Ga-Rei: Zero

In Japan, there exists a government agency known as the Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division (SDCD), whose duty is to protect the citizens from creatures unseen. They are able to dispatch these monsters swiftly and without alerting the general public. But currently, they face a different challenge: the betrayal of one of their own.

After the death of her mother several years ago, Kagura Tsuchimiya has been fostered by the Isayama family and forms a close sister-like bond with their daughter Yomi. The two become inseparable, and together they work for the SDCD as highly skilled exorcists. However, as the stress and consequences of their sacred duty weigh on them both, and family politics come into play, Kagura and Yomi begin to slowly drift apart. One of them grows earnestly into her role as an exorcist, and the other heads down a dark path from which there may be no redemption.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Isayama, Yomi Main

Mizuhara, Kaoru Japanese

Tsuchimiya, Kagura Main

Chihara, Minori Japanese

Nimura, Kensuke Supporting

Shiraishi, Minoru Japanese

Izuna, Noriyuki Supporting

Takahashi, Shinya Japanese

Mitogawa, Kazuhiro Supporting

Matsumoto, Megumi Japanese

Kasuga, Natsuki Supporting

Kitamura, Eri Japanese

Isayama, Mei Supporting

Tanaka, Ryouko Japanese

Nabuu Brothers Supporting

Wakamoto, Norio Japanese

Kohara, Michael Supporting

Hiramatsu, Hirokazu Japanese

Kanze, Tooru Supporting

Maeno, Tomoaki Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Matsuzaki, Yoshiyuki Producer

Hiramatsu, Kiyonori Producer

Takechi, Tsuneo Assistant Producer

Reviews

Mar 27, 2009

KaminaKai

Recommended

*Powerful opening episode plus a strong ending makes Ga-Rei Zero a definite must see for action fans.*

“Will you kill someone you love because of love?”

Those who have already seen Ga-Rei Zero (GRZ) are probably sick of reading the quote above, but it is nonetheless an effective quote to advertise for GRZ. I still remember what initially caught my interest in GRZ, it was the amazing trailer. Boy, how misleading it was …

Don’t get me wrong, Ga-Rei Zero is quite fabulous indeed. The synopsis may sound generic, but the technique used to present the story that will eventually lead into Ga-Rei (manga) is what makes ... this gem a success in this recessional era. The excitement level of GRZ can be described by a simple parabolic function (think of the letter “U”), though the initial point stands out a lot more than the ending. This is analogous to say you drop a ball from great height and watch it fall down and slowly climb back up. But no matter how hard it tries, in the end it cannot go back to the initial height.

The plot of GRZ is extremely well thought out and well executed to say the least. Given the length of the series it is a very enthralling little show. Demon hunting may be the first thing come to mind after reading the simple summary of the anime. But what lies beneath that outer layer is the fragile little thing known as friendship and what happens to it when that treasure betrays oneself; that is the true moral of the story. Please keep in mind that GRZ is simply the prequel to the actual story in Ga-Rei (manga) thus you may find some unsatisfactory conclusion with regards to certain people or certain things.

Giant CG rolling dinosaurs on fire seem unnecessary but they served their purpose. The way some of the dramatic scenes were animated could have used a little more work. For instance it is possible to create a more nauseating scene by using a more unique camera angle/position rather than attempting to semi censor the scene with dull lifeless angles. On a more positive note, the animation quality is pretty consistent throughout the series and the characters themselves look great, especially when compared to the drawings in the manga. The battle animations are perhaps the most notable positive feature to the show. Fluid dynamic animation plus smooth scene to scene transitions also helped make GRZ one of the better animated shows of the season. It is evident that a lot of effort has been put into the show by the animation crew, even the backgrounds in each scene is very detailed.

As should be expected from an action oriented anime, the music is very outstanding. From the OP to battle BGM to ED, they all suit their theme well. The OP was nominated by fans as one of the top ten 2008 anime OP. Voicing-wise, Minori Chinhara was great playing as Kagura, and the unrecognizable voice change for the OP just makes it all the better. While there are not many superstar level seiyu (ie. award winners), it seems all characters received a suitable voice for themselves thus you will unlikely to have to clean your ears after watching each episode.

Unlike most single season anime, GRZ is not one where you should marathon through in a day. It is as if Ei Aoki (director of GRZ) just had an uncontrollable diarrhea. He literally dumps all the nasty stuff at you right from the start. You are bound to be confused after the first two episodes. Take it easy, we have all been through that stage. It will be tempting to keep on watching, but take my advice if you want to retain some sanity; stop there and think about what happened so far as things will go downhill from here.

If you don’t quite enjoy watching flying limbs or spurting blood, I suggest you stick to the TV release as they censored the “ugly” stuff in most cases. I also don’t recommend fans of Natsuki Kuga from Mai-HiME (or Natsuki Kruger in Mai Otome) to watch this as there is a certain someone here by the name of Natsuki Kasuga who also happens to be a motorbike chick with strong connection to dual wielding pistols. Though the difference here is how minor a role she plays and the cruel fate that awaits her.

One thing that I didn’t enjoy about GRZ is the sudden appearance of cheesy RPG-like weapons after episode one. Bullet shooting suitcase? Metal drill knuckle? Outrageous combat wheelchair? None of that were in the trailer! And none of those were anywhere near as exciting as the hot motorbike or the dual pistols. Now that I think about it, I feel like I got trolled by the trailer. Anyway, aside from the opening episode I wouldn’t call GRZ particular “groundbreaking”, but it is unquestionably one of the best (if not THE best) action anime for the fall season of 2008.

Reviewer’s Rating: 9

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Jul 14, 2015

Muggle_senpai

Mixed Feelings

After I saw the overall score, and red some of the reviews at the end of the anime my soul was screamin "and this is it?", no like seriously that was it? So to summarize story, Kagura (a girl who shouts only "Yomi/demo/sonna") is a best friend and a sister wannabe off Yomi(a mediocre orphan written character) and because Yomi is in her teen age (probably that is the only thinkable reason) she will get brainwashed into thinking that it's NOT ok to feel hatred against someone who killed her father manipulated everybody to hate and abandon her by using a some stone which turn ... you into evil person, and because she is an exorcist she will kill her(which is ok, but nobody gets it), and so Yomi will feel abandoned because nobody but her close frends believes her and she will do exactly the same as the person she killed.... AND THATS IT, yes thats it, and not to mention that 70% of the story is a flashback so you know right at the start how the story will progress. So you are just waiting for something to hapen..but it wont. I feel really dissapointed. Not because the story was promising at the start, or because of unique storytelling or character design...oh hell no. I am dissapointed because my expectations were set much higher then usualy would be and that is because of ridiculously overrated score this anime has.

Oh I am so angry, I wont even read my rewiew again for typos!
Have a good night!!!

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Jan 12, 2012

tdr85

Not Recommended

I think the first episode ending was a wonderful hook. The second episode drew you in more. But Ga-Rei Zero, despite strong action scenes, and great leads fails, and really, fails utterly because it doesn't remain true to it's characters.

As the back story develops after episode 2 the bond between Yomi and Kagura receives a full accounting, and it is the rather well developed main characters and wonderful interaction between them and also the members of their team that made these several episodes captivating. I was less impressed throughout the story with the monster designs and I found all the ... Clan family heads less than believable - they were there for the plot`s sake.

What happens to Yomi, to make her change? The drastic change, I assumed, was akin to being turned into a vampire - that is, the evil Yomi was possessed, so she was not responsible for her actions. When the Bane stone, a rather poorly defined object of `pure supernatural energy`makes it appearance I guessed it had something to do with it.

So Yomi, the adopted, loved, in love, daughter of a powerful clan head, a loyal, honored member of an organization that battles those who would release the `foulness of death`upon the world then has a very bad day. And before she is turned to the dark side, she commits an act completely out of character, she kills someone. (This scene has another thing wrong with it - the person she kills, had just escaped the thralls of the Bane stone, but seemingly lost all memory of it, yet earlier when this had happened to her she was in shock because of her actions.) Yomi would not have done this act.

Sigh, but she did, and then the primary antagonist (PA) shows up and the next thing you know she`s in a coma for 2 months, suspected of heinous crimes, and when she wakes up, probably permanently physically disabled, seemingly doubted by her (ex)-fiancee and Kagura (who both commit actions I found highly unlikely that upset Yomi). So she`s alone and lo and behold, the PA agains shows up, heals her ailing body with the bane stone offers it to her and sigh, she takes it. The Yomi I had come to know would have been filled with remorse at her killing someone, she would have used some very nasty Japanese words, the PA would have left her, a broken proud warrior.

But the screenwriter probably had the ending in mine when he started writing this series, but fell in love with Yomi while creating the character, and made her much more.

But if the Bane stone can take possession of your soul, and force you to commit evil acts, which it seemingly does, when sigh Yomi has become evil, there are really only 2 possible choices for the story. Either Yomi has the ability to overcome the lurid presence of the Bane Stone, and the focus should be on her internal conflict using her powerful will to at least have a chance at redemption (which still might have included her sacrificing herself). Both drama and tragedy can come out of this - it is a good choice but melodrama won out. Additionally, this could have been Kagura battling the `banality of evil`` that Yomi had become but also, you know, trying to get that glowing stone out of her and maybe big sis would come back! But melodrama won out.

Reviewer’s Rating: 3

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