Ga rei zero is an entertaining series which conveys its story in an effective yet simplistic manner in the span of a mere 12 episodes. It manages to create sympathy towards its characters and thus makes this tragedy a gutwrenchingly effective one at the end. Lets examine the odd plot structure first. The first episode is made to catch the viewer off guard and introduce them to the main antagonist of the series. The second episode is the climax of the series. It serves to make the viewer curious about what events happened before and why the antagonist become they way they are. This works as an effective way to create suspense. The next 7 episodes are kawai cute girls fighting monsters kind of thing and they also serve to flesh out the relationship between the two MCs. This part of the series is pretty generic but at the same time it just works in the favor of the series. And a sense of closeness and sympathy for the characters is created. The pacing is fine and for a 12 episode series they managed to do a lot in a short period of time. Also the plot is fairly simplistic theres not a lot of complexity to it its just events placed out of order and for the most part its an SOL with action elements. That said the intense scenes do leave an impact and IMO very few scenes in this anime happen out of pure shock value. Characters Tragic. While I wont say all of them are fleshed out or are excellently written they have enough dimension and characterization to them for us to care for them. The Main leads are written pretty skillfully written as well and very simple yet effective tools are employed for us to be worried for them. Yomi and Kagura are very much cheerful teenage girls who have heavy responsibility on them but they have a very close and sisterly bond which they share that makes them likeable. Although Kagura can come off to be a bit too shounen esque at times. Yomis transition to her antagonistic state felt a bit jarring and the events beforehand were essentially normal SOL/fantasy events which can explain the relatively score of the anime. But if those two factors are ignored Yomis transition is very painful to see It kind of reminded me of f/sn heavens feel and to see characters like noriyuki and kagura suffer due to it was painful as well. That said like the plot the characterization of most of the characters is very simple and they are written more as likeable characters however enough care is given to them by the writer thus the whole events surrounding them feels tribulating to watch and in general the viewer does feel a bit attached to them Sound/Art The OP and EDs were catchy. And the art did look dated but the actual animation itself was great. Especially the mouth animation. It was always in sync. Themes Garei: Zero is a tragedy at its core. The central theme this anime dealt with was Hate and Love. As the tagline of the anime suggests Will you kill someone you love because of love?. I believe the anime does a decent job at explaining how these two can go hand in hand and has its own take on how inner hate can be used as a catalyst to ruin a person and everyone around them. And the fact that it made me uncomfortable does suggest that Garei: Zero did a decent job at it. Conclusion While not grand and sometimes overly simplistic Ga rei: Zero tackles a very common theme in media very effectively and punches you right in the gut a lot of times. With that said my final score for this anime is 78/100