Anime Addicts Anonymous Podcast

Episode Reviewed In: Episode 11

Alternate Titles: Yami no Matsuei 闇の末裔 (Japanese)

Original Japanese Release Date: 2000-10-02

Episode Length/Run-time: 13 Episodes

Summary:

In the afterlife, it is the Judgment Bureau’s job to make sure every death is accounted for, organized, and filed away. But sometimes deaths are sudden, abnormal, and tricky. It’s Tsuzuki Asato’s job to find out why. The problem is, all shinigami, even ones like himself who’ve had this job for seventy years, must work in pairs. And with his quirky personality and knack for getting into trouble, he can’t manage to hang onto a partner long enough to make one stick, until Kurosaki Hisoka—a sixteen year old boy looking for information on his murder—comes along. Together they stumble across evil secrets and countless dangers, all of which leading to one man: Kazutaka Muraki.

Review:

First and foremost, it must be mentioned that this anime easily qualifies as Retro, the animation style standard of the late nineties, a little shaky and occasionally reminiscing of Speed Racer in frozen facial expression or disjointed limb movement. But that aside, there are enough good qualities within this anime that it would be worth recommending, though only to a mature audience with an open mind. Objectionable content swarms Descendants of Darkness, from themes like rape and murder to an astounding amount of visual violence. But, strangely enough, it only adds to the atmosphere, making the plot seem heavier and more concrete, when there IS plot, at least. Some transitions from arc to arc are lost and the sudden attempt to create back story for Tsuzuki in the final arc is just disappointing, but the scenes it manages to to do right, it does really, really right.

While the music borders on forgettable at times, it actually manages to add a decent amount of tension or relief for many scenes, staying simple and most likely synth-composed, but still offering an added emotional feel for various deaths throughout the series. The relationships between the characters span quite a range, from barely there at all—which makes their sudden desperate need to protect one another hard to believe—to very present and heartwarming, growing as the characters grow. Hisoka and Tsuzuki go from hating each other to dealing with each other to caring about each other and maybe even loving each other, making the ridiculously slapped together ending almost bearable. In the end, I can’t see this being worth more than a 3/5, but for a thirteen episode series, it doesn’t do too poorly for itself. Worth a watch on many levels. Beware of some yaoi.