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Rating: 9/10

Overall Series Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

It’s 2:30AM and I’m really tired, so please excuse me if I say anything retarded. Well, Darker than Black has ended, and thankfully, the ending doesn’t screw up the masterpiece that is the rest of the show. I wouldn’t consider it a favourite of mine, since I am, by heart, a big explosions and overpowered protagonist fan. I just swing that way. xD However, I’m not dense enough to fail to see the magnificence of the series that DtB is. I had to adjust to the slower-than-shounen pacing, but once I did, I learned to appreciate the thought-provoking abilities and storytelling of the show, as well as the excellent cast.

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Popularity: 20% [?]

Rating: 9.5/10

Impressions:

I really like this episode, and I’m not even sure I can justify my reasons to myself. An episode like this—something that is in the midst of tying everything together, just has to be better than the subplots that have been the main plot fodder of the last 20 episodes. And hopefully, the next episode—the finale—will be just as good, if not better. Quality, as always, is excellent. But it’s the sense of finality and closure that makes this episode wonderful—not to mention the various scenes that just make you feel good (the most prominent one being Huang’s parting with Hei and Yin).

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Popularity: 16% [?]

Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

The first episode of the final arc of the series starts rather slowly, with much talk, though reveals a lot about the recent past. Apparently, Hei doesn’t develop contractor powers until after the incident in South America. At the same time, his sister, Bai, had contractor powers. Amber apparently needed her power for her plan, and now she need’s Hei. It’s still unclear what this power is, and how it will be used to achieve Amber’s goals. Regardless, things are being put into operation now, with the mobilising of many contractors and dolls in the end. I have little hope in Amber surviving, but I predict that Hei will be relieved of his powers and continue to live his usual life as a human.

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Popularity: 13% [?]

Rating: 9/10

Impressions:

Hopefully, there will be a large amount of Amber development in the final arc, as until now, there has been very little. I guess it’s obvious now that she is definitely getting younger, which is pretty sad as it strengthens my personal belief that she won’t make it to the end. But even if she doesn’t, I like to think that she and Hei will reconcile before that—it’s kind of depressing watching Hei act so mercilessly in this episode. A small glimmer of hope though: perhaps Amber will survive, and in a world with no contractor powers (where the original contractors are still alive), she and Hei might attain a new relationship, though something more like brother-and-sister.

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Popularity: 21% [?]

Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

Ah, this episode’s pace feels really good, and regardless of this episode being the first half of the last two-episode arc, it seems as though the main story has already started. It’s disappointing that the final arc will only be 3 episodes, though at least it means there shouldn’t be any pacing problems. The sad thing is that it doesn’t look like Amber and the other characters aren’t going to get much character development. Is it just me or does Amber sound even younger when she catches Mao talking at the end of the episode? It could just be because I haven’t seen in a while, though if not, it would support the theory that her remuneration is getting younger.

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Popularity: 18% [?]

Rating: 7.5/10

Impressions:

This episode fails to impress me as much as the previous ones, though overall it’s still pretty good. It ended how I thought it would with Shihoko dying, though the original purpose of killing the prophet somehow faded into unimportance, and ended abruptly. Nothing new about the Syndicate or Evening Primrose is revealed, which is quite a letdown, though interesting information regarding contractors is disclosed. It seems that when it comes down to contractors not having emotions, it is really the ones that affect their judgement that are the keys of being a contractor—something which Hei strangely has. But apart from this, contractors and the Gate still remain a mystery…

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Popularity: 17% [?]

Rating: 8.5/10

Impressions:

This episode is actually a lot better than what I initially suspected. The revelation of a few snapshots of Huang’s former life proved to be far more interesting and impacting than I though. I never believed I would like the guy, though this episode has certainly pushed me more towards his favour. The last scene where Huang learns of his foolish interference causing the capture of his old friend Shihoko is quite significant as well. Not only that, it seems like this arc is continuing the Primrose arc somewhat, although Amber has yet to make another appearance (which I am slower dying for).

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Popularity: 17% [?]

Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

The most disappointing part of this episode is the preview, which reveals that Evening Primrose will yet to come into the spotlight and begin the finale of the show. Well, there’ll still be five episodes remaining for that arc after this next one, which seems to be about Huang. If they’re going to do a character-focused arc at all, they should do it on Mao, since aside from knowing he’s lost his original body, not much else has been revealed. I personally like Mao a lot more than Huang. Even so though, I hope they don’t delay the finale even more with another arc after Huang’s, leaving a lame three episodes to cover everything, which will hardly be satisfying at all.

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Popularity: 20% [?]