Strange and horrible things are happening in New York City right under our noses and most of us never find out. Those who do often die. Five high school girls encountered the horror and died. Thats not what this anime is about. Its about what they did afterwards. Before we get into the spoilers let me say that overall I liked this. Its above average in concept in character development in dialogue. I plan to watch it again. I plan to give it to my friends. It features a group of sane girls trying to cope with insane personal disaster. Its their story and so we are spared the gormless constantly embarrassed male costar or the loud and bratty little sister or the overly moe pet. Its surprisingly quiet. Yes theres too much shouting during the fight scenes and some of the secondary characters can be accused of overacting but its not one of those anime where everyone teeters on the brink of adrenalin exhaustion. Each of the characters is a unique individual and is believable even when their circumstances arent. Rose for example fighting to keep her family together and care for her younger siblings with her mother in the hospital and her father run off and no sign of NYC Family Services. I went to high school with their equivalents or college. I know exactly which actress Id pick to fill each of their roles. The anime is about personal growth and character development but it doesnt rub it in your face the way some do. Minor spoiler plot summary: The plot is as strange as any other anime. Five HS girls most of them casual acquaintances at an upperclass HS in NYC are killed by one of a pair of warring clans. The other clan steals the corpses and builds New Bodies for them. The first clan steals one of the New Body girls back. This all happens in one immemorable night. Why is this happening? Well you see the feud is centuries old because one clan stole one of the others books. Its a book of spells and they only had the two. The first clan the killing/stealing back clan has been cursed such that they change into monsters think human werewolf in a suit and all their women die. This was done by the second clan who are apparently all women. The mens clan the Dolore needs a New Body Girl to experiment on to see if they can overcome the curse. The womens clan the Animus is dedicated to killing the monsters as they appear this is the task assigned the New Body Girls and trying to get their book back. If you squint and suspend your disbelief this wont sound so much like it was thought up by Terry Pratchett. The girls are of widely differing character: Rose is an innocent working class girl trying to care for her younger siblings Rachel is a partygoing fashionista Claire is a tough young woman making her own way despite her rich father and Kate is a straightlaced honors student. They have little in common but finally bond as a team and carry the fight on to the disastrous finish. Major Spoiler Alert all the way down: That said theres plenty of plot holes and your disbelief has to be hanged not just suspended. We never find out why the girls were enticed to the old house in the first place nor why they were killed or why they were left. Was it all a plot to get one New Body? If they were recruited by the Animus to fight the other clan why werent they trained to fight? Why werent they given better i.e. any weapons? Why do they keep going off to fight wearing school cloths or party clothes. Doesnt any of them own a sweatsuit? Then theres the Dolore pharmaceutical company with their inept experiments. If the drug side of the operation is run the same way as their attempt to preserve a breeding stock its a wonder were not all dead. Whats the purpose of the red flowers and the butterflies? Wouldnt a cell phone do as well? Or a pager? What happened to the seed the girls planted at the cemetery? Why do the old New Bodied women die and dust when the curse is lifted but Our Girls just fall asleep and wake up immortal but without memories. These kind of gaps run all through the program. If you are the kind of person who can just say anime magic and ignore them you will like the series. If not you will have trouble not shouting at the screen. In the end the girls come to terms with their future understand that they will be remembered even though they wont remember and win through to a hollow victory. Everybody dies. On both sides. Except them. The school and its island are covered in a Red Garden of flowers where they awaken in the last episode of the series. Thats when the fun begins.