Dark Gathering – Season 1 Episode 6 Recap & Review

The Promise

Episode 6 of Dark Gathering begins with Keitaro, Eiko, and Yayoi going camping and participating in many activities, from fishing to cooking. While fishing together, Yayoi asks Keitaro if he’s planning to accept her offer to help her catch spirits. Keitaro tells Yayoi he’s having a tough time processing it all and questions if he should prevent her from putting her life at stake.

Yayoi challenges Keitaro to a small fishing competition. If Yayoi can catch more trout than him, then he can’t question nor worry about how she spends her life. Unfortunately, both fail the competition–so they return to the camping site. Eiko puts Yayoi to bed. Keitaro asks her if she’d remove her curse if she could.

Eiko and Keitaro go for a walk to the ocean. Eiko discusses the notion behind researching and studying with Keitaro. She confirms she’s written down everything she knows about her hand and their experiences. Eiko feels understanding their condition will assist them in finding a way to remove their respective curses.

She admits her love for the supernatural and desire to learn more about Keitaro fuels her drive for research. Keitaro asks Eiko what she’d say if he wanted to visit more haunted locales. He tells himself he’s willing to risk any dangerous situation to find a spirit strong enough to end their curse. Eiko asks Keitaro to promise he’ll stay close to her during their endeavor. Keitaro accepts Eiko’s offer and the two return to the camping site.

A shadowy figure looms over Eiko, resulting in Keitaro sensing it and checking on her and Yayoi. He spots Eiko heading for the bridge and informs Yayoi. Yayoi tells Keitaro a spirit is using mindful tactics to control Eiko. She confirms she can’t transfer these spirit types to mindless dolls. After telling Yayoi about Eiko’s experience with the nearby bridge, Yayoi suggests they visit said bridge to capture or devour the spirit controlling her. Keitaro travels with Eiko on the bridge and senses the spirit’s presence while Yayoi hides somewhere.

In a flashback, Yayoi explains she can capture spirits like this as long as she can pinpoint their locations. In the present, Yayoi toys with the spirit to urge it to head for Keitaro since he’s a spirit magnet. Yayoi provides Keitaro with a nail-protected doll and a bag of pure salt to catch the spirit. Unfortunately, this doesn’t snap Eiko out of her trance, resulting in Keitaro chasing Eiko down and falling into the lake with her. Yayoi realizes multiple spirits were using Eiko as bait to lure in Keitaro. Fortunately, Keitaro and Eiko get saved by a rope. Yayoi uses the opportunity to scare the spirits away with pure salt and captures one of them.

In a flashback, we see Keitaro and Yayoi discussing their upcoming battle with the spirits. Yayoi planned everything, from the rope to nailing down that they’d be dealing with more than one spirit. In the present, before Keitaro returns to the camping site with Eiko, the remaining spirits confront him. Keitaro falls into the water. The spirits subdue him and have Eiko place a spirit inside his mouth. Fortunately, Yayoi hands Keitaro some godly sake that’ll allow him to remove the spirit trying to possess him. She also hands him a doll, and he spits the spirit into it to capture it.

Yayoi reunites with Keitaro and assists him in rounding up the remaining spirits. She forces the spirits to battle amongst themselves to pinpoint the one controlling Eiko. Yayoi finds the culprit and makes them pay. They return to the camping site. Eiko can’t believe everything that happened to her.

Keitaro spots Eiko staring at the lake in the morning. Eiko thanks Keitaro for saving her and confesses to him. Keitaro tells Eiko he loves her back and promises to protect her. At Eiko’s home, Keitaro tells Yayoi he wants to capture spirits with her.

The episode closes with Eiko contemplating all that’s happened to this point and glad that she has Keitaro in her grasp.

The Episode Review

This chapter of Dark Gathering was mildly confusing to follow but delivers solid groundwork for potential delightful endeavors to come. Where previous episodes had our characters visiting shrines and areas in the city, this one had them embarking on a camping trip. This provided the series with a nice change of pace. As we all know though, wherever they go, there’s always a spirit lurking somewhere in the distance and this one came prepared with allies. 

Fortunately, Keitaro has Yayoi to guide him on his new spirit-capturing endeavor this time around. Many fans will adore seeing Keitaro assist Yayoi in putting the spirits in their place. At the same time, this episode reconfirms how knowledgeable and skillful Yayoi is as a young spirit hunter. Despite the odds stacked against the two, she instilled fear in the spirit’s eyes, making her a worthy opponent for them though she needed Keitaro’s assistance.

While it was great seeing them work as a formidable unit, the execution could’ve been better. It was tough pinpointing what was happening in the present due to all the flashbacks we receive in between its action segments. It made matters difficult to follow and digest. Many would’ve preferred if most of the plan was highlighted prior to Yayoi and Keitaro executing it. Besides that, this was a great chapter of the series and I’m looking forward to seeing what lies ahead for our spirit-capturing protagonists.