Darker than Black ep.19

August 14, 2007 | 16 Comments

Once again sorry for the late review. I am just not in the mood to write long summary lately. Much to my surprise, this episode is actually a lot more entertaining than I thought it would be. I didn't expect to enjoy it as much since the main subject deals with Huang, a character which I have little sympathy for. This episode, however, does a good job of fleshing out his character and giving him enough reason for his behaviour. In addition to this, I really like the atmosphere and the style that the episode decides to adopt. The black and white sequences really make the episode look more noir-ish. And the animation is unusually high quality, something which I hope will continue right down to the finale.

The episode begins with a flashback where Huang returned to a house only to see a woman called Shihoko looking troubled. When he entered the room, however, the woman eyes's light up. Huang suddenly clutched his chest and blood started to pour from his eyes, nose, and mouth. A short second later, Huang wakes up from this nightmare. Later on, another flashback showed Huang, whose name used to be Kuno, taking a train with an old colleague. Back then, his colleague was wondering what would happen to the Hell's Gate, which still didn't have the wall around it. In response Huang told his partner that once the wall is completed then everything will be over. Back then the two also visited an abandoned office, which Huang's colleague believed belong to the South America terrorist group. Huang found a picture of an old woman but because neither of them were sure if she is related to their investigation, they decided to hand the picture to their supervisor.

After they handed in the photo, Huang wanted to go drinking but his colleague remember that he has to go home earlier to his wife so he invited Huang to go back home with him. Inside, the colleague's wife serves Huang with various foods, and beers. Despite this, Huang's colleague apologized for not having much. Huang replied by saying that his colleague has a beautiful wife, causing the colleague to wonder about Huang. In response Huang told him that no woman would like someone who looks like him. The colleague's wife disagreed about this and told Huang that he's quite charming. As the wife pours more beers for Huang, she realized how Huang is quite a strong drinker. Huang admits that there are times when he gets drunk. The wife remembered that divulging police due to getting drunk is a bad thing so it's a relief that Huang is a strong drinker. During the whole conversation, it's revealed that the name of Huang's colleague is Isozaki.

In the present day, a sad Huang is being served beer by Isozaki's wife inside her Izakaya (bar) when she realises that the bottle runs out of beer. When she offers to open a new one, however, Huang refuses because he's already drunk. In response, she claims that she'd like to see Huang drunk for once. When Huang responds by saying that it's possible to not get drunk, Isozaki's wife looks sad and comments about how her husband was like that too and Huang agrees with the comment. The next day, Hei returns to his apartment after shopping only to find two women standing in front of his door. The two women are glad when they realize that Hei is the owner of the apartment that they were knocking, claiming they've been lead this way. The two also claim that they have good things to discuss and ask Hei what he believes in. Hei immediately responds by saying that he doesn't know much Japanese. The women, however, don't give up and ask Hei where he comes from.

When Hei claims that he has to put down his groceries, the women offer to take it with them and even cook for him. They also assume that Hei comes from Korea and when Hei objected, they guessed he comes from China. Hei was so shocked when the two women greets him in Chinese that he drops his groceries. XD They then show him a religious pamphlet in Chinese, featuring the founder of the religion. Hei, however, is surprised when the women mentions 'Gate-sama', informing him that they come from the Gate Fundamentalist Friendship Society. Cut to a group of these women on the street talking through speakers and distributing pamphlets to passerby. Later on, Mao explains that these are a group of new religions which become popular lately. Mao then informs Hei that they've been ordered to assassin the founder of the group, Alma. Mao also tells Hei that next week there will be an assembly where ordinary people are being initiated into the group.

Mao also points out at a photograph of a woman, who is apparently an agent inside. Cut to a close up of the photo, which is now being looked at by Huang, who recognizes her as Shihoko. This means that she's alive and works in the same organization. A flashback shows that they first met at a convenient store. Back then Huang dragged Shihoko out of the store and accused her of pickpocketing him. In response, Shihoko stomped on his foot and ran away but ends up getting hit by a car. She survived the accident with only a broken foot. Feeling bad for the accident, Huang ended up buying stuff from the convenient store, prompting Shihoko to wonder if he's one of those kind people. Huang denied this so Shihoko reminded him that thanks to him, she can't participate in an audition for a play, causing Huang to shut his mouth. Back then she demanded him to pay penalty but assures him not to worry since she hasn't thought about what she wants yet.

The penalty turned out to be the two going out for a drink. Shihoko, however, was upset when she found out that she's the only one who's drunk and wonders why Huang doesn't. Huang claimed that he's told her that he can't get drunk. When Shihoko was walking up the stairs and almost fall over, she purposely kissed Huang, prompting him to wonder why she did it. Back then she claims that she did it because she likes him. In response, Huang wondered what she likes about him since they barely know each other. Shihoko replied that it doesn't matter that they don't know each other much because there are things that are better left unknown. In the present, Huang burns Shihoko's picture and tells himself that there is a limit to what one can't know. The next day, Hei arrives at the religious HQ where they are taken to a room containing a large screen featuring the leader, Alma, harping on about the restless souls which filled this land and praising "Gate-sama".

Hei notes that the founder of the religion only appears in front of the believers once a year, making it difficult to trace her whereabouts. As for Shihoko, Hei reports to Huang that she'll give him a direct coaching tomorrow. Hei, however, informs Huang that connecting outside is difficult so he has to let Hei to do his work as usual. Moreover, Hei wonders why Huang is so keen on maintaining a contact. Huang denies this and claims that he understands. The next day, Shihoko leads a group of newcomers on a reading session. When he is asked to read from a passage, Hei finds a hidden note inserted in it, telling him to meet Shihoko in the purification room later on that night. That night Hei meets Shihoko in a confessional room. She assures him that the place is safe since they don't put surveillance inside. She then informs him that there is a secret area in the basement of a main shrine which only Alma and the followers are aware of.

Shihoko then gives Hei a memory card containing information about the room and reveals that Alma will meet an important person there at 2AM the day after tomorrow. When that happens, Shihoko intends to kill Alma. However, since she can only use her power once, Shihoko needs Hei to take care of the henchmen. She emphasizes the fact that they can't fail because it took her 3 years to gain the group's trust and find out the identity of the founder. She explains that 6 years ago, there was a murder of a congressman called Hirose and his secretary was accused as the murderer. However, because Hirose was connected to the organization, a further investigation was launched and it revealed that the secretary wasn't the killer. It was actually someone who looks similar. Hei points out that it could be the secretary's twins but Shihoko points out that the killer transformed herself to look like the secretary. This is the ability that Alma possesses.

At the same time, Huang is back at the bar that is owned by Isozaki's wife. After other visitors left, she thanks Huang for coming every year to commemorate her husband's passing. She then admits that she can't converse well with the relatives who visit during the day. She recalls how Huang once said that people whose relative is murdered tend to get left in a shock state to the point that they lost their memory. She wonders if that's true or if she's just cold-hearted. She feels that she has little memory of Huang and mourns for the loss of her memory of her husband of 2 years. Huang claims that it can't be helped that she forgets although in reflection, he thinks she might be happier that she forgets about it. A flashback reveals how after Huang was visiting Isozaki's house, he insisted on accompanying Huang to the station. Before they can go far, however, Shihoko appeared and used her Contractor ability, causing Isozaki to bleed from every pores of his body.

Preview

Isozaki died in the arms of his wife while Huang couldn't do anything to stop Shihoko. Later on Huang, whose boss turned out to be Hourai, Misaki's current boss at the police department, handed in his resignation letter. Hourai showed an autopsy report which reveals that Isozaki's organs were crushed from within and since the case is related to Contractor, they're not ready to deal with it. Having said that, he believed there's no reason for Huang to resign. Later on, however, Huang was approached by a man who informed him that those who have seen Contractors in action usually have their memory erased. This will happen to Huang soon and in fact, Isozaki's wife already has part of her memories altered. The only way to stop this is if Huang joins the organization. In the present day, Amagiri arrives at the religious group and is shown a room containing many dolls. He is then taken to the secret room where Alma and Shihoko already wait.

Amagiri asks Alma about the preparation for the acceptance. Alma, however, refuses to treat the dolls as a tool and asks if this is Amber's wish. Amagiri responds by saying it's for the sake of EPR. An unhappy Alma notices that Shihoko has been looking at Amagiri's wet coat where a surveillance spectre hovers on it. This causes her to realize that Shihoko is a Contractor. Shihoko activates her power to kill Alma but before she can do this, Amagiri grabs her face with his hand and stops her. All of a sudden there is black out in the room and when backup lights are activated, Hei already has his hand on Alma. Alma doesn't mind being dead but Amagiri manages to attack Hei with his power, forcing Hei to retreat. Later on, Hei finds out that Huang was the one who asked Yin to send the spectre because he's worried about the situation. Hei is angry to hear this and tells Huang that Shihoko was captured thanks to Huang's interference.

Impression:

This episode actually did a good job of making Huang a sympathetic character. I still don't like his attitude towards Hei and other Contractors but it's understandable why he feels that way. He actually lost an important friend thanks to a Contractor that he probably had feelings for. To add insult to the entire incident, he was coerced to join the organization if he doesn't want his memory to get erased. Having said that, I still get the feeling that he's a bit of a 'red-neck' even before the incident. Moving along, I like the light tone of the earlier scenes, especially where Hei was coerced by the two women to join the religious cult. As for the mysterious story of the week, I think it's implied that Alma is the old grandma whose picture was found by Huang and Isozaki earlier in the episode. I do hope, however, we'll find out why Shihoko had to kill Isozaki. On that note, I like that Huang actually used to work as a detective just like Misaki. It just makes the characters more inter-connected than I originally perceived.

© memento 2003