one", making sense as a story overall, not throwing in and out characters every 2 episodes) over the one of the first season, characters are definitely better in DtB1. And the ending. Not that I thought it was too bad. Just... rushed. Too rushed. Although I got the same feeling at the end of season 1. God, I could go on rambling and rambling about this like some people did, but at this point, I'm too tired. Let's finish this with saying some good things: animation was as nice as usual, music fitted the mood (except for the OP... I hated the OP) and, althoughI don't consider it as a good season overall, there was something that made me want to keep on watching... That's all the good things I can say from Gemini of the Meteor. |
nuts4everafterJan 9, 2010 3:55 PM
Jan 9, 2010 3:12 PM
#335
Oh my. What happened back there? I didn't understand a thing, lol. Okay, so what was that new world where Suou was living in? Some kind of illusion made by Shion? Also, what the fuck happened? Hei killed Yin, and after that everything was fine? Why were there 2 Yins? Plus, I think they tried to make an open ending for a 3rd season. Kirihara said that it's just the beginning. Also, if Suou is not in the real world anymore, but is in that illusion world, who will be Hei's partner! THE HELL MAN. It's good to see Hei's power coming back but the ending left me confused, just like the first season, LOL. |
Jan 9, 2010 7:59 PM
#336
all the important questions have been answered. ... The ending was swiss cheese, no matter how you cut it. Is that a pun? I don't even care anymore, fuck. Do you happen to have a source, perchance? |
Jan 10, 2010 2:10 AM
#337
I know it's low res, but it was the only example I could find. Translation, not done by me: -ということは三期に期待しちゃっていいんでしょうか? 岡村-いや~、全てやり切りました。 これで最後だと思ったから、設定の裏までちょろちょろ出したんです。 "Everything's been resolved and done". -ズバリ、黒と銀はどうなっちゃたんでしょうか? 岡村 どうなっちゃったんでしょうね? 銀はどうも死んじゃったみたいですよ。 黒は・・・BK201の星は、どうやら残ってるらしいですけど。 -The whereabouts afterwards of Hei and Yin ? Okamura: We will leave it to the imagination of everybody. Yin seems to have died very much. Hei ・・・ The star of BK201 : though it seems to remain apparently. Nevertheless, it seems as if a couple of lines haven't been translated, so if someone could translate them or, even better, find a better copy of the whole interview and see if what's being said is true or not, I guess most people around here would certainly be very grateful. |
Jan 11, 2010 2:40 PM
#339
Honestly, second season of dtb was a bigest disapointment for me ever. First 4-5 episodes were quite good but after that... To start of plot of the whole thing was just poor, whole thing was rushed way to much if it would be 26 episodes season it could be awesome but with 13 episodes it's potential was waisted. Character creactions were quite nice to but for me not even one of the new characters had a enoguht time to develop properly and old ones were only shadow of what we have seen in first season. Ending... hmm I think that even producers have no clue what that ending was all about, they just mixed up a lot of ideas and very unbalanced and chaotic ending came out of it. To be honest i do hope that we will not see third season, because I think that from this point it can only get worser. |
Jan 12, 2010 10:49 PM
#341
Even after all the explaining, I'm still at a loss as to what happened in the last episode. I suppose I agree with Kaiser's bashing of the writers. Even despite the flaws it had, I must say I did enjoy the season. I too would have liked seeing the development of Hei turning into a child-beating alchoholic, but perhaps the OVAs (that I had no idea were even planned) will explain that, but just seeing Hei all miserable like that felt strange, due to not knowing what screwed him up. It just seemed like the writers went "believe it, bitch" and went on with the story. Also, it just rubbed me wrong when they bring in a simple plot that is easy to follow and at the final just twists it up and confuses the hell out of me (and other people as well, it seems). From what I've read, the ending was actually sort of explained, but if they went with an easy story to follow from the beginning, why not stick with that format to the end (because its DtB, duh). Also I'm saddened at the hate for Suou. I actually liked her. tl;dr Sort of fun season screwed up by writers and shit. :D Just my two cents or whatever. |
Jan 13, 2010 7:11 AM
#342
I enjoyed this season more overall then most people and actually cared about Suou as the main character while Hei I grew to dislike a little since he lost everything he gained from the first season ( The whole contractors are not human attitude is back) |
Jan 14, 2010 5:19 PM
#343
Ha, i watched the episode again and you know what? I really really like it. I guess i watched it in the right time. I was about to cry during some scenes! I change my opinion that this ep. is 50/50 for me - it is 99.9% love now xD. |
Jan 15, 2010 5:03 PM
#344
Wow! Suou and Hei = Stockholm syndrome par. :P I have to re-watch the final moment of Suou several times, that was very sad and heartwarming, the epilogue only has Suou and July there, which sucks though. I wish they'd bring Hei of that world to meet Suou too. :( I'm sure there'll be season 3 as a sequel. This anime has too many things left unexplained. Anyway, it's an epic grand finale. :) BTW, Hei is indeed very badass, he fought on par with that lesbian while he doesn't even have his contractor's power. He could indeed electrocute that lesbian several times if he had. :P |
KleeyookJan 15, 2010 5:07 PM
Jan 17, 2010 2:20 AM
#345
mazen said: What....The Hell... is all I can say..... |
Jan 17, 2010 1:21 PM
#346
Well, to me everything except for what happened to Hei & Yin afterwards was clear. It has been already explained many times, so I won't bother writing a huge post and explaining everything. Unfortunately (or not), I can't really agree with the majority that thinks that DTB1 was better. I liked the first season. I loved the soundtrack, I liked the atmosphere, I enjoyed characters. But the ending was sorta lame to me in the first season. So I prefer the second season more. And I love both the OP and the ED, even though I think the OP doesn't quite fit the series. But the soundtrack itself was just epic, a very precise choice of music for each moment. I'm not a sucker for the oh-so-events-rich-plot. I can sit back and enjoy even a slow, quite plot if I... just like it. What was better in the first season? Hei looked way cooler than he looked in the second season? He was the very very main character? It's not a shoujo anime to be drooling over the main character as the priority. I actually pretty much enjoyed how naturally creators depicted everything (Though I disagree with depiction of Russia and its culture at some point). I agree that DTB2's ending was rushed. But 90% of questions were answered, and the others were left for our imagination. It's not the first time in an anime/movie that creators leave viewers a chance to imagine themselves what happened afterwards. I just believe that if someone didn't understand what happened, then maybe he/she shouldn't have watched DTB in the first place, because this anime, especially the second season, is impossible to watch without thinking. I liked the second season's ending a lot more, at least it wasn't that lame, when Hei was surrounded with all those people and Amber saying sentimental words to him. To me, the first season's ending ruined the whole first season, unfortunately. As for Suou not doing a thing even though she's the main character, she didn't have to do anything outstanding, she only helped to develop Hei's, July's, everyone's characters. Being a main character doesn't mean she had to be the main badass there and shoot'em all to death with Hei. And what I also like about DTB (both 1st and 2nd) are their voices. They speak so calmly, I could listen forever to Suou's, Hei's and Yin's voices (even though I'm not really fond of Suou). All in all I really loved it, and it was one of those shows that I eagerly waited for an episode every week. And it's really sad when such shows come to an end without a possibility of another season. If they didn't make such rush endings, they'd be able to drag the whole thing for at least 4 seasons. Omg, I've just found the OST for the second season, gonna download it O.o |
LeeNoriegaJan 17, 2010 1:26 PM
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Jan 17, 2010 1:40 PM
#347
But it's not really a case of a rushed ending when they tried really hard to pack everything into the show proper. It's a rushed ending where very little that was important to the plot happened for 8 episodes, and then dumping a plot in the last 4, with a huge deus ex ending. To top that off, there was a lot inferred that happened during the break between season one and two, with no flashbacks, and never explained during the show. Then later towards the end (when we realize how important that information actually is) we find out that it won't be explained in the show, proper, but in OVAs. This series just never bothered to tell the story in any sort of sensical fashion. It's just a bunch of loose ideas with Bones' polish. I think I just convinced myself to drop the score again. |
Jan 17, 2010 2:29 PM
#348
Well, it's not like every event, each action in the series is meant to serve some purpose for the ending. I don't know about others, but it made everything clear for me. Because I loved how human and contractors' emotions were portrayed, even though those "heart-to-heart" talks were sort of useless to the plot. And also, there's not much to put in the plot that'd serve for the ending, except maybe near the ending - to show more Yin, etc. Then again, the information that we lack and that will be shown in OVAs is not THAT important, it's just that we're overly curious about it, since it's the root of DTB2's plot. Maybe doing things that way creators just want to keep the interest in DTB for as long as possible. Or maybe they think that it's an interesting way to present the series just like Haruhi second season, was a complete failure to me Go go drop the score again xP And I guess I'll put the second season in my favourites, not in the top 5, but in the overall favourites ^^ |
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Jan 17, 2010 3:18 PM
#349
Yin being called Hei's ex-lover and inference that they had some kind of relationship isn't that important? And I think you misunderstand me. I'm not saying that each and every even should serve some purpose for the ending. But each episode should expand on something larger, especially in a 12 episode series where there isn't room for filler. Yet we had a fair amount of filler. On top of that, there is a way to present information that doesn't feel like an info dump. Not explaining the main point of the show until the last few episodes is apart of that thought process. Outside of July, I think there was very little emotional depth in this season. Suou came close to getting somewhere, but the ending, along with the fact that she was just annoying for me so much of the time left her in a muddy place where all she did was whine, and not really take her life into her own hands. Is that a fair judgement to make, even though she's just a teenager? Maybe not, but it's one of those things that leave the show dramatically stagnant otherwise. Hei's "struggle" felt like more of an excuse to send him backwards just to bring him to where he was at the end of the first season, and (like Kaiser said) since we didn't get to see anything that landed him in the mindset that he manages to escape from, it's only hollow. To say that seeing what turned him into an alcoholic isn't that important is absurd to me. I can talk about Mao and Kirihara, but it's all been said. I just don't understand how anyone got anything emotional out of the show outside of July's two moments. Maybe I can see something in Tanya's sudden demise, but even that's a stretch. |
Jan 17, 2010 3:49 PM
#350
I've looked through some eps and I gotta agree with you at some point about information. As for emotions. It's individual for everyone. I tend to put pretty high score for those series that I'm able to emotionally relate to. And that might explain, why give pretty high score in average to shows, especially compared to yours ^^ No matter what others say, I still love this season ^^ |
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