Dark Gathering, an anime scheduled to air from July 2023, is based on the horror suspense manga serialized in Jump SQ. The story follows the protagonists as they explore haunted locations, capturing and strengthening the terrifying evil spirits that appear there, with the ultimate goal of defeating a powerful boss spirit. Today, we'd like to introduce you to Eiko Takarazuki, the bright, kind, and perfect heroine of Dark Gathering!
Eiko Takarazuki is a childhood friend of the protagonist, Gentougawa Keitaro!
The heroine, Takarazuki Eiko, is a childhood friend of the protagonist, Gentougawa Keitaro, and the cousin of the other protagonist, Takarazuki Yoyoi. She's a reliable childhood friend who visits haunted spots with the two. After an incident involving evil spirits in middle school, Keitaro became a recluse and went their separate ways. However, they never became estranged, and she devotedly supported his reintegration into society. The other protagonist, Yoyoi, was taken in by Eiko's parents and became a freeloader after her parents died in an accident.
Is Takaratsuki Eiko a bright, sociable, and reliable heroine?
Takaratsuki Eiko is a bright, sociable, beautiful, and friendly girl who easily becomes friends with anyone. She's also a reliable heroine who devotedly supports Hotarutaro and Yayoi, even after a scary experience while touring haunted spots. With such cheerfulness and kindness, she has continued to support Hotarutaro for a long time.
Takaratsuki Eiko is a talented woman who also excels in high technology! She will represent Japan at the International Olympiad in Informatics!
She's a hardcore science girl with excellent grades since childhood and a deep knowledge of high-tech technology. She even represented Japan in the International Olympiad in Informatics, a programming skills competition for high school students, and was a highly respected figure when she entered university. She sometimes uses her high-tech skills to support Yayoi and Hotarutaro.
Takaratsuki Eiko is an occult enthusiast and majors in ethnology in the Faculty of Letters!
As mentioned above, Eiko is a hardcore science major with a knack for high technology, but she majored in ethnology in the Faculty of Letters at university. She's always loved the occult, and thanks to Hotarutaro's influence, the occult has become more familiar to her, so she's trying to explain it scientifically. She also attempts to scientifically analyze spiritual disturbances and studies the occult as an academic discipline. She sometimes uses her knowledge and ideas to create inventions that combine both the occult and science.
Leave the driving to me! I'll follow you anywhere!
Eiko herself is not a medium, nor does she possess any special powers or the ability to stand up to spirits, but when it comes to touring haunted spots, she volunteers to be the driver. Since Yayoi is an elementary school student and doesn't have a driver's license, and Hotarutarou probably doesn't have one either, so it's her role to drive the car. Given the premise of touring haunted spots, her presence as a chaperone may be necessary to move the story along.
Takaratsuki Eiko's Secret Side! Eiko is Hotarutarou's stalker!
Eiko is a beautiful, intelligent, and devoted wife and mother, the ideal heroine who stands by Hotarutaro without regard for danger. However, her true nature is that of a paranoid stalker. She understands that Hotarutaro has always protected her from occult phenomena, and her efforts to help him reintegrate into society and her interest in the occult were all designed to get him involved in the occult.
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Stalking Using High-Tech! Is She a Dangerous Girl?
Part of Eiko's room is filled with photos and personal belongings of Hotarutaro. Furthermore, using her high-tech knowledge, she is able to take secret photos, eavesdrop, and even monitor his body temperature and other vital signs. Hotarutaro himself is unaware of this, and so far, no real harm has been caused. In fact, she has even been credited with detecting a crisis in advance, rescuing Hotarutaro, who is prone to spiritual disturbances. Her mastery of high-tech technology may have been a way to stalk him in high-tech, in addition to scientifically analyzing the occult.
Is her love of the occult due to her obsessive love for Hotarutaro?
The main reason Eiko loves the occult and risks her life to study paranormal phenomena is because she seeks a connection with Hotarutaro. Hotarutaro became a recluse because he had dragged Eiko into a spiritual disturbance that had befallen him in the past, but on the flip side, this was to avoid dragging the people he cared about into his life. However, knowing that Hotarutaro would not stand by and watch if Eiko herself put herself in danger, Eiko dragged him into the path of the occult in the hopes that he would treat her as a special person and protect her. Just like Hotarutaro, Eiko's left hand is cursed with exposed nerves that continue to grow, and Hotarutaro becomes involved with the occult in order to find a way to lift the curse on himself and Eiko.
Are the yandere elements less harmful? The evil spirits are so real that they overshadow the scary aspects.
Though the heroine has many of these dangerous traits, her stalking acts as a safety net for Hotarutaro, who is constantly being pursued by spiritual beings. Even if she doesn't risk her life to drag him down the path of the seriously insane occult, it's hard not to believe that he's destined to become involved with the occult, regardless of his own will. Furthermore, the story features even more terrifying and insane evil spirits than her yandere qualities, making her abnormal behavior seem overshadowed. That's how terrifying the evil spirits that appear in this work are.
[Dark Gathering] Takaratsuki Eiko Summary
Here's a summary of Takaratsuki Eiko, the heroine of Dark Gathering! On the surface, she's a reliable and talented woman who devotedly supports the protagonists, but on the inside, she's a yandere stalker. However, compared to the evil spirits that appear, she somehow seems cute, making her a lovely, reliable heroine! The story itself is a terrifying horror story that mercilessly tries to kill the protagonists, but it also has an interesting training and battle element where you collect and combine evil spirits to fight! It's scheduled to air in the summer, when you're craving horror, so I hope you'll tune in!
