Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor episode 1
Lets start with a little… history, lets say. When a new anime season is starting (in this case the fall season), I am watching as many first episodes as I can, hoping that I can find a good anime to watch. Well, it seemed totally useless this fall ,when the whole season it proved to be a load of generic crap or MOE/kiddy stuff. After countless first episodes watched, I looked again on the list and noticed I missed one. And WOW, that scored big. Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor is one of those anime that make me not loose faith in the future of this art form.
Regrettably, I have not watched the first season of Darker than Black and for that I should flagellate myself for a couple of weeks if not years. So, when I will review the second season, I wont be able to make references or correlate anything, except cold facts that I found on Wikipedia. It sucks. It hope I will get this first review right.
Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor, or Ryūsei no Gemini if you want, is the sequel to the original Darker Than Black anime. It is directed and written by Tensai Okamura and animated by Bones studio.
‘’One day, thirteen years ago, gates appeared in Tokyo and Brazil. The one in Tokyo was called Hell’s Gate, and the one in Brazil was called Heaven’s Gate. Unknown substances and unexplainable phenomena manifest themselves near the gates. And no one could go near them. The world had changed greatly. There was also a huge war.’’
Siberia. A blue night sky full of stars and falling meteors. Extraordinaire animation and colors. Two kids. Suo and Shion, sit along with their grandpa around a fire, eating hot soup and watching the the spectacle of the falling stars. A sudden explosion of light, a huge fire and a crater. A meteor fell right near them, an incident that what was called The Tokyo Explosion.
‘’Shion became a contractor’’
Two years later, we found out the the fall of the meteor had devastating effects on Shion, the boy. He became a contractor, a strange living being with little emotion and with few things left in common with his family. For him, humans are split in two categories: the ones that he needs and the ones that he doesn’t need. He doesn’t understand feelings anymore. Also, he lost and eye and he is confined in a wheelchair. His sister, Suo, likes photography and she is very extroverted and social. She continues to treat Shion like he is a normal human being, although he is not. He spends all his time on computer, searching for facts and whatever. Their mother lives in Japan, I am not sure why, while their father, a scientist, lives with them, and so a woman called Vera.
One day, her friend, Tanya, comes at school totally changed. She’s acting indifferent to all her colleagues, and when her boyfriend tries to talk with her, she shows her new face. A contractor. By now, I am dying to know how these contractors are born. There is an X-Files like mystery and atmosphere that surrounds this anime which contributes a lot to its appeal. Tanya also exhibits a strange power called ‘’Lancelnopt synchrotron radiation.’’ And then there is the secret organization/government branch…
‘’There are no signs which identify the transformation into a contractor. Personality and behavioral patterns change greatly and cause a disturbance. The state agency will take the contractors into custody and erase all pertinent memories from those who witnessed them…’’
Every great plot about gifted/powered/freak people must include the intrusion of the government or of a secret organization opposed to it. Think at X-Files and Akira for example. Or even X-men if you are familiar with comic books. In this case, Suo sees Tanya getting approached by military forces from the government and getting into a military truck, soon after she became a contractor. And like in Akira, the lives of everyone connected to the contractors will change, in worse. Its the job of the state agency to clean up after every contractor.
Soon, military forces invade their house/laboratory. Another organization, MI6, who opposes the government, steps in. This is good. Every bad government must be opposed by an organization who tries to save things. Action, reaction.
Suo and this Mi6 agent, a woman named April, find the professor dead, at the hands of an unknown aggressor. They run in a forest, only to be confronted by a guy wearing a military suit. A contractor, as he proves to be, chasing after Suo.
This plot, even if it looks twisted and full of unknown facts (logic, if like me, you haven’t watched the first series) is pretty easy to follow. The Government forces and the MI6, both with their goal. Shion and Tanya, contractors, chased by everyone. Suo and April, in the forest, chased by a contractor. Or two ;) We will also see one of the main character from the first series of Darker Than Black. At the end of this episode, a great furious battle between April (a contractor herself) and two contractors, one from the government and one serving an unknown organization, ends up with the death of April.
I found a nice concept in this series. The contractors have powers, but they come with a penalty called remuneration. In Shion’s case, he is stuck for long periods of time in a wheelchair for using his powers. Another guy, a government agent, has to eat constantly for his body to keep up. Its a good way to keep this anime not becoming full of Supermen with no end to their powers.
Great background art, Siberia really looks like Siberia. Quality… its written all over the animation and BONES is the reason why. It really looks good, and everything is where it should be. I think the main qualities of this anime are the superb animation and the intrigue, who clearly will evolve into something great. There is so much promise for more. And this series has only 12 episodes, so there is no space for fillers and such.
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