If part one of Murder Speculation was grisly, Remaining Sense of Pain is abjectly brutal. Rape, murder and torture all feature heavily in this pitch black story where a girl aggrieved slaughters her tormentors in a most barbaric fashion. Unflinching throughout, this entry in the Kara no Kyoukai series of movies explores the meaning of pain - both emotional and physical - and the nature of murder.

Mikiya is older now, Shiki has awoken from her coma and once again someone is murdering indiscriminately. After caring for a girl in pain he finds on the street, Mikiya is asked by an old school friend to track down a junior who has disappeared. Toko, after splashing out on an extravagant purchase, accepts an unsavoury job and assigns Shiki to track down the murderer. The two investigations converge when it becomes apparent the murderer, Fujino - a classmate of Mikiya's sister Azaka, is after Keita, the classmate Mikiya is tracking down. Regularly raped and beaten by Keita's gang of deviants, Fujino is massacring them one by one, but wracked by unfamiliar pain and hunted by Shiki, her power grows as her sanity slips.

Please note: the remainder of this post contains images and themes of an adult nature, if you are offended by these subjects or are otherwise restricted by laws or moral obligations within your municipality, please do not proceed.

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Darker than Black asked more questions than it reasonably answered so a second season is welcomed not simply for the chance to tie up loose ends. Lamentably, as so far this sequel is as obtuse as the first and omits an overview of the first season in favour of a cryptic flashback, some light romantic drama followed by some out-of-character fan service. The first three episodes present a haggard, visibly scarred Hei with ill-explored traumas inflicted in the intervening period between seasons; an incessantly annoying teenage girl with a flying squirrel sidekick and a selection of Contractors with a variety of outlandish remunerations. So far so Darker than Black.

It diverges little in both pace and atmosphere of the first series with the animosity between humans and Contractors still prevalent and mention of a shadowy organisation that seems to exist only to be enigmatic rather than any pragmatic reason. The two episode per story is dropped in favour of a more straightforward linear narrative that sees the teenage girl witness her home destroyed by a number of groups searching for (what else) a meteor fragment; through this she meets Hei and experiences a number of her friends either killed or turned into glassy eyed Contractors. Were it not for the shadow cast by the first season this could well be an intriguing genesis for a new series, there is however an all too present fear that BONES will be miring the already labyrinthine mythos and the conclusion will perhaps give a character but not a story ending.

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When Studio bones attaches itself to an anime, it is a mark of quality that transcends genre. Not one of bones's back catalogue can be claimed to be substandard in either animation quality or production. Common occurrences like a first episode budget-burn or compromising fidelity for fluidity so common to serialised TV anime are non-existent for a bones' creation. So it's with continued admiration and a sense of joy that one can approach Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 safe in the knowledge of bones's place at the pinnacle of production.

Beginning with stark sepia scenes of a ruined Tokyo, this tells the - currently fictional - story of a severe earthquake striking the Tokyo metropolis area. Focusing on the trials of Mirai and Yuuki as they try to find their way home, the first three episodes of Tokyo Magnitude 8.0 are absolutely superb and are a masterclass in characterisation. Opening in rain drenched twilight then rolling back 24 hours, Mirai is portrayed as a typical urban youth: fractious, jaded and proud. Miles from their prototypical suburban home when the disaster hits, Mirai must first search tearfully for Yuuki but not before meeting the bike courier Mari; with Yuuki successfully located, the trio take flight from Odaiba and start the long journey back to their homes. Following such luminaries as Eden of the East with a diminutive 11 episodes, there is ample time to explore the meticulously researched devastation as well as forge the protagonists.

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I mentioned in my review of Darker than Black that it's a series which is as complicated and metaphorical as you wish it to be really and given the ending which seemed to finish the series without completing it, there's plenty of tid-bits to sift through and question. It was made clear that another episode of the series, number twenty six, would be released on DVD, however word is that this is a side-story rather than the much anticipated explanation so many desire.

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Darker than Black presents itself in shades of grey: muted morality and subtle story-telling; it built itself the enviable position of being as complex and involving as you allow it to be, peeling back layer upon layer if you care to look. Unfortunately the series falls short of perfection and in its quest to provide a softly-spoken and adult narrative, it omits to fill in some of the most glaring blanks and leaves some ideas stranded out at sea.

Born from Tensai Okamura, animated by the creative powerhouse, BONES and scored by the seminal Yoko Kanno, Darker than Black was one of those projects gifted with immensely talented people and a head-start on becoming a classic. It arguable fails to achieve that illustrious title shared by so many other BONES productions but only through what it lacks rather than what it has in abundance.

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