A lady sleeps in the bed of flowers, as she lays there in a relaxed manner and undisturbed by the bloodshed and ashes of the battle. When she wakes up, she will remember nothing. Yet, her steps will always be remembered by the few that have witnessed this spectacle.
The few are us, the audience as we are brought into the world of Red Garden as it came into a close.
Episode 26 gist
With the impending battle coming between the Animus and Herve’s clan, the four gals looked on, only to see an explosion between the transport links. One by one, the fighters of each side fell, as the police was prevented from entering the area due to the collapse of the bridges. We saw Herve coming in, carrying a rapidly falling Ana. The four girls fought Herve but was no match for him as he escaped to grab the books away from the Animus. Eventually, everyone fell as Lise found her way into the area.
She seems to be lost and still thought of herself like the old Lise, as a belated meeting of the five girls occurred. Ana also turned into a monster, attacking Herve viciously. Herve had to kill her eventually, as he eventually died. As the two books returned to the side of the Animus, they were finally able to be reborn, as the four girls lived once again among a flower bed, symbolizing the end of the fight. Lise also disappeared in ash, thanking everyone for the friendship…
Thoughts on this episode
I must say that I am a bit shocked at the abrupt ending. I do not know what is going on with the production but I guess the very fact that they chose such an end does not disappoint me. It put up an amazing climax, yet allows a continuation that I feel will be told in the OVA interestingly named “Dead Girls”. If you ask me, I enjoy the ending due to the spectacular fight scenes and the ironic end of Herve and Ana.
To start off, the episode really concludes pretty nicely in the epic battle of the Delors and the Animus. I have never realized how bloody this battle is going to be and my expectations of Lise fighting the four gals as the final battle was not satisfied. Yet, it was probably a good thing that it is not because it allows the ending to be a beautiful one, albeit a tad too open-ended for my needs. I do not really get the symbolism of the new blooming of the flower except the simple message that it is perhaps a moment of rebirth.
I also like the scene of Herve going totally hysterical at the start, trying to lie to himself that Ana will be able to survive. It is clear at the start that she is starting to struggle when they arrived at the scene for the two books. I really felt vindictive for Kate, especially since she is also a pawn in this whole game, but Herve simply snaps without even thinking of the consequences. It might be sad for him, but I guess he actually deserves what he got: to kill Ana himself. That scene, to continue on, was also the saddest scene because it is clear that Ana has totally changed to a monster, yet he is still trying so hard to deceive himself. I found myself unable to look at the screen from the disturbing notion.
I guess the ending in which everyone died is perhaps the most climatic. However, I must say that Lise’s disappearance into dust (as she is infused with the blood of the Delors) is a bit sad for me because the time for her relief is so short that her only respite only lasted for a few moments before she disappeared. It’s sad that they do not have any merry endings, but I guess that’s not what you watch Red Garden, ironically.
Thoughts on the whole series
To me, the most interesting character for the whole series has to be Lula. Even though she is not a main character, her character has gone into a lot of character development that it’s hard to dislike or hate her to do the things that she did. I also felt that the redemption of Lula at her death is constructed excellently. I agree with the four girls that Lula initially seemed to be a total pain and seems like she is never bothered about the plight of what happened.
As the plot rolls on, it is apparent that many things are affecting Lula, and the things that mattered to her, such as J.C, is a very strong point that is driving Lula. I totally like the transformation from her being a hard hearted person to someone who slowly reveals her true self until the point of death. She has fully redeemed herself for all the harsh words, especially with the hiding of the loss of memories. It is just painful to relive her own issues.
In a way, this is what Red Garden is about. Everyone learns a lot more about themselves and the common stringed theme is the idea of redemption from their past. Everyone has hurt and pain. Kate grows up from her pain of restriction and allows herself to finally set free. Rose is binded by her fear for her family and parents and eventually learned the true feeling of trust and friendship.
Rachel did not have that much of a redemption but she finally resolved her issues with her boyfriend and learned to bury the past properly. Claire finally resolved her family problems with the feud of parent-child and finally gained peace with her father, hence learning the truth about her father.
It’s perhaps a pity that the enemy is one that is not evil, yet that’s how the story goes. Herve is perhaps a very strange villain, simply crazed by the growing desire to keep his loved ones alive. Initially, he reeks sympathy due to the very hope he holds to protect the two siblings. However, his twisted values turned him completely at the wrong direction. Initially, I still thought that the fact that he is trying to save the four girls with Emilio but he is already going bonkers in his head.
On a whole, Red Garden does suffer sometimes with plot jumps along the way, but it is nevertheless one of the few series that have captured my attention for the whole spring season. With very well constructed character development, Red Garden is a very well done series if you can look beyond the slightly different graphics (that is not that bad) and the slow pace at the start. Good stuff here, I enjoyed the ride.
22 Comments
Great, but unfortunately under-appreciated anime. I think it really shows the value of creating deep and well-developed characters and using them to drive an action/drama series… the story makes a greater impact on the audience when they’re given a chance to learn so much about the characters. I just wish Gonzo made more anime of this calibre.
I agree. Red Garden turned out to be one of my favourite shows of the season, and the year. I’m glad I gave this show a chance, since I was initally put off by the weird character designs, but they really grew on me. All the characters were fairly realistic, likable (eventually), and relateable.
As for Lise dying I think it’s because Animus won and she now had the Delor blood flowing in her. I didn’t find the ending too open – quite the opposite, surprised it was an ‘end’. I am of course assuming that the girls confusion when they wake up means that they have indeed forgotten everything.
The OVA ~seems~ to include new characters in the future, so I’m quite excited to see how that works with the TV series.
Easily my pick for the 2006/2007 seasons series.
Glad you also enjoyed it in the end. Easily GONZOs new gem, alongside Gankutsuou.
@Sorrow-kun: The sad thing is that the starting of the show has turned quite a few people off, which up to this date, I have no clue why. I found the first episode to be one of the most spectacular starts ever by an anime and it is sad that not much people did watch it. I will really urge anyone who reads this comment to give it a 5 episode try. Seriously.
@Chrno: Same here, To me, the characters, even though they have super powers, are merely human beings still. They get sick, they get angry, they feel despair, they feel lost at various times. That is what I like about Red Garden, a very harsh, realistic yet beautiful tale of redemption.
@Kacpy: Hmm my guess was that as well that she was infused with the blood of Delor in her. Still, I was hoping that she can stay for the Dead Girls OVA. So, ya, Lise’s re-appearance did not have that much of a bang compared to what I expected to be. Lise is perhaps the only character (even though she’s central in plot) to be the one that is least-developed.
why am i so far behind on anime? ;_;
With so many good comments on it I can’t let it pass ^.^
*puts Red Garden on must-see list*
@MarsBattyAngel: Yes, you should really put this on must-see list. It’s so understated that it’s disturbing, and I urge to give it at least a try or so
thanks Impz. saw yr recommendation and decided to give red garden a try. must say it really gave me a whole new perspective on anime. and its in a different category altogether!
@Goddavarice: I am glad you found my writing interesting enough to watch it. Now, go shoo shoo and watch it.
do tell me how it is after finishing it ^^
Haha I finished it a couple of hours ago. And came to tag once I did. Sorry if i was unclear. :S
I must admit I took to the characters as well albeit finding the character design a little off initially. As for the storyline I think its one of the best I’ve ever seen, though the ending was quite tragic.
Worst thing was, I shuddered when I heard a dog bark last night. (I was watching Red Garden at the same time. lol)
Thanks again for taking up this project!
Hmm, hah! Well, I see because it sounds like you just started on it. The character design is definitely the first thing that turns people off and it’s really no fault of anyone since Red Garden is an acquired taste for others.
Gosh, you do sound a bit shocked and traumatized seriously. At least I do not get all @_@ when I see dolls and go “ANIMUS”. Hah!
No problem it’s simply to spread some love.
I just finished watching the series and although the ending felt aprubt, on the whole the series was great. I just have one question: Why and Who killed the girls in the first place?
There’s a PV for Dead Girls on http://www.trinet-ent.com/deadgirls/.
Good character designs. I like Rose’s new hairdo better than what it used to be. ^_^
@Klever: Sorry for the late reply, the girls are killed by Herve and it is actually explained in Episode 1 of the series. They actually stumbled around his mansion and they were killed to be silenced as Herve had killed Lise in advance.
@Happy: i didn’t notice it @_@
Impz
Did you get to watch it yet? ^_^ Not much on there except character designs, though…
wow~
i just started this anime yesterday and finally finished watching it today (i took 2 days to watch all 22 episodes… x__x”), shows how much i liked it~
haha, at first the character designs did turn me away, but i got used to them after a while, and i love all 4 of the girls (the only one i really hated was Rose). I feel sorry for Rachel, who broke it off with all her friends =(
Claire was awsome, and i think she’s probably the strongest one of them (in terms of fighting), whereas Kate was also awsome.
I wodner how much time has passed though, when the OVA takes place? Since they all have different hairstyles and all. Also, i wonder if any of the girl’s past friends will also appear and wonder what happened to them? (I’m especially interested in Claire and Rachel’s love lives). I like Rahcel’s new hairstyle thou~ but i can’t really imagine Claire with long hair… it dosen’t seem to fit with her style… but then agian, they’ve lost all their memories, so they’re basically different people than they were before, with different personalities (probably)
@Lock.VII: Although Claire was strong, I think Kate was even stronger towards the end. ^_^ She lasted longer in fighting against Herve than Claire who didn’t even get a punch in.
I know this is well after the fact, but I just wanted to thank Impz for doing such an amazing job of covering this horribly under watched series.
Probably one of my favorite anime’s of all time.
Well first of all, there are a few things I do notice and one of them was the art style of Red Garden in which, initially turned me away, later on grabbed my attention. Yes, we all know this sort of thing doesn’t fly well in a general sense because we expect to see the stereotypical big-eyed, small nose, big headed sort of art style in oh so many Anime out there. But unlike other works such as Gilgamesh, Gundoh Musashi and so forth in which you DO see inconsistancies, this Anime’s art style was chosen the way it is for it’s purpose. My take on it is because it’s in New York. The characters are given this look of the older, fashion in such of this stylistic way to better accustomed for us to “get the feel” of this time setting and so forth. How do I furthur know it wasn’t just bad art? If you watch some scenes closely, you DO see CGs and certain things extremely well expressed in terms of it’s art.
Secondly, the characters are well developed where in the end they all took away something and found value in themselves, in which we don’t see initially. In other words, we watch them grow, mature, experience pain, gain hope, and through despair, go out stronger than ever. They lay on the bed of red flowers, awakened from their sleep from a distant dream. Beautiful.
Also, I want to add that the dialogue is amazingly well structured. In many Anime, we usually have one character speaking and it goes back and forth between that character and another and so forth. However, we have voice overlap between many characters all speaking at once during some scenes to create this realistic atmosphere of what a conversation should be like in real life. For example, the argument between Rook and Rachel is a great example of multiple character voice overlap and exchanges going on simultaneously.
There are a few things I found a bit stupid, boring, and generally inconsistant.
The fights… I honestly can not get over the fact how dumb it is for these girls, who possess some super power/strengeth go into battle with baseball bats and purses. At least, for the love of God Lula, give them REAL things to use BEFORE you call them to fight. Absolutely ridiculous. Also, the whole turning into dog like humans makes me wonder what genius decide to make them beasts and chose not to explain WHY other than it’s a curse that they become the way they are. Maybe it’s unneccesary but it still bugs me to think about it.
A few other things but I’m getting tired. Maybe I’ll post some more after thoughts later
3rd promotional video uploaded on youtube by CTaran:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6i_lCiRce4&watch_response
It looks like we _will_ get to see *spoilers*
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Lise/Lisa turn into that monster Impz was wanting to see.
@Rob
I agree at how the fight scenes were poorly inadequate for their super powers. However, I don’t think Lula gave them those bats because Claire was the one that started with the bat craze. Thank GOD that they didn’t have futuristic weapons or other things that are hard to get for normal, high school girls. It would have lost the “realistic” feeling it kept at most points.
Maybe if they had gone longer than 26 episodes, they would have gone into depth of the past and the Dorals? :\
I love this manks sine volume 1 to 3,but in last volume i think it’s not resonable ending.It’s lack of some important infomation.why Alwae and his sis alive,but good guys such as Lula died.How elizabet died?why everything is very very easy for Alwae?What is the secreat between dorals and animus?why liz appear in short time and seems she’s not important in this manga?why the feeling of characters are not clrear? i think the authur should do concern about the end of this manga in depth.
I do disappointed with the end of this manga.
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