This is the first I have ever written a review on anything, so I am not going to spoil the series or say anything negative about it.
The series revolves around four high school girls. Normally, I don't like high school animes, but this takes place in New York, rather Japan, so I found the setting and characters far more relatable. Also, much of the series take place outside of high school life and I found the characters to be mature adults, rather than reckless teenagers.
The first half of the anime was well paced, though it is a little slow in the way of character development, the protagonists do grow on you. The anime does a good job of making you empathetic to the characters and wishing for them to resolve the mysteries surrounding them. This anime does a great job in creating an aura of mystery surrounding characters and plot. And does nearly as well in making the characters somewhat unpredictable. This was different experience for myself and I thoroughly enjoyed the unpredictable nature of the characters and their progression.
The second half of the anime is fairly different though. Much of story starts to come together and the mystery begins to fade as we begin to understand the whole story. Unfortunately, for myself, the mystery was the best part of the anime and what kept me watching. The later half became difficult to watch and I found emotionally enthralling and actually somewhat depressing. I could be the only person, but be that this anime touches on serious topics and can be fairly disturbing in how blunt it is.
Overall, it's a unique anime. Far different the other anime I have seen. This is an anime, that I may rewatch in the future, but it was not without its difficulties. For myself, I found the later half far too depressing and consuming, but I believe others will come to enjoy this series. For myself, it has become one that I cannot forget.
If you can find it, I highly recommend Red Garden, whether dubbed or subbed.
