Episode 26/OVA: “Beneath the Fully Bloomed Cherry Blossoms”
BRIEF SUMMARY: The timeframe appears to be before all the Hell’s Gate chaos started and after Yin’s backstory. It was sort of an Otsuka-centric episode. She was the one telling the story about the mysterious masked gentleman in black (specifically a black tank top) who saved her one night from the grasp of a bad contractor. For some reason, she noticed that the gentleman had a remarkable collarbone lining and develops a crush on him.
Hei and Mao report that they weren’t able to complete their mission due to certain circumstances and will resume obtaining the pink liquid in a tube thingy that has a series of numbers written on the tube ASAP. Kiko seems to have befriended Yin and have been telling her about the anime/manga she’s a fan of. Later, Otsuka incidentally meets Kiko in a bookshop while fighting over one copy of their favorite manga (which neither of them got because they ripped it apart due to their tug-of-war). Kiko learns that Otsuka is actually the author of a fanfiction piece that she is currently reading. They go for a meal at the restaurant where Hei often eats. As Hei is leaving (wearing his usual white long-sleeved shirt), Otsuka notices… Guess what? Yes, his collarbone once again. Adding this and that, she comes to the conclusion that this guy must be the gentleman who saved her previously. She stalks him for a while and stakes out his apartment. Naturally, Hei stays put inside. After several hours, she decides to leave and so does Hei, since he hasn’t obtained the pink liquid in a tube that he was asked to retrieve.
Mao and Huang hears Yin muttering about the number which she apparently came across at a fanfiction story she read about, thanks to Kiko’s influence. Kirihara and company also come across the story. Aware that Otsuka seems to be following BK201 (though unbeknownst to Otsuka herself), Kirihara and Saitou comes to her assistance. We see a bit of action with Kirihara shooting at Hei. They take cover and chat for a bit. Saitou decides to go forward with his gun and has an encounter with Hei. Hei easily dodges his shots and manages to get Saitou around the neck with his wire grappler thing. Kirihara steps out and expertly shoots the wire, which snaps and the loose end hits Hei’s mask, shattering it upon impact.
Hei reacts by putting his hand over his face (perhaps out of pain and as a means of hiding his face as well). Kirihara recognizes him and exclaims “Li-kun?!” in surprise. As if on cue, Mao appears with the pink liquid in a tube but inadvertently drops it when the white female cat who’s been stalking him appears and startles him. It creates some sort of smoke which affects Kirihara, Saitou and Otsuka, making them lose consciousness, so Hei and Mao manage to escape. It turns out that the pink liquid is a drug that cures allergies but the side effect is losing a few days worth of memories. As a result, Hei is safe and the previous revelations are kept secret.
IMPRESSION: I saw this a couple of days ago or so, but I’ve been tied up with work. Hence, the late entry. Alas, it seemed to be a totally random episode to me. I was hoping for a follow-up to the finale or an explanation regarding contractors and dolls, but it definitely wasn’t one that tackled those. As mentioned earlier, the timeframe was before all the Hell’s Gate chaos started and seemingly after Yin’s backstory. Pardon me on the timer thingy on some of the caps… I’ve recently discovered the much easier way of taking screencaps through media player classic. Why did I just find out about it now? LOL. I was probably hiding under a rock or something. xD
It was funny seeing Yin getting into the anime/manga scene due to the influence of Kiko. She made a friend! It was somehow pretty nice to see that side. ^_^ I was a bit surprised to learn that Saitou likes Kirihara. Heh. I thought it was more of a protective brother kind of thing, but apparently not. Though, I’d very much rather see Kirihara with November 11 (*sigh*, I miss that guy) or better yet with Hei! (it’s pretty obvious now which pair I’m rooting for ;P). Ahem, getting back on track, it was quite weird to see Hei in a black tank top, digging under the cherry blossom tree to obtain a pink tube/vial kind of thingy for the Syndicate. Did I mention he was in a tank top? O_O Though for some, seeing Hei in those clothes was a welcome chance… It sort of seemed out of place to me. Personally, I must say I liked him much better with his awesome black trenchcoat on since he looked more manly, cool and mysterious… either that, or that usual white long-sleeved shirt of his. He looks good in it. 😉 He’s a gentleman in this episode, as usual. Oh, and he definitely needs to do something with that mask of his so it doesn’t shatter at critical times like that. He really needs to have it bulletproofed or something. xD
The sharp color and nice moves during the fight are great (especially the part when Hei kicks away Saitou’s gun!), but they could have come up with something so much better than this storyline. I thought it was a bit lame with the collarbone association. Although it’s really good to see Hei and company again and as much as I loved this series, I thought this episode was lacking in several aspects. Overall, it just seemed like a silly episode. It would’ve been nicer if they went down the serious route and patched things up with the main series storyline instead. *sigh* Oh well, I guess beggars can’t be choosers, no?
On a more general note, as I mentioned in a previous entry, some say it’s a single episode special while I’ve also read somewhere that it’s a series of OVA episodes tackling the Heaven’s Gate arc. I’ve tried to look for more info, but sadly, my attempts have been fruitless. Again, either it’s a well-guarded secret or I’m not looking hard enough. If I remember correctly, I read somewhere that Newtype magazine (or was it Animage?) has more info on the OVA series part of speculation, but I don’t have a subscription for that or anything. If anyone can confirm it or maybe even scan the page of that certain issue or something for reference, that’d be really awesome. ^_^
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Hi!
Would you mind telling me if there’s somewhere where I could download this episode? Unfortunatelly, I haven’t been able to get my hands on the DVD yet and I’m dying to see it. Any bittorrent links? 😀
Thank you for the review and for the answer.
Regards.
Hi Hiyoko! I replied in your blog. I’m glad you found my summary helpful. Thanks for dropping by! =)
Finally watched this. LOL it was freaking hilarious. It brought a lot of good memories back about DtB too, especially Yin 😀
@Totali: Seeing Yin in anime/manga fan mode was fun. She reads fanfics! xD
Is this Darker Than Black FUMOFFU?
Seriously what was a quality show in a tirade of unoriginality is turning into fanserv rubbish.
I really hope this was a once-off OVA made by some otaku in the production studio.
DtB was great, on point, and an espionage show at heart, not some teen girl drama…grrr please dont ruin one of the few good anime of the past couple of years.
can somone tell were can i watch the ova for this series?
i dont understand japenese so i need it subbed.
pls somone help me!
is there goin to be [ep 27/ova]?
@ sara: I got my copy of Darker than Black OVA from [this site]– Enjoy!
With regard to the ep 27/OVA, I’m not sure. I haven’t read anything about it so far.
Hmm I saw episode 26 on http://www.kumby.com. Not sure if it’s still there but you can try.
And I was wondering if episode 26 was just an extra because I’m hoping that there’s more episodes :]
@ layla: As far as I know, episode 26 is just an extra OVA for the series. I haven’t found any concrete news if there will be more OVAs in the future. If I find out anything about it, I’ll post an entry. I’m hoping for more episodes/OVAs too! ^_^
when is ep 27?
@ lol: I haven’t heard any news about another OVA, sorry.
[…] of the ova :s Am I wrong in the understanding that the DtB OVA is what online streamers call episode 26? If not, there are several places where you can find it online (Anilinkz being one example) […]
Would you mind telling me if there’s somewhere where I could download this episode? i m dying to watch this epi …..
@ Pagla Baba: Google is your friend. Keep searching and I’m sure you’ll find it. ^^
Wait a second, something came into mind about that mask; how many damn times has it shattered? You’d think he wouldn’t have one after so many times of it shattering! He must have a stash full of duplicates XD It was a cute episode, made me notice Hei’s awesome collarbones! I like collarbones now 😀
@ ka: Haha, yeah. I can’t really remember if it shattered in previous episodes, but I’m quite certain that Hei has a bunch of back-up masks in a secret hiding place somewhere. xD
sounds interesting, though… but i haven’t watch this episode… what a bummer… can anyone tell me what happen to hei and yin in this episode????…
Would you happen to know the song played when hei got his mask shot off? I love that jazz music
@ MIp: Sorry, I don’t know the title of the song. It might be in the OST, but I’m not sure. Here’s [a link to the OST] with the tracklist. I hope it helps!
THANK YOU. YOUR AWESOME!!!!!!!!!
i cant find it,that jazz song 😦
Does anyone know the song that plays during the scene where Hei/black reaper is planning to kill Mayu Otsuki?