Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor (Review)
Darker Than Black is Back.
Darker Than Black is easily one of my favorite anime of all time, which is why I was so excited to finally get my hands on the second season known as Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor. The follow-up features the return of Tensai Okamura and Bones animation studio, which creates an incredibly appropriate overall feeling for the sequel. So much so that I felt all those old familiar feeling that I remember so well from back when I watched the first season. Unfortunately, it proved difficult for the second season to live up to my expectations, especially in only 12 episodes.
The series sees the return of the voice cast from the first season, including Jason Liebrecht, Kent Williams and Kate Oxley, all of whom manage to step back into their roles flawlessly. However, with the death of nearly everyone from the previous season, they’re joined by some newcomers who don’t quite offer the same amount of charisma as everyone else.
I’m not sure why I felt myself becoming more and more detached from the second season, maybe it was because of the new addition of a young contractor who stole her abilities from Hei (aka BK-201), which isn’t a big deal since he was killing contractors long before he got his powers though. The fact that he was stuck training her to be a killer thought felt an awful lot like Leon: the Professional. That’s not necessarily a bad thing since I loved that movie. This time around, I found the theme lacking the gusto that the film had. Instead, it almost borders on the cliché, especially as Hei finds himself coming out of his drunken stupor in order to protect the girl.
Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor offers up plenty of action, just like the original. However, the series doesn’t offer up quite the same quality as it deviates from watching Hei do his thing as the Black Reaper to trying to convince me that the young Suō (voiced by Alison Viktorin) is a worthy replacement for him. I’m not fooled though and found myself wondering when I would get to see that black trench coat I knew so well from the first series in action again.
All being told, I was not satisfied with the second Darker Than Black series. Then again, I might have had expectations that were a little too impossible to meet. Putting those aside, the series wasn’t bad. It’s not exactly one that stands on it’s one and relies on the events of the original to carry its story. So it’s not really a jumping on point for the series. So, if you haven’t watched the first season, you should really start off there. Though, I really don’t think that it’s a place you should stop. After all, Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor isn’t bad. It’s just didn’t give me everything I wanted from the sequel. Oh well, there are plenty of OVA’s floating around out there to give me my Darker Than Black fix.
