Red Garden
 

This is an upcoming GONZO series, possibly for the Autumn 2006 season since it's listed under 2006 on the page on GONZO's website that lists its works. The premise sounds unoriginal yet interesting. I hope it'll be more of a Gantz/Lain than a Jigoku Shoujo, but then again, with GONZO you never know... well, at least the promo picture looks really cool.

From AnimeNFO. The main site has a lot of cast/staff information, so for those who know what's what and are interested, that's the place to go. Of the five main characters' voice actors, I'm not familiar with any.

Doubts and the like aside, I'll be keeping an eye on this one.

The English in that description is very poor...

Anyway, it seems like a good anime. I'll probably end up watching it.

Oh, I'm aware. I can't read the original, though, so the AnimeNfo translation is all I had to go with.

I heard from this anime back when the website opened in June 6th. The story has interested me to keep this title on my radar for the distant fall season.

What I only heard is that combines murder mystery and drama, though it might be possible that also would incorporate some supernatural elements into the storyline.

I hope this anime goes by the format of the Agatha Christie's murder mystery stories. I would be delighted to see that.

In fact, I made my first wikipedia entry for Rose Garden, but I'm putting you in alert that the information there is rough and not precise, therefore, likely untrue until I get a better grasp of understanding Japanese.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_Garden

I can't wait. I find myself liking this sort of genre more and more. I just wish they'd give us more images from the series. :)

Well it's directed by the Rozen Maiden director afaik, and I think it's something he's serious about (personal project??) because he and the art director really went to New York to get a feel of the place and make drawings of the place.
They probably had to pay for it out of their own $ (I'd laugh if Gonzo really paid for them :rolleyes: )

But that English synopsis is really vague. I didn't read much about it... but I hope they can give us a more realistic portrayal of schoolgirls - not always the innocent, pure moe type but not going overboard on the Attitude Problem type either... Maybe a more realistic selection?

Hopefully that's what they're intending to do, by not using Japanese schoolgirls and instead removing that tendency to lean towards cliches by trying to think of how foreign schoolgirls would really act. And I hope they're successful.

But maybe it's all just a facade and it's another Gonzo effort to make something that's easier to sell overseas. Do us a favour and don't Speed Grapher it please.

Red Garden
 

http://img234.imageshack.us/img234/7091/10922ja2.jpg

Genre: Drama

Expected Release Date: October 2006

Website: http://anime.excite.co.jp/redgarden/

This is a Gonzo production, meaning, a true adaptation of the source material is always sketchy when Gonzo is involved. Hmmm... Then again, I don't even know what is the source material in this case anyway, which, I suppose is a good thing. What has got me interested in the title is when "New York" is mentioned in the synopsis. Here is the synopsis in the following as taken from animenfo:

New York...girls who approach together being introduced by cruel fates...conflicts, and feuding over their sense of values...

Kate, Rose, and Rachel go to a same school.

Since the morning, they’ve been feeling something strange. They are informed of a sudden death of a classmate, Leeds. In the evening, being in grief, the girls gather in an empty warehouse street as if they were led by something.

Usually, they are not in company, but coincidentally, they had the same strange feelings, and they lost their memories of the last night. When they hear someone’s footsteps and turn, there is a strange couple. The woman notifies them a surprising truth sounds like a lie; “You are dead”

However meddlesome Gonzo is with the story, they DO good animation, although, from the synopsis the story sounds intriguing. Will be looking forward to it.

didn't read the synopsis but the photo has some reference to The Wizard of OZ.
but i think the photo is too "new age wannabe" plus i don't really like the OZ story plus i REALLY don't like Gonzo.
so i guess i won't be one of the viewers. ^^"

The official site has put up some small screencaps in the Product Note section as well as some really nice backgrounds in the Gallery. The character designs are...interesting...

http://anime.excite.co.jp/redgarden/index.html

The character profiles were updated with screencaps of the characters themselves a week ago when I visited the site.

To be honest they were not what I had in mind, but I cannot judge yet until the show itself starts broadcasting on October to witness for myself the quality of the final product.

I'm crossing my fingers that the story would become an immersive experience to me.

It reminds me somewhat of Chevalier and Kemonozume.

The girl on the far right in the character profiles page suspiciously looks a lot like Yamada from Honey & Clover... Maybe it's just her hair?

~ Noodlehead

Sounds Monsterish to me.

Ok, guys! The first, full length movie trailer has come up.
http://anime.excite.co.jp/redgarden/gallery_movie.html

Not bad, looks stylish, but the animation looks very limited. Oh well. Still, music by Akira Senju - I am so looking forward to that, I loved his work on Princess Arete.

A seinen manga called RED GARDEN started serializing in the seinen manga magazine Comic Birz (the same magazine that serializes the seinen manga Rozen Maiden), first chapter of the manga got out on October's issue of Comic Birz magazine (released on 30/8/2006).

Yes, meaning the first chapter of this new seinen manga is currently out.

Manga details:

RED GARDEN

http://img420.imageshack.us/img420/4...enmangabt9.jpg

Seinen manga
Serialized in: Comic Birz

Original: GONZO
Illustration: Kirihito Ayamura

Cover of october's issue of the seinen(young men's) manga magazine Comic Birz:

http://img304.imageshack.us/img304/2...06issueom2.jpg

Looking good. The music used in the trailer is even more opera-ish compared to Kajiura Yuki's works.

The lips are weird, but I am looking forward to it nonetheless.

I am like that with GONZO projects. Always hoping...

I'll cry if this turns out to have the same unfortunate fate as Speed Grapher... lots of potential ruined by terrible budgeting and scriptwriters losing their enthusiasm.

I went to the RED GARDEN screening event today.

http://img159.imageshack.us/img159/4...den3tc2.th.jpg
The above is a scan of the poster flyer I received.

Prior to the showing of the pre-edited version of Episode 1, staff members, including Director Mastuo Kou, discussed several things about this anime.

Matsuo Kou wanted to do this story based on the premise that the protagonists are dead from the beginning, which would open the doors for an unconventional plotline.

He also wanted to make the character designs as original as possible, thereby opting to select Fujijun, an aspiring illustrator, rather than your run of the mill animator.

He touted composer Senju Akira, a well known musician for his works in motion pictures, to do the music for REG GARDEN, for a strong classical soundtrack.

Seeking a more spontaneous feel that is noticeable in stage theater, Matsuo wanted the voice dubbing to be done via prescoring, i.e., prior to the animation. He mentioned that the seiyuus were not used to prescoring, thus it was only until episode 5 where the acting job takes off.



The screening did not include the opening and ending songs and the credits. I was expecting good things from RED GARDEN for two reasons:
The director is Matsuo Kou, who handled the Rozen Maiden series.
I was raised in New York, and was intrigued by the setting.

The charactger designs are unique, but something I can easily get used to it. The problem is the quality of the animation. Although it can be dismissed as typical GONZO quality, the jerky movements and inconsistent artwork really leaves a lot to be desired.

As for the voice acting, without prior knowledge, one could not notice it is being done by prescoring. However, the singing of Kate (Tomisaka Akira) is probably one of the worst performances I've seen in a while, which totally ruins the beautiful music.

Storywise, the Twin Peaks vibes are inevitable, and can really go anywhere from here. And as for the New York setting, honestly, I can guarantee it would work perfectly if it was situated in Tokyo, although I am looking forward to seeing reviews from New Yorkers.

RED GARDEN is slated for 24 episodes, and airs on TV Asahi, which means unaired episodes are automatic, so it's going to be a long run. I doubt it will become the sleeper title of Fall, but it will certanly be a nice change of pace for people who will become tired from the hordes of bishoujo anime.