© 近藤憲一/集英社・ダークギャザリング製作委員会
The second half of Dark Gathering begins right at the beginning of this spooky October. The start of this new stretch requires some setup, as is to be expected from this program. Yayoi and Keitaro are planning to go to that creepy old waiting area, an abandoned tunnel, to pick up another S-Rank soul and this time they will definitely bring Eiko as well. But getting to the tunnel will have to wait until next week as this episode sees the team stopping to grab another Graduate that Yayoi has been preparing off-screen. It’s also setting up some of the finer details that will be explored in this part of the story. Interestingly, it seems like a lot of that will have to do with Eiko.
Eiko’s necessarily absent appearance in the final section is acknowledged. So, with the deepening relationship between Keitaro and Yayoi, it makes sense that Keitaro’s extremely normal girlfriend would play catch-up in character. There are some effective beginnings in this, especially Eiko noticing how Keitaro seems to be increasingly appreciating the thrill of ghost hunting. She arouses in him the possibility that he is now partly engaged in these pursuits for his own satisfaction, enriching the already complicated relationship between his selfless desire to help Yayoi forgives and protects others from Keitaro’s mental harm. It’s a great perspective, because it ties into Eiko’s overall approach, reveling in the “I could make him worse” school of dating with Keitaro. After getting to know these wonderfully weird sides of Eiko, I fully support her in pursuing this goal; I really want to see this couple’s relationship get even more complicated.
With that in mind, this episode shows Eiko trying to take a more active role as the real ghost scramble begins. She’s not yet at the same level of ability as Keitaro and Yayoi, but she’s familiar enough with both of them that she can at least contribute on the level of teamwork and coordination. However, her main element seems to be one of motivation: As her stalker personality informs her relationship with Keitaro when things become desperate in this episode, she really worried about her boyfriend, trying to do what she could to help. She cares about this guy (and Yayoi too) in her own way. On the other hand, Eiko’s thoughts after the confrontation show that she’s slowly coming to terms with what more participation in the action will entail— And how much she’ll like it. Well, in line with her earlier suggestion about Keitaro, Dark Gathering makes it clear that Eiko is fully aware that she enjoys all these thrills and chills for her particular brand of wacky fun. Surname.
With the implication that this story will continue to focus on Eiko, it’s a good way to go, but that’s not the only angle Dark Gathering is working with here. The series also doesn’t wait to follow up with the final episode hinting at another party meddling with the souls. It’s true that viewers don’t learn much about the creepy priest and his elderly companion introduced here, other than the fact that they seem to be behind both last week’s castle incident and the plot. overall with Specter of Death. This is purely to exaggerate things for a longer-term plot. Although with Yayoi giving even more technical details about Graduate that they’ll pick up and the mechanics along the way, that sometimes has the side effect of making this episode a bit over-the-top for its own sake.
That means they also don’t spend a lot of time getting to know the ghost vibes that the main trio will be dealing with this week. Granted, this is actually stated in the story as just a detour, giving the heroes a powerful new plot device phantom and starting Eiko’s aforementioned progression. Honestly, I don’t know how much I want a show like Dark Gathering to delve into a subject as dense as World War II, especially in just one episode. The brief story of the soldier seen here is at least consistent with what was given in the previous section. There is a focus on the historical stories behind these spirits and how it shows that they are not necessarily evil like some of the other spirits seen before. Remember, they’re still spooky, this one is deploying an army of dark-playing enemy soldiers cast under the glow of old television static. And that’s after getting a glimpse of the initial state of the setup of a mannequin with bite marks all over it; That’s worrying.
Dark Gathering brings some good out of all of this. If it fails to achieve deeper historical analysis, there is still something remarkably crude in its depiction of the startling desperation of a World War 2 battle where combatants lost their lives. death due to hunger and thirst as well as the enemy’s abilities. And if she stays more involved, it’s at least satisfying to see Eiko sink a stuffed animal into Keitaro’s net from behind the three-point line. The show clearly still has plenty of tricks up its sleeve and will therefore continue to be engaging.
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Dark Gathering is now streaming on Hide.
Chris is excited to welcome this spooky season and cooler weather. You can scare him on his staggering corpse Twitter or watch as he occasionally rises from his grave to post something on the blog.