[Review] Ga-Rei: Zero - Printable Version

Japanese Title - (喰霊-零-)
Genre(s) - Action, Super Power, Thriller
Studio(s) - AIC Spirits & Asread
Episodes - 12
Episode Length - 23 Minutes per episode
Rating - R+ - Mild Nudity
Airing Date - Oct 6, 2008 to Dec 22, 2008
Airing Status - Finished Airing

Synopsis
"Will you kill someone you love because of love?"

The Japanese Ministry of Defense has an anti-paranormal special forces group called the Supernatural Disaster Prevention Office. They are the ones responsible to protect Japanese soil and its people from supernatural and paranormal events. However, things didn't go so well in one of their missions, which leads to intervention by the Ministry of Enviroment's Supernatural Disaster Countermeasures Division after the PDCH has sustained large numbers of casualties battling demons.
This series is a prequel to the manga series, Ga-Rei.

Characters
Yomi "Black Shrine Maiden" Isayama - Isayama Yomi is the sisterly figure for Tsuchimiya Kagura. She is good spirited and optimistic in the flashback of the anime. She lost her parents at a young age to spectres, and was taken in by Isayama Naraku, then head of the Isayama family. Yomi grew to love and respect her foster-father, and polished her skills to repay him for his kindness. Her efforts led to her inheritance of the priced Isayama heirloom, the sword Shishio, which held the spiritual beast Ranguren in it. A skilled swordmaster, she later became the very thing she fought to destroy.

Kagura Tsuchimiya - Always smiling, Kagura is the heroine of the story. She is feisty and ambitious and can put up a good fight with her Byakuei who is in the form of a dragon. She controls him from the seal on her back and a long binding chain that is connected to her and, so the pain that Byakuei feels also effects her as well. She is stronger and motivated because of the support that Kensuke gives her. She obviously has feelings for Kensuke as she gets jealous when Shizuru and Kensuke are spotted alone together and she's shocked when Kyouko tells her that she should go out with Kensuke if she's worried about him. She calls him Ken-chan. Although she initially treats Shizuru as a rival, they become close. She lost her memories after temporarily becoming the host for the Kyuubi (in which Kensuke freed her from). Eventually she regains her memories and triggers the return of Yomi.

Mei Isayama - Mei is the older cousin of Yomi. She is cool, powerful and is a freelance exorcist. Mei likes calming devil spirits by herself and her weapon is a beautiful spear. She is a bit jealous of Yomi who will be the next head of Isayama family, but she does not show her true feelings to anyone. Mei's father is Isayama Yuu.

My Opinion
Ok to start, this is one of my favorite anime. And I saw it when I was still watching anime dubbed on Netflix so yeah, its still one of my favorites over all that time. The best thing about the series is probably that it doesnt have a slow start. The first episode pretty much has action and pretty much every episode after that. They add a little romance to spice it up and make sure its not so bland in story. The best thing I can say is that it is one of the few anime that made me go read the manga. Of the people here that may know me they will know that I say it often. I do not read manga. Im not really a big fan of reading manga and Ive read less than 5 in my entire life. One of the big things to people who may read the manga or want to read the Ga Rei manga is that the anime is a prequel to the manga. There is none of the usual problems I see like the manga being obviously more detailed than the anime while telling the same story. Overall, I think this is an anime you NEED to watch. Its good.

My Rating - 9/10

I recommend this to anyone that likes Supernatural thrillers and swordfighting/action in general