My Garo experience in one go

This is the story of a gold wolf furry and his adventure with all his friends
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TokuCasual
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My Garo experience in one go

Post by TokuCasual »

First off, a brief history of my Garo background. When the show first release I saw a few EP, but I wasn't hook then. So I dropped it. Now, years later I stumbled upon the trailer for the latest movie, and this urges me to give the show another go. Which I did.

In one week sitting, I marathon all of Garo from season 1-4, including all the movies and specials. So now I feel the need to share my thoughts on them. This is my very first thread on here, so I apologize ahead of time if it's too long.

Late to the party, but here goes;

Garo: Season 1

The show started off pretty slow. While I enjoyed the monster of the week and the dark nature each brought to the show, it still felt slow somehow. But I continue through and the result was surprisingly rewarding. It probably helped that I'm a horror fan. Though among all the cool horrors, it was the characters, plot and action sequences that pulled me in.

Midpoint on is when the show hits me and I knew there was more to this series. By the ending, I was completely hooked.

Score: 9/10

Garo: Makai Senki

Follow on exactly from the first, this season gave me everything I wanted from the show, and more. The characters were awesome, and there were a lot to choose. The villain was cooler, more active, and I felt had a better motive. The action scenes was more exciting. I love just about everything in this season.

All the subtle hints of plot point, to that big finale! Throw in the kitchen sink. I was on the edge of my seat.

This season solidify the Garo franchise as one of the best live-action series I've ever seen. Tokusatsu or not.

Score: 10/10

Garo: Yami wo Terasu Mono

Right off the bat I expected this season to be different. And it was. It certainly wasn't great like the first two, but it was good. The new cast was nice, could use more development, but the action was still awesome. The Madou Horrors kinda sucked though. Half of the time I couldn't tell the difference between them and the regular Horrors. Their mouth open the same.

Also the finale was a bit of a let down. But on a whole, this season had some great moments.

Score: 7/10

Garo: Makai no Hana

This season saddens me in a strange way. The first half was good, if not great. The monster of the week and their background was nicely done, some of the best of the franchise. But the second half didn't do it for me. It was still somewhat enjoyable, but for a Garo series, I thought this season was the weakest. The secondary characters stood around and barely do anything. Lacking in action is one thing, but in personality as well. One of the fail aspect being the character Crow, and Bikuu. It felt to me like they were just there. And like Yami, I thought the final boss was pretty poor as well. Also, the fight scenes was oddly lacking too.

The one big praise I do have for Makai no Hana is Raiga. He is the best main lead in the entire franchise for me. He's not as strict as Kouga, and not as hot headed as Ryuga. That's why it saddens me that the rest of the season didn't work out.

Maybe next time Raiga.

Score: 6/10

Overall:
And with that, my Garo experience in one week sitting comes to an end. I would like to thank TV-Nihon team for releasing this spectacular franchise. Garo is a truly epic and unique experience. Thank you!

I look forward to Gold Storm. Until then, thanks again! And to anyone reading this, I thank you too!
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Re: My Garo experience in one go

Post by takenoko »

Cool. We had another recent Garo convert, so it's always interesting to see that people are still discovering this series.

What did you think of the Beast of the White Night special and the other movies/specials?

I'm hoping the movies this year will improve on some of the base stuff in Yami and Makai no Hana. I didn't like Zero, but I still would like some stories of the original Garo characters too.
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TokuCasual
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Re: My Garo experience in one go

Post by TokuCasual »

I give the Beast of the White Night a 10/10. I loved everything about it. It worked nicely as a continuation. Though the whole Jabi thing was kinda odd, but she's a cool character either way, so I was fine with that.

Red Requiem I thought wasn't too bad, but it wasn't great either. Kiba Gaiden was cool though.

The Promise Land movie was enjoyable too.

Zero Black Blood however was boring. I think Zero deserves better.

The Jabi/Rekka movie was decent. It was good seeing them again.

But yes, I do hope the new movie and tv series will improve over Yami and Makai no Hana. Also it seems there's a new Raiga movie the end of the year, perhaps it'll open door to another season with Raiga? After this year Gold Storm series that is.

I wouldn't mind another series with Raiga. Maybe uniting with his parents at some point might be nice.
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Re: My Garo experience in one go

Post by Zaruba »

Nice finally we can talk about the show again. Glad you gave it another chance. I agree with almost everything you wrote.

I liked season one more than season 2 only because it had a darker and more intimate feel between Kouga and Kaoru. Loved the ending villain much more as well.

And I also felt Kouga was a much better protaganist than Raiga. Raiga was to happy go lucky for me. I loved Kouga's no nonsense approach to being a Makai Knight. Plus I felt he was just a better actor overall.

Great summary or review of everything though. And yes Beast of the white night was everything good about Garo rolled into one movie.
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Re: My Garo experience in one go

Post by OOOKaiser »

Zaruba wrote:Raiga was to happy go lucky for me. I loved Kouga's no nonsense approach to being a Makai Knight. Plus I felt he was just a better actor overall.
Raiga reminded me of Yusuke from Kamen Rider Kuuga with his happy attitude. I mean there are a few times he gets angry and those were his best moments but I preferred Kouga's attitude better.
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Re: My Garo experience in one go

Post by takenoko »

I liked Raiga's take on Garo and the idea of him inheriting his mother's personality. My main problem is that nothing ever really seemed to challenge Raiga in the story. Most of his moral choices were "do you want to save this person" or "do you want to punch nuns in the face". It never felt like he had to deal with anything truly difficult.
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Re: My Garo experience in one go

Post by Dragonfan »

At the end of Makai no hana we see that the "happy go lucky" personality of Raiga is just a façade to hide his real issues, though I agree that there is not a big sense of danger or a serious ordeal to confront.
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Re: My Garo experience in one go

Post by TokuCasual »

Now that I've had my second marathon of all 4 seasons with my brother, I found new appreciation for season 4 which I didn't have before. I actually like Makai no Hana more than Yami. So I'll raise it to 7/10 and drop Yami to 6. I think my disappointment from before came from my expectation of it. Its flaws are still there, but I really do hope for another adventure with Raiga. Despite the story not challenging him enough, as a character he is still my favorite.
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