Line #5 Anime/RedGarden


1	%%
2	%% Zero-context entries are not allowed. Please add context before uncommenting.
3	%%
4
5	[[quoteright:285:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/red-garden-dvd.jpg]]
6
7	It started with the [[ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth butterflies]].
8
9	Claire, Rose, Rachel and Kate -- four UsefulNotes/NewYorkCity girls from the same school but from very different backgrounds and social circles -- are drawn together one night by a flock of mysterious butterflies that only they can see. Waiting for them are two mysterious figures -- a woman named Lula and her partner, JC -- who inform the four girls that they are dead.
10
11	In order to continue in their borrowed lives, the heroines are forced to fight for them. Each night, they must wait until midnight before they can rest. If the butterflies come to them before midnight, the girls must follow them and fight a twisted, bestial man with no help and no skills but their own will to live.
12
13	Thereafter, the lives of the girls (and the plot of the anime) revolve around coming to terms with these facts and the "suicide" of their friend Lise. Their deaths and the rabid men they are forced to fight all tie back to a strange and influential family.
14
15	Combining elements of horror, music -- the girls occasionally break into song -- and teen drama, ''Red Garden'' takes a very different approach to the girls-fighting-monsters genre.
16	----
17	!!This show provides examples of:
18
19	%%* AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil: Grace.
20	* ActionGirl: To an extent. Claire and Kate are the first to put up a fight during the girls' first battle, and from then became the two primary combatants. Rachel on the other hand, is either the GirlyBruiser end or literally the ChewToy of the night. Rose spends the majority of the fights cowering in fear, [[spoiler: but she eventually graduates to an ActionGirl.]] [[spoiler: Lula and Headmistress Sinclair (the chairwoman of Grace) have also proven their ActionGirl capabilities.]]
21	* AlphaBitch: Jessica, who is one of the girls in Grace, towards Kate. Subverted, as Jessica later reveals it's out of concern for her.
22	%%* AncientConspiracy
23	* AnimationBump: The last episode is noticeably better looking than the others.
24	* AntiVillain: Herve starts out like this, as he just wants to save his family from its curse, but late in the series he [[HeWhoFightsMonsters starts acting more villainous and sadistic]], especially when [[spoiler:he tries to kill Lise and blackmails Kate]].
25	%%* AnyoneCanDie: And ''how''.
26	* BackFromTheDead: Kate, Rose, Rachel, and Claire, obviously enough. An unexpected example comes up later when [[spoiler:Lise is revived.]]
27	* BadassTeacher: [[spoiler: The girl's teacher, Miss Lucy.]]
28	* BaitAndSwitchCredits: The opening credits are pretty floral silhouettes accompanied by a pleasant girlish song. The show, on the other hand, is ''dark''.
29	%%* TheBerserker: Claire.
30	%%* BigApplesauce
31	* BigFancyHouse: Rachel and Kate both have nice homes, but it's the mansion where they died that takes the cake.
32	%%* BittersweetEnding
33	* BlandNameProduct: "SDAM" instead of Spam.
34	%%* BloodSplatteredInnocents
35	%%* BreakTheCutie
36	* BurgerFool: Claire works for an unnamed burger joint.
37	* ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth: The butterflies only appear to the girls after they've died, and are generally linked to situations where death happens in some form.
38	* CallingTheOldManOut: Claire does this towards her father for [[spoiler: not noticing her mother's emotional spiral into suicide.]]
39	* CaptainErsatz: The NYPD investigators, an old jaded white guy and his younger black partner, would seem to be [[Franchise/LawAndOrder Detectives Briscoe and Green]] with the badge numbers filed off.
40	* CharacterDevelopment: The actual focus of the series. The nightly fighting and background of the two clans take a backseat to the way the girls are coping with their borrowed lives for most of the show.
41	%%* TheChewToy: Poor, poor Rachel.
42	%%* ChristmasEpisode: Which is also the penultimate episode.
43	* CouldntFindAPen: In the OVA, telling the girls to go to Red Garden.
44	* CowerPower: Rose's defining traits. It becomes so bad that [[spoiler: in Episode 13, it nearly gets Rachel killed.]] Oddly enough, in Episode 7, she is seen actually fighting the monster with the other girls, getting a few good hits as well.
45	* CulturedBadass: Claire listens to ClassicalMusic, really LOUD.
46	* CurbStompBattle: Marie's fight in Episode 3, and it's not pretty. The girls actually lay out the curb stomping in a seemingly strategic fashion in Episode 11. [[spoiler: Herve easily takes out an Animus and the girls in the finale as well, and Lula's the only one to deal mortal wounds.]]
47	%%* DarkMagicalGirl
48	* DatingCatwoman: Kate ends up dating Herve. She's oblivious about who he is for a several episodes, but he knows from the start -- it's why he pursued her in the first place.
49	%%* DefrostingIceQueen: Lula.
50	* DiedInYourArmsTonight: [[spoiler:JC in Lula's and later, Lula in Rachel's.]]
51	%%* DieOrFly
52	%%* DiesWideOpen
53	* DisappearedDad: Rose's dad. She goes to find him later in the series.
54	* DiscoveringYourOwnDeadBody: It features the four main girls be taken to their own corpses laid out in coffins while it's explained that they died in the first episode and are now in artificial bodies, but can get their original bodies back if they do exactly as they are told.
55	* DrivenToSuicide: Lise's death is covered up as this. Later, [[spoiler: Randy]] attempts suicide after the collapse of his company. It's implied that this is what happened to [[spoiler: his and Claire's mother.]]
56	%%* EccentricMillionaire: Randy, Claire's older brother.
57	%%* EpisodeTitleCard
58	* [[EvenBadMenLoveTheirMamas Even Bad Girls Love Their Mamas]]: Rachel is shown to be rather sweet to her LadyDrunk mother, who averts the stereotype of an alcoholic, abusive parent and visibly cares about her daughter, notably she's one of the few people Rachel doesnt have a confrontation with.
59	* EvolvingCredits: The first set of ending credits change gradually over time. Also, the opening has some mostly still bits swapped for something more animated about halfway through the series.
60	* {{Expy}}: Almost everyone in the OVA (barring the title Dead Girls, who are the same people) is an expy of someone from the TV series.
61	* FangsAreEvil: The men the girls fight tend to have fangs, heightening the animalistic image they project.
62	%%* FirstEpisodeResurrection
63	* {{Flashback}}
64	%%* ForeignLanguageTitle
65	%%* FourGirlEnsemble
66	* FurAgainstFang: It's the tiniest bit of a stretch, but the [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Animus]] and the [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent Delor clan]] can be seen as OurVampiresAreDifferent and OurWerewolvesAreDifferent respectively. A clan of people that have {{Immortality}} are [[TheUndead dead,]] and have [[SuperStrength super-human-strength,]] which also reproduce by [[TheVirus reviving the dead]], and have a [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything thirst that can only be quenched by]] [[BaitAndSwitch lemons]]. Where as the Delor clan is full of [[WolfMan beast-men]] with [[ProphetEyes glowing eyes]] and [[FangsAreEvil sharp teeth]] who [[PrimalStance run around on all fours]] and systematically [[FreakOut go crazy]] at [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything designated times]] in their lives.
67	* GenreShift: The OVA features sci-fi stuff such as [[HumongousMecha Humongous Mechas]] and flying cars. Justified because it takes place hundreds of years after the events of the original series.
68	* GetAHoldOfYourselfMan: Delivered by Claire and Kate to Rachel in Episode 6.
69	%%* GirlPosse
70	%%* GlowingEyesOfDoom
71	* GratuitousEnglish: Actually averted in the show proper, but the ending themes are guilty of this.
72	%%* HealingFactor
73	* HeKnowsTooMuch: [[spoiler: Both the cops are killed]] just as they find [[spoiler: Lise alive.]]
74	* HeroicSacrifice: [[spoiler: JC]] dies protecting Lula. Both [[spoiler: Emilio]] and [[spoiler: Lula]] die protecting Kate, though at different times.
75	* HopeSpot: Lula presents one to the girls when they seem ready to quit fighting by showing them their dead bodies and telling them they can be resurrected and return to their normal lives if they can continue to fight. This lifts the girls' spirits up and they slowly begin to grow happier and start to get along with each other. Then comes [[TheReveal episode]] [[AwfulTruth sixteen]].
76	%%* HotForTeacher: Rachel gets accused of this.
77	%%* HumongousMecha: In the OVA.
78	%%* IJustWantToBeNormal
79	* {{Improvised Weapon}}s: Considering that the girls don't develop their powers until later, they have to rely on weapons. Claire primarily brings a bat to the fights, but in the first battle used the side-view mirror of a car, and a telephone inside a purse as a bludgeon. Kate had also attempted to strangle a monster with Rachel's purse, and Rachel herself whacked [[spoiler:Herve]] upside the head with a large tree branch.
80	* IncestSubtext: Lula and JC come off as extremely close even for a brother and sister. [[spoiler:This is most exemplified when JC dies and the normally stoic Lula has a full-on crying breakdown over him in a way more reminiscent of a lover than a sibling.]]
81	%%* InASingleBound
82	%%* IncurableCoughOfDeath
83	%%* JigsawPuzzlePlot
84	* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler: Raul, Dr. Bender and Hervé especially.]]
85	* KickingAssInAllHerFinery: Rachel is usually the most fashionable of the combatant, but the Animus are this in general.
86	* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler: Just about every member of both clans bar the four main girls.]]
87	* LadyOfWar: The Animus in general, who are primarily well-dressed while fighting in a more refined style compared to the Dolore.
88	%%* LaserGuidedAmnesia
89	* LimitedSocialCircle: Much of the show deals with the heroines' escalating ostracism from their old social groups and their varying efforts to stay in contact with their old lives.
90	* LimitedWardrobe: Averted; most of the girls wear different clothes everyday. Even Kate, who wears her Grace uniform more than anything, wears unique outfits outside of school.
91	* TheLoad: Rose tends to [[CowerPower cower]] more than she fights. Later {{lampshaded}} by Rachel in the form of a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech in Episode 13. Strangely averted in Episode 7 when [[GetAHoldOfYourselfMan a verbal bright slap]] from Rachel herself during a fight motivates a fallen Rose to rise back up and fight. [[spoiler: Ultimately, Rose gets better.]]
92	* LoveTriangle: Between Rachel, Luke, and Amanda. Sam wants in with Rachel though she never reciprocates.
93	* MacGuffin: The cursed books.
94	* MagicalGirl: Played very very dark, and more for the character aspects and conflicts than for the powers. There are powers, but they rarely show up.
95	* MinionWithAnFInEvil: [[spoiler: Emilio.]]
96	* MorallyAmbiguousDoctorate: The pharmaceutical company Vivaleo.
97	* {{Muggle}}: [[spoiler: Paula's family are members of Animus, though she herself is not.]]
98	* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: Rachel is the first to kill a monster in Episode 4 when she beats it to death with Claire's bat in a berserk state. In Episode 7, the girls (with even ''Rose'' included) viciously beat up another in an alley, and once again in a strategic manner in Episode 11.
99	* OlderThanTheyLook: Animus apparently don't age, [[ReallySevenHundredYearsOld even after centuries' worth of time.]]
100	%%* OnTheNext
101	%%* OneHitKO: Occurs every now and then during the fights.
102	%%* OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent
103	* ParentalAbandonment: The reason why Claire holds a grudge against her father. Rose seems to have taken it well with her own father, despite that it resulted in her raising her siblings while their mother is in the hospital.
104	* {{Patricide}}: Hervé ends up [[spoiler:killing his father]] for not caring enough about Mireille and Anna.
105	%%* PendulumWar: [[spoiler: The finale.]]
106	%%* PerpetualPoverty: Claire.
107	* PhenotypeStereotype: Most of the upper class people have blonde hair and blue eyes, among them Kate and her family, Claire's family (but not Claire herself),several of the members of Grace, and both of the feuding clans.
108	* PrecisionFStrike: Delivered by Luke when his suspicions about Rachel and one of her teachers boil out.
109	* PrettyInMink: Primarily Rachel. She even dons a fur coat [[spoiler: in the final battle.]]
110	* RandomPasserbyAdvice: At one point Claire is on the sidewalk outside her apartment practicing swinging a bat when a random guy runs across the street and critiques her stance, advising her to "rotate your hips", then walks away.
111	%%* ReallyDeadMontage
112	%%* RebelliousPrincess: Claire.
113	%%* TheReveal
114	* RobotGirl: In the OVA [[spoiler: Louise turns out to be one.]]
115	* SecretSecretKeeper: [[spoiler:It turns out that Paula already has an idea of what's going on with Kate and the others, which she reveals in Episode 19.]]
116	* ShoutOut: In episode 4, there's seemingly a shout out to either the "Soup Nazi" from ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'' or the real person who inspired the character.
117	** Episode 5 has a shot of a billboard, labeled Witches, that is obviously modeled off the poster for ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''.
118	%%* ShrinkingViolet: Rose.
119	* TakingTheBullet: [[spoiler: JC is killed by Herve while taking a blow for Lula.]]
120	* TalkingTheMonsterToDeath: In the OVA, [[spoiler: Louise challenges the girls to a battle and when they lose, they'll have to become her friends. The girls point out that she already has valuable friends even if they're not immortal, and the battle never actually takes place.]]
121	* TechnicolorEyes: Claire and Randy have purple eyes.
122	* ThereAreNoTherapists: {{Subverted}}. While the girls never actually go to therapists their friends and family do notice that something is wrong, and they do ask the girls questions. The girls, however refuse to tell them.
123	* ThrowTheDogABone:
124	** The only outsider to the family wars who gets entrusted with a vague hint of what the girls are doing is ButtMonkey Sam. He doesn't understand it, but it's the thought that counts.
125	** Happens again in the OVA where a dressed-up Rachel starts flirting with Sam's {{Expy}} at the school prom.
126	* {{Timeskip}}: The Dead Girls {{OVA}} takes place several hundred years in the future, with all of New York except Roosevelt Island mile high buildings and floating cars.
127	* TitleDrop: Not in the main series, but in the OVA. The Red Garden is Roosevelt Island, which is now covered in pink flowers.
128	* {{Tomboy}}: Claire leans towards this, especially when contrasted with the rest of the group.
129	* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Well, not the favorite part. A few episodes in the girls find that lemons help with the side effects of their condition and from then on are seen eating them often and to the bemusement of the people they know, but they don't necessarily like them.
130	* TragicDream: Rose spends several episodes looking for her DisappearedDad to convince him to return to the family and in episode 17, expresses to Kate and Claire that she wanted herself, her siblings and her parents to live as a family of five again while getting to know her dad. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:the previous episode had revealed that all Animus were fated to lose their memories and live forever meaning that she could not stay with her family. She doesn't even get to spend Christmas together with the whole family since she has to leave for the final battle]].
131	%%* TrainingMontage
132	%%* TrueCompanions
133	%%* TheVirus: The curse.
134	* WakeUpGoToSchoolSaveTheWorld: {{Deconstructed}}. Fighting is clearly difficult for the girls (whether physically or mentally), and they don't know why they have to do it. This ends up creating a lot of social (and mental) problems for them, which are given quite a bit of focus.
135	* WellIntentionedExtremist: As mentioned before, the only reason Herve does what he does is to save his family.
136	* WhoWantsToLiveForever:
137	** The leaders of Animus whose only goal is to die. Of course being unable to move as a result of a curse probably contributed a lot to their disillusionment with eternal life.
138	** Averted in the Dead Girls {{OVA}} where the four main characters are mostly satisfied with their immortality, and instead of angsting all the time do things like composing ridiculously silly battle songs and travel the world getting bounty hunting gigs.
139	* YankTheDogsChain: In the OVA, Edgar and Louise finally look like they are ready to love each other and the girls are willing to let Edgar off the hook for his crimes, only for both of them to get pulled under the earth by vines.
140	** Beforehand, Louise mentions having met the girls before which would indicate that she remembered her past life. If that is the case, then she could've been able to tell the girls about their past which is what they're seeking clues for.

Context Anime / RedGarden