The OP is really awesome mainly because Misaki is in there for half a second.
The OP is really awesome mainly because Misaki is in there for half a second.
I'm not really liking this haggard alcoholic Hei that we see in this season. It doesn't look like life has been kind to him since leaving Japan. Before he was fairly perfunctory about carrying out his mission, but now he looks almost hopeless. He needs something to be happy about.
Anyone else think that Pecha is just like Momo from Samurai Champloo?
I thought Suou's method of finding Hei was hilarious. She's got spunk and determination. It'll be a good balance for this season's depressed-looking Hei.
I would become a haggard alcoholic too if I lost Yin after being with her for so long and having only her as a pillar of emotional support. Well, if only I weren't one already.
Peace.
BSS Darker than black 03 The font is kinda small so there'll probably be another version of it coming up later
You are here alone again
In your sweet insanity
All too calm, you hide yourself from reality
Do you call it solitude? Do you call it liberty?
When all the world turns away to leave you lonely
The release is missing font styling. If you know what you are doing, you can fix the .ass by simply Find-Replacing (style Default->btb) and remuxing.
Looks like Hei really lost his powers. Sucks big time and Suou awakening hardly compensates for that plot device. I guess Hei continues to drink all the more to forget all of his troubles piling up.
Still, losing his powers means we get to see the original Black Soul Reaper in action, even before he got his hax free usage power. There should be even smarter battle scenes to compensate the loss of offensive capability.
Peace.
Yeah. We already saw spetsnaz is nothing against him, but considering he might be facing other contractors as much as he always did, his original skills, no matter how impressive, might be far too lacking. Aside from that I really wouldn't want to see Suou saving him with her new powers. I will start drinking if the series falls so low that Hei needs saving.
I don't think that Hei needing saving necessarily means that the series has fallen. While I would not enjoy it either if it became a regular thing, once or twice is fine since it adds a bit of variety, as well as humanity to Hei's character.
If you ever need to drink while watching this, I shall gladly join you. Alcohol and anime has always been a great mix for me.
Peace.
Yeah, I didn't mean special circumstances like happened in this very episode when those whatever machines rendered him comatose and Suou saved him. I mean if Hei suddenly starts to suck so much he starts to fail at jobs he should be able to handle no problem and Suou comes to rescue. Well, I like DtB enough to not worry overly much yet but losing the contractor powers was already a troublesome sign.
I was under the impression that Hei was actually more than enough to take down the majority of contractors in the Brazilian jungle though he himself was not one of them at the time. He got help from Amber, and he certainly was no Pai, yet he still took them down. It just wasn't at the proficient pace we were accustomed to. he could take down two or three at the same time in the series, but in the past, he could still take one down during a prolonged fight. Even with his powers, it was clear from the flashbacks that his sister outperformed him in every possible way.Originally Posted by Kraco
He even would have killed Tanya had he not run out of bullets. I think Hei's faults are that he became too reliant on his powers. If anything kills him, it will definitely be his drinking and years of over-dependence on Pai's borrowed powers. We have to face that Hei slipped, but he can definitely get back up to his old proficiency.
I'm more concerned about what Hei started to say to Mao about Yin, and how much of a contractor Suou really is. She still seems to have her emotions about her, as much as Hei did, and she was clearly possessed, the power coming from the meteor core around her neck rather than from her directly. I would say she is as much of a contractor as Hei is.
What you said doesn't really prove my worries wrong in any way. If he kicked contractor ass in the past without his own powers, it was probably due to the fact the opposing contractors were too fresh and inexperienced (just like Tanya, who could only kill a civilian that wouldn't have hurt the snow under her feet). Now, like you said, Hei is rusty from depending too much on electricity and drinking, whereas the world is full of battle scarred contractors with perfected powers. It's not like Hei is the only person in the world developing or degenerating.
I want Hei to kick ass, not fail and be saved by a musume who was still sucking her mom's breasts when Hei was already sending enemies to permanent vacations in third world jungles.
I think they would work more as a team instead. Suou's powers have a major flaw, one that all snipers have. Hei losing his powers means he has lost a significant amount of lethal firepower, which Suou has. They simply have to cover each other's backs if they want to survive. I don't really mind such a setting, since it is more of a symbiotic relationship between two fake contractors than one out of sheer dependence.
Peace.
Personally... I loved the episode. Despite Hiei losing his powers.
Maybe because Im becoming a Suou-tard here...
Not gonna lie, I'm pretty annoyed they took away Hei's powers and reduced him to what he is now.
Seems there are some mixed reactions to this episode, but personally I loved it. So much exciting mystery! I love having Mao back, though I liked him better as a cat. The flying squirrel is just.....too much. It seems that Mao and Hei have their own agenda, which is separate from that of the various official groups.
I don't think his loss of powers is permanent, but neither do I think it's a bad thing for the moment. Hei's the kind of person who will accomplish what he needs to no matter what, given whatever resources he has available. This just adds to the difficulty level for him for the moment, but his resources have increased as well with the aquisition of Suou and July. They will be valuable allies, but add a measure of unpredictability.
I don't believe Suou has truly become a contractor either. If anything, the signs she showed were more similar to the girl who went into moratorium. Becoming a contractor seems more like a one time irrevocable change. I'm confused about what sort of a role July is playing in this, but hopefully next episodes will clarify some things.
It was weird to see Hei fighting without his signature black coat and mask. You can actually see his facial expressions as he's fighting. Crazy.
I enjoyed the episode, since like previously mentioned, it adds variety. I don't share Kraco's worry, but I for sure don't want that to happen. DtB 2's been kicking ass so far, so I'll just put my faith into them and hope to see it through.
We finally got a longer scene featuring Hei and Yin back then, and to me that was the most interesting part of the episode. Yin's naked with dead bodies all over the place. They showed more footage without explaining anything. Awesome (in a good way, since I want them to "reveal", but keep it a mystery for a bit longer).
Hei's team right now is much like his Syndicate team on a smaller management scale. Back then there were the big boys and the mysterious syndicate playing things up. Now Hei's betrayed the CIA while July and Mao seem to be doing their own thing and disregarding the MI6 (or whoever Mao was with before).
Mao actually, should be still connected to the Syndicate or whatever's left of it, since he'd have to retrieve his memory from the backup server. I expect they would have had to retrieve that cat as well, since memory is nothing without the soul, which I presume was still in the black cat.
Edit: Oh, and patch fix for the vid: http://www.bssubs.net/DtB2_03_PATCH.zip
Last edited by Buffalobiian; Sat, 10-24-2009 at 07:34 AM.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
The cat was never Mao's original body. He transferred into an animal when he was a contractor, and then found out he could never go back into a human body because his power only worked on animals. In exchange, he never had to pay renumeration again, since he wasn't in his body.
The words Hei and Mao used there seemed to imply that Mao's memories and mind aren't anywhere, they're just...wherever they are. No server, and therefore no Syndicate needed.
That's worded a bit confusingly, but I believe you meant he transferred to an animal, when his body got destroyed, so he's forever stuck in animals.Originally Posted by Ryllharu
That's what it seemed to me at first, but then Mao called it a "fixed term backup", which kind of computerized the whole thing for me.The words Hei and Mao used there seemed to imply that Mao's memories and mind aren't anywhere, they're just...wherever they are. No server, and therefore no Syndicate needed.
However, it's quite possible that for someone who's able to transfer bodies that his memories aren't "fixed" in a body, nor "transfers" with him. His mind, however, is another issue. Thinking back to the cat incident, he just gradually lost control of the cat before the animal went completely wild again.
I should check that episode out again, since it may explain what happened to Mao. Either the chip got fried in an attack and his intelligence degraded (momentarily) to that of a cat, or Hell's Gate kicked him out.
If it's not Isuzu-chan Mii~
Yeah, I'll have to re-watch it too because my memories of it are fuzzy. I was always under the impression that Mao's collar when he was in cat-form was his receiver, and allowed him to wirelessly store his memories on a computer somewhere, and use the extra computational processing power because animal brains were too small for him to retain his full personality and memories.
I think my prediction is that towards the end of the show we will see Hei having regained his 'badassness', given up his alcoholism, got his powers back etc etc and be back to the old ass kicking Hei that we knew and loved from the first series. That said I enjoyed the 3rd episode.