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

Rating: 9.5/10

Impressions:

A suitable ending to another two-episode story, though the ending was pretty predictable in certain aspects. At around the 15 minute mark, with nothing much resolved, it became pretty probable for Havoc to be killed. There really was no other effective way to conclude the story, and this is excluding stupid and unbelievable endings. It was possible for the story’s ending to be postponed, for example sending Havoc into hiding and going back to her story later on in the show. However, with the strict dual episodic nature seen so far, I doubted that. I was also expecting Hei to go crazy and completely own November 11, but the fight was pretty even.

It has being (or been) speculated that Hei’s contracted payment for using his powers is having emotions. That’s all nice and fits well, and even I would like it to be so since it actually gives a suitable reason as to why Hei is different (just being ’special’ doesn’t cut it). However, I’ve been wondering about how ‘having emotions’ can be a form of payment. Can one really just create emotion if they felt none in the first place, at will? Also, I highly doubt the payment is to just make some facial expressions, as Hei’s behaviour indicates that he has true emotions, and is not just making faces. I still wouldn’t rule eating as Hei’s payment out completely yet though.

Regardless of whether Hei’s payment is to have emotions or not, this episode develops his character tremendously. He certainly has a ruthless side to him, shown when he tortures Havoc to try and squeeze out some info. However, this apparently was for the sake of finding his sister, which brings about a mystery surrounding his past. This also makes me question what Hei really is. Many things suggest that he is unlike a normal contractor, although his employers certainly think he is one though. I also wonder about Yin, the girl who grabs Hei’s hand at the end, and how she’s related to him. Are they really just contractors hired by the same people?

Next episode seems to be a comedic one with the light-hearted preview, featuring the young-looking girl. However, knowing Darker than Black, it’ll probably turn into something grievous. It wouldn’t be very suitable for an entire two-episode arc, and it makes me believe that a nice cliff-hanger for the next episode would be something going very bad from all the cheeriness beforehand. Also, I don’t know when this was revealed, but Darker than Black will get 25 episodes (from ANN). This obviously means the dual-episodic nature of the show won’t last till the end, but that’s still a long way to go, and pointless to ponder about.

Preview:

Next episode - #7
What’s with the girl? o_o

Popularity: 20% [?]