Darker Than Black – Volumes 1 & 2
Label: Manga Entertainment.
Release date: 31st August 2009
Certificate: 15
Discs: 2. (10 episodes)
Running time: 241 minutes approx
Video: 16.9 anamorphic
Sound: English 5.1, Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English.
RRP: £19.99
Darker Than Black – Volumes 3 & 4
Label: Manga Entertainment.
Release date: 19th October 2009
Certificate: 15
Discs: 2. (8 episodes)
Running time: 194 minutes approx
Video: 16.9 anamorphic
Sound: English 5.1, Japanese 2.0
Subtitles: English.
RRP: £19.99
Brief synopsis:
It’s been a decade since the physical phenomena known as “Hell’s Gate” appeared in central Tokyo. Apart from bringing catastrophe upon the city itself, it’s appearance was also marked by the disappearance from view of every single celestial body. The stars are replaced in the night sky by false stars, each one representing what’s secretly know as “contractors”, a small number of humans who’ve been gifted by Hell’s Gate with super human powers such a levitation, telepathy or control of electricity. But these powers are as much a curse as they are a gift as not only does each contractor lose their ability to feel emotion, but they also have to literally “pay the price” every time they use their powers. Each contractor’s price, or “remuneration” is different, some as harmlessly benign as singing a melody or folding over a page of a book to others as gruesome as breaking one’s own bones or drinking the blood of a child.
The existence of Contractors is kept hidden from the public at large and they find themselves being employed by various agencies and syndicates – some legal, some illicit, but all with agendas unknown – as agents, spies and assassins. One such contractor, known as the “Black Reaper” to the independent syndicate that employs him and “BK201” to the law enforcement agents that hunt him, is tasked with taking down other contractors whilst playing a cat and mouse game against government agencies that would use contractors for their own gains. But the Black Reaper doesn’t work alone; the syndicate has given him a false identity and placed him with a team comprised of a blind psychic, a former police detective and an agent able to hijack the bodies of other living things. When Black Reaper’s various identities start to come into conflict and elements of not just his own past, but those of his team members as well, start to catch up with him then he’ll need all his skills, all his wits and all his powers just to stay alive.
Comments:
Hhmm. I’m trying to sum up this show in one nice and easy sentence and I’m thinking the best way to describe it would be this. Think X-Men meets Heroes and then turn it into a suspense-thriller anime and you’re part way to Darker than Black. Written and created by Tensai Okamura (Neon Genesis Evangelion, Soul Eater, Wolf’s Rain) with more political machinations, uncertain loyalties, grand power plays and double-crossing back-stabbers than a top class spy novel. The mysterious powers-that-be behind the various governments and their law enforcements agencies are as shady and suspect as the criminal syndicates and so called “terrorist “organisations. There’s as much misdirection and sleight of hand going on for the audience as there is for the characters and our “good guys” may not be as altruistic as they like to make out meaning the “bad guys” may ultimately be the lesser of two evils.
Visually, the animation quality is constantly high which is just as we’ve come to expect from production Company BONES (RahXephon, Scrapped Princess, Soul Eater), though in this instance the production budget may have had an extra helping hand due to some major sponsorship deals.. Much like Code Geass before it, during it’s original transmission Darker than Black had some quite heavy product placement – often to the point of distraction – with billboards and products from the likes of Pizza Hut and Coca-Cola though thankfully it’s been mostly replaced in the DVD release with less obtrusive generic logos.
Musically this show sounds like a cross between Cowboy Bebop and Ghost In the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, which certainly isn’t a bad thing and is hardly a surprise when you take into account the fact that they’ve all blessed by anime soundtrack impresario Yoko Kanno. The dub is one of the better efforts of recent years and kudos have to go out to November 11’s voice actor, Troy Baker, who manages to pull off a British accent that, while not 100% convincing, at least doesn’t sound like Dick van Dyke in Mary Poppins.
Worth noting is that the first twin set, comprising Volumes 1&2, contains an impressive ten episodes and the second, Volumes 3&4, contains another eight. At the speed they’re running through episodes they should hopefully have all 25 episodes, as well as the previously un-broadcast special episode, on just six discs. FUNimation have recently taken to compressing a full series of anime down to six discs, rather than most other distributor’s seven, and then releasing them as a trio of twin-sets. You can usually pick these up from online retailers for a little over £10 each meaning it’s now possible to buy an entire series on it’s first release for not much more than it costs for heavily discounted 2-3 year old box-set.
Extras:
Each of the four discs includes an Audio Commentary for one episode, Character Bios, Production Art Gallery and Textless Opening & Closing Songs while the disc for volume one also includes the Cast Auditions for the English language version.
Darker Than Black – Volumes 1 & 2 will be available on DVD from most high streets, and online retailers such as Amazon and Play, from 31st August 2009 while Darker Than Black – Volumes 3 & 4 will be available from 19th October 2009.
Reviewer: Penfold