Dark Gathering

Spirits have always been attracted to Keitarou Gentouga due to his strong spiritual presence. A traumatic encounter with one had caused his right hand to be cursed, forcing him to wear a glove at all times. Now a college freshman, Keitarou is trying to live as normal a life as possible. With the encouragement of his childhood friend Eiko Houzuki, he becomes a private tutor. Since he is at the top of his intake class, his first client is the tutoring firm's most promising student, Yayoi Houzuki.

To Keitarou's surprise, Yayoi is Eiko's cousin, and she possesses two pupils in each eye—allowing her to see into the spirit world and purposely seek vengeful spirits to exorcise. Ever since a car accident killed both her parents, Yayoi has been searching for the powerful spirit that kidnapped her mother's departed soul. Seeing that spirits are so attracted to Keitarou, she ropes him into helping her collect other evil spirits that will assist in her future fight. Although her quest is dangerous, Keitarou reluctantly decides to join her, even as each new spirit they meet has him questioning his resolve at every turn.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Houzuki, Yayoi Main

Sasahara, Yuu Japanese

Houzuki, Eiko Main

Hanazawa, Kana Japanese

Gentouga, Keitarou Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Castle H Ruins Spirit Supporting

Hayami, Saori Japanese

Imprisoned Martyr Supporting

Miki, Shinichiro Japanese

Kamiyo, Ai Supporting

Kawaguchi, Rina Japanese

God Supporting

Saiga, Mitsuki Japanese

Alien Doll Spirit Supporting

Ootsuka, Houchuu Japanese

Otogiri Supporting

Hikasa, Youko Japanese

Boy Spirit Supporting

Oda, Aoba Japanese

Cao, Cong Producer

Matsui, Yuuko Producer

Yamamoto, Kyouka Producer

Matsumura, Nao Producer

Reviews

Jun 8, 2025

GarlandReese

Recommended

Life is scary. I think we've made death, dying, and the afterlife even more frightening so as to make life seem less scary than it really is. That brings us to the supernatural horror genre, what if living life meant dealing with the dead and afterlife? It's been done a lot, dare I say, it's been to death. So, who better to adapt a manga about such subject matter than the studio who brought us Pokemon? Good ol' OLM. Here comes "Dark Gathering", a show about a trio of youngsters led by the youngest of them all who set out to collect, exorcise, and train ... ghosts all over Japan. It's right up their alley and promises to be so delightful, I couldn't wait to dig into this show: Let's GHOOO-ST!!!!

Holy crap in a sacred Sake bottle, was I not prepared for what I got...

When introduced to our male lead, Keitarou, as he enters his freshman year in college, we're shown a young man just recovering from the awful thing that has been keeping him down his whole adolescent life; a terrible curse that has marked him on his right hand. He explored someplace he shouldn't have years back, and now suffers the consequences. He has a gift for sensing spirits and as he undertakes work as a tutor, he's introduced to young Yayoi. Having lost her parents in a car accident due to a supremely wicked spirit, she too has the gift of seeing spirts. Her eyes bear the mark of the malevolent spirit in the form of skulls on her pupils, and she has dedicated her young life to vanquishing this thing that took away her parents.

Yayoi is taken care of by her cousin, Eiko, who is also Keitarou's best friend. Eiko is a very complicated character. Her love and care for Yayoi and Keitarou is without question, but she has almost a sadistic obsession with fear and the supernatural. It was this that got both her and Keitarou a matching curse and her twisted personality is perhaps the most curious and terrifying thing in this whole show. But while the living are always capable of such strange capacity for good and evil, the spirits on display here are a shockingly effective line-up of folklore, with deranged and terrible backstories that range from simple homicide and suicide to incest and cannibalism. And when you think it can't any darker, "Dark Gathering" kills the flame (literally on some occasions).

While Keitarou has suffered already, the trials and tribulations he's put through in this are almost too much to be believed. He was just getting over his first trauma and now he suffers almost daily bodily harm and near death experiences, not to mention the psychological damage of seeing into the great beyond. Yayoi is oddly well-prepared, greatly experienced, and may be the most capable little kid protagonist I've seen in an anime. Taking so much danger in stride while maintaining that trademark stare. She is still a child, and does enough so we don't forget, but her athleticism in these situations make me recall Yoda or a Son Goku than some other child hero. This adaptation is one of the more disturbing things I've seen in some time. I enjoyed it immensely as it went from a grittier "Ghost Stories" or "Ghost Hunt" type of show to something closer to "Corpse Party" or "When They Cry...".

So, why only a 7/10? Simply because.... the series doesn't have an ending.

That's right. Despite such a terrifying tour de force, the series- like the manga- has yet to end. Just as the story began to expand to include more characters and the introduction of formal antagonists, the show comes to an end as we set off for a big battle. Does this make the show any less of a splendid showcase of the supernatural? No. The odds of this show getting a second run will increase when the manga itself comes to an end. When that will be is anyone's guess, but we can wait in limbo til it does because it holds endless promise for horror fans like myself.

Until then, this gets a 7/10 that is as solid as they come. Enjoy, but be warned- like the trio who engage in these paranormal activities- this isn't for the faint of heart. I hope you enjoy this as much as I have. Cheers!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 7, 2025

ShadowCat993

Mixed Feelings

I wanted to like this series so much, truly a pity.

The premise, the general plot, the gore art style, the ghost power system and all in all the horror aspect of the anime were great! The little girl MC, Yayoi, was quite nice, too, with a tragic background, a strong motivation and a balanced power base (like she's not op, she's just smart enough to use op spirits and some items). Still on the fence about the detective mystery plot, but it seems fun. That's it for the good part.

I know cutesy design can add contrast to horror, it was done pretty well in Mieruko-chan ... to separate normal and ghost worlds and make viewers sympathise with the MC. But here it does nothing. There are lots of gory scenes with these cute characters, at the same time some monsters are given the same design (like the teacher in the end).
And don't even get me started with the MCs... Sympathise? I mean, the guy is kinda understandable, he's mostly kind, socially awkward and being manipulated lol, he's constitution attracts spirits even though he doesn't want to have anything to do with them. What broke his character for me was his just overcaming two or three of his longtime traumas in a snap with the power of love and frienship or something. Like, really?.. Just how unserious can you get about character development?
But this Eiko girl, his "love interest" is a separate story. She's like yandere but not full way??? A stalker? OK, fine, love obsession is a thing, happens. But she doesn't have to say some weird unrelated shit that adds absolutely nothing to the story (Kei-kun, you actually like fear, or whatever) because of that. And wouldn't it be much more interesting if she only had her scientific urge to explore the unknown and enduring the scary part of it instead of being " I like scary stuff, omg I'm such a crazy gurl no wayyyyy"? Emmm, like any other woman watching true crime nowadays, I dunno? XD They literally gave her a twisted personality for nothing, it's an incomprehensible mess and just plain annoying.
You could say "But it's not even related to horror, why care?" - Exactly!!! Just throw all this useless shit out and let the horror aspect shine, why did you have to ruin it 😭😭😭
To crown it all, most episodes start with a recap of the previous one and a special story explanation before an op. When did we end up back in 2013? I wish they just made it 3 episodes shorter instead of wasting my time like this, it's just feels disrespectful.
In the end, I gave up and watched it on 1,5х. Doable, not very enjoyable.
Kinda hope for the second season, but only with the homework done.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Dec 5, 2023

Sayayurin

Not Recommended

Preliminary (9/25 eps)

As a horror/supernatural anime, it falls in both aspects.
The horror is mediocre fluff (audio SFX & soundtracks, visual mood settings) and the protagonist's terrified expression has already become the default by episode 2 as he scares easily. There's no real sense of danger or tension regarding the supernatural as Yayoi can easily secure the scene, she's the ultimate safety net.
Yayoi's apathetic demeanor and Eiko's cheery nonchalance have to be the most chilling part of the series. Overall though, it's more mysterious than spooky, intriguing but not as nearly terrifying as advertised in the trailers.
Horror, gore, and the supernatural merely play the role of tools to ... highlight the characters and their journey, vaguely touched on at all in detail or broached way too soon, spoiling the fun.
So do I recommend Dark Gathering based on the main genre being horror/supernatural? No.
If you feel the characters are intriguing enough, it's possibly entertaining.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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	Poll: Dark Gathering Episode 21 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Nov 26, 2023	78 replies	by KURAIKEN63 »» Jul 7, 7:04 AM
	Poll: Dark Gathering Episode 18 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Nov 5, 2023	61 replies	by KURAIKEN63 »» Jul 7, 2:34 AM
	Poll: Dark Gathering Episode 17 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Oct 29, 2023	117 replies	by KURAIKEN63 »» Jul 7, 1:27 AM
	Poll: Dark Gathering Episode 25 Discussion ( 1 2 3 ) Stark700 - Dec 24, 2023	120 replies	by aurora_yuuki »» Jun 10, 6:34 AM
	Poll: Dark Gathering Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Jul 9, 2023	194 replies	by Cookiez_X »» Jun 3, 5:14 PM