Darker Than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini

Title:Darker Than Black: Ryuusei no Gemini
Darker Than Black 2
Darker than Black: Gemini of the Meteor
Darker Than Black: Ryūsei no Gemini
DARKER THAN BLACK―黒の契約者 2
黒の契約者 2
흑의 계약자 2
Overall:Watch
Keywords: , , , , , , ,
Notables: Animation - BONES
Two years have passed since Hei and Yin escaped the Syndicate after the events of the first season. Making their way to Russia, Hei encounters a young girl named Suou Pavlichenko, whose family is gradually pulled into the war between contractors and various intelligence factions. Meanwhile, Misaki Kirihara has quit her position in Foreign Affairs to begin her own investigations into Hei, the Contractors and the Syndicate.

Source: ANN

Sequel or continuation of the story told in Darker Than Black.
And followed by OVA episodes - DtB Gaiden.

Animation by BONES
New series started airing on Oct 9th '09.
12 TV Episodes.

OverallArtAnimationCharacter Design MusicSeries StoryEpisode StoryReviewer
Watch 9 9 8 6 6 6 Ggultra2764 [series:2136#1552]
This season of Darker than Black was quite a mess compared to the first season and OAV that I seen which makes my viewing of it before the second season somewhat pointless. I know why Hei's a drunkard and more merciless in battle, as well as the changes in Yin thanks to the OAVs. But these developments are given less priority for the second season as greater focus is put onto new character Suou. Her character, as a whole, is a bit of a double-edged sword as while we are given enough focus on her character and developments as she adjusts to her status as a Contractor later in the series compared to most characters just being there, she doesn't really fit in with the whole dark, gritty mood that DTB is known for giving off. I also noticed a greater number of comic relief scenes that the show attempts to mix in to alleviate the intense situations that occur yet just like the appearance of goofball detective and fangirl assistant from the first season (who to my annoyance are back in Gemini of the Meteor), they don't really fit in with all this and I found the scenes a big waste of time.

A good number of major characters that pop up hardly get any focus or depth leaving you wondering if there is any reason for them to be there other than be tools to advance the plot or just to look cool. Why is July tagging along with Hei and Suou? What are up with the pair of Dolls accompanying Madame Oreille? Is Mina a lesbian? What led Tanya to turn into a Contractor? How does Oreille get her information? There are so many characters around that this season barely has the time to keep focus on them for too long.

But perhaps my biggest beef with this season of the series is that too much is going on and there's too little time to get too deep into it. I have found that the biggest problem with the Darker than Black anime franchise as a whole for me is that it only gives enough detail on plot and characters to move things along yet it doesn't bother digging deep into the causes and reasons for what occurs (the Gate phenomena, how one becomes a Contractor or Doll, the intentions of the various organizations). In this season, several international organizations are trying to either obtain or destroy the pieces to a power that would bring either greatness or doom to those that set everything up. There's only enough detail to know if they are there to obtain or destroy the pieces, which is all there really is making the tensions between organizations compared to the first season rather weak here. The specifics of what would occur with these pieces are only vaguely hinted upon and even with the finale to the series, you are left with more questions than answers with what happens with all the cast members. The only major positive I can give this season is that the above average visuals and fluid animation from the first season are retained here.

Beyond that, Gemini of the Meteor proved to be the weakest offering of the Darker than Black anime franchise I've seen. With its toned down mood and packing too much into 12 episodes to provide at least a somewhat cohesive plot, I don't think I'll be hopping back to it again for a while.

Last updated Tuesday, July 27 2010. Created Tuesday, July 27 2010.
Watch 8 8 9 8 8 8 Dreamer [series:2136#2279]
I loved the first season and was waiting for this one. However, it wasn't as good as I had hoped it to be.

Art, Animation & Character Designs
Artwork was good. Far better than the norm. It seemed slightly better than the last season. Animation was equally as good. Character designs were on par with the previous installment.

Music
The OP wasn't too bad. It was a rock piece with female vocals. As for the rest of the soundtrack, it had some nice pieces, mostly rock, especially in the first episode. There was cool techno pieces during some dramatic scenes. The ED was a pretty good piece as well. An alternative piece that actually caught my attention... which is pretty rare.

Series and Episode Story
As the first season, this one was full of interesting characters and factions, though not as complex as season 1. Here we're focused more on our protagonist and his newly aquired "assistant", "Suou". Some of the original characters are back, which makes it nice. As for the plot, not bad and definitely tamer than the first season. Few gripes however. One, Suou just didn't work for me. She was a more of an annoyance than anything. Second, her "transformation" just didn't fit with the rest of the whole Darker than Black characters. I mean, when she puts on her "Contractor" side, she whips out this massively huge gun that comes out of her belly but rather it being fast and to the point (as it should be in these confrontations), the animation takes a stupid Power-ranger-like transformation... without the power suits. I mean, c'mon! She'd be sliced & diced, shot full of holes or blown to bits by her enemy already! I can't recall any of the other Contractors going through such a dramatic transformation, rather, it "just happens".

Overall, it was an okay series but could have been much better. I found it "almost" boring but barely had enough in it to keep you partially glued. Not bad.

Last updated Saturday, January 02 2010. Created Saturday, January 02 2010.
Unevaluated Jan-Chan [series:2136#967]
And the dark and bloody story of the contractor Hei continues.

Starting the story with an innocent romp of high school students and love-confessions, it quickly turns dark as one of the students converts into a contractor, while a private army shows up launch a covert attack at a researcher's home in the area.

Nothing is explained, but its just more of the mystery and murder that made the first season so entertaining.

Last updated Saturday, October 10 2009. Created Saturday, October 10 2009.

Other Sites
NameURL
Darker Than Black (Offical Webpage) (Japanese) http://www.d-black.net/

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