English Dub Review: Dark Gathering “Friends”

Overview (Spoilers Below):
Yayoi and Eiko head to the psychic spot Mizuko Memorial Temple, which holds its own sad secrets. And what does Yayoi want with Keitaro’s fingernails?!

Our Take:
If you think having a bunch of vicious spirits in her room was the creepiest thing Yayoi has done, you haven’t seen the end of last week’s episode. Unsurprisingly, Keitaro is terrified that Yayoi wants his fingernails, but for what purpose, you may ask? Well, from the looks of it, it probably won’t make for a good Christmas gift. Instead, Yayoi wants them to protect Keitaro and herself from the spirits inside her plushies. But that’s not the only thing we found out in this episode.
It turns out that Yayoi’s ghost collection in her room is part of her grand plan regarding her rescuing her mother. She wants to collect and train ghosts from every haunted area to battle the embryo ghost that captured her mother’s soul. But, of course, she’s not just doing it for her own personal gain. Yayoi also wants a ghost army to battle the spirit responsible for cursing Keitaro and Eiko, who might be experiencing a different side effect compared to Keitaro. Regardless of how unsettling Yayoi is with her secrets, this moment displays Yayoi learning the importance of friendship with her attempting to break Keitaro’s life-threatening curse.
Another moment that proves this theory is when Yayoi and Eiko travel to the Memorial Temple to find the ghost who gave Keitaro and Eiko that spell. However, it also shows that Yayoi might be better off working alongside Keitaro and Eiko, as she almost got killed by the benevolent goddess after volunteering to go alone. With three episodes in, it’s easy to see the pattern the show has conjured, with the trio going to a haunted area and encountering an evil spirit to defeat or collect, in this case. Whether it’ll be enough to carry the remaining episodes is anyone’s guess, but I’m willing to find out despite the voice cast being hit-and-miss in specific moments.