Dark Gathering – Season 1 Episode 15 Recap & Review

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f7qtJb8XA4

Old Old F Tunnel

Episode 15 of Dark Gathering begins with Keitaro and Yayoi entering the Old Old F Tunnel. The Psycho Killer spirit toys with them by torturing one of his victims and treating them like an enslaved person. Yayoi says the Psycho Killer spirit wants to play tag and if they get caught they’ll end up like the spirit getting tortured in front of their eyes. Yayoi tells Keitaro to focus on Eiko while she deals with the Psycho Killer Spirit.

Keitaro and Yayoi find and free Eiko. The Psycho Killer Spirit and his victims chase them down. They split up for a brief second with Yayoi stalling the Psycho Killer Spirit, giving Keitaro and Eiko a chance to rush toward the Old Old F Tunnel’s exit. However, one of the Psycho Killer Spirit’s victims stops Eiko and Keitaro, but thankfully Eiko uses an item to stop the victim from halting their progress. The trio manages to get out of the Old Old F Tunnel and lure the Psycho Killer Spirit out. 

Yayoi summons the Imprisoned Martyr Graduate to fight the Psycho Killer Spirit. Yayoi explains the Martyr’s origins, goals, and her first encounter with him to Eiko and Keitaro. The Martyr overwhelms the Psycho Killer Spirit and the latter reverts to a weaker state, surprising Keitaro. Yayoi explains since the Psycho Killer Spirit is within the Martyr’s battleground area (lines on the ground), he feels the emotions he experienced during the war from his starvation to his insomnia. 

She says the Martyr can make his victims want to perish to remove themselves from these feelings. The Psycho Killer Spirit must murder the Martyr to free himself from this torment. Yayoi tells Eiko and Keitaro to follow her and tells her to set her phone on the ground for video calling purposes so they can monitor the Martyr’s battle from afar. This will allow them not to get caught by the Martyr’s abilities. The Martyr moves into its second stage to give the Psycho Killer Spirit a fair fight. 

The Psycho Killer Spirit bulks up and consumes the Martyr. The Martyr escapes through its stomach and plans to enter the final stage. Meanwhile, Eiko, Yayoi, and Keitaro reach a safe distance to avoid getting caught in the Martyr’s attack. Meanwhile, the Martyr’s comrades start biting the Psycho Killer Spirit for sustenance purposes. The Psycho Killer Spirit begs the Martyr to kill him, so the Martyr places a grenade in the spirit’s mouth. The Martyr wins the battle and returns to the doll Yayoi put him in. 

Yayoi captures the Psycho Killer Spirit in a monkey doll and liberates him from his murderous urges. Yayoi enters the tunnel to capture and sort the Psycho Killer Spirits into three paper mache dolls. This will allow her to differentiate them from each other to see who is still good and who that turned bad. She asked them specific questions to tell them apart from each other during her solo excursion.

Before they depart, Anna’s spirit makes one final attempt to make Eiko and her friends suffer. Yayoi stops her and seals her inside a paper machete doll. However, she entrusts Eiko to her.

The episode closes with Keitaro informing the audience about their victory in the Old F Tunnel. 

The Episode Review

We’ve reached the finale of the battle with the Psycho Killer Spirit. Although things felt more rushed compared to the battle with the graduate at the Castle H Ruins, many viewers will find the Imprisoned Martyr more to their liking than the High Priest from the previous Graduate battle. From its wonderful design to its interesting abilities, series creator, Kenichi Kondo, is doing a wonderful job at making all the graduates stand out from each other. 

This series feels like a fun horror alternative for Pokémon fans in that regard. From the ways Yayoi summons the graduates to how she describes them to Keitaro and Eiko, one can’t help but draw comparisons between both works. Nonetheless, it was nice getting to learn more about these spirits as it helps flesh out Dark Gathering’s universe. Moreover, it’s great to see the Psycho Killer Spirit get his just desserts near the chapter’s conclusion. 

After what he put his victims through, he deserves all the endless torture he’s receiving while trapped in that doll. It’ll be intriguing to see him crop up in future Graduate battles though. Overall, this was a fun chapter of Dark Gathering. It didn’t have the best pacing and the battle did feel semi-rushed. However, it was a nice spectacle for the eyes and will get horror and monster-tamer fanatics excited for Yayoi, Eiko, and Keitaro’s future expeditions.