English Dub Review: Dark Gathering “S-Rank Danger: Castle H Ruins”
Overview (Spoilers Below):
No happy tales remain within the castle’s forsaken ruins. The danger is unimaginable: Yayoi and Keitaro risk their doom, prepared as they may be.
Our Take:
Keitaro and Yayoi are going out ghost hunting yet again, but this time, the stakes are higher than ever before. With Yayoi’s spirit collection demolished by a vengeful and powerful god, they’ll have to pull all the stops to get some of Japan’s most burdensome and meanest yokai. Although Eiko isn’t around to help them this time due to the homework she’s working on, she’s with them in spirit. However, that might be enough for what they’re about to encounter.
Their first stop is the Castle H ruins, one of Tokyo’s S-rank danger spots, according to Yayoi. Of course, a spot containing an S-rank doesn’t make it a perfect tourist attraction to visit while in Japan. The zones marked with an S rank house powerful spirits that can either trap or mark their victims with a deadly curse. For this particular yokai, it can do both. Sadly, Yayoi and Keitaro learned this fact the hard way, as they had already fallen victim to the spirit’s dangerous methods. Unfortunately for Keitaro, he experiences the worst parts of the curse, including being forced to witness the hallucinations of the servants killing themselves. But the one he sees afterward is much more dreadful than the creepy souls of the castle’s warriors and servants: Yayoi being hanged.
Dark Gathering has its share of dark and disturbing material that made the previous episodes enjoyably scary. However, I was unprepared for what this episode delivered regarding its scare factor. With Yayoi and Keitaro graduating to the big leagues, the show was tasked to pull off all the stops to heighten its stakes and discomfort in its formulaic structure. Based on what I experienced in “S-Rank Danger: Castle H Ruins”, I’m willing to believe it’s gotten off to a great start, especially since we’re close to the end of the show’s first half. I would even say that it’s the scariest episode I’ve seen so far, mainly due to the creepy older woman appearing out of nowhere. That scene literally scared the crap out of me, and I loved it. Let’s have more of that, please.
