Red Garden
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| Red Garden | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Genre | murder mystery, drama |
| TV anime | |
| Directed by | Kou Matsuo |
| Studio | GONZO |
| Network |  TV Asahi |
| Original run | October 3, 2006 – March 13, 2007 |
| No. of episodes | 22 |
Red Garden (レッド ガーデン Reddo Gāden?) is a Japanese anime produced by GONZO studios and broadcast on TV Asahi since October 3, 2006. The plot revolves around four girls who become involved in a series of supernatural murders happening throughout the vicinity of a fictional depiction of New York City. Despite being a Japanese production, it combines elements from typical American movie productions like horror, drama, mystery and even musicals. Also there are quite a few references only familiar to viewers of American movies and TV shows.
A curious trait of this series is the fact it employs a technique often used by animated producions outside Japan, but never used before in an anime series. The characters' dialogues are animated after the work of the voice cast, synchronizing the animation with the seiyu's voices, and not the opposite, like is usually done. The scenes where some of the characters are singing (it occurs in some of the episodes), are when this new feature is exploited best.
An OVA will be out in August 2007.
Contents |
[edit] Plot
Kate, Rachel, Rose, and Claire are all students at a private institution set on Roosevelt Island, New York City. Waking up one morning, all feel uneasy and restless as they deem strange that none of them can recall anything about the previous night. Their anxiety escalates when the school announces that Lize, another classmate of theirs, was found dead.
Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.
Afterwards, the following night for unknown reasons the four girls are drawn and gathered at the same place, as if they have been summoned by something which they cannot explain. There, they are approached by a woman called Lula and her partner JC to tell them all that they are already dead, and must work for them if they do not want to disappear completely. Later she explains that the girls were reanimated on new, special bodies and their real bodies are in her custody. Lula also claims she has the means to eventually return them to their previous lives when their job is done.
[edit] List of Red Garden Episodes
| EP# | Title | Original Airdate | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Farewell, Girls" "Sayonara shōjo-tachi" (さよなら少女たち) |
October 3, 2006 | |
| Kate, Rose, Rachel, and Claire are four New York girls who cannot recall what events transpired the previous night. While at school news spread to the student board that the NYPD found Lize's body left at Central Park. Kate, who was close friends with Lise, breaks down and takes the rest of the day off. As the night falls, she and the other three girls are led by butterflys that only they can see to the same place and are unexpectedly approached by a woman wearing a black suit. She asks them if they can remember the previous night when all of them died. | |||
| 2 | "A Harsh Night" "Zankoku na yoru" (残酷な夜) |
October 10, 2006 | |
| The four girls are at the mercy of a man whose behavior sounds exactly like that of a rabid dog. The stranger is run over by a bus soon after Rachel displays a supernatural ability to break free from his grasp. Aghast and in shock all four are approached by the mysterious woman, who calls herself Lula, and explains them that are living on borrowed lives and from now on at every night they will be needed to hunt and kill demons for 'them'. If they break the contract, all will die. | |||
| 3 | "My True Self" "Hontō no watashi" (ほんとうの私) |
October 17, 2006 | |
| Lize's father asks Kate about his daughter's diary and thanks her for being friends with Lize. The four girls become upset upon finding Lula also attending Lize's funeral. She gave them a red seed and explains to them to plant it if they want to know the truth. She later takes the four girls to witness another group of girls in the same situation as them, but having lost their will to live as they are brutally murdered by another beast man. The four girls plant the seed, and it blooms into a red flower at night, influencing the girls' memories as they finally recall the fateful night when they found Lise dead and were murdered by orders of a man in a white suit. | |||
| 4 | "Where Are We Going?" "Watashi-tachi wa, doko e?" (私たちは、どこへ？) |
October 24, 2006 | |
| Kate starts to befriend the other girls to help them cope with their current situation, quickly earning Rose's trust and friendship. Both decide to pay a visit to Rachel and Claire. However, the socially withdrawn Rachel disdainfully chases the two of them out of her house alleging that it is no use to resume their normal lives since all are already dead. Meanwhile, Claire by herself is searching for the place where they all supposedly died. | |||
| 5 | "At Every Window" "Sorezore no mado" (それぞれの窓) |
October 31, 2006 | |
| Rachel breaks down due to having killed another beast man in another night mission forced upon them by Lula. Rose collapses in tears feeling herself unneeded when her siblings tease her that they don't want her. Kate and Claire go and investigate the manor where their deaths took place to find any clues about the truth. | |||
| 6 | "A Tiny Light" "Chiisa na hikari" (小さな光) |
November 7, 2006 | |
| When the girls are once again summoned for another fight Rachel loses her sanity and escapes. Kate and the others follow after her, learning from Lula that if even one of them strays from the group during a mission then all will die. Rachel is found and brought to her senses but has lost the will to live. Lula offers the girls a hope to return back to their former lives, but the cost involves showing them the grisly truth. | |||
| 7 | "Destiny, Once Again" "Mō hitotsu no, unmei" (もうひとつの、運命) |
November 14, 2006 | |
| Hervé recalls his mother's death when he was a child. He goes to visit Dr. Bender to check on the health of both Anna (his sister) and Mireille (his cousin). Mireille suddenly falls ill and is diagnosed with the same symptoms his mother possessed at the time of her death. Knowing that Mireille won't live long, Hervé goes to see his grandfather to request to attack that "group", but he is ordered to wait. That night, Hervé, unseen, watches the four girls killing another beast man and in disgust silently reproaches the viciousness of their act. | |||
| 8 | "Go Love" "Yukite aise" (行きて愛せ) |
November 21, 2006 | |
| A time of relative peace has come, allowing Kate, Rachel, Rose, and Claire to know each other better and coexist together. As they have dinner at Claire's home, Kate comments how fortunate they have been to receive a chance to return to their normal lives. Claire replies that even if their lives are not what they used to be, all of them are friends to each other that spend time and have fun together. | |||
| 9 | "Awakening" "Mezame" (めざめ) |
November 28, 2006 | |
| Unable to find a job to pay for the rent, Claire reluctantly goes to her brother to ask him for money. Rose and her siblings visit their hospitalized mother, while Rachel bumps into her school teacher by accident and both have a friendly chat at a cafe. Meanwhile, Kate spies upon Lula and JC but is soon spotted by Lula. Kate inquires about the mystery of their new bodies to which Lula replies that Lize's and their bodies are being targeted to be used for reproduction for the sake of a certain family clan's survival. | |||
| 10 | "Bewilderment" "Tomadoi" (戸惑い) |
December 5, 2006 | |
| Lize wakes up in a clinic room, and Dr. Bender informs Hervé's grandfather that her bodily functions are in healthy condition. Soon, Hervé visits his grandfather and accuses him of forsaking Mireille and Anna's lives, granting medical priority to Lise instead. At daytime, Lula contacts the girls to survey their next target- a seemingly normal businessman. Claire cannot believe an innocent man could become their enemy, until all are ambushed by the same man transformed into beast state at night. | |||
| 11 | "Respective Thoughts" "Sorezore no omoi" (それぞれの想い) |
December 12, 2006 | |
| Emma introduces Emilio, her fianceé, to Kate. At school, Luke accuses Rachel of having an affair with the teacher, prompting her to breakdown in tears. Claire relunctantly returns to her former employer at the hamburger shop but finds out that he has truly missed her. The student council attempts to kick out Kate from Grace, but Paula won't allow it. Hervé meets with Emilio, who is also a clan member, and warns him to break up with his girlfriend because her younger sister is one of their enemies or else fear backlash from the head clan. | |||
| 12 | "His Expectations" "Kare no omowaku" (彼の思惑) |
December 19, 2006 | |
| Hervé persuades Emilio to have Emma bring Kate for a day out with them, and later he volunteers to walk Kate home together alone. His intentions are to get closer to Kate in order to understand his enemies and find out who is leading the girls. Kate feels unsure whether or not she might actually feels something for Hervé. Meanwhile, Hervé has started to tease and emotionally abuse Lize in order to force her to regain her memories. | |||
| 13 | "Holiday" "Kyūjitsu" (休日) |
January 9, 2007 | |
| Complications among the girls' teamwork arise during their next sleepless mission when Rose's fear to take part in the fights almost put in danger Rachel's life. As a result, Kate herself finds out the hidden abilities within her new body and Rose goes to see her for training to become stronger. Hervé starts dating Kate and cynically informs Lise he's doing so as a deliberate act to torment and spurn jealousy on her, but he receives a phone call from Anna to return to the hospital because Mireille is agonizing. | |||
| 14 | "Reason to Fight" "Tatakau riyū" (戦う理由) |
January 16, 2007 | |
| Paula has a brief meeting with the school principal to discuss about telling the truth to Kate, but the principal speaks that they are not to take action but only to protect her. Later, Kate learns that Hervé lied to her the previous date, but soon he meets with her to tell her the truth that his cousin fell sick and had to lie to Kate so as not to panick her. Rose learns how to trigger the special abilities in her body to save Rachel from certain death. | |||
| 15 | "With Sorrow, and Hatred…" "Kanashimi to, ikari to…" (悲しみと、怒りと…) |
January 23, 2007 | |
| Hervé breaks down after helplessly witnessing Mireille getting slain once she dies and the curse consumes her. He attempts to kill Lize but cannot bring himself to do so. Next morning, Hervé shocks Kate disclosing that he knows she has been killing all those men. Afterwards, Kate gets interrogated by the police, because an anonymous parcel was addressed to them containing Lise's diary. That afternoon, the school principal summons a meeting with Lula and the head of their clan to discuss about the appearance of the diary and making invesigations on the people surrounding Kate, starting with her boyfriend, Hervé. | |||
| 16 | "Sorrowful Lies" "Kanashii uso" (哀しい嘘) |
January 30, 2007 | |
| Hervé contacts Kate to meet him at the docks on night. At the requested meeting, Hervé discloses that she and her friends have been fighting for an organization called Animus. Ages ago, members of said organization stole one of the two Cursed Tomes which were possessed by the ancestors of Herve's clan, casting on the latter the curse which is inherited through generations. A violent fight breaks out when both JC and Lula arrive, bringing along reinforcements from Animus, as well as Emilio to help Hervé. The Headmistress addresses Hervé and his clan as the Doral, cursed monsters which are destined to die. | |||
| 17 | "Truth" "Shinjitsu" (真実) |
February 6, 2007 | |
| During the previous fight, Hervé killed JC, who was Lula's brother. Kate visits the school's teacher to confirm the truth that Hervé disclosed to her, that all four of them will eventually lose all of their memories and live forever in their ageless bodies. She tells the truth to Claire, Rachel and Rose. Meanwhile, Hervé is put to jail on orders of his grandfather for his disobedience, but after apologizing for what's been lost, he convinces Emilio to bail him out. | |||
| 18 | "A Little Hope" "Wazukana, nozomi" (わずかな、望み) |
February 13, 2007 | |
| Hervé kidnaps Lise with Emilio's help and brings her to the sea. There, he apologizes to her and leaves. However, one of the officers has been following them and finds Lize walking into the water, but he is shot by Hervé's family when he catches up to Lize. After a visit at Lise's tomb and a chat about how to live their lives in the future, the four girls decide not to fight tonight and Lula makes their job instead. Later, JC is buried. | |||
| 19 | "Unreachable Feelings" "Todokanai omoi" (届かぬ想い) |
February 20, 2007 | |
| Inspector Neil dials Kate to inform that he saw Lize alive but on custody of a group of men. As he is following the vehicle transporting Lize while at Brooklyn Bridge, it loses control and crashes. The inspector is shot dead on the scene as he approaches Lize's body. Meanwhile, Kate does a search on VivaLeo Pharmaceuticals and phones Hervé to demand Lise's return, but the conversation is cut when a group of Doral men kidnaps Kate and brings her to Dr. Bender. | |||
| 20 | "The Room Left Behind" "Nokosareta heya" (残された部屋) |
February 27, 2007 | |
| Hervé and Emilio infiltrate VivaLeo Pharmaceuticals as well as Lula, Rachel, Rose, and Claire. Emilio creates a commotion in the lab to help Kate and Lize escape, but Kate won't go because deems him a liar for deceiving her sister. Lise is again captured, and Emilio killed by Dr. Bender. Hervé goes to find Anna, but she is held in custody by his grandfather, Lauro. Lauro brandishes Hervé as a traitor to the clan but is murdered by Hervé, who quickly assumes control and appeals to his relatives to wage war against the Animus. Lize transforms into a Doral and kills Dr. Bender, who attempted to stop her, and then escapes to the outside world. Kate reunites with her friends and they go back to the school to inform the situation to the Animus. The principal leads them to meet Mary, the master of the Animus. | |||
| 21 | "The Last Morning" "Saigo no asa" (最後の朝) |
March 6, 2007 | |
| It is Christmas Eve, and each of the girls spend the night in company of their loved ones. Kate thanks Paula for everything she has done to help her. Claire goes out on a date with Ewan and treats him dinner. At a party, Rachel bids farewell to Luke and her group of friends, but she is troubled with hiding her feelings when Samuel confesses he has always admired her. Rose prepares Christmas dinner for her family, since her mother has come to visit her siblings and her. She also overflows with happiness when her dad comes too, bringing presents for the family. As the sun rises in the morning, all four bid their last farewell and gather at the school to prepare for the upcoming battle. | |||
| 22 | "Light" "Hikari" (光) |
March 13, 2007 | |
| The bridges connecting Roosevelt Island are destroyed by a set of explosions to cut all accesses to the mainland. War erupts among the Animus and Doral, as casualties arise from both sides. Hervé, with Anna on his arms, breaks into the school grounds. The four girls follow in pursuit and find Lize at the school. Anna reaches her limit and awakens as a Doral, forcing Hervé, stricken with tears of pain and sorrow, to kill his sister. Hervé dies as a result of the multiple wounds that Anna gave him. Kate and the others retrieve the missing cursed tome and deliver it to Mary. With the war over, all five girls walk into the light and to the start of a new life. | |||
[edit] Main Characters
- Kate (ケイト Keito?)
Voiced by: Akira Tomisaka
- From an affluent family, Kate struggles to maintain her position as a member of "Grace", an elite group of girls tasked with enforcing rules and policing the student body. Of the four girls she had been the closest to Lize, and is the one who suffered most because of her friend's death. Currently she is dating Hervé, who is a friend of her sister's boyfriend, oblivious to his true intentions.
- Rachel (レイチェル Reicheru?)
Voiced by: Ryoko Shintani
- The "popular girl" stereotype and the most mentally unstable of the girls, Rachel had a boyfriend and an active social life before her untimely death. She finds it difficult to reconcile her old existence with her current situation, sometimes straining her relationship with her boyfriend.
- Claire (クレア Kurea?)
Voiced by: Miyuki Sawashiro
- The most independent and aggressive of the girls. She lives alone in a run-down apartment and holds part-time jobs to make ends meet. She does this despite the fact that her family is wealthy because of her strained relationship with her father, but the reason why is unclear.
- Rose (ローズ Rōzu?)
Voiced by: Ayumi Tsuji
- A shy girl who won a place in the school by academic scholarship. She takes care of two younger siblings while her mother is hospitalized. Unfortunately for her friends, Rose used to lack the courage to fight and ended up only being a bother; however, after Rachel is almost killed because of her cowardice, Rose realizes that to save herself and her friends she must fight no matter how painful it may be for her.
- Lize (リーズ Rīzu?)
Voiced by: Misato Fukuen
- She was about to be reanimated like the other girls when she was kidnapped by Hervé. Lize spent the first episodes dead and unconscious, until she was finally brought back to life but without any of her memories. Her real corpse was discovered in the woods and it is her death which draws the attention of the police. Lize is being used by Hervé's family to try and find a cure for their family's curse.
- Lula (ルーラ Rura?)
Voiced by: Rie Tanaka
- Along her partner JC, she is the contact between the girls and Animus, the organization at war with Hervé's family and those who reanimated them. She knows much more than she let on, and claims the less the girls figure out about the situation they are in, the better.
- Hervé (エルヴェ Eruve?)
Voiced by: Takehito Koyasu
- The mysterious man who lived in the mansion where the five girls were murdered. His family suffers from a curse that causes all the female members of the family and some of the male members of the family to turn into monsters. Hervé witnessed his mother being killed after she transformed, and his sister and cousin, the last two female members of his family, started to show the symptoms to his despair. Hervé feels that the family's efforts to find a cure through Lize will result in the abandonment of attempts to cure his sister and cousin, and thus he started to torment her. He also knows what the four girls do on their sleepless nights and to obtain information about those who manipulate them, he approached Kate, and started to date her.
Spoilers end here.
[edit] Theme Songs
- Opening Theme: "Jolly Jolly" by JiLL-Decoy association
- Ending Theme 1: "Rock The LM.C" by LM.C (episodes 1-11)
- Ending Theme 2: "OH MY JULIET." by LM.C (episode 12-21)
[edit] Production staff
- Supervision: Kou Matsuo
- Original idea / Series constitution: Tomohiro Yamashita
- Script: Tomohiro Yamashita
- Character original idea: Jun Fuji
- Animation character design: Kumi Ishii
- Animation director: Masatoshi Kai
- Sound director: Toshiki Kameyama
- Music: Akira Senju
- Color design: Hiroichi Furuichi
- Visual coordinator: Kentarou Sasaki
[edit] Trivia
Episode 1: There is no car/bus access between Roosevelt Island and Manhattan as shown in Red Garden. Nor are there any high schools, public or private, on the island. There is, however, subway access to the island and bus access from the Queens side, which are not shown.
Episode 4: The Soup Nazi from Seinfeld pops up in a conversation between Kate and Rose as they are sitting for a rest in the Sheep Meadow in Central Park.
Episode 5: Partway through the episode, a billboard is shown advertising "Witches". This is a reference to Wicked, the Broadway musical.
Random Trivia Although not on stage, Aiji and maya of L.M.C can be seen in the first outro selling merchandise.
[edit] External links
- (Japanese) Red Garden Official Site
- (Japanese) GONZO Site
- Red Garden at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
