Darker than BLACK: Episode 20
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…
Some other things that seem to be a letdown for the episode—although it gets straight to the point, the pacing seems rather off as Hei, Huang and Mao are able to evade all security so easily, something which seems to be a common flaw in anime. Once again, Hei’s power as a contractor doesn’t impress yet again, which ends up making it seem rather dull, with his only special feature being his emotions. Sure, that’s an important factor, though entertainment-wise, it’s not so good. Also, Amber and the rest of Evening Primrose doesn’t appear, while the presence of Amagiri doesn’t advance the story much at all. Btw, is it just me or does the quality seem slightly lower?
I’m quite disappointed with the ending, as somehow Huang and Hei are not on the run from the Syndicate, as their previous actions would have dictated that they have defected, which should have warranted the sending of a few assassins on the two. With the end of the series approaching, I had thought Hei at least would need to defect from his organisation for a change of pacing and the allowance of the progression of the story. If something like that happened, he would have to face all sides by himself, giving rise to the possibility of him joining another side…well hopefully something eventful will happen in the next arc. Misaki gets captured? Interesting…
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I too thought this episode was a bit of a letdown. All of the dramatic build-up from the last episode came to a rather anti-climatic head. Admittedly, the story arc is primarily supposed to be about Huang, but nevertheless I had been hoping for some new developments regarding the overarching plot and the yet unexplained mysteries.
Ah well. As always, it was still enjoyable. The best moment was the unexpected entertainment provided by Mao dive bombing the cult facility with crow-borne explosives.
hmm….I was sure Huang was going to die…=(
btw;; nice new banner!
I was in solid disagreement with you at the title, but now I’m neutral. You’ve made some valid arguments. It would have been nice to see the story progress instead of ending everything exactly as it was at the beginning of episode one. I’d like to learn how the gate got damaged, is it just me, or are we always seeing that specific angle of the gate with that huge piece knocked off.
What’s the focus of this anime anyway?
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when is 21 coming out
Hrm, I disagree. This episode was one of my FAVORITE EPISODES EVER! ^_^
This is because of how Hei meets the aging contractor and what happens there, the flashback and the talk about contractors and rational thinking, love it.
I probably think this way because I have lots of ethical discussions with my friends between humans and rational thinking vs. realist/nihilist views of life etc.
This is also why I LOVED episode 6 with the scene of November 11 and Hei, “Decide rationally, like a good contractor would.”
“-Die…”
^^
Actually everybody, I have just found out that if you’re trying to watch Darker Than Black off the internet, there are MANY uploads that have AWFUL subtitles. The awful subtitles distort the real meaning and theme of the anime. For example, here’s the MOST important scene of this entire anime and it is in this episode WITH THE RIGHT subtitles:
o Do you know the difference between contractor’s and humans?
• Contractors do not have a heart.
o Is that really true?
• Contractors have no guilt conscience.
o People who commit sins will commit sins whether they’re a contractor or not.
• They have special abilities. That is clearly different.
o That’s just something extra.
o Even without those abilities, you can still take people’s lives with guns or swords.
o The biggest difference between humans and contractors are the structure of their minds.
o In other words, they can decide rationally.
o In human society, there are people who have succeeded because they have thrown away their emotions and common sense yet still have their interests in mind.
o Contractors could possibly be evolved humans in order to win through that system.
——————————————————————————————–
• Contractors do not see dreams.
o I saw one.
———————————————————————————————————————
o I saw one with humans and contractors have relations in an ideal form.
o But I’ve also used my abilities to harm people.
o My remuneration was too great then and I didn’t want to do it anymore.
o But, from that time on, I thought I’d continue to use my powers – In this state.
———————————————————————————————————————
o If I use my powers repeatedly, then I will age just as much.
o At the least, I thought I’d to it to atone.
o It’s weird for a contractor to speak of atonement isn’t it?
o It seems my time to pay my last contract has come.
o Now… I can be released… from my pride.