Darker than Black 12 Day Challenge - Day 07. Favorite Ending - Tsukiakari by Rie Fu ★

luanthe:

Source: Andante

”What exactly is that Doll to you?”

whitepool:

Has this been done yet.

I didn’t think you’d come for me. I’m just a doll to you.

breakfastcontinental:

Ohshit. July is emoting.

What a cutie. What cuties.

I really like… July’s development. He really treads the line between utterly robotic and unbelievably adorable. Even in the first season, the way that he always held April’s hand and the way that November 11 and April took care of him was very reminiscent of a family and that obviously had an effect on him, whether or not either thought it would. Like, November 11 is surprised when Kirihara tells him that July considers him a comrade (nakama) but that’s the way November 11 and April have always treated him so it’s natural that July reciprocates.

One of the underlying messages of Darker Than Black, as a whole, I think, is what kind of impact social conditioning can have on a person. Suou becomes unable to understand the emotions she clearly still possesses because she believes she shouldn’t have them since she’s become a Contractor. Expectations surrounding a Contractor’s behavior causes him or her to fulfill those expectations. However, older Contractors such as Amber, November 11, April, Mao, Nick, et cetera, because they had to blend into human society, started absorbing certain aspects of that society, aspects that reward certain responses and punish others, so that they eventually become able to use “logic” to reach “human/emotional” conclusions. They learn context-specific logic. Like, if you were to ask November 11, he’d tell you that his decision to take out his boss and coworkers with a bottle of bourbon was a logical decision and lay the whole process out for you, but it flies in the face of a living being’s most basic instinct: self-preservation.

Also, look at that cute face. Look at it.