+ | N o v a s t o r m | +

Rating: 7/10

Impressions:

After the impression left from the last arc, I can’t say that this is a particularly good episode. We discover that one of Primrose’s objectives is to get Contractor recognition from the government, which seems to make them the general ‘bad but good’ guys of the show. Unfortunately, no more information is revealed, and that’s certainly one of the reasons why this episode is not so good: it goes completely out of the way from the story introduced in the last arc. Hopefully though, this arc will tell us some more about Dolls, with rest of the show being focused on Hei, Amber and Primrose etc.

Read more

Popularity: 17% [?]

Rating: 9.5/10

Impressions:

I’m getting very excited with an ending like this—Amber returning to her ‘Evening Primrose’, and its purpose is still completely unknown to me. All I guess is that it’s probably connected with the disappearance of the gate in South America. The abundance of new characters in this unknown group also suggests that the finale will be a blast. I hope they devote all the episodes after this next arc to the ultimate end, or at least tie the arcs close together. It doesn’t seem like Amber or her group will appear in the next arc, which is a shame since they’re by far the most interesting characters thus far.

Read more

Popularity: 19% [?]

Rating: 9.2/10

Impressions:

Oh wow…although I can’t say this episode is as good as the last, I’m tempted to do so purely because Amber appears, and just by seeing her makes me love her character. Not only is she an awesome C.C. look-alike, but she actually has a personality that I like. I never thought about this until now, but I also really want to learn more about her background (since apparently she has quite a lot to do with Hei and Bai). I can’t wait to see more of her, and I sure as hell hope she doesn’t die. If she does I’ll cry. Really. And is it just me or does the present Amber look and sound younger than the Amber in Hei’s past?

Read more

Popularity: 16% [?]

Rating: 9.5/10

Impressions:

Nine point five, the equivalent of a 9.9 before I started rating things lower, and is basically the highest score I would give to an anime episode normally. This episode is truly beautiful visually, musically and story-wise. Well for me anyway. I have a strong desire to see Yin get closer to Hei, and her doing so in this episodSe adds to my overall love of this episode. The quality is certainly of Darker than BLACK’s usual high standard, while the fountain of blue apparitions in the end tops everything off superbly. Yin’s piano piece serves as a magnificent accompaniment to the story being told, or perhaps it’s the story that’s the complement to the piano solo.

Read more

Popularity: 16% [?]

Rating: 8/10

Impressions:

Ah, I’ve been looking forward to this episode ever since seeing the preview for it. It’s not as strongly focused on Yin as I had thought, but with her being an emotionless doll, I guess following her walk around looking dumb wouldn’t be very entertaining. Her background story is pretty interesting though which makes me wonder how she became a doll in the first place, and whether she can return back. I can’t say I ‘believe’ she can or will return back to herself before becoming a doll, though perhaps she can regain her emotions and more of her memories, seeing as how Hei has emotions.

Read more

Popularity: 13% [?]

Rating: 7.5/10

Impressions:

I’m a bit disappointed in this episode. The last one got me all excited about seeing the conclusion, though in the end I found this second episode of the mini-arc to be rather lacking. Any potential for a nice fight was thrown away, but I guess Darker then BLACK isn’t about the action. Also, nothing comes about from Mina and her interest in Hei. Nick’s character development amounts to nothing as well since he dies (or something). I guess the sequence of him flying up in his cartoon spaceship with his sister must be a result of the Gate’s wish granting abilities. But all in all, it’s still a pretty good episode, keeping up with DTB’s usual high standards.

Read more

Popularity: 10% [?]

Rating: 7.5/10

Impressions:

Finally, Hei becomes the focus character again and we get a tiny bit of character development from him (only a small amount since most of the time he’s just acting). His sister’s appearance probably means we’re going to learn some more about her, unless it’s just an apparition created by some culprit. I’m thinking the one who kills Corinna is Nick, since the silhouette looks like him. He’s even in the preview, aiming a gun at Hei. Perhaps his power (or whoever the culprit is) is to copy another contractor’s power or something, since the killer displays similar electric-manipulating abilities to Hei.

Read more

Popularity: 10% [?]

Rating: 8.8/10

Impressions:

I had begun to lose interest in the series due to the previous 3 episodes, which I did not find as satisfying as I hoped they would be. I expected this episode to be of similar mediocrity as well (though perhaps ‘mediocre’ is a bit too harsh), and was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying this installation immensely. Although I can’t say the overall notion/purpose of the arc is highly intelligent and interesting (lol), Misaki’s character development, as well as the awesome fight and music, add up to make an excellent conclusion to this mini-arc, and a great episode by itself. This definitely brings me back into loving this show now.

Read more

Popularity: 13% [?]