Reviews

This supernatural drama does enough to keep you hooked on its developments thanks to its fleshed-out characters and surprising plot developments. Retaining a consistent bittersweet mood throughout its 22 episode run, Red Garden explores four American high school girls coping with the shocking fact that they are now dead and forced to fight against humans who become monsters. The show explores the psychological states of the girls as they adjust to this new experience and find themselves having difficulty mixing their everyday routines with their not-so-normal predicaments. The series does enough to flesh-out the different lifestyles and upbringings of the four girls so you get enough sense of how the girls learn to cope with their undead status while dealing with personal issues and strain in the relationships they had while still alive. This depth also extends to some of the antagonists confronted by the girls in the series who are fleshed out enough to be tragic villains due to their personal desires and the closeness one of them has with one of the girl's families.

In terms of plot development, the supernatural element to the series is slowly explored as focus is also put on the everyday activity of the girls. The girls come to learn that whomever brought them back from the dead is in a rivalry with another faction and learn of some shocking and tragic developments concerning those connected to the conflict, especially as some of it concerns their own fates. This flows along well with Red Garden's bittersweet mood and adds some suspense to keep one hooked on what will be unveiled next with both factions in the series.

However, the show would have been better off running for several more episodes as it lacks the time to fully flesh out its supernatural elements and the final few episodes got fairly rushed in resolving the rivalry. Much of Red Garden's pacing was fairly smooth as it took its time with building up events and exploring its major characters. But once the later episodes rolled along, the series quickly gets things heated with the mentioned factions without much background provided as to how things escalated between them and knowing more of their personal histories. As a result, I could care less about whatever happened among the characters of both factions (particularly Lula and JC) because of Red Garden being largely focused on the tragic situation facing the four high school girls and main baddie Herve. Also, I couldn't really understand what drew all four girls to their so-called close friend Lise considering all four belonged to different social cliques and the series doesn't bother focusing on how each one interacted with her. Not to mention the occasions where the girls sung felt like a waste of time to even have as the moments didn't seem to symbolize anything within the series.

The presentation of Red Garden is a mixed bag. Settings of the various New York City locales were vast and highly detailed being quite a sight to see. Character designs are a bit unconventionally drawn as facial designs are seemingly simple yet clothing designs have a good amount of detail applied to them. Animation is clearly Red Garden's weakest area as action sequences tend to get a bit sloppy and I could spot some apparent shortcuts. As for the show's soundtrack, Red Garden makes use of some dramatic musical pieces for insert music that flow well with the show's mood. However, the show's upbeat and energetic OP and ED musical choices, while unique, feel out of place with the serious and tragic developments of the series.

While Red Garden does have some glaring flaws, it is still an effective character drama focused around four girls finding themselves forced into a supernatural conflict of the unknown as they slowly come together as close friends and struggling to retain whatever normalcy they had in their lives while still alive. It's not a perfect series, but it is definitely worth watching if you crave supernatural and/or character-driven dramas.