When introspect made that observation about Darker than Black being the spiritual successor to Cowboy Bebop, he knew what he was talking about. Come on, I can hear the purists say, there’s no way you can match that. I clearly beg to differ. Tensai Okamura, original creator and director of DtB, had quite a hand in CB, being involved in both the TV series and movie. There’s the composer for both, Yoko Kanno. Most of all, DtB and CB share a potent sense of pathos.

DtB overtakes this by a mile, and then some. It’s never really quite clear why or how it makes me feel the way I do, but it’s something that can’t be described through mere words alone — a common understanding is all I can hope to achieve. Whether it’s the harsh green of the cityscape, lights gleaming coldly in the distance, or the sense of immeasurable pain that Hei’s holding back, or the little revelations that made me gasp in silence before biting my lip, it’s all there, and it’s been a gut-wrenching affair.

One thing I’ve wondered again and again as I’ve watched this show, and it’s this: Does Hei really, really, have to die? Imagine that I’ve just said that in the same tone that a child would when his parents tell him it’s time to leave the amusement park, or the toy store, and you get the idea. Do I really, really, have to go?

Is it a good or bad sign when people everywhere begin fervently wishing for the death of the protagonist, or at least have a premonition of the death of said protagonist, in order for it to seal the deal as a “good show”? We know who died in CB, but does it really, really have to be so here?

Xerox sympathises with the latter in her ever sharp and observant manner about the episode, and who can blame her? We’ve seen terrific loss and greater sorrow throughout the series strewn about like confetti after a wedding. The next obvious step would be to take our long-suffering hero, and end it. End the pain. End the madness. End everything.

before this degenerates further into maudlin territory, let me lighten the mood by sharing the fact that I find Hei giving Yin a “goodbye kiss” oddly hilarious

More importantly, why do we wish death upon Hei more than anything? The answer is simple yet unbelievable at first glance — we connect with him on a level that’s almost, if not blatantly personal. He isn’t yet another 2D character that we’ve grown to be attached to throughout the series whose death would be immensely saddening (that would be November 11), but someone whose existence is so real you could have sworn you met him the other day at the supermarket, or across the tracks in the train station.

Hyperreality explains this at length. I’d like to think that we sympathise, and empathise with Hei at length because he isn’t just a character, but a symbol of something larger that we can relate to. If Hei is a representation of the tormented existence of humanity then his death would be a means of resolution, and peace for something tormented beyond belief; it’s akin to watching a barely alive cat twitching on the road, on its way to becoming roadkill.

In the same way too do we not want Hei to suffer anymore. I suspect his multi-layered personality has something to do with this, him being a very well-rounded character with flaws and humanising traits aplenty that make us want to just pat his hand, or give him a hug, and say that everything will be alright after seeing what he’s come through so far. Wishing death upon him seems logical, given the copious amounts of killings we’ve seen throughout DtB so far, and something that seems much more feasible, at least more than some form of direct reassurance on his person.

Taking that into account, would it not be reasonable to say that those of us who wish death on Hei perceive it as the final, or only release for someone who’s gone through suffering? Where then lies hope, love, and all that stuff that characters from other anime would spout on a constant basis? Or are we letting the backdrop of DtB smother our hopes in its cold and impersonal gaze that seems to mirror that of a Contractor?

Episode 23 was a greater episode among great episodes. By taking the rumoured reappearance of the old stars as a metaphor for gazing upon the past, we find Hei’s incessant search for Pai to be all the more deeper, and reasonable. For a character that’s spoken less than a handful of lines, and from two different seiyuu at that, we’re immediately drawn to how much Hei cares for her in a capacity we could never think possible. The simple act of holding her while she paid her obeisance, or like Amber would wryly comment, like a lover, speaks volumes.

Hei’s love for Pai extends to his capacity to feel for her while she couldn’t, in an unexplained act of his tightening his hands around her neck momentarily, as if to strangle her. His inability to help her, whether in her obeisance or in battle, leaves him out in the cold. While he wants to be there for her while she’s in her hour of greatest need, all he gets in return is her absence, and a look of utter tranquillity that conflicts with the thoughts and emotions he knows must be boiling within her.

What does this do to Hei? All that pent-up emotion finally boils to the surface. Like a falling star, he sheds a single, wordless tear, as if, like a Contractor, something dies inside him while he does so. Amber catches this moment as she walks up to him, and it’s immediately made more obvious to the viewer how they fell in love, present conflict aside — Amber understands the moment and Hei perfectly, falling in love with a caring, gentle soul that lies beneath the trained killer, while Hei seeks comfort in Amber by virtue of being someone whom he can be there for, as evidenced by the scene where he lends her his knife for the smallest of things.

All this is said without words. I didn’t understand at first why this episode affected me, but now that I do re-watching the scene made me blink back tears I could feel welling up. It too explains to some extent Hei’s care for Yin, as Gai says in that one episode when he confronts him, “Though her face and words don’t reflect it, her soul weeps! Nobody on Earth should be treated like a doll!” Likewise, what are Contractors if not dolls effortlessly manipulated for the needs of someone else? Hei isn’t caring for Yin for caring’s sake — he’s caring for her because he knows how it feels like to be crying inside while remaining stolid outside.

if Akibakko’s DtB content was representative of the favourite parings among the fandom, it could then be said that Hei x Yin would be grossly overrepresented when compared to Hei x Misaki, at a ratio of 99:1

Haven’t we all at one point or another in our lives faked a sense of normalcy outside, all this while going through a period of internal turmoil? Typical human nature, no doubt, and an act of folly that, when strained through the lens of DtB, has its futility made all the more obvious.

This is precisely why I reject the idea that Hei has to die for the show to have a “proper end”. DtB has demonstrated time and again that whatever the outcome, it won’t be as important, for the ending here would only be as good as the sum of its parts. Despite all that, however, I like the idea of justice, in a very abstract and grey sense, prevailing here; not a happy ending that’s all rainbows sunbeams and unicorns, but an ending on a slightly more upbeat, and positive sense than has been the norm here.

For if DtB is, as Xerox once put it, “a mournful reflection of human existence”, wouldn’t it be in our best interests to keep our chin up and hope for the best no matter how bleak the situation might seem to be? God knows we’ve got enough on our minds in real life to begin with — we could do with a little optimism every now and then.

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 16th, 2007 at 8:35 pm and is filed under Anime. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

Related Posts by Tags

• Re-reading Rurouni Kenshin, sudo vs Shinsen, and a theory on Hei’s contract
• The types of shounen battles, or why you should be able to tell the difference
• I now like Claymore thanks to 03, and Hei is a pimp
• Woe me woe me love me, because Claymore < Darker than Black
• Dear Yoko-sensei, Darker than Black is…
• “Anime isn’t deep, it’s just entertainment”: Themes and symbolism in Darker than Black
• I told you so; the Sensitive New Age Mecha; A deep melancholy