Darker Than BLACK

Title: Darker Than BLACK
Volume: #01 and #02
Distributor: FUNimation Entertainment
Genre(s): suspense, drama, supernatural, mystery, sci-fi
Rating: TVMA (violence, disturbing imagery)
Runtime: 120 minutes per disc
Price: $29.98 ea.
Release Date: (Vol. 01) 11/25/2008, (Vol. 02) 01/20/2009

Official Website: www.FUNimation.com/DarkerThanBLACK

Ever come across something that confuses the daylights out of you, but you love it anyway? Just when you think things are starting to make sense, something happens and you’re completely lost again? There’s quite a library of anime series that tend to cause these conflicts.

Japan has a great love for vague plots hovering on the borderline between absolutely nonsensical and profoundly deep, abstract meaning. As result, some of these stories are kept together simply by pulling all the other essential elements of storytelling together in a compelling, dynamic way.

In the case of Darker Than BLACK, the story takes place in either an alternate Japan or an indeterminate near-future. You are introduced to mysterious individuals known as Contractors who each possess a unique super-power ability. They’re not considered to be human, devoid of all human emotions, and employed as effective and cold-hearted assassins. They typically work for different syndicates vying for power—at least, that’s what I assume, and pretty much what’s implied with each storyline.

What further adds mystery to the Contractors is the fact that they appeared ten years prior, after an unknown event resulted in the appearance of a "field" of sorts called "Hell’s Gate." During the course of the story arcs presented in the first two discs, it is clear that this field, normally part of the city, is a wasteland. Looking like something out of an epidemic horror film, it’s clear that nothing—save for strange plant life—can survive there. To keep whatever threat Hell’s Gate gives out, the city built an enormous wall on the border.

When Hell’s Gate appeared, it is said that the stars in the sky were replaced by "fake" ones, each tied to an individual Contractor. When a Contractor uses his/her power, their star flares (indicated by "showing activity"), or when they die, their star falls from the sky. It’s implied that Contractors were human once, and in exchange for their powers, they must pay a "price" after each use. These prices vary from the individual, and range from something simple (like smoking when you abhor smoking), to quirky (dog-earring pages of books), to downright disturbing (drinking the blood of dead children).

All of this is presented while following the main protagonist, Hei—the Contractor known as "BK201" (for all Contractors have a star name) and "The Black Reaper." He is perhaps one of the most feared and infamous Contractors, wielding the power to attack with electricity generated through some form of conductor (water, his cable weapons, etc).

From the start, though, you know that Hei is different. By day, he is unassuming exchange-student Hei, staying in a single bedroom apartment and working odd jobs like any other young bachelor. He’s likable and unobtrusive; pretty much the perfect spy. Under the cover of night does he do most of his dirty work, wearing a characteristic bullet-proof black trench coat and clown-like mask.

Over the course of the first ten episodes presented in volumes one and two, Hei’s character quickly develops into a mystery unto himself. The question remains on whether or not he alone still retains some sort of conscience. He proves to have a sense of compassion and later, a sense of justice.

The interactions he has with both the central, supporting characters and story arc-specific characters offer an amusing and endearing glimpse into his soul that is shadowed more in gray than black. Scenes of Hei paying his "price" in a diner (he has to eat an enormous amount of food) to fixing the television of his amusing old landlady give this rather blank-looking character a lot of dimension.