RDG Red Data Girl: A thorough analysis of the fascinating story and character depth

RDG Red Data Girl - A story of a girl's growth and destiny

■ Public Media

TV anime series

■ Original Media

novel

■ Broadcast period

April 3, 2013 - June 19, 2013

■Broadcasting station

TOKYO MX

■Frequencies

half an hour

■ Number of Episodes

Episode 12

■Original Story

Original story by Noriko Ogihara

■ Director

Toshiya Shinohara

■ Production

PAWORKS

■Works

©2013 Noriko Ogiwara, Kadokawa Shoten / "RDG" Production Committee

■ Story

I want to change, I want to change. Me and the future...

Kumano Kodo, a designated World Heritage Site, is where Tamakura Shrine quietly stands. Suzuhara Izumiko was raised by her grandfather, the shrine's chief priest, and knows almost nothing of the outside world. She has long braided hair, glasses, and is shy. For some reason, whenever Izumiko touches something, her computer or cell phone freezes.

"I want to be a more normal girl."

One day, as she worries about being different from the people around her, her childhood friend Sagara Miyuki appears at Tamakura Shrine and transfers to the junior high school Izumiko attends --!? -- A great destiny that even Izumiko herself does not know about begins to quietly unfold!

■Explanation

A girl's wish to become "normal" changes the future - a new school fantasy with no good or evil!

"RDG Red Data Girl" is a new modern fantasy by popular author Noriko Ogiwara, who has created many popular works such as the "Sky Blue Magatama" magatama trilogy and the "Good Witch of the West" series, and is supported by a wide range of fans from children to adults. The story of a shy girl who grows up while struggling and faces the future is vividly depicted by a luxurious animation staff!

■Cast

・Suzuhara Izumiko/Hayami Saori/Sagara Miyuki/Uchiyama Kouki/Muneta Maki/Yonezawa Madoka/Muneta Manatsu/Ishikawa Kaito/Muneta Masumi/Kimura Ryohei/Sagara Yukimasa/Fukuyama Jun/Wazumiya Satoru/Kugimiya Rie/Takayanagi Ichijo/Nojima Yuji/Kisaragi Jean/Hokako/Bridcutt Sarah Emi/Murakami Hotaka/Ishida Akira/Suzuhara Shiko/Paku Michimi/Suzuhara Taisei/Inoue Kazuhiko/Himegami/Tanaka Rie

■ Main staff

・Original story/Noriko Ogiwara・Director/Toshiya Shinohara・Series composition, script/Michiko Yokote・Character concept/Mel Kishida・Character design/Minako Shiba・Art director/Junichi Azuma・Color design/Naomi Nakano・Director of photography/Yukiyo Kajiwara・Editor/Jin Nogawa・3D director/Yoshimasa Yamazaki・Special effects/Chie Kato・Sound director/Kazuhiro Wakabayashi・Sound effects/Eiko Morikawa・Music/myu, Masumi Ito・Music production/Lantis・Animation production/PAWORKS
・Production/“RDG” Production Committee

■ Main Characters

・Izumiko Suzuhara
A first-year student at Ojo Gakuen High School. She is naive and extremely shy. She graduated from Kuritani Junior High School in Kumano and moved to Tokyo to study at the university, where she begins living in a dormitory. Her long braided hair has a secret...

・Miyuki Sagara
A first-year student at Ojo Academy High School. She is a childhood friend and classmate of Izumiko. She has excellent grades and is handsome, so she is popular with girls. She comes from a family of mountain ascetics, and is currently undergoing training herself.

・Mayura Souda
A first-year student at Ojou Gakuen High School. Izumiko's roommate. A beautiful girl with top grades. Her younger brother Manatsu is the most important person to her. She comes from a ninja family in Togakushi, Nagano Prefecture.

・Manatsu Souda
A first-year student at Ojo Academy High School. Maki's younger brother. He hates studying, but is cheerful and energetic. He loves horses and is a member of the equestrian club.

・Masumi Souda
Maki's triplet brother.

・Takayanagi Ichijo
A first-year student at Ojo Academy High School. In the same class as Mabyou. A descendant of an onmyouji family in Kyoto. He becomes interested in Izumiko and approaches her, but...

・Kisaragi Jean Honoka
The current student council president of Hojo Academy High School. A second-year student.

・Hodaka Murakami
He comes from a Kabuki family and teaches Hozuka Japanese dance.

・Yukimasa Sagara
Fuyuki's father. He has been friends with Izumiko's parents for a long time and looks after Izumiko. He looks very young and is a handsome man who catches the eye of everyone.

・Satoru Kazumiya
A classmate of Izumiko at Kuritani Junior High School.

■ Main robot items

・Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto
A goddess who appears in Japanese mythology and is the oldest dancer in Japan. Her anecdotes are depicted in the Nihon Shoki and Kojiki. When the sun goddess Amaterasu Omikami hid herself in the Heavenly Rock Cave of Takamagahara, she danced to summon her out.

・Iwato
A sturdy rock door at the entrance to a cave. The rock door in Takamagahara where Amaterasu Omikami is said to have hidden is called "Amanoiwato."

・Onmyoji
A sorcerer who practices "Onmyodo," a sect based on the Yin-Yang and Five Elements philosophy that originated in China. He predicts good and bad fortune using a special divination method that incorporates astronomy and calendar science, and deals with it through sorcery. He also treats epidemics. He is also known as a "shikigami user."

・Vengeful spirits
A dead spirit that harbors resentment for the treatment or circumstances it received in life and brings about a curse. In addition, the living spirits of people who harbor strong hatred or resentment can turn into vengeful spirits and bring about disaster.

・Kagura
This refers to dances, gagaku music, and other performances at religious ceremonies and festivals as an offering to the gods.

・Incantations and prayers
A prayer to ward off misfortune, or a ritual to do so, in esoteric Buddhism. "Kaji" refers to the protection that the gods and Buddhas give to "Shujo (living beings)," and "Kito" refers to a prayer to receive protection. Make a mudra with your hands, chant a mantra, and pray to the gods and Buddhas in your heart for protection.

・Spirited Away
There are legends that when a person goes missing, they are hidden by a god or a divine spirit. The acts of supernatural beings such as Tengu and monsters are also called "spirited away." The more a place has been known since ancient times as a "sacred area where gods reside," the more likely it is to have such legends.

・Demon's Gate
In Onmyodo, it refers to the direction that is hated as the direction from which evil demons enter and exit. The word itself is also used as a metaphor for things that one dislikes or that are ominous.

・Quick and proper implementation of the law
This is a phrase that onmyoji and shamans add to the end of their spells when exorcising evil spirits. It was originally an idiomatic phrase used at the end of ancient Chinese official documents. It means an order to "immediately carry out the above in accordance with the Ritsuryo Code (law)."

・Kuzuryuu Okami
The local deity of Togakushi Shrine. There is a legend in Togakushi that "an ogre with nine heads and a dragon's tail was sealed in a cave by a mountain ascetic", and it is said that he was later worshiped as a water god under the name of "Kuzuryu Gongen" and helped people praying for rain. There are other legends about Kuzuryu Okami all over Japan, and he is the object of worship in many areas.

・Kuji (lottery)
A spell chanted as a self-protection charm. It consists of the nine characters "Rin, Hei, Tou, Sha, Mina, Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen." It was passed down to onmyoji, esoteric Buddhist monks, and mountain ascetics (yamabushi), and while chanting this spell, you draw four vertical and five horizontal lines in the air with your fingertips, likening them to a sword. There is also a method of making hand gestures. It is also called "Kuji no Murin" or "Kuji Goshinho."

・Kumano Kodo
Located in the Kii Mountains, which straddle Wakayama, Nara, and Mie prefectures, this pilgrimage route leads to the Kumano Sanzan (Kumano Hongu Taisha, Kumano Hayatama Taisha, and Kumano Nachi Taisha). Pilgrimages have been made here as a place of nature worship since the Heian period. In 2004, it was registered as a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the "Sacred Sites and Pilgrimage Routes in the Kii Mountain Range."

・Barrier
A type of incantation in esoteric Buddhism. A certain place is designated as a purified area, and by making hand gestures and chanting mantras, demons and other impure things are prevented from entering the area.

・Experimenter
A name for a "shugenja" (a Buddhist ascetic). Its meaning is the same as "yamabushi" (mountain priest).

・Familiar Gods
A small god that accompanies a larger, more powerful god. It can also mean an animal that is a messenger of a god, or a supernatural being that has the form of an animal. It has powers that exceed those of humans, and also plays the role of conveying the will of the larger god on his behalf.

・Self-defense
Protecting one's body or life from danger. Or, an abbreviation for the means to do so, such as "self-defense techniques" or "self-defense methods."

・Saniwa
A person who engages in dialogue with gods and spirits that possess people, revealing their true identity and judging their good and evil. In ancient Shintoism, it referred to a person who receives the words of the gods, interprets their meaning, and conveys them.

・Shikigami
A spiritual being that can freely change form according to the commands of the onmyoji. Its role is to determine whether a person is good or evil, but its ability can also be used to curse people and bring about disaster. It is also called a "shiki."

・Shakujo (a staff)
A walking stick carried by mountain ascetics and monks. Made of copper or iron, it has a large ring at the top with several small rings threaded through it, and produces a sound when shook. The walking stick itself is used for self-defense, and the sound is used to keep the rhythm and as a signal when chanting sutras. It is also said that the vibration of the rings removes worldly desires.

Shugendo is a religion that was established when ancient Japanese mountain worship was combined with foreign esoteric Buddhism and Taoism. It is a practical religion centered on rituals, where people train at sacred mountains to obtain miracles, and engage in magical and religious activities.

・Divine spirits The souls of gods. Or, virtuous souls that have become gods.

・Endangered species
A wildlife species whose surviving population is declining and which is considered to be at extremely high risk of extinction.

・Atavism
The sudden appearance of traits or abilities possessed by ancestors that are not possessed by the parents. Biochemical atavism is also sometimes called "atavism."

・Tamakura Shrine
This is a shrine where Izumiko's grandfather serves as the chief priest. Izumiko lives in her grandfather's house on the shrine grounds. The shrine is modeled after Tamaki Shrine, located on the sacred mountain of Mount Tamaki in Yoshino District, Nara Prefecture.

・Subjugation
To make enemies or demons surrender through prayer.

・Ninja
Ninjas serve feudal lords and feudal lords, and engage in espionage and assassination activities. They were active from the Kamakura to Edo periods, and used a unique martial art called "ninjutsu." There are organizations with their own schools all over Japan, and the Iga school (Mie Prefecture) and Koga school (Shiga Prefecture) are well-known. The Togakushi school, based on Mount Togakushi, is one of them.

・Haguro
Haguro, located in Tsuruoka City, Yamagata Prefecture. It is a sacred mountain known for its mountain worship, and is also the place where mountain ascetics undergo training.

Backgammon is a board game played by two players. Each player moves 15 pieces arranged on the board according to the number on the dice, and the winner is the player who reaches the goal before the opponent. The modern style of the game was established in the United States in the 20th century, but its origins can be traced back to ancient Egypt, making it the "world's oldest board game."

・Himegami
A mysterious being. Judging from Yukimasa's attitude towards Himegami, she is thought to be a very special spirit of high rank.

・The Battle of Hachioji Castle
In 1590, Hachioji Castle was attacked by about 15,000 Toyotomi troops, including Uesugi Kagekatsu, Maeda Toshiie, and Sanada Masayuki, as part of Toyotomi Hideyoshi's campaign against Odawara. At the time, the lord of the castle, Hojo Ujiteru, was holed up in Odawara Castle, and about 3,000 people, including some of his vassals, a few soldiers, citizens, and women, were holed up in Hachioji Castle. The castle fell in just one day, and the women, including Ujiteru's wife Hisa, either committed suicide or threw themselves into the waterfall, and it is said that the waterfall was stained with blood for three days and three nights.

・Possession
Being possessed by a spirit. "Possession constitution" means that one is easily possessed due to their high spiritual sensitivity.

・Charm
Charms, sometimes performed with talismans and spells.

・Hojo Ujiteru
A Sengoku warlord in the Azuchi-Momoyama period. As the lord of Takiyama Castle in Musashi Province, he contributed to the expansion of the Hojo clan's power in the Kanto region. In 1587, he built a large mountain castle on the border between Musashi and Sagami, named it "Hachioji Castle" after Hachioji Gongen, a deity enshrined on the mountaintop, and became its lord. When Toyotomi Hideyoshi attacked Odawara, he put up a fierce resistance at Odawara Castle, but later surrendered. Hideyoshi ordered him to commit seppuku (ritual suicide by disembowelment). He died at the age of 51.

・Insects
To curse someone with a spell. Or, the technique for doing so. It can also refer to the existence of evil spirits that mislead people. It is also written as "komono."

・Miko (shrine maiden)
A woman who serves the gods. In ancient times, she played the role of conveying the words of the gods to people, and performed votive dances, prayers, fortune-telling, etc. In modern shrines, she serves as an assistant to the priests, such as serving in religious ceremonies.

・Mineiri Shugyo (Training in the mountains)
This is a training course for mountain ascetics at Mt. Omine, located in the southern part of Nara Prefecture. The ascetic training course is called the Omine Okugakemichi, which connects Mt. Yoshino in Nara Prefecture and the Kumano Sanzan in Wakayama Prefecture. It is a particularly rugged route among the Kumano Kodo trails, and has 75 training sites. It is also called "entering Omine."

・Yabusame (horseback archery)
A sport in which riders shoot arrows at three targets lined up in parallel on a riding ground one after the other while riding a horse. It was a form of martial arts training that was popular from the Heian period to the Kamakura period. It is still performed today as a religious ceremony at shrines.

・Yamabushi (mountain priest)
A person who enhances his spiritual power through training in sacred mountains and uses that power to engage in magical activities. The word "Yamabushi" comes from the fact that he trains by lying down in the mountains. He is also called "Shugenja" which means "one who has trained in Shugendo."

・Yorimashi
A human being who is possessed by a divine spirit. This refers to a woman or a child who accompanies a priest who summons spirits to allow the divine spirit to possess them or to convey their words. Sometimes a doll is used. It is also called a "Yorishiro" or "Yorishiro".

・Spiritual talisman
A charm that is said to bring good luck from the gods and Buddhas. It is said to protect one from misfortune. It is also called a "talisman (protective talisman)."

・Spiritual power
The ability to manipulate or sense spiritual powers (souls, spirits, spirits, etc.). For those with spiritual powers, hair is said to be the source of their power.

■Subtitle

Chapter 1: My First Transfer Student Chapter 2: My First Palm Chapter 3: My First Errand Chapter 4: My First Roommate Chapter 5: My First Makeup Chapter 6: My First Sleepover Chapter 7: My First Lost Child Chapter 8: My First Request Chapter 9: My First Show-Off Chapter 10: My First School Festival Chapter 11: My First Rejection Chapter 12: The World Heritage Girl

■ Theme songs and music

・OP1
・Small World Drop ・Lyrics by Annabel
・Composition: myu
・Arrangement: myu
・Singer: Annabel

・ED1
・Premonition・Lyrics: Aki Hata・Music: Masumi Ito・Arrangement: Masumi Ito・Singer: Masumi Ito

・ED2
・Premonition (Izumiko version)
Lyrics by Aki Hata, Music by Masumi Ito, Arrangement by Masumi Ito, Singer by Izumi Suzuhara (Saori Hayami)

・Insert song 1
・Izumiko's Dance ・Lyrics by Haruka Kamiki ・Music by Haruka Kamiki ・Singer by Izumiko Suzuhara (Saori Hayami)

■ Review

"RDG Red Data Girl" is an anime series based on the original novel by Noriko Ogiwara, and was broadcast in 2013. The story depicts the growth and fate of Suzuhara Izumiko, a girl who grew up in Tamakura Shrine, located on the Kumano Kodo trail. Izumiko is naive and shy, but through her encounters with her childhood friend Sagara Miyuki and other new friends, she comes to understand herself and grows as a person.

The charm of this work lies above all in the character of Izumiko. She has long braided hair, glasses, and a shy personality. However, she has a special ability that freezes electronic devices when she touches them, and this becomes an important element in the story. Izumiko's wish to "become a normal girl" will greatly influence her growth and destiny.

The characters surrounding Izumiko are also fascinating. Her childhood friend Fuyuki has excellent grades and good looks, but comes from a special background as a mountain ascetic. Her roommate Muneta Mahiyo is a beautiful girl with top grades, but cares for her younger brother Manatsu above all else. Through her interactions with these characters, Izumiko reexamines herself and grows as a person.

The anime is produced by PAWORKS and features beautiful backgrounds and character designs. In particular, the depictions of the Kumano Kodo and Tamakura Shrine are visually stunning and enhance the atmosphere of the story. The music is also by myu and Masumi Ito, and the opening theme "Small World Drop" and the ending theme "Premonition" have beautiful melodies that symbolize the theme of the story.

The story revolves around the growth and fate of Izumiko, but elements of Japanese mythology, onmyoji, ninjas, and other elements are woven into it, giving it a strong fantasy feel. In particular, the appearance of mythical beings such as Ame-no-Uzume-no-Mikoto and Kuzuryu-no-Okami gives the story depth and breadth.

Another distinctive feature is that each episode has a unified subtitle, "First Time...." This emphasizes Izumiko's growth by depicting the events and feelings she experiences for the first time through her encounters with new people and environments.

Overall, "RDG Red Data Girl" is a moving story depicting the growth and destiny of Izumiko, and is a fascinating work that combines beautiful visuals and music with elements of Japanese mythology and fantasy. In particular, it is a school fantasy that depicts the worries and growth of adolescence, and is sure to resonate with many viewers.

■Recommendation

"RDG Red Data Girl" is a school fantasy that depicts the worries and growth of adolescence, and is a work that can be recommended to many viewers. It is especially recommended for those who can empathize with the character of Izumiko and those who like Japanese mythology and fantasy elements. Also, this work is not to be missed by those who want to enjoy beautiful visuals and music.

Furthermore, this work is based on the original novel by Noriko Ogiwara, so fans of the original novel will also be satisfied with the content. After watching the anime, reading the original novel would be one way to enjoy it.

Overall, "RDG Red Data Girl" is a wonderful work that combines a moving story, beautiful visuals, and charming characters. It is a work that I would like many people to see.