Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

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Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by takenoko »

Hmmm, what can I say about this movie? I guess it's Garo. It's got Garo things. But something feels like it's lacking? Like some of the polish that made the TV series and the TV movie really good isn't there.

I mean, it's not a bad movie. If this were just some random one off, I'd have thought it was pretty good. It's atmospheric, there's an interesting premise and setup, the music is good, etc. It would be unfair to compare it to Beast of a White Knight, which is like a perfect movie. This was a technically well put together movie. But something about it just makes it not as fun as the previous Garo stuff.

Short rant: My main gripe is that it's superficially a Garo movie (action, naked women, Gouten, etc.) but the heart of it that made it great is painfully missing. It just comes off as a shallow action film for the lowest common denominator.
Long rant:
Spoiler
It's hard to place what is off. I mean, there were a lot of decisions that were made that just baffle me. There's no Zero or Kaoru or anyone else from the other Garo series. I mean, why would you make a movie without them? Kouga's kind of like Batman. He's kind of the silent hero type, to make a scene interesting you need to have someone else there for him to react to and stuff. Someone to inject some levity into the scene. Basically everyone in this movie is dark and broody except Shiguto. That makes for a lot of flat scenes. And unfortunately, Shiguto is a background character who doesn't get a character arc, which is a pity since he's one of the most likeable characters in the movie (he smiles!). By the way, Shiguto was played by Shion from TimeRanger or TimeGreen.

So let's talk about who is in this movie. We have Rekka (烈花 blazing flower, normally this word would mean "raging fire"). I like Rekka. She's attractive, skillful, intense, and the heroine opposite Kouga. I dislike Rekka, her acting is wooden, she's standoffish at first, and they never bother to make her a likeable character until like the very end of her character arc, and even then she's still kind of annoying. Tsubasa started as an obnoxious stilted guy, but at least he kind of warms up before the end and you end up rooting for him. They have Rekka fail from her hubris and then she kind of learns her lesson and then the director just expects you to like her, is how it comes off.

Maybe the problem is the characterization. Let's look at Jabi as an example. She's a super interesting character. Strong-willed and sexy in her own way, Jabi is fun because she's not always angry about something the way Rekka appears to be. How about Priest Amon versus Priest Akaza. Amon is solemn, foreboding, but also has his mischievous side. I'm sure we all can picture him sipping his red sake and laughing dryly. Then let's look at Akaza, he's an old man that can't speak properly and he's always kind of tortured, or something?

I guess what I'm saying is, there isn't enough fucking smiling in the movie. Like I said in my Precure DX 3 post, a movie that's all action and no characterization is boring. And I guess that's how Red Requiem came off to me. No one smiles. There's no interesting interplay between these new characters. They don't bring back the old characters who would have had an instant rapport with Kouga. Again, I'm baffled by how this movie was written, because they don't do a good job at giving the audience a good reason to have an emotional investment in any of the characters.

My last complaint is that the action seems kind of slow? Rekka's gymnastic action was definitely the highlight of the movie. But what happened to the other stuff that made Garo seem so awesome before? Did they have to reduce what they could do because it was in 3D? (That's my theory at least. I watched the movie in 2D)

It kind of seems like the music wasn't as good or as appropriate as before either. I remember there was this emotional scene, and they started playing the music from Beast of the White Night. It's like, what? You're using this music? That's kind of cheap, isn't it? It just felt like the battles went on and on longer than they should have been. And the music didn't do a good job at keeping the energy high to keep the battle interesting.

It's like Garo were a jigsaw puzzle. They found the pieces for Gouten appearing and falling while stopping the fall with a sword and people entering nether realms. But it's like they lost some pieces and they put the pieces that they could find together in the wrong way. So it's still Garo, but stuff is missing and mismatched.

The puzzle analogy is stupid.

Edit edit: I mean, the writing makes me really angry. It's really fucking bad, and a lot of it is related to Rekka's dialogue. I'll be trying to enjoy a moment, but then they'll say something that'll make me want to punch her in the vagina. Like on their way to the last battle, she tells Shiguto to not be reckless. She hasn't earned the right to say that! She's just copying Kouga from earlier and it should be Shiguto who says that to her. And when she's obnoxiously shaking Akaza's corpse, she comes off as a spoiled brat. After Shiguto tells her that Akaza's dead, she mimics what Kouga said, like this is some retarded kid's show. What is this bullshit fifth grade writing?

Imagine how much better this movie would have been if Rekka didn't say anything at all. I mean, some of it is the delivery, but most of it is just a very bad script.

And it's jarring for Zaruba to tell you the movie is over. Why would you do that? Was it because there was so little story between the existing characters that it wasn't good enough to just have them part ways or talk about what's happened to them?


Alright, enough bitching. On to the stuff I liked. I still like Kouga. I still like Zaruba (who had way too few lines in this movie). I still like the world of Garo. I still like Gouten even though his appearance was kind of forgettable.

I actually liked Akaza and I didn't mean to make fun of his speech impediment earlier. I think his character arc was more interesting than Rekka's. We see him make a failure as a human and then we see him make the ultimate sacrifice to help save Garo and Rekka. But his death is really ruined by Rekka being surprised by it and acting in that childish way. I also don't think we needed an Akaza surprise cam for when something shocking happened in the mirror. Akaza is played by Saitou Yousuke who was in some Jdoramas back when I was watching them in 1999, as well as Kamen Rider The Next and Ultraman Mebius.

Despite my complaining about Rekka, I did think the scene with her father was touching. It would have been more touching if we saw some scenes with her thinking fondly of her father beforehand, but I guess we can't have everything when making a plot device. Anyway, I didn't notice this till I was translating it, but Rekka uses "ore" to refer to herself. Pretty nice.

Speaking of which, I guess we have Makai Knight Kengi, Rekka's dad, as the father figure in this movie. Again, I liked this guy because he wasn't dark and brooding like everyone else. Do you want to know why else I like him? He's played by Tsuda Kanji who is fucking Takimoto from Keitai Sousakan 7 (as well as Takeru's dad in Shinkenger and Editor in Chief from Ryuki).

It's also good to see Eguchi Hiromi (Shion) still working. She was the priestess in JustiRiser and had a guest episode in Cutie Honey The Live.

Kurusu (Kasahara Shinji) should look familiar too. He was TimeFire, and was in episode 17 of Garo.

And Karma's voice is provided by... <drum roll> Hijii Mika who plays Kaoru. Wait what? Why the hell wasn't she in the movie? At least they sort of mention her character after the credits.

So yeah, sorry about the mostly negative review. I'm sure high expectations was a big factor into this. I really wanted to like this movie, but overall it was just disappointing as a Garo fan. I know they can do much better.

I am kind of looking forward to the Kiba movie. But again, is this a movie that needs to be made? (A question that works with the Eternal movie as well) Will it have relatable characters and ones we've grown to love from the Garo series? It could very well be very good or very bad, which has me feeling uneasy about the whole matter.

I kind of hope they do a sequel to Red Requiem or that we get to see Rekka again in some form. I like her character, I just don't think this movie was written very well.
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by teku »

I see the HD release filesize is huge. Any special features there? The SD size is normal compared to other releases with the approx. duration.
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by XIII »

its not that large, there is alot of CGI in there which bumps the size up when it comes to using a Constant Quality setting such as those that I use for Blu-Ray HD, the extra size makes the film look uber nice not to mention the high bit-rate audio that I include as well to give a better overall feel,
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by Dark Ren »

Thank you ^^. the filesize really is huge. need some time to get it. anyway is this movie the last thing for Garo? or is there anything else about garo you`ll be releasing? I like this series so too bad if it has to end. but well, there is always and end for everything
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by takenoko »

Next month is the Kiba side story. I guess I'll make an announcement about that when we release the over 9000p version
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by Catastrophe »

Excellent.

Despite not having any other returning characters, I really like this movie. The characters they did introduce were likeible, although I found the villans to be slightly average.

I miss Kouga. He is not only a badass, but he's also wise. I suppose with all the character development he went through in the main series leaves little for these movies, but he imparts his wisdom onto others.

Thought it was a bit obvious what happened to the old man at the end, although I did really like him as a character.

And when I was thinking to myself 'I reckon Gouten will save his ass any minute now' it happened.

And of course, it wouldn't be a GARO movie without a new form. Kind of looked like a combination of the Winged one and the one from the other movie at first. And that sword, holy crap.

Oh yes, Maki Ninjas.

Lastly, I missed Zaruba and is smart-ass-ness. That last line was hilarious.
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by Phoenix512 »

I wish that Kouga had his old dye job in the TV series in this movie. It just odd to me at times. I remember watching something with Kouga and Rekka about the movie which Rekka sounded cute. I was a bit surprised that she wasn't cute sounding at all. I think that's why she comes off as wooden because that type of acting isn't natural for at all. I'm guessing why the previous characters from Garo weren't around because it takes place in another city not the one in the TV series (even though Zero could have been in the movie to help out with dealing Karma). I also felt that Kouga should have acknowledge that he knew Rekka's father in some form. That would give a deeper connection between Kouga and Rekka.

Overall I did enjoy the movie but it could have been much better.
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by Areku The O.F. »

I understand Takenoko's disappointment. I mean, the movie is good and all but it falls short of what the original series established. After watching the campfest that was Alien vs Ninja I was hoping for more Mika Hijii goodness, but I was let down save for the voice acting part (thanks Takenoko for that tip).

As cool as Rekka seems to be, she won't be replacing Jabi anytime soon, not unless she becomes a more likable and interesting character. Also I felt that the bad guys were kind of underdeveloped. Zaruba barely talks in this movie, really odd considering he barely shuts up in the series. I also agree with Takenoko in that the fights were kind of slow paced, specially those in where Rekka is featured. I didn't pay much attention to the music save for the acoustic version of Jam Project's "Savior In The Dark" during the credits. I found myself singing along with it, is just THAT awesome.

Let's see how the Kiba movie fares, although I feel is kind of pointless to go back.
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by Map »

I actually thought this movie was well done. The only part that I'd say really irked me is the acting for Rekka. She would have at least been okay if it weren't for her trying to make her voice sound deeper most of the time. Also, I was really surprised to find out that Shiguto was TimeGreen. I wouldn't have realized it was him at all until I looked up the cast.

One thing I thought was handled well was Akaza's character. I thought the traitor wouldn't be revealed until near the end of the movie like it is in other stories. I thought it made sense that Akaza would spill that he was the traitor if asked, because he had obviously devoted his life to being a Makai priest.

Something I thought was superfluous though, was revealing that one of the horrors was a willing human. It kind of felt like they just needed to fill more time, even though I usually appreciate backstories for movie villains.

The thing that really won me over for this movie was every moment from when Kouga calls Garo to himself[/spoiler]
Last edited by takenoko on Fri Aug 19, 2011 1:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: No need for spoiler tags when the thread is about the movie
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by Phoenix512 »

I forgot to mention this but what happened to the timer? It never appeared in the movie. For someone watching this without watching any other Garo when they see Kouga dedonning the armor and put it back on a second later is a bit odd. Ok it's a bit odd regardless but at least for people who watch Garo before, it makes sense.
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by takenoko »

My working theory is that a lot of the special effects like the timer got canned because they didn't want to bother to do it in 3D. That'd explain why Kouga only puts on his armor twice and why the action was so bad in this compared to other Garo stuff.
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by Areku The O.F. »

Phoenix512 wrote:I forgot to mention this but what happened to the timer? It never appeared in the movie. For someone watching this without watching any other Garo when they see Kouga dedonning the armor and put it back on a second later is a bit odd. Ok it's a bit odd regardless but at least for people who watch Garo before, it makes sense.
Now that you mention it I kind of missed the timer too, but what do you mean by Kouga dedonning the armor and put it back on a second later? There was a lot of time in between transformations (not counting the attempt spoiled by the mirror), but I think you mean that in the fight with Karma, where Kouga is shown with and without the armor from time to time (like in the time he's trapped by Karma when Gouten dissapears), something that was done in the series quite often. As for the timer I think it was left out because most of the target audience of this movie are people who already watched the series (although I think that stock footage of the timer would have sufficed).
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by Biogirl »

Yeah, this movie fell short for me too. Maybe partly because I waited so long for it.
I think one of the main problems is that all of the characters are Makai and they're all high and lofty and grim about their Makai duties. It needed a normal human's touch. I dislike Kaoru, but that's what she brought. the 'what the f*** is going on' and 'why are you all so full of yourselves'. Rei and Jabi also helped tone down the macho heroicness of the Makai world. Stoicism! That was the problem! Everyone (except maybe Shiguto) was so stoic, and...the same. We have Kouga, we love Kouga, but we need characters that are different than Kouga. If they had brought back Fujita Ray, this would have been a completely different movie. I miss Fujita Ray.
Zaruba...seemed a little different to me. Younger somehow. Since he was remade after defeating Kiba, I guess it makes sense. It didn't really bother me, but think if Zaruba had been his old self, he would have been able to deal with the humans better and relieve the tone a bit.
This move just didn't live up to all that I had hoped for it. All the elements of a good GARO story were there, it just didn't satisfy in the same way. :(
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by m4rc0 »

The plot is simple and the action isn't that great, which is strange for Garo. I guess doing it in 3D gave them a lot of limitations. The girl fights seem very slow. But the transformed fights are ok.

There is also no fan service at all. No Kaoru, no Rei and no Jabi kicking ass. Just Kouga.

The new characters aren't very interesting. The only good surprise was Kouga. He is still very quiet, but his attitude is 1000% better. He doens't act like a kid anymore. In fact, he seems like a veteran and he actually teaches someone. If only he had that kind of attitude in the main series...

I'm also disappointed, even though the movie isn't bad.
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Re: Garo Red Requiem Movie Released

Post by jolly_old_saint »

And so possibly concludes (maybe) the popular adventures of Danish philosopher Søren Kierkegaaro, notorious for garofunkling the means.

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