Music of Darker than Black

The series' soundtrack was composed by Yoko Kanno in 2007. When approached by Okamura, Kanno recalled being given ideas about a detective series to give her music a distinctive style. When she began composing the soundtrack, she did not have a scenario or setting in mind when she met Okamura again. Some of the background music is typical Kanno as heard in Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, but other tracks are livelier; she wanted to write glamorous songs. Kanno cited sophisticated French films as inspiring the music of Darker than Black, wanting it to embody the series' cold characters; Latin music was another influence, and she appreciated sound director Kazuhiro Wakabayashi's assistance with the soundtrack.^[1]

The soundtrack for Gemini of the Meteor was released in Japan on December 23, 2009, by Aniplex. Its twenty tracks include short versions of the opening and closing themes.^[2] Yasushi Ishii replaced Kanno in the sequel and OVAs, and came to regard Darker than Black and Hellsing as his favorite works.^[3] Ishii described the second season is like the darkest time of night right before dawn. For him, the second scenario can be summed up as a harsh battlefield. He used to make hard rock, electric and experimental music in the making of the soundtrack.^[4]

Two pieces of theme music are used: one opening theme and one ending theme. The opening theme "Tsukiakari no Michishirube" (ツキアカリのミチシルベ; lit. "Guidepost of the Moonlight") is sung by the Japanese rock band Stereopony who claims the theme is meant to show anxiety and despair in a daily life.^[5] The ending theme "From Dusk Till Dawn" is performed by Abingdon Boys School, who previously did the first opening theme for Darker than Black. The vocalist Takanori Nishikawa stated the ending's purpose was to express multiple affection in a limited time.^[5] "From Dusk Till Dawn" sold 22,923 copies in Japan.^[6]

The OVAs use "Darker than Black" by Ishii as the ending theme. The theme was noted for its similarities with David Bowie's theme song "Ziggy Stardust". Although Ishii admitted he was heavily influenced by Bowie's works, he claimed the similarities were accidentally. According to Isshi, the song primarily focuses on Hei. This incarnation of the character is that of a man who fights as a savior, how to deceive salvation in a world without salvation. Hei is further characterizated as a man in a world of struggle, mercy, and overcoming oneself. Despite having such powers, Ishii wanted to write Hei as a man suffering from loneliness.^[7][3] In contrast to the audio of Gemini of the Meteor, Gaiden has soundtrack by piano and string instruments.^[7]

The series' soundtrack was composed by Yoko Kanno in 2007. The series uses four pieces of theme music: two opening themes and two ending themes. "Howling" by Abingdon Boys School was used as the opening theme for the first 14 episodes while "Kakusei Heroism (The Hero Without a "Name")" by An Cafe was used as the second opening theme from episodes 15 onwards. "Tsukiakari" (ツキアカリ; lit. "Moonlight") by Rie fu was used as the ending theme for the first 14 episodes while "Dreams" by High and Mighty Color was used as the second ending theme from episodes 15 onwards.^[8]

The soundtrack has 20 tracks, including the opening and closing themes performed by Abingdon Boys School and Rie fu. Other non-instrumental songs were written by Tim Jensen and performed by Mai Yamane (tracks eight and 10) and James Wendt (tracks 14 and 19).^[9] It peaked at number 57 on the Oricon albums chart.^[10] Tensai Okamura wanted 1970s-type folk music which would convey the impression of darkness.^[11]