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ファイト／ステイナイト 
This is so disappointing. After such a strong penultimate episode, the writers just let the series end like this without closing many of the plot holes that they've created. I've heard that there's episode 26 coming in one of the DVDs. But wow, that's a really lousy way of ending the series for the television viewers. I don't mind including some unaired episodes on the DVDs, but I think it's really slack of the producers if these episodes actually hold the answers to the storyline. Extra episodes on DVDs should not be anything more than one-off storyline like those Honey and Clover's side stories. I think the worse thing about this episode is that I really get the feeling that they're trying to emulate Evangelion's episode 26, which rivals this episode in its non-conclusion.
The episode begins with Amber giving an exposition about Bai was the first one who found out about the Organization's plan. Well, that is nice and dandy but what happened to Bai? Anyway, Amber claims that unlike them, Hei is a human. She also tells Hei that no one knows who made the gate and for what purpose. However, she feels that something is starting. Amber then tells Hei that they are going to do what they did in South America: release Bai's power before the Organization fires the anti-gravity weapon. Doing so will effectively prevent anyone from coming into this area. Meanwhile, Misaki tries to stop the Professor and Eric Nishijima from firing the weapon but her efforts is futile. Before the weapon can destroy the gate, however, Amber shove the meteor fragment into Hei's body. This effectively create a barrier which envelops the gate and Tokyo. Hei then finds himself turning into a child again and now looking at the real stars.
Hei, however, starts crying, claiming that he doesn't want everyone to disappear. One by one, his dead comrades appear starting from Bai, who claims that Hei only becomes a killer just for her sake. Huang and Mao then appear to tell him not to force himself too hard. If that's not weird enough, everyone else from November to Wei then appears in this world. Hei eventually decides that he wants to go back. Amber is not happy about this but eventually lets him go. Hei suddenly finds himself inside some kind of time tunnel where he hears Yin's voice, asking him not to leave him alone. Hei and Yin manage to connect their hand and Hei is transported back into the gate's entrance along with Yin. It looks like Amber has used her last power to take them back to the time before the anti-gravity weapon was used. Hei effectively destroys the weapon, causing Eric to become angry when Professor Schroeder tells him that the weapon has been rendered ineffective.
Schroeder explains that Hei's power is not just normal electricity but it can nullify the weapon. Eric is livid but the one who's even more unhappy than him is Hourai. In his frustration, Hourai kills Eric and tells Misaki that they're going to make it look like Eric committed suicide. Misaki, however, refuses to co-operate and reveals that she's been taping his conversation about killing all of the Contractors. Unhappy with her decision, Hourai decides to strangle Misaki. Thankfully for her, Hei appears to save her before bolting out again. He also tells Misaki that Li no longer exists. In the aftermath, everyone becomes aware of the existence of the Contractors. Hei and Yin, however, have move away from their previous location. While visiting Hei's old apartment, Misaki catches a glimpse of Hei walking away from the area but when she goes after him, he's nowhere to be seen. The episode ends with the visage of Bai Yin seen underneath a bridge.
Impression:
What the hell was that? Instead of closing all of the plot holes, the writers for some reason decide to go for a half-hearted attempt at emulating the "Congratulation" scene from episode 26 of Evangelion. The only part of this finale that I enjoy is seeing the connection between Hei and Yin, which ended up saving the two of them. It was still sad though knowing that Mao will never come back again. As for the mysteries, most of them remained unsolved. All I get from this episode is that Bai's power for some reason has been laying dormant inside Hei. I don't even know how this is possible and the writers didn't bother to provide an explanation. The other thing that we know is that the South American incident happened when Amber shoves the meteor particle into Hei's body, effectively activating Bai's true power....whatever that is. We also find out that Hourai turns out to have higher power than Eric Nishijima.
I find this finale to be very disappointing. There are at least 10 questions that the writers decided not to answer. The worse thing about this is that, unlike US TV series, we have no clue if there'll be a second season for this. For some reasons I doubt it unless the series was really popular. However, I don't see such indication. Overall, Darker than Black was an uneven series. It started out strong, meander without direction in the middle part, it had an awesome penultimate episode, and it went out with whimper instead of a bang. I think the writers have no idea what they wanted to write in the first place and it's not until episode 13 that they started this whole Evening Primrose subplot. The problem is, the series doesn't need subplots. It already has several mysteries waiting to be solved but it never bothered to do this. Well, if anyone can figure out the answer to these questions, I'll really appreciate your input:
1. What is Bai's true power?
2. How did it get into Hei?
3. How can Hei be a Contractor but remains as a human? Is it because he didn't really make a Contract but rather just housing his sister's power?
4. How do you become a Contractor anyway?
5. What's inside the inner gate?
6. Who created the gate? Where did it come from?
7. When Amber push the meteor fragment into Hei's body, where did it take them?
8. So Amber's action produce a protective field that makes it impossible for the gate to be breached but also kills everyone except Hei? Why is this the case? Is it because Hei's half human and half Contractor?
9. Why does this protective field returns the starry sky? Why is it that the real Tokyo doesn't have the starry sky? Does Hell's gate reverses the real world's true sky with fake sky where the stars are nothing more than the constellations of the Contractors?
10. What is that space that Hei went into where he saw some of his colleagues?
Errr in the translation I watched they covered the fact that Bai's powers included the ability to give someone else contractor powers, and that was the origin of Hei's power. They explained that her power was to alter matter on a very low level, which i inferred to be how she could modify someone to have a power. Since Hei gained his power through this manner rather than the normal method (which they never explained), he still remained a human.
As for #8, amber's action caused Hei's power to go wild and create the null space, which somehow was that funky sort of dreamspace they went to for a while. It doesn't kill everyone but Hei, I'm not sure where you got that from. His power did activate and spread out over the city, but she used her power to reverse time to before he did that. Basically gave him a do-over, but her price for doing such was to regress further in age to the point where she didn't exist anymore.
As for what happened to Bai, they never absolutely spelled it out but I think it is safe to assume that by using her power to create the null space, she along with everyone else in the null space was destroyed.
Errr in the translation I watched they covered the fact that Bai's powers included the ability to give someone else contractor powers, and that was the origin of Hei's power.
What? How did I miss that explanation? Which scene is this from? Because I certainly didn't hear it.
They explained that her power was to alter matter on a very low level, which i inferred to be how she could modify someone to have a power. Since Hei gained his power through this manner rather than the normal method (which they never explained), he still remained a human.
I got that part about how his power can alter matters at particle level but I don't necessarily connect that with Bai being able to modify someone to have power. There's a big difference between modifying something and adding something which did not exist before.
As for #8, amber's action caused Hei's power to go wild and create the null space, which somehow was that funky sort of dreamspace they went to for a while. It doesn't kill everyone but Hei, I'm not sure where you got that from.
I got the impression that it did kill everyone until Amber reversed it back using her power. That's why Hei was crying about not wanting everyone to disappear.
think he was crying becoz all the dead pple fr the dreamspace thingie are now gone again.
for Bai's power, i was wondering maybe she has the power to alter the DNA or the body structure to a structure that can control eletricity.
Later today I'll see if I can find the scene where they mentioned this. And yeah, I got the impression it did kill them. I got the impression it killed Hei too though, and that was some sort of after life or some such. Possibly caused by the effect of the field?
I agree with you here garten. They had the chance to justify their earlier failed efforts on some of the earlier "filler-ish" episodes, but with the awesome penultimate episode and the success with good episodes coming out recently, they really had it in their hands. People really had high hopes for the final, but instead, they decided to rush things, and the whole thing fell flat.
So many pieces left out in the open. I'd be a little more empathic if they'd actually would hint some of the questions, but that was not to be.
Shameful really, though I hope the OVA does a good job. Even though it shouldn't be the thing concluding the series in an appropriate way.
There will be a DVD release 1/7/08 which will contain the "26th" episode..
Hopefully it will answer all of our questions
I think the story writers attempted a "Life goes on"-type ending, which obviously, completely failed. They really should have extended the series by one more episode, to explain all the questions.
I always wondered why Hei hated Amber so much, but after seeing the flashback where he almost chokes Bai I had thought that maybe Amber realized Hei wanted to kill Bai and so Amber did the job. But now since its not the case I guess not lol.
I just watched the last ep so here's my attempt to answer the questions.
1. Bai's true power is emitting and manipulating electromagnetic waves at any frequency, thus effectively electrocuting anyone (like what Hei normally does) or even manipulating things at a quantum/subatomic level.
3. Yeah I think Hei's not a contractor because he never made a contract. Hei is the only contractor without a renumeration.
7. I think when Amber pushed the meteor fragment into Hei, it activated Hei's power and sent them to where Hei wants to be the most. I remember in earlier episodes it says that anything is possible within the gate. Like the blonde guy that has the same power as Hei, the gate gave him the ability to see the real stars and go to space with his sister (which the recess in time, I presume, takes the guy back to before his sister was paralyzed.)
8. Since Bai's power can manipulate things on a subatomic level, it can change the land into a place where physical beings cannot approach. No idea about the rest.
9/10. The Gate's world where you can I dunno, do the impossible. Hei dreams of seeing the real stars, and he's probably always thinking about his fallen comrades, especially because Hei doesn't want to kill anyone.
On a better note.. HEIxYIN FTW!
From wikipedia:
"In addition to this, she also has the power to turn ordinary people into Contractors."
(Talking about Bai)
o__O; somehow I completely missed this. I'll go back and rewatch
It isn't explained, but I got the impression that somehow Bai passed her powers off to Hei which is why there wasn't a price involved for Hei. (Think of that contractor who could posses others and lost his original body).
As to the where it took them part, that isn't answered definitely, but we saw something similar with Nicholas (the cheesy rocket scene, I don't remember exactly what ep.)
As for Bai's power, I didn't really blink when they said she could manipulate things at a very low level.. though if it gave the ability to manipulate electricity I wonder why not fire as well. ^^;
From wikipedia:
"In addition to this, she also has the power to turn ordinary people into Contractors."
"(Talking about Bai)"
I wouldn't immediately trust wikipedia since anyone can add whatever he/she wants onto a page. It isn't the most reliable source of info. ^^;;
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Anyway, I checked all the other blogs about Bai's power and they state that her powers are similar to Hei.
ALRIGHT! A confirmation at last. This is exactly what my fansubbed version says:
(that Dr. Schroeder dude) "The anti-gate particles within the system have been completely altered by the special particle light that emits from BK-201's electric current. His electric current isn't one made up of mere electromagnetic waves. It's capable of altering substances at a quantum level. Granting the abilities of a contractor to an ordinary human is an example of what BK-201 is capable of doing."
This takes place after Hei alters the Saturn Ring system and that one guy orders a second round, but Dr. Schroeder says its useless.
I think the surveillance spirit we see at the end is most likely Yin's. Bai is dead(?) and she wasn't a Doll so I doubt that could've been her.
I do believe Hei was a contractor...
I believe his renumeration was having emotions...
Either that or he wasn't one at all
"Granting the abilities of a contractor to an ordinary human is an example of what BK-201 is capable of doing."
That's a rather loose translation of the following line:
「たとえれば普通の人間が契約者になってしまうようなもんだ。」
"tatoereba, futsuu no ningen ga keiyakusha ni natte shimau you na mon da"
I translated that into "one can compare it to an ordinary human becoming a contractor".
It's kind of vague but I supposed you can take that and assume that this is precisely what Bai could do.
Garten: if I'm correct, that sentence there is talking about HEI, not Bai, that is what the professor said at the end when Hei altered the anti-gate particles, no? If it is that I think that's what he meant, and if I'm correct, your translation is slightly more accurate. =\
1. not sure, but the power was originally Hei's, if I understand things correctly
2. Same way the contractors manifest their powers (which I think the directors failed to mention; I keep imagining the Espers in Suzumiya Haruhi, heh), I believe, it's just that it happened to Hei when Bai disappeared into Heaven's Gate
3. As Amber and the old prophet lady hypothesized, Contractors and Dolls are steps towards Evolution, so what I'm thinking is that Hei and Yin are part of the next step (I think they mentioned this, but I might be imagining things)
4. see 2. =P
5. I think it's Shibuya, isn't it? (lol) If you mean the area where Hei goes to when the meteor fragment was activated, It seemed to area where mind dominates over matter, but again, not really explained.
6. no idea
7. this probably relates to 6.
8. I don't think it's "killed" in the sense that they're gone. They most likely disappear into the area where Hei met with his contractor buddies in heaven, this is the part which reminded me of Eva's human instrumentality.
9. and that's the most interesting point which I had wanted to see answered =(
10. previous questions?
Personally, that wasn't really much that reminded me of Eva's ending, really, it only becomes too apparent when people point it out, it doesn't even occur for the same reasons.
DtB is definitely a series that suffers from strange progressions and various plotholes, but I think what the ending was trying to do was to find the middle road between EPR and the Organization's ideals. True, this seems really out of place (considering that fact that Misaki was the one who made the monologue explaining this when she's the one taking out all the contractors), but I wouldn't call it a bad ending, I guess. I think the biggest problem here is that the show fleshed itself out as something different from what the directors did with the latter episodes, for one, they never really go into the Organization until the final episodes, and even then it's brief.
My own regret, however, was the fact that it ended with so little action. Come on! Bones! you can do better than giving us 15 seconds of fighting!
and I forgot to add, that's not Bai, that's Yin's newly (yay!) full body observation phantom. Like Amber said, the contractors and Dolls are changing.
Garten: if I'm correct, that sentence there is talking about HEI, not Bai, that is what the professor said at the end when Hei altered the anti-gate particles, no?
Yes. But remember that the Professor also told Misaki that BK-201 wasn't actually Hei's messier number. So when he referred to BK-201, I guess it could be interpreted that he's either talking about Hei or Hei and Bai (since their power is similar?) . To be honest, I'm still confused but I can see why people think that Bai can turn people into Contractors. It also explains why everyone glows blue when Hei uses his power at maximum level.
5. I think it's Shibuya, isn't it? (lol)
LOL, no it's not. I think it's Asakusa because I saw Sensoji temple in the background. I remember thinking "OMG, that's the place where I bought that kibi-dango and now I can't go there anymore" until I realised that I was watching anime and not TV news. :P
and I forgot to add, that's not Bai, that's Yin's newly (yay!) full body observation phantom. Like Amber said, the contractors and Dolls are changing.
Oh okay, I'll fix that.
Here's my understanding of the final episode:
- Hei was never a contractor (and he's been pretending to be emotion-less all along!) , thus the reason why he didn't have to pay a price.
- Hei was given Bai's power (or that Bai's consciousness 'rested' inside Hei, considering her price was sleeping) after she sacrificed herself in South America years ago following Amber's plan to stop the destruction of the gate over there(by making the area inaccessible).
- BK-201(Bai)'s power was not only electromagnetic waves but to a larger extent the manipulation (or enhancement) of all matters.
- Because Hei was not the original owner of this power, it makes sense to say that he either didn't realize it's true extent or didn't know how to control it properly, so that's why we have Amber around.
- The 'dream world' Amber created was probably a dimension outside the current timeline, in which she summoned all the deceased characters to 'help' Hei to make an important decision.
- In the end Hei decided not to make the Tokyo gate area inaccessible (as it would also kill any non-contractors within its radius), but instead only destroyed the organization's facility and gave humanity another chance to co-exist with contractors.
- Yin's enhanced ability at the end in my opinion was the living proof of Bai's real power, this would also explain how it was 'transferred' to Hei in the first place.
I agree the ending was very confusing and the writers left too many questions unanswered. Nevertheless DTB was still my fav series last season, as it stood out from all the other generic Shōnen/Harem shows. I'll be looking forward to episode 26 and also the new season's 'Ghost Hound' by Production I.G.
I haven't watched too much of DtB, so can someone fill me in about why loli-C.C. is making a cameo?
"Let there be a 2nd season to answer all questions!!"
...is what I'd like to say. However even if there is a 2nd season I doubt if it will focused on addressing the questions you've raised, Garten. Despite how confusing this episode was, all the main characters seemed to comprehend the situation perfectly, even Misaki, who was arguably the most ill-informed main character of the series.
If there is a 2nd season it will probably just deal with the mess the contractors and humans have been thrown into due to Hei's choice.
About Hei's dreamscape, I doubt if there is any explaination for it, simply a way for the writers to bring together the characters who have appeared through-out the series. I say this because there is little correlation between the characters - some r dead, some can't be dead (Chiaki is a doll), some Hei knew very well, some he had very little interaction with (Shihoko)
As for Hei's power, I think he inherited/received it from Bai. Amber heavily hinted that this was the case in this episode, also a few eps back, when Hei questioned Amber for Bai's where abouts, she pointed at his chest, implying Bai somehow fused herself with Hei. Although she might hav had the power of turning humans into contractors, I don't think she used it on Hei.
P.S. yeah, it would be annoying if ep 26 had anything important
But remember that the Professor also told Misaki that BK-201 wasn't actually Hei's messier number.
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I'm quite sure he said to explain to Misaki who exactly was the one who hid Heaven's Gate, not to be associated with the latter discussions on BK-201, because it IS Hei's Messiah Code.
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It also explains why everyone glows blue when Hei uses his power at maximum level.
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I thought what the electricity does (on the atomic level) was convert particles into something else, not really turn people into Contractors, or else it'll be quite a troublesome added effect, no?He'll turn people into contractors everytime he uses full power. I'm quite sure it doesn't work that way, if this was the case, Bai would have electrocuded Hei back in Africa, no? The power most likely transfer just like how Contractors obtain their powers originally.
and yeah, I forgot what that place was called =p well, I don't think the problem is that you can't go into the gate, but that you'll see illusions in there (they still haven't explained why people died in the gate: the mai episodes, and why people were fine in the gate during the latter episodes)
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Because Hei was not the original owner of this power
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From my understanding the power was Hei's as well as Bai's, Hei's just not a contractor, aka. he's the next step in the evolution
or am I going into speculation? :P
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Kabitzin: Amber's price is her time. Hence her reverse-growing.
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P.S. yeah, it would be annoying if ep 26 had anything important
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I would hate Bones for making such an unreasonable ending while making such great series/ending just a couple productions back.
and yeah...i forgot how to use italics
given that "hei" and "bai" are chinese for black and white, maybe that was the writers trying to tell us that their powers are strongly connected ...? *shrug* just started this train of thought but have no idea where it goes.
The co-founder of Studio Bones, Hiroshi Osaka, has recently passed away. I do not know if he had a hand in the production of this series, but regardless, I'm sure that his death has effected the studio. We may want to keep this in mind when evaluating the studio's more recent works, especially DTB, which was produced during what I'm certain was a difficult time for everyone at Bones.
With this in mind, the following is just my humble opinion on the show ONLY and should not be taken as a rant against Bones.
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The first two episodes of this were downright awesome. The writers/creators could have done SO much with the innovative concepts presented just in those first eps. The theme was so fresh, and the music was so cool, I got myself all excited and geared up for the rest of the series. Not only that, I recommended it to my friends.
What a disappointment.
It turned out to be a visually appealing series containing TONS of potential which was never to be realized. This really could have been an interesting and unique story. I was intrigued by every episode and I was hoping hoping hoping for a solid ending that would tie everything together in one satisfying and climatic plot culmination. I'm still amazed that the series fizzled like that. Even if a second season were created to explain the first, I think the hype and interest have been completely lost.
And...didn't Yoko Kanno compose for this? Maybe she just wrote those first two awesome songs, then packed her bags. The music was GOOD, but I honestly didn't recognize her style in it.
Sorry if I'm ranting, just disappointed with how it turned out.
I agree the ending is a bit confusing. I am quite sad to see Amber sacrificing herself in order reverse the time.
I always thought Hei had a ritual, which was to eat a lot of food. I guess Hei is a human in the sense that he simply harbor his sister's power...somehow. The thing I am most interested in is the dream state part. I got the impression that it is not something amber does to help Hei make the decision, but rather what is supposed to happen when he releases his power. So everything in the field vanishes, but somehow the dead can come back or rather anyone he wishs to see can come back. Amber mentioned that if he choose another path he won't see his sister again anymore. This further reinforces my belief that the "dream" state he was in was what is really supposed to happened when he activate the field. But in the end, Hei chooses another path, which means all the dead people there will be truly dead, he will no longer see Amber or Bai, which is basically an eternal goodbye. Amber respected Hei's decision and use herself up to rewind the time to the beginning, which causes her to disappear.
It does seem however, that only people inside the field Hei put out will vanish except him, the people outside still live just like normal. It sounded like the end of the world, but I think it is just Japan. Of course, doing this also means there will be no way to stop contractor since both gates become untouchable. For Hei personally, he has 3 options:
1. Release the field, everything vanishes inside except him, he will probably be trapped there. He can talk and see people who are dead like his sister.
2. Let PANDORA destroy the gate, which will kill all contractor except him since he is human with contractor power.
3. Stop PANDORA's cannon without release the field, which means world go back to normal, but contractor and human will probably be in conflict and the secrete of contractor will also be known. For Hei personally, this means he can no longer see Amber, Bai or any other dead people.
By choose 3, he essentially traded seeing his sister and Amber for a normal, but conflicting world.
Overall, this is an interesting series, and I can't wait to see what's on Ep 26, I truly hope it is not one of the side-story arc or one that adds more confusion to the mix rather than clearing some stuff up. 2nd season would be interesting, since the ending is still pretty open, but I guess that depends on how popular it gets.
Hey, since D. Gray-Man is starting off with it's new season and is finally out of its sea of fillers, can you start blogging it again please?
the ending wasnt all that great. i thought it would be. but nonetheless it was a really effective series. huang does say during the "dream world thing" to hei : your just a human pretending to be a contractor.
and did anyone hear? apparently at some point during the prodcution of DTB, the production manager ran away witht he manuscript xDD
about the dream world part, i agree with the comment earlier on. " I think when Amber pushed the meteor fragment into Hei, it activated Hei's power and sent them to where Hei wants to be the most. I remember in earlier episodes it says that anything is possible within the gate. Like the blonde guy that has the same power as Hei, the gate gave him the ability to see the real stars and go to space with his sister (which the recess in time, I presume, takes the guy back to before his sister was paralyzed.)"
what he most wished for was tosee his sister, he saw his sister. and to make a decision and he saw everybody that had been effected in order to come to the decision. and then amber sacrifices herself. and we come back to before they go into the world.
Wow, another lackluster ending from a Jp series, what a surprise. -_- Seriously, do the Jp even know HOW to write an ending? Out of all of the many anime series I have seen before, there are only like 4 series that have a solid ending, the rest are open ended where barely anything has been answered.
I quit watching this show awhile ago due to it not having a point. I guess I was right since this blog post has confirmed my feelings regarding DtB .
Maybe the rumor is true that the production manager ran off with the manuscript. It would explain why the plot of the show was so scattershot.
Does anybody else expect a second season of this show? I mean, there were a lot of questions left unanswered and it would explain the lack of conclusion. Also, the Syndicate still exists, which means that there is still plenty of scope for a sequel season. I think we can definitely expect a second season that deals with Hei and Yin running/fighting the Syndicate. At least, I want to believe that because otherwise the ending is way too disappointing for such an awesome show.
As a comment on story conclusion, BONES has been pulling this crap since day one. I'm referring of course, to Wolf's Rain and the BS that was its final episode/OVA.
Don't get me wrong, I love BONES. They've done 4 of the 5 greatest shows of the past three years. They just can't end a series right. (Ouran excepted)
Personally I think a second season would be a flop. It would probably deal with humans coming to face contractors and the reality of these syndicates, which wouldn't make for much of a series, to be honest. It would, however, probably make a decent movie or OVA.
Thus I am crossing my fingers for a movie or OVA.
And I also have to agree, Bones cannot end a series for crap D:
(bones-fanboys/girls don't kill me)
HA HA, OH WOW! And people were saying Gurren-Lagann would have the mindfuck. Looks like Bones and Gainax switched places for their key series of the year.
anyone get the feeling hei was in love with amber? frankly they need to make more episodes, give us closure or perhaps add a new storyline, if hei can grant humans contractor abilities, would he have a cause to do so? would he try to find someone who would posses ambers ability to go back in time? would he try to save amber, his sister, everyone? this series may have lost alot of motion but it has alot of potential to move forward. i hope someone picks it up, fills the holes, and gives us what we want: DARKER than black, not light grey like we were given =/
I kind of agree, but Wolf's Rain is one that had an ending that fit the show since the whole thing was about life, death, and rebirth. RahXephon on the other hand, did not.
I didn't get the feeling that Hei was as much in love with Amber as Amber was in love with him. Also, is the correct translation actually "Bai" I watched Shinsen/Syndicate subs they translated it to "Pai". I like Pai.
Anyways, I thought it was obvious that Bai transferred her powers into Hei. I'm not entirely sure how, I've read all the talk about her being able to change humans into contractors so I'll just go with that. The reason she would have done this is that she probably realized what she was going to do to the Heaven's Gate and would not come out alive. She needed to give her powers to someone she trusted to take care of the Hell's Gate. Only makes since to give them to Hei since he was her brother.
I was disappointed with the inards of the Gates. Originally people went in with Bio-Hazard gear on and Hei and the others can go in with no problem? What is the inside of the gate, nothing but Hallucinations? How did Hallucinations give birth to Contractors and Dolls.
Things I found funny where that all the talk about Contractors being logical un-emotional beings, when clearly throughout the series they all exhibited emotions. Even the dolls, while they couldn't physically show it, they clearly experienced them. What makes it stranger is that Hei was acting exactly like all the other Contractors, what I mean by that is he clearly had emotions but tried to hide them. So when they stated that Hei wasn't a contractor but a human, did the explain why all the other contractors were behaving in the same manner? I dont think there was an emphasis on how much they differed from normal humans, besides the powers, to show that they were changing. I mean, Hei changed right alongside them throughout the show...slowly giving into his emotions.
Talk about a disappointment, I honestly didn't know this was a 25 episode series, I had thought I read it was 50 episodes, so when I found out 25 was it...I was like WTF?!
I heard that the scenario writer of DTB literally "ran away" with the scenario at the beginning of the series, so the director had to create the plot line himself. That explains a large direction-less plot in the middle of the series and inconclusive ending.
About your comment bout the show not ending off...it had closed its main plot line..the other stuff that weren't settled were proberbly left that way for viewers to have their own impression and leave their context to affect their understanding of the series. in all the series closed of very maturely..not like other shounen series which have a massive big fight which the protagonist always ends up winning..
The series did talk about the rationality of contractions as well as the way human actions were done with money in mind. the surrounding concrete wall (gate) and the fake sky was probably the producers trying to take how humans are caught up in their obsessions, that they have traped them selve in this material world...(dunno if that links or even makes sense..)
1. I think bai's power is the ability to control electromagnectic radiation..
2. no ideA...mayb they haf somekind of bond..or may its one of bai's abilities..
3. He was still human because that electric power that he was using was only part of Bai's contractor power...so in a way he was part contractor and the rest human...he was born human and is emminent when it shows him killing people throught stranglelation.
4. i tink contractors were made..it said sumting bout south america and sumting along those lines in one of the eps
7. it proberbly didnt take dem anywhere...and was probably jus like an imagination where it made hei reflect and make a decision..(because amber wasn't really there as she used her powers during that time...)
8. no one died but...if pple did die but noe hei it was probably because he was the source of the destruction,..abit lyk how the eye of a tornado works..
9. the blockage of the real stars was probably a symbol of how humans tend to block off the truth and live in their own creation..brings bak to the idea that the gate was trying to create a similar impression..locking within their own safety confines and not venturing out..
But i have to agree the series could have ended up so much better then it has..Main characters needed to be explored...and they were overly subtle in exploring them when they did do so..made it kinda sad...Music wasnt too bad...quality droped as the series went on...structure as messy but effective somewhat...the flow of the action were WOW but there was too little. i would say dtb is alot btr then alot of animes out there...it jus kinda lost guidance..
note: i had the impression the area they had the suit in was outside the gate..
the names hei and bai was probably used to represent opposites characters of the charactors?? Bai seemed to be alot emotional then hei...(she was sad when she caused so many stars to fall)
...and tt idea of bai being in hei kinda reminded me of the yin yang symbol..where theres was always light in darkernedd and vice versa.
is there next season ? just that my question
I say it could have been worse; they could have opted to just have hei do the same in japan as happened in African! They didnt explain the powers that well and then they go and talk about quantum physics, I guess they were banking on the stupidity of mass society. Who here can honestly say they know how things happen on subatomic levels well enough to debunk the theories of this anime? (i personally hated the Noein anime ending because of how they butchered quantum mechanics)
So, I just finished today the series today and I felt that it ended nicely, but it didn't tie everything up. It's a christmas gift in a box that hasn't been wrapped and doesn't have a pretty bow on it. Anyway, after I'm done with a series that you've reviewed, I always read the little screen tabby things that say random messages that go with the screen cap SO well (Hei/Yin, for the win). Anyway, I noticed that the same space that Hei was sent to is also present in episode 12 with (I think his name is) Nick. They both have to do with meteor fragments, they both have to deal with getting what they want. Nick gets to fly off in his space ship to loli-land, and Hei gets to have his world the way he wants it?
Sorry if this question was already answered in detail, I didn't read through all of them and I just happened to catch a glance.
1. Bai's true power is electricity that can modify particles on a molecular level.
2. Bai disappeared at Heaven's Gate when she made it impenetrable, but her ability remained with Hei, maybe in part because of her ability and in part because she was dying. A mix of those two ejected her soul and housed it with Hei. (Earlier episode, Amber said Bai was, "Somewhere close, but far away" and tapped Hei's chest. She wasn't just joking around.)
3. Since he wasn't "born" a contractor like others, but created, he doesn't have a remuneration.
4. Becoming a contractor seems to be a random thing. (Guessing: Maybe there's a gene, and with Hell's Gate and Heaven's gate around, the gene in certain people is activated.)
5. A place where the laws of physics don't seem to apply, and the surreal can become real.
6. Don't know.
7. When she pushed the meteor fragment into Hei, it activated with his power like and would have changed the whole city into an impenetrable field, but Amber reversed time.
8. It's Hei's powers creating the space, not Amber's. Everyone would have died if Amber hadn't reversed time. Because you can find what you lost while within the gate, Hei found all those dead people again, including his sister. The dark tunnel he was being sucked down afterwards was after he made the decision to let go of all the dead and live half-human and half-contractor and he was going to die in Hell's Gate, until Yin saved him. Remember, a doll can penetrate to the very center of the gate but experience great pain. Also, I'm speculating that Bai died in the same way, by creating the impenetrable field and in doing so dying.
9. In Hell's Gate, what was lost can be found again, but that's only inside the gate.
10. What was lost can be found while within the gate.
Okay, I finally finished the series.. and the first thing I thought after it was, ".. WHAT?"
Sorry I can't contribute any information..
i just finished the series and share the same sentiments as you too--> WHAT?
i've already lost some of the by-plots as the story goes. perhaps i only picked up from episode 12 after a hiatus of a few weeks stopping at episode 11.
despite it being a fantastic show that is somewhat original, a lot of ???? running in my head...
Well I guess some of the questions are "Darker than Black" or aka a mystery.
1. Bai's true power is to alternate structures of atoms
2. Bai could have changed Hei into a contractor before she died
3. Hei is a human, all contractors are human. The only thing that makes them different is their way of thinking "rationally" and abnormal powers. Notice all of Hei's contractor friends breaking the stereotypes, it isn't just Hei.
4. That's stuff for imagination
5. Inside the gate to sum it all in one word is abnormal chaos that's beyond human comprehension. AKA no idea lol
6. no idea
7. Amber suspended time again, that is her power and the meteor shard amplifies it so I guess they were in some alternate time thing.
8. Yeah that was kinda weird. I didn't get how Mao died nor Amber
9. I'm not sure but instead of the field, I think the Gate was showing Hei choices. If you noticed not just Tokyo had the fake sky, it was all over-- haha just look at the falling stars.
10. That colleague union could be the power of the Gate. "Possibly returning what a person has lost." kind of ordeal, this was mentioned when Hei was inside Pandora and scientists were mumbling stuff.
All in all I thought this anime was pretty good, but not great. In a sense it reminded me of Furi Kuri (Fooly Cooly) because it made me do a lot of "out of the box" thinking. I wish Kirihara got with Hei though LOL.
Well I guess some of the questions are "Darker than Black" or aka a mystery.
1. Bai's true power is to alternate structures of atoms
2. Bai could have changed Hei into a contractor before she died OR Hei could have randomly changed into a contractor like everyone else and Bai died in order to fulfill his contract.
3. Hei is a human, all contractors are human. The only thing that makes them different is their way of thinking "rationally" and abnormal powers. Notice all of Hei's contractor friends breaking the "rational thinking" stereotype, it isn't just Hei. Also, I saw that it was possible for someone to fulfill their contract. Eg: Mao has fulfilled his contract at the expense of his body.
4. That's stuff for imagination
5. Inside the gate to sum it all in one word is abnormal chaos that's beyond human comprehension. AKA no idea lol
6. no idea
7. Amber suspended time again, that is her power and the meteor shard amplifies it so I guess they were in some alternate time thing.
8. Yeah that was kinda weird. I didn't get how Mao died nor Amber
9. I'm not sure but instead of the field, I think the Gate was showing Hei choices. If you noticed not just Tokyo had the fake sky, it was all over-- haha just look at the falling stars.
10. That colleague union could be the power of the Gate. "Possibly returning what a person has lost." kind of ordeal, this was mentioned when Hei was inside Pandora and scientists were mumbling stuff.
All in all I thought this anime was pretty good, but not great. In a sense it reminded me of Furi Kuri (Fooly Cooly) because it made me do a lot of "out of the box" thinking. I wish Kirihara got with Hei though LOL.
There are so many unanswered questions that were left and it drives me mad. I hope they have another season, cause I feel the extra episode will be worthless.
Amber isnt dead... shes just a baby, watch, she;ll appear in one of next few episode things...
the show isnt even over, so there will be more plot filling :)
Okay... here's my loose attempt at trying to answer the questions. Sorry in advance for the lenght but I assure you its a worthwhile read!
1. What is Bai's true power?
She can alter things at sub-atomic level by using electromagnetic waves. Depending on the frequency of these waves, they can also create something similar to an electric shock.
2. How did it get into Hei?
She modified him to give him her own powers by using them. Later she unleashed her own, causing the disappearance of that area of South America, killing everyone in the radius including herself. The reason Hei didn't die 5 years later at the end of the story is becasue he didn' unleash the power, he chose to live.
3. How can Hei be a Contractor but remains as a human? Is it because he didn't really make a Contract but rather just housing his sister's power? Because the gates didn't give them the power like the other contractors, but rather his sister. He is a modified human, not a contractor and thus does not have a contract or obeissance.
4. How do you become a Contractor anyway?
I suspect its the gate phenomenon that gives a human the power to become a contractor. I mean, they did appear at the same time and we can take Havoc (or Carmine) as an example. She recovered her powers when she went close to Hell's gate. Also, November 11 said that contractors become restless once they get close to the gate. And let's not forget that contractor girl that was acting as a double agent supposedly working in PANDORA that went crazy... the one that was killed by Nick (though I'm not too sure that she was a contractor).
5. What's inside the inner gate?
Nobody knows... if you ask me I think nobody is supposed to know, since the gates are a sort of metaphor within the story that reflect humanity's chaotic life. Sort've a price to pay for life out of balance... (lol think of Sin in Final Fantasy X)
6. Who created the gate? Where did it come from?
Errr... refer to answer 5 I guess... its just one of the things the author of the story would never reveal because they themselves don't know. Giving it a defitintion would spoil and downsize it.
7. When Amber push the meteor fragment into Hei's body, where did it take them?
Well... weird things are said to happen inside the gate. I think its all inside the person's head, though. If we follow that line of reasoning, it didn't really take them anywhere... just activated some part of Hei's mind while his powers were being used, similar to what happened when Hei was with Nick
8. So Amber's action produce a protective field that makes it impossible for the gate to be breached but also kills everyone except Hei? Why is this the case? Is it because Hei's half human and half Contractor?
I don't think it killed anybody... the ones that appeared were all already dead except for Hei and Yin who were still alive afterwards. As for Amber, she had used the last of her power and had reversed her age to the point of non-existance... so she would also appear as dead when Hei's mind reacted to the particular effects of the Gate.
9. Why does this protective field returns the starry sky? Why is it that the real Tokyo doesn't have the starry sky? Does Hell's gate reverses the real world's true sky with fake sky where the stars are nothing more than the constellations of the Contractors?
If we take what I said before about the gates being punishment, then the disappearance of the real sky would be another part of the metaphor, symbolizing the lack of freedom of those trapped under its fake replacement. Those closer to the sky, touched by the gates will become the new sky and stars, the contractors. *shrugs* just an opinion. Oh and the field does not return the true sky... its all in Hei's mind as when he and Nick were watching the stars. Basically I think the metaphor is this; if everyone stopped to look at the sky (paused their hectic lifestlye long enough to actually enjoy things like that) then the real sky would return, because everyone could already see it. The fake sky is punishment for the whole world living the wrong way.
10. What is that space that Hei went into where he saw some of his colleagues?
Again, it must be part of his mind... weird things are said to happen inside the gate but they are seen differently from person to person. Notice how not all the dead people were present (they would be too many!) but only the ones Hei cared about to some degree. He could have chosen to die, wiping out the city and staying with his dead friends (which is when he said he didn't want everybody to go) but he chose to live "the path of life" as Misaki said. This way, he chose life not only for himself, but also for Yin and the rest of the city. He chose differently from his sister.
Personally I don't think that Darker than BLACK's ending was a bad one, or one with too many loose ends. True, there were many questions left unanswered but if so it was becasue these were irrelevant to the true message of the story. So yes... life goes on, as it does after any disaster and we humans will never understand the true scope of anything. That is why there were still contractors, that is why nobody could see the true sky. Hei chose to let them find out for themselves. Its a very realistic ending (however inconclusive it might seem) and I for one wish that the OVA doesn't spoil it with unnecessary information (which i guess would be nice anyway).
On one last note... If any of you actually read all this I salute your bravery! lol
Feedback anybody?
This anime was just too rushed towards the end. Sure somethings you can leave to the imagination, but to leave this many loose ends is just irresponsible. almost nothing was resolved except amber's demise, and the arc crisis. Darker than Black had a very promising start, and it's just so dissappointing that it just didnt come through in the end. Speaking of which i just saw this supposed EP. 26, and i have to say, it was somekind of filler; post-amber revolution arch. despite all the imperfections that was the end. I really hope there is a second season, even if it dosnt resolve anything in the first season, Hei is just a facinating character and i want to see more about him.
I like this series a I really do but its taking ideas from Cowboy Bebop, s-CRY-ed and Evangelion and combined them all together even though I still liked the series
If I'm not wrong, Hei still have his remuneration. It is eating at a very large quantity though he knows he'll get fat. He's half contractor and half human, but he still have his remuneration.
Does anyone notice the Contractor at the end (the one Saito & the other police dude were gunna kill) was the detective dude? :-o
wow..never thought he'd turn into a Contractor..
I loved this anime- pretty original and had a good storyline- the ending just leaves loootttss of tantalising questions >_<..I vote for a 2nd season, just to prove that not everything will be left unanswered.
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