You know a show is good, if you’re still thinking about it days after it ended.

At the beginning of the season I wrote my first impressions of the show:

I was unsure about picking this up, because the plot description didn’t sound that interesting. And I have to admit that as I was skimming for impressions, I accidentally spoiled myself about what happens in the first episode. But I watched it anyway and still came away somewhat shocked. It’s a very dark series, that takes itself very seriously, has some great action scenes, and incorporates some heart-pumping music as well as any anime I’ve seen.  But the plot doesn’t seem especially unique, so I don’t know if I’ll like this series in the end as much as I do now, but two episodes in, I’ll definitely stick with it.

I wasn’t sure the show was going to be that good. The first episode certainly drew my attention, but I expected once the shocking cliffhangers wore off, it’d be a pretty generic, demon-hunting, hero-coming-of-age shounen. This was fine with me, because not every show needs to be epic, profound or powerful. Sometimes you just want some mindless action.

But I was dead wrong. GRZ turned out to be biggest surprise of the fall season, and one of the best damn shows I’ve seen, hands down.

GRZ has a simple story at its heart. The whole demon hunting setting is really just a conveniently action/guro-friendly wrapper for the real story: The making and the breakdown of a strong friendship. What makes the show so powerful is the great job the writers did in exploring and developing the relationship between Kagura and Yomi – that’s when the show really starts to become something special. Unfortunately, the short 12 episode season doesn’t allow them to provide much background on the other characters, including Noriyuki, who ends up being sort of a third wheel. And they leave some loose plot ends hanging (which is probably to be expected, since it’s a prequel to the Ga-rei manga). But all that’s forgivable, because everything is really all just a foil to Kagura and Yomi in the end. The dynamic between the two drives the whole show. The comedy, the action, the drama and ultimately, the tragedy – everything – hinges on how much you come to like their characters and empathize with their relationship.

The battle scenes were well-animated and ranged from stylistic (highighted during Natsuki’s bike-fu scene) to quick and brutally realistic (most of the battles towards the end, particularly any battle with the Blue Butterfly Boy), and never failed to be exciting or intense. Character designs were streamlined and attractive, which suits my preferences perfectly. Kagura is the perfectly cute, innocent imouto, while Yomi has the more mature, beautiful onee-chan look down to a T. Weapon designs were pretty unique, ranging from awesome (Kagura’s “bullet” sword) to weird (the machine gun briefcase, the iron). The monster designs were pretty generic, but they make up for it by making the mythical creatures, Ranguren and Byakuei, look appropriately fierce and majestic.

The music was standout throughout the series, especially during the battle scenes: ranging from a rock/techno mix during the exciting, stylistic battles, to the haunting and emotional, vocal-driven arrangement during the final battle, it always seemed to hit the right chord and made you feel what the characters felt. Voice work was very good from all involved, although special kudos are due to Kaoru Mizuhara (Misao in Lucky Star) and Minori Chihara (Yuki Nagato in TMoHS), as Yomi and Kagura, doing excellent jobs in roles that I wouldn’t have expected from them.

Like I mentioned earlier, everything about the show hinges on how much you like Yomi and Kagura. And they’re exactly why I loved the show. They were both well-rounded, realistic characters that you could really relate to, and the writers really did a great job building the bonds between the two. Here’s hoping they decide to animate the regular GRZ series. I may actually go ahead and check out the manga as well.

So blue butterfly boy actually answered my question pretty early in the episode. Seems like the reversion back to “normal,” is the person trying to retain their soul, to control their inhibitions. During the fight, there were a few moments where it looked like Yomi was affected/moved by what Kagura was saying. Though it didn’t prevent her from trying to kill Kagura, I’d like to think it was her trying to stay in control.

The battles stay true to what series has given us all season long: short, but brutal battles. I actually think this helps to make the characters and the situations feel more “real,” even though it’s backed by a very fantastic setting. Kagura, as expected, fails to kill Yomi on the first try. Makes sense, since she still couldn’t face those zombies. But it at least gave Noriyuki the opportunity to save Kagura and give her one more chance to kill Yomi. If he hadn’t showed at all, I would’ve given up on his character.

The second battle, though again extremely short, was the true heartwrenching finale. The BGM set the mood perfectly, and Yomi’s flashbacks pulled at the heartstrings. Yomi. Yomi. Yomi. You will be missed. Was she able to overcome the death stone with her emotions or did it grant her wish? An apt question from the blue butterfly boy. Like I mentioned before, I’d like to think it was Yomi fighting to stay in control.

Finally the episode closes with another surprise, although it’s of the good kind. We see that the Director and Kiri-chan survived (or rather were allowed to live). Although Kiri seems to have suffered either amnesia or some brain damage from that event. Also we get a glimpse of Kensuke, who’s apparently the protagonist in the manga, and grown-up, sassy looking Kagura.

All in all, it was a great end to the series. This episode had everything I expected and wanted. Exciting battles and a truly heartwrenching, but totally appropriate ending. I couldn’t have asked for anything more. Final impressions to follow soon.

This time it was Kagura’s turn to hesitate and cost someone their life. The beast battle was pretty awesome, and Kagura’s dad was doing a number on Yomi, until she diverted his attention by attacking Kagura and sliced him in half. To be honest, I thought he was dead then and there. It wouldn’t have been the first time that someone was literally chopped into pieces by Yomi. I’m guessing the death stone at least kept him alive a little while longer.

I’m curious to see why the stone seems to falter at times, letting the user slip back into humanity. I hope they explain it. Otherwise, it feels like a bit of deus ex machina.

While this episode felt like a bridge to the finale, it wasn’t without its share of action and tragedies: Kagura’s dad, Kiri-chan, Nabuu 1, maybe the director. I do have to admit that I cracked up a little when I saw the director’s wheelchair. GRZ hasn’t been shy about using strange weapons (would you ever fight with a briefcase?), but that wheelchair takes the cake. When she was rushing Yomi, it reminded me of the Rocket Emperor Charles scene from Geass.

So now Kagura takes Byakuei and heads for the final showdown with Yomi. I hope Noriyuki makes an entrance as well.

Episode 10 comes full circle, right back to where we were in episode 2, with plenty of recycled footage to boot. Normally, that sort of stuff really annoys me, but I was cool with it this time around, because we’re now watching it knowing the full back story. For example, when I was first watching ep 2, I thought Yomi had been gone for a while, but knowing that these battle scenes happened right after she escaped the hospital (same night), adds a lot to the story.

The difference between this episode and episode 2, is it focuses on Noriyuki’s part of the tunnel, and his showdown with Yomi. I don’t know if he really believed he could save Yomi, but I think he thought that she could at least save herself. That she was still “there,” so to speak. So when she threatens to kill Sakuraba, Noriyuki chooses to believe in her to the end, ultimately costing Sakuraba his life. I think it’s easy to blame Noriyuki in this case, but I don’t know if I can. This goes back to knowing that the events in this episode happen immediately after Yomi leaves the hospital. If there was a long stretch of time in between her disappearance and her carnage, you can say, yeah, enough time’s past to come to terms with what you have to do. But knowing that just hours ago, Yomi was still Yomi, wouldn’t you believe in the person that you’ve fought with, that you’ve known, that you loved? I guess that explains the “Will you kill someone you love, because of love” tagline.

It was also nice to see how Yomi escaped from the explosion (Rangure), and Kagura being saved from imminent death thanks to her dad.

there's always time for pocky

The good thing about marathoning a series is there’s no cliffhanger you can’t overcome.

So apparently Yomi wasn’t dead. She was just horribly maimed. Also it turns out the BBB did have a nice little discussion with Yomi. Luckily, it explained quite a bit. Like why it seemed so much more powerful than Tsuchimiya’s Byakuei death stone, and what exactly that new Defense Ministry was doing.

Also, interestly enough, apparently once you kill a human who once had the stone, there’s no sign that they ever had the stone or were demonic in any sense. Yomi may have killed Mei anyway, but I wonder if she might have hesitated and re-thought it if she knew that.

The scenes between Kagura and Yomi were really touching, especially when she was lamenting about wanting to have just been normal sisters with Yomi. It felt believable, realistic. They were feelings you could empathize with.

I was disappointed that the team doubted her and even Kagura slips a bit at the end. I would have thought that they would have a little more faith in her than they showed. You fight in life and death situations with some people, you’d hope that they’d get your back. All that on top of the pain and suffering and learning that her engagement has been broken off, just sets up the perfect moment for the BBB to step in.

The final scene with the BBB was really well done. BBB plays the role of Emperor Palpatine to a T. The unusually… erotic conversion scene aside (was he holding the stone in his mouth at one point?), he comes in at the perfect point. When Yomi has nothing, when seemingly everyone has deserted her, and right after the moment where even the one person she expected to trust falters. In these scenes where the good guy turns bad, a lot of times, I feel like the reasons are forced. But in this case, I don’t think they could have timed it and set things up better. I don’t know how anyone could have possibly resisted. Spectacular.

The episode starts off with a backstab. Mei and her father strip Yomi of her title as successor, her room, her sword and kick Kagura out of the house. If Yomi wanted revenge, she’d be perfectly justified. But she shows no signs of wanting revenge, ultimately consoling herself by the fact that Kagura is her “last treasure.”

It’s somewhat unclear how much of Mei’s words and actions are hers, and how much is spurred by the Death Stone. Based on the blue butterfly boy’s explanations, it seems like it simply “pushes” what the person is feeling, because we see that when the stone loses power, Mei recognizes what she’s done and feels remorse.

I liked the fact that GRZ turned conventions on its head. Once Yomi received that phone call after seeing the blue butterfly boy, I expected that she was heading out to help the team, which would come back to haunt her later. This always happens. It’s like the converse to the never leave home without your phone rule. But in actuality, she tracks down Mei, leading to a fantastic battle between the two. The soundtrack during the fight was great. I also liked that in the end, she didn’t hesitate to kill Mei, even when the stone loses power and Mei slips back into normal mode. Contrast that to Kagura, who’s still coming to grips with that part of her role. There’s no doubt that there was anger driving Yomi, but I think she also recognized that Mei wasn’t Mei anymore, and she had a job to do.

Holy shit. GRZ does not F around. Again, GRZ does a really great job turning conventions on its head. Yomi easily knocking away the two initial shards was expected. But the rain of shards that came down on Yomi was shocking. There was none of the superfluous villain-hero banter, no drawn-out battle, it was simply the BBB asking if she wanted the power too, then BAM. Yomi is apparently left for dead. You knew it was coming. But still. Absolutely shocking.

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from anime, it’s to never bring back the dead. Especially when they can act normal and not be easily detected as… well, the living dead. Things always end up going poorly.

This episode serves as a bridge between Kagura coming to terms with her role and fate, and the carnage that’s sure to follow in the last third of the season, by focusing on Kagura’s reaction to having killed her school nurse. The first humanoid she’s killed. Long story short, she doesn’t react well. She breaks down when she sees Yomi. She breaks down when the new school nurse re-enacts the same scene between Kagura and the last school nurse (it was so similar, I thought it was a flashback for a second). And then she breaks down when her friend, Yacchi, strangely decides to confront her at the cemetery. I’m not sure why Yacchi decided to take her anger out on Kagura. Apparently, she’d forgotten that moments before Kagura arrived, she was in mortal danger. Of course, they come to an abrupt reconciliation at the cemetery. This whole scene was a bit odd and forced. It was as if the writers were just trying to show Kagura being kicked while she was down. It worked to some degree, as I did empathize with Kagura, but this and the nurse scene were over the top.

One random thing I have to mention is that the girls have the cutest lip designs I can ever remember seeing. That small bottom lip line/shading really brings out the depth.

Lol. Haven’t we seen these guys before? For a second, I thought they’d been turned into the blue butterfly boy’s minions, but then I remembered that we’re living out the flashback. Oh, Natsuki, you were so awesome with the motorcycle fighting in episode 1, back when I thought you were the heroine. At least these two are happy alive and well, for now.

The episode also lays the foreshadowing down really thick. But it works exceptionally well, because we know exactly what happens. The things that Yomi says to Kagura while she’s practicing with her, and then when Yomi’s talking with Noriyuki just resonate in my mind, and makes me sad knowing that she’ll end up the same as Mei, and becoming the ultimate enemy. I keep hoping that Yomi and Kagura will pull out a miracle between now and the end of the show. I imagine this is what I should’ve felt when watching the Stars Wars prequels if they weren’t so shoddily written.

If Mei’s psycho killer vibes weren’t tipping you off, this next scene should’ve. If there’s another thing I’ve learned, not just from anime, but from basically any TV show or movie, is never turn your phone off, or leave it behind somewhere. The worst possible thing always happens at the worst possible time. And of course, Kagura comes home to find that her uncle, Yomi’s father has been killed. It’s been a rough couple days for her.

Next episode: Revenge and Yomi’s descent into the dark side.

After a few lighthearted, character-focused episodes, GRZ wastes no time in getting back to moving the plot forward. And by that I mean, plenty of action, blood, thrills and surprises, with time to spare for the occasional yuri fanservice.

They lead off the show with a battle between Yomi, Kagura and some shapeshifting demons. It also highlights some anime physics, as Kagura’s sword jump would’ve looked much cooler, if it didn’t look like she was just floating really high. But the fight is really just a pretense for Mei to show up and dress down Yomi for acting reckless and expending more energy and causing more damage than necessary.

don't worry, you'll both get to die eventually

Kagura gets a slight injury during the fight that leads to a couple things, a.) some yuri humor and b.) a short lecture from her father to get stronger in order to assume Byakuei once her father dies. However, we learn a bit about Byakuei and Kagura’s family’s connection to the mythic beast, and it’s not a happy story. It’s more like chains of slavery bound, until Byakeui decides to dump you, in which case you lose your soul. They fight the good fight, but ultimately they lead tragic lives. They also introduce the demon stone, but don’t provide much background on it yet. All we know is it can either heal, in Kagura’s father’s case, or it can steal souls, in the undefeatble blue butterfly boy’s case, as we’ll see.

In a surprising turn of events, Mei meets her unfortunate (and extremely quick) demise when she comes across the undefeatable blue butterfly boy, Kazuhiro (to be referred to as BBB from now on). Although I assumed Mei would die at some point, I figured she would’ve stuck around long enough to to act as Yomi’s archrival, and serve as a type of subvillain. The subvillain route might is probably likely to happen, now that her soul belongs to BBB. It’s also surprising, how easily he disposed of her. Based on her swooping in earlier to help Yomi and Kagura, she seemed like she was on Yomi’s level, if not superior. No doubt this will lead to a showdown.

Finally, the episode ends on a cliffhanger with Kagura’s friends walking out on her, having just been saved by Kagura, who had just faced her fears of fighting a humanoid, and killed the nurse she loved. I’m eager to see how they resolve that, because one of the things I’ve been wondering about was how normal people reacted to these guys firing machine guns and hacking swords at demons and monsters that they couldn’t see. It seemed like the secret identity thing was sort of a half-baked part of the job.

All in all, it was a return to the exciting side of GRZ, with twists and turns and a whole lot of action. I’ve been impressed by the quality of the fight scenes and the music choices during them. In this episode, they eschewed the rock and techno that they’ve used before to go with more of an strings-led score. It’s hard to explain, but I felt like it hit the mark. The battles weren’t grand, and the action went in fits and stops, like a horror movie, so the strings really helped add to the tension.

Ga-rei-zero continues with another lighthearted, character-driven episode. After focusing on Yomi, Kagura and their relationship for the last couple episodes, this episode gets the whole agency involved to a larger degree, and focuses on Yomi and Izuna’s relationship/arranged engagement.

Yomi and Izuna, a.k.a pipe-fox man, get into an argument when Izuna doesn’t take well to Yomi’s use of perfume, which leads to a near showdown between mythical beasts. This leads Kagura to devise up a plan in which she proposes normal guy Sakuraba, and then the Nabuu twins to jump Yomi, to get Izuna to come save the day, and win Yomi’s love.

This leads to a pretty funny scene in which both Sakuraba and Nabuu back out vehemently, when they point out that Yomi would pretty much kill them. It’s funny, because it’s true. Ultimately, this leads to a plan B, in which Ayame, the wheelchair-bound agency leader, hatches a plan to have her assistant, Kiri, pretend to put the moves on Izuna, thereby forcing Yomi’s feelings to rise.

Per the usual with romantic get-together plans, Plan B leads to hilarity and hijinks, but ultimately turns out no-better than Kagura’s plan A probably would’ve turned out. On the plus side, no one gets killed. On the downside, Izuna and Yomi get into a slapfest, which ends when Yomi nearly punches a whole through Izuna.

Kagura finally saves the day and apologizes and gets Yomi and Izuna back on seemingly good terms. The joke is on all of them though, because all of the fighting was a charade and these two lovebirds are actually on perfectly fine terms.

A short subplot in the show is the introduction of an apparent villain, or at least Yomi’s rival. Perhaps the more appropriate heir apparent to the carrying on the Isayama family line, Mei turns out to be a pretty nifty spirit warrior herself, but apparently has some shady plans to get her way in power.

All in all, this was probably the most light-hearted, funniest episode of the series yet. My guess is that they take a turn back towards the more serious, plot-driven elements, because it seems like all of the major characters and relationships have been introduced. Unfortunately, the 12 episode season is probably going to limit their ability to go much deeper into the relationships, but on the other hand, it does keep the pacing brisk.

I mentioned before that I was surprised to find that Kaoru Mizuhara was doing the vo for Yomi, I forgot to mention that I’m equally surprised that Minori Chihara is the voice of Kagura. It’s such a departure from the quiet characters I’m used to her doing (Yuki Nagato, Minami from Lucky Star and Chiaki in Minami-Ke), but she’s doing a fantastic job of giving Kagura that cute and spunky, sort-of, but not-so-little kid vibe.

On another note, this is the last episode I watched to before I decided  to stop and catch up from a writing standpoint. So no more prescient posts from me.

Four episodes in, GRZ finally gets a proper OP, it’s pretty solid, nothing outstanding, but the upbeat song fits well, and the opening scenes do a good job for pumping you up for what’s to follow. For a twelve episode season, they’ve made some interesting decisions. Obviously, the most obvious being introducing and demolishing the cast in episode and then reintroducing a new cast in episode two. Keeping the show OP and ED-less in episode one (very nice use of sound effects and background music instead). And now holding off introducing the OP until they were 1/3 through the season. I guess, even though it’s a short season, the plot has a singular focus – the breakdown of Yomi and Kagura’s relationship, and the turning of Yomi – so they feel like they can be a little unconventional.

Episode 4 starts off with the hottest scene of the fall 2008 anime season, which leads to a funny scene between regular guy Sakuraba and his menacing looking, but gentle pursuer Iwahata.

Otherwise, the episode uses the opening battle between Yomi and apparently some Half-Life Striders, to establish Kagura, as the rookie, who’s all-too-eager to jump into battle, but isn’t allowed, because she needs more seasoning. Beyond that, they introduce some of the other team members, including Izuna, who we quickly learn is engaged to Yomi, and their eccentric weapon-master Michael, who just happens to stop by to take away almost all of their weapons for some cleaning and refreshing.

Which means when the inevitable battle begins, Yomi gets to jump into battle using a choice of um-unconventional weapons.

Because of the situation, Kagura gets forced into action with Yomi and her killer iron, and does a good job holding her own, even saving Yomi from some tentacle action, until she comes face-to-face with a zombified version of a woman she helped save earlier. Like all newbie heroes who came face-to-face with killing a human (even though we all know zombies are no more human than flying pigs), Yomi hesitates which opens the door for her father to enter and save the day with Byakuei, the largest, most fiercest pipe-fox I’ve ever seen. Quite the departure from the cute xxxHolic pipe-fox. A subsequent scolding follows.

All in all, it was an enjoyable episode, that continued to build on Yomi and Kagura’s relationship, while allowing the spotlight to fall on Kagura and some of her early challenges as a spirit warrior. For a show that was so dark and dramatic in the first couple episodes, I’m really impressed with how they’ve been able to mix in comedy, fanservice and some of their unique characters. The team also gets passing mention, but I thought they did a good job of offering some crumbs about their dynamic, which I imagine will be touched upon in future episodes. Finally, I leave you with some more fanservice.