蛇骨騎士ギル （毒島エイジ）
Jakotsu Knight Gill (Butsujima Eiji)

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This week was another good episode that could have really benefited from the showing spending more time developing the main characters. I'm kind of a broken record on this, but if the show actually expects me to feel anything for Crow as he finds out that his former teacher is the villain, they really should have given Crow a personality at some point (or maybe instructed the actor to show some kind of emotion when confronting his mentor). Raiga and Mayuri aren't the deepest characters ever, but both come off as acceptably likable. Crow is just a complete and total failure of a character, though, and I honestly don't think I'd notice if he was replaced by a mop with a leather coat draped over it.

We watched episode 21 and OMG, a plot episode!!! That is great. It only took 21 weeks to do it. Seriously, I loved the Horror of the Week aspect, but when that is pretty much all they have, there is a problem.

Did not see that big plot twist coming (I mean, yeah, I predicted that Crow would be the bad guy, but I was way off from how things actually turned out). It's a pretty big surprise for an ending, turning one of the main characters into the villain. It's just a pity that, and I know I'm being a broken record here, Crow is such a nonentity as a character that it's hard to be shocked or upset by what happens to him. Eiji has more character development in the two episodes he's been in than Crow has ever managed, and he's been around since episode two or three.

The Giru armor is gorgeous, though, and the fight between him and Garo was great.

We watched 22 and 23 tonight, and while they were good, there was just way too much information being thrown in here. They really should have developed Crow's story and introduced his master sooner rather than giving us so much exposition now. The fights were cool though and FINALLY, a battle that defies physics.

Episode 24

Oh man, we haven't seen that in a long time. I'm kind of surprised the show even remembered that could happen. I'm very interested to see what happens next week, because clearly we are not ending on a clip show.

Also, welcome back final boss who is just a naked chick with CGI bits. I have missed you.

FOR REAL!!! I can't wait...hahaha

Wow, that finale was just nothing short of disappointment. There was nothing inherently wrong with it, it was just lackluster. The battle was so bland and boring and Crow did absolutely nothing. In fact, if there is one thing this series failed out on extreme levels, it was Crow. Overall, I give this series a 6/10. There were some really strong episodes, but for every great episode, we tended to get 2-3 average episodes.

Another Garo series over. There won't be another one for... well, a week, I guess.

I liked the ending. The last fight wasn't one of the most epic brawls in the history of the franchise, but it had some very nice visuals and I love the ridiculousness of Hulked out Raiga and his massive wolf sword. The stuff at the end with Mayuri wasn't that bad, but it still suffered a bit because of the show's general ineptness in handling character development.

Overall, I'd say I rank Makai no Hana about on par with TOWSITD.Both are good, enjoyable shows, but both also have some pretty glaring flaws. TOWSITD did a good job of developing its ongoing storyline and characters, but had pretty subpar visual effects and action sequences for a Garo series. Makai no Hana is kind of the opposite: the show is frequently gorgeous and had some great individual Horror episodes, but the overarching story was incredibly weak and the character development was awful. I still like Raiga and Mayuri a lot; they both have a good amount of charisma that they bring to their roles. Crow was a disaster, though. Hands down the most boring character in the entire franchise. He makes freaking Aguri look dynamic and deep.

I assume we'll get another live action Garo series after the anime and TOWSITD movie. Hopefully it will keep the old school Garo feel that this series had in so many places, but bring back the stronger characterization that this show was so severely lacking.

This is a difficult series for me to give a final rating on. On the hand it was probably the most beautiful Garo has ever looked and some of the standalone episodes were among the best of the entire franchise (particularly the horror film, manga and cocoon girl ones) but on the other hand the characters were woefully underdeveloped and the story consisting of about a fifth of the episode count at most.

Basically, it did everything The One Who Shines in the Darkness did wrong right and everything it did right wrong.