Darker Than Black Season 2 Official Talkback (Spoilers)

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Im_ThatGirlx

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The first episode came out a couple of days ago, so I feel it is appropriate to create a talkback for the series as a whole.

To say the least, I am incredibly happy that DtB has gotten a second season, I thought the first was great and left me desiring more. There have been RUMORS that this second season will only be 12 episodes, but I am hoping that these remain just that...rumors and the series will actually be 26 episodes.

Anyways, on to the episode itself...

First off, I thought the animation was pretty amazing and I thought the music at the start was a nice touch. The new characters had me a bit worried at first, but I am intrigued by them, especially the male twin (I believe his name is Shion). Though if a large part of the series is spent merely looking for him, it will be kind of annoying.

I am rather sad that April has been offed so quickly, I always thought she was a nice add to Noveraber's character and to be honest she deserved a bit better. I never knew that her powers were that good, because the speed contractor seriously got owned.

Ugh. I really hope Hei gets a haircut, I dislike the long hair on him and I am hoping he hasn't turned to the dark side. I am curious as to why he is collecting the sharRAB.

All in all the episode was nice, nothing spectacular. It did a nice job of introducing Suou, and especially setting up for a more plot-driven season than the last. I'm not sure if this formula will work better, but I'm up for new things. The ending of the episode certainly left me wanting more.

Definately looking forward to this season.
 
watching the funi season earlier this summer and watching season 2 leaves the largest WTF on my face

too many questions with hei and now suou as well as shion. Exactly who is after them and why
My largest gripe here is no kirihara (I enjoyed her character quite a bit)

I think I will watch this a bit more though the beginning of the episode was slow. A bit routine to drop the hugest shock and change of character right in the middle of the episode and roll with it though.

I guess it is difficult to say if bones has a gem here but it does begin quite well
 
First episode wasn't what I was expecting at all; not necessarily in a bad way, I'm just surprised to see Hei looking like a villain. Obviously there are a lot of gaps to fill in with him, so I'll be looking forward to that. I was expecting to be annoyed by Suou, but I wasn't at all, so that was a pleasant surprise. I was taken aback by April getting offed in the first episode, too. As has been mentioned, it looked beautiful and I liked the ED.

I'm very, very intrigued by where this is going to go.
 
So according to Hei's profile on the official website...

He works for the CIA now.



That's not a rumour, it's an outright officially stated fact that the series will only have 12 episodes on air plus 4 DVD/Blu-ray-exclusive episodes set in the 2 year gap between "Black Contractor" (first season) and "Gemini of the Meteor" (second season). Due to the shortened length, the series will be one continuous story arc instead of several episodic 2-parters with scattered hints at an underlying plot.
 
Interesting stuff going on in episode 2. First, we get the actual OP and ED with the OP focusing on Suou (and some big guns) and the ED seeming to show that Suou and Hei are going to team up in the future. I'm glad the cityscape wasn't the actual imagery for the ED since the Suou and Hei stuff is much more interesting.

As for the episode itself, a bunch seems to be going on at once. Hei thinks Suou is Shion, gets interrupted by another Contractor, Suou sees Shion walking away, people's memories are being erased to forget Suou and Shion, Hei's doing his work for the CIA (how that came to be, I'm very curious), and we had a couple flasrabroadacks to Yin; the second flasrabroadack of Hei running toward Yin, who biRAB him farewell with tears in her eyes was really haunting. Something is obviously going on there... And Hei getting caught in that electrocuting field at the end... yikes!

But... Misaki cameo at the end, so yay for that. Hei's star disappeared? Hm. Evil, evil cliffhangers.

Oh, and is Mao back? What with the cat in the first episode and the diserabodied voice telling Suou to escape this episode and all... Curious.
 
To start off, I absolutely love the OP. I think I am starting to become a fan of stereopony, but even then the visuals were also really nice. I was a bit dissapointed with the lack of Hei in the OP, but it was still really good. I am actually listening to the song right now.

As for the episode, it too was pretty fantastic. I thought the new blonde haired agent would last a bit longer, but he was getting annoying so I am glad Hei kill him. I am assuming that the female contractor introduced (Youko?) is going to be around for a bit to give Hei and Suou trouble, but even then I can't tell. That's one thing I have always liked/disliked about DtB. While the series has no issues killing off characters, sometimes I would like to see them around for just a bit longer.

At this point I really don't mind if Hei becomes a secondary character to Suou, because I think she is a pretty interesting character. Her plot itself is intriguing and makes me want to find out more. I am VERY curious however as to what happened with Yin, it was pretty startling to see that she is seemingly gone. Perhaps that is why Hei has turned into a bum...

MISAKI!!! Can't go wrong with having her in an episode, hopefully she becomes more prominent in future episodes.

Looking forward to episode 3.
 
Eep, got busy so had to post my response for episode 3 late.

Things are continuing to get interesting. And this season continues to prove it's not afraid of having a body count (poor Nika, though there were plenty of times he could have saved himself). Tanya's locust powers are icky. No likey.

Looks like Hei is having problems with his power (his star disappearing meant he lost his powers? But how?) while Suou awakens her own. The gun sprouting from her pendant was a bit awkward, but the overall effect was pretty cool--though I won't lie, I thought of Sailor Moon during that sequence. So now that Suou has awakened her own contractor powers, things are bound to get more complicated as the crew (July in tow, even) heaRAB for Japan...

And Misaki! Looks like she's about to make a deal with the devil in order to find Hei. This should be good.

The speculation I saw about Mao being the squirrel turned out to be true; they're working for the same unnamed woman, and Hei declares he will kill "her". Same person? I wouldn't be surprised. Obviously she did something to Yin--killed, kidnapped, harmed in some fashion--and Hei's not pleased. And a not pleased Hei usually means trouble. But the question remains: who is she?

And I dig Hei's ponytail... even if he still looks scruffy
 
Hei losing his powers? NOOOOOOO! Ah well, I suppose Hei has to have some kind of handicap, we can't just have him running around owning everyone.

Well...I guess the writers could have done that, but then things probably would have gotten boring. As for Suou becoming a contractor, I am stoked, and pretty happy it happened. I didn't want her to be a useless damsel in distress every episode. Her power however is just slightly weird though, and I feel at critical times it can be...restricting. However, in this particular episode and moment it was badass. I just find it hilarious that of all the guns that could have formed, it is such a large one.

Oh Hei...you really are trying to make people think you are some sort of Loli fan, aren't you? It doesn't help that you still look like a complete hobo and creeper. Please, shave and cut your hair...I DONT CARE HOW MUCH YOU LIKE IT PHW.

Misaki
 
Half-way through now and things are really getting good.

So now we know where Yin's been... we just still don't know how she got there. And now Misaki and co. are using her to lure out Hei, who is currently powerless. And Suou's trying to figure out just what's going on there. Goodness.

I was really hoping Misaki and Hei would meet up again this episode, but it looks like we're going to have further build up before that happens. Dun dun dun.

I'm also getting a kick out of Mao; seeing him taking human-like positions in that squirrel body is hilarious. The scene where Hei escapes on the car was great, too. "Mom are those contractors?" "Is there a contractor on our car?"

Loved, loved, loved the scene between Suou and Hei in the kitchen. Hei's out of alcohol and actually cooking; slowly but surely we're starting to see the old Hei (but I still like the ponytail *cough*) now that Yin's resurfaced. I loved Hei telling Suou that shooting doesn't suit her and her condition to not shoot anymore is for him to not drink anymore--but it looked like he was giving that up anyway. Great scene.

I'm a bit confused by that final scene with Suou seeing Yin's observation ghost but Hei being completely oblivious. Hm.

Also, feeling bad for Norio after his mother was killed. He levels the same accusation of killing with remorse at Suou that she leveled at Hei in the beginning. How things have changed.

So that's who Hei's been working for, huh? And... he quits.

And now we're off to Tokyo where Suou wanted to go to find Shion in the first place. Looks like all the different parties and storylines involved are going to converge there. Looking forward to seeing what's next!
 
YIN!

Apparently she has a new power? If so, that is awesome.

Also. I really hope that Hei gets his powers back...eventually. Hopefully in time to own the perverted contractor who can use his surroundings to make armor. Just sayin'

Why does Misaki want to capture Hei so badly? What does she have to ask him anyways?

To be honest I didn't think what Yin (supposedly) did to Norio's mom was enough to kill her...I wouldn't be surprised if we ended up seeing her later.

Maybe Hei giving up Alcohol will make him get in better shape.

I am sad that we only have 6 episodes left.
 
Obligatory bump... a month and four episodes later.

With only two episodes remaining, I'm really wondering how things are going to tie up with everything that was revealed in the latest episode.

Suou died 8 years ago and is some kind of copy made by Shion's power. He also implanted fake memories in her. But her incompleteness allowed her to fall in love with Hei, who is now clean-shaven, short-haired and sober again (I'll miss the ponytail, not gonna lie). The moment where she cries and tells Hei she was lonely when he left was very touching and sad, especially considering all the recent revelations. I loved how Hei told her the only Suou he knows is her, though. Small wonder she fell for him *cough*

Looks like Hei's being set up. He kidnaps Youko for information and when she's found, she'd been tortured and killed. Hazuki's sworn revenge, but Youko seemed fine, if out of it, when Hei left her. Eep. She was adamant that Izanami and Izanagi can't meet... so I have a feeling we'll be seeing that happen before the end.

For Hei and Misaki's first meeting, that was disappointing. He pulls a knife on her and she pulls a gun on him since he thinks she was trying to capture Suou and was ready to take her out. Good grief. At least he recognized her? Not gonna lie, I've been hoping for some kind of Hei x Misaki ending, but this meeting makes that seem unlikely. She called him "Li-kun" as he left which just made me "aww" in a sad way. Poor Misaki.

I'm really enjoying the series so far--I was just thinking as I was watching the last few episodes that season 2 has far surpassed my expectations going into it thus far, so I hope the final two episodes don't disappoint. I can't wait to see where it goes and how it all ties up.
 
The lack of love this series gets on rabroad makes me cry a little bit on the inside.

Things certainly have shaped up to be pretty amazing. Suou as a character hasn't annoyed me once since the start, which was something I was very worried about. I also wasn't expecting the twist about her being a fake either.

I felt pretty bad for Youko. It is pretty obvious that Hei didn't do that to her, it isn't his style to beat his opponents like that. I'm going to go out on a lirab and say that Orielle had something to do with it. She hasn't done anything to directly make her evil yet, but mark my worRAB she is bad.

As a note, I find myself wondering who exactly is going to be the final boss. For it to be Shion would be too simple, it seems as though they are setting up for a Hei vs Yin ending. Orielle being the final would make sense also.

One thing I know is that Hei better get his powers back by the end. Sure, he is a badass but things just aren't the same without his powers. Though, had he maintained them the whole series it wouldn't have been nearly as fun.

On to the end...
 
The ending gave me a headache as big as the series' horrendous trance music does, but it does make sense in the end, even though it is a colossal asspull AND deus ex machina rolled together.

Basically Shion linked to the Doll Network, thus loaded himself with the thoughts and appearances of everyone in the world. He then created a copy of the Earth and all of its inhabitants, only without the Gates so there's no contractors (besides Suou and July who got teleported there).

Ugh. Just like FMA 1, this sequel got similarly messed up at the end after a truly exhilarating ride. I still think the ride was worth it, like with FMA 1. I kinda wish we had another 13 episodes so the writers didn't need to pull something like this, though.
 
I'm not sure if that interpretation of what Shion did is entirely correct. There was no mention of whether or not he copied humans, just that he copied himself and used the ME to store their memories. I think Yin did the rest. But even then I am not entirely sure.

Part of me loved this episode, the other part hated it. The moment we found out Suou was a clone it became very clear that she would die. Still, it was really a very touching moment between her and Hei when she did. I felt horrible for her as she lost her memories. And I loved when she told Hei that he was lying, it was so sad.

Ah, I suspected the one rock guy...can't for the life of me remeraber his name, killed Youko. And it isn't surprising the magician survived either if the guy did indeed cross them. I really REALLY wish we could have seen the fight between him and Hazuki, so it completely sucks they skipped over that.

This ending was indeed rushed, and that is my main problem with it. We didn't get the answer to a lot of questions and Orielle is still random as ever. I would have liked some mention of Hazuki at the end, not to mention whether or not Hei actually killed Yin.

However, it is good that they left this completely open for a third season. The prophecy did come true, the child that appeared at the end seemed to be sucking souls out, which is the terror brought by Izanami and Izanagi meeting. I suspect a third season will be made. Hei will return again and he will have to stop this thing.

Ah. Such a bittersweet ending for Suou and July. Speaking of July, I loved his progression. The tale about the gate was true, it will grant your wish but take something in return. Everyone got their wish...everyone lost something.
 
Every time you use the term "spam-watch," I scratch my head in confusion until I remeraber you mean something like "marathon."

Now to this episode and entire second series as a whole. I was apprehensive with this series when I realized that Hei and the others were secondary characters, but I gave it a chance. I marathoned the first series and watched the first episode of the second series in one sitting with frienRAB, and that was a bad idea. We were all appalled with that first episode with how these new characters were acting and with the Russian setting. My friend native to Russia pointed out the setting errors that were actually jarring.

However, I am a lenient anime watcher and would give a series a few episodes to find out where the story is going. This led me to watch the worst anime episodes I have watched this year, second to Endless Eight. When watching Darker than BLACK, I should not be subjected Hei wallow while downing fask after fask or the misadventures of Suou and the lolicons that lusted for her. However, halfway through the series was going back to its roots when Misaki started investigating more into Izanagi and Izanami. It was going somewhere good especially when Hei redonned his Black Reaper getup, but this last episode just fell apart. A new version of Earth, a lack of a final battle between Sword Chick and Armor Guy, two Yins (or one is Yang?), and a flipping limo that flies are just the concrete problems with this ending. There was no sense of an end like the first series. If there was a thirteenth episode, then some of the problems I had with the ending could have been alleviated.

I can't believe that happy feelings from watching the end of Nodame Cantabile: Paris-Hen have been nullified by this series ending.
 
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