Kami no Kiba Jinga 00 released

[takenoko]

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I liked it, I thought it was excellent. Good script, good acting, great fighting. Seeing as how I'm also working on Zi-O right now which also just started, let's make some unfair comparisons.

First, I'm not familiar with the director or writer of this episode, but I thought they did a good job. We don't see many characters, but they're all utilized to the fullest extent. I'm not sure how this Jinga fits in the continuity, but we're given two scenes with his family and BAM Jinga's got characterization. One to show his loving relationship with them and another to show how that gets tragically ripped away. And we see how both aspects affect how he interacts with the current Horror.

Compare this to Zi-O. We see Tsukuyomi and Geiz's backstory, but it doesn't feel like it ever matters since they never treat Sougo with any sort of emotional response. Maybe it's the wooden acting or the fact that modern Toei storytelling relies more on tell rather than show, but there's very rarely any sense of stakes in Zi-O, hence why it's so boring to watch. The writer might as well not having given Tsukyomi and Geiz any backstory since they're just living an oddball three's a crowd sitcom situation instead.

Simplicity is Jinga's finely honed sharp blade. The whole episode gets straight to the point. It sets up the conflict with the female Horror. We see her backstory. We even get an idea of what kind of person Jinga's sidekick is. I wonder if going "aww" is going to be her personality quirk?

Dumb things Toei would have done if they were in charge:
-Jinga would be Zinga, because Toei is apparently run by 100 year old fogies that don't know English
-The Horror's backstory wouldn't be filmed, because that'd cost money. Instead, the whole plot would stop while the Horror explains her tragic origin to Jinga, ruining the pacing.
-The loving family scene would be cut. Instead, the tragic flashback would play out, but would be less emotionally resonate.

Oh hey, Reina (mother Horror) is played by Umemiya Masako. I thought I recognized her. She's still looking pretty good.

I like that even this many years later, we're still getting new scenarios with Horrors. Like what do you do if there's a Horror holding two children hostage, or even ostensibly even actively making their lives better? Sadly, just from the world setup, there's not a lot of grey area here, since there is no way to save the mom. But I felt empathy for a Horror and her children and it's the closest we've come to grey area for Horrors in a while.

I guess that brings to question, do Horrors have human feelings still? It's never totally clear how much of the original person remains once the Horror takes over. Is she still in there or is that just the Horror taking care of the kids as part of the agreement?

I hope this whole series can keep up this level of quality. We're not getting scene chewing Jinga (so far), but this is pretty good too! I'm not sure why this is episode 0 instead of 1, but yeah. Good start!

Edit: http://garo-project.jp/JINGA_KAMINOKIBA ... isode.html
Oh what? The episodes are 0-12. LOL, so it is 13 episodes after all. That's weird, but okay.

Sooo... maybe Makai Knights should try a little harder when dealing with orphans than to hope someone will pick them up from the car they're abandoned in?

Also, I can't help but have an itch in my brain thinking about the brother saying that Jinga is the Horror. Is there an unreliable narrator thing going on here?

Edit edit: Not to Columbo it, but it's kind of nice to see a non-Garo protagonist? Sure, a lot of the tropes are the same. Like very, very Garo tropey the same, but the differences and variety help.

[OOOKaiser]

So is this right after the Kami no Kiba movie since the opening credits seem to reference that

Spoiler

post credit scene

. Anyways the show looks good, the writing is good, the action is good. I hope they keep this up it may be on par with Zero Dragon Blood.

[TypicalStandUser]

Good action. A tragic backstory that I'd love more info on.

Hooked!

[xiiliea]

So is this right after the Kami no Kiba movie since the opening credits seem to reference that

Huh? Seems like this is a prequel to Gold Storm while the movie took place after Gold Storm.

Why do people love making characters so similar looking? The two old men looked the same I was so confused!

[takenoko]

The opening narration is a reference to something that happens at the end of Kami no Kiba. It's decidedly not a prequel since before Jinga had a wife and a son, here he's got a little brother and parents. And the voice of his wife is now his Madou tool.

[xiiliea]

The opening narration is a reference to something that happens at the end of Kami no Kiba. It's decidedly not a prequel since before Jinga had a wife and a son, here he's got a little brother and parents. And the voice of his wife is now his Madou tool.

Oh, now I get the opening narration. It was confusing to understand what was happening. So he's kinda reborn anew.

[takenoko]

Sounds like literally. It's weird, but it's just a hand wavey way of reintroducing Jinga as a protagonist. Given the themes of dark and light, I wonder how it'll affect his story in the future?

[Go-On Macaroni]

Didn't outright blow me away but, I could see myself keeping up with this every week. I don't think I can ever get used to how Garo does action scenes, though. Now, Masahiro Inoue and some Horror monster punching each other? Give me that!

[Xirix]

This probably won't happen but I kinda hope they don't just leave it as "He beat Messiah offscreen", maybe we'll get some past-life flashbacks or something.

[omnikaiser]

"He beat Messiah offscreen"

The opening sequence kinda made it clear he lost though.

[Xirix]

Oh right, somehow I misremembered that even though it's only been a day. >.< Well that's good then, that means she's still around to possibly show up.

[Catastrophe]

I like the idea of Jinga being a really strong Knight that has some PTSD after what happened with his parents. Pretty good opening episode with some nice choreography.

[ryujin]

For me, Jinga was the best thing that ever happened to the Ryuga-verse, it's like the introduction of the Punisher to Netfix' Daredevil, hell i was rooting for Jinga all the way eventhough he was the antagonist on the Gold series lol!, he's just way more cooler than Ryuga

[Dragonfan]

That was great. Keeping it both traditional and fresh. The filming seems pretty different from what we've seen from Garo so far.

And BTW, Fuusa kicks ass, it seems that the actress did the action scenes herself and she does it way batter than Rekka or Rian.

Eager to see more.

[Catastrophe]

I've warmed up to Jingas Knight form a bit more now.