Customer Reviews

Red Garden: The Complete Series Box Set & OVA S.A.V.E.

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Red Garden is one of those rare anime titles that slips through the cracks as far as placing it into a single genre is concerned. It spans a pretty wide variety of subjects and pacing but at its core is a basically a mystery laced with supernatural undertones. But before we get ahead of ourselves here, let's take a look at the hard facts.

Originally released in individual season sets by ADV Films, this set represents the first time the complete series with OVA is being released to the public. Coming in at a total runtime of 600 minutes, Red Garden The Complete Series spans 4 discs and comes packaged as a pair of thin packs within a cardboard slipcase.

The show wears an appropriate TV MA (17+) rating, which is due to some disturbing imagery and horror-themes and some segments loaded with gore/ violence.

Language options are typical sub & dub meaning the option of original Japanese dialog track (in Stereo) or an English dub (Dolby Digital 5.1 Dolby Surround Sound) and English subtitles available under either language choice.

The breakdown consists of 22 episodes and the OVA, and of course, a nice host of Funimation trailers.

To explain the show to someone who has never seen it would go something like this: A wave of teen suicides washes over New York City (not Tokyo for once) and we follow the exploits of four teenage girls/ high school classmates: Kate, a rich preppy snob, Rose, family babysitter and modest personality; Rachel, party chick extraordinaire; and Claire, the quiet rebel.

The girls all wake up one morning only to discover that they cannot remember anything of the night before.

Things really get creepy when an old woman informs them that their proverbial cards have already been pulled and though they still appear alive, death is on its way to claim each girl.

While this all sounds terribly hopeless, there is a way to cheat destiny in that when called upon on certain nights, they are to engage in brutal and bloody battles against evil human-dogs. By day, they have to go on as if nothing's out of the ordinary (and here you thought staying awake in high school was hard enough when you stayed up to watch Letterman).

The visuals of the show seem to be either a love or hate affair (kind of like Gonzo's other contemporary remakes Gankutsuou and Romeo x Juliet). Gone are the typical wide-glassy eyes of anime girls and their place are bright, simplistic tones in the day, dark and gritty (borderline gothic) sequences once the sun sets.

The pacing of the show is nice and consistent with layers of the larger mystery (including what these seemingly unrelated girls have in common) being slowly revealed amidst the zombie-dog slashing action.

The voice work is fantastic in either incarnation with the English dub actually nailing the mood every bit as effectively as the original Japanese track maybe because its one of few anime titles out there set in the United States with English character names and locations. For once it actually feels like the English actors have a slight edge on the pronunciation angle.

Which brings me to my next point of interest: Like with past Gonzo properties, the attention to detail in setting and location is fantastic. Many of us have never been to Tokyo so we have to take their word for the accuracy but it becomes a different story when such national landmarks as those found in NYC become the backdrop. Gonzo deserves major credit for the scouting and research work that had to have gone into the production of this piece.

I wouldn't go as far as to say that this title is for everyone even though my critique appears quite favorable in hindsight. It takes a pretty unique set of expectations on the viewer's behalf to make the most of the experience. There are essentially two sides to the story: One resembles the atypical common cross-section of teenage schoolgirls and personality archetypes. The other could probably best be described as an animated version of popular survival-horror video games like Resident Evil. The blending of the two concepts work well in some segments but feel a little forced in others. In all though, it's nearly worth the price of admission just to take in the domestic visuals in the anime medium with enough of a mystery-driven story arc to keep the episodes moving along.

Strange and horrible things are happening in the city, right under our noses, and most of us never find out. Those who do, often die. Four high school girls encountered the horror, and died. That's not what this anime is about. It's about what happened to them afterwards. Other reviewers have given a good plot outline, so I will content with what I liked and didn't like.

First, overall, I liked this. It's above average in concept, in character development, in dialogue. I own it and plan to watch it again. I plan to give it to my friends. It features a group of sane girls trying to cope with insane personal disaster. It's their story, and so we are spared the clueless, gormless, constantly embarrassed male co-star, or the loud and bratty little sister, or the overly moe pet. It's surprisingly quiet. Yes, there's too much shouting during the fight scenes, and some of the secondary characters can be accused of overacting, but it's not one of those anime where everyone teeters on the brink of adrenalin exhaustion. Each of the characters is a unique individual, and is believable, even when their circumstances aren't. Rose, for example, fighting to keep her family together and care for her younger siblings, with her mother in the hospital and her father run off, and no sign of NYC Family Services.

SPOILER ALERT, all the way down.

That said, there's plenty of plot holes, and your disbelief has to be hanged, not just suspended. We never find out why the girls were enticed to the old house in the first place, nor why they were killed, or why they were left. Was it all a plot to get one New Body? If they were recruited to fight the other clan, why weren't they trained to fight? Why weren't they given better (i.e. any) weapons? Then there's the pharmaceutical company, with their inept experiments. If the drug side of the operation is run the same way as their attempt to preserve a breeding stock, it's a wonder we're not all dead. What's the purpose of the red flowers and the butterflies? Wouldn't a cell phone do as well? Even a pager. What happened to the seed the girls planted at the cemetery? Why do the old New Bodied women die and dust when the curse is lifted, but Our Girls just fall asleep, and wake up immortal but without memories. These kind of gaps run all through the program. If you are the kind of person who can just say "magic" and ignore them, you will like the series. If not, you will have trouble not shouting at the screen.

In the end, the girls come to terms with their future, understand that they will be remembered (even though they won't remember), and win through to a hollow victory. Everybody dies. On both sides. Except them. The school and its island are covered in a Red Garden of flowers, where they awaken. That's when the fun begins.

For me, the post-season OVA (original video animation) was the best part. It takes place hundreds of years in the future. There are flying cars. The supporting characters are all future versions of the ones from the series (the two policemen are still on patrol, the same guy runs the hamburger stand). We have just spent 22 episodes establishing the characters, and now we can have fun playing off of them. They are all still biologically 17, even though they are chronologically (and emotionally) much older. Rose is more assertive. Rachel is a bit of a slob (showers are so much trouble). Claire is still driving her old car. They make bets on who can seduce the new transfer student. They fight crime while singing (extremely poorly) a song set to the music that plays for the setup screen. Claire builds a sexy female gundam style mech, one that ends up face down in the flowers of the Red Garden, with its bare backside in the air. Kate, less changed than the others, manages to shock them all at the very end, and I think I'll keep that spoiler to myself.

First of all, this is a beautifully drawn anime. If you are just trying to show someone the best a genre has to offer, a few scenes of this will go a long way of making your case. The actual story and development is something else.

I was extremely pleased that this was set in New York City...instead of Tokyo. Although NYC is played out when it comes to American produced movies, Tokyo is certainly overexposed in almost every anime ever made. The girls are real characters with great development and we are expected to know them and understand them and relate to them because the series spends time with each one. We also get a good amount of time seeing them come together (or not) when their circumstances demand which is also a refreshing change from the usual. However, once the big plot point is revealed and we see them start to form a team to do their job, I was left with a bit of disappointment in their "fighting style." It just seemed odd to go through this much trouble so this young women could fight with planks and bats. And it just never seemed to escalate further from there.

In a sense, the anime sets you up for this huge world of action and intrigue but just never really explores it or answers any questions. I don't like having everything spelled out for me and I don't want all loose ends tied up in a neat little conclusion at the end of every show, but Red Garden didn't seem to want to resolve anything.

Still, you need to see it.

I purchased this anime years ago on a whim. The first few episodes were not bad but soon it took a nose dive. It turned into nothing more than the girls crying and whining every episode. This would have been fine if it happened during only one episode. However, it continued for several. It quickly became tiresome and annoying to the point that I could not even finish the series. It is rare for me not to even complete a series or a movie I begin. Though, on this one I could not finish it.

I am still watching this. It has a decent storyline, and I will see it to the finish, but sometimes I get so hysterical at the culture shock of it all. First- it's the only anime I've seen to try to go do America. The plot is set in New York City, and we Americans are given big, creatively shaped noses. I burst out laughing when the four characters, sitting, Japanese style on knees, in utter confusion over a meal which would normally be termed "salad." Oh, and there is an actual "Seinfeld" reference!!! Soup Nazi, anyone? Got your stereotypical characters- the snob, the brain, the dork and the tomboy. I'm on disc two and I've already figured out the ending. Got this for a decent price, I'm not disappointed. I do find the Japanese perception of Americans a little more entertaining than the story, though.

Synopsis
In New York City, four girls wake up with no memory of the night before. That evening, a strange women tells them that the reason they don't remember is that they all died that night. Now they are living in borrowed bodies, and the only way to keep them is to kill strange dog men in the dead of night. Kate is a shy rich girl, Claire is tough and sensible, Rose is timid, and Rachel the social party girl. The only connection between the four of them is that they were all friends with Lise, who died the same night they did.
What would you do if you found out you were dead?

Artwork
The first thing I noticed about this series was the artwork. After watching hundreds of anime shows and movies, Red Garden was especially impressive. In addition to beautiful and detailed designs, the girls actually change clothes! Rachel, the social butterfly, changes the most often and into detailed and fashionable outfits.
Also, the characters were animated after recording the voices, so the lips move with words instead of simply opening and closing at approximately the right times. In addition to recording the voices first, they also recorded them together, so it really sounds like the characters are talking to each other. In on scene Claire argues with her father, shouting at him as he tries to explain something to her. It is very realistic, in real life people don't often take turns shouting as they do in most anime.

Characters
After the artwork, the characters were next things I noticed. The characters were the most believable I seen in an anime, with believable emotions and reactions. They had personalities, not stereotypes. The most amazing thing is that they actually grow and develop in the course of the series. They become tougher and more mature. There is plenty of drama, especially from Rachel, but it was completely understandable, as they have to cope with being dead and killing, while hiding it from their friends and family.

Story
And finally, the story. A big part of the story is how the girls cope with their new situation, but there is also a healthy dose of mystery involved. Why were they killed and why were they brought back to life? What are the things that thy fight and why? And what happened to Lise? The mystery is well done and intriguing. There are some loose ends and small plot holes, but they are unimportant to the overall story, and I honestly didn't really care much about the loose ends and the plot holes didn't bother me.

OVA
The OVA really changes the tone of the series end. So if you really like the way the series ended, don't watch the OVA. I personally really loved where the story went in the OVA, it opened all sorts of new doors and sparked my imagination - but it is short and doesn't explore much of what it introduces. So if the loose ends in the series bugged you, don't watch the OVA.

Audio
The Japanese dub is awesome. The girls were really brought to life by their voice actors. I tried briefly to watch it in English, and was simply too appalled to continue. After the excellent Japanese voice acting, it was painful to listen to lazy American actors with horrible voices.
The music for this show is really good as well. It sets the tone for the mystery, horror, and fashion of the story. I normally don't remember the music of the anime shows I watch, but Red Garden is one of the very few exceptions where I can still hear the music in my head long after watching the series.

In Conclusion
I love this show. I highly recommend it, though it is not for everyone. As a show about teenage girls, I don't know if guys would be interested. If nothing in my review interested you, this show probably isn't for you either. But reading this review has made you at all curious, I hope you will give this series a chance. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!

Very talky, dialogue intensive, lacks any kind of real action. I'd come close to picking this up in a retail store a while back, there's a review blurb on the back saying "packed with action!". Not much action here to speak of, you'll find yourself waiting for action across 2 or 3 episodes sometimes. Well, the action is short, repetitive sequences that are all very similar, with no real intrigue, simply obligatory, to sort of advance the story. This show moves more like a slow paced character drama, but the characters don't really grow, or experience any changes. AND, then there are the numerous scenes where the female (& sometimes male) characters break into song, sometimes together, sometimes while doing their own thing, they sing emotional drivel, BADLY. The songs are mysteriously, & thankfully absent in the latter episodes. I didn't expect to incur inner-ear damage from half-baked, badly sung "musical numbers"...I'd be embarrassed if I were involved in the musical aspect of this show. Seriously.
"Rose" is the most annoying character, whining, mewing & crying the entire first half of the series. I wanted to reach into the TV & wring her neck. Thankfully, a more "ballsy" character gives her a stern talking-to, & Rose finally mans-up, just a bit. The medical experiment Sci-fi elements are anime cliches that are simply no longer enjoyable to me, as a fairly seasoned anime viewer. I kept waiting for action, more conflict, explosions, or for SOMETHING to happen...no such luck.
The 2nd half of the series is more enjoyable, but just barely. I can't really complain, the Amazon price I paid was low enough to not be steaming with regret after the final disc. Red Garden isn't "bad" per se, just could have been much better with better writing, and even a tad bit more action. Not for everybody, certainly. It's one of those shows that flirts with cool & interesting concepts, but ultimately falls back on lazy writing & bad pacing. I got Black Blood Brothers in another Amazon order the other day, I thought to myself "now, this is silly, goofy, but gleefully violent & lots of fun, & has tons of action". No matter the shortcomings of whichever anime series I watch in the next few months, I'll be thinking "There's action! Sooo glad it's not like Red Garden."

This anime has an interesting story line. You really think you're dealing with the old zombie or vampire movie set up at first and then you start getting the back story and it's a bit more complicated than that. The most interesting thing about this series are how the characters change as they go thru this series. By the time you get to the OVAs you find youtrself thinking, "Were these the same girls as at the first of the series?" They undergo such a change that you tend not to realize who is who on the OVAs. Again a anime series worth having.

I have to say that I was ready to turn this series off after two episodes. The female protagonists were so grating with their constant bickering and talking all at once. It was worse in the English dub (I tried both). But after a few faltering steps forward, the series gets going, and the characters seem to come to grips with their situation and calm it down.

So here are four girls. Dead. The mysteriously brought back to life. They are commanded by a mysterious (and ugly) woman to slay demonic appearing men or face true death.

So that's how things start. It is set in New York, which is fun. Trying to listen in English was nice (seeing how it is New York), but the Japanese voice acting is better. I flip between the two audios at whim and have to say that there are pros and cons to both. The settings are well researched, and it truly appears to be based on real New York locations.

The story starts off convoluted enough, but then manages to sort itself out. I would say that it's not really a horror genre or a demon slayer genre, but something in between. It reminds me a bit of Witch Hunter Robin (though Witch Hunter Robin has an A+ story).

My biggest beef is that while the animation and settings are nice, the picture quality is terrible. I don't think it was an intentional mask put over the series to give a grainy texture, instead it looks like bad digital transferring. Everything just looks hazy, like old TVs with rabbit ears... where you get the station coming in but it's just a bit hazy. Now I'm okay with an intentional mask, like in Ghost Hunt (in some of the creepy scenes), but if it is a mask then why does it appear 100% of the time, even during daylight. Plus it's not obvious enough to be intentional. It would probably look okay on a smaller screen, not my 48" LCD. Gonzo is top notch, so I don't think they would have let this slide for the original.

My only other beef is that the story is just 'hem'. The girls are all somewhat interesting, but not really overly likable. My favorite characters were the 'bad guys'!

But stick with it for at least four episodes and you will likely finish the set.

And for less than $14 you can't go wrong!

Similar series to "Gantz" made by the same creators. Some things are lost in translation especially the characters breaking into song (a la Disney). This is very odd for a horror themed show. The intro and ending don't seem to fit with the serious theme of the show. Also, I need to include here that atthemoviesco sent the product on time and in new condition since Amazon took my ability to leave seller feedback a day too early. So, positive feedback for them.