Key takeaways from Dark Gathering – First Impressions;
- “Dark Gathering” delivers a decent plot with a “monster of the week” style, fueled by Yayoi’s search for her mother’s dark spirit, adding depth to her character and motivations.
- The protagonist Keitarou’s past trauma and his ability to attract spirits create an intriguing dynamic, setting the stage for a compelling horror experience.
- The anime excels in creating a twisted and brutal atmosphere, making it a satisfying horror watch, though not reaching the level of intense fear seen in some other titles like “Shiki.” Overall, “Dark Gathering” earns a solid 7/10, with the potential to grow even further in quality.
It is pretty hard to make a convincing horror anime. Animation innately isn’t scary to people and that is not even the main issue. You see, animation needs to go a bit further than movies to be really scary. But because of broadcast restrictions and stuff, they usually can’t do that. You know, imagine if someone tried adapting Junji Ito’s works and then aired it on national TV lol. So as a fan of horror stuff in general when the occasional horror anime like Dark Gathering rolls around, I make sure to watch it.
And to my surprise, it is pretty good. No, it is not that “scary”, per se but it is pretty messed up. So welcome back to another first impressions article. Today I am talking about Dark Gathering. So let’s get started.
What do I think about Dark Gathering?
Well, first of all, the plot is pretty decent. We get a “monster of the week” style plot but the thing is, there is a good reason behind it. You see, the purple-haired girl, Yayoi lost her father in a car accident. Butย her mother was taken away by a dark spirit. She is probably dead too but Yayoi wants to find that spirit. After the said accident, Yayoi can see spirits but they seem to avoid her for some reason. She cannot continue her search like this.
Our protagonist, Keitarou though, attracts spirits like a big magnet. He suffered a spiritual injury when he was young and accidentally hurt a friend as well because of it. He didn’t come out of his room for a while as he was afraid of hurting others. But with the help of Eiko, he managed to gain his confidence back over time. He is exactly what Yayoi needs to continue her search. And as luck would have it, Keitarou gets appointed as Yayoi’s tutor. So Yayoi drags him with her to different spirit-related spots.
So in the span of just two episodes, we get the backstories of two characters that define their actions and personality well. As well as some subtle foreshadowing for the future. That is some pretty good writing. And combined with the brutal visuals, it makes for some really good horror experiences. As I said, it is not as “scary” as something like Shiki but it is pretty good and it is messed up as hell.
Conclusion
That is all for now. Let me know what you guys think in the comments. I enjoyed Dark Gathering so far and I look forward to seeing more of it. For now, I give it a fair 7/10. It may easily grow to an 8 in the future though. With that said, I will take my leave here. See ya!
Also, check out my first impressions of My Happy Marriage right here. It’s a much better anime than you’d imagine!
