The story begins with the police chasing a person known as a contractor. The viewer later learns that in the world, beings known as contractors suddenly came into existence one day as parts of South America and Tokyo became unreachable for reasons unknown. The contractors are essentially human beings with a special power and little emotion which makes them the perfect assassins/spies. In return for using their power, contractors must pay a price each time they use it (one has to break a finger to control gravity, another has to earmark every page in a book to create invisible weapons). The story mainly follows one particular contractor, named Hei who is the infamous black reaper among contractors, his organization and allies. As the story progresses, more enemies are introduced while mysteries involving them and Hei's own organization arise.

The characters are all well developed. Unlike most animes that have the idealistic main character or goofy friends, Darker than black is very in depth and bordering more near the pessimistic side during the few beginning episodes. Almost all characters have a back story and show signs of change throughout the series. The organizations throughout the series all have unpredictable schedules (not like rule over the world sorta thing).

The music is decent. The opening songs to me are great with a good beat. The ending songs are quite a bit more calm and just as enjoyable. Though there is a bit of music other than that during the episode, you shouldn't expect to go crazy over it.

If you've seen Fullmetal Alchemist or Eureka Seven, you get an idea of what to expect since it was produced by the same people. The animation is as good as a typical anime series can get in 2007. There aren't any moments where the animators obviously got lazy nor is there any "chibi" moments where the animation is changed to be funny or suited for kids which is understandable with the mood of the anime. The fight scenes are extremely smooth and you can see every move they make. In short, it's one of the best I've seen so far.

This anime is a great break from all the other animes out there with no offense to them (I get tired of Naruto's "way of the ninja" or Bleach's "become stronger to save my friends" sorta thing). The characters and plot line is considerably more realistic than most animes out there and yet is extraordinarily enjoyable to watch. The people aren't out to be the best or rule the world, they simply do their job and meet enemies and plot twists along the way. Fight scenes are also realistic 1000 volts of electricity through a person's heart will actually kill him instead of hurt him. The different types of powers and contracts are original and keeps the action unpredictable. The developing plot and enigmatic characters keep the plot surprisingly fresh. My only complaint besides music is that during the middle of the series, the episodes drift off from the main point and become sorta pointless (around eps 14-20), but luckily it gets good again near the end. All in all, this is definitely one of my favorite animes and I believe that it deserves more publicity.

Upon watching the 25 Episodes and the 26th, which is the ova, i could not stop rewatching them 20 times for real. The animation, music, storyline and chara design belongs in the category "Best of Best". Watching is anticipated.

I personally thought that the show, all around, was amazing. The music sat in the back of every scene. Which i think is a good choice considering the lack of emotion of the main character, and the cold-heartedness of the entire series. It makes sense not to have pop or techno music in the background. I loved the story! It is true it does get a little bit unfocused from 14-20, but that time is used to develop characters and they do a wonderful job of that. The strong ending by far makes up for any non-story essential episode. I really like the idea of people actually dying if you light them on fire or shoot them in the stomach. I would have to say that this series is new and fresh to me and it is a welcome departure from normal anime plots of bleach and naruto. Story 10/10 Music 8/10 characters 10/10 Animation 10/10