The main character of Red Data Girl is a 15-year-old girl named Izumiko Suzuhara. She has been raised at the Takamura Shrine, because her parents tend to be away a lot due to their work. Izumiko is a shy and plain-looking girl, but she wants to start making more of her own decisions and to try living in the city instead of at the shrine. For some unknown reason, Izumiko manages to destroy any electrical device that she comes in contact with.
One day at school, Izumi decides she wants to try to use a computer herself, instead of having one of her friends doing the online work for her. Izumiko finds herself immersed in liquid, and can suddenly contact her father through a videoconference on the computer she’s using. When the conversation ends, all of the computers in the lab shut down and no longer work.
At just that moment, family friend Yukimasa Sagara appears in a helicopter, and asks to see Izumiko. After Yukimasa takes her home, Izumiko runs into Yukimasa's son, Miyuki. Izumiko starts to pick up that there's more to her than she realizes, because Yukimasa and Miyuki refer to her as a "himegami," and that they are both servants to her. Yukimasa also makes Miyuki transfer into Izumiko's school in order to be around her and protect her.
I have to admit that the first episode of Red Data Girl can be a little slow to get going. However, after the incident in the computer lab happens, the viewer realizes that something interesting could be happening. This idea is reinforced as some little hints about Izumiko are dropped after that point. While the complete truth of Izumiko isn't revealed by the end of the first episode, I found that I wasn't disappointed by that. In fact, it gave me a reason to want to watch more of the series to find out what the truth behind Izumiko and her identity is. This is a series I may need to try to see more of at some point in the future.
Animation-wise, there was some very noticeable computer animation being used in the first scene and in the opening credits. However, after this, any computer animation that was used wasn't as blatant. Fortunately, the computer animation that was used for the background for these sections looked relatively decent.
Content-wise, I didn't see anything that would be too terribly objectionable for younger viewers. However, with the pacing of the story, I would personally recommend Red Data Girl for anime viewers who are 13 or 14 years of age and older.
| Red Data Girl | 12 | 2013 | Toshiya Shinohara | P.A. Works | FUNimation Entertainment |
