Ga-Rei -Zero- 2: How Do You Trump Motorcycle Martial Arts?
With deadly briefcase machine guns, drill arms and mechanical sword sheaths.
As blissmo’s a.f.k for a few days, I’ll be heading this up for the moment. Be sure to be back next week to witness the first co-blog for the new series’ this season.
Question: Why do they keep killing off characters which give off such good first impressions?
Answer: Because plot-twists keep an audience riveted to their screens.
Ga-Rei Zero continues to be the most intriguing and mysterious series of the season, not least because it has a penchant for killing off its protagonists. The entertainment value of this episode came less from surprise deaths and more from the other aspects of the show, because, if you look carefully, just maybe you’ll see see that everything else outside the WTF factor is really quite good.
The characters (at least those I assume aren’t dead yet) are quirky and interesting in their own right, a white-eyed drill seargant wielder, twin gun fighters (and by gun I mean cannon; those things are huge!) with screws in their faces, some sort of weird ferret magician, a business man who uses his luggage as weaponry (as both melee and shooting) and finally Kagura (one of the few names I can recall, most likely as it was mentioned the most times) with her motor-powered, trick out Iai-style sword-wielding. That’s not to take anything away from the previous characters, who were intriguing in their own right, though it’s a shame to see they were dead before we could get to know them better.
However, the most enigmatic character so far is Yomi (she seems to be the only recurring one outside of those on the Ministry office as well). What exactly are her ties to both the previous episodes main male lead (i.e the last one to die) and Kagura (please don’t be dead ;_;)? Why does she look so freakin’ awesome and yet calm and collected at the same time? I’ll be sticking around just to see what her stake is in all of this. It’s mentioned that Yomi used to be part of the Ministry of Environment, so would this suggest that those with the ability to see Youkai can become them as well?
The cute, friendly, cuddly leader of the Ministry of Environment. She’s SO going to be evil. Can’t you just feel an imposing, threatening presence behind that warm welcoming face? Suspicious >_>. She’s most definitely going to be walking around perfectly fine by the end of the series. All these officials sitting around talking in a room can get quite confusing and, to some extent, boring at times, especially with so many references to units, organisations and Ministries.
There is no action show that could not be improved by adding infectious, flesh-eating zombies.
The series’ animation continues to be top notch, especially with the fight choreography. The zombie/category D/C Slaughtering was good enough, but sword fighting is one of the best forms of battle out there, and the fight between Kagura and Yomi was full of tension and thoroughly enjoyable, especially when Kagura blew up Yomi in an OSHI- moment. Speaking of which, I would’ve thought at least some of Yomi’s clothes would’ve been in tatters; demonic fanservice is where?
AWESOMESAUCE.
So, two episodes in and I still have no idea what’s going on or where this is going. Which is actually a good thing in this situation. As long as the series keeps up it’s pacing, action and develops the story well, I’ll keep looking forward to being perplexed by Ga-Rei.
(Side Note: Where’s the OP? The ED music showed up (with no animation, unfortunately, but we’ve yet to see an OP in any way, shape or form. There’s the possibility it might be full of spoilers, though, so here’s to hoping when we finally see it it’ll be worth the wait and give us a bit more information about the direction of the series.)
That fire thing whateveritis looks like a mix of Groundon and Kyogre.
Last episode struck me as stupid until they killed that annoying squadron. Then the best character (Yomi) came back and had to cut off her kouhai’s shirt and also cut the head off that spirit-ferret!
I thought her name was Kagura..
Anyhow, loved these two episodes. :] They rocked everything: animation, music/sound, tension, plot twists… I think next week is a formal introduction to the main storyline of Ga-Rei, the manga.
They had so much suspense to show that an OP was in the way >=)
A Preview wasnt needed to keep the suspense in place. Love it!
Please Kagura, dont die (just) yet!!!!
So I was completely wrong predicting the series from ep 1 since it didn’t have anything to do with the manga… or so I thought. Now I have a sense of where it’s going so there’s been a complete reversal in my classification of GR-Z.
Now I wonder how they will develop Kagura so that she’ll “purify” her sister at the end… and if Norizuka (special intelligence agent who controls the fox spirits) will wind up being as pervy as in the manga…
Ok, that creature in the first cap? Totally looks like Japolo from Shamanic Princess.
@FFVIIKnight
Ah!!!! Spoilers!!!
Its so mind boggling! It seems like the main characters of each episodes always end up dying and its always the bad ass who has the final slash in the end.
@Victor V
Holy crap, I didn’t notice that.
@Kabitizin
Fan-service and sword. An unexpectedly good combination.
@Hoshi
Subtle edit is subtle. I was hoping they kept it anime original though, as there’s always the chance of spoilers with some manga readers. Not you though
@drastikhate
If we all hope deep within our hearts, Kagura may just survive…
@FFVIIKnight
What Hynavian said.
@ A Day Without Me
Hmm, so it does. Is Japolo a MAGIC ferret though?
@Hynavian
I wouldn’t mind seeing a show where the badass protagonist wins. Especially if it’s Yomi
I’m guessing the first two episodes where just the prologue of the Spirit Protectors Execution, something they didn’t explain in the manga, yet nice to see where it goes from here.
[...] episode, but definitely being outshone by the other supernatural/demon killing show this season, Gai-Rei Zero. God that show is made of [...]
[...] Ga-Rei -Zero- [...]
Looks interesting. Will add it to must watch list ^_^
Waaa! I liked Natsuki >.>
I really wanted to know more about the squad but even if I knew that they were going to die, it sucked when they did. Boo.
I’ve watched the first and second eps so far. I like the first one better. The quality of the animation was better in the first ep too. It felt like a movie. Oh well. I hope the overall quality of the series is consistent — consistently good ^^
Oops… I accidentally watched ep 3 before 2 >.>
@char
Gots to be careful for spoilers, especially with this show.
I was so depressed when Yomi died… I really wanted Noriyuki Izuna and Yomi to be together and also with Kagura… THEY KILLED MY FAVORITE CHARACTER!
I knew once Yomi got that stone they we’re probably going to kill her sadly. So I expected that to happen.
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