A girl who can be possessed by a goddess goes to school. Stuff happens.
Unfortunately, I had no idea what was going on in this show half the time. That may be my own fault. I zoned out for a good part of the early episodes. Because it was boring. Towards the middle of the series I was totally lost. I had no clue what was going on with these three siblings and why they were breaking up over a horse. Then there was some sort of war going on in the school which I couldn’t entirely figure out either. And some guy who was actually a crow.
I often like to complain about shows that “dumb it down” for the audience and explain everything. But this time I was the dumb one. I could barely follow this at all. Other people seem to have a better grasp of it than me, so your mileage may vary.
The setting is pretty cool though. It’s a mash of sci-fi, the modern world, and shintoism. Pretty cool stuff. Assuming you know what’s going on.
- Storytelling – F – I was totally lost.
- Voice – C – Unique setup.
- Characters – C – The main character is extremely annoying.
- Attention Grab – D – Boredom contributed greatly to my confusion in the first place.
- Production – B – Looks fine.
- Overall – D
Recommendations – Can’t think of anything… watched the last episode and now all I want to do is go to sleep. This show’ll do that. Good night.
I applaud people who can understand the story, because I sure didn’t. Also you who can actually finish it. I stopped at episode 2.
BTW, I have made twitter as you suggested. My username is ‘eterychan’
Yay! I followed you.
Seems like Red Data Girl is yet another victim of the One Cour syndrome. The pacing was utterly disastrous.
I’m not convinced an extra cour would have helped though.
Gotta love your honest review 🙂 I absolutely adored this show, as we spoke about on Twitter, and I was saddened to see it relegated to a single cours. I won’t make excuses at all for the rushed story, since that’s exactly what happened for them to make some semblance of an ending. Along with Chihayafuru and Hunter x Hunter, RDG was in the top three for my spring season, and I rate it highly.
Yeah, I can definitely understand how people would like it. I did enjoy the beginning, particularly the second and third episodes where all the crazy spiritual stuff was just getting started.
I feel like I was one of the few (at least based on my twitter timeline) that enjoyed this series and seemed to understand what it was about. Perhaps this is because I have been doing a lot of reading and research around Japanese religion – Shinto, Buddhism etc – and how they interact together. Plus I tend to watch any series by PA Works – guaranteed to be beautifully animated.
Every so often you get an anime series that is so culturally embedded that unless you understand that element of Japanese culture/society, even if its only a little, you wont be able to really understand or enjoy the anime. And Red Data Girl is clearly one of those series – its a little sad to see only twelve episodes though since its supposed to be based on a novel series and there is more to the story that has been left out.
Maybe, I don’t know though. I’m not sure knowing more about the religion would have helped that much. I imagine that even if I knew much more about Shinto I would be confused.
RDG = REALLY DUMB GIRL
This series was odd…very…odd…s2? DO NOT WANT
She sure was dumb.
The plot was hard to follow, indeed. As I understood there were at least seven different lines of conflict with not much relation between them:
– Izumiko coming of age
– Izumiko and Miyuki becoming a couple
– Miyuki’s conflict w/ Sayara (the handsome guy who became a teacher – his father?)
– The siblings’ relations between themselves
– Masumi trying to lure Izumiko into his realm
– The conflict between the two factions in the school (the siblings vs. Takayanagi)
– The Himegami having her own plans
Quite a lot for 12 episodes and I think barely one of these conflicts has been properly resolved. Also, too many guys for my taste.
So I basically agree with the storytelling “F” but not so much with the “C” for characters and voice.
The aspect of Izumiko coming of age was well done imo. I’d have appreciated to see some more of the everyday aspects of this (like when she decided to take off her glasses). I also liked that she wasn’t focussed on Miyuki from the start but actually flirted with almost every male character. Cute when she was drunk in episode 6 – every other show would have had the character refuse to try any alcohol for being a minor. In any case I didn’t find her boring; she’s just shy!
Re voice I didn’t like the “school with supernatural students” setup as it is rather contrived and has been done too often before. Best part of the show, though, was the atmosphere everytime the supernatural kicked in, in particular when the Himegami appeared and all the scenes which were set in the forest. I’d call these parts almost haunting.
PS: What sci-fi elements do you see in this show?
PPS: There must be someone at P.A. Works who really likes drawing horses! Horse movement must be difficult to draw so it looks like P.A. Works is bragging with its craftsmanship.
Exactly. So much going on, none of it is resolved, and they are all only tangentially related. Really hard to follow.
There have been a lot of schools with supernatural students, that’s for sure. My interest lies in the fact that the supernatural powers here are related (vaguely) to Shinto, not just some generic type of magic. And these supernatural elements did add a great atmosphere, as you say (even if I had little idea what was going on).
The sci-fi element I was thinking of was how Himegami came from the future where the Earth is destroyed. Kind of some time travelling stuff.
You’re right about the horses. I remember Tari Tari had a bunch of them as well…