Red Garden, Volume 1 - J-Revolution

"outstanding"

"The design of the show itself warrants a watching"

Broken memories, red butterflies… the four girls of Red Garden don’t have many things in common. Why, all of the sudden, have they been selected to become killing machines?

Signaled by visions of butterflies, the four women featured in Red Garden must team up to take out a common enemy. If they don’t, they will lose their lives…. again.

Red Garden
-Volume 1: Live to Kill

• Produced by: Gonzo
• Released by: A.D. Vision, Inc.
• Release date: 9/18/07
• Episodes 1-4, approximately 100 minutes

When the first disc of Red Garden arrived on my doorstep, I wasn’t sure what to think. I hadn’t ever heard of the series, but I have been a fan of Gonzo productions for a while now. Here’s what the back of the box has to say:

“They remember a gated mansion. A strange swimming pool. Black dogs with glowing red eyes. Their only clue is a swarm of crimson-colored butterflies that only they can see. And when Kate, Rachel, Claire and Rose follow these eerie insects, they lead to a woman who informs them that they were all murdered. The girls must now do her bidding — kill strange man-beasts with their bare hands and leave no evidence. Thus begins a mystery of four girls who were killed and now must become killers. Dig deep, watch for thorns. And see the horror blossom in the violent, shocking and sexy supernatural thriller, Red Garden.”

That very description is the problem I have with Red Garden. The actual content on the disc does not elaborate on the story and more than that brief description. While the characters are presented and a shirt back-story is in its introductory phases, for the most part more questions are asked than answered.

Just who is the woman commanding the girls? What in the world are the man-beasts and why do they only attack these four girls?

The four girls, Kate, Rachel, Claire and Rose are all forced to fight for their lives. Throughout the memories that they CAN recall, they have scenes of their own deaths. Each girl has already been murdered once and given a lease on life. Apparently the ominous woman who orders them to kill is the one who controls their lives, but exactly what is the reason they are fighting savage man-beasts?

The characters do get a slight fleshing out on the first disc. Kate and Rose accept the changes to their life and want to figure out just what is going on. They quickly start to bond and form a new friendship. Rachel wants to forget about everything and doesn’t think life is worth living if she is going to have to kill. Claire on the other hand remains fairly silent for the most part, so not too much about her character is revealed.

Luckily Red Garden has a lot more going for it, starting with the outstanding artistic designs. The characters are one of a kind creations, looking more like Yazawa Ai’s characters than anything Gonzo has ever worked on. And it DEFINITELY works for this show. Everything is set in New York City (Manhattan) and you can definitely get a feel for the city just by watching the background scenes.

For the majority of my viewing session I left the disc set to its English dub. Since the characters are designed to be “American” and New Yorkers at that, I wanted to see how the dub work turned out. While it isn’t perfect, it is more than acceptable and each voice fits the character just right. In the Japanese version, there are a few times when the characters sing something kind of resembling a monologue… and while this wasn’t left out of the dub, for the most part it is changed to speech. Kind of a strange change, but I hear songs are pretty hard to dub.

The background music is a perfect fit, never seeming out of place. Very subtle for the most part, things occasionally spike in activity whenever something scary or dramatic is happening in the series. Many recent shows have over-the-top background music for the entirety of the episode, but Red Garden takes the classy way out and uses the background music as a final touch to the overall perfect artistic design.

Opening and closing themes may sound familiar for some fans. The opener (”Jolly Jolly” by JiLL-Decoy association) gives off a slightly “groovy” feel which is a great way to start each episode. It is one of the memorable openers from the last few years. On the tail end of things we have LM.C’s “Rock the LM.C” closing each episode. Fans of LM.C are in for a treat, those who couldn’t care less… well, won’t care.

The only extras on the disc are opening and closing ending themes, both of which are worth watching for once. The box art does a good job of capturing the feel of this disc, with the four girls in the upper left corner and a savage man-beast covering the bottom half. Definitely an attention grabber.

I really didn’t know what to expect with Red Garden, but I was pleasantly surprised. While I wish more questions were answered, I’m sure the vast majority will be on future discs. It is just strange for a series to not really introduce the “enemy,” especially when so much of this series is based on the premise of the girls deciding to fight or die.

The design of the show itself warrants a watching or two. These character designs are much different than anything most anime fans are familiar with, and the attention to detail on the clothing and background art really helps to tie everything together. With the music sealing the deal, this is yet another solid release from ADV.

-Steven A. Hammock, 9/18/07

Posted on Wednesday, September 19, 2007 (Archive on Friday, October 19, 2007)