A little bit of Soul Eater, a lot of Darker Than Black and why I love BONES…
27 May 2008
Soul Eater, so it seems, is the only show this season that’s inspiring me to write anything. Granted, it’s really the only thing I’m keeping up with, but every episode just leaves me with the urge to impart on the world my two minutes of random commentary.
For starters, can I just say how much I love Bones, as a studio? How much I love the work they do? How much I love their style? How much I love their ending credit font, even, because it’s the same as in Darker Than Black? There’s something to their shows, there’s something to their presentation, that just flawlessly captures an atmosphere, a mood, an ambiance, be it the rich melancholy of a world seeking redemption in DtB, or the eerie yet cartoonish Halloween-esque playground of Soul Eater.
This is the part where I digress, like hell, into Darker Than Black…
I can’t drive down the FDR at night and not wonder how they manage to encapsulate the essence of urban existence into a backdrop. The twinkling amber lights of apartment windows, the violent red lights atop buildings, the abysmal night sky tainted with the faint hue of light pollution, they are things that I’ve never stopped to look at, things I’ve awakened to through an anime.
I can’t drive across the Queensboro Bridge, with the Manhattan skyline spread out in front of me and not think of Hei, and not just stop and think of that first two episode arc. That first arc made everything about the show, it was just so good. The action sequences to the aesthetics, the way the characters played off each other, the chemistry between them, the sheer mystery of everything. Those first two episodes basically hands the audience a cross section of the Darker Than Black world, dripping, just oozing a silent and mysterious cool that is almost too good to refuse. The allure eventually wears off, but the first two episodes define the show.
Darker Than Black has a real love-hate relationship with me. What I love most, what I can’t seem to let go off, despite the somewhat lackluster ending, despite the meta-physical convolution, despite all its seemingly fatal flaws, the show keyed in on something tragically human, struck a note as melancholic and heartbreaking as Kanno’s music.
I spent a bus ride coming back from Pennsylvania staring out at an encroaching sunset, with Kanno playing in my ears, and I just couldn’t shake that feeling, that feeling that accompanies something like Darker Than Black. Actually, everything Yoko Kanno seems to touch, every note she sets down, every song she arranges just tears my heart to shreds. The second the music starts playing a role in the show, the second one notices the soundtrack in the background, is the moment where this bridge, this sturdy yet subtle, this well-constructed yet barely noticeable, this vital yet rarely used bridge is born. And, in due time, it’ll become this well traversed and sacred connection, this link to the emotional memory of a show like Darker Than Black.
I’m trying really hard not to say the music made the show, but it was definitely essential. Darker Than Black without Kanno’s magic is a martini without the gin, a cocktail without the alcohol, a drug without the high, all glitter and gold without substance. The lady works miracles, Bebop, Wolf’s Rain, Darker Than Black, I fall hook line and sinker for almost everything she touches. Don’t even get me started on Bebop…
More to the point, the show carried one helluva of an unforgettable atmosphere. Maybe it’s just so easy for me to open a window, feel a breeze, and just let it sink its teeth in, just sort of let it gnaw away at the inner workings of my soul, tell me a story born from concrete, from a city. It’s one thing to romanticize nature and another completely to do the same to an urban setting. Really, I’ve just never felt anything as tangible as what Darker Than Black gave me from anything else. It’s so close, the white, arched back of a streetlight, the snapshot stillness of a silent block, Hei’s laconic stare that just carries so much weight, Yin and her smile, November 11, Misaki chasing Hei’s shadow, that bleeding sunset to which the show ends, everything, absolutely everything builds up to this grand personification of a city.
On quiet nights, when I look up at the sky and can’t seem to make out any stars, I think of Darker Than Black. I think of Darker Than Black and that elusive sound, that perfectly sublime sound of a track like Water Forest, that pin-drop clarity, that biting edge of In no Piano, that gutsy, foolish and frivolous bravado of Guy’s theme, that soft whisper of ScatCat and that godforsaken nostalgia o,f perhaps, my favorite track, No One’s Home, if I remember correctly, playing to Huang’s arc. And, of course, the ending theme, Tsuki Akari is the perfect closure to Darker Than Black. It’s like the show somehow speaks, speaks of the most tragic of all human suffering, a melancholic search for redemption, a doomed understanding of limitations, just something so poignant and so heavy, it’s going to take me ages to get over it.
God, that was something I need to get off my chest.
Back to Soul Eater…
Ultimately, this all goes back to Soul Eater, which reminded me, at the end of episode seven, of how skilled Bones, as a studio, is at crafting these delectable atmospheres. Soul Eater and Darker Than Black are two different animals entirely, two different things that share this same marvelous quality, the gift of a well-crafted setting. Setting is almost negligible in anime, but somehow Bones makes it as equal in worth with elements like character and plot and sometimes more memorable (in the case of Darker Than Black, or so it seems) than the more central aspects. The Soul Eater world is shockingly convincing, while I have no emotional attachment to a Gothic Halloween town, or the perfect symmetry of a school, one can’t help but marvel at the detail and attention paid to each aspect.
As far as the episode goes, seven serves as the springboard for eight, which, judging from only the previews, looks epic. Stein and Maka’s dad in action, that’s thirty minutes of animation I want to see. Bones, speaking of which, also turns out solid animation every time. Glancing at their pretty impressive list of shows, I can’t say animation ever came up as some sort of a flaw in their work. Gonzo on the other hand, is quite the opposite, amazing plots, terrible animation. Just seeing Ragnorak come to life, this hideous black thing take shape beneath the stained glass windows of a cathedral gave me such squeamish delight, because, just as a rule of thumb, epic battle will ensue.
Epic battle will ensue.
I wish Darker than Black had a better ending it felt very rushed and I still have unanswered questions.. but oh well great show overall I guess, with Yoko and all.
BONES is just starting to scare me…. I mean do you see the animation quality for Soul Eater and it’s going to be like 50 episode it’s like wow.
Actually I couldn’t stand watching Darker than Black for some reason, but I really love Soul Eater so far.
That’s funny, since I’m rather apathetic about Soul Eater but love Darker than Black (and I’m not just saying this to be contrary here).
Wow, if I smoked, I’d need a cig after than tangential on Darker than Black. I never got around to watching it, so I can’t comment on its awesomeness.
I was initially unimpressed by the stylized/Halloween world, but the animation kept me interested. Now I kinda’ like it.
BTW, Owen…is totally just saying it to be contrary…
Whooo! Finally a rant about Darker than Black that sounds like the author felt the same things I did. I wholeheartedly agree with everything you said. Throughout the entire show, it was almost as if the city was a character in itself – like Hei’s silent partner, since he’s alone a lot of the time; walking alone, eating alone, sitting alone, and so on. Funnily enough, I enjoyed these moments as much as (or sometimes even more than) the excellent battle scenes. I just watched, basking in the atmosphere of the show. Everything from the backgrounds, the sight of Hei, and of course the music just flowed into me, as if I was there myself. And like you said, there are often moments when I’m reminded of Hei and his city while walking around or traveling – especially on trains or the subway, funnily enough.
In the end, I didn’t care how bad some of the story arcs were; and how unsatisfying the ending was. What I got, and took away from the show was the atmosphere. Hei is a great character; as are the other three in the syndicate squad. I’m also a cat lover, though Mao’s middle-aged-man-voice made it a little bit more difficult to grow attached to him. Regardless, it’s almost as if the atmosphere isn’t affected by how good or bad the other elements are; it’s just there, ready to be soaked in.
Funny how I found this post cuz I was looking for info on whether Chrona is male or female (though I assumed male, cuz he blushes when he talks about how he doesn’t know how to talk to girls), and what I found instead was a spiel on DtB that I really felt and understood.
Someone needs to make a DtB wallpaper that does justice to the city.
Hey guys, sorry with the late response.
@Hei – The ending, the ending, one can do without the ending. I agree with you there, could’ve been so much better. I’m actually really feeling their animation, so good, just soooo gooood. I hope it doesn’t deteriorate with the coming episodes.
@blissmo – It’s really funny, as Owen’s comment pointed out and what not. It just goes to show how good Bones is, how well they pull these two distinct genres. I can see how it’s a love hate thing with both shows, they’re pretty stylized.
@Owen – Don’t lie, you are just being contrary. Keep watching it, I’m almost willing to bet you’re going to like it.
@j.valdez – Sorry, XD, I tried really hard to stick to talking about Soul Eater, but I gave up and just…yeah. The animation is definitely something, I just keep saying this, but Bones is amazing.
@Mike L – I’m glad the feeling’s mutual. I was pretty afraid I’d be the only one out there with this odd emotional response to the cityscape in an anime. DtB was like this really sombre piece of urban romanticism, an oxymoron if there ever were such. “Regardless, it’s almost as if the atmosphere isn’t affected by how good or bad the other elements are; it’s just there, ready to be soaked in.” God, that’s my entire rant in a sentence. I’m really glad the message got across.
Speaking of Chrona, I was totalllyyyy thinking the same thing. Soul insists it’s a girl, but Chrona does blush so much and mutter so much about how to approach girls, it really makes me wonder.
I used to have that picture of Hei, Yin and the group with their back to a pretty impressive rendition of the city, and the wall being constructed. I had that as my wallpaper for the longest time and some days I’d just sit there and look at it. I really want just a wall of the city, good art right there.
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you know, I haven’t yet seen Darker than Black because exams are coming, but I’ve promised myself I would after they finish. But I have the OST and I totally agree with you about the songs. And about Yoko Kanno. She is abso-bloody-lutely great, and Wolf’s Rain’s OST still haunts me. I don’t actually enjoy Cowboy Bebop’s OST, but that’s maybe because I haven’t seen it yet. That a promise, too. As for DtB Ost, In no Piano makes me creative, makes me fill hundreds of pages with random drawings. Tsuki Akari…. I’m addicted to it. I can’t imagine going somewhere without having this song on my mp3 player. Every single thing she [YK] touches turn to gold. I can compare her with Yiruma, that’s how much I like her music. [oh, the Evanghelion OST is simply….speechless….]
oooook, sorry if you didn’t understang much, my english is in a bad shape today, I just woke up and decided[after a loooong, loooong time spent on your blog] to post a comment. Anyway, thanks, because of you I started watching Wolf’s Rain. And I don’t regret that. Nope! Bye-bye…