Category: Red Garden

Ooh, a new OP. At least, an enhanced op. The still frames from the original OP now have a bit of movement added to them. Makes for an interesting effect, I like it. Anyway, about the episode, I’m beginning to love this show more and more. Especially Hervé. I love this guy. Especially when he he’s near Lise, he really is too mean against her. ^^ It may be a bit mean, but I loved how he told her that he was meeting Kate, in that extra-mean voice. It’s been quite an eventful episode for him. First the date with Kate and at the end of the episode, … collapsed. He’s quite pitiful, seeing as it now seems that the two girls aren’t really necessary anymore for the survival of his family, so doctor Bender starts ignoring the two of them more and more. It really gives Hervé a good reason to hate Lise. Apart from Hervé, the episode focused mostly on Kate. Rose also made some interesting development, and we learn something interesting about Lula and her companion. It seems that they’ve got connections with the school’s headmistress. That might explain how they learned about Rachel and the others in the first place, and something tells me that a lot of their victims come from the same school. Meanwhile, the inevitable happened: someone told Rose about how useless she is. She finally gets inside a situation in which she has no option of running away or hiding behind others, and she gets too scared. While Kate, Rachel and Claire grew while they fought, there actually was no real need to have Rose around. Because of that, she didn’t really have a reason to grow as well. Though things got a bit tougher with two monsters appearing at the same time. Still, I like Rose. Instead of sulking on what Rachel said, she actually immediately goes to train herself. Kate, meanwhile, found out something interesting: how to use their special powers. Great scene, great scene. Still, her problems at school are becoming worse and worse, now that a note has been sent to her parents. I’m looking forward to the moment in which she finds out about Hervé, by the way. :)]]>

Interesting. This episode is almost entirely focused on the love-relationships of Rachel, Claire and Kate. In Rachel’s case, things get worse, in Claire’s case, things get better, and in Kate’s case, things get introduced. It wasn’t as good as the previous episode, though that doesn’t mean that I didn’t enjoy it. One thing I love about this series is how you can’t say “now, X’s problems have reached their climax, now it’s Y’s turn to take a similar path”. No, every character has her own problems, and these continue throughout the series. It isn’t like, Character A has had problems with love relationship, now it’s Character B to experience something similar, unlike some other series *coughKanoncough*. Anyway, I absolutely loved Hervé during this episode. The irony of it all starts when Rachel starts falling in love with him, and reckons that he has gentle eyes. This probably comes from the care for his little sister, and now he unconsciously keeps using that expression everywhere. It’s probably why his father doesn’t take him too seriously. Still, you can say a lot about this anime, but the fact does remain that it’s got a greatly developed antagonist. I also loved how sadistic he acted towards Lise. Now that he’s back in his element again, he says some pretty cruel stuff to her, and continues to drop overly obvious hints to her. I really like this guy now. ^_^ Another clue gets revealed about Rose’s father, by the way. The guy did disappear, but whatever he’s doing, he does send money to his family on a monthly basis. If I had to guess, he’s either involved with Hervé in some way, or he did something horrible, and can’t face his family because of that. Lulu and her companion also were hilarious when they spied on Kate and Hervé. With this discussion, the two of them definitely stepped away from the usual antagonists with their evil plans, and became a bunch of humans. I’m actually interested in episode 13. Most anime pack out greatly for the end of the first season. If Red Garden is the same, then we may expect some heavily emotional scenes. The ED also surprised me a bit, though I quite like it. It’s just as strange as the previous one, though it’s much more interesting than the EDs I usually see. Also, credits for this anime for featuring a date which didn’t annoy the hell out of me. :)]]>

If you’ve been wondering where the heck I’ve been for the past few days… well, it’s like this. We’ve recently moved from one house to another, and upon arrival, I found out that our wireless didn’t work. My parents have bought a house in the centre of Amsterdam, and anyone who’s been there knows the typical 5/6-story houses that cover it. Nice houses, though the huge amount of floors isn’t good for setting up a wireless. Even as we speak, my connection’s still buggy as hell.

Anyway, back to the episode, and boy, that really was a great one. Probably one of the best of Red Garden yet. This is where the building up of the previous episodes really comes together, and how it does! Both Kate, Claire, Rose, Rachel, Herve, Paula, Luke, Kate’s Sister and her newly found boyfriend, Emilio receive a healthy dose of character development and attention this time. Some of these cases were just awesome to see. 🙂

Rose’s case was the least significant. Basically, she and her friend spend the episode scouting for different addresses and finding false leads. Though something’s telling me that she’ll find something interesting in the next number of episodes. Still, these travels are definitely making her a bit stronger than she already is. 🙂

Claire, meanwhile, finally gives in to her pride and heads back to the hamburger store she originally worked in. A really touching conversation follows, where the owner convinces Claire to come back working at his place. That really was one of the best parts of this episode.

Rachel, meanwhile, has a bit of troubles with her relationship with Luke, and this episode really delved into this. Deeply. For a while, it seems that the two made up with each other, though the annoying little butterflies put an end to that. In the end, Luke ends up doing what he accused Rachel of: making out with another girl. One of Rachel’s friends.

Paula also showed a very interesting side of herself. I kept wondering about her reason to support Kate so much, though this episode actually showed that she thinks very highly of Kate. Perhaps she’s even in love with her. This can be very interesting, especially since she can’t just ignore the rest of Grace forever.

Still, Kate actually was thinking of resigning from Grace herself, and probably with good reason. I originally thought that she was going to have struggles in the future, trying to keep up with the other Grace-members. Now it seems that Paula will keep dragging her, and pressuring her further, or something similar.

Also, why are the Animus Hervé’s enemies? After all, he created them himself, in a way. Why are they so dangerous? Does it have something to do with the strange power they’ve been given? (Remember Rachel leaping over the fence in episode 2?) Could that be the reason they he those zombified guys after them? In any case, he finally found a connection between him and one of the Animus (Kate): her sister’s boyfriend, Emilio. It seems that he’s also one of Hervé’s kind.

So far, Red Garden hasn’t been one of the best shows to air during the fall season. Still, I’m really looking forward to its second half, as something’s telling me that this series has yet to display its trump cards. Seeing Lula get an actual personality also increased my opinion of this show for the better. I really liked how this episode ended as well.

I’m also wondering whether Lise’s memories have really disappeared. After all, she did want to meet Hervé. Even though the guy killed her, she does long back to her boyfriend. And who were the people the police were investigating, by the way? We’ve yet to see them, have we?

Lula indeed has a point. What if they’ll end up fighting on their own, or against multiple enemies? And Emilio, who might he be. He’s supposed to be Kate’s sister’s new boyfriend, but does he have any connections to the main story? Claire meanwhile starts relieving her anger to Ewan, while Rose starts toying with the idea of tracking down her father. It’s interesting, it seems that at one point, he just randomly disappeared. I’m wondering, though. How does she make enough money? Does her family get money from the government?

The major events of this episode followed Claire as she was trying to solve her money-problems, Lula who showed a different side of her to Kate and Lise, actually coming back to life in her new body. Especially the latter two were very nice to see. You’d wonder whether Lula really was telling the truth when she said that she didn’t involve herself emotionally with her work, though the way she talked to Kate really made me doubt this.

It seems that Herve’s father needed Lisa’s body in a desperate attempt to ensure the survival of his kind. That’s why she was kidnapped in the first episode. Still, I don’t get certain parts of this explanation. For some reason, every woman in that family will suffer from the curse which turns them into these monsters. But does that also count for people who have been married to the family? I would assume so. And weren’t there more groups of girls like Rachel, Kate and the others? Why did they need Lise, out of all people?

Still, I’m wondering what’ll happen to Lise in the future. Has she been properly restored to life, or did something go wrong? Claire, meanwhile, seems to have gotten a bit of character development this episode, in which she desperately needed money in order to remain in her apartment. In the end, she asks her brother, whom she hates. I’m also wondering what’ll happen to him in the future. He seemed quite confident, but if his business fails, he might be the one coming to Claire, begging for money.

Meanwhile, we learn that JC doesn’t eat very much, Rachel meets up with one of her teachers and the two have some coffee, and that Rose’s mother is hospitalized, which would explain why she has to take care of her siblings so much. What happened to her father?

After the events of the previous episode, Hervé takes a step back again and disappears in order to make way for the most light-hearted episode yet. The girls finally have formed a real team. This does make you wonder about this anime will continue. Kate, Rose and Claire will probably get their moments in which their surroundings turn against them, just like the case was with Rachel, a few episodes ago. But will the girls remain friends, or will they turn against each other at a certain point?

The one who surprised me the most this time was Rachel. It’s only been eight episodes, and she’s already had a huge change of personality. More than any other character probably ever managed. It’s really awkward to see the once angsty and rebellious Rachel in a care-free, friendly and cheerful mood. But that makes her character even better to watch. I also loved it when she picked out the high heels, and started commenting on whether they would make nice weapons in front of her friends. I actually laughed along with her as the scene evolved. ^^

I’m also wondering about Paula’s role in this. What exactly are her motives? Why is she so nice towards Kate? I think it’s got to do something with the reason why she picked out Kate in the first place, though something tells me that there’s something deeper behind this. Claire’s secret weapon also was a very nice touch. If you want to relieve your anger on your phone because it’s been cut, why not take a zombified guy along with it in the process? Something’s also telling me that she’ll be having some problems during the next episode, due to the fact that she quit her job, and can’t find any other. I’m interested in how she’ll develop.

The major character in this episode? Surprisingly, it’s Hervé. This episode was really meant to introduce his case a bit, and some interesting things are revealed about Lise. Still, it’s not yet clear why he killed the other four girls.

It seems that he and his family are different from normal humans. The episode starts with a flashback, in which his mother dies, and turns into one of the monsters we’ve been seeing. I think the creators were better off showing some of his experiences with his mother first, before they killed her. It would probably have made this scene more emotional that it is now.

In any case, he’s got a good reason to act as Lula’s antagonist. I’m not sure with how many they are, but his kind has the tendency to transform into monsters as soon as they die. Right now, his little sister and his cousin are about to suffer the same fate. It seems that his grandfather is in charge of the research, attempting to cure them, though Hervé is getting more impatient by the minute. He also starts singing, at one point. I really have to pity these voice actors. They’re really doing something they aren’t used to, but the effects are great.

Two other major characters in this episode were Claire and Kate. Claire seems to be the next one to break down, seeing as Rachel cooled down a bit. Right now, she’s starting to shout to random people as well, which made her lose her job. Kate, meanwhile, moves into the opposite direction. She’s actually getting active with her Grace-responsibilities again. It’s indeed a good way to distract yourself, but I do feel that this won’t last forever, and that she’ll have her time to break down as well.

The previous episodes haven’t really been focusing on one character in specific, but this really was a Rachel-episode. At one point, she was even at the verge of committing suicide. I think that she’s the only one acting like this because she believes that she doesn’t have anyone to rely on. Rose has to be strong for her siblings, while Kate can feel, in a certain way safe, when she’s with Paula and Claire has found methods of distracting herself from these kinds of tensions, not to mention that the three have found support in each other.

Rachel actually has the most friends of all of the girls, but she doesn’t seem to realize this. Because she’s been living with such a rebellious attitude, she never really understood the support that friends can give at troublesome moments. Lula gets to be the one to bring her out of her suicidal tendencies with an interesting revelation: she can be able to get her old body back, as long as she keeps winning. When everything is over, she’ll be able to return to her previous life.

Still, the other characters also got their share of screen time. The most important probably were them, discovering their old bodies, and an interesting find by Kate. For some reason, when the girls are building up power when they feel stressed, they start to get an extremely dry throat. Eating a lemon actually helps to cure that. I’m suspecting that Kate will force Rachel to eat one of these in the next episode, as it’s really obvious that she’s extremely bothered by her dry throat. The blond guy, apparently named Hervé, will probably also benefit from these lemons. It seems that he’s got two little sisters who suffer from a similar problem. It’s probably one of the reasons he’s doing the things he does, though I feel that we have yet to reach the bottom of his problems.

I also like the meaning behind the ED a lot. We first have an episode full of tragedy and sadness, and afterwards all characters just go to a rock concert, and have fun like nothing ever happened. Nice contrast.

With some anime, it’s clear to define the theme of the episode. Asatte no Houkou and Otogi Juushi Akazukin for example. You know it’s a Ibara-Hime episode, you know it’s a Shoko-episode, you know the episode is centred around the mirrors. Red Garden definitely is not one of these series. So many things happen in one episode.

If I had to give the theme of this episode, it’d probably be a Rachel/Rose/Claire episode, focusing on the support of others. Kate probably is the strongest of the four girls at the moment. She actually manages to think of everyone, instead of herself. Claire just acts strong. She likes to act nonchalant, in order to convince herself that she’s fine, while instead, she’s just as disturbed as everyone.

Rachel was a huge wreck in this episode. During the previous episode, she really broke down. She’s also not afraid anymore to hide her worries for her surroundings, and actually treats her friends like garbage and her mother is starting to notice that something’s wrong with her. This worked very well in combination with Rose. She actually has a number of siblings she has to take care off, and she actually cried in front of them. It’ll be interesting to see how such small children will act in the rest of the series. Right after Rose starts crying, we see Rachel again, in front of her friends. You would expect the same, but you get the opposite. Quite nice. Especially when you consider that Rose’s scene alone already was incredibly touching.

Okay, that was an amazing episode. Finally Gonzo has made a really good series. The major focus lies on Rachel, though each of the four girls gets a bit of fleshing out. The thing I really liked about this episode (and all of the other Red Garden episodes as well, by the way) is that it’s just one big chunk of atmosphere. The characters just work so great in combination with each other, and not to mention how each episode continues to flesh them out a bit. If this goes on for the rest of the series, this series can have amazing results.

Kate and Rachel are currently the ones who have the most problems with the people around them. Rachel keeps staying home, which makes her boyfriend worried, while Kate, as a member of Grace, is starting to slack off. Right now, Paula’s protecting her from the other Grace-members, but it has to end somewhere, doesn’t it? Rose actually gets distracted by all of her tasks at home, and doesn’t know that many people who’d be worried about her and Claire just doesn’t care.

Kate and Rose decide to leave school early, in order to visit Claire and Rachel, seeing as they haven’t come to school. Rachel acts like she really is dead. She starts yelling at Kate, though it does make her worried. I think that’s why she went berserk at the end of the episode. When they arrived at Claire’s hose, I was surprise how run down the building was she lives in. Clare wasn’t home, by the way, she was trying to find the mansion in which they were killed. She actually finds it, and the guy who killed them seems to have discovered her. Butterflies are preventing her from entering the mansion. The blond guy can’t see these butterflies, and he also doesn’t seem to know about them. Interesting.

I also loved the fight, at the end of the episode. It was short, but sweet, and knew exactly what its purpose was.