- Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
- Video Codec: AVC/MPEG-4
- Resolution: 1080p/24
- Audio Codec: Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Stereo, English Dolby TrueHD 5.1
- Subtitles: English (Forced)
- Region: AB (No Region C)
- Rating: TV-MA
- Discs: 5 (2 x Blu-ray + 3 x DVD)
- Studio: Funimation Entertainment
- Blu-ray Release Date: November 8, 2011
- List Price: $64.98
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BestBuy.com:
Purchase Darker Than Black: Season 2 with OVAs on Blu-ray+DVD at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Click thumbnails for high-resolution 1920X1080p screen captures
(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)
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The Series
[Rating:4.5/5]
The second season of Darker than Black, Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor, picks up two years after the events of the first season. Hei and Yin have escaped the Syndicate and made their way to Russia. Hei, or BK-201, the masked killer, now a disillusioned drunk who, it is claimed, has lost his powers as a “contractor” has come across the young girl Suo, whose life has suddenly changed the night a meteor crashed to Earth. She is the twin of her brother, Shion, a contractor from birth whose ability is to make a direct copy of himself, each one slightly different from him.
Upon encountering Suo, Hei kidnaps her, with contractors closing in from everywhere thinking Suo is her brother Shion, whom the clandestine organization Section 3 is after to obtain a piece of the meteor core, Hei must protect her. Then, when Suo’s powers as a contractor awakens and she discovers the ability to fabricate a rifle from her body, which she can aim with the help of her companion contractor, a “doll” named July, Hei must train Suo while also keeping her alive. But Suo proves an unusual contractor I that she maintains her emotions and an “irrational” inability to kill the living even when faced with danger. There’s also something else going on, a secret behind Suo’s existance that will come to light.
Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor is a high quality animated action thriller; it offers up suspense, great drama, and beautiful design at every turn. The character development is such that over the course of the entire series you really begin to develop an attachment with them, particularly Suo who goes through major growth from the first episode to the last.
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
This is a great high definition transfer from Funimation. The image shows no aliasing, very little video noise, and has great depth of field and vibrant colors. The encodement is an AVC/MPEG-4 1080p/24 one typical of Funimation and is truly one of the better ones I’ve seen lately from the studio.
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
I tend to prefer to watch my anime programs with the original Japanese language track selected, and this Japanese Dolby TrueHD 2.0 Stereo mix is certainly a good one. It provides clean, clear dialogue, a wide stereo image, pretty extended lows, natural highs, and a good dynamic range. That said, I know that a lot of people will also be interested in the English dub, which is offered here in a lossless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 soundtrack. It is also rather good. It has a spacious sound, with upfront dialogue, hefty, but not boomy, lows, reserved high frequencies, lots of well placed discrete sound effects in the surround channels and a lushly atmospheric sound overall.
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
Apart from the usual textless opening and closing songs, there are two audio commentaries, one for Episode 4 and one for Part 1 of the OVAs, which are included in the set as well and should please fans.
The supplements:
Disc 1:
- Episode 04 Commentary
- Textless Opening Song – Tsukiari no Michishirube
- Textless Closing Song – From Dusk Till Dawn
Disc 2:
- Darker Than Black Side Story:
- OVA Part 1
- OVA Part 2
- OVA Part 3
- OVA Part 4
- OVA Part 1 Commentary
- Trailers
The Definitive Word
Overall:
[Rating:4/5]
It’s easy to recommend this cool series; great graphics, quality character design, excellent plot development, and intense action all add up to an edge of the seat thriller. Add Darker Than Black: Gemini of the Meteor to your shopping list today.
Additional Screen Captures
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[amazon-product]B005DEUEZE[/amazon-product]
BestBuy.com:
Purchase Darker Than Black: Season 2 with OVAs on Blu-ray+DVD at CD Universe
Shop for more Blu-ray titles at Amazon.com
Overall
[Rating:4/5]
The Series
[Rating:4.5/5]
Video Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Audio Quality
[Rating:4.5/5]
Supplemental Materials
[Rating:3/5]
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