Confusing? CHECK! Awesome theme song? CHECK!

Let me just begin by saying that I did enjoy this Action/Romance based anime. I have no hard feelings towards the over the top action scenes, nor, the catchy theme song of season one from Abingdon Boys School, a Japanese rock band. My “beef” stands with only one, tiny, small, probably insignificant detail… How the hell things became as they were.

Let’s begin with the contracts. Each person who was gifted powers had to perform a task in order to fulfill said contract. Such tasks included smoking cigarettes, folding the upper right hand corner of pages, acting like a child, and many other pain staking activities. Previously, before the contracts were mailed out, all the stars fell from the sky and slowly were replaced with new stars. Apparently, each of the new stars were directly linked to every person who received a contract.

Sounds dreadfully nice, I know. And that theme song keeps pulling you in. Only promising awesomeness and chocolates. Sadly, the buffet they set up specifically for chocolates was closed down two hours before you came through the door. It never explains if any of these people signed these contracts willingly. I keep asking myself if they just woke up one morning and said ” Wow, I think I’ll fly to work today and once I get there I think I’ll break one of my fingers to pay for the flight.” Literally, first episode. Once the final episodes began, I thought the answers would become all to clear. They only answered where his lost sister was. She was, of course, inside of him all along.

Just so you know how awesome that theme song was, here is the opening theme song to Darker than Black.

Robots and Wars are Cool

Lately, I’ve been watching an old anime classic from my childhood. Gundam Wing. As a child, I couldn’t see past the awesome robot battles and lasers. Let allow remember anything past the robots themselves. Upon watching it again, however, I found that is has a very strong message about the loss of innocence.

Normally, when people talk about loss of innocence it pertains to only one individual or a child coming of age. This has smashed in the entire spectrum. A world ransacked by war, where no country knows peace. War here is not fought simply through gun sights, but through the screen of a large mobile battle suits.  A few inhabitants of Earth decide to start colonies in space to try and govern peacefully/ find freedom. Although, the peace did not last long. Earth which is now controlled by Alliance has full domain of earth through military prowess.

In a last effort for peace, five colonies develop robots and send them to Earth to eradicate the organization of Alliance. Of course, Alliance finds out about this plan and attempts to foil said plans for the colonies. Little did they know, these pilots are not average pilots. Also, they are not men, but children.

Into this is where I begin this post. How far would we as humans go for peace? Where one of the advantages of your militaristic motive is the fact that one can hide children better than an adult soldier. And what would one have to do in order to train a child in to a calculating killing machine, also piloting a calculating killing machine. This loss of innocence was the first came to light. What of the idea of war? If a child believes in peace strongly enough, what makes a child different than a soldier? If one did not have innocence to begin with, what makes them not a soldier? The idea troubles me a little; also I have a 17 month old daughter, so that mainly affects my judgment against. Regardless, war destroys innocence for all parties. Families, soldiers, and even children everyone is in range. Is peace really worth all of this?

Apparently, this belief holds true to some. Some who believe that death is death, and peace is peace. Simplicity is logical when one is scared enough.