Darker Than Black, an enigmatic anime of action and intrigue

Darker Than Black

When we talk about anime, we usually focus on the most recent releases and with good reason, since they are the ones that generate more hype among viewers, but despite this, we must admit that there are works that fascinated more than one at the time and although more than 10 years have passed, they are still excellent anime and today we bring you the perfect example, we refer to Darker Than Black, a story that immerses us in a plot that although it maintains similar bases to those of other works, manages to stand out thanks to its development and characters, especially its protagonist.

Darker Than Black: Get to know the story of this anime

The history of Darker Than Black narrates the events about the appearance of a strange phenomenon that affected several parts of the world, especially the capital of Japan, Tokyo and South America, specifically Brazil.

This phenomenon resulted in what is now known as Hell's Gate and Heaven's Gate. These strange gates lead to a world that although similar to our own, is completely uninhabitable by humans and therefore, access is restricted and only government entities are allowed to enter them for apparent scientific reasons.

However, the appearance of the doors was not the only thing that derived from this strange phenomenon, and it is that Tokyo lost its natural sky, and instead, bright lights appear in the black firmament, but they are not stars and although it is unknown what they are, what is intuited, is that they are related to the appearance of people with supernatural abilities.

After that phenomenon, some people gained very unique abilities, which led them to be called Contractors, Dolls and Moratoriums. The first 2 are characterized by having lost the basic emotions of a human being, such as empathy and sociability, making them completely cold subjects who put results first regardless of who might be affected.

On the other hand, Moratoriums, despite having abilities, are unable to control them properly, so they end up causing disasters wherever they go and are considered a potential danger.

But the greatest of the changes brought about by the sudden appearance of those doors was the formation of public organizations controlled by the government in the same way that secret entities operating in the leftovers also originated.

All these organizations seem to have the same goal, to control the gates, although the purpose that motivates them is unknown, but to do so, they will fight in the purest spy style, where contractors and Dolls from different entities will confront each other to fulfill their missions.

And it is here where our protagonist, Hei, who arrives in Tokyo under the guise of being a Chinese exchange student working for "The Syndicate", so he will use the false name of Lee Shen Shun, but Hei will not be alone and is that, with him have also infiltrated other members who will be part of his team, who will have the task all together to fulfill the missions without being discovered.

Darker Than Black is a seinen anime with a rather murky story that reveals little or nothing, which gives it an air of mystery that has hooked users practically from beginning to end, with incredible battles that, although not bordering on the cataclysmic, have an excellent rhythm that will fascinate more than one.

How many seasons and episodes does Darken Than Black have?

This anime was produced under the direction of the studio BONES, the director being in charge Tensai Okamura, who directed the only 2 seasons that are available to date, including the OVAs.

The first season premiered in April 2007 and had 25 episodes and one OVA, receiving by title Darker Than Black: The Black Contractor, alluding to the protagonist.

The second season was named Darker Than Black: Meteorite Cufflinks and consists of 12 episodes and 4 OVAs that complement the story. It premiered in October 2009, so that in total, it is an anime with 37 episodes and 5 OVAs.

Will there be new seasons?

Unfortunately, the story seems to have closed and although there were still some loose ends to tie up, they did not seem to be of major relevance for the anime makers, which would clarify why it has been more than 10 years since the last update.

Darker Than Black, an original anime

Contrary to what many people might think, this anime is an original work developed by the studio BONES, and to the surprise of many, the success of the anime led to the release of a manga.

The manga was illustrated by Yūji Iwahara and published in the magazine Young Gangan belonging to the publishing house of Square Enix. Serialization began on May 21, 2009 and ended on July 21, 2011 with a total of 4 volumes, which, like the anime, focuses on the same plot.

Darker Than Black, a highly recommended seinen.

This work takes us to a world in which public and private organizations confront each other with the power of contractors and Dolls, which gives rise to endless combats that will generate great hype in users, but that's not all, it also explores the human facet of empathy and kindness.

To do this, the protagonists will see how their lack of emotions, leave them in precarious situations that little by little, they will understand better, resulting in more upright people. That is why we recommend this work to all seinen lovers, as it has scenes of action, drama, suspense and much more.