This anime series has a brilliant premise, interesting characters, great animation, music and sound effects, engaging action scenes and well written dialogue. It would seem that those would constitute a great anime show. Well, Darker than Black is good but it could have been a lot better, if one thing wasn't missing:
Character development. With the exception of episode 13 and 14 (the best ones, in my opinion) where we see a subtle, yet clear enlightenment of the side character Yin, there is very little character development in this series. The great titles like Death Note, Elfen Lied, Time of Eve or even the lighthearted Black Lagoon, always feature an emotional arc of one or more characters. They learn, they react, they change their attitude or moral stance because of the circumstances. We root for the characters, we empathise with them and we get closure when their character arc completes. This is missing in Darker than Black. The main character is conflicted but his attitude and behaviour stays almost constant throughout.
If not for the above, this would have been an outstanding series. As it is, it's still worth watching, but don't expect the thoughtful and emotional involvement that the best anime give.
Character development. With the exception of episode 13 and 14 (the best ones, in my opinion) where we see a subtle, yet clear enlightenment of the side character Yin, there is very little character development in this series. The great titles like Death Note, Elfen Lied, Time of Eve or even the lighthearted Black Lagoon, always feature an emotional arc of one or more characters. They learn, they react, they change their attitude or moral stance because of the circumstances. We root for the characters, we empathise with them and we get closure when their character arc completes. This is missing in Darker than Black. The main character is conflicted but his attitude and behaviour stays almost constant throughout.
If not for the above, this would have been an outstanding series. As it is, it's still worth watching, but don't expect the thoughtful and emotional involvement that the best anime give.