アニメ『Dark Gathering』の紹介
Konnichiwa! I am your host Mayu for 2AM OTTACK! In this podcast, we talk all about anime, manga,
movies, music, and history through our distinct perspectives. As a born and raised Japanese
non-otaku, that's me, and an American anime fan, that's me. Today, we are going to talk
about Dark Gathering. I can't help looking at the words, title, and then saying, Dark
Gathering. That's pretty nice, I like that. Right? When you introduced this anime to me,
like, oh, we should watch this, I totally thought about something about Chuunibyou.
I guess like, just the dark, right? Because, dark reunion. Right, dark gathering. Like,
it's something about, yeah, some organization, like, behind. Oh, I get it, okay. Anyway, Sisko,
I want you to introduce, explain about this show. Sure. So, just for reference sake, I
started reading this as a manga, and then started watching the anime, and I've watched
the anime past where I read the manga to. So, I am caught up to the end of the first
two cores of the anime, like as much of it has been made so far. And the show, I think,
starts out being about a boy named Keitaro, who's been cursed, and his friend Eiko, who
also got cursed. And in the beginning, it seems like he's trying to overcome his fears and go
back to regular society after having been a bit of a shut-in. He eventually starts tutoring Eiko's
much younger cousin Yayoi, who's like a grade school kid, and she can see ghosts. So, she
starts dragging him along to haunted places, and eventually they begin using some evil spirits to
fight other bigger evil spirits in a bid to get back the soul of Yayoi's mother, and also cure
the curse that's affecting both Keitaro and Eiko. Like, at the beginning, it's like a scary anime
you watch, and it goes a lot more scarier than the beginning, and there's like a whole story
behind the ghosts and the places. But also, it's like a scary version of Pokemon. A little bit,
yeah. It definitely starts out almost as a comedy, or like, I don't know, like a slice-of-life anime,
and then it gets darker and darker the longer the series goes on. So, the first 12-ish episodes,
some scary things happen, but they're not that bad. And then from about the midpoint of the
show on, the backstories of the spirits they're gathering become more and more disturbing and
involve incest, and suicide, and really, really dark topics that are hugely disturbing. And then
the spirits themselves become increasingly more scary. It's scary, but whenever Yayoi's main
character gets a ghost inside of her stuffed animal, she says, ゲットだぜ. Yeah, it's definitely a
Pokemon reference. How do you pronounce it? Is it gotcha? Yeah, it's translated in the English
subtitles as gotcha, because you can't translate pulling in a foreign word from English back into
English. But yeah, gotcha is probably the right translation. I hope it's the same phrase from
Pokemon, right? It is. It's exactly the same. It's what Ash Ketchum says when he captures Pokemon,
too. Okay, perfect. Yeah. So, once I heard it, it's like, oh, Pokemon references.
Right, exactly. And I think the show is self-aware about that, that it's doing the same
kind of thing. Yeah. And then you actually googled some spots in the anime to see if they actually
exist. Yeah. I only did two. I did the H Castle Ruins and the Old F Tunnel. Both of those places
are real. I don't know if the Old Old F Tunnel, which is a location that shows up, is real or not.
EikoとKeitaroの関係
But for sure, the Old F Tunnel is a place and the H Castle Ruins are a place. And there are
actual, like, you know, ghost rumors about both places. Although I was using Google Maps to find
these. And so I was looking at the comments on Google Maps. And for the Old F Tunnel, at least,
they were like, the real danger here is all of the sightseers who leave trash. So,
people vary on how haunted these spots are, but that they are actually, you know, well-known
ghost spots in Japan is a real thing. So that's kind of cool. That made it a little bit scarier
for me, I think, to be like, oh, some of this is based on at least rumor, if not, quote unquote,
fact. Is there any favorite scenes or characters or moments in the show for you? Well, I think for
me, my favorite character is for sure Eiko, because she has this sort of split personality
or like second face going on, where most of the time, she's like a kind of normal person.
It doesn't make a lot of sense to me that she's so obsessed with Keitaro, because he's such a wuss.
But when she kind of like goes into like, I love horror mode, they draw her with like a really
terrifying face. And her characters sort of struggle from being like a intensive ghost
hunter to someone who's actually physically threatened and then kind of decides to stay in it.
It's sort of interesting. And she's the one who can sense ghosts the least out of the three main
characters. So she's sort of relatable for me in that way, because I don't have a really good
spiritual sense either. Yeah, I definitely like Eiko the most. I like Yaoi too. She doesn't behave
like a greater kid. She's very, I mean, she has a high IQ because of the accident she had with her
parents. She doesn't look like she's not scared of any ghosts.
Yeah, which is insane, because she's constantly battling extremely dangerous ghosts. But she's
very capable, so that's probably part of it. Yeah, and she doesn't have face expressions.
Yeah, or at least she doesn't show them very often. She's sort of a flat, not very emotional
character for much of it. But you can kind of chalk that up to how much trauma she's been through.
Yeah, that's what I was thinking too. Yeah. But yeah, Eiko is like a very crazy,
has a crazy obsession for Keitaro. Almost like a stalker.
Right. Actually much, much worse than a regular stalker,
because she has access to all of his information. So yeah, she's got his GPS, and she's listening
to things. She's got hidden cameras everywhere. It's terrifying, but kind of hot at the same time.
And she has a secret room in her room full of pictures of Keitaro on the wall,
and she keeps checking up on him, even though she sees him what it looks like every single day.
Right. Well, they don't live in the same house. He has his own place with his siblings and his
parents and stuff. But yeah, they seem to see each other all the time, and yet she has a
shrine covered with pictures. I think if the gender roles were reversed, it would be terrifying.
But being what it is, it seems kind of sweet. And Keitaro is really nice, and I like his character
quite a lot in that he's not a macho, stereotypical dude about a lot of things.
But it also becomes sort of hard to understand why Eiko is so into him. You know what I mean?
I was just saying, he seems lucky that someone like Eiko is into him. But yeah,
I think if the shoe were on the other foot, it would be terrifying.
ストーキングの倫理的議論
As I was saying, as a person who had a stalker in my life, it was terrifying.
It was really, really scary. And then there was almost nothing I could do, except calling
like, police. Yeah, I don't want to really talk about it. But yeah, it could be hot.
It could be terrifying. It depends on how you receive it.
For sure. I mean, I guess Keitaro doesn't figure out that she is stalking him,
so we can't know his feelings about it. But I sort of wonder whether he would really be bothered by
it or just be like, oh, you know. But the thing is, Eiko is so open about it. She's not telling
him that she's doing the thing behind him. But she is open. She expresses herself like,
right? We are like, couple, right? I like you, and you like me that way. So I think Keitaro has
some kind of feeling for her, too. Totally. Yeah. So it's kind of mutual.
I mean, I guess it asks like, yeah, there's a question there of like, how okay is it to
stalk your significant other if they know about it and are okay with it? And like, if they don't know,
but wouldn't mind if they found out, like, you know, how is that ethically? And probably the
answer is still, don't stalk people. But yeah, sometimes I think Eiko is the scariest thing
in the show. Definitely. Other times you're like, nah, it's harmless. Yeah.
関係性の複雑さ
Wait, I want to ask you, what if like, somebody likes you and then like, tells you,
oh, I really like you. And you like the person back. But later you find out that she was like,
doing like, following you on GPS and then like, listening to your whole conversation and everything.
How would you react to that? Yeah. I don't know. I think like, all other things being equal,
I would probably be freaked out. I'd be like, this is a red flag. Like, I don't,
this is maybe not a relationship I want to be in after all. Yeah. But if she was like,
as hot as Eiko, I might like, be unable to see those red flags and be like,
whatever. I'm just so excited you're into me. Like, I don't even care.
Just to be honest about it. Like, I might be like, just thrilled that like,
that person was that into me. I don't know. You can like, see that.
Yeah, I can totally see that. Yes. Yes. You're that kind of person.
I mean, not that you're a stalker. But yeah, people being into me makes me kind of into them.
Like, I'm not going to lie about that. So you like to be chased?
You know, weirdly, I don't think that's true. Because like, I wasn't stalked, but I've had
people really want like, to get together with me. But when I was, when I thought that the reason
they were so interested was just because I was sort of inaccessible, I was not into it. So it
depends on what the person's motivations are, right? Yeah, I don't know. There's a lot of
factors. I'm just saying like, it doesn't feel bad to be wanted, you know?
Right, right. I'm, I'm, I'm definitely opposite. I'm a chaser.
Yes, you are.
Yeah, I wanted to mention the voice actor who does Eiko is by Kana Hanazawa, who did also
voice for Mitsuri Kanroji from Demon Slayer, and Mayuri Shiina from Steins Gate.
She also seems to have a history of being the hot girl in like, different shows.
Yeah, yeah. I mean, anime has the tendency to have like, pretty girls.
Yeah, I guess like, it's rare to come across an anime that's like, oh, like,
most of these people are unattractive. But even within the anime you just mentioned, like,
right, those characters have some things in common, just saying.
Your type?
My type. Yeah, I would admit that. Yes.
Okay. All right. Good to know.
キャラクター名の解説
I want to talk more about other main characters. Let's do Yayoi Hozuki. I really like her name.
In kanji, it looks really cool. I want to explain a little bit about how, what her name is. Hozuki,
her last name is, it's actually kind of a plant, looks like a red lantern. I wonder if you have
seen it before. It's, you see in Japan pretty often. And there's like a orange, kind of yellowish
fruit inside. And I didn't know about this, but Hozuki flower means loneliness in flower
language. Interesting.
Which makes sense. And Yayoi's ya is, means like a night, night time.
Right.
And yoi means the time when it starts getting dark. Also means the night before some festival,
like Yoimiya. Yoimiya is like the night before the main festival, which is like always fun.
Yeah. So Yayoi is like the night time, like right after it gets dark. And then like,
that's the time probably it goes up here.
Like night, evening is her name.
Yeah, basically.
Got it. Okay.
It's well-made, like character name. And I really liked it.
And then Keitaro Gentoka, Gentoga, sorry.
Ga, yeah.
Yeah. His name is very unique too. Gento means like a slide projector, like,
but I think in this case, like an old style, like old days, like you put like light, like a candle
inside of like a paper lantern that you can reflect it to like walls and then stuff. And
you can make it like some sort of animation if you want to. So that's Gento. And Ga means like river.
And can you picture it?
A river of paper lanterns?
Yeah. Sometimes like people like, you know, float like lanterns on the river.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Or like some spiritual reasons.
Totally.
It's like one of the things like people in Japan do during summer.
Right.
And then Keitaro, Ke means like fire, what do you call, fireflies?
Yeah, firefly.
Yeah, fireflies. So it's like a kind of pretty name, like a whole kanji combined. It's a pretty
name. And I really liked it. What do you think about these characters' names? Like, I don't,
if you're reading subtitles in English, you wouldn't notice.
Yeah, I think it's hard for English speakers to connect with this unless they know some Japanese
and or have like an appreciation for fairly difficult kanji. Like the way you write Ke
and Keitaro is like a lot of strokes, right? I mean, I think it looks pretty too. But writing,
you know, firefly Hotaru is like a, it's a complicated character. And I think, you know,
ya in Yayoi is simple, but the yoi is less common, right? So I think like all of the,
all of the characters' names for an English speaker are just interestingly unique in that
they are Japanese. I think probably Keitaro is the most easily recognizable because he's got
Taro in there. And Eiko has a ko, you know, but yeah, I don't, I don't know that you would pick
up on that unless you like had looked at the characters in kanji to really understand what
each one meant. So thank you for introducing that. Maybe we should keep doing it. Like whenever we
see like interesting character names, like based on the anime story or manga story, like we should
Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I think so. I enjoyed watching this anime, especially because
in Japan, summer is the season for ghosts, which is sort of ironic because I'm pretty sure the anime
aired in the fall and winter, more like the fall and spring. But yeah, I agree that it was a good
幽霊の季節について
time for us to watch it. Do you know why summer is a season for ghosts in Japan? I know Obon
is connected to it, like probably that, you know, that like the the time when the spirits return to
like visit their relatives is in August. And so that to me makes sense as a time when like you
would expect to see ghosts around. But the show doesn't really go along with that the show has
ghosts coming out at every time of the year, not particularly in the summer. And I think up to where
I'm at in the show, they've it's only been like about a month of like time in the show, they
start hanging out in like March or April. And then it's like the end of Golden Week or something like
it's like mid May. And that's as much time as has gone by. So they're not even peak ghost season in
the show. But yeah, and it's a real contrast with the United States where Halloween is the big ghost
holiday. And the idea of you know, All Hallows Eve being when all the bad ghosts come out and
All Saints Day, the first of November being when like the the nice ghosts are around or like the
familial ghosts come back, particularly being in Southern California and like, you know, so much
influenced by the Dia de los Muertos tradition that that's when you know, the the sort of nice ghosts
are around is the the first of November. So it's totally different season.
I think the reason another reason the summer is the season for ghosts is because it's so hot during
daytime. You want to cool it down. But you can cool it down by being scared.
Interesting. Really? Okay. I mean, I get there's an expression for like, he has it. Uh huh.
But it's not just regular sweat from like heating your body up. It's a sweat hump of like being
scared or nervous. Sure. A cold sweat. Cold sweat. Yes. So I think that was that like,
watching something scary will give you cold sweats to help you cool down in the summer.
Or like it make you shiver like, Oh, that was so scary.
I think the American like horror movie industry has got some like marketing to do to try to like
sell that as like a come cool down by watching a scary movie. Like, yeah, because I don't think
that exists in the US. And like, you know, we do like, you know, Kimo-Dameshi. Right. In summer,
like vibe. It doesn't have to be grapes, but mostly grapes around the grapes at night time
and see if you can tolerate. Well, that makes a little more sense to me because in the summer,
it's still warm after dark. Like you wouldn't want to go do Kimo-Dameshi in the winter because
it just be so cold and so dark. Whereas like, in the summer, you know, you could go at like 730
eight o'clock and like the sky isn't totally dark yet, but it's like just dark enough to be kind of
scary. And even if you went at like 1130, like it would still be warm outside. And so going out and
you know, being outside wouldn't be that bad. And they're like scary, like TV shows about ghosts
are really TV show like, oh, like we've, you know, we caught like, ghost footages on the camera.
And I know like most of the like, not really make it real or like just fake. But still,
it gives me shivers every time I see and they're like, it remembers in the while I'm like,
in the shower, like, what if somebody is watching or like somebody is behind me?
Totally. Well, I mean, I think the other thing is Japan is really interested in connecting
everything to seasons and having seasons for specific things in a way that the United States
just doesn't care. And especially in parts of the United States where we don't really have
日本の幽霊文化と宗教的意味
observably different seasons, like Southern California. But you know, the idea of Fubutsushi,
like a thing of a particular season or a thing that expresses a season is very strong in Japan.
And so that goes for ghosts too, that ghosts are a Natsu no Fubutsushi, a summer thing.
That's a good, great point. Yeah. One more thing I wanted to explain about
in this show, which I mentioned was salt and Omiki. Salt, I don't know in other cultures,
but in Japan, salt is used to purify like evil. So like, if you, for example, if you attend a
funeral and before you come back to your house, you have to like kind of scatter salt. It doesn't
have to be a lot, but a small amount of salt over your shoulder so that the evil spirit or the
death spirit doesn't come in the house. Yeah. I mean, I think American culture definitely
doesn't have those same sort of beliefs about the spiritual powers of salt. We do have the thing
where if you spill salt, for some reason, you're supposed to pick up some and throw it over your
shoulder. And I don't really understand where that tradition came from. But I don't think it's
connected to like purification. I don't, I have no idea where that's from. But the, I think the
closest analog to the way salt is used in like Japanese spirituality is holy water for Christians
or particularly Catholics. The idea that like, you know, blessed water can purify you or is
important to like cleanse you in some spiritual way. You know, Catholics before walking into
church, there'll be like a little receptacle of water and you're supposed to dip your hands in it
and make the sign of the cross before you enter the church to sort of like purify yourself.
And in some churches, you'll have a priest or a bishop going through with a miter
that has water in it and kind of like flicking water at the crowd as they walk through. And
that's also to sort of like scatter blessings and purification. So I think the way that holy
water is used in sort of American horror movies or, you know, stories is sort of similar to the
role that salt plays for particularly Shinto, right? Yeah. And Omiki. Omiki is written literally
like a guts sake. So Omiki was used, I think, once. I'm up to 15th episode and Omiki appeared
once in one of those episodes. And yeah, like people drink Omiki or like Shinto style wedding
or on New Year's Day. But also like they're used when there's like a certain, when you are in
certain age, you go to like see, you go to Shinto shrine and then like get rid of evil spirit and
Omiki is usually served and you drink it. The way Yayoi capture or like, you know,
stop evil spirit is like Shinto way. Definitely. Rather than Buddhist way.
I mean, there are some like connections to Buddhism. There are those Jizo statues
that, I mean, mostly they like house or control evil spirits. So she ends up destroying some of
them. But there's like references to Buddhism, but it definitely seems like she's operating in
a mostly Shinto context. And Keitaro's family also seems to be mostly Shinto in that his
grandmother, I think, is a shrine maiden. So yeah, it's definitely going hard on the Shinto
angle. One of the evil spirits that they use in battle is a former Buddhist monk who's chanting
a death sutra. So that, I mean, you know, Buddhist ideas are in the show, but they don't seem to be
like the main sort of like background or weaponry of the main characters. Right. Right. Right. I like
them. They did the Shinto way because I'm supposed to be Shinto. I'm not religious.
My family is Shinto. I think they are not that much religious either, but whenever we have funeral,
that's the way we do. Got it. Shinto way. Yeah. Which is cheaper, incidentally, right? So much cheaper.
Oh my god. Yeah, I think that might have something to do with it. Yeah. Anyway,
yandereの特徴
let's do word of the day. Today's word of the day is yandere. Yandere. I actually didn't know this
word. You explained this word to me. I knew tsundere only. Oh, you didn't even know dere dere?
No. How do I know? I don't know. I'm the otaku here, so I guess it's not surprising that I
know these words, but yeah. Can you explain them all? I can try. So, tsun, especially, and tsuntsun
means like cold, and I think it especially is kind of like the sound effect for a person turning
their face away from you, right? Like this. Especially in anime, yes. Like ignoring someone
or being like whatever, like that sort of reaction. So, someone who is tsuntsun shiteru is like cold
or, you know, not interested or, you know, sort of like always rejecting like someone else. And
someone who is tsundere is tsun on their face, so they pretend to be cold or hostile or aggressive
or whatever, and then, but secretly, like they are dere dere. Dere to me suggests like melty,
right? Or like very lovey-lovey or like fawning. I don't know. Like someone who's sort of like overly
affectionate. And so tsundere pretends, like has sort of like this, you know, this mask of like
being like, I don't care, whatever, you're an idiot. And then, you know, when it like comes
down to it, like actually cares a lot, but like doesn't want to reveal that. And a dere dere is
just someone who is like constantly over-affectionate, you know, pining over somebody or like, you know,
trying to like love on them really hard without any interruption or stop. And then a yan dere,
I don't know where the yan is coming from, honestly. I'm not sure what that is.
Yan is sick.
To be sick. Okay. A yan dere is someone who is like totally obsessed in a violent or dangerous
way. So yan dere characters are almost always female. I mean, I guess all of these types are
female. I've never heard the word tsundere or dere dere or yan dere applied to any male character
ever. But a yan dere is someone who like wants to lock you in their closet and like never let you
leave so they can like be with you always. And so yan dere characters will frequently have like
knives, for example, to be like, you better not leave me or I'll kill you. Right. Or like,
you're going to stay with me forever. It implies like a sort of psychosis
that goes along with being in love with somebody to like an unhealthy degree.
So yeah, we wanted to do this word because of Eiko. Eiko is totally yan dere.
Yeah. I mean, she hasn't like ever threatened Keitaro, which is nice. But yeah, her like
stalking of him is certainly yan dere level. All right. That was a great explanation. I learned a
lot. Great. I'm glad to know I was helpful. And you wanted to do one more word? Oh, intaglio.
Yeah. I'm not even sure I'm pronouncing this right. It's probably intaglio, which is definitely
エンディングテーマの考察
how it's pronounced in Japanese. The second ending theme song for Dark Gathering is named
intaglio. And partway through the song, the singer says in, you know, like there's a
glittering intaglio. And the translation was intaglio. And I was like, what the hell is this?
I've never heard this word before ever. And they're pretending like it's an English word.
So it's definitely an Italian word, first of all. And it describes a method of printing.
Intaglio is an engraving, something that has been scratched into a surface. So if you have like a
ring and on the surface of the ring, let's say it's gold, someone has carved like a symbol,
like a rose or a cross or something else. If they've dug down into the material, it's an intaglio.
And again, you can print with this by dipping the thing, you know, into ink and then printing,
you know, pushing it onto paper. And like the places where the ink touched or didn't touch
will leave a particular impression. So it's a method of carving as well. But instead of carving
away everything except what you want to print, it prints the reverse. You know, the ink goes
everywhere except for in like the crevice or whatever. So that's what an intaglio is. But
it was something I had to look up when I was watching the ending theme song being like,
what is this even trying to say? And I don't know that finding out helped me appreciate it anymore.
But I feel like it's pretty rare that English words show up where I'm like, I don't know that
word. So it felt important to cover. Check LA Public Library and the LA County Library if you
ライブラリーと漫画の利用
live in the LA area and have a library card. They have manga for free. You can borrow for free.
And then they have, they look like ebooks available too. So take advantage of this opportunity.
If you live outside of LA, check your local library. Probably they have manga as well.
Yeah, you never know. Or you can request that they get some.
Right, exactly. It's amazing how libraries are like, you know, have like a variety of manga.
It's true. Which is not true in Japan, surprisingly.
Well, there are so many of the manga, kisas in Japan, you know, they would go
probably broke if libraries in Japan carried a lot of manga.
Right. They're like, they have like a cafe you can go and then pay money for a certain time
of your use. And then you can read like all sorts of different sorts of manga. But
libraries don't carry manga as much as our local libraries do.
It's really true.
It's really true.
So we really appreciate what we can get.
Definitely.
Yeah. Thank you so much for listening to this week's episode. Don't forget to subscribe and
follow 2AMOTAK and 3AMOTAK on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, and on YouTube. It
means so much to us and we will keep making fun episodes. See you next time for more 2AMOTAK.
