Dark Gathering

Episode 8

Keitaro has dealt with all manner of scary spirits for the past eight weeks, so it's a little funny to see him just as spooked by the sudden appearance of a gyaru here. Yes, he has a new student, and Dark Gathering introduces a new character: Kamiyo Ai. She's the kind of over-exuberant bundle of energy that might come off as annoying to some viewers, but I am an appreciator of obnoxious gyaru, so you know I loved her pretty much immediately. She's already strong from a storytelling perspective as well, providing a new line of interaction for Keitaro. We get to see him in actual tutoring mode for once, witnessing his perceptive methodology in motivating Ai's studies. The way he switches on his supernatural sleuthing skills upon realizing she might be haunted by something is a good indication of how far he's come in wanting to confront these spiritual situations head-on. It's a solid foundation for a forward-moving story arc that we'll be following with Ai for at least another episode or two.

Unfortunately, everything about actually telling that story is quite haphazard and messy, even by Dark Gathering's often enjoyably lax standards. The stuttering manner in which details are delivered can potentially be explained by Ai's scatterbrained nature. However, it still comes off as a mechanical contrivance that she's willing to explain how she feels troubled by her brother's ghost but neglects to mention the other major spiritual situation afflicting her. Her whole "betrothed to be taken away by a god" situation is something she offhandedly mentions late in this episode, so it's not as if she intends to keep it a secret for any particular reason. It's an arbitrary way to pace out information for technical tension without allowing the reveals to feel more natural within the story.

The clunkiness of getting all this into the narrative is too bad since Ai's story itself has, in theory, plenty of effective twists and turns woven into it. Yayoi's initial exorcism of her goes off so simply that we can guess things are going to turn out to escalate later, but it keeps us guessing as to the exact hows and whys. There are real suspenseful questions as to whether the odd little god-girl we glimpse or her brother is the actual antagonistic force following Ai, tied up in Keitaro and Yayoi also trying to figure that out. And those details interface interestingly with Ai's character as we're just getting to know her here. There's the idea that her interpretation of the actions of her brother's ghost is more of her way of coping with her situation than a wholly understood observation. Similarly, as underbaked as the god-betrothal element feels at this point, we can see how that might feed into some underlying fatalism in her personality, especially if they can later explain how that relates to her family and living situation.

This is also one where Dark Gathering's horror fundamentals are feeling more effectively deployed. Having much of the information initially withheld, regardless of how the writing stumbles its way of doing so, drives up the tension as we work our way to the double-bluffs and reveals therein. We've had just enough ghostly subversions in other stories that we can briefly believe the tease that the odd little ghost girl is the benevolent one protecting Ai from her brother's vengeful spirit. That makes it more potently shocking when her true nature is revealed, with all the wonderfully creepy illustrative imagery we've seen in some of this show's best moments. And after all the other spirits Yayoi and Keitaro have dealt with, taking on an actual god feels like an appropriate escalation for a stepped-up story arc this deep into the show.

These are all good bits, alongside other little moments that also work. Ai already has an appreciable rapport with Yayoi, so I'm looking forward to seeing more interactions between the new girl and her little senpai. They also find a bit of time to include Eiko, providing her corner of character interaction with Ai. However, amidst the odder details of Yayoi seemingly having her on standby and surreptitiously catching her up on the situation, it kind of whizzed by with all the other information being haphazardly thrown out in this one. Now that the setup has settled and we're preparing for even grander ghostbusting next week, I hope this introductory storyline for Ai will progress more smoothly. There's some interesting stuff here with a new character I quite like; it just feels like the order of operations in getting it all out there could have used some smarter shuffling around.

Rating:

Dark Gathering is currently streaming on HIDIVE.

Chris knows that summer is the perfect time for spooky stories, and hopefully, it's enough to distract him from this blistering Fresno heat wave. You can help distract him further by bothering him on his Twitter (for however much longer that lasts), or check out his less-scary musings over on his blog.