Colibel Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Portia Hilton Blistering performances.

Kamila Bell This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Better_TV I love this series. I'm someone who is always on the lookout for anime productions that aren't too weird and wacky, with ridiculous "fan service" and silly storytelling. This show fits the bill: it takes itself seriously and has a "Western" feel, in a similar fashion to other anime I enjoy like "Baccano!" and "Cowboy Bebop." Highlights include:-A phenomenal English dub - simply one of the best I've EVER heard. Every character is perfectly cast. Special commendations must go to John Swasey as the grizzled badass Huang and Jason Liebrecht as the befuddled Chinese exchange student-by-day, cloak-wearing electric-powered masked hitman-by-night named Hei. As Hei's daytime identity Li Shenshun, Liebrecht channels friendliness and warmth; as Hei, Liebrecht gives the character both a mysterious apathy and a subtle, smoldering anger that crackles underneath the surface of his personality like the electricity his body generates to assassinate targets.-A fascinating setup, where part of Tokyo is taken over by a bizarre spatial anomaly and the world's intelligence agencies employ individuals with X-Men-like abilities to do their dirty work; each time these contractors use their supernatural abilities they have to "pay the price" in some fashion, whether through an OCD-style tick or some form of self-harm.-Great side characters, including a variety of MI-6 operatives from the UK, one of whom is probably one of my favorite anime characters ever: the suave, sarcastic blond British hitman/contractor named Jack Simon, codenamed November 11. Troy Baker gives such a great performance.-A wonderful narrative arc during the first season, whereby each fascinating member of the main cast, which also includes detectives with the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department and a private detective named Guy Kurasawa, is given an episode focusing solely on them. This is an anime with very strong episodic writing; there's a lot of emotion to be found in the stories of these mysterious, broken individuals, and it's one of the only anime series I've ever seen that actually earns its angst.There's a second season too, which isn't as good as the first and introduces new characters. The first season is where it's at. This is an anime to treasure and savor - one of my absolute favorites.

Zubacz This anime series has a brilliant premise, interesting characters, great animation, music and sound effects, engaging action scenes and well written dialogue. It would seem that those would constitute a great anime show. Well, Darker than Black is good but it could have been a lot better, if one thing wasn't missing: Character development. With the exception of episode 13 and 14 (the best ones, in my opinion) where we see a subtle, yet clear enlightenment of the side character Yin, there is very little character development in this series. The great titles like Death Note, Elfen Lied, Time of Eve or even the lighthearted Black Lagoon, always feature an emotional arc of one or more characters. They learn, they react, they change their attitude or moral stance because of the circumstances. We root for the characters, we empathise with them and we get closure when their character arc completes. This is missing in Darker than Black. The main character is conflicted but his attitude and behaviour stays almost constant throughout.If not for the above, this would have been an outstanding series. As it is, it's still worth watching, but don't expect the thoughtful and emotional involvement that the best anime give.

zagsauce I'm going to have to agree with the majority of viewers; this is a great anime with a unique story...though it might not be for everyone.I noticed that one of the reviewers had the most inane childish review, mentioning nothing about the actual anime and just saying it was "crap". Really? In fact, that reviewer said it was "just a typical anime filled with nudity---no male nudity either!---and filed with satanic themes". There is absolutely no nudity whatsoever--save for a 'nipple' (in silhouette only) in the first opening and one single episode near the end (which has no private areas displayed)--and I have no idea why that reviewer believed it was about satanism.I'm sure it was a useless trolling attempt on their part, but some people might actually believe that garbage the reviewer said if they weren't sure themselves.As for the show itself, the animation was well-done; the music was unique (especially the first ending theme and Kurosawa's theme), rife with deep mini-plots, light humor, dark humor, and genuinely likable (and hateable) characters.I do agree that maybe at one specific point I felt I might be losing interest, but I honestly don't believe that was the anime's fault. And sure enough, something occurred within the story immediately after that definitely fixed that.As a show with little focus on sexuality , and instead on the deep and painful cycles of life, death, relationship and happiness...I know many will enjoy it.

mary I came across this anime accidentally, I do not watch a lot of anime, in fact I rarely find an anime that I can truly say I enjoyed immensely, but Darker than Black is definitely an exception to this.I will admit after the first episode I wasn't completely convinced. It was vague and left me feeling a little jilted, but I found out the series runs in a two episode story arc, so of course I was confused. I watched the second and was intrigued. I had to know what happened next. I kept watching and I was left with the same feeling of anticipation. The good kind of anticipation when you know something really satisfying is going to happen. Not only is the story great but the art and animation is fabulous. Very clean and smooth, the movements are fluid and fight scenes are very enjoyable to watch. The character designs are unique, even characters that look similar are distinct. The characters' designs are not the only good thing about them, they are also dynamic with their own personalities and almost every character is likable. I have to say it was actually the style of art that prompted me to watch this show, and it was a great decision on my part. Although the ending may seem vague and leave questions unanswered, don't worry, the is a sequel on the way. Overall, there is no lack of good things in this show. It is hard to describe which is something I find a good quality.