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{{work}}
Non-character trope listings '''A''' through '''M''' for the first season of ''[[Darker Than Black (Anime)|Darker Thanthan Black]]''. Please ensure that new additions are added to the correct sub-page.
 
Tropes that are inherent spoilers should go in the [[Darker Thanthan Black (Anime)/Season One Spoilers|Season One Spoilers]] article.
 
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* [[Affectionate Parody]]: The episodes with the [[Clueless Detective]] are an amusing parody of your usual private eye plot, including the idea (particularly associated with [[Raymond Chandler]]) of the detective essentially stumbling into solving the crime after being hired for a completely different reason.
* [[Alien Sky]]: On Earth, no less. The moon is gone, the night sky is purple when clear and green when overcast. The daytime sky is seen less often, but the sun behaves strangely.
** Also, rockets launched into the upper atmosphere disappear without a trace. Somehow, NASA (and [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_space_agencies:List of space agencies|most space agencies]]) still manages to stay intact.
** This comes up regularly because every star in the sky corresponds to a contractor. If a contractor uses his powers, his star shines brightly. When a contractor dies, his star falls from the sky. Government intelligence agencies have entire branches devoted to analysis of the [[Alien Sky]].
* [[All Asians Know Martial Arts]]: Invoked -- according to Kenji witnessing Hei in action the first time, [[All Chinese Know Kung Fu|all Chinese are]].
* [[Aluminum Christmas Trees]]: At one point, April tells someone to call the organization she works for the "Secret Intelligence Service," not "[[MI 6]]." It sounds made-up, but ''that's the actual name of the organization''.
** Also, November 11's cigarettes. The brand he prefers comes in a black pack with a white skull and the word DEATH on the front. You might think the show's creators are trying to make an [[Anvilicious]] point about smoking<ref>Which, admittedly, they probably are; see [[Writer Onon Board]]</ref>, but that's an actual British brand of cigarettes.
* [[Amplifier Artifact]]: Several organizations [[MacGuffin|hunt for the damn thing]], and not just because it's [[Mineral MacGuffin|shiny]].
* [[Anime Chinese Girl]]: Alice, though she gives her qipao to a childhood friend instead of wearing it herself. {{spoiler|She's also completely psycho.}}
* [[Anime First]]
* [[Anti -Hero]] (type IV)/ [[Anti -Villain]]: What with the [[Grey and Gray Morality]], a huge number of characters, to the point where it can be tricky to say which is which.
* [[Arc Number]]: 201, Hei's Messier Code. It crops up ''all over the place'' [[Easter Egg|if you look hard enough]].
* [[Arc Words]]: "Hell's Gate" "BK-201" "PANDORA" "Evening Primrose" etc.
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* [[Badass Adorable]]: Amber, [[Deliberately Cute Child]] that she is.
* [[Badass Biker]]: Hitotsubashi apparently was one, Kenji tries to be.
* [[Badass in Aa Nice Suit]]: November 11 ([[Fan Service|almost]]) always wears a very stylish suit.
* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Hei's default mission garb consists of a long black coat that's only bullet proof when he wears it -- because no one else is badass enough, apparently.
** Thanks to the cold weather, practically everyone who lives in Russia.
* [[Badass Nickname]]: Hei is often called "the Black [[Shinigami|Reaper]]" due to how very good he is at taking down Contractors. {{spoiler|The really fun part is that he earned it as a [[Badass Normal]].}}
* [[Badass Normal]]: Most of the Tokyo Metropolitan Police, especially Kirihara, ''especially'' considering that she's up against super powered people. Even more so, Huang, who helps out Hei himself on several occasions, even sniping other Contractors. {{spoiler|Also, Hei, before he got his powers -- fighting a Contractor head-on with choke wire is pretty badass.}}
* [[Bad Powers, Bad People]]: Or in this case, ''all'' powers bad people. Havoc is probably the best fit though as her power is so great it kills tons of people when deployed and her Remuneration is drinking the blood of children -- it's definitely an understatement to say there is ''no'' possible way in which she could use her powers for good.
** Though implications at the end of the first season are that the Contractors as a group/race are growing out of their amorality.
* [[Batman Cold Open]]: The series begins with the police chasing a rogue Contractor and Hei showing up [[Stealth Hi Bye|out of nowhere]] to [[Curb Stomp Battle|kick his ass]]. However, unlike most openings like this, it was actually plot-relevant.
* [[Battle in Thethe Rain]]: Several times, usually justified by it being April's doing. Plus, of course, it's just [[Rule of Cool|cooler]] when Hei can electrocute someone or November can freeze someone because the ground's wet.
* [[Beat Still My Heart]]: A contractor with teleportation powers tended to do this.
* [[Beautiful Dreamer]]: Invoked, when Amber deemed the scene of Hei watching his sleeping sister romantic-looking. Then again, for Amber he looks as romantic as possible in any situation.
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** Another example is Hei and Kirihara, both of whom have stoic personalities and are big eaters. Too bad about that whole "cop/criminal" thing.
* [[Bishonen]]: The manga's art style sometimes turns Hei into one. He's always [[Mr. Fanservice|really good-looking]], but generally in a more masculine way.
* [[Black Box]]: A lot of strange [[Magitek]] came from the gates, such as the method of memories [[Laser -Guided Amnesia|wiping]]/[[Neuro Vault|implanting]], flowers from which sort of recreation drug is derived in a weird way, a plant which can be used to temporarily suppress Contractor traits, and in the OVA {{spoiler|a substance which cures human allergies but also causes extreme drowsiness and short-term memory loss.}}
* [[Blind Seer]]: Yin, sort of. She was blind as a normal human, but has no trouble seeing as a doll, whether as a result of her powers as a medium or something else.
* [[Blind Without 'Em]]: Kirihara
* [[Blessed Withwith Suck]] / [[Cursed Withwith Awesome]]: The main curse of being a Contractor is losing one's emotions and moral constraints, but most of those encountered retain enough emotion to be fairly pleasant (if amoral), and have gained cool powers. Their obeisance is an important determinant of whether the Contractor has a [[Blessed Withwith Suck]] or [[Cursed Withwith Awesome]]. Some of the former include having to [[Fingore|break one's fingers]], needing to cut oneself, and drinking children's blood (although the Contractors with the last two were mass murderers). On the other hand, other obeisances include needing to drink beer or write poetry. Then again, the guy who merely had to arrange pebbles was annoyed by the fact it's apparently meaningless compulsion.
** It is the compulsory nature that can make ''any'' obeisance [[Cursed Withwith Awesome]], as Contractors are forced to do it when their contract compels it and effectively helpless and powerless until they've completed it -- As Hei proved when he interrupted said pebble guy in the middle of his relatively harmless obeisance and killed him easily.
** Wei may actually be [[Cursed Withwith Awesome]]. His power is exploding his blood, and his price is bleeding. Whereas most Contractors need to go out of their way to pay the price after using their power, Wei pays the price in the process of using his power. He might get light-headed if he overdoes it, but it's not like he'll need to run away in the middle of a violent altercation in order to find a safe place to arrange pebbles.
* [[Blond Guys Are Evil]]: About half of the Contractors are blond.
* [[Bloody Murder]]: Wei's power.
* [[Bodyguard Betrayal]]: Wei
* [[Bodyguard Crush]]: Saito, to Kirihara.
* [[Body Surf]]: {{spoiler|A contractor was using this ability to [[Psychic -Assisted Suicide|make murders look like suicides]].}} And Mao is a Contractor who can [[Body Surf]] between animals, but his real body was killed. He stays in a cat's body mostly out of convenience.
* [[Book Ends]]: The first episode begins with the police trying and failing to catch Louis, who has "gravity cancellation" powers. The epilogue of the last episode shows a very similar chase, but when the Contractor uses the same gravity-based powers to fly, the police easily catch him with some sort of [[Grappling Hook Pistol]], suggesting that the rest of the world is getting used to the supernatural.
* [[Bottle Fairy]]: British agent April has a Remuneration of drinking beer, and has apparently decided she might as well enjoy it.
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* [[Bullying a Dragon]]: Some people apparently like to tell Contractors things to the effect of "you're less than humans and no more than killing robots". Of course, a [[Tin Man]] isn't supposed to give a damn about such prattle, but...
** Particularly hilarious is Huang's habit of getting pissed off at Hei and picking him up by his shirt. Hei [[The Stoic|never reacts]], but one has to wonder what would happen if someone pointed out to Huang that he's trying to intimidate someone who could kill him if he so much as touched him.
* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Maki looks like a [[White -Haired Pretty Boy|white haired]] version of Souseiseki from ''[[Rozen Maiden]]'', Amber looks identical to C.C. of ''[[Code Geass]]'', and the doll from episodes 17 and 18 strongly resembles fellow [[Emotionless Girl]] Eureka from ''[[Eureka Seven]]''. November 11 is very [[James Bond]]-ish, although that might be simply [[National Stereotypes]] of what a British spy is like.
** Also, kind of an odd one overlapping with [[Actor Allusion]]: April has a low level version of Storm's powers in ''[[X -Men]]'' and even looks slightly similar to her. The actress who voices her has also voiced many dubs of Halle Berry's movies, including her role as Storm in the ''[[X -Men]]'' films.
*** For that matter, November 11 is a blond ice-user, making him similar to another X-Men character.
*** Also possible as a white suit wearing cyropath with realistic limitations on his power November 11 might be based on [[Planetary|Elijah Snow]].
* [[Card -Carrying Villain]]: The card is "I'm an inherently heartless bastard and don't give a damn. No, really. Believe me. I can repeat." Most Contractors adopt such a <s>secure</s> convenient pose. Those who live on-screen long enough to fall out of "Bad [[Tin Man]]" role and turn out to be {{spoiler|vengeful, cowardly, proud, affectionate, caring and so on, only more withdrawn than most}}. {{spoiler|Huang}} turns out to be like that too, and manages to get along with Contractors [[Vitriolic Best Buds|better than either side would care to admit]].
* [[Cast From Lifespan]]: One Contractor's remuneration is that she ages every time she uses her power. Another inverts the trope by ''de''-aging for every use of her powers; although limited use could have prolonged her life indefinitely, circumstances force her to {{spoiler|overuse them until she de-ages herself out of existence}}.
* [[Catapult Nightmare]]: In the [[Interquel]] manga. Particularly interesting given Hei's repeated assertion that contractors don't dream. Although {{spoiler|it may be due to the fact that he isn't a true Contractor}}.
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* [[Catch Phrase]]: November 11, worst comedian ''ever''. This catchphrase, "[[I Was Just Joking|Just joking]]" (immediately after a somewhat disturbing comment) is sufficiently annoying to other characters that it gets several [[Ironic Echo|Ironic Echoes]] throughout the series.
** There are also several occasions in which Hei's [[Berserk Button]] has been triggered and he gets angry enough to kill someone, leading Mao to cry out "Hei, no!" Significantly, Hei ignores this in the first episode but shows more restraint as the series progresses.
*** It's [[Phrase Catcher|not just Mao who says that]]. {{spoiler|Kirihara tries to stop Hei from killing her treacherous boss}} in the last episode. {{spoiler|He listens. Awwww. If you need proof that he's not all [[Anti -Hero|bad]], that's it.}}
* [[Cat Scare]]: Played around with in the first episode. Louis clearly hears someone talking to him, and looks toward where the sound came from- and all he sees is a cat. Then he turns back around and Hei is ''[[Stealth Hi Bye|right there]]''. But, as we shortly find out, the cat actually ''was'' the culprit behind the suspicious noise. And it was intentional. {{spoiler|And in the second season, after April flees from the lab, a contractor throws a cat to scare her. And presumably to waste bullets.}}
** He does it again shortly afterward to help cover for Hei when he has to sneak out with police investigating in the next room.
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* [[The Charmer]]: November 11, in between being a [[Jerkass]].
* [[Chekhov's Gunman]]: The first shot of the first episode, before the [[Batman Cold Open]], is {{spoiler|Hei's sister Bai.}} We have no clues explaining this until eleven episodes in.
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Amber,
* [[Chick Magnet]]: Hei's magnetism is so great, even ''[[Emotionless Girl|Emotionless Girls]]'' crush on him.
** And the [[Fair Cop]] trying to catch him.
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* [[The Corps Is Mother]]: Or, in this case, PANDORA, [[The Syndicate]], MI6, the CIA, and pretty much everyone else who employs Contractors.
* [[Cosplay Otaku Girl]]: Kiko
* [[Cover -Blowing Superpower]]: The "Who, me? Incredibly [[Badass]] martial arts master?" sequence in episode 17. Hei is really quite bad at hiding his ninja skills.
* [[Covert Pervert]]: Turns out that one of Kirihara's coworkers, Mayu, writes smutty fanfic for [[Yaoi]] anime... and ''Yin'' reads it. You can blame Kiko for that.
* [[The Cowl]]: Other than the little issue that he tends to commit crimes rather than solve them and the closest he gets to superheroics is fighting superpowered people worse than himself, Hei fits this ''perfectly'', what with the [[Stealth Hi Bye|ninja-antics]] and sinister reputation.
* [[Crack Fic]]: A [[Crowning Moment of Funny|glorious]] in-universe example - Mayu's [[Interspecies Romance|human-on-elephant]] [[Slash Fic]]. Which she writes ''Hei'' into.
* [[Creepy Child]]: Of the [[Emotionless Girl]] kind when it comes to dolls. (Provided the dolls are in a young person's body, otherwise the "child" part doesn't really work out.) This is essentially their premise, and dolls have no control over this aspect of the way they act.
** For a straight example, Maki would be the prime source.
* [[Cryonics Failure]]: November 11 does this intentionally.
* [[Crystal Dragon Jesus]]: The Friends of the Gate is a bizarre mix of Catholicism and Jehovah's Witnesses, except they worship Hell's Gate. They even have confessionals!
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* [[Death Equals Redemption]]: Some of the acts that some of the contractors have done weighs heavily upon them. They may not be a [[Death Seeker]], but some of them take solace during their dying moments because they can finally forgive themselves for what they've done. {{spoiler|Bertha in particular, seems happy to die, because she can finally redeem herself for the death of her child, who choked to death when she carelessly left her cigarettes on a table.}}
* [[Deconstructor Fleet]]: This series loves playing with tropes (usually for extra realism), especially those related to superpowers, and ''especially'' [[Lethal Harmless Powers|how dangerous they would actually be]].
* [[De -Power]]: Havoc somehow lost her power; it's unknown whether it was a side effect of Heaven Gate's accident, as a result of Gates' chaotic nature, from a strain or whatever. Because she also somehow [[Laser -Guided Amnesia|lost her memory]] in the process -- again, it's unknown whether it was for the same reason or she was mind-wiped.
* [[Disability Superpower]]: Yin was blind when human but her abilities as a Doll basically allow her to walk around without any problem.
* [[Diving Save]]: <s>Subverted</s> <s>Double-subverted</s> [[Playing Withwith a Trope|Played with]] in the second episode.
** Also dramatically executed by {{spoiler|Yin's mother, in episode 14}}.
* [[Dramatic Chase Opening]]
* [[Driven Byby Envy]]: Maki ''hates'' the fact that Amber wants to recruit anyone who isn't him, and is even more incensed by the fact that she's in love with Hei. He responds by trying to kill his "rival," against direct orders and despite the fact that if he'd succeeded, Amber's plan would have been rendered impossible.
* [[Dude, She's Like, in Aa Coma]]: Weird variation: Amber takes advantage of [[Time Stands Still|stopped time]] to kiss Hei without him objecting.
* [[The Dulcinea Effect]]: Episodes 17/18 revolve partly around this.
* [[Dull Eyes of Unhappiness]]: Hei, perpetually. You can see the pupils of his eyes in maybe three shots in the entire series, one of which is due to weird lighting, and even then light never reflects off them.
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* [[Elemental Baggage]]: Averted with November 11. He's not much use if he can't get close enough to touch someone and there's no liquid around. However, he's very resourceful about getting around it, and his partnership with April helps a lot as well.
* [[Emotionless Girl]]: All Dolls are like this.
* [[Empty Eyes]]: All Dolls are like this too.
* [[Empty Piles of Clothing]]: The only thing left behind after a certain Contractor teleports herself or others.
* [[Empty Shell]]: Dolls effectively have to be programmed to perform functions as basic as sleeping or dressing themselves.
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** {{spoiler|Hitotsubashi}} transported {{spoiler|Kenji's [[No Name Given]] girl}} sitting in a car next to him. She sat quietly, saw where they are moving... and immediately communicated this to another party using her observer apparition. It didn't even occur to him he creates a security hole the size of a whole Titanic. It's just a Doll!
** In ''Shikkoku no Hana'' Meena Khandar Swami heard Yin dropping a phrase that in normal circumstances would be an expected common courtesy. Cue a [[Beat Panel|speechless]], shaken, "maybe I'm still [[Reality Is Out to Lunch|at the Gate]] and hallucinating?" face, then stuttering out that it's the first time she saw even this much of free will from a Doll. Mina was a scientist in PANDORA whom her chief considers more brilliant than himself, so... yes, it's ''that'' bad.
* [[Engrish]]: In episode 15, when Hei meets Huang to get a mission briefing, Huang hands him a short dossier on April {{spoiler|who had been involved in what looks like a car bombing, but was really Maki's doing.}} The writing is in English--rather, it would be, if not for the fact that April apparently has a 'Cordname' and she's from 'rondon.' And 'obeisance' was mistranslated as 'value.'
** Also the Evening Primrose's ultimatum- "Acknowledge existence of we contractor", indeed.
* [[Mr. Fanservice]]: Hei and, to a much lesser degree, November 11.
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* [[Evil Sounds Deep]]: Not really ''evil'' per se, but Hei's voice drops quite a bit when he switches out of his [[Obfuscating Stupidity|Li act]].
** In the [[Psycho for Hire|actually evil]] department, we have Wei's very deep voice in the dub.
* [[Explaining Your Power to Thethe Enemy]]: Wei uses his own blood as a medium to destroy his opponents. Despite him having every reason to suspect that Hei is also a very dangerous contractor, the contractor quickly explains how his powers work before getting into a fight.
** But then, he was a [[Blood Knight]] ([[Incredibly Lame Pun|sorry]]) [[Psycho for Hire]] who was absolutely convinced of his own invincibility and probably thought it wasn't any fun unless he could play with his opponent first. [[Underestimating Badassery|Which turned out to be a bad idea]].
* [[Expospeak]]: A good part of Episodes 1 and 2. [[Unreliable Expositor|Should be taken with a grain of salt, though.]]
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* [[Face Palm of Doom]]: Hei does this a lot, usually before some poor schmuck [[Shock and Awe|gets their brain fried]].
* [[Fair Cop]]: Kirihara.
* [[Fake Memories]]: Not completely fake, but "[[Laser -Guided Amnesia|M.E.]]" works [[Neuro Vault|both ways]]. At least with Dolls.
* [[Fake -Out Make -Out]]: Episode 1. It's part of a subverted [[Meet Cute]].
* [[Fan Disservice]]: The show has a very unsettling use of the [[Sex Bot]] idea in showing a Doll purchased by Yakuza to be used as a sex slave. There is nothing erotic at all about the way the boss examines her naked, treating her more like a piece of furniture than anything.
* [[Fan Girl]]: Kiko and Mayu, both of whom are anime fangirls, [[Yaoi Fangirl|Yaoi Fangirls]], and [[Chick Magnet|Hei fangirls]].
* [[Fan Nickname]]: {{[[media-|:Caution.gif| Chinese Electric Batman}}]] has become one for both Hei and the series itself, for [[Shock and Awe|obvious]] [[Counterpart Comparison|reasons]].
* [[Fan Service]]: see [[Innocent Fanservice Girl]] and [[Go -Go Enslavement]]. And "[http://www.motivatedphotos.com/?id=30420 ...girls need it too]" (yeah, it's November 11).
* [[Fantastic Drug]]: {{spoiler|Alice}} shoots up with [[Memetic Mutation|BEEEEEES!]]. Granted, they are {{spoiler|bees that have drunk the nectar of flowers from the Gate}}, but that just makes them all the more fantastical.
* [[Fantastic Racism]]: As mentioned above, humans do not consider Contractors to be human, with one noticeable discussion between a white man and a black Contractor that has certain... [[Unfortunate Implications|implications]]. Which might count as [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshading]], given the strong anti-racism message (especially present in the last few episodes).
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* [[Femme Fatale]]: Amber. {{spoiler|Subverted. While Hei clearly thinks of her this way, she actually still loves him and wants him to be happy. [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Awwww.]]}}
* [[Fictional Counterpart]]: "McDoness Burger"; November 11 flies into Japan on a "Lufanser" plane
* [[Finger -Lickin' Evil]]: Wei has been spotted licking [[Bloody Murder|blood]] off his hand.
* [[Fingore]]: Twice, for [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|different]] [[Power At a Price|reasons]].
* [[First Episode Spoiler]]: Actually, second. Li is a contractor assassin and the cat can talk. In a similar vein, exactly what Hei can do isn't really clear until November 11 figures it out, counteracts it, and explains it to us.
* [[Five -Man Band]]:
** [[The Hero]]: Hei.
** [[The Lancer]]: Huang.
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** [[The Smart Guy]]: Yin.
** [[The Chick]]: Mao. Yin sometimes.
* [[Four Eyes, Zero Soul]]: November 11, alternating with [[The Charmer]].
* [[Fridge Logic]]: Wei's power has some incredibly confusing implications/logical fallacies (all of which should be ignored for the sake of his story, fight scenes, and other important moments to the show, but they'll be mentioned all the same for the sake of the trope). For starters... If he can disintegrate things that his blood is touching/detonate his blood, why doesn't he just explode whenever he uses his power because of the blood in his body? Of course, there is a lot of [[Fridge Brilliance]] (which has counter-Fridge Logic) to go along with this...
** First off, he doesn't seem to have any control over what he detonates. Every time he snaps his fingers, everything his blood is on gets destroyed (often demolishing entire rooms during a few of his... messier fights).
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* [[Gilligan Cut]]: Variation: when Saito is telling Kirihara that they're keeping watch on the MI6 agents in a hotel, November 11 comes up and interrupts him. Then Kirihara gets a call from Kano informing her that they lost track of them. [[Captain Obvious|No kidding?]]
** And towards the end of the first season, when {{spoiler|Mao, narrating, says that anyone could see it's much smarter to abandon him in Amber's headquarters than to try to rescue him.}} Cut to Hei {{spoiler|breaking in to rescue him.}} Though it wasn't quite as dumb as it seemed; {{spoiler|he knew Amber had given orders that no one was allowed to kill him.}}
* [[Girl in Aa Box]]: {{spoiler|Poor, poor Havoc.}} Also, the smuggled Doll in {{spoiler|ep. 17}} - being a Doll, she was [[What Measure Is a Non -Human?|treated more like a packed thing]] than a concealed girl.
* [[Glamour Failure]]: Namely, [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]].
* [[The Glasses Gotta Go]]: In more [[Fan Service|fanservicey]] scenes with Kirihara. She looks good in any suit, but let's face it -- in uniform and glasses she resembles a hungry female mantis a bit too much. Subverted in that she spends most of her glasses-free time squinting like crazy because, like most glasses-wearers outside of fiction, she actually ''[[Blind Without 'Em|needs]]'' them.
* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: It's generally a good idea to start running if you see this. Of course, it probably won't help you if the Contractor who just activated their powers is after ''you'', but you might at least not end up as collateral damage.
* [[Go -Go Enslavement]]: When Alice persuades Kirihara to come to her birthday party, she makes Kirihara wear a qipao which exposes a lot of flesh. {{spoiler|Alice then reveals she's crazy and tries to kill Kirihara, who spends the episode escaping in the outfit.}}
* [[Gonk]]: Huang's lack of prettiness is [[Lampshade Hanging|acknowledged]] in-universe.
* [[Good Eyes, Evil Eyes]]: As Li, Hei's eyes are either [[Eyes Always Shut|closed]] or very, very wide. They're narrower when he isn't acting, although, in a subversion, this is the case even when he's still being a [[Nice Guy]].
* [[Grand Theft Me]]: Mao is a possessor who eventually lost his own body and ended up in cat's. In {{spoiler|ep. 7}} they met another contractor with a similar power, and he had lost his original body too.
* [[Grappling Hook Pistol]]: Used by Hei in both the usual way and as a weapon - its cable gives a circuit to his electric powers. However, usually Hei either throws a knife or it's clearly visible ''snap hook'', not a grapple. When he fired some or other sort of grapple very far {{spoiler|(embassy, EPR hideout)}} he used a ''crossbow''.
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** One particular user has the ability to envelop a [[Sphere of Destruction|spherical area]] and condense everything inside it into a softball sized ball of dense matter.
* [[Grey and Gray Morality]]: From the first episode to the last, thanks to [[Punch Clock Villain|punchclock villainy]].
* [[Grievous Bottley Harm]]: November 11 does a variation on this. When cornered {{spoiler|by Syndicate agents employed by his boss}}, he picks up a bottle of an alcoholic beverage and freezes it. When the aftermath of the fight is shown, there is a room full of corpses [[Impaled Withwith Extreme Prejudice|pierced by these spikes]].
** Someone also tried it on Hei (as Li) when he was infiltrating a [[Yakuza]]-owned restaurant. It... [[Cover -Blowing Superpower|didn't really work]]. [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Like, at all]].
* [[Guns Are Worthless]]: Played straight for most of the season, and even gets directly invoked, then gets brutally subverted during last few episodes, starting with {{spoiler|November 11's death}}.
** Similarly, Hei is generally totally unconcerned with mere bullets- except that when {{spoiler|Huang}} shot him when he ''wasn't'' wearing his bulletproof [[Badass Longcoat]], he spent the rest of the episode limping along, barely able to walk.
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** Unless freezing their shoes to the ground counts. Maki established that this did not directly damage them.
* [[Heart Is an Awesome Power]]: The smarter Contractors tend to figure this out. For instance, November manages to use "[[An Ice Person|freeze stuff]]" to immobilize people, make ranged weapons, shield himself, kill from a distance, or for a [[Touch of Death]] over the course of the series, with no [[Elemental Baggage]] involved, and the second season showed that April's fairly lame "make it rain" power [[Inertia Is a Cruel Mistress|can be plenty dangerous all by itself]].
* [[Hero Withwith Bad Publicity]]: Hei is wanted by the police, and one episode has Kurosawa looking for Yin (in her human identity), and getting the impression that Hei is involved in child-trafficking.
** In the police's defense, Hei isn't exactly the most upstanding citizen. At his most heroic he's committing murder, breaking into maximum-security areas, and blowing up the American embassy.
* [[Ho Yay]]: Episodes 11 and 12. Hei and Nick became close ''very'' quickly, spent a whole night watching the stars together (and made plans to go watch them again afterward), and Hei {{spoiler|looked really sad and heartbroken after Nick "betrayed" him.}}
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* [[Hot Springs Episode]]: Invoked by Kiko (she's a [[Cosplay Otaku Girl]], after all). {{spoiler|And promptly averted by her own indulgence.}}
** The interquel manga contains an omake chapter set during the events of the first season. A hot spring has a rock supposedly from the Gate, so most of the cast goes to investigate. Thus, you have male-geared fanservice from the female cast as well as female-geared fanservice as a naked November 11 [[Foe Yay|flirts with Hei]].
* [[How Do You Like Them Apples?]]: Amber declares they are her favorite fruit and is shown eating one before beginning her plan {{spoiler|to use the Gate to wipe out the human residents of Japan as opposed to all Contractors}}.
* [[Huge Guy, Tiny Girl]]: Amber and her [[The Dragon|minion]], Amagiri.
* [[Hyperspace Arsenal]]: Where does Hei keep all those knives, anyway? He also somehow fits his [[Badass Longcoat]] into his pocket.
* [[An Ice Person]]: November 11 is a more lethal version, and his powers are complemented by April, who [[Making a Splash|can create mini-hurricanes leading to rain]].
* [[Iconic Item]]: Hei's mask, coat, and knives.
* [[Immune to Bullets]]: Explained in the 2nd episode, Hei's [[Badass Longcoat]] is quite handy.
* [[Impaled Withwith Extreme Prejudice]]: A [[Tear Jerker|tear shed]] for {{spoiler|Havok}}. Also {{spoiler|Maki}}, except offscreen and without the tear shedding.
* [[Imported Alien Phlebotinum]]: ''Lots''. Mostly of a [[Black Box]] nature.
** Luke managed to shatter an incoming knife-and-cable, but at least he swept it with a [[Razor Floss|force whip]].
* [[Incredibly Lame Pun]]: Committed by Kurosawa, in [[Gratuitous English]], no less. Quoth Kiko, "That wasn't even funny."
* [[Inelegant Blubbering]]: {{spoiler|Kid!Hei in the Instrumentality-esque [[Gainax Ending]].}}
* [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain]]: Kenji may be a Yakuza member, but his attempts to be badass lead to him getting beaten up or forced to fix the door he kicked down. Oh, and he gets picked for a mission specifically because the boss thinks he doesn't have the brains or guts to screw it up.
* [[Innocent Fanservice Girl]]: The sexy secretary contractor referenced below has the power to teleport (clothing not included) and walks around naked without any suggestion of shame. November 11 acts in the same way when she phases him out of his clothing (although another male contractor is weirded out by her behavior and tells her to [[Please Put Some Clothes On]]). In both cases, this is less innocence than [[Tin Man|just not caring]].
** Dolls should also count. Many of them have been naked in public, and they certainly don't mind it, all of them being [[Emotionless Girl|emotionless people]] by definition. Though [[Your Mileage May Vary|it may be more]] [[Fan Disservice]] in practice...
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** This once blew a contractor's cover, when {{spoiler|Alma}} noticed her staring at what to her should have been empty space.
* [[Ironic Echo]]: November 11 seems to be on the receiving end of this a lot. For instance, his "Smoking kills" speech gets parroted back at him {{spoiler|when he's tied up and needs a cigarette for his remuneration}}, his "[[I Was Just Joking]]" non-jokes are made right back at him, and {{spoiler|Hei, completely on accident, repeated his last advice to Kirihara to her almost word-for-word.}}
** Also common with [[Bond One -Liner|Bond One Liners]]. For instance, November 11's "I knew we'd work well together" echoes what his victim said to him at the beginning of their meeting and was immediately followed by him freezing the guy to death. And when Hei fought Wei, Wei's response to the [[Single -Stroke Battle]] was, "Looks like I'm faster than you." Guess what Hei said after proving him wrong? <ref>There is one important difference there; Wei used ''[[Japanese Pronouns|watashi]]'' while Hei used ''[[Japanese Pronouns|ore]]''.</ref>
** November 11 has an EPR agent telling him what he told to Hei before. He laughed and reminisced Hei's [[Talk to Thethe Fist|answer]].
* [[ItsIt's Personal]]: Wei bears a grudge against Hei for defeating him in a fight; on the more heroic side, November 11 and July act contrary to their supposedly emotionless personalities and seek revenge on Maki for [[Nakama|injuring April]].
** Hei's grudge against Amber is also personal, {{spoiler|if rather misplaced.}}
* [[It Was Withwith You All Along]]: A [[Soul Fragment]], sort of.
* [[I Was Just Joking]]: [[Running Gag|November 11, worst comedian ever.]]
* [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique]]: One of the first scenes. Also, when Hei encounters Havoc (and assumes her to be just as monstrous as she was previously), he slaps her and then [[Fingore|breaks her fingers]] to elicit information on his sister. He does feel remorseful when he realizes that she is no longer a monster, but it's still pretty disturbing behavior on his part.
* [[Janitor Impersonation Infiltration]]: The reason for some of Hei's jobs.
* [[Jerk Justifications]]: Usually along the lines of: "How could you murder in cold blood, [[You Monster!|you monster]]?!" "I'm a contractor."
* [[Jerk Withwith a Heart of Gold]]: Huang
* [[Knife Nut]]: Hei
* [[Knocking Onon Heathens' Door]]: The Friends of the Gate.
* [[Kuudere]]: Hei may be a [[Stoic]] [[Badass Longcoat]] who acts like a [[Jerkass]] sometimes, but he's actually [[Not So Stoic|a lot more fragile]] than he lets on, and if you mess with his [[Nakama]], you're ''dead''. Misaki Kirihara generally prefers to act distant and professional, but she's cheerful and even makes jokes when she relaxes a bit. Yin might qualify as well, as the resident not-so-emotionless [[Emotionless Girl]].
* [[Lack of Empathy]]: Combined with [[Tin Man]], this pretty much sums up the contractor mindset.
* [[Laser -Guided Amnesia]]: Memory erasing is rather widely used to maintain the [[Masquerade]]. Moreover, part of stolen memories can be "[[Fake Memories|uploaded]]" (at least in a Doll's empty mind) to counterfeit an original person.
** It seems the ME actually USES Lasers (or another sort of red light Beam) for this.
* [[Left for Dead]]: Bertha thought she'd managed to stop the heart of {{spoiler|Hei, who restarted it immediately using his electrical discharge}}. Hei ''almost'' fatally electrocuted {{spoiler|Wei, just after [[Faking the Dead]]}}, but he didn't need to kill him, just get him out of the way. Still, everyone fell for it, including the police.
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* [[Lightning Gun]]: Notably averted; this is one of the rare cases where a [[Shock and Awe]] character can't throw lightning bolts and usually follows electricity physics, needing direct contact or conductive material like metal and water.
* [[Likes Older Women]]: Referenced:
{{quote| '''Kiko''': Li-kun! I never would have guessed you liked middle-aged women!<br />
'''Kirihara''': ''Middle-aged?'' }}
* [[Look Behind You!]]: "The stars are pretty." "What? It's overcast." * [[Stealth Hi Bye|has vanished]]*
* [[Loony Fan]]: Also a [[Crowning Moment of Funny]]. If you want to know [[Brain Bleach|how it feels when yer brain implodes]], imagine the "[[Crack Pairing|pairing]]" of the all-stealthy ''Black [[Shinigami|Angel of Death]]'' and loudmouthed ''Kiko''. And she ''tried''. [[Stalker Withwith a Crush|Enthusiastically]].
* [[Loose Canon]]: The OVA happens somewhere in the middle of the first season, but thanks to the [[Reset Button]], could fit in just about anywhere and doesn't really affect the plot.
* [[Lovable Traitor]]: Technically, in his infiltrations Hei worked against Yakuza, PANDORA and (secondary to the target, but still) police. Now look at his interaction with Kenji, Nick and Kirihara in his undercover identity. He didn't even play with them, he's really like that. Much the same for Chiaki{{spoiler|'s doll replacement}}.
** Lampshaded in an [[Omake]] to the first manga, where the heroine, who's mostly interacted with his "real" personality, sees him switch over to "Li" and start cheerfully chatting with Saitou, with great big labels on the scene reading "Police" and "Culprit."
* [[MacGuffin]]: A number of Hei's missions involve him stealing crystals or other things which came from the gate and not only is that goal not revealed until he completes it, the significance of the products isn't either.
* [[Mafia Princess]]: A psychotic one who was the childhood friend of Kirihara and tries to kill her with the help of Wei, her [[The Kid Withwith the Leash|"pet Contractor"]].
* [[Magic Byby Any Other Name]]
* [[Magic Prerequisite]]: The basis of a Contractor's powers.
* [[Major Injury Underreaction]]: It's never directly stated, but there is arguably an implication that Contractors are fairly resistant to injury. Wei is always cutting himself and is never weakened by blood loss; November 11 pulls Hei's dagger out of his arm, and despite needing a bandage, doesn't have any permanent damage; April is caught in an explosion, and while covered in bandages afterward has no injuries or scars in her next appearance; Hei suffers some pretty serious damage in the course of the series, even having his heart stopped at least once, but is able to shrug it off and keep fighting.
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* [[Mask Power]]: Hei.
* [[Masquerade]]: Very few people know the truth about the Contractors, and one organization's goal is to reveal their existence to the public. {{spoiler|It works.}}
* [[Mass Super -Empowering Event]]: The appearance of the Gates.
* [[Meaningful Echo]]: "I guess you can't help who you fall in love with," was touching enough when Kenji said it, but coming from {{spoiler|grumpy [[Fantastic Racism|Huang]] about a Contractor he was supposed to kill}} it's even more powerful.
* [[Meaningful Name]]: The writers really did a number on this one. Hei, of course, has [[Shock and Awe|electric-based abilities]], which he acquired as a result of whatever transpired in South America when he was with Amber. The word "electric" is derived from a Latin term which roughly translates to "produce from amber by friction," as it was believed then that lightning was a product of amber. In reality amber is a conductor of static electricity, so it's only fitting that Amber [[Incredibly Lame Pun|rubs Hei the wrong way]], inevitably resulting in [[Hurricane of Puns|sparks flying.]] ''In addition'' to that, amber is fossilized resin, something kept in its natural state by time, which fits perfectly with Amber's ability.
** Also, the various [[Code Name|Code Names]] used by members of [[The Syndicate]] are words for [[Colorful Theme Naming|colors]] in foreign languages, mostly Chinese and English, and a lot of them are clearly based on the person's appearance. Besides Amber and her [[Eyes of Gold]], there's Hei ("black" in Chinese, and black-haired, [[Black Eyes|black-eyed]], and prone to wearing black), Yin ("silver" in Chinese and a [[White -Haired Pretty Girl]]), and red-headed Havoc's Syndicate codename "Carmine." Bai ("white") is probably meant to contrast with her brother. Oh, and [[Punny Name|"Mao" means "cat."]]
*** And Huang is "yellow", which symbolizes... [[Chinese People|uh...]]
**** Huang is possibly also a reference to Huang Zhong, a famous general from China's Three Kingdoms period (as in ''Romance of the Three Kingdoms''), famed in folk culture as the quintessential elderly warrior, and whose name as thus become synonymous with that archetype.
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* [[Merlin Sickness]]: {{spoiler|Amber}}'s remuneration is growing younger.
* [[Mind Control Eyes]]: Dolls have these.
* [[The Mind Is a Plaything of Thethe Body]]: Mao needs [[Applied Phlebotinum]] to compensate for a cat brain. {{spoiler|When his link to PANDORA's database is cut, he rapidly reverts to acting like a cat.}}
* [[Mind Rape]]: Hell's Gate can cause hallucinations, and it seems to go out of its way to dredge up Hei's [[Dead Little Sister|lingering]] [[Shell -Shocked Veteran|insecurities]]. This leaves our [[Stoic]] [[Badass]] staring off into space with a tortured and/or ''terrified'' expression on his face three or four times in the two episodes he spends in a research facility there.
** Dolls have basically been [[Mind Rape|mind raped]] into nearly [[Empty Shell|Empty Shells]] by the Gate.
** One Contractor in the [[Interquel]] manga has the ability to interfere with people's perceptions and thoughts to a frightening degree, and can pretty much completely incapacitate anyone she's focussing on.
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* [[Mineral MacGuffin]]: The Meteor Fragment.
* [[Miniature Senior Citizens]]: Hei's landlady and the [[Mad Scientist]] from the later episodes.
* [[Mismatched Eyes]]: Maki, in a [[Shout -Out]] to Souseiseki of ''[[Rozen Maiden (Manga)|Rozen Maiden]]''.
* [[Mission Control]]: Huang and Yin
* [[Mood Whiplash]]: Often present, as an arc will start off with some humor, but become grim by the end.
** Alternately, whenever something [[Tear Jerker]]-y or violent has just happened at the end of the episode... [[Soundtrack Dissonance|and then the calm, peaceful first ending theme]] cuts in with a picture of a waving field of flowers. After some of the arcs, you start to wonder if it's actually a minefield.
* [[Mook Horror Show]]: Considering the [[Cat Scare|cat scares]] and Hei's [[Stealth Hi Bye]] abilities bordering on [[Offscreen Teleportation]] (Not to mention his [[Jack Bauer Interrogation Technique|rather brutal information-gathering tactics]]), one could be forgiven for thinking he was the villain up until [[First Episode Spoiler|the end of the second episode]].
* [[Morality Pet]]: Never, ''ever'' mess with Yin. The blind, [[Moe]] [[Emotionless Girl]] comes with a very protective [[Badass Abnormal]] ninja who will want to have a word with you if you so much as touch her. Overlaps with [[Morality Chain]] as well.
* [[Motherly Scientist]]: Kanami cared a lot about {{media-|[[Dt B 13]]_Kanami_and_Dolls_336x178_4178media:DtB13_Kanami_and_Dolls_336x178_4178.png| catatonic Dolls}}]] [[People Jars|in jars]] in her observatory and learned their individual quirks, which became evident when CY-463 trapped them. They are more ''tools'' than ''subjects'', but it's not like she could do for them any more even if she had any real power.
* [[Motive Rant]]: {{spoiler|The Director}} delivers one of these to Kirihara in the last episode; combined with [[Villainous Breakdown]], since he starts strangling her in the middle of his rant. {{spoiler|Then Hei shows up and pwns him in a matter of about 3 seconds.}}
* [[Ms. Fanservice]]: Kirihara, who has fairly regular scenes where she's just gotten out of the pool.
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* [[Mundane Utility]]: Electricity-based power can be used to fry someone, crack an electrical lock, {{spoiler|defibrillate a heart}} -- or to repair a TV. A [[Razor Floss|telekinetic whip]] helps to [[Clean Cut|slice people and concrete alike into bouillon cubes]] -- or remove caps from bottles (along with half the neck).
* [[Murder Is the Best Solution]]: Most Contractors seem to think so.
* [[My God, What Have I Done?]]: {{spoiler|Shihoko's}} remuneration, oddly enough. After she uses her powers, her feelings and morals return to normal and she has [[Villainous BSOD|a complete breakdown]]. Havoc is in this state pretty much permanently.
* [[My Species Doth Protest Too Much]]: Contractors are said to be cold-hearted, rational killers who don't dream, by characters who find them aberrant/abhorrent for these qualities. But there's always at least one who behaves in contradiction to these traits, and then there are normal humans who demonstrate their capacity for them.
 
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Darker Than Black (Anime){{ROOTPAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:SeasonSplit OneTrope Tropes A-MLists]]
[[Category:Darker Than Black]]
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