Darker than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini - Episode 11

Every week it seems that writing about Darker than BLACK: Ryuusei no Gemini becomes a more daunting task as further revelations get thrown onto the fires that keep the series burning, and this penultimate episode certainly fits the bill on that count. In fact, it barely feels like a penultimate episode at all given how much seems to be going on as this instalment closes out.

After beginning with a glimpse at the sheer brutal horror that Izanami can be capable of, Hei and Suou go their own separate ways once again, with the former clearly looking to reach Yin's location while Suou needs to find her brother more than ever. Meanwhile, we learn that the moon which appeared at the end of the last episode is another part of the prophecies concerning what will happen should Izanami and Izanagi ever meet, adding further to the foreboding surrounding Yin and whatever she has become.


That aside, much of this episode deals with Suou's search for her brother, which takes her first and foremost towards a reunion with her father - A shock for Suou as of course she still presumed him to be dead. This meeting allows us to learn exactly how any why the "current" cloned Suou was born, from her sex (despite being a clone of Shion in a sense) through to the memories that she holds. Of course, there's little time for sentimental family reunions, with the location where Shion and her father were hiding out soon under assault from multiple forces, not least the Americans who seem to have taken an interest in nabbing both Izanami and Izanagi for their own ends. Suou's powers help her to escape the attentions of any pursuers, but at a high cost, leaving her free to find her brother as other previously disparate elements start to get together. There's certainly peril all around for the major characters by the time the episode preview rolls however.

As per my comments last episode, this really is a reminder of the Darker than BLACK we know and love - A tangled and endlessly shifting and moving story which seems unfathomably complex at times, yet never to the detriment of the show's entertainment value. While I worry that there simply won't be enough time to resolve everything to my satisfaction in that single, final episode, this instalment was another fantastically paced and developed offering which again balanced new revelations on one hand with further mysteries on the other. Now, all we can do is hope and pray that it can keep all of those plates spinning at lightning speed for a further twenty minutes to bring us a conclusion worthy of what has come before.