Review: Tengoku Daimakyo Episode 11

Tengoku Daimakyo is nearing the end of the season and as the previous two episodes have shown us, there is still so much to learn. Last week, we saw the conclusion (?) of Juichi’s story and got to learn some pretty interesting details. First, it seems like the mother of Juichi’s child became a Man-eater and her child, Juichi’s son, is able to use what look like her powers, without turning into a monster. This is pretty significant because there is a possibility that the mother came from the nursery and shared Mimihime’s destiny. It also gives an insight into how their children might function.

Today’s episode was pretty much fully about the nursery: Mimihime meets Ohma, a child who has the power to make people hallucinate their biggest fears. Not only that, but Ohma has striking blue eyes – very similar to the Man-eater Kiruko met in the seventh episode. Not only that, but their powers seem to be the same. This also ties things in with Mimihime is Hoshio theory: Mimihime’s biggest fear that she can’t explain is being experimented on and cut. She can’t figure out why she is so scared of these things but she is aware that her powers may have something to do with it. Her future memories are on full display when she looks at Ohma’s eyes. She admits this to Kona, who tries to console her. But, Mimihime is able to see his future as well and it is not looking pretty.

Tokio also makes her return in this episode. She gave birth, and Kona seems to be aware of this fact as the two are somehow synchronized. What I did not expect is that she actually had two babies, who are now being taken care of by the staff at the nursery. I’m not entirely sure if the babies are twins or clones, or something completely different but that’s just the way Tengoku Daimakyo episodes roll.

The staff at the nursery seems in a state of disarray, they are working with Mina, who appears to be an AI, and doing her bidding without even knowing what they are building. Mina is referred to as “children’s mother” but it doesn’t look like the Director is fully on board with whatever Mina wants. Director has her own plans which apparently include a brain transplant into a younger body: first Aoshima and then Tokio’s baby. At first, it didn’t make sense, but seeing as there are two children… Sawatari also has a plan of his own. I’m not sure if he wants to stop the Director or something else, but it definitely seems like he and Aoshima might be planning to escape. It’s interesting to note that Director mentions eight combatants and the Super-Beam prototype, the weapon we know as Kiru-Beam. There is talk of doing forbidden things, leading me to believe that whatever this facility is, it is not known to the rest of the world.

While all this mess is going on in the background, Mina begins a final test for the children. Their goal is to go outside of the outside. Does Mina know what everyone is up to? It definitely seems likely. She also calls children “Hiruko” and a few of them state they finally felt like somebody called their true name.

I’m still sticking to my theory that Maru is one of Tokio’s children. If Director’s sinister plan succeeded then she might be hiding in Maru’s sister’s body. Both Maru and Kiruko are headed to the Ibaraki facility of the Takahara Academy, but something else is waiting for them there – Robin, the man Kiruko has been looking for.

We are definitely heading to the finale of the season. I have to wonder if Anzu is actually Mimikura – the woman who took care of Maru. Since he doesn’t have any memories and Sawatari mentioned that the “vessel” needs to be at least 13, preferably 15, it is definitely possible he spent his life in some kind of comatose state.

Episodes 10 and 11 of Tengoku Daimakyo are streaming on Disney+ and Hulu.
© Tengoku Daimakyo Production Committee