Series review: Red Data Girl

     Every season, at least one show comes along that has the potential to impress, whether it would be due to a particularly interesting premise, an animation studio associated with quality work, or a staff who has been known to work well together in the past. However, for whatever reasons, that show does not fare well in execution, ending up either forgettable or just plain disappointing. The Spring 2013 season was no exception to this, having a few flops in and of itself. However, personally, one show perfectly encapsulates this idea: P.A. Works' offering, Red Data Girl.

Red Data Girl

Episodes: 12

Originally aired: 3 April 2013 - 19 June 2013

Production: P.A. Works
Director: Shinohara Toshiya

Genre(s): Fantasy

Legally streaming via FUNimation

Synopsis:

     Fifteen-year-old Suzuhara Izumiko is a sheltered girl, raised and protected in a shrine deep in the Kumano mountains. She has the strange ability to destroy all electronic devices she touches, making her useless with technology. When thoughts of moving out of the mountains and into the city arise, her guardian Sagara Yukimasa recommends that she enters a high school in Tokyo and forces his son Miyuki into a life of servitude with her. Miyuki and Izumiko initially repel but begin to grow closer due to a strange event on a school excursion to the city, with the truth behind what's inside of Izumiko beginning to manifest and threatening black shadows following her at every turn...

Review:

     Red Data Girl's premise is a hard one to describe without spoiling the first few episodes, leading to a synopsis that does not fully communicate what the show is actually about. The show does actually change locations entirely at the end of the third episode, with Izumiko going to high school in Tokyo and the plot shifting to a larger school conflict. The show itself is filled to the brim with charming, if somewhat generic, characters and the makings of a truly tense school drama. It all sounds fine on paper, but the execution makes Red Data Girl come off as inconsequential instead of truly interesting.

A P.A. Works show that's visually pleasing?!  Well, I never!

     What Red Data Girl does right is incorporate many different aspects of traditional Buddhist and Shinto mysticism into the show's own structure, creating a very strange set of circumstances surrounding Izumiko and the rest of the cast. The dense amount of material to take in never feels rushed, with everything happening for an exact reason, abilities and limitations being discussed, and being overall accessible to those with very little background into either spiritual practice. As someone who is enchanted by Eastern spiritualism, seeing how they work with the bits and pieces brought up made me adore this aspect of the series. What I found particularly interesting was the nature of Izumiko's spiritual abilities, and what is later revealed about the spirit residing inside of her. When details about that are finally revealed, they do end up being quite intriguing when you put the pieces together.

     The execution of the show, however, leaves a lot to be desired. The major problem here is the lack of focus placed on the main plot, which comes across as a wholly-serious popularity contest. The show executes this idea in a way that does not make it sound completely stupid, but it still does not resonate due to the fact that the results of this ongoing major plot are never on screen. Given the context it has with Izumiko and her inner conflict (which is barely any at all), it could have been better-integrated by being executed on-screen instead of just being discussed through dialogue. The dilemma surrounding Izumiko given the spiritual forces inside of her that may potentially bring about the world could have managed to meld into the seemingly mundane main plot to form something meaningful, but instead comes across as trying to do too much and not showing enough of what gets a primary focus. Even then, one element of the basic premise is barely explored, which is Izumiko's strange relationship with technology. It is brought up only once after the first three episodes after being brought up in the premise of the show.

     There is a basic tenant in visual media: show, don't tell. Given the fact that the source material is a light novel, the overly narrative nature is to be expected, but this is where the magic of animation comes into play. Why constantly mention something happen in the background when you can show a shot of the event? It would be quite easy to do. However, this show refuses to put forward a potentially interesting plot by sticking it within dialogue only. The overall result makes the show feel insignificant and inconsequential.

Trains are serious business.

     The cast itself is filled with typical moe tropes, but each character definitely feels unique and consistent. Izumiko is your standard shy, glasses-wearing wallflower who wishes to be more out there and make more decisions in his life. Miyuki is a male tsundere but is tolerable despite the fact that he is a jackass in the beginning. Mayura and Manatsu can have some potentially great scenes together, due to Manatsu's ditzy behavior. The characters meant to be seen as villains, though, have very little in the way of characterization or personality, particularly in the case of Takayanagi. The motivation is consistently unclear with him, along with Yukimasa's true motivations, and the show does not do a good job of clarifying either of these.

     P.A. Works and Studio Easter handled the animation and background art work on Red Data Girl, and just like all of their efforts in recent memory, impress more often than not. This project is no exception in the slightest, boasting a delicate style to its animation that is quite fluid and devoted to making the most out of its supernatural focus. When the show goes into its more spiritual focus, the effects compensate by having either eerily dark, vaguely humanoid shadows or by having grand, immaculately-designed yokai when called for. The background work is also the best yet from Easter, fitting the scenes perfectly and being gorgeous enough to just admire on their own. The opening is rather generic, going through a visual novel-like visual of each of the characters, with their names and everything scrolling by. The ending is walking animation, but yet again, the background art is so beautiful that it can be forgiven. The art and animation are definitely the strongest aspects of the show, despite typical P.A. Works character designs, which can be eerily doll-like.

There's just something about P.A. Works and eerie mountains...

     The sound of this show can be a bit of a mixed bag. The score itself is not particularly memorable, but it is effective when utilized. Moments of tension feel tense due to the eerie score, and moments of true supernatural beauty have the score take on this sweeping orchestral sound with folk instrument accompaniment, feeling opulent and beautiful in nature. The opener is particularly generic, being yet another Annabel song that is pleasant to listen to without being too memorable. The Masumi Itou ending theme is also pleasant and not too memorable on its own sans the chorus, but there is just something about the way it is utilized with the ending that makes it feel much more delicate and vulnerable than it actually is. On the voice work side of things, we do get a rather solid set of performances all around, especially from Saori Hayami as Izumiko. Many other big name voice talent shows up every so often, as well (including Romi Park, Rie Kugimiya, and Jun Fukuyama), who always sound great.

     Overall, Red Data Girl was a show that had plenty of promise. The supernatural Buddhist/Shinto topics have been frequently explored in anime (especially recently), but the way Red Data Girl presented them felt like they could have been fresh and inviting. Instead, the show fumbles its execution by deciding to not show any of what is actually important in favor of events only tangentially related to what is going on. What could have been something fantastic ends up inconsequential and pedestrian.