DVD Re-release: Darker than the X-Men, that's for sure

In May of this year, Funimation re-released the first season of "Darker Than Black" in a box set.

This anime is a creative show that sucks viewers into a dark, noir world of supernatural battles between humans and contractors.

Think of this show as the Japanese version of the "X-Men." The story focuses on the lives of contractors, people who are allowed to use special powers as long as they pay a price. For instance, the main character, Hei, eats tons of food in order to pay for his ability to expel electricity from his body.

These contractors all come from different organizations. The British secret agent service, MI6, has three contractors who battle with Hei from time-to-time. An unknown syndication gives each agency different missions to assassinate people and to kill rival contractors.

Our main hero, Hei, takes on the identity of the Black Reaper. He's satisfied with his life as a contractor. However, he has a secret lover who he struggles to come to terms with. His former girlfriend, Amber, is hatching a destructive plot that could eliminate Japan.

These two lovers were part of some mysterious scientific experiments held by a company known as Pandora. They received their strange new powers through these research operations. However, they eventually get forced to endure the most daunting mission of their entire lives. A mission that literally reaches past the boundaries of heaven and hell.

This series certainly has its share of conspiracy theories. The characters receive very little knowledge about why they have to follow the syndicate's orders. The contractors live dangerous lives, where they must kill others before they get killed themselves.

Yet, the story all comes together in a strangely euphoric whole. To tell the truth, "Darker Than Black" doesn't make too much sense unless you look at the entire series as a whole. The storyline is very similar to the film "The Sky Crawlers." These characters are part of a gigantic life-threatening competition, but they must find a way to cooperate with each other when their lives are on the line.

Is there a way to defy the rules of society? "Darker Than Black" will definitely open your mind up to the possibility of a world where everyone lives in harmony. In the wake of a frightening genocide, it offers the promise of a new beginning. As imperfect as this show is, there is almost nothing cooler than this series.

Well, you could mention "Neon Genesis Evangelion." With all that said, the Evangelion director couldn't possibly come up with a script as poetic as this series. No one could ever replicate the sly, chilling tone of "Darker Than Black."

Images courtesy of photobucket.com

DVD Review - License to kill

It's not really cool to kill people. However, if someone is a contractor, then they were made to kill.

"Darker Than Black" is a cool thriller about an independent band of psychic superheroes who are trying to save the world from corporate assassins.

At least that's what I've concluded. However, these superheroes are known as contractors. They obtained special psychic abilities from witnessing the mysterious appearance of Hell's Gate.

Some corporations hire these contractors to perform their own black market smuggling deals. However, another independent group of contractors is saving contractors. They take in contractors to prevent crime.

Their leader is the Black Reaper, also known as Liu Xiansheng. Although he acts like a college student, he's really a trained killer with electric wires as weapons. He's one of the fastest and toughest superheroes I've ever seen. He has three comrades. One is a human named Huang. Another is Yin, a girl with silver hair, who can track the movements of other contractors whenever her skin touches water.

And the leader of the band is Mao, who is, ahem, a black cat. He's a master strategist. However, don't ask me how a cat became the mastermind.

Liu probably works for a syndicate, but he's more interested in saving contractors from being taken in by the police. The first story arc, "The Star of Contract Flowed," involves Liu finding a mysterious girl named Chiaki Shinoda. For a while, Liu spends time as Shinoda's bodyguard, until Shinoda learns that Liu is actually a contractor who killed her boyfriend contractor.

In the second story arc, "A New Star Shines in the City of Dawn," Liu helps the daughter of a Tahara, a sole surviver of the Hell's Gate incident. The daughter, Chiaki, has the ability to shoot out fire. Her father tried to suppress her abilities by injecting the seeds of a plant from the Hell's Gate area into her wrist. However, he couldn't suppress her emotional angst and violent abilities too long, and now she's a crazy firebrand.

In the last story arc, "The Red Dreams of a Calamity Disappears to Eastern Europe," Liu captures a woman from MI6 and the Japanese police. The woman, named Havoc, has the ability to create interdimensional vacuums. However, Liu hinted at the end that Havoc knows the whereabouts of his sister.

This is sure a mysterious anime, where most of the details of the story don't rise up until the characters start fighting. However, Liu's has surprisingly conversations with women who were involved in the Hell's Gate incident. This anime is incredible for its deep dialogue involving scientific experiments gone wrong.

And the fighting is just so incredible. The characters wield unusual weapons. Liu is equipped with electric wires, which he shoots out at enemy contractors. His enemies also bear weapons, such as razor sharp whips. One of them has the ability to freeze anything he touches, and another has the ability to cause storms.

It looks like there is a much deeper plot behind this anime too. "Darker Than Black" is fast and mysterious, with all the energy of a spy thriller. Hopefully the plot will add up as well.