Darker than BLACK II OVA - Episode 4 (Completed)

After leaving death, chaos and a screaming baby in its wake by the end of the last episode, this final instalment of Darker Than Black's OVA which interconnects the two main series of the show takes a quick step back to show us exactly how those contractors met their demise, to some extent at least.


Of course, this state of affairs is all part of the awakening of Izanami within Yin, although she soon finds herself kidnapped and held to ransom as a "come and get her" call is made to pretty much anyone who would listen, which of course includes Hei himself and a handy fellow contractor for him to work with. From here, we enter a slightly complex set of machinations, as Yin finds herself sold to the highest bidder only for the resulting briefcase full of cash being thrown away, as the true meaning of this transaction was all about revenge. This all takes a back seat however as Izanami's awakening reaches new heights, eventually leading to an emotional face-off between Yin and Hei before the agency which holds the former captive throughout Ryuusei no Gemini step in to put a temporary halt to the massive chaos about to ensue.

Although this kind of story defies explanation in a snappy paragraph or two (and I'm trying not to delve too deeply into spoiler territory, just in case), come the end of this OVA the second season of Darker Than BLACK suddenly seems a little more comprehensible and worthwhile - This episode manages to frame many of the events of Ryuusei no Gemini in a reasonably solid and clear way, to the point where I'm almost tempted to go back and watch that series again to get my head around it a little better. Really, this only goes to show that (commercial reasons aside) this OVA really should have been released before Ryuusei no Gemini's TV broadcast, not afterwards, as the whole endeavour would have made more sense in light of this pretty decent effort, which ended with another slice of slick action coupled with plenty of reasonably compelling exposition. You could almost say this OVA was Darker Than BLACK back to its very best. Almost, but not quite, although "not quite as good as Darker Than BLACK" still makes for a good anime in its own right.