Red Garden: New York and Clan Curses

This was where I was going to post a nice Screencap of the girls from episode eight,
but Zoomplayer doesn't work well with mkv apparently

So one of the series that surprised me the most in the Winter Season was Red Garden. I was, like most people, initially turned off by the character designs, particularly the rather large noses. However, if you manage to get past that (and by the third episode it's hardly noticeable) you can find that the series has a lot going for it.

The main plot is like so: Kate, Claire, Rose, and Rachel are four girls going to an elite school in New York (which doesn't actually exist). One night, they go with their friend Lise to meet her boyfriend. Unfortunately for them, they all get brutally murdered. The first episode starts mainly on the day after all of the mayhem occurred, with the four girls going to school with no memory of the previous night. Throughout the day they try to figure out why they can't remember anything. Also, Lise, the other girl, had been found dead in the forest, leading to much grieving from Kate, arguably the main character of the series. The four girls are brought together in the evening, where a mysterious woman, Rula, tells them that they are indeed dead, and they must fight human-like monsters.

Now, when I first viewed this series, I thought it would be an almost shoujo version of Gantz, a manga which I adore. This thankfully wasn't the case. This anime has turned into a very nice exposition piece. Watching the characters adapt to this new situation is particularly interesting. Of note is Rachel, essentially the popular party girl of the series. We see her start to break away from her carefree lifestyle and begins to take a more serious outlook on life. In fact all the characters are quite interesting, from the rebel Claire to the elite Kate to even the homely Rose. Of course, the girls are all quite different, but they do share a close friendship, shown concretely in the eighth episode, which is full of character exposition and remains my favourite episode yet.

One of the shows high points is undeniably the voice acting and the intro and outro pieces. Since the voice work is done before animation begins, it allows the seiyuu to fall into their characters, resulting in some very nice and realistic work, unlike many of the bishoujo shows around. The intro and outro are also very nice pieces. The intro gives a feel of "America" even though it is a Japanese language piece. It's just soothing every time I hear it. The outro is also a very cool, upbeat piece. The visuals are also something to watch, since it contains the human males in the band and has most of the main cast attending the concert and having a very good time. It makes me feel good, especially Rula enjoying herself while the girls watch.

Now, being an anime, it's a given that some things will definitely seem out of place. There are a few cultural things that aren't given a lot of thought to. Claire's job search and Rose's siblings being excited about getting meat for dinner come to mind. Claire shouldn't have that much trouble getting a job and Meat is plentiful in North America. There are enough American based refrences to make me forget it though, such as "Witches" and the Soup Nazi.

All in all, Red Garden takes its place as my favourite show of the Fall 2006 season. Let's just hope it keeps up the good work in its second cour.