"The line between life and death" – Red Garden Episode 7

I wonder what is the purpose of Lisa?

Hmm, with the title as such, Herve is currently revealed slightly in this episode, even though I am still not too sure of the relationship between Lula and Herve (I checked the site, it is Herve, not Harvey). This is pretty interesting as we realize where the monsters actually came from (or at least a source of it) and it seemed to be rather queer how it happened.

What is the cause of this monster transformation? That will be my before thoughts.

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Episode summary

We see a past dream sequence when Herve was young and they were in the swimming pool. Suddenly, his mother collapsed as she was brought into a room in a mansion (probably the same one). After attempts to revive her failed, her ECG dropped to 0 and suddenly, she revived with the eyes of the man beast that the gals encountered. Men then came over with clubs to kill her as Herve was taken away.

As we returned to reality, Mireyu and Anna were talking with each other, with a new medicine applied to curb Mireyu’s problems. Herve was talking to one of the doctors also existent in the dream sequence as it seemed that his cousin, Mireyu was suffering from thirsty symptoms and the likes. Benden, the doctor, assured him everything was fine but he was not convinced. He then went on a song as we saw the images of his happy family in the past, as well as Mireyu and Anna talking to each other.

Back at school, Kate was looking listless as usual. In another scene, Claire skipped school as she met up with Yuan and asking him what he would do if he was to be in a well waiting for death when a door suddenly appeared. He was puzzled, as Claire left in annoyance (who would seriously understand what you truly mean -_-)

At school once again, Kate was confronted by the other Grace, saying how she was doing nothing, setting a bad example by arriving late, having early release in school and yet gaining favor still from Paula (who I assume to be the Head Grace). They were telling her to watch out for her actions. The other girls are also experiencing that feeling of possible survival, as they looked to be in better mental states, even Rachel and Rose.

We then saw Mireyu and Anna chatting with each other about going out, visiting mansion, playgrounds until Mireyu was struggling once again as she was brought into an intensive unit within the laboratory. Herve confronted Benden and told him that he knew that Mireyu could not last long anymore. He then went over to his grandfather, asking him to attack “them” (I presume Lula’s group) before Mireyu and Anna fell to the monster disease.

The grandfather then brought Herve to see Lisa who was in an incubator, while saying that if the experiment worked for them, the clan might survive this after all. Herve was angry because it meant that they were going to let Anna and Mireyu become beasts.

The grandfather said that they had to wait still. In school, Paula came to talk to Kate who stayed back to do work. She then consoled her, telling her she understood and that the police came again. The police did not find out anything more from Kate but the old police seemed to be able to tell that Kate was hiding something still.

We then saw Claire talking to her employer who gave her so little money because of her erratic work where she often came late and left early, so much so that she could not pay the rent. Eventually, she quitted and left the restaurant, saying that there was nothing good happening in the world. With that, the butterflies appeared as she laughed in irony, with everyone around her looking at her strangely.

This time, all four of them fought (even Rose did) as they killed the man beast, with Herve looking from far, saying how vicious the gals were.

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Thoughts

Wow, there are so many facts to digest in this episode that I have to go point by point this time and organize it properly, rather than randomly thinking of thoughts like how I usually write things.

1. The monster disease

For the lack of a better phrasing, it seemed that there are a few things with this disease. From the hints from the past, as well as the comments made by the grandfather, it seemed to be a genetic disease that is suffered by his clan. They show symptoms of thirst and the monster in them is triggered only when they died. As seen from the evidence earlier, her mother was normal until she died and revived as a monster.

It also seemed to have no cure whatsoever, even though it was possible to curb the symptoms slightly from medication but from Mireyu’s condition, it seemed that it was to happen in a matter of time. The fact that I deduce is genetic is flawed because for now, we have only seen the transformation from girls and not guys.

Yet, the man beast that is fought by the girls are all male in gender. So, I am not too sure whether it inflicts males as well in the family. To add, it seems that there is a link between Lula (Herve mentioned about the invasion of a certain group to save themselves and the clan) and the transformation of this monster disease. I do wonder if Lula in fact has the vaccine for this.

2. Lisa

She finally appeared and seemed to be an experiment used as a weapon by Herve’s clan in order for survival. For now, I see her as possibly transformed into an antagonist for the four girls in the future and it will definitely create some super emo scenes.

3. Herve and the man beast

I personally suspect that the man beast that are released on the gals to kill are part of Herve’s extended family or someone that he did know. The fact that he said how vicious the four gals were in the fight clearly showed it. Honestly, if you are to see your former dead man-beast relative being killed to a total slump by four club wielding gals, it will be painful. The fact that Herve’s memory was etched with the notion of his own mother killed by similiar means will have strong repercussions. He also seems to be not that much of an antagonist in the way that he’s concerned by his sister. This is probably the charm of Red Garden because you really cannot tell who is the good and bad guy.

Is Lula good? I do not know. Is she giving them a false glimpse of hope because humans inherently wish for hope and life? I do not know.

Are the four gals simply a tool to further Lula’s means, eventually exterminating Anna and Mireyu? Maybe. I do not know. The next preview seems to be the gals trying to learn more about each other and trying to get along. Next episode please!

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By the way, these are the two DVD commercials and the lyrics are translated by Wao in the animesuki forums.