07-Ghost

07-Ghost is an anime series adapted from a manga by the same name.  The story takes place in a universe where in recent history one country, Barstag, broke the peace and attacked and pretty much destroyed the neighboring Raggs empire.  The war between these countries continues, with the Church the only place of asylum for people from either side.

The Church history is integral to the plot and goes like this: the God of Death, Verloren, escaped to earth after some misdeed in Heaven and inhabits all people’s hearts, causing them to despair.  The head God sent seven “ghosts” to earth to punish and seal Verloren and act as guardians for people.  Verloren can still influence people through his minions, the Kor.  When people make a contract with Verloren and turn to evil, a mark appears on their chest.  Only Church Bishops can remove this “Verloren’s curse”.   The 07 Ghosts are essentially immortal, living as people, and reincarnated with each death and retaining memories of their past lives.

Some of the people in this series have the ability to use magic or a supernatural power, which they refer to as zaiphon.  These are special people who are either snapped up and trained by the military or become members of the Church.  And of course the reincarnated 07 Ghosts can use these magical powers.  Along with these magics, there are two magic talismans, one in each kingdom, called the Eye of Mikhail and the Eye of Raphael, which are stones which inhabit the body of their wielder and give him the extraordinary power of either the Archangel Mikhail or Raphael.

The main character in this series is a young boy named Tate Klein, who is a student in the military academy at the start of the story along with his best friend, Mikage.  Tate has amnesia and doesn’t remember anything before being raised as an orphan by the Church prior to becoming a military cadet.  In the first episode Tate runs afoul of a military commander named Ayanami, who he suddenly remembers as the person who killed his father.  Tate attacks Ayanami and is taken into custody but escapes with Mikage’s help. Tate flees, but is injured while escaping.  He is found and taken in by Bishops of the Church in District 7, which has sanctuary laws.  There he meets the three Bishops who help him out.  They are: Frau, who is also the Ghost Zehel and wields Verloren’s Scythe, Castor, who is also the Ghost Fest, and Labrador, who is also the Ghost Profe.

 

Along the way the Bishops and Ayanami (who is also the bad guy, reincarnated Verloren) discover that Tate is not only the prince of the Raggs empire, but he holds the Eye of Mikhail and can wield Mikhail’s powers.  Needless to say, Ayanami and the military want Tate, and try to get him throughout the series without obviously breaking the sanctuary laws.  Tate essentially ends up between Verloren and his Kor (Ayanami-tachi) and the 07 Ghosts (Bishops), and throughout the series, the bad guys make plays for him, and the good guys work to protect him.

 

During the course of the series, Mikage joins them at the Church, but dies due to his treatment by Ayanami.  His spirit stays with Tate though in the form of a small pink dragon.  Tate for his part is loath to make friends having lost Mikage.  He is safe in the Church and eventually starts training to become a clergyman.  He is mentored mostly by Frau and protected by everyone, including a fellow student named Hakuren, who befriends him.  Tate and Hakuren take and pass the Bishop exam together.  And the series ends.

This series was interesting enough to watch, but the plot was slow, never went anywhere, and the ending was pathetic.  Basically there was no ending and the story line was just dropped where it stood.  The character style and animation was pretty though, and the music was pretty decent.  For those things I enjoyed watching it, but I was completely let down by the total lack of anything resembling closure, or any tying up of the half a million loose plot ends.  The series needed either another season to be complete, or faster plot movement toward some sort of ending.