It's Garo, is there ever a point to the naked women? Outside of Amemiya being a dirty old man, see how Rian was dressed in Yami compared to Goldstorm when he took over. Hell I'm surprised "Navi" was fully clothed.

Over all I personally thought it was decent season, definitely better than Black Blood IMO. When they started going into Edel's backstory near the end I pretty much figured that was the cause of his hatred toward human in general. Although his whole confusion on being a Dragon or not at the end did seem to come out of left field a bit. Alice was there, kinda wish they foreshadowed things a bit better. But again Garo when have they ever foreshadowed anything. And I don't care what most of you think I thought baby Loup was freaking adorable.

Itv was good to see Rei and Rekka again, and the bartender from Black Blood. He was few of the things on that show, outside of Rei thaty was enjoyable about that show. But I guess we know how he knows about the whole Makai world now.

Overall, maybe not one of the best Garo shows, but not to the worst either. That goes to Black Blood if you haven't guessed lol. And really that was all I asked for this show, to be better than that one. And I got it so I'm happy.

I don't mean the fact that they were naked, I just mean that scene in general. What exactly did it serve?

As for its comparison to Black Blood, I'd say it is worse. At least Black Blood was only 6 episodes. I had to suffer through Alice for 13. A shame too, because the series started off really strong. Of course, both seasons were still better than that Ryuga shit we had to suffer through.

I generally liked the finale. The big CGI dragon fight was pretty cool, especially with Rei's armor taking on more draconic properties as it ingested the dragon's blood (yes, I see what you did there, show). I will echo some of the complaints others have, though: the return of Goro-chan was completely random and pointless and Alice's face turn at the end completely negated the single coolest moment of the entire series.

I did not hate Alice. I didn't love Alice, but I don't get all the hate she's taking from some corners. Yes, the actress isn't amazing, but I've seen far worse. Is she the worst part of the series? Honestly, I don't think so. The dragon knight generally felt a lot worse and Kagome was almost a complete waste of space. I respect what the show was trying to do with Alice: having her serve as a very obvious Kaoru analogue for Rei. She generally worked there, although it felt rushed, especially near the end. It was all in service of the BIG PLOT TWIST, though, and I goddamn loved that. It took me by complete surprise and I completely loved how it cast the preceding 11 episodes in a totally different light. That was the big moment of the show for me and made the whole series for me, even if Alice's performance was pretty weak (don't get me wrong, though, I really liked all the standalone, MotW episodes).

I kinda hated how they pulled back on that at the end, though. I'd have much preferred it if Alice hadn't repented and stayed committed to her original goal. There probably would have been less pathos that way, but I never really bought the idea that Rei was head over heels for some teenage girl in the first place, so I could live with that.

But yeah, I liked the show overall. It had some weak elements, but the standalone episodes were really good and the visuals were up there with some of Makai no Hana's best moments. After the low budget letdown that we got last year with Makai Retsuden, this really felt like a big step back in the right direction.

And as far as Rei shows go, Black Blood is still the worst show Garo has put out as a franchise. This was much better.

That was my main problem with Black Blood, it was 6 episodes. And they didn't need 6 episodes to tell the story they were trying to tell, and it felt very padded as they tried to try to fill out. The added on story with the couple with the guy running away after running that totally random person added nothing to the over all story. It became even more pointless at the end when the community attacked Rei after getting the offer to not be involved in the black blood ceremony (don't remember what it or the Horror was called) he joined right in. It could have been a perfect redemption moment, to try and Help Rei, Luna and Kain and prove not all humanity was looking after their own skin. Nope, he joined right in trying to save his own butt.

Now I'm not saying Dragon Blood was perfect by comparison, it had it's share of weaknesses too. And I'll agree Alice was one of the weaker aspects of the show. However, despite the MOTW format, it told a more concise main story. There were no detours, like the couple mentioned in BB, and all the backstory of the new characters tied into the main plot in one way or another, so nobody really felt that unnecessary to me.

RE: Edel showing up again out of nowhere in the finale. So Tom from TokuNet went to a screening event for the finale and said the director explained Edel died the day the humans killed his parent dragon, but the dragon resurrected him, and he will live on for as long as the dragon and its offsprings live on. Good thing the show explained that or everyone would be totally confused :rolleyes

After sleeping on it I've kinda laxed on just how good I think Dragon Blood was. I'd still argue that it's one of the stronger series since Makai Senki, but I'd probably more put it on par with the likes of Gold Storm -Sho-. As far as combining episodic stories and a larger arc goes this handled it far better than previous attempts (mainly looking at you, Makai no Hana). It was also nice to have a show that didn't centre around Horrors directly, or yet another endgame of "awaken ancient super powerful Horror".

I don't really agree with the assessments that Alice was a bad character either. Naive and stupid yes, but that really gave the twist in episode 12 so much more impact. It was only after that they dropped the ball with her character, pretty much cementing her as stupid and naive. Edel was a bit of a mixed bag too, an interesting character in concept but the show constantly tried to flutter between making him a villain or a sympathetic character but not really managing to get either right.

The fights were all excellent, and even beyond the proper reappearance of the armour timer this was the most-GARO feeling series in a while. After Black Blood Rei deserved so much better, and while Dragon Blood had its own problems it felt closer to capturing the magic the original show had.

Amen!

No, Alice herself was not a bad character, it was her actress. She was more wooden than the forest in the finale. She never once seemed to react to anything that was happening with any actual emotion. Most of her acting was a blank stare with her legs spread open as if anything would even want to hit that horrid teeth twit. She was also just speaking her lines rather than acting them. Kaoru's actress might not have been the best at the beginning of Garo's first season, but at least she grew as the show went on. Alice's actress gave the impression that she didn't even want to be in this thing to begin with, so she never tried to get better.

While I get your point, it's hard to take you seriously when you have to be derogatory to criticise an actress' ability.

Well I'm sorry, but she is supposed to be a super model. How can she be a model when she has teeth like that? Aren't super models supposed to be perfect? Nevertheless, that doesn't deviate from the point that she can not act.

Episode 13: This was a brilliant finale for me. The Giant Zero Dragon-Wolf vs Loop the giant dragon was everything I wanted a more. I am glad Rekka got healed and am more intrigued with the Master from the Bar. I felt so bad for Rei after defeating Loop and Alice disappeared after telling her his real name. It was just so sad for him. I loved this series so much and it was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyy better than Black Blood easily.

Frankly, I find the love stuff between Rei and Alice to be creepy considering he is old enough to be her father.

You're not wrong on the age difference being creepy, but he's not that much older than her: Alice's actress is 17 and Ray Fujita is 28. Still a lot of nope, but we're more in young uncle/much older brother territory.

I'm not referring to the actor's real age, I mean character wise. He's supposed to be what, 40 in the show? It takes place after Makai no Hana, after all. At least it better or he has already aged really horribly.

Does it? I assumed it took place between Makai Senki and Makai no Hana since Rei and Rekka are running around being all not old and stuff.

No I'm pretty sure it doesn't take place after Makai no Hana because Rei isn't rocking that chin spinach goatee he had in the episode. And no one mentioned Kouga and Karou being missing during the show, and I'm positive Garo being gone would have been brought up at least once. Particularly during the moments Rei and Rekka had scenes together. So it has to take place after Makai Senki, definitely after Black Blood, But before the flashback episode of Makai no Hana. No where Dragon Blood takes place with the Garo Asura special could be up for debate.

But Garo's not gone if Raiga is there because he is Garo. Plus, why would they talk about Garo when this is Zero's show?

Because more than likely Raiga is still a little kid at his point and time in the Garo timeline, therefore would not be Garo yet Kouga would still be. Considering how close they became despite the rocky start Kouga did ask Rei to train his son when he turned 10. And seeing how tight knit this group became I'm sure one of them would have asked at least once "Have you heard anything about Kouga and Karou yet?"

Also in the episode where Rei started training Raiga he told Gonza he was going to go away for a while but they would be back together, implying he was going to look for Kouga and Karou as well. Since both of them are still gone when Makai no Hana started, more than likely Rei is still gone too. So at most Dragon Blood took place maybe five years or so before he started training Raiga

I'll take your word for it since I don't remember anything about Hana outside of the horror movie episode.

Zero, Black Blood and Zero, Dragon Blood takes place after the events of
Garo, Makai Senki.

Welp, I enjoyed the series. Alice's antagonistic reveal was interesting, if only so that my dislike of her was rewarded. Plus it's always a treat to see Rekka in action.

And our Kamen Rider alumni has now been 3 villains, and 2 decent supporting cast characters.