Happy Remembrance Day to those who even know what this is. To be honest, neither did I until I decided to look up November 11 on Wikipedia, having heard it being mentioned once in the Incubus song “A Kiss To Send Us Off”, and then later in Darker than Black as a character name. Apparently today is the end of what was World War I, and Tensai Okamura, the creator of DtB, decided to name a chain-smoking blonde with freezing powers after it.

So I found the Incubus song to mirror DtB’s story very well. In case you’re one of those humourless science students who have problems with lateral thinking, the lyrics basically parallel DtB through the usage of imagery like kisses (Brita), electricity/clouds (Hei), and mention of November 11.

While I personally have no problems making the connection, I thought screencaps would illustrate this point of mine better, so here it is. YouTube of the Incubus song after the cut. Source of the lyrics is here, track #2, which is Incubus’ official site so they’re guaranteed to be accurate.

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.

What is �deep�, for starters? Some of my other fellow bloggers, like Martin, Bateszi, TheBigN, Higevs, Hidoshi, and Impz might be able to tell you more about it. There�s a thousand and one ways with regards to how one might go about the issue if one were so inclined as to play the semantics card. Personally, though, what with my distaste for such time-wasting matters and my forte being in English and all, I think it�d be best to assume the dictionary definition.

However, even Dictionary.com has a plethora of definitions as to what exactly makes up the word �deep�. Without context in place, it could mean �grave or serious�, �heartfelt; sincere�, �absorbing; engrossing�, �great in measure; intense; extreme�, or even �profoundly cunning or artful�, were I to choose to apply �deep� with regards to Darker than Black�s literary and artistic value.

Unfortunately, for the sake of sanity (and discussion, I might add), the only definition available that fits would be �not superficial; profound�. Why do I choose to pick on this series of all things, you ask, when I could be extolling the virtues of anime in general or adopting a macro view? I believe that some, if not all of those doing this joint blogging exercise with me are more than up to the task, so I�ll leave it to them for that.

They say good things come to those who wait. I couldn’t agree more, having waited ever since I saw the first episode of Darker than Black, to get my hands on the soundtrack that contained the epic post-rock track, the one that’s first played when Louie uses his powers on Hei. Yes, that one. I’m a big fan of post-rock as far as things go, and naturally, my hopes were with it to be included with this album.

Having been a fan of Yoko Kanno for as long as I can remember since The Vision of Escaflowne, it’s really inspiring to see how much she’s grown as a composer. The character and charm that makes up the body of her work is still there, for the fame (and, I’m guessing, fortune) she’s now in possession of hasn’t gone to her head at all. Having seen her tackle classical, jazz, and electronica in her past works, I suppose post-rock was just a matter of time, and about time, too.

There’s been a smile on my face this morning ever since the last few minutes of StrikerS 12, and it lasted all the way till breakfast and two episodes of Gigantic Formula; think of it like Lelouch triumphant in his Gawain, or Light grinning in his helicopter, both wearing rictuses of victory. It’s immensely gratifying to know that your predictions were spot on all the while, this being a midway assessment of sorts for three series, namely Nanoha StrikerS, Gigantic Formula, and Darker than Black.

What Author says here regarding recommendations would be valid and applicable, surely, for those like him or Steven, especially the latter, who regards watching anime as a gamble, a potential investment in terms of time and money. The thing is that, having an abundance of the former and by no means requiring the latter, it’s not really applicable to me, which means I personally don’t ask around that much regarding a potential anime that I might want to watch.

But we’ve been there with regards to the subject of taste, haven’t we? Judging from initial appearances is something I’m deign to do, although there are exceptions to that rule, naturally. While Spring ‘07 brought along with it an excellent selection of anime, it’s a pity there wasn’t a whole lot of critical opinion accompanying it, for as far as these three go it’s sad to see how those who shun them have been doing so for the wrong reasons.

I read 19 volumes of it yesterday. It’s nice to revisit what I’ve been proclaiming (to anyone who’ll listen) as the “best shounen series ever”, and by “shounen series” I mean of the fighting type. I went off on a tangent on BATESZI’s poll in his blog about it until I realised he was talking about anime specifically, and I’ve only read the manga for that.

Also, some insight into Darker than Black 09 and 10 after the cut. Questions raised include “is sudo better than Shinsen in subbing?” (protip: the answer is No for quality, a half-hearted Yes for speed), and “what is Hei’s obeisance, anyway?” (the answer might be more obvious than previously thought).

hey guys, I think Lucky Star isn’t that great, yet I’m going to make deadpan posts week after week detailing how funny or unfunny this week’s episode was! and I’m cool that way! I’m also constantly sleep-deprived, and WUI- wait, wrong blog.

As some of you might now know (if you didn’t already), I’m a Darker than Black fanboy. It’s all about Hei and the extent of adoration that heterosexual males like myself can profess without veering into dangerous territory, which means that I think that posts like these are lame. I prefer rational discussions rather than brilliant diatribes myself, though (for an example of the latter, check out Randall’s posts here and here regarding the fiasco surrounding Kodomo no Jikan), so here’s my case on why I vehemently disagree.

By the way, TJ Han showed me something he wrote almost a year ago that’s similar in subject and invited me to link to and laugh at it, but the only thing I found hilarious were the mismatched pictures, and I wish he could write like that more often, because it was awesome surreal humour that’s so unlike the more reserved tone he’s been taking on recently, and would also resemble Kyoya acting like Tamaki all of a sudden.

I forgot to comment on Claymore 06’s shounen character development (those two terms in the same sentence, wow), when it aired, so here’s a little something to make up for it. No, that wasn’t taken out of context at all, I don’t know what you’re talking about, really.

years after Claymore is dead and buried under the avalanche of new anime this picture will persist, and someone will get the idea that it was about kinky exhibitionist lesbian paedophile knights during medieval times, and find out they were only half-wrong.

This has been a week of surprises. Claymore 03 was great, and I guess I shouldn’t have compared Clare to good ol’ Abel Nightroad back then, but hindsight is 20/20. So Abel was an all-or-nothing guy who wasn’t in any real danger throughout because he was only using 40% of his power whenever he got his ass kicked, and when he wasn’t kicking ass with 80% nanomachines he was getting killed.

I kinda wish every anime blogger out there did this, and not the usual “oh, the pilot sucked, that must mean the whole series must automatically suck, too! opinions! words! el oh el!” that accompanies the beginning of every season*. Snap judgements — I don’t know why we even bother with them, really. The whole point of first impressions would be to get a general feel of the show, not the next 12 or 25 episodes that are going to air, but that’s why lolikit’s contemplating doing a Shinji right now by running away on us. Bastard.

Claymore’s apparently scheduled for 50 episodes, and I’m torn on whether to follow something that doesn’t suck in theory, but doesn’t really do anything for me either, in practice. I’ve heard that it gets better as the manga goes on, but fifty? With a chance that it might get better because they didn’t want to get you into the plot at the very beginning? It’s a pity, but I guess it can’t be helped given the number of volumes they’ve got to adapt.

An issue I have with Claymore is that it reeks of a certain vampire anime some time ago, that had a major failure of an ending due to the writer of the light novels dying, God bless his soul — the medieval setting only makes it worse because while the amalgam of steampunk and post-apocalypse tech in Trinity Blood was at least made refreshing since there was a power balance, medieval just cries out SHOUNEN DYNAMICS due to the sole dependence on physical power, which means a lot of fighting, losing, training, and then winning before losing again to a new challenger. Rinse, repeat.

…your latest gift to mankind, and we thank you. The episode’s moment came for me when Hei confronted Rui on the rooftop during the opening sequence — post-rock, in my anime soundtracks? You’ve come so far since your early days, and while Solid State Society was only last year, oh boy. Have we missed you.

I’ve always been a fanboy. Always, and almost all of it — The Vision of Escaflowne’s majestic classical compositions; Cowboy Bebop’s flightly jazz; GITS:SAC’s dystopian electronica; Wolf Rain’s melancholy acoustics. It was like the music drove the series to excellence, not merely supported it. Or maybe she’s been approached by more discerning studios who knows just what it is that their anime needs (definitely not Yuki “My-Compositions-All-Sound-Alike” Kajiura). I’d like to think she has a waiting list and that she can actually pick and choose, because I can’t picture her doing harem or slice of life.