Red Garden
Red Garden is an anime series created by Gonzo and licensed by Funimation, running 24 episodes and a roughly hour-long OVA.
Contents
Genre
Summed Up In a Sentence
Four girls from a private school wake up one morning with no memory of last night, only instead of The Hangover-style antics, they learn that they were murdered and brought back to life to fight horrible monsters.
Plot
Kate, Rachel, Rose, and Claire are four very different girls in New York. Though they attend the same school, they hardly know each other, aside from a mutual friend, Lise. When Lise goes missing, the four band together to try and find her. Tragically, the budding young Scoobies are all promptly murdered.
A mysterious organization recovers their bodies and gives them a second chance at life, but the girls wake up with no recollection of the night's events. Strange ethereal butterflies lead the girls to a park late at night, where a hook-nosed woman in a suit names Lula lays it out for them: if they want to live, they've got to kill monsters. A nearby pedestrian turns into some manner of possessed beast and attacks the girls. They proceed to completely lose their shit.
They survive their first night and begin try and figure out not only what happened to them, but what kind of insane world has trapped them, all while trying to manage school and their "normal" lives.
"Uhm That's Great And All But I Already Saw Gantz"
Yes, the premise sounds a lot like "Gantz for girls." Actually, that's not a bad description. The thing is, this is a show that is actually made for girls, rather than "for girls." Rather than focusing on violence and gore, the show focuses on how these vulnerable young girls deal with an incomprehensible situation, and the hopeless feeling of losing a life so full of potential. The violence is, in fact, far tamer than what the box and synopsis might indicate. The meat of the show isn't about fighting monsters, it's in the characters and their struggles.
Another thing that stands out is the obvious care that went into the character designs and wardrobes. The girls all dress like real girls in New York might. While this may seem a trifling detail, it helps make them feel authentic, and like the characters are really girls and not just boys with boobs.
Oh, and yes, there are episodes where they sing. It's not that many, though, honestly. But the singing episodes are sort of front-loaded, with about 3/4 of the songs occurring in the first half of the series.
Real Talk- From Real Viewers
OldTimeyProspector
So I picked this show up expecting a lot more action and a lot more horror. As a result, I thought I didn't like it very much. Then I realized that I was actually getting worked up about whether or not Claire was going to find a job or get evicted, and if she'd reconcile with her father, and if Rachel was going to be able to make things work with her boyfriend, and if Kate would be kicked out of her club, and Rose...well Rose sucks but whatever the moe crowd will love her, and I realized that this show had gotten its hooks into me. I really dug it.
Then I watched the OVA. Holy shit you guys. I don't want to overhype this, but it is probably my favorite OVA I've ever seen. It's beautiful, creative, and incredibly fun, and left me pumped up, eager for more, and just giddy in a way that very little else has managed. It's an incredible payoff to the series, and I could honestly gush about it all day.
