Dark Gathering

Dark Gathering is a Supernatural-Horror, Adventure Manga by Kondou Kenichi, who was an assistant who worked on the manga D.Gray-man. It was adapted into a 25-episode anime by OLM, housing talents that helped produce amazing shows like Summertime Rendering, OddTaxi & The Apothecary Diaries.

Set in modern-day Japan, it follows Gentouga Keitarou who is trying to readjust to society after being cursed by a spirit. He meets a young girl named Houzuki Yayoi, the cousin of his childhood friend Houzuki Eiko. Yayoi is a genius psychic, hell-bent on finding an evil spirit she named “The Spectre”, who was behind her mother’s disappearance. She drags Keitarou into her terrifying world of grotesque supernatural adventures.

While overviewing the Summer 2023 catalog, my initial thoughts after watching the trailer were that of uncertainty. The question was if this anime could be genuinely scary or just another cringy edge fest. Luckily Dark Gathering succeeds with flying colors in being a horrifying, creepy, and suspenseful show.

While the initial episodes have an episodic structure it quickly develops into interesting story arcs as Yayoi discovers that the creation of The Spectre seems to be more sinister than initially believed.

The anime tackles very heavy and taboo themes, with very little if any censorship to accompany them. The horror and tension are intense, and greatly executed, mainly due to two reasons.

First, the haunted locations the characters visit. Many of these locations you could connect to real-life ones, locations holding some dark unknown past of many decades ago, showing the heights of cruelty possible by human beings. For example, in one side-mission, the characters travel to an abandoned building that in the past was connected to a sex-trafficking ring and now is haunted by the spirits of its victims. The supernatural encounters and the horror they unveil never feel too try hard edgy, but instead genuinely creepy in how the spirits, many of them being tortured souls, show their wrath towards the living.

Second, I greatly enjoyed the ghost-hunting combat. A tool the characters use are dolls that act as damage proxies, they transfer damage the evil spirits deal to them to said dolls. The dolls are a great plot device since they greatly increase the sense of urgency, a reality check to you the viewer, that without these dolls and Yayoi’s knowledge, you would have an easier time surviving the Shibuya Incident compared to some of the spirits they encounter.

While the cast is small, they each fit their role within the story well. Yayoi carries the show's narrative and is the most competent among the trio. Keitarou slowly becomes more heroic during the supernatural adventures and Eiko’s love of scary encounters grows.

The production is good, the character designs are cartoony, and the animation is consistently good. The designs of some of the spirits are downright horrific and scary, even scarier in the manga. The sound design is top notch and the soundtrack succeeds in aiding its creepy vibe. The slice-of-life moments are similar to that of Higurashi, where everything is more colorful and goofy, but once it gets serious the art gets more intense.

Overall this anime is amazing, I desperately need a 2nd season. It takes some time for it to cook, but once it does, you are hooked and can’t stop watching.

If you like good horror anime I would recommend Higurashi and Shiki as well.