English Dub Review: Dark Gathering “S Tunnel”

Overview (Spoilers Below):

The car had three passengers when it entered the tunnel. A phantom hitchhiker demanded to be the fourth. Let. Her. In.

Our Take:

People always warn us not to pick up hitchhikers while going on a road trip. If there’s another reason we should take that warning to heart, look no further than the haunted S tunnel. Granted, I went through tunnels multiple times, and I haven’t encountered or even picked up a hitchhiker during those trips. It’s easy to say that I’m a lucky guy, but after seeing this episode, it’s best to keep doing what I did before. Unfortunately, Yayoi and the others don’t seem to take the hint.

Amid this creepy misadventure with the tunnel-haunting spirit, we learned a few things from the characters since the previous episode. Obviously, one of them is that Keitaro and Eiko just moved to the next step of their relationship after promising to protect each other and confessing their love. However, this puts Keitaro under more pressure to protect Eiko and keep her happy as her boyfriend, especially since he agrees to help Yayoi capture more deadly spirits. On the bright side, Keitaro’s reaction to Eiko’s gatekeeper trick further showcased the show’s decent humor amid its dark and violent tone. Another element that could play a part in future episodes is that the embryo spirit that captured Yayoi’s mother is known as the Spectre of Death; at least, that’s what she’s calling it.

The episode also showcased in its conclusion that Keitaro will be tutoring another student, meaning we could see another member joining the ghost-hunting trio for more dangerous adventures. Sadly for Keitaro, his new student seems far from ordinary like Yayoi, as she has star-patterned pupils. This indicates that this student may be hiding a secret that may or may not affect their journey. Besides those elements that develop the plot further, it’s another episode that relies on the formula we’ve seen in the previous ones, with Keitaro being a victim of the long-haired ghost’s terror. This guy still can’t catch a break with these encounters. I will also say that the long-haired spirit has the most terrifying design I’ve seen in Dark Gathering so far, effectively emphasizing the show’s disturbing nature.