Anime: Ga-Rei: Zero

Ga-rei Zero's first episode makes most people believe they'll be seeing gore and demon slaying nonstop with an extreme dark atmosphere that borders the ridiculous. This happens simply because you're shown to a bunch of typical characters, flashy fights and a devastating and surprising outcome at the end. This type of introduction can lead many to put the show away, and in fact, most of those who continued to watch were propably fans of the manga, whom knew what awaited them after that.

I wasn't aware of the manga by the time I watched it, and while I like shows that have no fear of killing important characters, Ga-rei Zero made me fear that I was about to watch yet another gore-fest series like Tokko, and that almost made me put the show away. My hopes that the show could do better were fulfilled and what Ga-rei Zero presents after the first episode is an extremely deep and strong tale of friendship in a setting that mixes both darkness and the most typical shounen and shoujo elements.

Ga-rei Zero in fact has the power to please a wide audience with its varied setting that combines the youkai-hunt with a sad tale and the tension and fear more common to horror shows.

Art & Animation
Ga-rei was released in a age were animes had taken a huge leap in animation and art quality. We had Gundam 00 and its superb semi-CG robots, the flashy Macross Frontier, the superbly done Haruhi Suzumiya, and other shows with art quality and animation that made hard for others to compare. While Ga-rei Zero is not about to top any of the beforementioned, it's definetely a top quality show, with gorgeous art style and fluid animation that makes the whole show more entertaining. While combats are there, Ga-rei succeeds more in giving a darker atmosphere without restorting to a more serious art style. The character are all big-eyed, they wear school uniforms or typical mafia garb, but the tension as a whole is more serious mainly because the art does a superb job with its darker tones, shadows and scenarios shots.

Sound
The opening music is good, yet unfit by the first time you hear it. Of course that a more flashy entrance will be weird after such a tragic and goresome first episode, but after you watch the second, third, and so on, the opening starts to fit more properly. Background music is also well done, helping to create a show less childish than it would normally be considering the type of cast and character designs. Voice-acting is top notch and was never an issue for the show.

Story
Ga-rei Zero brings the series of events that come before the manga called "Ga-rei". The show tells the background history of the protagonist and its relationship with the girl that is the villain in the manga. The show takes the same formulae as Berserk and Gungrave, and copying those two could never be bad if properly done. What happens here is a good short show with great twists, a nice tale of friendship, a serious atmosphere, and a satisfying conclusion. The formulae, for those who don't know it, is showing the two protagonists as enemies at the start and than jumping backwards to slowly tell the story of how the two great friends became enemies. Unlike Berserk, Ga-rei Zero storyline reaches the first episode and concludes the story to the point where the manga starts, making it a superb introduction for the manga as well as a superb addition of information for those who already read it. While the first episode is filled with killing, the mid episodes are far more soft, showing the slow progression of Kagura and Yomi's friendship and their introduction to a greater threat than the usual demons. The show resumes its killing rampage by its late episodes and ends exceptionally well despite serving only as an introduction to the manga.

Character
While Ga-rei Zero has some very nice plot and setting, the characters are not exactly a great asset. Kagura and Yomi can be charismatic but are very standard school girls on their own. Their friendship is nice and well told and their development is equally good, making their original premises as well as poor character design only lesser issues. The support cast, however, is always confined to support role, never taking the spotlight and as a consequence never growing in the show. The lack of focus on this support cast and the bad start points of the two protagonists are clearly a negative point, but it's not enought to spoil the fun. After the first three or four episodes everything is set straight and the characters become better. It's sad to see the support cast pushed aside all the time, and without that the show could clearly be better.

Value
Youkai-filled worlds, demons, school girls and katanas are not really original, but Ga-rei Zero mixes them with a very nice atmosphere that mixes shounen stuff with more serious plot and setting. Handling demons looks like a really tough job and it really looks like anyone can get killed at any time. This kind of show is rare, as most of them usually keep all their character safe or turn the whole thing into a gore fest. Because of such courageous approach (which is very different form the manga) Ga-rei Zero is perhaps one of the most "original" (or less unoriginal) of its year.

Enjoyment
Ga-rei Zero is filled with good combats and a fear that a character can die at any time. The first episode is a bit out of picture when you first watch it, but in fact it contributes a lot to remembering you that the show may have pretty girls with school uniforms, but is a bit more serious than you think. The outcome is great and the small bits of slice-of-life to show Kagura and Yomi's friendship is greatly done as well. The varied elements of the show can make almost anyone who watch it fall in love, perhaps leaving only some haters or those who were expecting super-power shows like One Piece disappointed.

Comments
Considering that 2008 was a year with a few remnants of good animes from the good 2005-2007 time, I left Ga-rei Zero in my list for many months, giving priority to behemoths like Macross F, Code Geass, and so on. While the animes of those year were good in overall, none of them were really great, and was only in the beginning of 2009 that I took my time to watch Ga-rei Zero.

Ga-rei Zero was in fact one of the great shows of 2008, overlooked because it was supposed to only add information to fans of the very weak Ga-rei manga. The show is one of those with a very different approach that yet looks like a typical anime. I've seeing many who tries to bring killing but ends as a gore festival without any kind of fear, or those who are so overprotective with its cast that annoys to keep everyone alive, yeat only a few are mature enough to give the plot the required turns of events that may lead to death, despair, and fear. The Berserk/Gungrave formulae is once again superbly used and the friendship tale in the mid part of the show is refreshing and great.

I was compelled to read the manga after I've watched Ga-rei Zero, but sadly what I found was a hugely childish manga with a below-average art quality and a settting that abused school life, youkai-stuff and was nowhere near the serioussness of the TV show. Yet, Ga-rei Zero on its own is superb and is only truly lacking in its weak support cast and bad initial concepts of the two characters.

Ga-Rei: Zero succeeds on surprisingly many levels. Half action show, half character drama, it somehow finds time to satisfy in both roles, even in a mere twelve episodes.

This is accomplished primarily by keeping the focus tight; while there is a (relatively) well-developed secondary cast, our two leads are very much at the centre of every episode, with most of the character development spent on their relationship with each other. In a longer series this could result in running out of interest, and indeed we see hints of this in the drawn-out melodrama of the final few episodes, but here it works well; the circumscribed subject prevents the series biting off more than it can chew, and the character development we are given fits perfectly in between the fights.

Which brings our attention to Ga-Rei Zero's other main strand: the action. There are a lot of fights in this series, but excellent presentation and choreography prevent them ever becoming repetitive; on the contrary, the series seems to outdo itself at every turn, with climatic moments which run dangerously close to cheesy but manage to come off as genuinely dramatic. Such drama is aided greatly by the way the series treats its characters; it is made clear from the get-go that anyone can and will die, with the result that there is genuine tension in every battle. And the drama is matched by top-notch animation and effects; there is nothing groundbreaking here, but the effects are consistent, professional and perfectly matched to the tone of the series, and that same consistent high quality is present in the general animation, though the character designs are marred by a bizzare quirk in how chins are drawn. Underlying this all, and in my view the greatest aspect of the entire series, is a superb soundtrack, creating the perfect mood from the first note of the opening through the entire series, and complemented by good, clear voice acting.

With so much action, and character-based scenes consuming the remaining time, there is little room for plot per se; this is not by and large a flaw in the series, merely the route which has been taken. However, this shortage of story does become problematic at the end, with the show struggling to provide a satisfying conclusion, and taking far too long over exaggerated character drama in place of one; I suspect it would also impede rewatchability. The flawed ending cannot destroy what is fundamentally really quite a good series, but it prevents Ga-Rei: Zero from being a great one.

Introduction: So to start, I've read the manga which this is based off of and I very much enjoy it. The manga is much more funny and the characters are more colourful.
When I heard that it was to be turned into an anime, it didn't surprise me at all. However when I watched the first episode I was very much lost and thinking, is this the same thing? Which turn out to be be yes, and I'm glad.
However I do really hate some of the stupid changes, like giving categories for demons or class on the level of their power. Which was not done in the manga and I really wish they took it out, it gave the whole thing a kid feel having to place everything in a certain level.

Animation: Beautiful animation, nothing to complain about, the only thing that I did not like is the look they gave Kagura when she's older at the end. In the manga she was much more hotter. I know it sounds weird but it's true.
The fight scenes are just like Soul Eater if anyone has seen that, or Naruto ( in good fights only )
and Samurai Shamploo. It's very captivating and well directed. A very much, wow I wish real life fights can be like that.

Sound: As for the voice acting I have nothing much to complain about, the voices fit very nicely with each character.
However I say nothing much, there is something, and that's Kagura when she's mature, with the same god damn voice. She just sounds too young for that look. To me it just didn't fit her, although you only see her in one scene when she's mature. I know it's not much to complain about, it only happens in a small scene, but I felt I needed to say something.

Story: OKAY, so if anyone have read the manga would know this is actually the prequel to Ga-Rei (manga).
The purpose of the anime is to talk about Kagura's past. It was just to fill in the gaps that the manga had left behind. So if you haven't read it, it's fine you'll still get the story.
So to start, the first episode is very confusing, even for people who have read the manga. I recommend to ingore everything in the first episode and just continue to watch.
Basically, the setting of the story is, the Japanese Government having a secret department who's job is to find and kill demons. Kagura, the heroine of the story, is part of a powerful family of exorcist. The family works with the government to kill demons because of the inherit powers.
So your typical horror anime, nothing new or original.
The story focus on the relationship between Kagura and Yomi, why? well if you read the manga you'll know that

( don't read spoiler if you plan to watch this anime )



The anime tries to show Kagura's life with Yomi and it does this pretty well. They go to school, they have dinner together, they play together, and they enjoy slaying demons together.
However as fans of the manga knows this must all end terrible for them somehow.
There quite a bit of yuri love, but I take it more of an a very close relationship with your sister. I guess I have a bit more of an innocence mine. It's clear though that these were added to attract Otaku fans that will not watch anything without some kind of extreme fan service.
Overall the story is pretty interesting, we have the internal enemy as well as the external enemy. We have a cute love relationship between Yomi and Nakiyuki. We also have the main focus of Kagura growing up to becoming the demon slaying, Pocky eating pet loving girl that she is in the manga.

Character: Character wise, I kind of miss the people from the manga just because it gives it more of a comedy feel and a cooler look.
We got the comedy relief with the gay exorcist and a few jokes with Nakiyuki and Yomi.
There's not much I want to say about the characters other than the fact that most of them are extras, and that's just going to have to be, cause it is the prequel. It wouldn't make much sense to add in the real main characters and such now. Yes Kagura is not the main character of the series, just in this one anime. You'll see the main character at the end of the series for about 5 seconds, it's the guy standing in front of Tokyo Tower with Kagura.

Value: This is one of the better animes of this year for sure, and definitely a must watch for seinen viewers and fans of the manga. Also to people who have a open mind or like to watch something a little different than they're use to. I recommend it and hope you enjoy it.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS


SPECIFICS


FINAL THOUGHTS

Not the standard low hack 'n slash show you'd expect from the first episode.

Ga-Rei: Zero is the kind of show that works its way through its story in an unconventional way, which reminds me of Divergence Eve. Don't worry; that's the only similarity, because Ga-Rei: Zero manages to produce a solid story which follows its script to the letter, leaving no space for inconsistencies. Don't be fooled by the plot gaps you see in the first episodes, because all of them will be addressed later on in a show which has most similarities to a mature plot-based thriller. And plot-based thrillers only work with good main characters.

Animation: Nice character movements, good atmosphere, but slacks on backgrounds.

At first sight there doesn't seem to be anything wrong with anything. The characters look good, the show emits a fitting atmosphere and even the backgrounds seem to be looking good. Most of the people who watch this show will never notice anything wrong either, so for me to address this is kind of like trying to make it look bad. I can assure you, that's not my intention. But when I see something wrong, I address it. And for this show I see a bit of slacking on backgrounds every now and then.

There is also a fairly grim smirk on my face whenever I see the beasts from the first episodes; blocky CG, as if they haven't been able to work it out completely, so it looks like it was brought here from a few years ago. Fortunately, they don't use the CG too much, so there are not many scenes where I felt it was looking aged.

Again, this all sounds like criticism and it is. But that doesn't mean that most people simply never even see these flaws and truth be told, the rest is simply good. And even the flaws are being made up for by creating and keeping that tense, dark and grim atmosphere.

Sound: Great BGM, excellent voice acting, but less good songs.

First thing which caught my attention was the fact that the show seems to be using a whole lot of BGM and that it knows how to use it. Just like how people praise Initial D for its well-use of music BGM during the show, it looks to me like Ga-Rei: Zero knows that trick as well. Two thumbs up for making incredibly good use of striking BGM – although the vocal songs are a less good match.
The mediocre quality of the songs simply shows too much and despite them being inserted at the right moments, the songs themselves don't do much. That's a pity, but then again, the BGM makes up for it once it kicks in, so I don't think it had too much impact.
It's true that the BGM is less visible during the middle parts of the show, but that's merely because there is less action, so the BGM keeps itself on the background, rather than incorporating itself in the scenes.

Voices
I was happy with the voice acting. None of the voice actors showed even a slight difference to what they should be sounding like, so the match with the character design was done well. Emotions were done well and when the animation displayed rage in a character, the voices align properly. There is nothing to mention, as I didn't think there were any flaws in the first place.

Story: Starts off chaotic, only to turn back and provide the necessary background to provide a solid story.

When I started watching this show, it didn't look at all like it would prove worthwhile. The first episode looked chaotic and devoid of any development, but the fact it had an interesting ending made me decide to watch the second episode as well.
Once again, the second episode seemed to put me off once more, which means the show either tries to cover up its flaws by making it chaotic, or it actually has something more. And it is only the 3rd episode where the real story starts. Or, like I said in the beginning of the review, this is what it has in common with Divergence EVE: an action-paced start, only to be followed by the reason how we get there – followed by the continuation of what happened after that.

I was pretty much impressed with the solid continuity, the mystery and the atmosphere this show tried to create and after the first few episodes the show manages to produce a mature, solid story with a fine plot and doesn't bail out on anything in order to make that plot work. The characters are there for the story, not the other way around. Which is odd, as the middle part of the show focuses mostly on the characters' development, but that is all to make you understand why these characters are part of the story.

A minor negative part is that by the time they arrive at the point of episodes 1 and 2, they simply re-tell it again, but this time from the perspective you can understand. All of a sudden these episodes will make sense, but it is a bit sad that they spend another episode on that, as most of it has already been shown.

Characters: Only a few good characters, but those are worth the time.

The first thing which came to mind when I finished the show was that out of all the characters, I only saw a couple which were actually round characters. The rest is mostly there for filler – however, despite having next to none depth, they do a good job in creating the atmosphere the show needs.
Doesn't mean that the show doesn't have to offer any good character development, because those few characters who were round, were also really well integrated into the show. Without them, the plot wouldn't work out this well.
It is hard to point out any examples without giving out spoilers for the latter half of the show, so I'm not giving any.

Value & Enjoyment: Really nice story-driven thriller, with horror-aspects in it.

The start of the show puts you off, but once you get past that, it becomes a really nice, mature show which focuses on a strong plot. Don't be fooled by it, as the show turns out very enjoyable. That is, if you can enjoy shows about monster-hunters and blood-ties.

The show is well worth buying as well, as it is watchable for a lot of people who enjoy a show with a story, just as much as it is watchable for people who appreciate action-based shows. It's short, so you're not finding yourself spending money on a long series and there is even value in watching the show again, which is pretty rare nowadays.