Anyone Else Disappointed With "Makai No Hana"...?

[Lunagel]

I've gotta agree with that, if you take a look at the Makai Senki threads for about this point in time you'll probably find people complaining about lack of development as well.

Garo does atmosphere best, not necessarily plot. It's great at building up a whole magical world and leading you into it. Sometimes stories take a while to complete and require a lot of sidetracking. Just look at Tolkien.

[cocodot]

saejima kouga story end too soon ..at least must be a trilogi....

[OOOKaiser]

He had three movies... and you still want more.

[Zaruba]

saejima kouga story end too soon ..at least must be a trilogi....

I actually agree with this. At least show him with Kaoru and the life they had. That would have been enough for me.

[Golden Knight]

He had three movies... and you still want more.

Yes. :/

The Garo armor my be the face that repersents the Garo franchise but so is Kouga. Nothing has been the same since he left. Hate to use such an example but Kouga is the Tommy of Power Rangers. Lol. Its true, once he left the series was never the same. If you want a series to be successful you bring back those who made it successful.

So far with all the new characters we have got no one has yet to outshine the true Golden Knight, Kouga.

[Victormaru]

Judging by the season so far, yes I'm going to say its disappointing. Half way through or not its still gone too far to really redeem its self. Being a GARO fan since the very beginning, Makai No Hana is easily without a doubt the most disappointing season among GARO.

Yami wo Terasu Mono looks absolutely amazing compared to MAKAI NO HANA right now. At least they had a plot and everything from the very beginning. Every episode made you think, "Man, I can't wait to see what happens in the next episode". Whereas MAKAI NO HANA is like, "Okay, well that was completely pointless. I hope the next episode is actually going to progress the story". I know the series isn't over yet but man, these non-stop filler episodes are killing me. I know you guys all hated on the CGI armor in the Yami series but the choreography in MAKAI NO HANA is terrible compared to any GARO series / movie. The BLACK BLOOD spin-off is looking better than MAKAI NO HANA right now and I thought BLACK BLOOD was mediocre. I'll keep watching but I'm pretty sure this whole series is a waste of our time, lol.

[flamefire28]

I've been kinda dissapointed as well with this season. The whole lackluster thing with mediocre acting, I can't see if raiga can ever be unhappy at all. Its been all smiles unless he cuts down a horror or defends mayuri. crow so far is just a sidekick with no backstory. mayuri seemed like she'd be a cool character but everything about her is still secretive. story progress has been as fast as a snail racing on bath salts. I for one backtracking to the comments on yami wo terasu am hoping that maki no hana or the next season of garo would somehow link yami wo terasu to the whole timeline. and for my thoughts on Yami wo Terasu I enjoyed it tho it could never compare to season 1 and looking at it now I liked the CGI fight scenes it gives garo the whole I'm stronger faster and more badass in armor form. Hopfully the story picks up by episode 18

[OOOKaiser]

If anything the Garo series should just end. It had a good run but its about time it ended.

[abazigal]

Phoenix has a point, you don't judge a book when you're halfway through it, don't judge a series until it's finished.

Also I'm going to have to vehemently disagree with you because Yami wo Terasu Mono was a complete and utter betrayal of everything that they set up throughout the first two seasons of Garo and it did not deserve to be called part of the series.

That's the problem - I shouldn't have to necessarily wait till the end of the series to make a judgement. Why can't the show be consistently good throughout? Right out, my main problem with Makai no Hana is that there are way too many filler episodes that contribute absolutely nothing to the main overall plot. Apart from ep7 (where we learn what happened to Raiga's parents, and him getting Goten) and 14 (where we are introduced to Mayuri's origins), the rest have simply been centred around Raiga fighting your typical horror of the week. If out of the 25 episodes, only 6-7 are relevant to the main plot, then we should just scrap the rest and maybe release it as a mini-series or something. As it stands, the series is literally boring me to tears.

To those who said that this is typical of the previous Garo series, I take that as a criticism, not a compliment. I rewatched Makai no Senki recently, and I had the same misgivings. Too many pointless filler episodes, but at the least there is tension in the form of the death mark on Kouga, and the main villain at least bothering to show face every once in a while.

We will also have to agree to disagree, I suppose, because I find Yami no Terasu no Mono to be easily the best in the Garo series by far. Sure, it deviates from the main continuity of the series, but I feel it's good enough to be judged in its own right. I like that it is not bogged down by all the previous Garo-related baggage. I guess it helps that Yami no Terasu was also my first experience with the Garo-verse, so I went in with zero expectations and subsequently got blown away.

It has a very tight plot that keeps you guessing right from the start. There is very little filler episodes (maybe just 3-4, plus 1 recap), and even those still help to advance the plot or characters in one way or another. I remember being sucked into the series right from the start, and anxiously refreshing dailymotion and youtube, awaiting the raws to be up every Saturday morning. The tone was dark and gritty. The acting by the main character is excellent, and the action choreography is top-notch. My only gripe was too little screen-time for the armour; Aguri and Takeru rarely ever call on their armours, and even when they do, it's typically for just a few seconds here and there. And yes, I am eagerly awaiting the rumoured Garo movie out later this year.

I have all but given up with Makai no Hana. I don't bother checking out the raws anymore. Maybe once a week, when I have time, I catch up with the series, but that anticipation has all but evaporated. If anything, I hope the next series (if there is one) involves the cast of Yami no Terasu. It still has tons of potential.

[takenoko]

That's interesting, because I started off as a staunch defender of Yami's differences, but become really disappointed with the direction they took the story and characters. It never bothered me that it was a different take on Garo. But it definitely didn't have the same feeling of nobility and wonder that the other Garo series had (Amemiya never wrote for the series).

Makai no Hana has its own flaws, but I don't want to discount its good episodes just because we get some duds along the way. For me, a show that can hit high points at the cost of some low points is always going to be more interesting than a show that never reaches those peaks.

And I still encourage people to keep going with Makai no Hana. I have a feeling that the endgame will be quite good. It's easy to look back on Yami or the other series because they're complete. Time has a tendency to smooth out the rough edges.

[Phoenix512]

I was mostly annoyed that we had this type of topic with Yami and now with Makai no Hana. I just didn't want this becoming a thing. I know by now that Garo is a slow starter but finishes hard at the end. From what I been seeing, most of you have your nostalgia in the wrong place. Sure it's a nice thing to have but at the same time, don't let it cloud your judgment.

Just let Kouga go and move on.

[abazigal]

That's interesting, because I started off as a staunch defender of Yami's differences, but become really disappointed with the direction they took the story and characters. It never bothered me that it was a different take on Garo. But it definitely didn't have the same feeling of nobility and wonder that the other Garo series had (Amemiya never wrote for the series).

Makai no Hana has its own flaws, but I don't want to discount its good episodes just because we get some duds along the way. For me, a show that can hit high points at the cost of some low points is always going to be more interesting than a show that never reaches those peaks.

And I still encourage people to keep going with Makai no Hana. I have a feeling that the endgame will be quite good. It's easy to look back on Yami or the other series because they're complete. Time has a tendency to smooth out the rough edges.

I will definitely still following Makai no Hana, I just don't feel as hyped up about it as with Yami. And this wasn't a "in hindsight, Yami was actually quite good" sort of feeling. The plot really sucked me in right from the start and kept me captivated all the way. I felt it was a generally good story with some issues here and there.

I feel the opposite with Makai no Hana, in that right now, the general feeling is that it's a downright lousy series that just so happens to have a few redeeming moments here and there. Maybe the last few episodes will be real exciting. But why all the misc filler episodes. Do we really need Raiga getting sucked in movies and fighting zombies, dodging cardboard caricatures and knowing what Gonza does on his off days? It's like the developers had enough script for only good 6 episodes, and crammed in all these pointless fillers just to stretch it to 25 episodes. Look back at Yami, and I don't really think you can take away any of the episodes without the plot suffering in general. That's the highlight of a good story, when you can't really add or take anything away without impacting it negatively.

With Hana, I can skip 10 episodes and I still wouldn't have missed anything of significance. What gives?

[Lunagel]

Honestly, replace all of what you just said about Hana with Yami and you'll get my opinion about the Yami series. I think it mostly boils down to what you saw first. I saw the original Garo series first so I prefer that whereas you saw Yami first and therefore prefer that.

[Dragonfan]

But what is the problem with the stand-alone narrative? This is not a flaw, it is a way of making a series. You may like it, you may not, but it is as valid as another.

I mean, you can criticise an action movie because you don't like the action scenes, the acting, the direction, the special effects, etc... But if you criticize an action movie because "it has action", why are you watching it to begin with?

I feel the same with these kind of comments about Garo. You may not like the elements that Makai no hana is offering, but the show is mostly made of stand-alone episodes, and that isn't something bad by itself. Using abazigal's reasoning you could say that Sherlock Holmes novels, Tintin comics, and the vast majority of TV comedies are awful, because " there are way too many filler episodes that contribute absolutely nothing to the main overall plot" (some of them don't even have an overall plot).

[Zaruba]

If anything the Garo series should just end. It had a good run but its about time it ended.

Don't evvvveeerrr say this again... This is your favorite series according to your avatar yet you say this?!