Darker than Black
Darker than BLACK -黒の契約者-
Darker than Black (2007) is a supernatural action thriller and neo-noir anime series spanning 25 episodes, produced by Bones and directed by Tensai Okamura. Slick, atmospheric, and layered with conspiracy intrigue, it is one of the most satisfying noir-inflected action thriller anime of its era — a series that builds its world through implication and careful revelation rather than exposition, treating its audience as participants in the mystery rather than recipients of it.
- Aired
- Apr 6, 2007 to Sep 28, 2007
- Premiered
- Spring 2007
- Source
- Original
- Rating
- R - 17+ (violence & profanity)
The Story
Ten years ago, two anomalies appeared simultaneously: Heaven's Gate in South America and Hell's Gate in Tokyo — zones where the laws of physics ceased to apply and the sky above was replaced by a false firmament of stars that moved and went dark independently of any astronomical reality. With the Gates came Contractors: humans whose latent abilities were unlocked into genuine supernatural powers, at the cost of their emotions and the obligation to perform a strange, compulsive remuneration after each use — weeping, eating cigarettes, composing poetry, breaking their own fingers.
Hei — known in intelligence circles as The Black Reaper — is the most feared Contractor operating in Tokyo. He works for a shadowy syndicate called the Syndicate, conducting covert assassinations and extractions with methodical precision and a social cover identity so warm and disarming that the neighbors love him. He is also, unlike every other Contractor, still capable of something that might be feeling — an anomaly within an anomaly that the conspiracy thriller slowly makes central.
The series unfolds in two-episode arcs, each following a different mission while building the larger political and supernatural conspiracy threading through every operation — rival intelligence agencies, the true nature of the Gates, and what the Contractors' existence means for the future of human society.
Themes
Humanity and Its Suppression — The Contractor premise asks what remains of a person when empathy is removed — and what it means that Hei's answer is different from everyone else's
Surveillance and Shadow Organizations — The geo-political thriller architecture of Darker than Black is a cold war spy drama mapped onto a supernatural conspiracy
Identity Under Cover — Hei's civilian persona is so fully realized that the series uses it to quietly question which version of him is the performance
The Cost of Power — The remuneration system is the series' most inventive conceit — a universe that insists every supernatural ability carry a specific, personal, non-negotiable price