Story & Characters
The anime starts off with five normal girls, enjoying life. Each are very different: you have the model student Kate,
the snobby party girl Rachel, the tomboy Claire, the shy and frail Rose, and the girl who happens to be their friend:
Lise. Every girl is completely different, however, they all share a bond with Lise. However, all five girls are murdered
and are left as either a missing or suicide case. It gets even more confusing when the girls wake up, alive and well,
without any memories of the day before.
The story is very promising, however, you could be very unsure of why they're murdered at first. It takes a while
before the story even hints at it, which can be frustrating! "Why did they die?" I found myself wondering why
they had to kill people (who appeared to be like rabid dogs) to keep living, and when I finally got the answer, I was
totally shocked.
Each character has their own levels of strengths, weaknesses, and pain. Rose's father left her and mother and
siblings for unknown reasons, Claire believes her father ditched her family, Kate is initially bullied by her group,
Grace, and Rachel has boyfriend problems and mental break-downs. Lise, on the other hand, isn't much of a deepened
character. We know far less about this character than any other, which is a shame. Though she does play a key role --
she is the sole reason the other girls meet, and why the police start to get interested in the case.
Rating: 8
Art
Above average animation, with fluid action scenes. However, it lacks in the color department. The colors can clash,
especially in the last scene of the anime. The characters are completely orange in this scene, which blinded me. A good
thing, however, is that every character looks distinctive, even if they have the same hairstyle or color of hair. There
are many people in the anime, and, with this anime taking place in New York, the backgrounds are always busy and filled
with people. This is a good thing that never becomes too distracting.
I do know that they were trying very hard to make the characters look American, but it bugged me that every character
either had curly hair, big lips or a big nose. I know curly hair isn't all that entirely common, but most women
don't have naturally curly hair. You never see the characters curling their hair, so it's unlikely that a lot
of characters would have hair like this. And even with that, quite a few characters had bangs. I'm not sure if it
is common in other areas of the US, but I almost never see women with bangs here. It's not a big problem, and
it's not very distracting, but still! I felt I had to point that out. One last critique for the character designs
-- lots of colorful hair. Sure, it's common to dye your hair, but it's painfully obvious they didn't.
Their eyebrows were always the same color as their hair. Most people have naturally brown hair, while every once in a
while you'll see a blond or a redhead. Many, many characters were blond or red-headed... It's not
natural.
But overall, I did like the animation. It was comfortable, I liked it. The colors were never too bright or dull
(usually) so I had no problem with it.
Rating: 7
Sound
I have only seen the English dub. Please read that with this in mind.
The openings and endings always made me excited. I'm not sure how much the lyrics had to do with the anime, but the
style of music did go with it (aside from the opening... too pop for a dramatic horror). I especially liked "Oh My
Juliet," the second opening, as it really got me pumped. It was dramatic, fast-paced and fun, which describes this
anime as well. The first ending also did its job at pumping me up with lots of energy. The background music wasn't
very noticeable, but that might be because I was really focusing on the scenes (which were always very
interesting).
Voice-acting. With this anime, I'd say that every voice actor or actress really pulled it off. Lise's
wasn't all that good to me, but I especially liked Rachel's. Rachel is a hard character to do, with her
constantly screaming and crying. I always felt the emotion in her acting; it always felt real to me. Rose was very timid
and shy in all she did, however, she didn't have the annoying squeaky voice that most dubs give to the shy
characters. I liked that. It was still pretty quiet, but she did her job and she did it well. These are just the notable
characters; I really liked every voice actress in this dub.
Sound effects: superb. Absolutely superb. I cringed at many scenes just because of how realistic the rib-breaking or
spine-crumbling sounds were.
Overall, I'd say the sound for this anime was very fun.
Rating: 8
Presentation
Red Garden has to be one of the best horror anime I have seen in a long time. Move over Higurashi, you were a nasty one
but you didn't fill me with the excitement that Red Garden did!
There were lots of nasty, disgusting scenes in here. However, it wasn't too many; very balanced. I found myself
looking away sometimes when characters would plunge their hands into other character's stomachs or ribs. The sound
of it really made my stomach turn, but in a good way! Just remember not to eat while watching this.
I really enjoyed this anime. To the fullest potential. I haven't been excited with an anime in a while, and this
one definitely filled that void. However, if you are squeamish or you don't like your horrors realistic and
supernatural, this anime won't be for you. Overall, this is one of my most favorites now.
It didn't take long to finish this 22-episode long anime, and I hope you get the enjoyment I did.
Rating: 10
Final Verdict
8.5000 (very good)
Reviewed by ChiekoKawabe, Jul 26, 2009
