This anime threw me for a loop with the first episode. It was completely unexpected and doesn’t have any real bearing on the main storyline. Ga Rei: Zero is a prequel to the manga Ga Rei. The first episode makes a little more sense with that in mind.

The story follows a group of Vanquishers as they put down various spiritual disturbances like zombies, ghosts, and what they call Category A’s: people possessed by a fragment of the Nine-tailed Fox demon. Category A’s are people who come in contact with a Bane Stone, a crystallized fragment of the Nine-tailed Fox. It gives them superhuman healing and other abilities.

The anime focuses on the relationship of Kagura and Yomi, both raised as Vanquishers.  Kagura moves in with Yomi and her adoptive father after her mother dies. Kagura’s father is one of the most powerful Vanquishers and is always busy. Kagura is in a deep depression until Yomi becomes her adopted older sister.

The show has excellent character development of Yomi and Kagura. You really feel for them. There are a host of other characters that are only sketched out, like Yomi’s betrothed, but they are mostly forgettable. There are a few yuri elements here and there with Yomi and Kagura.

The show is violent…very violent. People are dismembered as only anime can do. The violence is all the more horrific against the sweet scenes between Yomi and Kagura. The series kept me guessing. I was honestly surprised with how it ended, but any fan of the manga already knows what goes on.

The animation combines 2d animation and computer generated animation for some of the largest demons. The demons seemed out of place compared to the zombies and Category A’s. The animation on the whole is top notch.  The sword fight scenes are particularly well done.

Ga Rei: Zero is a solid anime. Yomi and Kagura are interesting characters. I was able to really feel for them.  The pacing for the show is odd; most of it is a memory that catches up with the first 2-3 episodes. It lacks the fanservice of High School of the Dead (thankfully), but  it does have some.

I would have never guessed Pocky was fuel for fighting demonic entities. That explains some things about Japan.