Darker Than Black – Episode 23
14 September 2007
Two Darker Than Black episodes in one day, Heh. Anyways, animeblogger finally started working again, so here’s episode twenty three.
In the nutshell: Eric Nishijima, the evil glasses man, is using some particle accelerator to create another South America. Amber gathered a bunch of dolls to stop the accelerator. Nijishima is related to the Syndicate, that phone call about eliminating Hei’s team was between him and some other guy. Hei wasn’t a contractor before South America, Bai was and at one point, he tries to strangle her. Amber sends a message to Hei, telling him to meet her in the Gate. Everybody, Huang, Yin and Mao are all out to help Hei, along with Wei (creep) serving as guide to get in the Gate.
Stranger still is the part that Hei said he was relieved that Bai was gone. I can almost, almost understand why he feels that way, how painful it must’ve been watching his little sister turn into a killing machine and slaughter everything that moved. Bai was only a name before this episode, now she’s a flashback and in this flashback, Hei almost strangles her. What has my ovaries in an uproar is whether or not it would have been a good thing if Bai died back then.
Regardless, I think it safe to assume he inherited Bai’s powers since he wasn’t a contractor before South America. That’s probably even more depressing. I don’t think Hei wanted any part of the whole contractor business and got dragged in anyways. Amber probably used Bai’s powers back in South America, hence that whole scene with Bai handing the meteor fragment to Amber way back when during the PANDORA infiltration episode. So now that Hei has her powers, Amber needs him.
You know what? Hell with the plot and action. I liked the fact that there wasn’t that much action at all. I liked Misaki and Hei going on a date of sorts. I liked Guy and Kiko wandering aimlessly trying to collect a hundred memories for a chubby school boy’s homework. I liked everything about this episode. Too often the series just jumps head first into action, which is probably what a lot of people, but it’s nice to have an episode like this, a nice quite, extremely placid and morose episode.
I’m not really sure what to make of Misaki and Hei, together, anymore. I hate to even think about it, but the more I over analyze Darker Than Black, the more blog entires I read, the more I’m beginning to think Hei might actually die. But they were so cute together, eating dinner, playing baseball, watching the stars. Interesting to note, that nicely drawn, very visible line between Hei and Li’s personality is slowing disappearing, in fact, it’s perfectly non existent at this point.
Hei’s, Hei’s a lot of things. He’s been anything but shallow since the beginning, but he’s a lot more than just deep as well. He’s more of an abyss, deep, dark abyss and somewhere in there is the real him, trying to climb out. You know, you know what, the more I think about all of it, the more depressing it becomes. All this action, suspense, all this talking and jabbering and it’s really just a guy, a perfectly normal guy, possibly Chinese with an enormous appetite, who’s not even in control of his own life. Then again, who really is?
All those people, sitting in parks with their telescopes, standing on balconies, waiting, staying up all night just to catch a glimpse of the real stars. It was right then that I felt some strange pity, like watching ants struggle in an ant farm, examining the pieces of their lives with a microscope. Something that Guy said that reminded me of my own useless ramblings, something about people’s lives not changing whether the real stars are in the sky or not. Mournful reflection of human existence? Something like that.
Next episode is Meteor Shower, which can only mean one thing…
Yeah, I know what you mean about this episode. One of the best, IMO. I too totally love how they use Guy and Kiko to gather memories of the stars, and how there are glimpses of life other than that of the main characters.
I kind of think Amber will die instead of Hei. Or just turn into a baby and un-born herself, because of her obeisance, which seems to turn her younger and younger each time she uses it. Hei… Hei is cool. I so do not want him to die. Preferably he will live happily ever after with Yin and Mao and maybe even Huang. 😀
@Briar – Some people don’t like Guy and Kiko, but I enjoy their role in the story, it takes away from the eerie-noir-dark feel and gives it a contrasting friendlier, more comical spin. Like, how there’s Li and then Hei, there’s the secret contractor world and then the ‘real’ world with Guy and Kiko. Something like that, ^^;, hehe.
More than anything, I think I like their depiction of people. I saw a picture comparison once of a DtB background and a photo and BONES really went to a great length to recreate Tokyo. They went to a great length to try to recreate life as it is. That’s why, in retrospect, seemingly pointless arcs like the Yakuza and the doll arc was not really pointless.
And, if we can trade Hei for Amber to fill the role of sacrificial, climactic death, I’ll do it in a heart beat. After this episode, it’s not even trying to spare his life because he’s gorgeous, it’s sparing his life because he needs some happiness. I want him to live happily ever after too, with Yin and Mao and even Huang and Misaki, too. =D!!
i think this post of yours is bar none the best you have written. this episode is probably the best episode of anything i have seen in 2007. it reminded me so much of bebop. not in similarity but in how the episode made me feel. the concept of melancholy, lonliness, the haunting of the past, regret. yet its so vague to us, but the characters by subtle expressions give us an insight into their emotions. man this was great. best show of 2007 by far. so how do u know bai gave her powers to hei?? and what ep did bai give something to amber. for this show to reach masterpiece level, hei has to die. IMHO. if hei dies this show will be elevated from pure greatness, to masterpiece consideration. Hei dying in misaki’s arms would be perfect.
o and i absolutely adore the new design of ur blog. could u just make the typset darker because grey on white hurts the eyes.
@kauldron – If this post is my best, it’s going to be hard to top it. XD This episode, I know what you mean, I felt something that really got me. I don’t know, but I know what mean, first thing I thought of afterwards was Bebop. I loved Bebop for a lot of reasons, but mostly for what it made me feel.
I’m only guessing about Bai and Hei’s powers. Seems reasonable, XD. It was Hei’s flashback, waaay back in that PANDORA arc, the one with Nick and the scientist, I’m terrible with episode numbers. Argh!
You know what’ll make it an even greater masterpiece? If it achieves perfection and still have Hei live. I really, just really don’t want him to die. See, I can understand why Spike had to die at the end of Bebop, it was the only possible outcome. But if Hei like November 11, I’m going to weep. It’s not necessary!! Well, in my mind anyways.
And, thanks, XD! I made it a darker shade of grey because black would’ve been too much contrast. I also just realized my comment box is tiny. This needs to be fixed.
u see… the simple fact that you reeeealy dont want hei to die is exactly why he should. instead of satisfying us with letting hei live, hey should be sacrificed to satisfy the story. it will hurt like hell, but that pain is what will make us love it even more. imagine of the wolves found paradise and everyone was happy, imagine if spike and faye got together, imagine if gats and caska got to live happily ever after together and make babies, imagine if jin, fuu and mugen didnt seperate and stayed together as best friends forever, imagine if rock and revy kissed in the last episode, imagine if van and hitomi were together for life…
all of these would have been nice endings. endings that will satisfy us, but instead of being masterpieces or 10/10, they would simply have just been great shows. they wouldnt have left us with that bittersweet feeling that reminds us why we love this medium, and more importantly why we like specific shows. shows that appeal to u, me martin and bateszi. if we want shows that satisfy us instead of satisfying the story and endings that shatter us, we might as well jump on the otaku band wagon.
[…] Xerox sympathises with the latter in her ever sharp and observant manner about the episode, and who can blame her? We’ve seen terrific loss and greater sorrow throughout the series strewn about like confetti after a wedding. The next obvious step would be to take our long-suffering hero, and end it. End the pain. End the madness. End everything. […]
@kauldron – I just read Owen’s article and there’s one line I really liked : “Does Hei really, really, have to die? Imagine that I’ve just said that in the same tone that a child would when his parents tell him it’s time to leave the amusement park, or the toy store, and you get the idea. Do I really, really, have to go?” Is his death absolutely necessary? I hope not.