| @filifjonkan @inim new thread for darker Than Black starting Monday and one episode per day. I'm looking forward to something new. I've heard a lot about this show over the years so it'll be good to check it out. |
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| Looking forward to DTB as well. It's an 8/10 on both anidb and MAL. 23feanor gets no rest for the wicked, because it has 3/3 stars for violence over there, with tags like angst, gore, mutilation and massacre. So after Hellsing, our edge lord party seems to continue for a while longer. The good news is that has the seinen tag there as well and is described as smarter and more mature than comparable shows. Sounds like something I could like. EDIT: It seems there's no satisfactory ending in S1, the "26th episode OVA" is mere self-parody. There is a complete ending in the form of a 12 episode S2 plus a 4 episode OVA. S2 is said to be a little messy regarding story telling, but complete in terms of finishing all story lines. Can we plan to add S2 and the 2nd OVA (16 episode combined) right after S1? I'd watch them anyway to know how it ends. EDIT2: There is a re-mastered version and a German dub, seems this is going to be a visually pleasant and focus wise easy watch :D |
inimJun 20, 2021 5:32 AM
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filifjonkan said: Hello friends and thank you for having me in this series as well as the other ones. I am not sure if I contribute that much. It is more like I am describing my own feelings and thoughts after I have seen an epsiode or series. I am watching another series now, Black Lagoon and there is quiet a lot of violence and killing there, too. But it is on another level that Alucard and the Major, I think. It is hard to explain. What didyou think of my ranting around the monologues in Hellsing? I agree with you @inim I have both seasons, and the OVA, in English sub. I think we should put some time in this "project" and watch the whole shebang. Also, I agree with you @23feanor, Vivy (and Diva..)is a nice series. I gave it the ususal three-episodes-try and was caught. Each "arc" has its own moral dilemma, a little bit like the old Star Trek-episodes. Have a nice Sunday evening. I enjoy reading and digesting both your and inim's opinions (and Antalk's when he was here), the more the merrier. I find it fascinating to get other people's views on the same subject. everyone looks at the same thing from a different perspective or point of view, which makes it unique. @inim I have never seen a franchise all the way through, i normally always stop for a break after the first season, so I'd be up for watching S1, S2 & OVA for Darker Than Black. It would certainly give us a great deal of satisfaction and sense of accomplishment when we complete it. |
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| Greetings, Hope you're both well today. It is also horrid and rainy here @filifjonkan, it's done nothing but rain for the last couple of days! We've got a family wedding on Thursday so I won't be around Wed-Fri but will catch up either Friday or Saturday. So we've got S1=25eps (plus ep 26, might as well watch it if we're doing the whole franchise), then S2=12 eps and finally the OVA=4eps, which sounds like it comes immediately after the events in S1 but is listed as coming after S2. No doubt the story splits in places, we shall find out when we watch no doubt. En avant les amis! Ok so the first episode has me hooked. Why are all the stars false, has this hells gate covered the worlds skies somehow? Contractors and dolls, how does that work? All these questions? Our MC, the guy who was moving into the new apartment, I'm guessing this is his mission and he's working with the guy in the flat cap we only saw for a moment and the girl with white hair in a ponytail sat by a river. They are also trying to get whatever this lady in the red dress has hidden. I like the style of the show, dark but more mysterious dark than horror dark from what I've seen so far. Reminds me a bit of Cop Craft from Summer 2019. We've got cops, who try and keep the existence of the hells gate a secret and underworld contractors (supernatural users) all in the same city. Lets see how things unfold tomorrow. Have a good evening. |
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| Greetings, Hope you're both doing ok today. It's that time of the season when shows are finishing and i start looking forward to all the treats in store for us in Summer 2021. Episode 2 and the plot thickens. The lady in red Shinda Chiasaki was a mission, and our protagonist (Hei?) was meant to recover some info, but it turns out she had been turned into a doll and was a lure to trap him? So where was the real one, was she a doll from the beginning when the cops sighted her in the bar? She jumped in front of him to save him, so the dolls must retain some vestige of their former hosts. Also a pleasant surprise hearing my favourite VA, Colin Clinkenbeard, for Chiasaki in the english dub, she has the most silky and sexy voice. I instantly loved her after watching Fairy Tail where she was the VA for Erza Scarlet, i had no idea at the time that she's most well known for voicing Luffy in One Piece. Apparently she uses a mouth piece to change her voice and give it that younger, shouty effect. These contractors, were they humans who turned into contractors or what, or are they completely supernatural beings from beyond the gate? Am sure we'll eventually find out. So the governments and different powerful organisations are all fighting the same battle, trying to get one up on each other, whilst keeping the public quiet about the existence of the gate. One thing about the stars, as if astronomers wouldn't discover the stars they'd known their whole lives suddenly disappeared, doesn't seem realistic, but maybe the in-story explanation is a little more subtle & i need to wait and find out how the stars were changed. I like the ED, very sweet. I'm off early tomorrow and back Friday when I'll catch up on eps 3 & 4. Have a nice couple of days! |
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| Just a short "yo!" from my side. I have a very important (new job ...) business presentation in Hamburg tomorrow. That's why I am so quiet, I'm preparing it for a week now. I drop dead in the evenings or have unusual and cruel chores to do such as ironing shirts. I will join again with full feedback next weekend end, when I'm (hopefully) in calmer waters again. 2 episodes into DtB I agree it's promising and well done. So far we just got to knew the team (the black haired liar, the cat, the middle-aged flat cap guy, and the white haired girl) and the world (vaguely so far, but it's supernatural for sure). The runaway scientist was obviously just a side character. So yea, this looks good so far, world and cast allow for interesting development. |
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| Greetings, Hope you've both had a good few days. The wedding was lovely thanks @filifjonkan, really nice to see some extended family that I haven't seen for a while. We ended up staying longer than expected, had a lovely few days in the North of England near the Lake District, very picturesque. Although got stuck in some terrible traffic and had a nearly 9 hour return journey! Will catch up with eps 3-7 tomorrow, it's sometimes good to binge a few eps in the beginning of a longer series as it gives you time to connect with the show. Le Tour 2021 has also started, so will be splitting my time between anime and Le Tour over the next few weeks. Speak to you tomorrow. |
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| Hello, Hope you're both doing ok this Sunday, it's pouring with rain here so a nice day to begin my anime catch up. Eps 3-5. I'm really liking the jazzy OST and the overall feel of the show. We're finally learning more details, but it's being drip fed to us. It appears we're following Hei, Yin & Huang (the former 2 are contractors from watching them use their powers whereas Huang is human I'm guessing given his description of 'contractors' as scum, so maybe Hei & Yin are being forced to work for this syndicate against their will), who are working for a syndicate and act independently from any country (or any country that we know of so far). Still lots of questions about contractors and how they work. The way contractors are spoken of is similar to the way people describe criminals or murderers. However in episode 3, the young girl Mai, becomes a contractor at a young age, so surely she didn't contract with some evil spirit to gain power at such a young age. Her father gave her the wrist implant to stem the onset of the contractor powers as long as possible, but that was only after she became a contractor, was it proximity to his work maybe? @filifjonkan yes we've heard of a couple of types of contractors now, a moratorium (the young girl Mai who later evolves into a full contractor) and a forfeiture (the girl Havoc who appears to have lost her powers for the moment). We've also heard that one of the gates, the Heavens Gate i think, has disappeared, and the girl Havoc lost her amazing powers after it's disappearance. This series has started very well. Will catch up some more tomorrow, am off to watch the finish of the 2nd stage of Le Tour. Have a nice day. |
23feanorJun 27, 2021 8:23 AM
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| I've caught up to episode 6 today, and I really like the show. The world is complex and mysterious, both mains and side chars are well written with a backstory, inner conflicts and development fitting their past influences. The show is episodic contemporary fantasy set in a world I'd describe as agents, criminals and intelligence officers, strongly reminding me of the Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex world's setting. Like that show DtB is also episodic with an overlayed global political thriller and mystery plot. The double episode mini arcs, while pushing the overall world building and unraveling of the mystery, look into the human condition of a side character with a backstory. This approach to contemporary fantasy reminds me a lot of xxxHOLiC, just that DtB is darker and heavier in it's approach. I could go on with my praise, it's one of those shows made for daddy. I'm really glad there are 42 episodes total before all story lines conclude cleanly. This allows for the very relaxed but not too slow pacing of the whole story. They have time for side stories and world building, which is what makes a rich anime for me. Really looking forward for more. In my real life, a lot of stuff happens. I signed a contract which will make me a busy man for the rest of the year, my anime consumption will certainly suffer (already has). I'll stay with this group because I meanwhile really love the format, and one episode per day is just fine. Maybe we could adapt to the 2-eps-mini-arc format and write the summaries every 2 days only? If you look at the episode titles, there are 10 double-episode mini arcs and the last 5 eps are standalone. Really a lot like the structure in Ghost In The Shell in that aspect too. |
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| Episode 7/8 A mini arc with many new elements. The side characters are a neo-noir detective, a femme fatale hiring him to find her cat, and his cosplaying girly secretary. The latter is the first full comic relief character in the show, and they use that element quite well. From the team we learn about the abilities and back story of Mao, the 4th member who is trapped in the body of a cat. The connecting elements in both story lines are cats and odors. A lighter arc compared to the previous ones, and quite entertaining. |
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| Greetings, Hope you're both well today. I've caught up with episodes 6-9 and we're slowly getting a clearer picture of what's going on. Hei, Yin and Mao the cat are all working for the syndicate and Huang is their handler, it's clear he views them as disposable tools and despises them. Kirihara and the police detectives are a nice secondary cast, giving us yet another perspective on the story and events. The end of the Havoc arc saw her being killed, but she questions Hei saying that he doesn't act like normal contractors, is he some form of mutated contractor? It's clear his massive appetite is linked to his abilities. We've learnt that his motivation is looking for his lost sister that disappeared when they entered Heavens Gate, which has since disappeared, leaving only Hells Gate in Tokyo now. I really enjoyed the previous arc with the noir detective narrating his own exploits, the rich widow and Hei, who we always meet in a new role every arc. Hei is a versatile agent. Episode 9 begins a new arc involving the Hong Kong mafia. The daughter is making a power play using her bodyguard, who is/has become a contractor and is taking down her dad and his captains to assume the position of leader. Unfortunately Kirihara was in the wrong place at the wrong time and got caught up in the take down, the daughter reasoning that it would be best to kill Kirihara off now. Luckily for her Hei is also present, looking for VI952, who we've learnt is the daughters bodyguard, and he saves her from being shot in the head. I just love the sense of mystery in this show, the relaxed, moody jazz OST and the ever growing list of side characters we meet each mini arc that have all been interesting. @inim congratulations on your new contract. I tend to have this thread open when I watch the daily episode, and find it easiest to jot my thoughts down after finishing each episode. I enjoy reading both your messages whenever you post them, so please post whenever it best or most convenient for you. It was fun to jump in and binge a few episodes, but back to one episode tomorrow. Hopefully we'll start to learn some more about the contractors and how they're created soon. Plus i want them to visit the Gate. Would be nice if they could ditch Huang and the syndicate as they don't sound like a nice bunch. Have a nice day. |
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| Greetings, Hope you're both well. Are you guys watching the Euro's atm? I haven't been watching but heard the cheers from the pub down the road last night. I remember watching Germany win the world cup in 2014 and they were brilliant then, seem a poor shadow of their former selves. Shame Sweden lost last night as they would've played England in the next match if they'd beaten Ukraine. I've been watching Le Tour rather than the football, not sure why, last Euro's I watched every match i could. Episode 10 wrapped up the min arc and Alice passes away. The side characters in this show are well written with relatable motivations, Alice and her weak personality was tormented by strong people and latched onto them needing support, but hating herself for needing them. Her bodyguard took advantage of her vulnerability to decapitate her fathers mafia organisation. I really like Kirihara, after seeing her at school she intrigues me even more, plus she's very cute. But irl that kind of self righteous personality would likely rub me the wrong way, or would have done when i was younger. We're still in the dark about so many things, contractors, the stars, the gates etc..I keep telling myself "be patient, we'll find out soon enough, don't ruin the suspense, let the mystery build" :D Have a good evening. |
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| @filifjonkan glad you liked Vivy, I was close to scoring it a perfect 10/10, but it was just missing something, more central characters i think. Vivy i great but i like anime with close friendships or romance, a close group i suppose, or seeing a close group like those in many of the cgdct shows i love. I wondered that about Hei not being noticed by Saito or Kirihara when they saw him in his black coat and mask, it wasn't that great of a disguise, especially as he and Kirihara had a long talk in close proximity where she would've got a good look at personal characteristics such as his walking and his mannerisms etc. The drug from the bees was an interesting touch, something i hadn't thought of, how criminal enterprises might make use of alien or supernatural tech. In this case they tried to make a drug out of it, clever. Btw i think you're fine at getting your point across @filifjonkan and you make many interesting points :D I've been meaning to pick up xxxxHolic for a while and particularly after reading inim's glowing report. I love Mushishi and Natsume, so if it's anything like them I'm looking forward to it. |
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| Greetings, Hope you're both well today. Episode 11 and we're starting to get a bit more information but that's leading to even more questions. Interesting that the Syndicate research scientist that Hei meets inside the facility says that there's no way to identify a contractor and they "appear the same as humans", so what exactly is it that people give up to become contractors, and also how do they do it, do they have to into the gate, that doesn't seem easy to do, so why do there seem to be so many contractors (maybe lots of people were transformed into contractors when the gates first emerged). We get to see inside the walls that hide Hells Gate. It looks like the gate appeared in the middle of a city and they've had to wall around the centre of the city (is it Tokyo?). I thought it was the massive hole we saw from the robotic vehicle (a bit like in Made In Abyss), but they said they needed to go around the hole to get closer to the gate, so the hole can't be it. We also hear that 10 years ago when the gates appeared the stars disappeared and every rocket that has been sent up to investigate the cause of this has disappeared. That leads me to think that the Earth itself has been transported somewhere, or the gates are linking the earth to another parallel world, one in which the stratosphere simply stops and there is nothing to see beyond, hence no stars. Why does Hei suddenly see them then, after being told to "look carefully and picture them in your mind"? I wonder if certain thoughts will cause a brief window to open and connect the viewer with the real world outside the pocket of space that the Earth is currently trapped within, just my hypothesis. We'll see whether I'm right later on. I'm enjoying this series a lot so far, glad we picked it up. Have a good evening. |
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| Hello, It's a lovely sunny day here, hope you're both doing well and life is treating you ok today. Onto episode 12 and back to the research facility by the Hells Gate. Ok so lots happened this episode and I'm still digesting. Hei went into the gate area but we didn't see a physical space that was 'the gate', it seems the gate is an area where weird things happen. Did Nick actually go up into the stars with his sister and what did Mina, the research scientist who was helping Hei find (i think she did do some naughty things with that head janitor guy, she also seemed to have developed a crush on Hei as well)? Not sure why Hei thanked Yin at the end, she can 'see' or perceive things through water and he noticed her presence in a puddle when he came too after Nick went up in his space ship (was that an illusion, not sure). Did Yin wake him up maybe, or just provide support by being there? And who was the girl at the end, is that Hei's lost sister maybe? The OST for a show always has a huge impact on my enjoyment of a series and the OST for DTB is so well suited to the show. Have a good day. |
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| Greetings, Hope you're both well today. England are playing Ukraine tonight so all the news and tv are abuzz hoping for a good outcome and a place in the semi finals. Let's see. Personally i'm more excited about Mark Cavendish winning his 32nd Le Tour stage win, only 2 behind the all time leader Eddy Mercx on 34. Will Cavendish win 2 or 3 more stages and become the all time stage wins leader? I'm excited to see. Onto episode 13. One thing I've noticed that's disturbing, the police (ie the govt) keep psychic people (they call them 'mediums') in those tubes as 'observers', basically they can remotely view incidents or people. But to do that they imprison these contractors in tubes, which is terrible. We've seen that there is no clear test that can distinguish between humans and contractors, according to the researcher Mina in the last arc. So they are keeping contractor people in a tube their entire life. We've learnt that the mediums use spectres to remotely view people. Yin uses water somehow to view people, although does she also have a spectre? We're getting some backstory for Yin, who was known as Kirsi when she was young. What is the difference between a doll and a contractor. Hei said something interesting "the people that made us this way", referring to the syndicate. Were they turned into contractors against their will? Yin or Kirsi seems young, how did she up with the syndicate? Why are Yin, Hei, Huang and Mao so afraid of the syndicate, why don't they just disappear and find somewhere to hide in the world? I guess the syndicate has something on each of them to force them to work against their will (Hei's lost sister for example and Mao's human body). Is Yin blind, she appears to be blind in her childhood when playing the piano, but no one comments on it later when with Hei and the others? Have a good Saturday. |
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| Hello, Well that was unexpected, England winning comfortably, pretty sure it won't last, although reaching 2 semi finals in consecutive tournaments is a laudable feat, regardless of what comes next. Em was more excited than i was when we were watching yday, shouting at the telly and jumping around, lol. Onto episode 14. Wow what an episode, easily the best of the series so far for me. We get to see the conclusion of this arc and Yin makes the decision to stay with Hei and Mao. Huang sees Yin express emotions and shows pity allowing her to live. The soft piano music playing during the final scene was spot on, it made that scene. So what are 'dolls' and how were they created? Was she taken by the syndicate after her mother passed away and turned into a doll, which is why Hunag was told they don't express emotion, as her creators didn't think that possible, but they are clearly wrong. Seeing Yin decide something on her own and attempt to smile was touching. There's clearly some human traits left in her. I wonder if contractors and dolls have the human part of themselves (emotions for a lack of a better phrase) taken out, what then happens to these humans parts? Are they given to spiritual beings (or aliens with amazing tech) from the gate in exchange for something? The girl with the green hair at the end that passes Huang looks a lot like CC from Code Geass. I'm really invested in this show now. Have a good Sunday. |
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23feanor said: Aw, you are the brave torch bearer when it comes to posting per episode. I'm terribly sorry I'm so quiet. At least rest assured that I share your love for this show. It may be the one on which we agree most on in terms of rating (normalized by our usual range patterns). It's really good. I can just repeat my recommendation for Ghost in the Shell: Standalone Complex (2nd GIG in particular), it's not magic like here but cyberpunk but a similar complex conspiracy setting.I'm really invested in this show now. In that light, I read your continued praise as: Yea, after the 25 eps we go on with OVA+S2, correct? Because what I read is that S1 is open ended, so this is a 3 cour story anyway. And given your investment, I think that's good news, hehe. Even when the ratings for S2 are a tad lower, which they are. We should be happy this is an anime original and they really make it round and conclude all. And yea, football may be coming home after over 50 years. Even our own tabloids said that England's kicking out of Die Mannschaft was well deserved. Guess now I root for the Eng-eeeeee-land :) Eps 9-12 Story wise, eps 9-12 add more facets to the fascinating world. Arc 9/10 introduces the Hong Kong syndicate mobsters, and 11/12 the heart of darkness itself - Hell's Gate. I really love how they spoon-feed us with bits and pieces of the secret and the many conspiracies going on in parallel. The characters all are morally gray and conflicted by themselves, very modern and good writing. The one secret I find most interesting is who our gang of 4 mains actually work for. "The Syndicate" is never really explained or specified, and after the Hong Kong arc it seems it's not the mafia, or at least not a group we already know. Job wise, the team seems to do hit jobs and agent style interventions for some pretty powerful organization. The flat-cap guy seems to be their handler, he probably knows more than the rest. He's the only regular human, haven't seen any powers he owns yet. And powerful means pretty powerful, btw. Getting multiple agents into that Hell's Gate research area is nothing ordinary thugs could arrange. The 3rd arc ("Red Giant over Eastern Europe") had MI6 agents, so my money is on a government player handling our team as well. Or maybe the "aliens" (or who and whatever is behind the gate) themselves? Those are really powerful, I mean they made South-America disappear! |
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| Greetings, Hope you're both well. I had a trip to hospital yday for removal of a couple of wisdom teeth. I thought I'd be fine to come back in the afternoon and watch some anime, but no, I was a dizzy mess until evening, then had dinner and slept till this morning. So episode 15. I like the new OP, really catchy, although the end of the last one "howling in the shadows" last line always gave me a tingle up my back in anticipation of the new episode. Have you guys noticed the unsubtle Pizza Hut signs that appear in most episodes, product placement. Since this anime was made Pizza Hut have dropped off the pace, especially with deliveries to your door. If i were to order pizza it'd be Dominoes or maybe Papa Johns. The last Pizza Hut pizza i had was because Em had been given a £20 voucher so we had to use it at Pizza Hut. The £20 pizza we bought was really small and not very good. For the equivalent prize you could get so much more for your money at Dominoes or another franchise. Enough ranting about the fall of Pizza Hut. So we have a new character intro, February/Amber, who looks a lot like CC from Code Geass i think. Amber has a past with Hei and used to work with the syndicate, but went rogue. Amber and her crew are causing chaos, striking at different intelligent services so they each blame the other. I'm only watching one ep today so we're technically one ep behind, but there's no rush. We're all watching for fun. So onto ep 16 tomorrow. I love finding out a little at a time each day as I watch one ep at a time. @inim yes I'd like to tackle the whole franchise, something I've never done before for a multi cour series. I thought it was S1, then Ep 26, then S2 then S2 OVA? That was the release order, although the events from the OVA occur after the end of S1 iirc. I don't mind which order, release or chronological, as long as it makes sense, which might be hard with this series, haha. Is that ok with you @filifjonkan, we go on and watch the rest of Darker Than Black? We should make ourselves one of those cards to show that we completed DTB franchise as part of the Mal Later Years Watch Club, will have to ask Antalk how to make them. I recently watched the Ghost in the Shell movie from 1995 and loved it. Have since added GitS SAC and am looking forward to watching it. I think next Autumn-Spring I'm going to set myself a list of 2000's sci-fi and fantasy shows that i want to get through (including SAC), as it worked well for me last Autumn-Spring getting through a bunch of 90's shows that I'd been meaning to watch and now have completed, which included Utena. It was a fulfilling experience for me to watch a set of shows from a time period/genre and some new favourites like Slayers, which I can't get enough of. Have a good day. |
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| Episode 15/16 Introduces a new faction in the ever growing set of conspiracy players, with contractor members Amber, Amagiri (red haired guy with eyes shut) and Maki (explosion boy, RIP). They create chaos in Tokyo's intelligence community by blowing up offices and abducting Yin. They seem to be a political activist group with the goal to establish rights for contractors within society, and resort to terrorism as their means.Amber, who seems to have a shared past with Hei, appears to be their leader. Her power is the ability to freeze time and still move, which is used to defuse a standoff situation. On a global scale, the beginning of major supernatural events is foreshadowed. Sages start to speak, and the Sun moves towards a special constellation seen the last time "years ago, before South America" disappeared. Simply put, the world building is done and now the writers are set to let the shit hit the fan I guess. @23feanor watch order S1-OVA1-OVA2-S2 (chrono order) and S1-OVA1-S2-OVA2 (release order) both have good arguments for and against on reddit and elsewhere. It boils down to how you want to watch S2. OVA2 has has game changing information about one character, which explains their behavior during S2 which otherwise appears confusing. The amount of confusion and wrf-moments in S2 seems to be high if you watch it without OVA2. To the point reviewers call it messy and confusing. OVA's information allows that the story makes sense right during watching it the first time, but of course kills the guessing and the mystery. I personally prefer watching shows fully spoiled or in chrono order when it saves me the instant re-watch. I did so for the Melancholy of Haruhi and Ergo Proxy. The latter is notoriously confusing and intentionally holding back facts needed to even have the chance to understand what#s going on. It was a hard watch even fully spoiled. I've watched other shows, e.g. Monogatari Series, in release order and it worked just fine. So it's a case by case decision for me, with a tendency to defuse confusing stories with chrono order and spoilers if need be. Is there need here? Judging from the discussions and reviews, there is. So I'd prefer to watch S1-OV1-OVA2-S2 order, but we don't all need to watch the same order. It's just 4 eps and I can binge that in a day, basically finishing the group watch 4 days earlier then. I promise to hold back with spoilers :) Pizza Hut / Code Geass DtB and Code Geass are distant cousins, produced by the same production committee close to each other in time and for the same TV slot. Thus both share the product placement and maybe some character designs because of this. GitS SAC There is a distant relative of the franchise, Patlabor. While the TV and movie 1 are so-la-la only, movie 2 is outstanding. And it has a story idea extremely similar to that of GitS SAC GIG2, but different enough to be excellent on it's own. Like DtB and GitS S2, it's a complex conspiracy in the military-industrial-police-government complex. You should add that movie to your list if the genre is for you. It's not really necessary to know the previous parts of the franchise to enjoy it, it's pretty much stand alone https://myanimelist.net/anime/1096/Kidou_Keisatsu_Patlabor_2_the_Movie |
inimJul 7, 2021 2:02 AM
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| Greetings, Hope you're both well today. Episode 16 was another great episode. We meet Amber and she's obviously a major antagonist with history with Hei and the syndicate (Hei said she betrayed them, i guess it has something to do with the loss of his sister). It appears there's a group of contractors either working for another syndicate or working independently including the young boy with mixed colour eyes (now dead), Amber, Amagiri and a few others. I'm guessing that Hei's sister is also working with this group. They were talking about the Primrose Evening, whatever that is, and it sounds like they're trying to close or blow up Hells Gate, reminiscent of the incident that destroyed Heavens Gate 5 years ago. The Star Gazer character is a nice touch, acting like a prophet giving vague statements that foreshadow events to come. Amber reminds me of CC in more than just looks, they share the traits of strange behaviour and that mysterious air. I wonder what her price is for using the power to stop time. I keep wondering how contractors are made and why some are older and some children, as i can't believe children went looking for other worldly powers, maybe it's offered to them and the children are too naive to know the dangers, whereas the adults want the power, or are happy to trade off their humanity for the powers they gain. Is Ambers group right, if they were made by superior spirit beings or aliens with future tech, then that race would be superior to humans, but without emotions contractors and dolls aren't really human. However we've seen that contractors and dolls do retain memories and emotions to differing degrees. @inim I'm good to watch S1+Ep 26 OVA +OVA 2 +S2, as the events in OVA happen directly after S1 from what i read so lets go with this order. Have a good day. |
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| Greetings, Hope you're both well. It's been cloudy and rainy here for the last week or so, where did summer go. Episode 17 and @inim's on the right path, Evening Primrose are seeking to bring the secret of contractors into the public domain and create rights for them so they aren't solely used as tools for secret organisations. I thought they had some sinister plot but no, it's social justice for contractors/dolls, which makes sense given how they're treated. Before we can judge, we really need to know how they're created, was it their choice or was it done against their will? A change of pace for this episode as Hei is planted inside a yakuza bar. Seeing the doll that's delivered and hear them describe her as merchandise makes me think that dolls and contractors are likely created, or they can be created. Maybe after the first contractors emerged, some organisations learnt how to copy the process and make contractors and dolls of their own for their own purpose. The intended use for that doll as a sex slave just makes you realise how unsavoury people can be sometimes. We find a new tech/magic and some people will think "how can i cater to the worst of humanity for the most profit". We know that there's more to dolls than meets the eye after getting to know Yin/Kirsi. I wonder if the current doll has a past and memories, i hope not. We learnt that Amber betrayed Hei 5 years ago and a huge area disappeared along with the Heavens Gate and Hei's sister after she disappeared. Amber said she could take Hei straight to his sister, making me think it's some sort of parallel world or space and the gates allow entry/exit into that region. Maybe the disappeared Heavens Gate and surrounding area now exists within that parallel world. But she said taking Hei there would have huge repercussions and i don't think she was lying. I reckon there's going to be lots of questions still left at the end of this season, hopefully S2 will shed some light. Have a good day. |
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| Hello, Hope you're both doing ok today. Episode 18 was a heart warming conclusion to this mini arc. I really like this show. It has so many different aspects all within the umbrella of the overall series. This arc was based around local yakuza smuggling a doll which drew the syndicate in, i suppose to uncover the parties involved, which makes me wonder again about how dolls/contractors are created. Senji decides to up turn his life to save this girl, even though he doesn't know her name or anything about her, or even what a doll is. It seems clear to him that she a person who needs help. What a nice guy, really glad they got away, the doll seemed happy as well. I think the doll must've reached out to Yin and that was why she turned up at Hei's place. I wonder if one of the neighbours is more than they seem, maybe Irene? Have a good day. |
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| Episode 17/18 Very emotional side arc developing Hei. A low level yakuza butt monkey falls in love with a doll he is expected to take care of for a few days, before she goes back to her sex slave job. Hei first does the rational thing and tries to talk him out of it, but then helps the odd couple to escape. And this despite the fact he is tasked to capture that very doll for the syndicate. A senior yakuza who is the "owner" of the doll first goes villain and tries to take her back with force, and kill the butt monkey. Then he too self-scarifies for the couple who eventually mange to escape on a train. The message of this episode is: Hei isn't only a ruthless, emotionless assassin. He has emotions, his own will, and his own moral compass. He's not blindly following the syndicate's orders. Also Mao knows about the events and doesn't rat Hei out either. And in the final scene, the (otherwise mute) rescued doll takes the butt monkey's hand and smiles - more emotions by a supernatural not expected to have any. Super sort summary: Dolls and contractors have free will and emotions. Nudge, nudge, wink wink. |
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| Hello, We get some of Huang's back story in this episode and we start to understand his grudge against contractors. He's conflicted as the only woman to notice him was a contractor, but before he knew what they were and it looked like she killed his partner. But the Syndicate gave him almost no choice but working for them, or losing his memories. Huang's anxiety over this woman, Shichiro i think it was, led to the mission going wrong and the lady being captured. Have a good day. |
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| Greetings, An auspicious day for us over here in England, will the England team win their first major trophy in 55 years, or will the nation be crying into their beer mugs later tonight? We'll have to watch to find out. I think we've got a chance but Italy look the in form team of this tournament, so it's going to be a tough match. Onto episode 20 and we're getting closer to the end of the series without really learning anything substantive about contractors and dolls and how they're created. Another brilliantly written episode making us empathise with Huang, something i thought impossible when we first met him at the beginning and he was the embodiment of the syndicate dictating what Hei, Mao and Yin had to do. Shizuka sacrifices herself to save Huang and herself from being dispatched by the syndicate. There's a lot of talk in this episode about what the differences between humans and contractors. From what we've seen in this series, it's only the powers and leaning towards logical reasoning that distinguishes humans from contractors. The huge missing piece is how they're made, are they alien or spiritual beings that take over a human, although the contractors have the same memories, motivations and personalities as they did from before they became a contractor, so i don't think they are parasitic beings that need a host human. Have a good day. |
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| @23feanor I'll try to brain-dump my theories about contractor and doll origins / creation.
Shihoko clearly is able to feel the emotion of love and has a free will. She chooses suicide to protect the life of her love interest Huang. Which doubles as a nice tragic backstory for him, and another proof that contractors have emotions and will, and are linked to their former human existence still. Erasing memories in humans seems to be a readily available technology, as this is done by the Japanese government to Huang's police partner#s wife. In contractors it seems to occur naturally as part of their awakening. |
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| @inim a concise and accurate assessment. I think you're right, we may not get an explanation of the overall big picture on what happened, but i hope we do get some info on Hells/Heavens Gate, or at least hints, ie is it a parallel universe or spiritual event? It would be nice to get a report from the one of the contractors on how it happened and how they experienced the loss of their humanity and creation as a contractor, most importantly, was it their choice or was it forced on them by an impromptu awakening? Hopefully we'll get some answers, but it's an interesting world nonetheless. |
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| Episode 21/22 It seems the world building and character development is complete. This arc brings on massive story development, new personae, some deaths, and revelations about the South American events. Back then Dr. Schröder of PANDORA worked to blow up Heaven's Gate, but the plan was spoiled by an attack Amber's EPR group. This combination lead to the disappearance of large parts of South America. It's revealed that the destruction of the gate had killed all contractors. That makes EPR a contractor self-defense force in many ways. Via Mao, who is taken hostage to witness the decisive meeting, all this info is played into the hands of Hei's group. There's more, such as the introduction of a new contractor who teleports (losing her clothes, so doubles as fan service girl), diplomatic tensions USA<->JP and the revelation that the MI6 was undermined by a Syndicate double agent. Things are getting confusing. But I think what's important is that EPR now are officially the good guys, and Hei (along with Yin & the rest) has to pick sides. It's a difficult one because it's not clear where the Syndicate has it's real interests. The nations and PANDORA, however, now are known to be deadly foes for any contractor. And the Syndicate seems to be closer to that position i the price is right. |
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| Greetings, Hope you're both doing ok. Bit disappointing for England to lose, but well Italy were the better team. It was a nail biting watch getting all the way to penalties. Episodes 21 and 22 and we're starting to learn more about the tussle between the secret organisations, Evening Primrose and the syndicate. From what we've heard I'm guessing that the syndicate is made up of high ranking members from the same secret organisations (MI6, CIA, JSDF) we've seen already such as the British MI6 leader of the Asia Intelligence branch with the beard that was killed by November. My guess is that they use the syndicate as back ground undercover way to get things done that they can't do as representatives from nation states. So they created a secret syndicate to employ contractors and dolls to do the dirty work they don't want directly attributed to any specific intelligence organisation. We learn that the syndicate is working to find a way to cease all contractors from functioning, taking away their powers. I wonder if that's in direct reaction to Amber and her group as they are worried about a superior force, contractors becoming recognised as people with rights. Then they can band together and take over and do what they want, to a degree. We also learn that Hei had something to do with triggering Heavens Gate to disappear. I wonder if his sister is still trapped inside the Heavens Gate area as the scientist said the area was still there, it's just that physical matter can't interact with that space anymore. @filifjonkan no worries, it's always nice to hear your thoughts. Hope work is going ok and the family are well. Have a good evening. |
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| Greetings, So episode 23 and all the different stories and people are starting to come together for the final arc. We get to see Hei and Kirihara out on a date for an evening, which was really sweet for both of them and the closest this show will get to romance I expect. We get a glimpse into Hei's memory of the night at Heavens Gate where a huge area disappeared (1500 square miles!) and it may have had something to do with him, although he knows nothing about it. Did Amber stop time and initiate his power without him knowing, and is she going to try and replicate events? I thought EPM just needs to stop he syndicate and Pandora from initiating their test (they mentioned a super collider machine that they want destroyed), which if it goes right will wipe out all the contractors. Will Hei and maybe Kirihara help them stop Pandora and the Syndicate? Will Hei find his sister, my guess is that Amber won't tell him what happened to Pei until he helps her with something. I think you;re right @inim, we're not going to find out the macro level reasons for why the gates appeared and exactly how contractors are created, just details of what they can do and the geo political situation now that nations use them as weapons. Onto the penultimate episode tomorrow. Then ep 26 (a parody apparently but it sounds fun) and OVA 2 then S2. I won't bother starting a new thread for those, might as well continue this one for all DTB. Have a good evening. |
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| Hello, Episode 24 and we finally get confirmation that the Syndicate are the same people we've met during the series, the heads of the intelligence agencies and power brokers in Pandora (a UN led organisation which shouldn't be taking unilateral action), all linked together working for their own agenda. Which is to use a super collider to 'shut' the Hell;'s Gate thus killing or dissolving all the contractors. EPR know what's coming and manage to stop the Saturn super collider but the Syndicate have a back up. Was that Hei's sister we saw fighting Asagiri and the blonde lady? She looked like she was being controlled, or maybe a combat doll. Hei and Yin meet a young version of Amber. I wonder if the time she was stopping was being added to time in the gate area and thus a version of her within the gate gets older. That's why she said "i don't need to stop time, I've done enough", did she mean that the young version of her was formed and could carry out her plans inside the gate with Hei. I wonder how Hei will react when he sees his sister as a doll? Will she recognise him? Looking forward to the final tomorrow. Have a good day. |
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| Episode 23 The theme of this episode could be labeled "Broken Trust". Kirihara learns that she isn't really aware of what her police organization does, and bluntly told by her boss she doesn't need to know. For Hei & The Gang this goes even further, because the Syndicate officially wants to kill each and every one of hem and the shots literally get close. In an both likely and unlikely rendezvous, a lonely and confused Kirihara dates Hei. This guy should get his own harem spin-off, is there any female character who doesn't want to get laid by him? Their evening ends in a shot where they almost hold hands, which as we all know is the anime metaphor for having sex. I think in a fully mature anime (this is still half-shounen in many other ways too) they would have. Fair enough, let's keep the show clean and protect our minors. So whatever they did after having an expensive diner, they got closer and know about each other's loneliness and stress situation. Matter of time before some external event turns them into allies, if the Checkoff's Gun alarm in by guts isn't completely wrong. To make it all worse, "the night" of the special stellar constellation is expected to appear has come, too. Suspense is upheld by the weather (it's cloudy and rainy in the show's world that day). But the final shot with the old prophet lady hints at cosmic shit to hit the fan next episode. On to it, the end is near! |
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| Episode 24 Finally, shit hits the fan. EPR launches a full frontal attack on Hell's Gate to destroy the "Saturn Ring". This large particle collider ring secretly was built along with a massive wall around the gate's area. It's design is based on data from the South American incident, and obviously human experiments on contractors were used to verify that the destruction of Hell's Gate will kill all contractors instantly. Courtesy of Amber using her control over the flow of time, EPR manages to destroy the ring. Just to learn that a backup system was built in even larger secrecy, also based on the lesson from their Heaven's Gate attack. So despite losing a lot of EPR contractors, the clock towards their extinction keeps ticking. Kirihara visits PANDORA for a talk with Dr. Schröder, just to find him accompanied by Eric Nishijima. Under his guise as PANDORA staffer, he actually is a high ranking representative of the Syndicate. He confirms that the Syndicate is using PANDORA as a cover up and is backed by nation states so tey can do dirty work for them. Such as human experiments and killing all contractors. Nishijima explains the situation with the Saturn Ring and it's backup, he's basically Mr. Exposition-Dump here. That's fine, because a lot of loose ends are connected and somebody has to do it. Kirihara is visibly shocked, but doesn't yet rebel against the system she has been part of so long without knowing. She also learns that Hei & The Gang were basically her colleagues all the time. Hei's team is decimated dramatically. Huang sacrifices himself in a suicide bombing to distract the Syndicate's hit-men posse hunting their group. Mao manages to enter the gate zone but becomes disconnected from his computer back-end in charge of the human side keeping control. So the brain of his host (the cat) takes over control, and after biting Yin he runs away, meowing and hissing. Two soldiers tango down, as are almost all of ERPs troops. Mao had entered the inner gate zone with Hei and Yin before, in what was a pretty lame plot twist about one contractor only joining EPR to battle Hei and lose. Anyway, he opens the wall before. Inside the wall Yin hears the voices of the observer spirits of EPR dolls kept in tanks. PANDORA takes them out, but Yin continues to hear the guiding voice. My theory is that the old hag sage working for the Japanese Astro Society herself guides her, some cuts imply that. So they proceed trough an increasongly surreal landscape towards the gate. In the final scene, they meet a kindergarden aged Amber who obviously sacrificed a lot of her remaining reverse aging life time on the EPR assault on the gate. So now the fate of the world's contractors and the existence of the gate is in the hands of Yin (who knows the way), Hei (because he's the hero), and a kiddy Amber (and what#s left of her time reversal ability before she turns into egg and sperm). I really enjoyed the episode and hate the fact I'll learn about the conclusion only tomorrow. P.S. Belated condolences for England vs. Italy, next time :) P.P.S. Everybody watch Odd Taxi. In a nutshell it's a Satoshi Kon story with moe animal characters. And a mindfuck ending I guess nobody sees coming.a 9/10, and I'm a scrooge with that rating especially for contemporary anime. But yea, this is the anime of the year so far. |
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filifjonkan said: Thank you for the condolences, the situation must be quite bad in the South. I'm in the north and there isn't one drop of rain here, a bit cloudy but calm. And in the east there's clear sky with 30C. Weather is completely mad over Germany right now, the meteorologists say that the rain low pressure area is basically not moving. Which is why it#s so bad in the south.Hello from a very hot Sweden! Our condolences to your country @inim for the terrible floodings...or this is maybe inappropriate? Please let me know, if that is the case. I have watched and enjoyed all the ”usual” episodes now. Is it ep 26 now and then onto s02? I hope Summer comes along nicely now in the UK, @23feanor! Take care As for episode count, I think you need to wait for us. AFAIK the official episode was #24 today, 25 aka the finale tomorrow. I leave it to @23feanor to make the call on the switches to OVA1 and OVA2. In my schedule, OVA1 = ep 26 would be due on Saturday, OVA2 ep 1 on Sunday.I'll miss both very likely because I have a weekend visitor and will be traveling with him. Thus I'll probably catch up on Monday in a binge anyway. |
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| @inim it's funny you mention Hei and Kirihara maybe getting it on in an R+ rated version of the show, as i was thinking of this exact thing and i realised that none of the contractors express sexual desire, in keeping with their lack of emotion/logical way of thinking deal as a defining personality trait, although the guy Hei killed today (guy with the blood that burns through everything) said "the rules for us [contractors] have changed", i think alluding to the fact that just because they are contractors, doesn't mean they are excluded from feelings of jealousy or humiliation (ie toxic explosive blood guy) or sexual desire (ie the nude lady that transports and Amber's/Yin's obvious attraction to Hei). So would Hei have gone further with Kirihara if this show had a different rating and didn't have to concern itself itself with it's scheduled broadcast time? I'm not 100% sure, but i think it likely that Kirihara would have been susceptible to a night of passion with Hei, given their fortuitous meetings and natural connection. However, Hei is a different story, i get the feeling he is always playing a part, or acting out the part he thinks someone in his position should play, and he very rarely lets his feelings get in the way. You're right though, that dangerous but vulnerable, lone wolf attitude of his certainly seems to appeal to the ladies. @filifjonkan my apologies, i missed a day episode back on ep 16 so we are one ep behind schedule, but it's ep 25 and the final of the series tomorrow. Then onto ep 26 Saturday (OVA1) and then OVA2 and finally S2. Take care |
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| It's past midnight and I wanted to finish before the hiatus over the WE. Thus my final verdict for the show and the finale this early. Darker than Black - Mystery thriller about super powered mutants and global conspiracy. Episodic arcs build a fascinating world and characters similar to GitS, yet neither use nor explain their mysteries well. A fun watch, despite a story that's less mature than it pretends. (7/10) Episode 25 The S1 finale was somewhat disappointing, because it was pretty predictable and used too much deus-ex-machina o become a happy end. It starts out as a copy of the Evangelion ending where Chinese Electric Batman meets all the deceased friends he made along the way in an out-of-time white bright light location. The South American events are repeated in the real world, and the world Japan is destroyed. Enter Amber singing "If I could turn back time" before vanishing into pre-birth limbo. Re-run the finale, but a changed Hei now can spoil the PANDORA=Syndicate=Evil attack on the gate. And contractors and humans live happily ever after, with the existence of the X-Men contractors revealed to the world.One of my problems is the use of deus-ex-machina time reversal. In particular that Hei remembers the last run of the events and can make a new choice. Yin pulls him back from his excursion to Nirvana which is OK but not sensationally creative. And a mid-level police officer like Kirihara arrests the head of a global conspiracy and he's shown in jail in the ED. Yea, that's how justice works in the real world. Not. And so on and so forth. I'm not a very creative writer so I don't pretend that I could come up with a better ending. But I've seen stories that can. I don't complain about the lack of an explanation for all the mysteries touched in the episodic arcs and characters. Many similar dystopian mystery shows in both anime and live action don't really do it either (Ergo Proxy etc.). The world is well designed and the atmosphere works for me. At times I wish the show was a bit more mature not only in the "almost held hands" scene in ep 24. Just to give a comparison: Motoko (the heroine in GitS) is bi-sexual and we know it because it's shown. And there is one scene where she's in a hotel bed with an underage boy, so she's a shotacon as well. The way sexuality and many other details in those (otherwise very similar) two shows are handled is quite striking, DtB always picks the safer less mature plot element decision. Overall a strong 7/10, not the least because I gave the same rating to S1 of GitS:SAC and this show isn't better than that show. Equal is fine for me, the strong part of GitS is S2, and maybe the same will hold for DtB. |
inimJul 15, 2021 4:58 PM
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