Red Data Girl

Red Data Girl: B+

Wow, I haven't written in here since April?  Sorry about that, guess I better dust the old blog off.  Despite that, it's really just because we were mid-season, and so now that the spring anime are finishing I can review them, starting with this series.

Yet another modern-setting series with strong ties to Japanese mythology, spirituality and mysticism, Red Data Girl is about a girl, Suzuhara Izumiko, who, in addition to wanting to change and grow up as she enters high school, also very clearly has some powerful but uncontrolled connection to the supernatural.  Exactly the nature of her abilities is a mystery for most of the series, which follows her casting away the both physical and spiritual trappings of her childhood (which are often the same thing) and experiencing friendship, love, betrayal and growth.

It's a good show, intelligently written with a cast just small enough to get to know everyone, mostly drama but with some dashes of humor and a good mysterious subtext.  Despite the strong presence of the supernatural, magic is strange and mysterious throughout the story.

It doesn't get an A because it's a little predictable in its main arc and because it doesn't feel like it has the depth that it really could have.  It is intelligent and engaging, though, if a little dialogue-heavy.  Don't watch this if you're not intending to deliberately follow what's going on, you'll get lost.

About the only people I wouldn't recommend RDG to are people who are tired of stories about Japanese kids in high school.  Other than that, it's actually a pretty fresh and interesting story.