Garo Soukoku no Maryu released (3300 releases)

[OOOKaiser]

The non-CGI fights were excellent as usual. Makes me wish they could have continued with this in the subsequent seasons but I guess it wasn't feasible.
Totally enjoyable movie!

Well they were sharing the budget with the other two projects (Yami wo Terasu Mono and Tougen no Fue) I guess they poured all the budget in this one instead. That's why Yami wo Terasu Mono was in CGI.

[MadCow]

What an absolutely weird, trippy movie... and I thought Kill La Kill was trippy, lol. But a great movie nevertheless. I loved the character designs and the slow reveals of the Promised Land is. Since I don't know Japanese, I missed all the subtleties that Takenoko mentioned; good to know about them now. Thanks to the team for this release.

[JustiFan]

Well what a bloody good movie that was! I loved it from start to finish.

The visuals were simply amazing (it's clear where the majority of the Garo CGI budget went last year! ) It was so interesting to see all these Alice in Wonderland style characters and backdrops going on. They were the kind of stuff you'd expect to see filling the screen in a film for children, yet they all undeniably had that unique "Garo twist" to them. Brings a whole new perspective to the franchise for me which I really appreciate having.

The other characters being the humans' forgotten items was nicely done:

- I liked that Kakashi was one of those Makai training dolls and that Kouga remembered them. We see a broken one being taken away at the beginning of the film; whether or not Kakashi was supposed to be that particular one I'm not sure, but I guess it must happen to quite a few of them as time goes on. It probably would be easy to forget one mass-produced tool as it's quickly replaced by another identical one.

- Though looking at him again now I can kind of see it in the details of his costume, I didn't pick up that Kiria was a pen until they showed him "being remembered" right at the end of the film. But I think that made me appreciate the revelation even more when I remember that his best friend was a book and that they were "both born at the same time." Perhaps their owner was a writer who was now rediscovering his old hobby?

- Meru being KaoruFish was an interesting choice, though maybe the writers are forgetting something? I seem to remember an early episode in Makai Senki when KaoruFish was seemingly killed (squashed by a bad guy or something.) At least I thought that meant she was killed.

- Do they ever reveal what forgotten object Judam was supposed to be? If they did in some way it must've gone over my head like Kiria did.

A few other little thoughts:

- Though we never actually saw it, the Rei/Tsubasa contest mentioned in The Tougen Flute was somewhat explained in more depth here. I wonder if it's something they might pick up on again in Rei's forthcoming mini-series/movie/whatever it is.

- The whole dance sequence thing was weird. I'm afraid I didn't understand the purpose of that part at all.

- Every time I saw Kouga riding that lion hover bike thing, I kept thinking "okay that's cool but it's no Gouten, is it?" Then I was really happy when Gouten turned up! Wish the Garo Ken had enlarged to its enormous size again though; I miss that.

- During the final battle I was wondering if Kouga was going to get another new one-off form. He didn't but I guess large gold flying bike will do just fine.

- Poor Kaoru. She never gets much of a look-in during the movies, does she?

Overall a movie that I thoroughly enjoyed and one that was well worth the wait. I sincerely thank you, TV-Nihon, for your efforts in allowing the masses to see it.

[takenoko]

Rekka restored Kaoru fish.

I have no idea what Judam was. I'd very much like to know though. If anyone has any theories, that'd be very interesting.

Edit: Yeah, looked at the sketch and I've got nothing. That hat and the streamers don't ring a bell to me. Plus Kakashi said she was the ugliest of them all or something and she hates humans for creating her. I don't know if those are clues or not, but I feel like knowing her backstory would have been useful in understanding her character.

[TwilightNero]

Maybe it was me just fan-gasming all over this movie, but I got lost right at the end. How is Kouga the Fang?

Other than that, the movie was fantastic. I love the theme of forgotten objects. Its a very touching idea, cause does anyone want to be forgotten?

[Dragonfan]

If I recall correctly, in the movie they say a couple of times that in that world you don't just find forgotten objects, but forgotten ideas created by humans. We can see Judam watching a video of herself singing. I thhink she's not an object, she is the created character of that singer. Maybe the real woman is even alive in Jinkai, but the idea of her as a singer has been forgotten, and that's why Judam exists.

By the way, isn't there any hints in the extras, Amemiya interview or whatever about what did Kouga exactly give to Gajari?

[takenoko]

I didn't get a chance to look at the making of for this movie. I think they just mean that Kouga is the fang (note the kanji for fang is in Garo and Kouga's name) in the sense that he's human. I guess it's enough to Gajari for Kouga to imagine the fang and then touch Gajari.

Also, it's rad that you used the Garo term for human world. We actually had a little debate about this in QC. You see, when I was watching the movie, I thought the term was really weird. While the kanji for it is probably "human"+"world" I don't think I've ever heard of the term Jinkai used commonly, which makes me think it's one of those terms made up for Garo. Plus it's nice since it parallels Makai as the name for where the demons live.

[Dragonfan]

That's interesting. When they first say it in the movie, and you guys put the note up there saying "Jinkai = Human world", I felt like "keikaku doori means plan". But then they said Jinkai again and I noticed that I had never heard before the term Jinkai to refer to the human world, so I thought the same as you, "this must be a Garo term".

[takenoko]

There wasn't a note originally. I thought it was more fun for people to realize on their own what Jinkai meant.

[Alessar]

I think she's not an object, she is the created character of that singer. Maybe the real woman is even alive in Jinkai, but the idea of her as a singer has been forgotten, and that's why Judam exists.

I think you're dead-on. She's like a forgotten Idol Singer persona or something like that. That would really explain the deep bitterness if a whole fanbase imagined her into existence and then abandoned her.

Overall, just wow. It's like a Final Fantasy/Alice in Wonderland/Satoshi Kon sort of amazing spectacle. Everything looked great. Koga was in fine form as a badass. Very mythic hero's journey story. So looking forward to the Rei side project (as long as he shaves JFC).

[takenoko]

Oh yeah, speaking of which, Amemiya is the master of twisting language.

Jinkai:
塵芥 【じんかい】 (n) rubbish, trash, garbage, refuse
塵界 【じんかい】 (n) this drab world

I mean neither really fits, since Kouga isn't calling the world garbage, nor is he saying it's drab. It's just the human's world. But anyway, leave it to Amemiya to take a word that basically means garbage and equate it to human world.

Another bit of word twisting happens during the Kakashi and Kouga duel. At first Kouga is like "Do you really want to do this" to which Kakashi replies "You could say I'm serious". If you listen to the beginning of the Wizard opening, the word maji/serious uses the kanji for honki, which are basically the two words that Kouga and Kakashi are using. Different pronunciations, same meaning though.

[Flying-gg]

That was amazing. Thanks to you I watch toku for almost ten years but there are always times when I think "come on, it's a bit silly here, that's really a kid show" but now... This movie is fantastic, it has everything I want to see in a movie (japanese, western, chinese, whatever) : good story, great characters. The whole cgi was very well done and give the film its unique atmosphere.

I'm forever in debt to you guys for subbing this. Thanks a lots !

[takenoko]

That's the strange thing. It's almost as if Amemiya made this movie because he wanted to show Garo to his grandkids or something. I like it though. I think there's a reason it appeals to us kids from the 80s. It's beautiful in a fantastical way, but not insulting or handholdy like some kid's stuff nowadays.

[m4rc0]

That was a cool OP

So, Tsubasa and Rei were in a tournament to go to the land of the dead. And Rei has some hair in his chin.

Promised Land looks cool. The Nanashi, La Blue Girl and the little knights too. Oh and the classic garo female villain.

It's like they're exploring the bigger magical setting they showed on Makai Senki, instead of focusing on the darker part of it. It feels like a JRPG setting and a fairy tale. Not usual Garo, but also nice. There is some nightmare before christmas and western fairy tale vibe to it too. I guess kingdom hearts then.

Kakashi was pretty cool. And it was nice making him the practice doll for the Knights.

So, Meru was Kaoru. That was nice too. And she's cute.

Not a fan of Kouga always winning in the end because he gets a magic power up, but that's business as usual.

The theme about people imagining things and them living in another world is kinda old for me, but its something new in toku.

The CG was pretty good. No grey Makai world backgrounds every time and the art style was very good. Reminded me of a mix between Madoka, Garo and FF.

THe choreography was pretty good too.

The shounen ending with Kouga and Rei was nice. And, of course the much waited real end with Kouga and Kaoru together (finally!) But there was a serious lack of Kaoru and her big ears in this movie.

Overall it was a success IMO. I wouldn't mind something more mature, but it was very creative and interesting.

[Klanoyt]

Is there gonna be a 720p release for this?

Btw, nice movie. I was actually thinking "Garo of Oz" when the story started rolling.