***Warning, the following may contain
spoilers for Red Garden. Reader discretion is advised.***
Series Synopsis
One night in
New York City, Kate Ashely (voiced by Akira Tomisaka), Rachel Benning (voiced
by Ryoko Shintani), Claire Forrest (voiced by Miyuki Sawashiro), and Rose
Sheedy (voiced by Ayumi Tsuji) are brought back to their homes fast asleep. The
girls wake up the next morning restless and concerned. None of them have any
memories of the previous evening. Adding to their unease, they learn that one
of their close friends has died.
Shocked and
confused, the girls can’t help shake the feeling of being watched. Their unease
grows when they see a swarm of strange butterflies flying through the air. As
though summoned, the girls find themselves in a dark alleyway. Here they meet a
mysterious woman named Lula (voiced by Rie Tanaka).
Lula informs
the girls of their chilling reality. Their bodies are not their own. They were
all murdered the night before. Kate, Rachel, Claire, and Rose must now fight a
terrifying enemy. There are people in the city who will transform into
bloodthirsty beasts. It is the girl’s duty to hunt these creatures.
The four
take the news hard and are unsure of what to think. If they don’t fight,
they’ll have no chance of ever returning to their original bodies.
Series Positives
 |
| Kate |
The
animation and artwork of Red Garden
stick out. All you need is a basic awareness of anime’s existence to know how
different this series looks. It’s much more Western in style. This makes sense
since, to my knowledge, Western animation techniques were used during
production.
If I didn’t
know any better, I would’ve mistaken this to be a decent Japanese dub. This
style worked for the story’s setting and locations.
 |
| Rachel |
Too bad the
story itself is bull. This unique artwork was wasted on a show that’s boring,
convoluted, and frustrating. On more than one occasion, I could feel myself
losing my God damn mind.
The Four Girls
Quick
disclaimer, this show did not get me to care about these girls. Whatever
problems they were going through. Whatever challenges they were facing.
Whatever nonsense they had to put with, I didn’t care.
 |
| Claire |
I didn’t
want any of them to die off, but I also never thought they were in any danger.
There were many moments where they perhaps should’ve died. They were way out of
their element. Then again, that's true for everyone in this show.
Why are they
a positive then?
 |
| Rose |
I don’t hate
Kate, Rachel, Claire, or Rose because Red
Garden’s s@#$ was not their fault. They were never the ones, for the most
part, who were infuriating. Everything that happened around them though was
annoying.
When they
learned about their deaths, they all took it in different ways. Kate and Claire
chose a route I didn’t find ear wrenching; Rachel and Rose were. Rachel
complained all the God damn time and was uncooperative. Rose was a f@#$ing
wimp, more on that in a second.
These types
of attitudes do get on my nerves I don’t and couldn’t blame them for having
those feelings. I have no idea how I would react to learning I was dead and the
body I had wasn’t mine. Odds are I’d freak out. There isn’t a right way to
handle that kind of weight. So while Rachel and Rose were irritating, they
remained believable.
Kate and
Claire are good characters. They were both down to Earth. You could talk to
them. For everything that went on, they were never unreasonable. Even when you
consider a number of side plots in this series. First, f@#$ off; I’ll lay into
this in a moment. Second, if the story needed to keep a few side stories, Kate
and Claire’s were fine.
When it was
these four talking, Red Garden was
doing something it could be proud of. Kate, Rachel, Claire, and Rose were the
show’s best. Too bad the Red Garden’s
best wasn’t even close to good enough.
Series Negatives
I said Kate
and Claire were good characters, Rachel also became okay. She felt “important”;
that’s a word that doesn’t apply to this series. Rose was starting to push her
luck by the end.
I understand
Rose wasn’t a fighter. I get she didn’t want any of this. It’s fine if she
struggles a bit with confidence. BUT WHEN IT’S EPISODE SEVENTEEN AND YOU’RE
STILL COWERING IN THE CORNER, GET YOUR ASS UP AND DO SOMETHING. YOUR FRIENDS
ARE DYING. THEY ARE GETTING THEIR ASSES KICKED. YOU’RE JUST STANDING THERE!
Having Rose
say she’ll do better next time was something that needed to happen at the
beginning. It could’ve made a good story arch. Instead, what the show had her
say she was going to do better and then proceeded to make her instantly better.
There was no middle ground.
I know why
the show did this. The evidence is throughout. Red Garden didn’t know what it wanted to be.
Side Plots
To sit
through this series means sitting through twenty-two episodes of stuff
happening. Not a whole lot of rhyme, not a whole lot of reason, just stuff
happening.
There was a
series of events that best summed up the problem. Kate got captured by the
enemy; in a scene that was hilariously stupid. She was standing outside the
enemy base like an idiot. These guys the walked out and took her. Anyway, she
was a prisoner and was about to undergo experimentation. This all happened as an
end of episode cliffhanger. When this occurred, I got excited. I said to
myself, “Alright, this is actually something serious for once. I want to see
where this goes”. Instead of something, you know, happening, the show decided
it was a good time to do this.
At the
beginning of the next episode, there was quick flash to remind us, “Hey Kate’s
captured”. The story then cuts away to Rose whose was taken to the hospital
because she came down with a cold. The story covered her recovery as well as
Claire’s reconciliation with her father. The whole time this was happening, I
was freaking out.
What was
going on? I did the math. A quarter of the episode was dedicated to things that
had nothing to do with the main plot. The main plot being…KATE'S KIDNAPPING!
Red Garden was full of this. Let’s see
if I can make a list of all the s@#$ that was going on. Keep in mind, the prime
goal was for the four girls to return to their bodies.
The girls
had to keep what happened to them a secret. There was a murder case involving
their dead friend. Kate kept getting questioned by two cops. Kate was also a
member of her school’s prestigious Grace Program. Kate wasn’t fulfilling her
duties. This caused tension amongst her fellow members. The leader of Grace
though was defending Kate. Plus, Kate’s sister found a new boyfriend who turned
out to be one of Kate’s archenemies.
Now let’s go
to Rachel. She’s having boy problems. Her longtime relationship got strained
due to her needing to lie about her condition. There was a bit of backstabbing
amongst her other friends. Her mother was an alcoholic. That was a nice little
detail that never played a role the show. She also got close with one of her
teachers and rumors spread about a possible relationship.
On to Claire
who is forever broke. She has one friend who’s kind of a dork, but supportive.
She loses her job and needs to pay rent. Her brother’s business goes under and
he ends up in the hospital after a possible suicide attempt. Claire doesn’t
have a good relationship with her father. She feels he doesn’t care about her.
Finally,
there’s Rose who’s taking care of her annoying younger brother and sister. Her
mother’s in the hospital. Rachel’s father has abandoned the family, so she goes
on a mission to try and hunt him down.
There’s more,
there’s so much more.
Important
questions never get answered. For instance, why were the girls brought back to
life? Was it so they could fight? Why did it have to be them? They have special
powers. They didn’t do anything, so again why were they chosen? The answers to
these questions as well as more may have been given. Too bad they were buried
under a pool of non-important crap.
The icing on
the cake came in episode seventeen. Here the girls learned that yes they might
be able to get their bodies back. Yet they would lose all their memories. I was
in shock.
Why wasn’t
that the series? Why not make that the story? Why not have the series be about
them coming to terms with this? Instead of doing that, the problem was instead
just dealt with. LIKE EVERY OTHER PROBLEM IN THIS SHOW!
Final Thoughts
Red Garden had no idea if it wanted to
be a high school drama or a mystery series. As a result, it failed at doing
both.
This series
was a slog to get through. It was boring. Nothing ever happened that was of any
great importance. The story's bogged down with side plots and events that led
to nowhere. The villain was lame. The people the girls worked for were idiots.
Nothing ever seemed to make sense.
There’s an
OVA sequel to this series. I’ll tell you right now, there is nothing more I
want to know about Red Garden.
 |
| Google+ Facebook Twitter |
No comments:
Post a Comment