Darker Than Black, and the message of hope
Darker than Black (DTB) was the very first anime I watched on Animax when it began in my country. And BOY, it still feels great 17 years after I first saw it. For me, it is the message of hope that makes the series so memorable:
The world of DTB is incredibly, and I mean INCREDIBLY, dark: the entire Earth has been subsumed by the Gate >!(either the planet is entirely captured, or worse, transported into a different dimension by the Gate!< The sky is fake, >!with satellites in orbit lost and no more could be sent into space, and fake stars representing contractors replacing the real stars!< Humans are randomly turned into contractors and dolls, with no warning, and they lose their emotions, humanity and family, in exchange for weird powers which governments and criminal organizations want to use for their own gain. The whole of humanity live in fear and paranoia, so much that many turn to worshipping the Gate to find solace...
In this bleak world, the central issue of DTB comes into view: can contractors and dolls, who are in human shape but with little to no humanity, be considered humans? The protagonist, Hei, symbolizes this duality cuz he is >!not really a contractor: His contractor powers are the result of his lost sister, who was a contractor, being fused into him at the end of the Heaven's War!< Hei is both a human and a contractor, and his journey throughout the season 1 of DTB is his search for a part of his that was lost: his sister, family, humanity. And throughout the entire series, we see contractors and dolls slowly regaining their emotions, their humanity, and struggling to do so while others look down and plot against them...
Which brings us to the endings of DTB season 1 and 2: at the end of season 1, Hei >!uses his power to destroy a device that will destroy the Gate, allowing contractors and dolls to live on in the hope of a better future!< At the end of season 2, >!Shion, a contractor, creates a copy of Earth in which his clone, Suou, and other contractors and dolls are reborn as humans, in a world without the Gate, contractors and dolls, a world without war. Hei uses his power to separate an evil Gate entity from Yin and leaves with her. This is at the cost of the evil Gate entity being unleashed into their world, and the USA in that world is seeking to dominate the world with Gate technology. But the remaining contractors and dolls, as well as their human allies who are willing, will continue the fight to save the world!<
I think this is a very high concept but meaningful ending which not only somewhat wraps up the story but also highlights the hope of contractors and dolls in their struggle to regain their humanity (the name of the final episode is the Ark of Stars*, which symbolizes freedom and hope*). The ending might be a bit rushed and confusing, but it is neat and gives us hope that out there, somewhere, people like Hei/Bai, Yin, Suou, July, who have all suffered cuz they are contractors and dolls, have found their happiness free from the war of their world... And here, I believe, lies the humane message of hope in DTB