This anime series serves as a Prequel to the manga, Ga-Rei. It depicts the life of Yomi before her fall to evil, and her strong sisterly bond to Kagura. The two girls' relationship is the central focus of the story, emphasizing why Kagura's heart often wavers while fighting Yomi throughout the course of the original manga. Its tone is considerably different from that of the manga, making the anime more Seinen than Shōnen. The show is probably most notable for throwing off viewers with its first two episodes by killing everyone off. The focus is instead on Yomi, making a character who was originally a rather average villain into a highly sympathetic, tragic heroine.Licensed by Funimation in August 2010 and released to DVD and Blu-Ray in April 2011.
Absurdly Spacious Sewer: True, it's called Metropolitan Area Outer Underground Discharge Channel, a.k.a. G-cans project. Its main function is to keep Tokyo metropolitan area's sewage system from overflowing during rainy season, by storing excessive rainwater in those giant underground chambers.
And I Must Scream: Yomi's vocal chords were destroyed by Mitogawa in episode 9, and she can't defend herself against accusations of Mei's death.
Not that she could have otherwise, since she did indeed kill her. Although she could have legitimately argued for extenuating circumstances, what with the whole murder, fraud, and Slave To Evil thing that her enemy had going on.
The squad in the promotional posters are dead by the end of the first episode.
Mei, first thought to be a major rival to Yomi, gets killed 2 episodes after being properly introduced... then she is revived as a puppet of evil, only to get Killed Off for Real another 2 episodes later. That spot in the opening was justified, yeah...
Kazuki... couldn't even properly show off his briefcases in an important fight.
Ah heck, almost every supporting character with a cool weapon or fighting style gets killed off in his or her first big battle.
Artifact of Death: The only way for its wielder to part with Byakuei is through death. And they don't live long either, because Byakuei constantly saps its master's physical and spiritual strength. This doesn't seem to be the case with Ranguren.
Brand X: Yomi plays on a "Dreambox" (Sega Dreamcast).
Breakout Character: Yomi. Went from a minor villain killed off early in manga to no consequence to the star of the vastly more popular prequel anime so much so that she was resurrected in the manga. Kagura also received more prominence afterward.
Breather Episode: Arguably Episode 5, which solely concerns Kagura's plan to get engaged couple Yomi and Nori to like each other. It is nearly all comedic in nature. Also, the relaxing moments where everything seems to be going well for the main characters before the murder of Yomi's father, the point where everything in the series gets worse.
And then there's that spectacularly awesome wheelchair...
Casting Gag: Funimation cast many of their most popular voice actors to play the five Agency squad members in Episode 01 only. Why Episode 01 only? ....because they all get killed off! Could be a bit of dark humor on Funimation's part.
Censor Steam: In the Japanese broadcast, this was done ridiculously with Kazuki's death at Yomi's hands. Averted in the DVD version.
Clingy Jealous Girl: Kagura and the rest of the squad use Kiri to seduce Nori in order to get Yomi jealous and the two spend more time together. It works, but not the way Kagura had intended.
Expy "Natsuki Kasuga", a badass, black haired biker girl. Certainly doesn't sound like a character from Mai-HiMEat all...
Don't forget that she's paired with a guy who wields duel pistols.:P
Slightly more tenuous are the similarities between Yomi and Arashi from X1999 or more a fusion of her and Fuuma, especially when later developments in Ga-Rei are taken into account.
Also, Yomi stabbing Mei in the face, but just barely.
Handicapped Badass: Being confined to a wheelchair doesn't prevent Ayame from putting up a good fight against Yomi.
Heroic BSOD: Kagura got lite-version of this after she's forced to kill the school nurse, whom she's fond of. Toru never recovers fully from this and this eventually led to his demise, as nightmarish flashbacks come haunting him at the most unfortunate moment.
I Just Want to Be Normal: Kagura laments at Yomi how they couldn't be just like normal sisters. Repeated in the final battle when Kagura has to kill Yomi.
Immune to Bullets: Category-B and above. Even if the bullets are spiritually-powered.
When Yomi's spirit katana is out of order she has to choose a replacement weapon among: A spirit iron (as in, ironing your clothes), a spirit chainsaw, a spirit jackhammer and a spirit boiler. She decides to use the iron — although the chainsaw would have been much more awesome, she didn't think it was practical.
A sword that can launch from its sheathe at the press of a trigger. Can also be linked to its sheathe via chain so it can swing through enemies and come back to the user. Has the slightly more mundane use of making its cutting force even higher at the press of a button due to pressurized air in the sheathe. Gets upgraded to be able to increase its cutting force with shotgun shells
Kick Them While They Are Down: When it seems like the worst things imaginable are happening to Yomi, even worse things happen just an episode later.
One scene in Episode 9 in particular stands out as a nasty example of this. Yomi has been left crippled and mute by the injuries she suffered confronting Mitogawa, and Noriyuki's father decides to break off his son's arranged marriage with her because of this. So he visits Yomi in hospital to tell her that. To his credit, he doesn't seem completely ignorant of her distress, and even more or less tells her that she can blame him, but one still gets the impression the task was made much easier by the fact she couldn't say anything.
Life Energy: Bane Stones provide its users with power to defy death for some time. However, its Japanese name Sesshouseki means "Death Stone" and will eventually sap the users of their life force, turning them into phantoms.
Love Triangle: A rather odd one. Yomi and Kagura like each other. Kagura also sees Noriyuki as a big brother. He cares for Kagura (probably not romantically). Yomi and Noriyuki aren't exactly getting along with each other but are engaged and do seem to show some interest in each other. Kagura wants them to make the engagement work, because she's idealistic.
Macho Camp: Master Michael, or at least he acts it. Iwahata is open about it.
Magic from Technology: Generating holy water by filtering sewage through special resonance devices. Also the mass-produced Seeker technology of the Defense Ministry.
Don't forget the briefcases, which destroy demons via implanted CD players which recite holy mantras.
The Men in Black: Practically everyone who fights the evil spirits. Subverted in that most people understand what they're doing and just accept who they are.
My God, What Have I Done?: Shissouseiki victims do this when they regain control temporarily. Mitogawa either did it willingly or has been overridden too long for this to happen to him
Red Oni, Blue Oni: Subverted: Yomi and Mei who control the red monster Ranguren is calm. Kagura who controls the white monster Byakuei is prone to panicking.
Slave Mooks: Category Ds and also Bane Stone users all count. With the latter, see also This Is Your Brain On Evil. If it could send Yomi that crazy, even Mei must have had a kind side somewhere.
Sleep Cute: Yomi and Kagura, starting in the opening sequence.
Strike Me Down with All of Your Hatred: Mei goads Yomi into doing this, before regaining her consciousness/sanity back, then tries to plead with her not to do it. However, considering that Mei attacked and later told Yomi she killed Yomi's dad out of jealousy of her, it's not surprising that Yomi follows through with Mei's taunt.
Survival Mantra: It is our job to eliminate those who spread the taint of death to the human world, it is our job to eliminate those who spread the taint of death to the human world, it is our job to eliminate those who spread the taint of death to the human world...
Swiss Army Weapon: The other end of Mei's retractable naginata also contains an... umbrella.
0 reviews 