Dark Gathering – Season 1 Episode 8 Recap & Review

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

Bethroned To Divinity

Episode 8 of Dark Gathering begins with Keitaro meeting the new student he’s been assigned to tutor. They attend a cafe and discuss things to get to know each other better. We learn her name’s Ai Kamiyo, a first-year high school student. Keitaro creates a donut-themed game to help Ai study, but it doesn’t work out. Upset, Ai demands the waiter bring her a parfait, resulting in the waiter tripping and dropping water on Ai, which ruins her makeup.

Keitaro asks Ai if she’s been experiencing sore shoulders or sleep paralysis. Ai says she has but questions how Keitaro knows. He points to the puddle of water and spots footprints, hinting to him that a spirit is at play. Ai reveals she’s always had bad luck. She feels a spirit has been toying with her for a long time. Ai believes the spirit Keitaro senses happens to be her brother, who died protecting her. She questions if he’s been protecting her from evil spirits since his demise and can’t rest in peace. Ai reveals she hired Keitaro to improve her grades and prove to her brother that she can progress.

Keitaro brings Ai to Eiko’s house to meet Yayoi. Yayoi senses two spirits following Ai and sets up a ritual to trap the spirit. Ai thanks Yayoi for her help, calling her “little sensei” since she was Keitaro’s first student. Yayoi takes a strand of her hair for spirit-protecting purposes. Yayoi returns to her room, but the spirit she trapped for Ai catches her attention. Keitaro has a vision that involves the female spirit that accompanies Ai. She tells him to protect Ai since she senses she’ll die soon by her brother’s doing.

Yayoi calls Keitaro and tells him Ai is in danger. Keitaro tells Yayoi that Ai lives alone and about her apartment room number. Yayoi heads for the location as Ai’s getting strangled by her brother’s spirit. Ai asks her brother why he’s doing this as Ai rushes into her room after successfully breaking into her apartment. She spots the calendar and learns it’s been 49 days after Ai’s brother’s passing. Additionally, it’s his memorial service day, signaling to Yayoi that Ai’s brother is ascending.

Her brother says he wants to kill Ai to spare her from fate as he vanishes. Keitaro arrives and gives Ai a drink to calm her down. He informs Ai her brother may not have had evil intent. Ai wonders why her brother wanted to kill her and reveals she’ll die in four years. She reveals a god-like figure who fell in love with her and plans to take her away when she turns twenty. This happens to be a family tradition, according to Ai. After examining a creepy photo in Ai’s room, Yayoi deduces the spirit they caught earlier is a strong one.

We cut to the plushie Yayoi trapped the spirit in and learn it’s escaped. The spirit reveals he wanted Keitaro and Yayoi to make her brother’s spirit flee and that he’s the god-like figure Ai referred to. Keitaro notices Ai’s eyes have stars in them again like when they first met. This signals to Yayoi that the spirit branded her. Yayoi realizes the spirit they caught was strong enough to fight the others in her room and escape.

Suddenly, more spirits enter Ai’s room. Yayoi explains the god spirit leaked its energy from Ai herself to lure them here. Yayoi calls Eiko to pick them up. Eiko arrives and things get a little goofy between them all. Yayoi saves Eiko from looking like a stalker when Keitaro asks her how she knew of this location. Yayoi gives Eiko a brief explanation about what’s happening and asks her if she could drive them all home. Keitaro heads for the bathroom, and the episode closes with him encountering a terrifying spirit.

The Episode Review

This chapter of Dark Gathering introduces us to Ai Kamiyo. As expected, she happens to have her own supernatural-related issues like our main cast. However, her problems are nothing short of creepy and saddening. Not only did she happen to lose her brother due to an accident but she’s become betrothed by a divine spirit, capable of defeating the ones we’ve seen Yayoi capture.

Viewers will be intrigued by this situation as we’ve been seeing our cast fight low-level threats. It’ll be interesting to see how Yayoi and her friends plan to free Ai from her four-year pact with this evil godly spirit.

Moreover, this episode’s imagery was spot-on and made matters feel more spooky and intense. From witnessing the godly spirit chew on intestines to Ai’s brother choking her in bed, it made this one feel unsettling to watch and less comical than previous chapters. However, the episode had some jokes tossed in to appeal to fans who love that content.

Overall, this was a fun chapter of Dark Gathering. It was a bit confusing to follow in some parts, but sets viewers up for some bone-chilling endeavors in the future. Once again, it’ll be fascinating to see our spirit hunters fight a ghost who is on par with a god. It’ll prepare them for their inevitable battle with the spirit who took Yayoi’s mother away and can lead to some compelling action scenarios. Hopefully, they’ll save Ai from her future demise.