Episode 04: “The Ark Sways on the Lake…”

SUMMARY: Suou, Hei, and the rest of the gang are on board a ship leaving Russia while Kirihara accepted the invitation to join Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIAC) and her cover name is “Ichinose Yayoi.” She’d be working alongside the eavesdropping trio (Shisume, Hazuki, and Youko). We learn from Kobayashi that BK-201 has been working for the CIA for the past few years, but now even the CIA is after him as well. Kobayashi instructs the team that their mission’s priority is to capture BK-201 and Shion (so it seems the MIAC still thinks that Suou is Shion). Meanwhile, Hei and company finally reach Japan. They then meet a crossdresser and Hei pretends that Suou and July are his siblings. Apparently, Hei’s “client” instructed him to train July and Suou as agents. Suou doesn’t like the sound of that, but Hei tells her that she should just do as she’s told if she wants to survive as a contractor.

They then take cover in a makeshift “house” for some training. July and Suou are trying to work together to improve Suou’s shooting skills. Hei shifts the target from a bottle to a bird (crane) to make it a moving target. Suou is reminded of that time when her father was teaching her to hunt, but unlike then, she is able to pull the trigger now, although she still misses. She’s getting pissed off at Hei’s bossiness, so she aims her rifle at his back as he’s walking away and she clarifies that she’s only going with him because she wants to go to Tokyo. As she goes on rambling, Hei grabs her rifle and literally throws her out of the “house,” saying that she just needs follow his instructions. He then gives them money and tells them to eat whatever they want.  Mao notes that Hei used to eat so much, but now all he does is drink alcohol. As they’re apssing through an abandoned shopping district Suou seems to recognize one of the guys, Norio, hanging out there, though she brushes this aside. As they’re staying at a love hotel for their hideout, Suou asks Mao about the client and training thing. He doesn’t answer the question though, and asks Suou why won’t she just run away if she doesn’t like it. She says she will, someday. Meanwhile, Kirihara is investigating for some leads. Her contact tells her that if she wants more information, she should talk to Madame Oreille, who’s a legendary informant. We learn that Kirihara joined Section 3 to learn the truth about BK-201, the Syndicate, the organization she used to work for, and is still curious why BK-201’s star disappeared.

Back to the gang, Hei is teaching Suou hand-to-hand combat and gives her a lot of advice and tips, and later makes Suou do some (belly)dancing to improve her abdominal muscles and balance (much to her chagrin). Norio’s group then appears, Hei tells Suou that they’ll move to practical training. Suou moves toward Norio’s group and fights them.  A police car passes by and the cops try to break teh fight. Before they can do that though, both parties try to run for it. Hei directs July to give Suou instructions to get away safely, while he throws Mao toward the cops for some distraction (LOL~ xDD) while Norio runs after Suou. Norio manages to catch up with July and Suou, apologizing for the brawl and tries to befriend Suou. She asks him to move, but he won’t. She gets pissed off and suddenly goes all contractor mode and fires a shot at Norio (which missed, though it shocked Norio). As they’re running away, Suou can’t take the pain in her tummy anymore (*tsk tsk* you shouldn’t eat expired goods, if you can avoid it). They run into the crossdresser they met earlier (LOL @ July attempting to smile xDD). He helps Suou and gives her some medicine for her tummyache. Apparently, Norio is the crossdresser’’s son (haha, what a coincidence). Suou then realizes that Norio is kinda like Nika, that’s why she felt he was familiar, as he exuded the same aura that Nika had when he confessed to Tanya. Meanwhile, Mao is being chased by a cat (haha, he couldn’t believe his karma too). He narrowly escapes getting eaten and lands on Suou’s face.

When they arrive back at their love hotel hideout, Suou gets a slap from Hei because he can tell that she used her ability (aww, poor Suou. Poor Hei too). Kirihara goes to an abandoned observatory and is surprised to find Madame Oreille there, and she apparently also knows Kirihara’s real name. After the ED, before Suou goes to sleep, she (again) tells Hei that she hates him, even if she may have lost her emotions when she became a contractor. She then thinks to herself that she needs to endure being with a man she hates because she wants to see Shion.

IMPRESSION: Considering the previous 3 episodes were so awesome and full of win, I thought this one was a few notches down and was just an OK episode. Although, it’s great to see Hei acting like his charming civilian/student cover again. ^^ Lol @ Suou bellydancing. To strengthen your muscles, Hei says it’s the best way. I wonder if he danced too when he was training… Speaking of Suou, she actually has pretty awesome fighting skillz when she isn’t fighting Hei. Oh, and “smiling isn’t in my program”…  July attempting to smile made me laugh, it also reminded me of Yin attempting to smile back in season 1. Mao getting chased by a cat? Yeah, he couldn’t believe how quick karma can come around too. I still find it a bit odd to see Mao as a flying squirrel, but hey, beggars can’t be choosers, so I’m just happy that Mao’s back. Oh, and Hei throwing Mao toward the cops was a bit mean, though it did make me LOL (nice pitching~!)

I’m also curious about who this “client” is, who Madame Oreille is and what Kirihara would be able to find out from her.  I think there’s gonna be a conflict of interest for Kirihara now that she got teamed up with the eavesdropping trio (Shizume, Hazuki, and Youko). They’re after Hei right? And I don’t think they’d mind killing him. I don’t think Kirihara will though. And if I understood Kobayashi’s instructions properly, the team’s priority is to capture Hei, not kill him. So I suppose the MIAC wants Hei alive. I wonder when Yin will make an appearance again. I’m curious about what happened to her. Hmm. Maybe Madame Oreille knows something about that? I also wonder why Hei is so lost, wasted and quite depressed. It’s kinda sad to see him like that. I know he probably went through a lot of crap just to stay alive while on the run, and I hope we’d get some backstory regarding that soon.

Episode 5 preview… Norio, still head over heels over Suou, seems to be following her around. Suou and July are getting along quite well. What seems to be a water-controlling contractor will show up and attack Hei, while it looks like Kirihara will learn quite a few things from Madame Oreille along with the Goldilocks twins.

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You might also want to check out my other related posts:

• Darker than Black season 2 – ep 05
• Darker than Black season 2 – ep 03
• Darker than Black ep 25 [FINALE]
  
• Darker than Black – series overview
• Extra: Darker than Black – main cast interview
  
• Other Darker than Black posts

Fall 2009 season OP/ED themes post! Kindly note that this is quite subjective as it’s listed as “Top 5″ ranked according to my preference, followed by randomly listed titles as “special mention.”

~ Format :: “Song title” by band/artist (OP#/ED# – anime series title)

• My Top 5 OP/ED themes this Fall:

1. “Hajimari no Hi” by Suga Shikao feat. Mummy-D (OP #1 –Letter Bee)
– watch: anime OP — music video

- Very good song. I love the catchy funky upbeat melody, especially the bass parts, and I really love Suga-sama’s voice~ <3 OK, I might be biased since I’ve loved Suga Shikao’s stuff ever since I heard his songs in Honey and Clover, but really, this is a very good song!

The full song includes Mummy-D’s rap part toward the end of the song. The single will be released on November 25, 2009. Counting down the days! ^^

2. “Tsukiakari no Michishirube” by Stereopony (OP#1 – Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini)
– watch: anime OP — music video

- This is a nice song, although I didn’t like it as much when I first heard it in episode 2 of the series. I guess I was kinda expecting a more bada$$ and rock-ish(?) song, kinda like (“Howling” by abingdon boys school) and (“Kakusei Heroism ~The Hero Without a Name~” by Antic Cafe) OP1 and OP2, respectively, from Darker than Black’s first season. But then, after an episode, I realized that this song fit the second season pretty well as  Suou is more of the lead character now rather than Hei. I’ve been warming up to this song every time I hear it, and I think it’s one of the good ones this Fall.

3. “From Dusk Till Dawn” by abingdon boys school (ED #1 – Darker than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini)
– watch: anime ED — music video

– It’s a very nice rock ballad from abingdon boys school. I’m not exactly a fan of ABS, but I do kinda like them and I do find most of their songs really nice to listen to.

I also liked their OP (“Howling“) for Darker than Black’s first season, and their OP (“Kimi no Uta“) for Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 last season.

4. “From the Beginning to End” by Ryu (OP #1 – Winter Sonata)
– watch: anime OP — music video

– A very nice and bittersweet-sounding love song. This Korean ballad kinda gives me goosebumps and tugs at my heartstrings every time I listen to it. I love the piano and the strings part the most. Also of note is that it’s the same opening song as the one in the original 2002 Korean drama of the same title.

I’m still not sure if I’m gonna keep watching this series, but this I know for sure, Winter Sonata has one of the best BGM this season. I love, love, love the music. Especially all the instrumental pieces and that Nutcracker-ish sounding music in episode 0 (when the lead guy picked up the kid’s book). ^^

5.1 “Moeruyou na Koi ja naikedo” by Tsuru (ED #3 – Cross Game)
– watch: anime ED – music video

– It’s a tie for #5! First is this ED song from Cross Game. I really love the melody and the guitar parts. The chorus is nice as well. I love Cross Game too (go watch it or read the manga now!) I don’t really know what else to say… Why don’t you just take a listen? ^_^

The single will be released on November 11, 2009 [which reminds me of a cool contractor from Darker than Black ]

5.2 “Kimi no Todoke” by Tanizawa Tomifumi (OP #1 – Kimi ni Todoke)
– watch: anime OP — music video

– It’s a tie for #5! Second is this OP tune from Kimi ni Todoke. I love the beat of this song, especially the intro part. The chorus part is pretty catchy too. This series is love~ <3 The story is really good and the characters are quite well written. Seriously, if you like romantic comedies that makes you feel all warm and fuzzy, you should really check this out! ^^

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Special Mention: (just click on the song title to watch & listen to the anime OP/ED) – in random order -

• “Snow fairy” by FUNKIST (OP #1 – Fairy Tail)
• “Believe You” by Yoonji (ED #1 – Winter Sonata)
• “Light Infection” by Prague (OP #8 – Gintama) – I included this because it was this series’ OP/ED song as the Fall 2009 season started.
  
• “Sanagi” by POSSIBILITY(ED #9 – Gintama) – See previous comment.
  
• “Sakurabito” by Sun Set Swish (ED #21 – Bleach) – Ditto
  
• “Anima Rossa” by Porno Graffitti (OP #8 – Bleach) – Ditto
• “Magic” by Rina Aiuchi (OP #27 -Detective Conan) – Ditto
  
• “Hikari” by BREAKERZ (ED #34 – Detective Conan) – Ditto
  
• “Sign” by FLOW (OP #6 – Naruto Shippuden) – Ditto
• “Kataomoi” by Chara (ED #1 – Kimi ni Todoke)
• “montage” by Kenn, Ryotaro Okiayu, Yuki Kaji, Masakazu Morita (OP #1 – Miracle Train ~Oedo-sen e Youkoso~ )
  
• “Stories” by Shuhei Kita (ED #1 – Miracle Train ~Oedo-sen e Youkoso~)
• “Magic Number” by Maaya Sakamoto (OP #1 – Kobato.)
• “Jellyfish’s Confession” by Megumi Nakajima (ED #1 – Kobato.)
  
• “Strawberry ~Amaku Setsunai Namida~” by Asami Imai (ED #1 – Nyan Koi!)
• “Hatenaki Michi” by HIMEKA (ED #1 – Letter Bee)
• “Unreal Paradise” by Minami Kuribayashi (OP #1 – Kampfer)
• “Arrival of Tears” by Ayane (OP #1 – 11eyes)
• “Sequentia” by Asriel (ED #1 – 11eyes)
• “Yell for Dream! PATISSIERE” by Gojyo Mayumi (OP #1 – Yumeiro Patissiere) –> I think it’s ending song is better, but I can’t find the title. >.<
  
• “Light of Dawn” by Annabel (ED #1 – Tatakau Shisho – The Book of Bantorra)
• “only my railgun” by fripSide (OP #1 – To Aru Kagaku no Railgun)
• “Dear My Friend – Mada Minu Mirai he-” by ELISA (ED #1 – To Aru Kagaku no Railgun)
• “Touen Ketsugi ~Touen no Chnkai~” by Rekka (OP #1 – Shin Koihime Musou)
• “Oyasumi Paradox” by Etsuko Yakushimaru (OP #1 – Natsu no Arashi Akinai-chuu)
• “Kimi ga Imai Mirai” by Do as Infinity (OP #1 – Inuyasha: The Final Act)
• “Upside Down” by Denki Groove (OP #1 – Trapeze)
  
• “Mugen” by Nana Mizuki (OP #2 – White Album)
• “Akai Ito” by Suara (ED #3 – White Album)
• “Soba ni Irareru Dake De” by blue drops (ED #1 – Sora no Otoshimono)
• “Niji-iro Pocket” by Natsumi Kiyoura (ED #1 – Sasameki Koto)
• “Kanashii Hodo Aoku” by Natsumi Kiyoura (OP #1 – Sasameki Koto)
• “Tsunai Da Te” by Lil’B (ED #3 – Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)
• “Golden Time Lover” by Sukima Switch (OP #3 – Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood)

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Most of the songs are from anime I’ve seen (or at least seen 1 episode of this Fall or heard the OP/ED song somewhere, or was recommended to me by someone), so I might’ve missed some good songs from series I don’t usually watch.

~ Which OP/ED songs made your “favorites” list this Fall 2009?

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You might also want to check out:

• Other anime music entries
• Anime Preview: Fall 2009
• Fall 2009 First Impressions – Batch 1
  
• Fall 2009 First Impressions – Batch 2
• Other anime season previews

Yeah, quite late, I know (I blame work and Winter Sonata), but finally done with my quick first impressions on some of the Fall 2009 anime. This the 2nd and final batch.

In this batch: (1) Kampfer; (2) Fairy Tail; (3) 11eyes; (4) Yumeiro Patissiere; (5) Aoi Bungaku; (6) Winter Sonata.

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(1) Kämpfer
More info – Official Site

Cast: Inoue Marina, Horie Yui, Mizuki Nana, Tamura Yukari, etc.

- The OP ["Unreal Paradise" by Minami Kuribayashi] is your typical upbeat song for these types of series.

- Kampfer are elite fighters who are all female.

- So the guy Natsuru has been chosen by the “moderators” to be a Kampfer, and as such he has to turn into a girl since you must be female to fight as a Kampfer.

- Lol, looks like his guy mode hasn’t broken into his puberty voice yet xD

- So Kampfers wear bracelets which serve as a warning device (it glows when you’re about to transform) and identification tag (same color, same team). The glow effect isn’t enough. It should have an alarm or vibrate mode and not just glow. What if he wasn’t paying attention? He’d transform for everyone to see?

- Pretty quick transformation compared with other magical girl transformations. Um, is Natsuru classified as a magical girl?

– Apparently, Natsuru’s Kampfer power is shooting fireballs from her/his hand.

- Lol, the girl Natsuru likes apparently likes girls too. Poor guy.

- Lolwut? So even if you’re already a girl, Kampfers transform into a different girl appearance and their personality also changes…
- Haha, “entrails animal series” of plushies? Black Seppuku Bunny? How morbid. xD

- So I heard they use German words for naming stuff in the Kampfer world.

- Quite a lot of fanservice poses everywhere and suggestive(?) language.

- Upbeat ED ["One Way Ryou Omoi" by Marina Inoue and Megumi Nakajima]

• Watch it? Uh, so after episode 1, it doesn’t seem to make any sense why they’re fighting against each other. They’ll probably explain next time, but I won’t be watching.
  

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(2) Fairy Tail
More info – Official Site

Cast: Hirano Aya, Kakihara Tetsuya, Kugimiya Rie, Ohara Sayaka, Nakamura Yuuichi, etc.

- The OP ["Snow fairy" by FUNKIST] sounds kinda nice.

- I like the “Fairy Tail” symbol. It’s pretty cool.

- I initially thought this series was gonna be quite interesting and bada$$. Um, it’s a little interesting and Natsu has some pretty cool moves, but nothing awesome. I find it a little on the boring side, but it can be funny and there’s some action once in a while. And Lucy is getting on my nerves a bit.

- The ED ["Kanpekigu~no ne" by Watarirouka Hoshiri Tai] is another song this season that sounds like the Minami-Ke OP/ED themes (Hey! Hey! Let’s go!). The characters’ chibi forms in the ED sequence are cute~

• Watch it? Hmm. The first episode isn’t much of an attention catcher. I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt and check out the next episode.

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(3) 11eyes
More info – Official Site

Also known as 11eyes -Tsumi to Batsu to Aganai no Shoujo-

Cast: Ono Daisuke, Goto Mai, Asakawa Yuu, Morikubo Showtaro, etc.

- The OP ["Arrival of Tears" by Ayane] has an unusual intro adding a touch of strangeness and the supernatural, which reminded me of Umineko no Naku Koro ni’s OP. Sounded OK to me.

- Kakeru is another eye-patched lead guy reminiscent of Rental Magica and a tad bit of Geass too, I guess. The series is on the occult/supernatural side of the spectrum.

- Kakeru has a pretty tragic background. Quite a few pantsu shots here and there.

- The story has a hodgepodge of elements… it’s cheerful, creepy, weird and confusing all at the same time. Kakeru is an OK character. Yuka is so-so. I like Kusakabe, the red-haired sword-wielding girl. She’s pretty cool.

- The world seems to have a creepy alternate reality which they dubbed “Red Night.” Not much was really explained in the first episode, so you’d end up staring at the monitor for a bit and scratching your head exclaiming “huh?”

- The ED ["Sequentia" by Asriel] sounded alright.

• Watch it? I like mystery, but it seems there’s too much mystery and supernatural stuff going on here. I’ll check out the next two episodes and decide from there.

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(4) Yumeiro Pâtissière
More info – Official Site

Cast: Yuki Aoi. Taketatsu Ayana, Okamoto Nobuhiko, Hamazoe Shinya, Yonaga Tsubasa, Kishio Daisuke, etc.

-Fun and upbeat OP, which sounded to me like Minami-Ke OP/EDs again. ^^;

- The lead girl Ichigo is a young girl with a good heart. She loves cakes and stuff, and she wants to be a pâtissière (female pastry chef). She enters St. Marie Academy through the recommendation of Anri(?)-sensei, and her baking adventures with Shugo Chara-like “sweets spirits” and teenage bishounens start from there

• Watch it? Sure, why not? It’s a light story and the cakes and pastries look so delish!

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(5) Aoi Bungaku Series
More info – Official Site

Also known as Blue Literature series

- I won’t go into the details of this one as it’s an anime series that will feature an adaptation of a number of Japanese literary pieces.

- ANN reports that the Aoi Bungaku television series is set to have 12 episodes and will be comprised of:

1. Osamu Dazai’s “No Longer Human” (“Ningen Shikkaku,” four episodes)
2. Soseki Natsume’s “Kokoro” (two episodes)
3. Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s “Hell Screen” (Jigoku Hen, one episode)
4. Osamu Dazai’s “Run, Melos!” (“Hashire Melos!,” two episodes).
5. Ango Sakaguchi’s “In the Forest, Under Cherries in Full Bloom” (“Sakura no Mori no Mankai no Shita,” two episodes)
6. Ryūnosuke Akutagawa’s “The Spider’s Thread” (“Kumo no Ito,” one episode)

The anime studio MADHOUSE is producing the 12-episode series with character designs based on the novel cover illustrations by Death Note artist Takeshi Obata (“No Longer Human,” “Kokoro”), Bleach creator Tite Kubo (“Hell Screen”) and The Prince of Tennis creator Takeshi Konomi (“Run, Melos!”).

- Um, yeah, so reading through the plot of the stories, most of them are quite sad and tragic.

• Watch it? It’s highly likely that I will. I’ll take my time, though. And I think it would be best to watch it in batches (per arc) rather than weekly to get a better grasp of each story.

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(6) Winter Sonata
More info – Official Site

Also known as Fuyu no Sonata

Cast: Bae Yong Joon, Choi Ji Woo, Park Yong Ha, Park Sol Mi, Jung Dong Hwan, Kim Hae Sook, Lee Eye Heun, etc.

- A QUICK 411… It’s an anime adaptation of the popular 2002 Korean drama of the same title. The actors will reprise their respective roles by lending their voices to the anime series. Hence, it will be voiced in Korean with Japanese subtitles.

- I’ve never seen an episode of the K-drama, though I’ve heard the song. The anime’s OP song [“From the Beginning to End” by Ryu] was the same as in the K-drama. It’s a very nice and somewhat sad-sounding ballad. I think it fits well since, well, it’s gonna be a series filled with much, much drama.

- I found watching it a wee bit weird since I’m not hearing it in Japanese (not that it matters much though since I don’t really know enough Japanese to save my life xD)

- Pretty good animation. I love, love, love the background music. Especially all the instrumental pieces and that Nutcracker-ish sounding music when he picks up the kid’s book. ^^

- It starts with “episode 0″… A prologue, I suppose?

- It starts off with the lead guy leaving airport, but the girl didn’t make it to catch him before he left. So, now, the guy is living in New York while the girl is living in Paris.

- The guy’s voice sounded a bit flat to me. It kinda lacked emotion. The girl did a pretty good job voicing her character (well, at least better than the guy) as she had more feelings while uttering her lines.

- The coffee place the girl was at reminded me of UCC

– So it seems like he has some sort of brain injury. Big question I had after watching this episode: Why did they go their separate ways when it seems so obvious that they still love each other? This much I know… It’s obviously gonna be a really dramatic love story.

- Did I mention how much I loved the music? I want the OST.

- The ED ballad [“Believe You” by Yoonji] sounded nice, but I like the OP way better. The ED sequence showed a bit of background story… So it looks like the guy had a pretty bad accident (got hit by a vehicle) that’s why he’s having issues with his head.

• Watch it? Hmm. I never saw the K-drama, but maybe I’ll watch this one. The probability is high if the story doesn’t end tragically… (So, does it? I can take all the drama as long as it has a fairly happy ending)

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You might also wanna check out my other posts:

• Anime Preview: Fall 2009
• Anime Preview: Fall 2009 First Impressions – Batch 1
  
• Other anime season previews

Episode 03: “Vanishing into the Snow Field…”

SUMMARY: Picking up from the previous episode, Hei unfortunately gets electrocuted, no thanks to Hazuki’s fancy forcefield-like-producing gadget. It looks like Hazuki, Shizume and Youko (I’ll keep calling them collectively as the “eavesdropping trio” for lazy typing purposes. If you’re wondering why, see episode 1 summary) are familiar with Dr. Schroeder’s studies regarding contractors. Apparently, the forcefield thingamajig is some kind of gadget for analyzing contractor abilities, but alas, Hei’s powers are incapable of being analyzed, causing the gadget to fail. After Hei’s electric bolts react with Suou’s necklace, Suou’s eyes suddenly turn kinda lifeless. She then hears someone tell her this is her chance to escape. She does as she’s told and jumps into the water, pulling Hei along with her and leaving behind Hei’s mask and knife.

Shizume tries to go after them, but fails, and instead mercilessly smashes the still unconscious August 7 to his death. We see more Yin flashbacks saying goodbye to Hei. Apparently, the eavesdropping trio were ordered to obtain the “Izanagi” by all means necessary or else they’d be killed. Hei and Suou are in hiding in some cabin. Suou bugs him about why all of  this had to happen to her family, why her father was killed, and why everyone are after her brother. Hei keeps silent. Suou gets all emotional and criticizes Hei for being an emotionless being, remarking that she’d rather be killed than kill people since there are no replacements for people. She angrily adds that she bets Hei can just kill the people he loves without any hesitation. She obviously hits Hei’s sensitive side as she gets a slap from Hei. She continues crying, saying she doesn’t want herself or anyone else to die anymore.

Meanwhile, the evil guys from the Russian military are planning to use Nika to smoke Suou out of hiding (I think they realized the mistaken identity by now). Back in the cabin, Hei is having a convesation with someone (a man who we can’t see on screen). Hei notes that he’s surprised to meet this guy again, and notes that it must be true that the man’s memory is outside his body. The man says it’s a back-up memory, and that he just heard the details about the events after the Hell’s Gate incident. The man says that he’s in the same place as Hei now, and that he isn’t affiliated with the CIA, but to Suou. He then tells Hei that he’s come to give Hei a change in his orders (I’m getting excited, I know this guy’s voice… Fufufu~ He’s aliiive! ). Nika sees Tanya walking around town and approaches her. She apologizes to him, saying that she thinks something bad will happen if they’re together since as she can’t really keep up with the contractor changes that her body has been experiencing. Nika, being the madly in love guy that he is, tells her that everything’s gonna be alright as long as they’re together and gives her a hug while we see Tanya’s evil, emotionless expression. Meanwhile, Suou’s cellphone rings. Hei takes it out of Suou’s bag and breaks it. Suou notices that the Japan photo book that fell out of her bag has a whale origami in between two pages, written in which is a message “I’m waiting for you” from Shion. Hei notes that the place that’s pictured in the page is Ikebukuro in Tokyo, which he says is near Hell’s Gate and that that area is off limits. With Hei knowing this lead to Shion’s possible location, Suou thinks that Hei will kill her now. To her surprise, Hei cuts off the rope binding her hands and tells her that if she wants to go to Japan, he’ll take her there. Apparently, it was Nika who’s calling Suou. As his meeting with Tanya is nothing but a trap, the military guys spying on them traced the call. The Major tells Tanya that this act is done. She then switches to contractor mode, but we don’t see what happens next to Nika. Hei and Suou manage to escape the cabin before the military came. Hei explains that they tracked her cellphone. As they’re running away, Suou sees an observation ghost speeding through the power lines. Hei tells her not to look at it since it’ll sense her.

Hei takes Suou to the train station where a train is to depart soon and tells her to lay low and take the train which will depart soon. He clears her way and gets rid of the guards by fighting them off as Suou runs to the train. But alas, Tanya shows up and blocks Suou. Apparently, she’ll be rewarded well once she captures Suou. Tanya asks her where Shion is, but Suou doesn’t respond (looks like Tanya’s power is indeed to call on swarms of insects to do as she commands…) Hei jumps in and tries to electrocute Tanya, but cannot do so (at least that’s what I think he’s trying to do… unless he didn’t really do it because Suou  yelled for him to stop…) Hei manages to incapacitate Tanya though, fights off the military with an automatic, and tries to find some cover for him and Suou.  The eavesdropping trio are in the vicinity, along with a bunch of curious bystanders,  checking out the scene of flying bullets. The trio decide to barge in on the fight. Hei asks Mao to look after Suou, who’s a bit confused as to who the heck Hei is talking to since there’s no one there with them. (Aaaah! It IS Mao~! ) It turns out that Mao is occupying Petya’s body (so that’s why Petya was an amazing defensive sqiuirrel in episode 1! xD OK, I’ll refer to Petya as Mao now, to avoid confusion). Mao jumps onto the head of a confuzzled Suou tells her to follow him so they can escape. Meanwhile Tanya’s swarm of insects are bugging Hei (hehe, get it? ^^;)

Shizume then arrives at the fight scene, driving one of the trains while Hazuki slices off and throws blades at the gunmen. Hei narrowly escapes being flattened by the train. Shizume lights up the spilled train fuel, causing an explosion. Suou is totally overwhelmed by all the deaths and the commotion around her. Tanya is still at it with her bugs and is intent on killing Hei. Suou gets out of hiding and tries to appeal to Tanya’s emotions playing the “aren’t we friends?” card, and begs Tanya to stop. Tanya retorts that they were friends, but she didn’t even know that Suou had a brother, until now, and wonders if it’s true that Suou has a brother or if Shion and Suou are actually the same person. A badly beat-up Nika then appears. Apparently, Tanya let him live. He’s still adamant with his affection for Tanya, inviting her to go back home together. An emotionally unaffected Tanya activates her powers and goes on to attack Nika. A tearful Suou screams in despair and this triggers her lifeless eyes again and her necklace glows. We see a suprised Mao (though he seems to suspect something), while a we see a new character with Goldilocks-inspired hairstyle (looks like they’re twins… unless she’s a doppelganger user) who notes that “She has awoken. It has begun,” and they’re sitting in a car with the blonde lady with sunglasses whom we saw in episode 2. July (who’s not with those blonde girls) also notes that it has begun.

Back at the train station, we see a very pissed off Suou angrily thinking that all contractors should just die, as her eyes glow with that red spark when contractors activate their powers. Apparently, her power is to summon a very long and bada$$ sniper’s rifle from her body/necklace (I think it’s the same rifle we saw previously in a flashback in episode 2 when she was hunting with her dad). Suou in contractor mode shoots Tanya with it (although I don’t think she fatally shot her…) Suou then goes on a rampage, shooting the other contractors from the top of a train carriage. We see July on the ground, standing beside the carriage, guiding Suou’s aim by giving her very precise directions where to shoot. As she was guided to fatally shoot Tanya, we see contractor mode Suou shed some tears.

Hei manages to stop her before she can shoot. Suou then collapses as her rifle disappears. Hei, carrying Suou in his arms, asks for July’s name and tells him to come with them. July follows them. In Paris, the blonde woman with sunglasses (who we now know as Madame Oreille) meets up with Mr. Smith again (the man with a scarred eye introduced in episode 2). He’s asks her if she knows the whereabouts of the “Black Reaper” since it seems that he went on his own against CIA orders. Madame Oreille says that she gives information to anyone who wants it as long as the price is right.

Meanwhile, at the Hachiko-jima Police Station in Japan, we see Kirihara who seems to be working there now as an officer. We hear Kirihara talking to Kanami (the astronomer) about BK-201’s star fading away during her last stargazing session. Kanami says she’s never heard of a fading star before, only falling stars. She tells Kirihara that this may be a good opportunity for Kirihara to give up on BK-201 and find a new man already. At Kirihara’s office, she gives Saitou a call, saying there’s something she wants to ask him about BK-201, but Saitou apologizes saying he can’t give information regarding contractors to people outside their department. Apparently, she was  exiled from the department she used to lead. Then, Saitou speaks in a serious tone and asks if she’s heard of “Section 3″, to which she answers she hasn’t. Saitou goes on to tell her that she should be wary of this “Section 3″ and that she shouldn’t listen to them if they ever show up in front of her. -Alas, as if on cue, a man called Kobayashi from the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications (MIAC) enters her office. He proceeds to tell her that 2 years ago, an information leak in the internet caused the public to be aware of the existence of contractors; however, there was no trace of the “Syndicate” that was mentioned in the leaked info. He then bluntly admits to Kirihara that the MIAC is just a front and they’re actually Section 3 and their objective is to completely get rid of all the Syndicate’s remnants. As Kirihara looks like she doesn’t want to have anything to do with them, Kobayashi tells her that  BK-201 is not dead, adding that she won’t be able to find anything about his whereabouts from her current position now, and invites her to join Section 3. Saitou seems to have heard everything as Kirihara is shown to disconnect her cellphone call to Saitou.

After the ED, we see Hei, Mao (in Petya the amazing squirrel’s body), July and Suou aboard a ship leaving Russia. Mao remarks that Hei is drinking a bit too much, then asks about Yin.  Hei isn’t able to answer this directly. With an angry expression in his eyes, Hei says that he will kill “her.” Mao is surprised to hear this, while Suou is paying her remuneration by doing origami.

~ end of episode

**OK, maybe overdid this “summary” a bit and it’s a tad too detailed. I’ll try to keep my fangirlism to a minimum and try to cut back on the details next time. ^^;

IMPRESSION: I didn’t like the OP that much the first I heard it in ep 2, but I’m warming up more to it now. I realized that it kinda fits as Suou is more of the lead character this time rather than Hei. I assume this “Izanagi” is the meteor core fragment? Assuming that the meteor core fragment is with Shion/Suou, I suppose they’re after Shion/Suou too. Um, so it looks like the eavesdropping trio are off to get rid of Hei since he’s getting in their way. But if the character page in Wiki is accurate and if it does turn out that the trio is part of MIAC too, and since Hei used to be part of the Syndicate and the MIAC (as Kobayashi said) aims to rid remnants of the Syndicate, then I guess it follows that part of their mission is to get rid of him too… Hmm. On a different note, I really love the slightly techno-ish and funky beat music during the fight scenes this season courtesy of Kouji Ishii. It’s a far cry from Yoko Kanno’s touch of jazz-inspired music from season 1, but I think this funkier beats are a good touch this season. I think it adds in to the excitement while all the action and contractor combat scenes are happening.

Goodbye, August 7. It was nice meeting you these past 2 episodes. Though you’re not nearly as awesome as November 11, you gave a fairly good fight. Um, he’s dead, right? I think I saw some blood after Shizume smashed him. Oh, and Hazuki rocks with her mad “light saber” skillz! Moving on, during Hei’s fight with Tanya it looked to me like he’s unable to use his powers, and he also seems to ponder about that as he was staring at his hand a bit later. I think my previous hunch could be right, that Hei’s star merely fading rather than falling is connected him losing his powers (see episode 2 impressions) I still think it’s temporary though, but I’m not so sure about that.

Oh, and major revelation about Petya! So that’s where the mysterious voice is coming from! We heard a voice in episode 2, telling Suou to run to the back of the house where there are no enemies… I initially thought it might have been Hei, but now it turns out that it was MAO! He’s occupying the squirrel’s body and he’s aliiiive! ~Ohoho, so that’s why Petya is prominently featured in the OP/ED too! Wow, I was not expecting that. I had a feeling that the cats they keep showing us in episodes 1 and 2 were some sort of omen, but I wasn’t really expecting that they would actually bring back Mao! Haha. I suppose since we didn’t really see Mao “die” in season 1’s finale, there was a big possibility of his return… For a quick recap of the S1 finale, we only saw then that Mao got disconnected from the network since the signal was getting weaker (or something like that) inside Hell’s Gate. I can vaguely remember that Mao mentioned in one of the season 1 episodes (I’m not sure, but was it in episode 8?) that he needed to connect to a network in order to keep the animal instinct from taking over his human/contractor consciousness. So since Mao is alive, I guess the cat was able to escape Hell’s Gate and Mao managed to retrieve his consciousness somehow. I hope we get to learn more about it soon. Either way, I’m glad Mao’s back. I liked his character. Now if only they’d bring November 11 back… I’ll be a very happy camper (am I asking too much?? )

The story has become even more interesting now that Suou has become a contractor.  I think her power is pretty cool, albeit a bit weird. Did you see how very long that rifle was? She goes into a magical girl mode as she “summons” the rifle using her newly acquired contractor ability (very long and heavy rifle, unlock! xD) Lol, it also somewhat made me think of Legolas from “Lord of the Rings”… she just jams her hand in her pocket and readily gets bullets from there. Speaking of abilities, I wonder how exactly Suou acquired it. Could it be because of the necklace reacting with Hei’s ability? I mean, since Hei’s power (which came from his sister Bai) is capable of altering stuff at the molecular level and if the meteor core fragment is hidden in the necklace, then I guess it’s quite possible that Hei’s power triggered Suou’s change into a contractor. Although, it’s quite unclear to me at this point how that happened. I might need to re-watch some season 1 episodes sometime soon. But anyway, I’m hoping that the series would shed some light on this in upcoming episodes.

Moving on to remunerations, I think Suou got a fairly easy remuneration if all she had to do was make origamis… I mean compare that to pulling sections of your hair out, breaking your fingers, eating flowers, slashing your wrist, or having to sit in a wheelchair…  I think she got off with a fairly easy one. Uh, I’m a bit confused about Shion and Suou now. In episode 1, we see a bunch of origami in Shion’s room right? I thought Suou made them for him. Suou had a flashback concerning this and the hunting part we witnessed in episode 2. Could this be a clue about contractors’ backgrounds? Hmm. Now, I’m even more curious about the Shion. What are his powers? Tanya’s  remarks about Shion and Suou being the same person also seems possible… although we saw Suou and Dr. Pavlichenko actually interacting with Shion in the same room makes it a bit unlikely (unless the Powers-that-Be are deliberately leading us to think that). Could it be some split personality disorder? Or it could also be that Shion and Suou really are twins. Hmm. I’m merely guessing here though, so don’t take me too seriously.

I wonder who Madame Oreille, Mr. Smith, and those twin Goldilocks are…  They seem to be quite intent on going after Hei too. Oh, and that part after the ED… Who the heck could Hei be talking about when he told Mao that he’s going to kill “her?” Who could this person be? Could it be Yin? Could she have had to betray Hei somehow so she can save him or something? Like some kind of deal with the devil or something like that? Or perhaps Hei was talking about a different person… Well, I’m quite sure it’s not Amber since she died in the S1 finale (um, she did die right? She used up the last of her power and  had to disappear by not existing anymore since her remuneration was to become  younger and younger. Since she used the last of her power so Hei could save Tokyo, I assume that she doesn’t exist anymore as her loli toddler self became even younger to nonexistence…)

Moving on again, looks like Kirihara is working as a police officer now rather than the section  chief of Foreign Affairs, where Saitou seems to be still working. I’m just glad that Kirihara’s back, although I’m not too sure about her joining Section 3 is a good idea. But beggars can’t be choosers right? She had to do what she had to do in her quest for answers and for BK-201. I hope Kirihara won’t do anything stupid and die in the process too. Heh. MI6 needs to level up their game. July is with Hei’s company now, and August 7 and April are dead. I think there’s bound to be another MI6 agent on the way.

Episode 4 preview… Looks like the gang made it safely to Japan. I see a TRAP! Kirihara is back in her pantsuit, and someone seems to be aiming a long rifle at Hei’s back as he’s walking away…

:: Contractor/Doll Notes::

• As per Hei, an observation ghost can sense you if you look at it.

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You might also want to check out my other related posts:

• Darker than Black season 2 – ep 04
• Darker than Black season 2 – ep 02
• Darker than Black ep 25 [FINALE]
  
• Darker than Black – series overview
• Extra: Darker than Black – main cast interview
  
• Other Darker than Black entries

Episode 02: “Fallen Meteor…”

SUMMARY: Another flashback (2 years ago): Suou’s father is teaching her how to hunt, but she can’t make herself kill the targeted animal. Later, the professor informs her that a time of tribulation will come upon them soon, and when that happens, she mustn’t hesitate to pull the trigger should the need arises. Shion cheerfully exclaims that Suou shouldn’t worry, because he’ll protect her when that time comes.  We hear Suou’s voiceover,  noting that was the last time she saw Shion’s true smile.  She then proceeds to tell us what we already know, a quick recap that Shion became a contractor that night and lost the freedom to use his legs as his remuneration. Suou swore that she’d protect Shion because she’s his sister. But… she didn’t know that at this very moment in time, when she’s trying to escape contractors who attacked their home, was the beginning of her tribulations.

Back in the present: Hei asks Suou (he mistakes her for Shion) to give him the meteor core fragment.  Suou manages to escape by using her camera’s flash to distract Hei. As Hei is about to pursue her, a bada$$ contractor girl armed with a katana suddenly appears and fights him (it looks like her power is to make things sharp? I think she’s using a wooden katana, which she then made all glowy and bladed, well, it’s sharp enough to break Hei’s knife, and she throws glowy things that can cut into stuff). Suou is crouching beside a tree, watching the (awesome) fight. Suou then hears a man’s voice telling her to run away to the back of the house where there’s no enemy. A confused Suou follows his orders. Hei and katana girl resume fighting, and she has that cool grappling wire thingy too, while Hei reveals his spare knife! As Suou is running away, she encounters a guy in trenchcoat (one of the three people who were eavesdropping on April’s radio frequency last episode) As he’s trying to get close to Suou, Pecha (her amazing defensive pet squirrel xD) comes to her rescue, and she manages to evade him by putting a can on his head. Meanwhile, Upon seeing the Pavlichenko house on fire, Hei and katana girl stop fighting.

While wandering in the woods, Suou spots Shion at a distance through her handy dandy high-end camera, and is surprised to see that he’s able to walk again. She then loses sight of him, though he did appear to have seen Suou too. Apparently, the eavesdropping trio’s name are Shizume (trenchcoat guy), Hazuki (katana girl), and Youko (the other girl). Apparently, Hazuki’s remuneration is to kiss someone. She kisses Shizume right away upon her return to their van. Youko immediately hands her some water (or a tall bottle of mouthwash? Lol~) to gargle with xDD – She then proceeds to kiss Youko to get rid of the “aftertaste” from kissing Shizume xDD Moving on, it looks like the Russian Major Repnin is one of the evil higher-ups this time. Suou tries to seek shelter from her friend Sasha’s house, but she doesn’t recognize Suou anymore. Seems like her memories got wiped (she saw Tanya’s contractor mode last time). Suou has no choice but to run away again. Apparently, Nika’s memory hasn’t been wiped yet. He’s recovering in a hospital bed. He manages to wake up and hear the evil soldiers who are after him and runs away. Nika bumps into a wandering Suou, who embraces him out of relief. Meanwhile, a scarred eye guy (apparently a “Mr. Smith” from the CIA) meets with a blonde woman in a cafe, and asks for assistance, saying “that organization” has made a move in their quest for “Izanagi.”

Nika and Suou manage to find a hiding place (Suou, Nika and Tanya’s “secret base”). Nika wonders what’s going on, as he learned that everyone in class forgot about Tanya and then Suou’s house caught on fire. In another part of town, we see Hei off a snowy area with a CIA guy (a different CIA guy, not the scarred eye guy). Hei says that the professor was already dead when he arrived. The CIA guy notes that they’re looking into who those eavesdropping trio who intervened are and he’ll inform Hei right away once he gets any information on them. The CIA says they hired Hei to deal into these kinds of situation too and that he must obey them, referring to him as “The Black Reaper.” Later, we see the rugged and tired-looking Hei walking around the city. He sees a candid photo of him on the wall. Apparently, Suou made a “wanted” kind of poster bearing Hei’s photo which she managed to take when she flashed her camera at him earlier (poster says that he’s a guy who took advantage of her sister xDD) and to contact her if anyone saw the guy. Well, Hei saw a several of the posters lined up across the walls. At the other end of the wall, Suou realizes that Nika is still hoping to rescue Tanya. We see that there are military spies keeping track of Suou and Nika. In another side of the town, July is still operating and gives Suou’s location to August 7. Hei also manages to find Suou. Suou tries to scare Hei away, saying that she’d spread his photo on the net and has made the arrangements even if he kills her. An unshaken Hei tells her to hand over the meteor core fragment, saying he won’t kill her if she does. Suou says contractors are liars.

Losing his patience, Hei proceeds to frisk Suou for the meteor core fragment, which freaks out Suou because, well, Hei’s frisking her in areas that shouldn’t be frisked. ^^; Hei immediately releases her when she screams, and realizes that she is not Shion. Suou then breaks down in tears and asks Hei why he killed her dad, Bella (April), and asks where Shion is. Hei blankly responds that he’s a contractor and doesn’t even try to defend himself. While Suou is having her emotional outbursts, Hei suddenly remembers Yin. The military then manages to find then, and they ask Suou (who the military thinks is Shion) to come with them. August 7 shows up too, saying that it is he who’ll be taking Suou (he thinks Suou is Shion too). Military then fires bullets at August 7, but he easily blocks them all and sends it their way instead. As Suou tries to run away, the military guys fire at her, but Hei protects her, scoops her up and takes her away. Suou wonders why a contractor like him is trying to save her life now. August 7 pursues the two of them while the military are hindered by a stone-looking contractor (who turns out to be Shizume, the trenchcoat guy of the eavesdropping trio). Suou tells Hei that she thinks she’ll be killed once the people/contractors after her learn that she’s not Shion. Hei agrees that this would be the most rational move the her pursuers would take in this situation.

August 7 then appears and blocks their way, saying that his remuneration is to talk about the secrets behind magic tricks (sounds like a lame and easy payment), but he says its torture for a magician like him to do that but he can use real magic in return. Hei manages to fight him off and run at the same time while carrying Suou. He then tells Suou to run away by herself  and proceeds to continue his fight with August 7. Hei manages to stab him, but his knife just goes through August 7 without a scratch. Hazuki (katana girl) is watching the fight from a roof, exclaiming that August 7 is distorting the area around him, so neither guns nor swords will affect him. Ah, but quick-thinking Hei throws his coat towards August 7 then throws his knife after it, managing to catch August 7 off guard. As Hei’s coat falls over August 7’s face, Hei grabs August 7’s head and attacks by holding him down and giving him a dose of electric shock, all the while Hazuki observing everything and admiring Hei’s cleverness. As Hei was about to give the final stab to kill off August 7, Suou gets out of her hiding place (lol, apparently she didn’t run away when she was told to) and yells for Hei to stop. At that moment, Hazuki  activates their trap and manages to trap Hei in a forcefield kind of thingy and electrocutes him (Nooooooo! My precious Hei!!! T_T)

The electricity appears to have reacted with the necklace on Suou (the one given to her by Shion). We then see a Yin hallucination (a tearful Yin says “Sayonara, Hei” while he tries to grab her). After the ED song, we see Kirihara looking at the sky through a telescope, observing BK-201’s star… She sees it’s light faltering and then it suddenly fades away, which deeply concerns Kirihara.

~ Drats, episode 2 ends there. >_<

IMPRESSION: The OP ["Tsukiakari no Michishirube" by Stereopony] is very nice and catchy! Although this new OP is pretty good too, I think I would’ve liked a song that’s more in the line of season 1’s OP themes (“Kakusei Heroism…” by Antic Cafe or “Howling” by abingdon boys school). Anyway, we get a different ED sequence this time… last time was just a building/city backdrop, we see the characters this time. I guess it’s safe to say now that you should always wait until the ED song finishes since the episode actually ends after the ED. Yay, Kirihara! She appeared in the OP but not in the ED, but Pecha is there… Oh, I hope they’re not thinking of killing Kirihara off in later episodes too! That would suck. Looks like July will have much of a role in later episodes, but my only shallow basis is that he’s in the ED sequence too.

Damn black cats appearing in the episodes always make me exclaim “Mao!” xD Could this be an omen? I mean, in season 1’s finale, Mao got disconnected from the network while inside Hell’s Gate, right? Maybe the cat’s animal instinct just took over? I think Mao mentioned something like that in one of the season 1 episodes. But would they really bring someone who appeared to have died back? Hmm. I really don’t know. Moving on, that fight between Hazuki and Hei was AWESOME! Loved the BGM. August 7 and Hazuki’s powers are cool! August 7 and Hei’s fight was friggin’ AWESOME too. That move with the coat, knife throw, and head grab attack by Hei was really clever~! Props to his quick thinking and resourcefulness. It’s also good to know through his own words that Hei wasn’t the one who killed the professor/Suou’s dad. So, if that’s true, then there’s probably some other contractor guy who has a similar ability as him again this time (if I remember it correctly, in episodes 11 & 12 form season 1, Nick can also manipulate electricity). So, it turns out that Nika is still hoping to save Tanya… he’d probably end up dead if Tanya turns out to be heartless, but it seems that this season will also be revolving with their subplot.

Poor Hei. He’s gone through so much crap already. It’s obviously taking a toll on him now. And it’s kinda troubling to see him in such despair. T_T Maybe something’s happened to Yin… Like she’s been captured or something since Hei seems to be working without her usual assistance in this mission. I’m also not sure if Suou saw the Yin hallucination/memory fragment too when the bolt of electricity reacted with Suou’s necklace. This made me think of season 1′ finale again… Did Yin really manage to escape Hell’s Gate with Hei? We didn’t actually see it per se, did we? Well, I just assumed she did since we saw Hei grab her hand in episode 25 when he was in that black vortex thingy, and we saw him off with her after, and we saw her water-ish form at the end of that episode… Maybe she got trapped in some time-space continuum whatever kind of thing? Hmm. I guess we’ll learn more about her whereabouts sooner or later in upcoming episodes.

I also wonder how the eavesdropping trio figured out where exactly to place those traps… or perhaps they just got lucky? Hmm. I somehow doubt that though. I think maybe the forcefield thingy is, well, to prevent whoever’s trapped in it from using their contractor abilities. Maybe Hei used his power to try and escape it, but unfortunately, it just bounced back and he ended up electrocuting himself T_T Maybe the forcefield is a power-sucking thingy or it could nullify someone’s power temporarily. It seemed like Hei’s power appeared to have connected with Suou’s necklace and she in turn managed to see a fragment of Hei’s memories/concerns, I’m not so sure though. It’s also possible that the meteor core fragment that Hei’s looking for is in Suou’s necklace.

OK, regarding that part with Kirihara… This is just a guess, but maybe, just maybe… I think BK-201’s star fading away could mean that Hei may have lost his power. I mean, basically, he only became a contractor because of his sister’s power, right? (at least that’s what I understood from season 1’s finale, which I mentioned in a previous post). Oh, and when a contractor dies, the star falls, right? If it fades, then maybe it’s just a (temporary?) loss of contractor ability/power… I think I can vaguely remember something like that in Mai’s episode back in episode 3 of season 1, although I think it was the other way around in that episode since Mai’s star appeared/lit up when her contractor ability manifested. Maybe it works the other way around too… Also, I believe it was mentioned before by Dr. Schroeder in episode 24 of season 1, that the messier code BK-201 was previously assigned to Hei’s sister Bai. Well, Hei’s power came from her after all. Hei has been known as “The Black Reaper” even before he got his powers, right? So that means (and as we saw in season 1 flashbacks) that he’s quite an awesome and bada$$ fighter even without any contractor ability while he was fighting alongside Bai and Amber in South America back then. In short, Hei can still be a darn good fighter even as his human self. Sure, he’d be a bit disadvantaged without the ability to manipulate electricity, but he’d still be highly skilled in hand-to-hand combat. Um, so what I’m trying to say is that even if Hei’s star fades, he’d still exist as Hei in Black Reaper mode but minus the power. Hmm. Hey, just a thought. Anyway, we’d probably learn more about it soon.

Episode 3 preview… Nika will meet Tanya again, but it seems to be a trap.

Season 2 Note: According to wiki, DtB’s season 2 will be comprised of 12 episodes. In addition, there will be 4 OVAs that will be included in the DVDs. The timeline in the OVAs will be set between teh events of season 1 and 2, and will be a side story of Hei and Yin. More details can be found on this page at the official site (it’s in Japanese) and season 2’s wiki page.

:: Character Notes ::
– New characters introduced in this episode (who also managed to stay alive and possibly come back in future episodes):

• Shizume Genma – having the ability to cover his body with construction debris or other material to form an armour. His armored form enhances the power of his punches and protects him from bullets.
  
• Hazuki Mina – has the ability to turn anything into a bladed weapon, which she can then throw or use as a sword. Her remuneration is to kiss someone.
• Sawashima Youko – usually performs support duties such as driving Hazuki and  Shizume around or tapping radio communications.
  
• August 7  – aka “The Magician” – an MI6 agent who can use “real magic” by having the ability to distort the area around him. His remuneration is to talk about the secrets behind magic tricks, which he says is torture for a magician like him to reveal.
• (read more about the characters in wiki)

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You might also want to check out my other related posts:

• Darker than Black season 2 – ep 03
• Darker than Black season 2 – ep 01
• Darker than Black ep 25 [FINALE]
  
• Darker than Black – series overview
• Extra: Darker than Black – main cast interview
  
• Other Darker than Black entries