TV-Nihon

He's baaaack...

But he doesn't appear till the B part. WTF?

I'm getting ahead of myself. So this is a real setup episode. We see Kaoru and Gonza and so we know we're back in the world of Garo.

A lot of the episode seems to go into excruciating detail into the monster of the week. This part made my "was that necessary" meter jump a bit. We come to the show to see Makai Knights, so even if it is a cool entrance, it seems like a dick move to not introduce Kouga till halfway through the episode. Also, it seems like Garo can't have an episode without some half naked lady in it now. I mean, it was a good looking lady, but can we move beyond that? Too much gratuitousness and it ends up feeling forced and unnecessary.

The action was pretty good. I really liked the look of the monster. Plus we get some hints at the long-term plot with the masked guy and the people in that castle thingy. It's interesting to see how the role Kaoru played in the first show is now on Kouga. Now he's the one with the weird black stuff on him and limited life span.

Probably should point out that the narration at the beginning isn't a one-to-one match:

光あるところに、漆黒の闇ありき。
Where there is light, there is also a jet-black darkness.

古の時代より、人類は闇を恐れた。
Since ancient times, humanity has feared the darkness.

しかし、暗黒を断ち切る騎士の剣によって、
However, because the knight's blade cuts the darkness away,

人類は希望の光を得たのだ。
humanity was given a ray of hope.

Trivia:
One of the guest actors this week looked really familiar, the lacky dude who captures the guy. He was in Gokaiger recently!
島津健太郎 Shimazu Kentarou. He was in KR Blade, Gokai 6, and Garo 6. So he's a returning Garo actor!

Also, this is pretty clever if you pay attention to the episode:

I definitely say that I enjoy this.

I mean as take pointed out, it is quite disappointing to not see Kouga till basically near the end of the episode.

Seems they really wanted to let the audience know that the Horrors for the show may take on a new role especially with the Masked Guy (Reminds me of Ankh with the arm thing) not being a Horror... Super non-Horror?

Arge, I know this is geared towards a more mature audience, but I feel the Nudity is unnecessary, especially in this episode.

Action sequence, unno to me, seemed a tad stiff?/slow? not too sure which word. But it definitely didn't feel as fast-paced as the first season. That may change throughout the series given it's only the first episode and all.

As for that picture, I wonder... if they are hinting that Zero or another Wolf-like Knight will make an appearance? At least that's what I interpreted from the picture.

You mean the screen cap that I took? "Golden Wolf" cigarettes it's a reference to Garo.

By the way, I don't know if the monsters name is a reference to cigarettes. I mean Cigarein?

takenoko wrote: Also, it seems like Garo can't have an episode without some half naked lady in it now. I mean, it was a good looking lady, but can we move beyond that? Too much gratuitousness and it ends up feeling forced and unnecessary.

im guessing you didnt notice them in the OP sequence, guess they will be around for the series run unless they change it

I also enjoyed what I saw of it when I skimmed through it, will have to wait and enjoy this till the weekend

If there any link to Kiba story.

Spoiler

I mean he become a super-bad-ass-Horror-Makai-ruler his he calling the shots in this show?

Who plays the Horror in this one? He looks familiar.

I feel like they are taking this "we are an adult tokusatsu" a little too seriously. Do we really need all the torture and the nakedness? At that level, it's just eating up screen time. I'm a girl, so I know I have a different viewpoint, but still it's not necessary.

When they were fighting, it didn't even really feel like a fight. It was obvious Kouga was going to win, and kept wondering why he was taking so long. When the horror changed into his final form, he barely did anything, and nothing that he did affected GARO in the slightest. Maybe there were trying to show how strong Kouga has gotten, but I think efficiency fits better with Kouga's character.

But I nitpick because I love. I hold GARO to the very highest of standards and I'm hoping that this series will stay true to the heart of the first. After watching RR I'm afraid that they are trying to be a little too sensationalist and shallow at the cost of character driven story line. Only time will tell.

I swear, if they do one of those "I love you, but I'm dying so I'm going to push you away" story lines I will break things.

Wow, the Makai Priestess is Yuriko Hishimi? That's some deep toku history right there.

Heyas, fairly short time fan of Garo (I'm one of those people who didn't even know it existed till like last year when I downloaded the whole series one shot ).

I feel that the first episode as a reintroduction did it's job well(i.e portraying that Garo is a really powerful swordsman who's gained a fair bit of renown after all he's done) but that's about it honestly.

I don't agree with the entire scene of Garo being taunted by the Horror, firstly, it's Kouga, he's always portrayed that whole I'll cut first and ask questions later type of character, it doesn't really make sense for him to listen to a Horror's attempts at manipulating him(Particularly since Zaruba even outright mentions that this Horror is a pain because he likes manipulating people....). Secondly, he gets sneak attacked, THRICE in the same fight and doesn't think of just cutting him up? Uh. No. I don't think anyone's going to make that mistake.

The action scenes are good(in particular, I feel that the fights are a bit more grounded in style/forms rather than being somewhat supernatural(or rather, overly flexible perhaps? It felt just a bit contrite in the original series)) and the cg has improved for the most part since the last time as well (other than the speed of the some of the animation which feels a bit unnatural. ... Which makes sense considering the acts themselves aren't natural =P), I just hope they don't use them as an excuse to extend fight scenes just for the sake of it.

Storyline is kinda meh-ish, it's the first episode, they're unlikely to toss out anything too plot intensive other than massive amounts of foreshadowing. I'll hold my tongue on this aspect though I will state I have the same opinion as Biogirl. Too many storylines degenerate into "I'm dying, leave me alone". On that note, when exactly does this storyline take place I wonder? Directly after Red Requim? or has Kouga gotten even more horror kills under his belt? Probably an irrelevant question but one that piques my curiosity anyway.

On the subject of nudity, eh. It's a whatever thing. I suppose it pushes the ratings up and gives those overly robust? kiddos a rise but imo, it doesn't add or detract from the show. Although I will say that the first episode's level of darkness(as in how dark/gritty the storyline feels) doesn't really call for nudity as of yet.

All in all, I thoroughly hope i'm just being overly critical of the first episode, I really enjoyed the first season and would love for something to surpass it.

I'm sorry but are you guys actually complaining? I mean at all? Garo's back and I for one enjoyed every second of his ass kicking return. Seriously now, it's the 1st episode of the second season of a show I never thought would get a second season. That alone amounts to shutting the hell up and enjoying something new of a show you love. If you're going to complain then do so after a couple of more episodes are shown because as far as I could tell there was nothing wrong with Garo's amazing come back.

jedimax wrote:Who plays the Horror in this one? He looks familiar.

I think the actors name is Naoto Takenaka.

Overall that was SOOOOOOO good.

New OP is pretty cool graphically. Excess boobies imho but sex sells. New theme is ok. Still has that silhouette of him fighting Rei, guess they can't come up with anything better.

Kaoru's back. She's around but not living with him. I think she'll just be in and out so they can bring in that hussy from the movie.
Gonza (sorely missed in the movie) is back.
Kouga's hair color is reddish again.
The villain was built up to be a super bad-ass. And let's remember, much like the old Vampire Miyu anime, Garo is a bodycount show. A lot of episodes focus around some human being corrupted and going on a killing spree, and Garo swooping in at the end to shut them down. So for me, it seemed like a pretty logical thing to really build up that the villain was Concentrated Evil. They really got into explaining the whole possession-consumption of a host vs the horror just eating other people.
The TIMER is back!
Spooky hints about the Makai order with Grace-Sama and the Senate. Looks like she may be the big head of all the watchers and she has what looks like an extradimensional castle. I'm very intrigued.
The guy at the end - interesting twist. I thought Koga was a bit blase about having a black magic spell shot through his chest but actually he realized what had happened when he saw the mark on the wall. Tick Tock, Tick Tock.

Question for the staff - who's singing in the end? It sounded like Masami Okui to me. If not her, it's someone maddeningly familiar. I need to know!

Great job guys.

according to wiki, you are right.