Product Details

• Format: Animated, Color, DVD, NTSC, Widescreen
• Language: Japanese, English
• Subtitles: English
• Region: Region 1 (U.S. and Canada only. Read more about DVD formats.)
  
• Aspect Ratio: 1.33:1
• Number of discs: 1
• Rated: Unrated
• Studio: Funimation Prod
• DVD Release Date: November 25, 2008
• Run Time: 125 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B001F2U728
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #123,501 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)
• For more information about "Darker Than Black: Volume One" visit the Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

Editorial Reviews

Studio: Funimation Prod Inc Release Date: 11/25/2008

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Start and Has Potenial, January 12, 2009

By 

C. F. Hill "CFH" (Blue Ridge Summit, PA USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Darker Than Black: Volume One (DVD)

I enjoyed "Darker Than Black" more than it likely deserves. Being that this only contains one disc, with only 5 episodes, it is hard to fully judge the series.

No spoilers from me, but the storyline is set in the near future, the Hell's Gate has opened and all of the stars in the sky have been replaced by fake stars that are representations of "Contractors". The episodes on the disc somewhat slowly bring us up to speed on the back story of beings with special abilities, like "Contractors" (remorseless assassins with special powers that come with a price), "Dolls" (basically blank humans who can be implanted with temporary memories/personalities or who can perform specific functions like remote sensing and observation), and some hybrids thrown into the mix as well.

There are several groups of players interacting, including a special police unit that tracks "Contractors", The Syndicate (including the main "Contractor" Hei/Bk201), various governments (references to French, Americans, and British spy agencies), and other criminal groups (all employing "Contractors").

As the storyline unfolds it becomes apparent that not all "Contractors" follow the stereotype and in the cliffhanger final episode, we learn something about Hei's motivation (again, no spoilers). It was enough of a hook that I will likely buy the next volume: Darker Than Black, Vol. 2

The animation was passable overall. It has some truly beautiful artwork in some scenes and some of the flattest animation in others. There was anime style blood and gore, but far less than I have come to expect.

Overall this is an interesting series, recommended for fans of the genre.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Darker Than Black - I'll pay the price!, August 22, 2009

By 

The Matrix Fan "Video Gamer since 1979." - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Darker Than Black: Volume One (DVD)

Years ago I watched the movie Akira and thought it was the most groundbreaking animated film I ever laid eyes on. One thing I learned from my introduction into Japanese Animation is this: without a compelling story, no one will want to know more. After watching Volume 1 of Darker Than Black, it looks like I've found another story that piqued my interest.

Darker Than Black takes place in the not-too-distant future of Japan, where an area simply known as "Hell's Gate" is shrouded in secrecy. Once Hell's Gate appeared, the Contractors showed up soon after.

A Contractor is a person with a unique superpower such as levitation, electroshock or teleportation, among others. Each time their superpower is used, the Contractor must "pay their price" and complete an obsessive/compulsive action afterward such as eating a plant, dog-earing book pages, eating, smoking, or even breaking one's own fingers. Since they feel no guilt, Contractors are the perfect tools for spying and assassination.

Over the course of 5 episodes on this disc, we follow the adventures of a Contractor known as BK-201/Hei, living a double life as an exchange student called Li. He comes into contact with other Contractors, Dolls, government agencies, and much more. Japanese Animation usually leaps right into the storyline and explanations are revealed further down the road, and Darker Than Black is no exception. While nothing about Hei or his companions is fully explained, we are given just enough information to pique our curiosity and watch the next episode.

The animation was quite good - I included a few screen captures. There wasn't a lot of foul language (which I've come to expect in this genre of TV) but there are a few scenes of violence that are definitely not for young children - so the M.A. rating is appropriate here. Most of the translated dialogue flows well, but a few scenes didn't quite mesh. One example was the following:

(1) Spoken English: "So you just moved to the city huh? Guess that explains the way you dress."
(2) Subtitled English: "Li-San, you're from China? Your Japanese is great."

Now how about those DVD extras?

Within each episode, we can choose the scenes we want to watch, but for some reason there are two menus:

(1) The first menu allows us to choose between 4 chapters of the story.
(2) The second menu lets us choose the prologue, the opening song, the closing song, or the preview to the next episode.

Audio - choice of English or Japanese.
Subtitles - only English is offered.

Extras:
(a) Episode 2 commentary - contributed by Jason Liebrecht (Hei) and Colleen Clinkenbeard (Shinoda Chiaki).
(b) Cast Auditions - 11 audio clips of the actors/actresses reading for their roles.
(c) Production Artwork - 13 color sketches of characters and their biographies.
(d) Settings - 11 sketches ranging from the Porsche interior to Hei's blades.
(e) Textless songs - Music videos of the opening and closing songs, "Howling" and "Tsukiakari".
(f) Trailers - 8 different anime shows/movie trailers. Whether you enjoy vampires, ghosts, giant mechs or androids, something here will catch your fancy.

Funimation Entertainment is only too happy to gather new followers: inside the DVD case is a flyer with 40 color ads for animated shows!

So what's the verdict?

I did enjoy my introduction to this series - it left me with a cliffhanger that begs to be followed up on. I was a little disappointed that there weren't any extra features for the Japanese actors/actresses or the series creators, I would have enjoyed hearing their thoughts.

As I mentioned previously, without a compelling story, no one will want to know more. After watching Darker Than Black, I definitely want to know more about what lies beyond the Gate. If you like Japanese Animation with plots that take a little while to play out, this is the show for you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Now I've lost it, December 29, 2008

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Darker Than Black: Volume One (DVD)

An area of paranormal space called Hell's Gate formed near Tokyo, around the time people with mysterious powers -- called "contractors" -- started appearing.

That's the concept behind the anime series "Darker than Black." While the concept -- mysterious people with dangerous psychic powers and a powerful young man hunting them -- doesn't sound terribly interesting on its own, the way it's handled makes it a truly memorable experience. Countless mysteries, solid writing and a bloodspattered noir atmosphere boost "Darker than Black Volume 1" above the norm.

Not many anime start with the anti-hero brutally killing someone -- Hei, a mysterious young man in a black coat and mask, hunts down and kills a blond man on a rooftop. Meanwhile, a young woman with a tragic past is being pursued by the police and a band of contractors, and her new neighbor Li -- who is pretty obviously Hei -- is her only hope for escaping them. Their goal seems to be a mysterious item that her boyfriend left with her, but is it their real objective... or are they really after Hei?

When Hei gets to his new job, he encounters a broken, reclusive scientist who once actually went into the Gate -- and the man's daughter, who seems to have fires pop up randomly around her. Hei befriends the girl as he tries to figure out if she's a contractor or a moratorium -- a contractor with uncontrollable powers. The answer to this puzzle lies inside her father's experiences inside the Gate....

And MI6 brings a mysterious woman -- a "regressor" named Havoc, who has lost her powers -- into Tokyo for research, along with a charming, brutal MI6 contractor named November 11. The police inspector Misaki Kirihara becoms embroiled with the struggle to get Havoc back, but the Syndicate have their own plans for her -- and Hei has information that he desperately wants from her.

"Darker than Black" doesn't exactly spoil you with information -- in the first five episodes, it raises countless mysteries and bizarre questions while rarely answering them. We don't know who the evil contractors work for, what the Syndicate is, what phenomenon the Hell's Gate is, the nature of various governments' involvement, what those blue blobs on the power lines are, and where contractors come from, what they are, or even what will happen if they don't fulfill their compulsions.

Heck, we don't even know why one of Hei's buddies appears to be a talking cat. Just try to guess what's happening there.

So "Darker than Black" is a bit difficult to get into at first. Fortunately when taken alone, the episodes are brilliant -- murky storylines, unexpected twists and complications, and some bittersweet, poignant moments such as Mai and Hei's brief moments at a light-filled amusement park. But the superpowers also provide plenty of gore and horror -- peoples are sliced apart, burned up instantly, explode and are frozen solid -- and there's some delving into how people regard contractors.

Hei is as enigmatic as the backstory of this series -- on one hand, he's a ruthless "black reaper" who electrocutes and garrotes contractors, and seems to be a contractor himself. But he also shows compassion and sorrow for the non-contractors that he comes into contact with, and the fifth episode reveals a teeny tiny shred of backstory for our mysterious anti-hero. As for his pals in the Syndicate, we have yet to see much about them -- although the cool-headed policewoman is a cool, unusual character.

"Darker than Black" is incredibly confusing at times, with lots of answers yet to be revealed. But the brilliant individual plots make this a pretty memorable experience.