Kita ze Inbou! - キタぜ陰謀!

Series Information

ANN Encyclopedia | AniDB | AnimeNfo
Genres: Drama, Mystery, Science Fiction
OP: [HOWLING] by abingdon boys school
ED: [Tsukiakariy] by Rie fu
Darker than BLACK

[Episode 1: The Star of Contract Flowed... (1st Volume)]

[Enjoyment Value: 8.5/10]

[Opening sequence]

OP: [HOWLING] by abingdon boys school
Listen to the OP: Mirror 1 | Mirror 2 | Mirror 3

[Summary]

A man is running along the rooftops where he meets some policemen but manages to escape using his abilities. Soon after he encounters a strange man dressed in black and wearing an odd smiling mask who beats him down. After a short interrogation and contacting a young girl named Yin, the masked man, named Hei, kills the man. Meanwhile, an investigator named Kirihara Misaki observes a shooting star and she provides information on how Tokyo changed ten years ago when the Hell’s Gate, Contractors and Dolls appeared.

Later, we’re introduced to a Chinese studented named Li Sheng Shun who is in search of an apartment and after some trouble he does find it. After arriving he’s introduced to a woman named Haraguchi. Later that night, two detectives are looking for a woman inside a nightclub that looks like Haraguchi.After noticing their presence she quickly leaves the club. They give chase but Haraguchi finds Li/Hei who helps her hide by pretending to be lovers in a nearby park. After they detectives leave Haraguchi too leaves Hei and runs into a nearby alley where she encounters a man she knows named Jean. After a discussion, he tries to choke her but is hit across the head by Hei who takes Haraguchi and runs. However, they encounter Jean again who knocks Hei onto some train tracks. Haraguchi is then taken somewhere by Jean but Yin soon locates her using her abilities involving water. After Haraguchi escapes, she runs into Hei who is just fine but she suddenly collapses into Hei’s arms and starts to cry.

[Ending sequence]

ED: [Tsukiakariy] by Rie fu
Listen to the ED: Mirror 1 | Mirror 2 | Mirror 3

[Thoughts]

I really liked the opening theme. It was a decent abingdon boys effort and fits the sequence perfectly. The ending theme was very nice as Rie fu delivers a beautiful song that matches the imagery to the last detail. Yoko Kanno’s score so far was great and I can’t wait to hear some more background music from her.

The episode itself was quite solid and BONES shows that it can deliver. The first half of the episode while slow was quite interesting. There were some quiet parts and glimpses of how Hei behaves when he isn’t a Keiyakusha (Contractor) which would be his other side, Li. Yin is an interesting girl who seems to be able to use water to see things so I’m looking forward to some development on her in the future. Misaki has a wonderful design and an attitude that almost always grabs my attention. Mao the cat is freaking cool but we barely got to see anything from him in this episode. The other character that I’m interested in hasn’t appeared yet but hopefully she does in the next episode or two (she is in the opening to an extent though). The second half of the episode was the best in my opinion as it featured some good spurts of action and already brings up some questions to be answered.

So far Darker than BLACK is one of the better series of the season and is definitely on my list to continue watching & blogging.

[Preview]