The Not So Random Ramblings of a Yin Obsessed Crazy Person!! (DTB Season 2 Episodes 1 and 2)

Darker than Black Season 2 is here!! You know what that means right?!? More Yin, the not so emotionless doll, and her very confused adoptive brother Hei. Wait a tick, that’s not what I’ve been watching for two episodes now.

So Tensai Okamura might be a brilliant writer and director. I’m not sure yet, because the first season of Darker than Black was brilliant, but he had the amazing Yoko Kanno backing him up with over the top jazzy music. This season we’re audibly noticing the difference. The supernatural fights are still exciting and visually stimulating though. As for the writing so far though I really like the mood he’s trying to create.

So let’s review episodes One and Two and try to figure out some of the more important plot points. On a side note this is only possible because I feel like the writer cares enough about his characters that if we get inside their head (and pick up on the clues) we can piece together what’s happened since we left them in the first season.

To start the ball rolling it should be noted that Mao is still alive. The voice actor telling Suou to run away from the Hei/Light Girl fight was definitely him meaning something like this probably happened: Mao was in the cat, the cat gets shot, Mao transfers his consciousness to Shion (but since he’s an animal possessor he can’t take full control), Mao tells her to run away and that he’s not an enemy, Mao transfers to the cat we see on the wall later. This is just a possible scenario. It’s also possible Mao powered up considerably and now exists as a floating packet of consciousness that can go around talking in people’s heads.  I think the first scenario is more likely, but they probably won’t explain it for awhile to leave us in suspense. Speaking of suspense:

What happened to Yin. Alright so in the first episode we see that Hei has really let himself go and that’s followed up by the new OP/ED depicting him somberly drinking. What could have caused Hei, the super angry protagonist, of the first series to let himself go? You guessed it, Yin!

Her noticeable absence is our first suspicion, but more than that we finally get some answers in the second episode. During Suou’s blow up she confronts Hei with:

which is what Hei says in the first arc or the first season. Suou is what Chiaki could never be. Suou also blasts Hei with:

Two lines later Hei is thinking:

I’m not going to comment on her being naked, because for some reason I’m getting kind of angry for no apparent reason. I’ll word it plainly so I can draw on it later “Hei feels pain when remembering something to do with Yin (or just Yin in general).”

Later of course we get the more definitive scene when Suou’s meteor fragment allows her to see a slightly elongated version of the same memory. Yin (still naked) say’s farewell while Hei is desperately trying to stop her from doing whatever she is about to do. Yin is also crying. In other words Yin did something self sacrificial (in order to save Hei?) which caused Hei to go into a self destructive spiral leading him to current day Suou chasing after the meteor fragment.

Ahh! The meteor fragment J. As was mentioned on Random Curiosity it’s entirely possible that Hei is chasing after a way to get Yin back. I believe this theory because he does not look like he’s moved on. He looks like someone who feels incredibly responsible. Hei looks like House trying to fix super boy in the Psych ward in the season premiere. He’s willing to do just about anything to get her back, and the meteor fragment seems to be the ticket.

The background of their parting certainly looks like the inside of the gate and we know from experience having the meteor fragment inside the gate allows Hei to see people he is close to (Last season this was his sister) although usually only as a yellow silhouette.  However, Hei also seems to be somewhat of an expert on the gate after last season and of course there’s always the fact that I still lack an understanding of what happened to Yin.

The last point is the OP and ED. Both the OP and ED end with two stars falling which we should all know by now signifies contractor death. Thus, I conclude that this series will center around two prominent contractor deaths. Since Suou is not a contractor it’s not going to be her, but I somewhat doubt it will be Hei (no more sequels). I’m thinking probably Shion and Tanya, so don’t get too attached.

The OP shot of Yin seems reminiscent of a guiding light character like the Melody of Oblivion in the Melody of Oblivion, or in Tower of Druaga when we’re still unsure about Kaaya. In other words she probably won’t play a very direct role at least for the first half of the series. (Dustin throws things at other things until something breaks).

The ED is just moonlight on the water (Hehe Yin embodies the water and moonlight is her favorite thing. Being able to feel it over an entire body of water is like a dream come true and metaphoric of what she’s lost). I doubt they would bring up Yin’s regrets if she wasn’t going to come back. Be heartened oh reader.

Still that damn writer/director sure played me (and I’m sure others). They have a really popular character and they create a mystery around her. They don’t want to give much away because that will keep us loyally lapping up the episodes as they come out for the little snippets of that story. Truthfully, it was a brilliant move. When a character is on screen there is always the chance that the audience can become disillusioned with her (and even hate her if they destroy her character badly enough). Off screen she’s already a martyr and a beacon of light we all hope will return.

Alright enough about Yin… actually I don’t think that’s possible, there isn’t enough Yin.

On a more serious note when I saw Nika celebrating his new relationship with Tanya I started making internal bets on how long this happiness would last. Apparently not even an entire episode. If there is one thing we can count on when watching Darker than Black it’s that the best ending we can hope for is slightly better than depressing. Like the end of the Yin arc where you get the sad, but happy feeling. There really are no happy ends here.

I’m not very excited for the “My girlfriend became a contractor the day after our relationship began” plot. I really don’t see how they can make it interesting or even loveable. I’ve seen a guy break through that cold exterior to find the girl he loves inside in Tengen Toppen Gurren Lagann (Simon X Nia) and it was done really well. It’s possible that Darker than Black could do it better, but this series isn’t like that and it would feel almost like a betrayal. If they instead drag Nika through the mud for a really long time and still have Tanya kill him (because she really has no emotion for him) I would find that interesting. Can they really do better than they did in Huang’s arc though? Okamura will have to try really hard.

Don’t do it Hei!!

Last but not least we have Suou, the co-protagonist of the second season. I feel sorry for her because she’s not Yin. Truthfully I’m not that fond of her yet. She’s had more screen time than anyone else and all I’ve seen is typical. Actually I did like her hanging up the posters of Hei being a con man. Oh and I also really liked her father’s speech at the beginning.

OWNED!

She’s about to enter a world of darkness with nothing, but light. She’s not even a Rock in Black Lagoon who has something lurking deep inside him (this also isn’t Roanapur). I think Okamura probably sat down and thought what if we took an ordinary, happy girl and threw her into the middle of this dark world? Story unfolds. The one thing that brings me solace is looking at her eyes in the poster.

Those are the eyes of a killer. I’ve watched enough of Bones’s animations to know that’s the look of someone who has been walking in the gutter. So the real question is how we’re going to get from where she is now to gutter girl. I thought she had already lost everything, but maybe the best is yet to come.

I guess that makes this poster kind of interesting too. I read someone awhile ago who said they thought this showed Yin being killed. I’m not so sure about that and I should probably wait until I know more before I spout nonsensical theories of my own. Still, I think this could be more metaphorical than that. We already know Suou is going to be a sniper and that bullet in the glass is serving as a visual separation between Hei and Yin. This could mean that Suou is going to come between Hei in Yin, or it could be someone just taking a pot shot. Who knows, I guess we’ll find out. Thanks for reading my post. If you have any wild speculations about Darker than Black this would be the place to post them. I love wild speculations. So until the next Yin overdose have a good day .

One last random factoid. I’m taking Latin this quarter and some of you will be interested to know about the word Moratorium. Mora is the noun for delay and I believe torium comes from the word Obligatorium which is the noun for contract. If we put the two together we get Delayed Contract which is basically what a Moratorium is. Pretty cool huh?