Ranked #271

Ga-Rei -Zero-

Ga-Rei Zero (directed by Ei Aoki of Kara no Kyoukai and Girls Bravo fame), is a prequel to Hajime Segawa's Ga-Rei, a manga in which two teenagers fight evil, may or may not fall in love, and mostly have a good time. Zero was obviously made to introduce more people to the series and get them to read the run-off-the-mill source material, but in the end, it entirely outclasses the manga itself.

Those are my thoughts on the entire Ga-Rei franchise in a nutshell. Like most viewers, I had never heard of the series before this animated prequel aired, but I tried reading some manga chapters afterwards to be able to put it all into perspective. Ga-Rei Zero starts off with two oddball episodes, designed to get the viewer hooked by means of suspense and gore. Those two didn’t turn out to be the show’s strongest points however. In the end, it was the for anime unusually convincing drama which makes it jump from the crowd. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves and start with…

The story (Please note the story only starts come episode 3)
Zero takes place two years before the events of the manga. Here, Kagura Tsuchimiya is the heir to a powerful family of exorcists, who do battle with evil spirits and other such nasty supernatural things you don’t want to meet in a dark alley, or can’t because they wouldn’t fit in said alley. Why do they do this? Because it’s their duty! Moving on, Kagura moves in with another family of exorcists because her own father doesn’t have time to take care of his daughter and there she continues to grow as an exorcist (read: magical girl) with new-found sister Yomi by her side. But, evil has many forms! Dun-dun-duuun.

Yes, it’s thin, it’s standard, it’s not Jules Verne (in fact, I’d say it’s more like Shakespeare). But what Ga-Rei Zero does well is taking a simple premise which doesn’t need explaining (because it’s featured in at least 80% of the stories in this little industry) and run from there by covering subjects which the show’s biggest inspiration, Sailor Moon, leaves untouched. Zero is, besides a coming-of-age story, really about the bond between two specific characters, placed in an all too familiar (anime-)situation. The twist this show offers includes a lot of doubt, self-resentment and crying. Think of it as Evangelion if you will, though that might be a bit too extreme of an example.

The characters
Main cast – Kagura and Yomi, that’s what Ga-Rei Zero is about. I cannot stretch this enough. So, as one would expect, much time (of 12 episodes) is spent on the development of both main characters and it really, really pays off towards the end. Kagura fulfills the role of the empty shell (the Shinji) who has to deal with all sorts of stuff girls her age shouldn’t have to deal with, and though she finally makes some decisions near the end, she lets most of the show’s events wash over her completely. Which worked rather well, for me at least. One of the most vital aspects to Kagura’s personality is actually the extent to which she loves Yomi, and luckily, this is one of the things the creators got absolutely right. You will love Yomi, possibly more than Kagura herself. There’s just not a whole lot to hate about her; she’s a caring, endearing and beautiful older sister, who is strong in any conceivable way and will always think of her friends first without being a pushover. She’s the type of person the viewer can look up to, and that, again, is exactly how Kagura views her. As you can tell, it all comes together neatly. And because of that, it’s all the more painful when, well, certain things happen to our beloved duo near the end. Overall, character development on the two main characters is exceptionally well done and many key scenes are very well written. This is definitely the one part which carries the entire show.

Supporting cast – Good thing the focus is on Yomi and Kagura throughout the series then, because the supporting cast is absolutely laughable. There’s a half-naked guy here, with a white afro on his head ánd on his breast (think village elder from Hare + Guu) who speaks with an American accent and makes weapons out of teapots and refridgerators. There are twins here who both share the same name (Nabuu), have the vocabulary of a caveman, usually finish eachother’s sentences and present themselves in third person. It’s probably just me, but these are exactly the kind of characters I can’t stand, even if they’re voiced by Norio Wakamoto himself (the Nabuu brothers are, by the way). Other characters also seem to have been ripped entirely from a show with similar themes, Mai-HiME; a biker girl named Kasuga Natsuki and a certain mysterious, cynical, evil white-haired boy come to mind, but let’s not forget the magical girl squad team leader in a wheelchair and her female cohort either. It should be clear that this show doesn’t develop its minor characters, simply because it has only 12 episodes to fill. They’re a colourful bunch, I’ll give them that, but they’re absolutely not believable and I literally screamed in agony when the naked guy appeared in one of the most dramatic moments near the end.

Animation and sound
Animation – Definitely above average. The overall style is a little dark, but so is the story, so no problem there. The scenery is average, some CG won’t blend with the surroundings completely and stillscreens are being used a lot near the end, but the animation is almost flawless and everything looks consistent. As for character designs there’s once again a huge gap between the main cast and supporting cast; Kagura and Yomi’s appearances fit their characters spot-on while some other characters could’ve looked a little less silly. Then again, because of that, this is definitely not the sort of show where you have trouble telling the characters apart. Monster designs are a little uninspired at times, but the show doesn’t go into great depth as to what drives these enemies and where they come from anyway; they’re exorcist fodder and their appearance tells us the same thing. Overall though, Ga-Rei Zero is certainly pleasing to the eye.

Sound – Not really omnipresent, but the show definitely contains some carefully constructed tunes to amplify the many moments of both action and drama. Especially in the first two episodes the creators had some fun playing with sound effects and so these are also well done. I wouldn’t listen to the OP and ED songs on my iPod, but they’re definitely solid and go well with the show, not only because they’re sung by Kagura and Yomi’s voice actors. As mentioned before, Emperor Wakamoto is in this show and so I will have to give “sound” at least an 8, but the voice-acting overall is pretty solid. The only gripe I have with this aspect of the show may be Kagura’s voice, but then again there’s not a lot of teenage girls in anime whose voice I do like. Yomi on the other hand is really well done and so is her boyfriend, Noriyuki.

Enjoyment
Pure, old-fashioned enjoyment in this show comes from battle choreography. The fighting in Ga-Rei Zero looks absolutely spectacular; it’s fast, it’s clever, but also a little… underdeveloped. Most action anime spend a lot of time talking about strategies, specific moves, they discuss their enemies’ strengths and weaknesses, they get new moves, etcetera. Zero doesn’t have all that. Fights never take too long, either, as opposed to in many a shounen title (let me remind you again Zero only runs for 12 episodes). While some may be glad to hear this, it really has its downsides in that you never know what a character is thinking or trying to do. There are no rules. You just wait until one of two sides has been beaten to a bloody pulp, because before that, nothing is certain. If certain characters from this show would play Counter-Strike, they’d be kicked for hacking all the damn time.

So to sum it all up
Ga-Rei Zero suffers of two things. Firstly, it’s made as an advertising prequel to a pretty underwhelming manga series. Why that is a problem will be made painfully obvious to the viewer in episode 12, but I can already you that you shouldn’t expect to get satisfactory closure, as the producers want you to read the manga sequel as well. Second, the show only has time to fully develop two characters, which it does a great job at, but there’s a whole lot more to the Ga-Rei universe than Zero has a chance of presenting to the viewer (I mentioned the 12 episode limit several times before). The creators shouldn’t have had any problem filling up 26 episodes with Kagura and Yomi’s tale and in case they did, it probably would’ve have been one of my favourites of all time.

But hey, tough luck. Even if its drawbacks scare you, Ga-Rei Zero is still one of the best anime all year (2008) and I think despite its heavy focus on human drama, there’s still plenty to like here for viewers with varying tastes. Of course, there’s only one way to find out if the show suits your tastes and that’s just watching it yourself. I hope this wall of text has informed you well, I’m giving Zero a rare 9 out of 10 because I’m sure these 12 episodes of animation will stay with me for far longer than most.

If there's anything you did not like about this review, anything you did like, or anything that just caught your attention for no particular reason, I welcome all feedback on my profile. read more

I wasn't going to watch this, I can't remember why, but then one day I did...for some reason...and I'm so glad I did!

I don't think there really is much story...I mean it's like a generic friend story and one friend goes to the dark side and then the light side has to bite the bullet and defeat the dark side and defeat their friend, ya know, Naruto like crap. Queue a shit load of build up trying to make the relationship between the two characters seem more believable and to try and make their final showdown more epic. Not that this series needs its fights to be anymore epic, though.

The animation is incredible, it drops a little but never greatly or enough to ruin the show. And the art in the manga is VERY bad so it was nice to see how nice looking this was, with fluid fights (something else the manga lacked). Everything just looked plain awesome. Plus it was nice to see such random weapons, Irons and Suitcases for example (both of which were surprisingly badass). Plus Yomi is just plain beautiful, I think I'm in love.

I never really know what to say for sound, yeah the soundtracks great, yeah the voice work is great. Pretty much sums it up.

The characters are quite bland, you have a pervert, a gay pervert, a coward, twins, sisters etc etc nothing really pushes the boundaries but all the characters are likeable or funny or hot or use a technique or weapon that makes them badass. You forget how bland they are when they're kicking ass and taking names.

Somehow, someway I feel that 12 episodes was too many, the way they did the intro and outro had way to much overlap (one episode was basically one of the episodes from the beginning with new bits pushed in the gaps), it could have been broken down into half the episodes, same with the flashback within the flashback that took up most of the series and moved way to slowly, I think their could have been other ways to build up the relationship between Kagura and Yomi and it be enjoyable for us at the same time. This could have easily been 3 - 4 episodes shorter in my book and it woulda made it more enjoyable, you got long, slow boring flashback episodes that didn't really seem to fight juxtaposed with incredible action sequences which did fit. I just wish they wouldn't keep taking their foot off the gas pedal. I feel almost that my time was wasted, there seems to be no plans for a sequel and instead of creating a sorta tied up prequel it was more like an intro into the manga, like a really long advert, I think they coulda done more with the episodes, had their own side story that started at episode one and ended at episode twelve.

Overall there needs to be more anime like this, the action was incredible, the story was nothing new but it was the Ga-Rei quirks which made it more than just a generic shounen. Sacred Beasts, Irons, Suitcases, twists and turns and characters that actually get their asses handed to them or died. Storywise it followed all the generic shounen patterns but it completely turned it on its head and it should be remembered for that.

If Bleach was seinen it'd be kinda like this...

I have to make something clear for someone who didn't understand this review. What I liked about this series wasn't so much the content but what the series....stood for.

It took a rather generic shounen story and turned it on it's head. It was dark and bloody and crazy and shounen is aimed for boys whose balls ain't dropped yet. So for that I take my hat off. Too many shounens limit themselves because of what they're but every now and then a series goes "FUCK YOU JUMP!" and does whatever the hell it wants. So yeah the inner flashback was pretty shit. But sometimes it's not just about the content.

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My first review so ... here it goes :

Story

The story of Ga-Rei -Zero- is focused around Tsuchimiya Kagura , Isayama Yomi and a little on the Supernatural Disaster Prevention Office where they work as exorcists who " exterminate those who spread the taint of death to the human world " . You get to see during this anime some interesting and good fights, a slice of Kagura and Yomi’s sisters-like life their having with a little touch of shoujo-ai here and there and the conflicts that lead to how the manga’s story started ( from what I heard since I have yet to read Ga-Rei ) .

Animation

The animation is good in my opinion and it’s pleasant to watch. The fights are good and very interestingly animated with weapons you don’t usually get to see, but here are used as exorcist weapons. Everything looks well in place (even if sometimes the quality is not top notch) fit together to make a good show: characters, creatures, background … everything.

Sound

The sound … to be honest I can’t really talk a lot here besides the OP that is totally awesome and the ED is good also, and besides this the sound is well fit together with the scenes so I don’t recall anything sounding annoying. So I’ll just leave the sound to a good after this being said.

Characters

This is a good part of Ga-Rei –Zero- . There are a lot of interesting supporting characters that fill your episodes with joy and excitement (especially in the Supernatural Disaster Prevention Office where most of them are from). The main characters are also interesting and develop well during this anime, you learn a lot about their past and you see them grow emotionally and in terms of fighting power also.

Enjoyment

In terms of enjoyment I can say that I really liked this anime … interesting fights, weapons, creatures, characters and a catchy opening. Didn’t get bored during this anime at all and that’s good.

Overall this is a good anime that packs some good action, enjoyable slice of life with a little touch of shoujo-ai and comedy … and its good for a large variety of viewers and does not disappoint the audience after they finished it.
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After watching the first couple of episodes of Ga-Rei -Zero-, I came an inch away from just dropping it altogether, but since the fall season didn't have much else that interested me I stuck with it. About 4 episodes later I was really glad that I did stick with it. By the end of the season, this actually made my favorites list.

Ga-Rei -Zero- does an excellent job of character development for Yomi and Kagura. In fact, it does such a good job it almost completely ignores most of the other characters, which was the one thing I wish was better.

The artwork in the show is very clean, though dark (which was in line with the story so I have no complaints). The fights were dynamic and very well done, though some of the weapons and fighting were kind of "out there."

The soundtrack was nothing amazing to me, but it did well enough at setting the feeling from what I recall feeling while watching each episode.

Lastly, the story. There isn't a whole lot to say about it, because this is simply a precursor to the main storyline that exists in the manga. That being said, I thought that it was really very well done, giving us a background on the characters that we would need to know and setting up the general premise for the content.

So, in a nutshell, I really, really liked this series. It had some cool action, some great character development, and didn't try to stretch the content. Ga-Rei -Zero- is possibly the best pre-cursor to an existing storyline that I have seen, and one that I would easily recommend to anyone that enjoys this genre of show. read more

This is one of the view animes that have the first glance look it might be awesome and turns out it really is. Few animes out there have really been as suprising as this one. The Story although confusing at first leads you to expect more and more and more. The few but excellently well written in gory, and touching moments are fantastic. This anime was one of the best that i have ever seen and it is a highly recomended one for any who are sketchy about it at first.

Ga Rei Zero is very consistent. it has a WOW beginning and a WOW ending. i never got bored watching this anime. I've never seen such beautiful yet sad battles.

the story revolves around families with the duty to exorcise all evil. they inherited each of the families' techinques. the strongest of them is the family who controls the great beast byako (yeah, i dont know how to spell it sorry), wherein kagura, our protagonist belongs. after having her mother killed during one of their battles the Isayama family took care of her while her father is very busy fullfilling his duty. that is the time when kagura met yomi, the isayama's adopted daughter who is said to be soon to inherit the position as the family's head. from then on they start their lives as sisters and as agents for the Supernatural Disaster Prevention Office. everything was normal (well fighting monsters from time to time is considered normal to them though) until a very strong and very evil opponent made their lives pretty much difficult. i should stop here.hehe i find the story very exciting. there was no dull scene or anything and it even has romance in it.

the art is splendid. the fight scenes were executed beautifully. even their swords and other weapons were amazing.

characters were made to compliment each other. even those with shorter existence will make you curious.each character has their own story to be told but unfortunately this season only showed kagura and yomi's. so i'm sure there will be a 2nd season. there has to be a 2nd season. kagura has to beat that little kid's evil ass!

i do recommend this anime. its not just one of those kill time animes but something that when you start watching it'll be hard for you to stop. read more

This is one of the rare series where I can't think of much negative feedback.

The series is not what you think it will be from first glance (or at least that was the case for me). Whether that's a plus or a minus is up to you.

There's not much I can say to add to what other reviews have already said. I just think it's a great series with interesting twists and a fun plot that gives you a range of emotions. The relationship between Yomi & Kagura and what they have to go through is beautifully developed.

It's a fantastic show for anyone who enjoys sci-fi, action &/or sentimentality.

Also, the opening and ending titles are awesome! :3 Great music takes a series a long way in my book! read more

I dont usually write reviews for brand new shows, but this one blew my mind. though keep in mind that I have only seen the first episode. but as far as I could tell this is an action packed show that I had to force my self to blink because I didnt want to miss a second of the action.

story- from the first episode, it follows a group of super natural hunters that go and stop the apparitions from reaking havoc on the town. like I said before this show is almost non stop action that keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Art- the art style was top notch, from the character designs to the backgrounds to the apparitions. the only thing that keeps it from being a ten is that the larger apparitions (B Class) didnt have the best cgi on them, they lacked a bit of detail. But that was mad up for in how cool they were.

Sound- Though there wasnt much of an intro or ending theme to speak of in the first episode, the background music was phenominal and well placed. As well as all of the sound effects, every thing about the sound fit perfectly.

Character- again this is the first episode so they couldnt get too much characterization done, but what they did to was very enjoyable. the main character Touru is torchered by "that man" and wants revenge for the death of his girlfriend. Ill stop there so I dont give away too much but as far as the first episode goes the characters are very enjoyable.

Enjoyment- this is a fantastically done show and look forward to the coming episodes, although there was a huge twist at the end that makes me wonder what will happen... so yeah stop reading this and go watch it!! read more

Ga Rei Zero?
Hmmmm.....
I found it accidentally while searching for best anime titles of 2008. Animecrazy.net included it into their list. Hmmm....Kinda intriguing coz the poster seemed so interesting...time to see some shounen moves again...it's blazing!!!

(Well, you could easily find this poster that I'm talking about. The one, with many characters surrounded with fire, you'll find it)

Unfortunately, the people in the poster doesn't have anything to do with the whooooooooooooooleeeeeeeeeeeeeeee anime.....Hmmm...well, not really. You see, I thought I would be facing them longer and have to deal with some 10 maybe 20 lousy minutes and more to come, but I was soooooooooooooooo surprised that they were easily BUTCHERED!!! MY gosh! This ANIME boasts in B-L-O-O-D! And to think that these people in the poster were the main characters,,,HUH? What would happen now in the story????? AHEMMMM.... I was confused for a while. I paused while seeing the credits at the end, waiting for the ed song to play..but nothing showed up? What's wrong with this anime????

EHERM>....Now we're faced with another set of characters. They possess powers like what- I-thought-to-be-the main-characters also have, like they can see beasts or dark spirits what an ordinary person cannot do. As you see, these characters work under the government to destroy these malevolent spirits and help to maintain peace on earth. These were chosen people who have certain gifts and abilities to perform the tasks assigned to them. See, nothing extra- ordinary right? Well, it's the re-usable plot of any action anime.

De mo.....Don't lose hope...

As I have mentioned earlier, the what- I-thought-to-be-the main-characters were BUTCHERED right from the very beginning. So, this may seem something new and intriguing, right?.....BWAGAGAGAGA!!!

Will you kill someone you love, because of love? Ahemmm....Kinda soft and romantic right? It doesn't seem right for a bloody anime like this, I thought. You see, This anime is lead by a female named Kagura Tsuchimiya who idolized her Yomi-oneechan. And Yomi-oneechan, true enough, is a very skilled swordsman and a prodigy in the making. She was set to be a heir to her fostered-clan and had a very cute love-hate relationship with her fiancee, Nori-chan. Romantic, it is! They even had a filler episode just for the two, Yay!! If you're into this kind of genre, action with romance inside, then this one is really for you!! Hek hek ^_^

All seems right and fine, until, of course, the dark side made his entrance. This source-of-trouble which made the goody-goody relationship of everyone turned to its worst situation and gave a 360 degree rotation to all the lives of our dear characters..HUHUHUHUHUHUHU!! ^~^

Because, you know there's a lot of things that were really regrettable and as a viewer you could not help to feel so remorsed for the things that could have saved: relationships with your co-workers, relatives, friends, love life (huhuhuhu, so much regret ^~^) and with your treasured one. Huhuhuhu :(

And to think, that this whole thing is just a prequel to the original story.....MY GOLLY!! Although, I'm gonna say that the 12 episodes kinda satisfied me, and I feel fine even if there wont be any continuation to the story, the thought of the real plot keeps me more interested. Real main characters will be revealed. Wushu!!! I haven't searched for any season 2 yet, if their on the making already. But, Whatevah!! Sure they will, it's not like they kinda use the setting of the manga only and wont deliver the real fruit. 'Couse, they wont. Bring it on!!


P.S.

I like the Paradise Lost (OP song)
Nori-chan! Yomi-chan!! Huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuuuh
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This is a really enjoyable anime. It starts with a really fast paced full action packed episode that leave you with a mild smile, and a face of what the heck??? And for the action junkies (like myself) the third episode will leave you yet again with a face of 'what the heck?' but this time, becuase you may be expecting even more action. But you won't get it, not for several episodes, just don't drop the anime after a few episodes without action, you'll regreat it.

Story - 8
The story is solid, well developed, but sometimes rushed, while others rather slow. It develops around a girl named Kagura, and how she gets to control a spirit eater demon.

Art - 7
The art most of the time is good, but it fails when it comes to a spirit which is computer generated which seems out of place. It make it feel like a cheap anime, the action sequences are great, but yet again that monster leaves you with a feeling of why thet even bothered to make such a lame monster.

Sound - 8
The sound is good, not impressive, but not bad. You get to feel the action through the sound, and the music set a great mood in every sequence when needed.

Character - 9
This anime is all about character development. In the first episode you get to see so much characters that you don't have the slightest idea of what's going on, it gets even worst when the episode finish, since you stay with a doubt about every single thing. The confusion is self explained when the story develops, but just in part, since there are left some characters undeveloped, but it works since they doesn't matter in the main story. In the end, you get to know very well all the characters, and the reason of their actions.

Enjoyment - 8
It's really enjoyable, even tho it switches from action to slice of life really fast (I will explain it later on), it still is good. When you finish the anime, you may be even want to watch it more than once because of the details that are really amazing, and that may go unnoticed in the first watch.

Overall - 8
As I stated before it starts with a full action episode which is really amazing, but then it switches to a very slow paced, character development episode, and it keeps that way for at least 5 episodes. While some action junkies may be disapointed of the switch from full action to slice of life in such an abrupt way, don't get hasty, you will get action later on, and in the end you'll get to watch the first and second episode several times, just because it will be great. read more