[Categories: Anime Reviews]
Red Garden episode 1: First Impressions
And so ends my intro to the new season: possibly the most odd contender out of an impressive bunch. Red Garden scores highly in the strangeness department on pretty much all counts, which surprisingly makes it all the more recommendable.
I must admit that it took more than one attempt to watch this opening episode, Farewell Girls; partly because the video file was corrupted and made my player crash and partly because the opening titles make it look like some chick flick trash like Sex and the City! Gritting my teeth, I gave it a second chance…and was rewarded by an extremely innovative and unnerving piece of work. Never judge a book by its cover, as they say.
The ’story’, such as it is, amounts to disjointed fragments of horrific murder and violence juxtaposed with everyday life at a New York high school - I’m not even going to try to do an episode summary because there is so little to go on. It came as no surprise to me either to learn that the director, Kou Matsuo, was involved in Perfect Blue and Millennium Actress because this is mature, realistic yet off-kilter in the same way as something Satoshi Kon would come up with. As much as we anime fans claim the medium isn’t ‘for kids’, it’s still rare to see a show whose characters look in proportion and behave in a lifelike fashion, as in a live-action movie. Like Kon’s films and the creepy-as-hell (and downright awesome) Monster, Red Garden IS animated but cartoonish it ain’t.
Actually, the character designs are quite ugly at times and the show seems to have a lot of contradictory aspects. The choice of music for instance is bizarre: the op theme is bright and breezy, while the end theme is some sort of rap-rock. Neither fit in with the psychological thriller themes of the material itself and the less said of the ‘angsty musical’ scene the better *shudders*. Although the characters appear to be unconnected there is something lurking in the recesses of their memories that points to a recent event to link them all; this adds a crucial dose of mystery that will have me watching the next episode (which will hopefully be less glitchy). Out of this season’s offerings, Red Garden doesn’t make for the easiest viewing of late but it’s certainly the most intriguing.
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