Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Ataccot
Red Garden starts off with an intriguing premise that screams mystery. Yet while its initial setup is what draws viewers in, the general plot doesn’t carry on at a particularly fast pace. It takes some time for the main four girls of the series to figure out their situation entirely, along with what they must do and the consequences of the burdens they bear. While some people may consider the anime too much of a slow burn, important character moments are interspersed among the main story; and honestly it’s the characters that are the big focus here.
Each member of the main cast, which consists of Kate, Claire, Rachel, and Rose, gets a great amount of time in the spotlight throughout the show’s runtime. Much emphasis is put on their personal struggles alongside their coming to grips with t…
Read at the sourcekaiverh
This is the first anime review I've ever written, and I'm not entirely sure why I'm writing it. Maybe this is just a way for me to process my own thoughts on what I've been watching last weekend, or maybe I would simply like to tell you about one of the more extraordinary shows I've seen in a long time.
Let's talk about the art style first. Red Garden is set in New York, and it clearly tries to show this by adjusting its art style to match a more western vibe. It really is a hit or miss; you will either appreciate the art style or hate it. Personally, I loved how unique it felt. Direction is excellent, and it continually sets up scenes in unusual ways that manage to add to the atmosphere of the show.
Music is another theme where the creators clearly dared to make interesting choices. Th…
Read at the sourceRecynon
It's hard for me to understand why Red Garden is only rated 7.12 right now. Its characterization, art, and music are phenomenal, so the main reason people may not like it is because the plot and lore aren’t well thought-out. And the singing isn’t very good.
Red Garden works by juxtaposing supernatural horror elements and life or death stakes alongside the realistic everyday struggles of four girls, who have to go to school by day and fight zombies by night. Normally, I am highly adverse to high school slice of life melodrama, but in this case the infusion of the outlandish elements enhances the dramatic aspects.
Even by itself, though, the drama is well written, propped up by three-dimensional, sympathetic, and realistic characters in a grounded New York City setting. We follow Kate, C…
Read at the sourceRyanSpring
This anime was pretty different from what I expected based on its synopsis and in this case it wasn't in a good way. There actually isn't a whole lot of combat or mystery or drama. The anime is actually probably closer to a slice of life than anything else. The main characters, a group of four girls, die very early on in the anime and one would think this would be a pretty monumental, life-changing event but instead, upon the girl's "revival" if you will, almost nothing changes. They go to school, work their jobs, go on dates, worry about bills and do all the normal things they were doing before as if they'd never died. It is extremely difficult to believe and it makes their death seem almost inconsequential, which is just silly.
Perhaps this was done intentionally, as it could be how Jap…
Read at the sourceAnimeObasan
I rewatched this anime recently when it was added to Crunchyroll and remembered having the same thoughts when I first saw it a decade ago. It’s like... a zombie musical?
STORY: Such a mish-mash of themes, like the writers and producers couldn’t decide what feel they wanted it to have. There’s typical high school drama while the characters try to deal with being undead, as well as the permanent death of a friend, and they’re all from different high school cliques. Interesting enough, I guess. When you watch it, don’t forget the epilogue OVA. It changes the character personalities completely (reminded me of Mnemosyne).
CHARACTERS: This is one of the only anime that I feel is a good representation of American characters. They’re all very different, none of them over the top “Hullo, I am f…
Read at the sourcedaisyfang4
When I write my reviews I like to keep them short and straight to the point, without any spoilers.
The story line was definitely something that gets your attention. The concept of life after death is something that people really think about. I LOVED that all the main characters were girls. Nonetheless their are certain flaws that I noticed. Questions like why did these girls die in the first place? This question was never answered in the first place. Also certain times I felt like the story was being dragged out and slowly became bored with it.
Art- The art was modern with a pinch of vintage. It was nice how the illustrators blended these colors together.
Sound- The sound was also modern.
Character- There was some character developments within the story. As viewers we noticed certain…
Read at the sourceJoby05
THIS IS A HIDDEN GEM! READ THIS REVIEW SO YOU DON'T MISS OUT ON WORK OF ART!
Summary: From the first episode I knew this series was something special (in the 1st episode each of the 4 girls sing part of a sad and heartfelt song, reminding me a bit of a musical). The initial look and feel comes out of a 1970's cartoon... these girls could fit in perfectly with Scooby Doo and the gang. That being said, the art was refreshing. Dark where it needed to be, bright in other instances. I really enjoyed the unique perspective. The music also enhanced the mood. One thing to note is the intro song and outro song are so uncharacteristic of the anime, it just added to the perfection.
The story is dark, no doubt about it. It has death, murder, violence and "monsters". That said, unless you are strong…
Read at the sourcepure_peanuts
Red Garden was an anime that I had seen many years ago. Being a fan of Seinen animes, I decided to rewatch the series. It's fairly underrated and obsure, but I had recalled that it was somewhat intriguing. Having gone back to rewatch the series, I realised I did not remember anything of it. So this review is from a fresh mindset.
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…
Read at the sourceNimZaster
Well, I'm a fan of Seinen type anime, and this one looked great, only for the first half of the series. What I found very weak was the character development. The series delves into progression of the lead female characters and how being dead changes their perspective and how they mature. But then it stops, and you see the vice-versa in the Hervey Character. In the end- it doesn't matter which side wins or loses, and the 4 girls knew that, regardless, they had no problem eliminating the other faction. In the end, the most suffered person was Hervey, watching all people he cared for turning into monster. So instead of giving him a victim persona, Kate was victimized and Hervey was demonized! After watching this show for 22 episodes, you don't see any "real" character development, and only si…
Read at the sourcemahoganycow
Red Garden is a show full of weird little quirks, but there's nothing particularly quirky about its premise: four girls are forced to fight supernatural forces. Each evening, at any time before midnight, a team of female students from a prestigious school in New York may be summoned by a mysterious woman named Lula to engage in a deathmatch against fast, vicious, zombie-like monsters. Surrender and nonparticipation are not valid options. The girls know nothing about why they've been chosen or who they're really working for, but they hope to find out before it's too late.
Studio Gonzo's artistic work here is wholly different from the norm. Red Garden's characters are tall and lanky, distinctly European-looking, mostly pale and thin, as if to emphasize their fragility and their proximity to…
Read at the sourcezircon06
the reason that this is one of my favorite anime is because it was the first anime that i watched so that was the main reason for me liking it too much. and then i was introduced to much better anime but to this day it is one of my favorite anime. characters were likable and it was great watching this series.
Read at the sourceCaraniel
Beautifully animated and strongly character driven.
PLOT: It's very difficult to write about Red Garden as its got so many elements. Part high school drama, part supernatural thriller and part musical, it deals with four very different young women who find themselves with superpowers, forced to work together to survive, thrown into a centuries old conflict and dead into the bargain! However for the majority of the time there isn't much action, Red Garden takes its time fleshing out the four girls, watching them attempt to adjust to their new predicament and at the same time solve their own private problems with their families/friends/love lives etc. Its slow paced for the most part and then kicks into high gear for the finale where all the underlying mystery element surrounding the whole…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
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…
Read at the sourceburntlettuce
Mystery, Action, Drama, Romance, Slice of Life, and...Necromancy? An unusual combination in creating a show, however, it is one that manages to pay off. Red Garden manages to take each one of these genre's and mix them together for a highly original anime experience.
Red Garden thrusts you right into a story about our four main female protagonist and their struggles with trying to adapt to there new lives and as recently deceased high school girls living on borrowed time. You might think this show would take a very straight forward action oriented path. Given the shows premise and the fact that the girls are ordered to fight to stay alive, but this is far from the case. There is action, but it's not the main focus of the show in any way, shape, or form. Instead we follow our girls as they…
Read at the sourceTotallyDude
Red Garden is one of those animes that isnt highy popular. Its a shame. This show is a very good one. While some people might be thrown off because of the art the story completly makes up for it. You are thrown into their world where as the four main characters, you have no idea what is going on or why its happening to the girls who seems perfectly normal and dont not share anything simlilar nor are they in the same social pool, but yet they are all drawn together by something dark and by a friend that each of the girls knew that mysteriously dies...
As the story progesses so does the bonds these girls make together and so does the mysteries of their friends death that leads to everything bizzare happening to them.
Dont pass this show up! Its a good one!
Read at the sourceMediwitch12
I have just finished this series and although there were many a times where I wanted to just quit watching, I'm glad that I stuck it through. Admittedly, when I first started watching the series, the music, the art, the story, and the voices freaked me out a bit (I can't take horror one bit), but if I could get over it, so will you. The story develops slowly in the beginning but picks up pace somewhere around episode 12.
For a good background on the story and brief episode summaries, check out: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Garden
If you do plan on watching this series (which I recommend you do!), be prepared for several things:
1. The Crying - this will not go away. Get used to it or skip ahead like I did. Especially Rose...omg...just thinking about it is grating on my nerves...
2.…
Read at the sourceToast-Junkie
I usually refrain from writing reviews, but I feel this is an underrated anime, which doesn't get the amount of publicity that it should. It is also been a while since I watched this anime, but I'll try to remember certain aspects of the anime worth mentioning.
Story: It centers around four girls, who all go to Roosevelt Academy in New York and all four girls have very little common with each other except they were all friends with a girl called Lise, who is now dead. They also realise that they can't remember the day before, which was the day Lise died and also the day they died. The series continues how they deal with this and other problems which arise from their new found undead-ness.
What I liked about Red Garden in particular and I think which made it all the difference is that it…
Read at the sourceVenneh
Title: Red Garden
Manga, Anime: The manga of Red Garden started running just under a week before the show started airing on Japanese television in Gentosha Comics' magazine Comic Birz, with story by Gonzo and art by Kirihito Ayamura. It is still running in Japan, and has two volumes to its name. It has yet to be licensed Stateside.
The anime itself ran on Japanese television from October 3rd, 2006 to March 13th, 2007, and was directed by Kou Matsuo (well-known for directing the Rozen Maiden project) and animated by Studio Gonzo (well-known for Gankutsuou and Saikano). ADV has licensed the show Stateside, and the third volume will be released on the twenty-second of this month.
Story: Red Garden's focuses in on four girls -- Kate (the one who's rich and is on the student disciplinary cou…
Read at the sourcejet2r0cks
5 WORDS OR LESS REVIEW: Action Shojo, slightly confusing
I really enjoyed watching Red Garden – the storyline was interesting and unique, but unfortunately it wasn’t perfect.
Truth be told I was having a hard time understanding the plot. At first, I thought it was too complex, but then again, not really. Everything was pretty much explained during the last episodes, except for the butterflies. I think “weird” is a more fitting word to describe the story of Red Garden. You know what’s weird? The girls’ enemies. Why did they have to move like rabid dogs? I also thought the plot was moving really slow. During the first episode, Rachel seemed to have gained a new ability, but they didn’t talk about that again until the second half.
The whole plot wa…
Read at the sourceKopanda
It's funny that when I first started watching I thought the characters looked ridiculous and now I find it much more 'natural' than purple-haired, bug eyed smurf-sized lolitas. Maybe it's the fantastic characterization and development that has made me warm to them. Either way the glamorous look Red Garden is given really enriches my understanding of the very unglamorous conflicts, emotions and changes the characters endure. At times I feel that they could've made it just a little bit more filthy. In fact I get thirsty during the fight scenes for some unnerving material. The first couple of episodes where Rachel's nail is cracked, really sold it for me. I love that sort of imagery, where it's such a noticeable detail that makes a vein character feel so ugly.
I've never been to New York or…
Read at the source