It's the sort of thing I love to see too. The "friends who don't hang out" trope is fairly common amongst shows with more sizable casts, and while it doesn't typically outright ruin a show for me, it is a bit disappointing when it occurs given the whole "What if these two characters were left alone with eachother?" is just a great premise for a story in and of itself. Great to see that the GARO franchise acknowledges that.

An episode wherein Zanki from Kamen Rider Hibiki gets possessed.

While that in and of itself is an already interesting premise to go by, the real meat here is that Tsubasa from Beast of the Demon Knight makes a comeback.

And, man, the poor guy just cannot catch a break, can he? First there's the movie he showed up in like, in general, and now he's the one most visibly suffering from the Seal of Destruction.

But outside of that, it was nice to see that Koga did some actual investigating into Baron's' behavior before simply killing him like what everyone else wanted him to do. And the Baron suit in and of itself is a nice one, even if I feel it leans slightly more into a Horror aesthetic than a Knight one.

It's just some nice action from start to finish, and it was fun.

...But on that note, what in God's' name IS Gajari!?

Gajari is Gajari and I think that scares me the most.

But yeah, we've got a new Knight introduced this season in Baron. Always fun to see more Knights show up since it is a fairly decently sized organization. I also loved the little bit at the end where it's shown Kouga does know him and it was because of that meeting, however it went, that drove Kouga to choosing the route that'd cause the least bloodshed.

Even Zaruba is afraid!

This episode legit jumpscared me.

It's a backstory episode for Koga, detailing when he started out training to be a Makai Knight as a kid and the friends he made along the way.

All through the episode is a wholesome, welcoming atmosphere that wouldn't be out of place in an episode of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Kamen Rider Hibiki. But then that ending hits.

Sure, the very beginning of the episode is a bit of a giveaway, but I won't lie, I was so sucked up in "The Adventures of Koga & Friends" that I forgot all about it. I was too busy thinking about stuff like "Huh, does Purple grow up to be Leo?" and "Oh wow, a surprise Rekka cameo."

So when the tragedy at the end hits, it really did effectively catch me off guard. In the good way! And it's a great attention to detail too, because I went and checked, and yeah, Koga's' coat did infact have that charm on it since all the way back in the very first episode of the franchise. Wasn't aware I'd ever want an origin story for it, but I'm glad I got it!

If I had to nitpick one negative though? I wasn't really a fan of it being established that Garo is the strongest Knight in universe. I dunno, it just feels weird to me. I mean, I guess one could interpret that as simply meaning that Koga's' dad, specifically, was the strongest Knight, but still. I like the angle of Garo just being one of many, and not inherently special alot more than it being some sort of special title or suit.

This might actually be my favorite episode so far. But there've been a few solid bangers recently, so I don't wanna call it just yet.

This is a fun episode, purely because we get an immediate followup on Baron and the conversation Kouga had with him by showing when exactly they met. It also helps that the montage of Kouga training in the first season is very vague, stylized, and basic so it allows us to easily fill the gaps with episodes like this.

Overall it's a real solid focus episode for Kouga and does some fun stuff to show us a bit more of the Makai Order lifestyle. It's always fun to just see what happens during downtime or when individuals are preparing to enter the hellish world that awaits them.

About the whole Garo is the strongest though, it is an odd beat to hit. Admittedly I do think the franchise tries to hold back on that a bit. At least recently the idea of a Knight and their Armor and what it really means was tackled nicely by Inheritor of Steel that just aired.

I'll be sure to give my thoughts on that whenever I watch the show in like... five years.

Yeah, I still don't buy it.

The big takeaway from this one is that it's "revealed" that Leo is infact Red Mask. And despite that, I'm sticking to what I said earlier.

I just refuse to believe that the writing on this "twist" would be so obvious, because otherwise it's like it might as well not even be a twist in the first place, you know? This has to be a body double of some kind.

In more important aspects of the story though, Kaoru finds new inspiration for her book, and promises to show it to Leo when it's done. And ya know, I wouldn't mind these two getting together. They have alot of solid chemistry as-is, which could easily be added to with more focus episodes.

The only other thing I really have to comment on is that the mecha that Red pilots during the fight in the climax is so impractical that it's kinda awesome.

This credits sequence was also probably my favorite so far.

Yeah, that's it. It's a relatively thin episode. But still enjoyable all the same.

Yeah this is an episode that very much is kind of reliant on the "twist" of sorts, though I'll agree and say it is less a twist. And even I was wondering at this point if they'd be this obvious about it. But we'll just have to see.

That said, having consumed most of GARO in a vacuum with no real fan interaction for about a month back in the day, I don't think I've ever seen a LeoxKaoru advocate, so I appreciate getting to witness the vouching being done during this thread lol

I'm glad that my views continue to be unique. Being good is optional, but unique? Heck yeah.