えええええ... that's a big bummer, because I really did like this one! I wish I could articulate that in some meaningful way, but it's not really something where the words come to me immediately. I adored the way the script rhymes Kaoru and Kouga's sides of the plot so directly (more of that narrative cohesion I love so much about this show), I thought it built nicely on Kaoru's character on its merits while working great for Kouga more as part of the overall picture it's gradually been painting of his feelings towards his dad. I feel like this might be the sort of episode that's maybe easier to grasp in retrospect, knowing the show's whole story, but I don't know, even without that, it was way up my alley. I feel like the cool horse isn't the only reason this is another one Amemiya felt it was important to direct himself. (The horse probably helped motivate him though. It's a cool horse.)

JAM Project always puts in the effort no matter the project. Afterall, their lead singer did give us this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fPimCB4qqA

Man, I dunno if it's just TV-Nihon's' subs or what, but I really didn't get the impression that it had all that much to do with with Koga's' dad and was more gunning for Koga himself. Had there been more focus on Koga's' thoughts about his father, I probably would've been more into it.

Cool to see his dad had a cape though.

See, that's the part I really wish I knew how to explain better! It definitely felt to me like the show was nicely implying stuff about like, things, but it's less like I have some smart interpretation of the story ready to go, and more like, I'm too dumb to really get it, but I think the story itself probably is pretty smart. Like Kouga, I'm deciding to trust my instincts!

I always liked this one because a) I found the Kaoru storyline really engaging and fun and b) the debut of Savior in the Dark. Generally speaking, I always love an episode that has some really good Kaoru stuff.

She's a great lead character for sure. Much more engaging than Sophie from Vanishing Line in my eyes.

I felt this one was overall fine, though its execution felt a bit weird to me.

Basically, it brings up alot of concepts that it doesn't really fully dive into, and I'm not sure if it's meant to simply be a stepping stone episode or not.

Made weirder for me because I actually rather liked many of the aspects brought up in the first half: Koga and Kaoru's' fathers being connected, Kaoru's' fondness for her old teddy bear she had as a child, and the Horror's' gimmick.

It reminded me alot of a similar plot that was done in an episode of Legend Heroes, and while I had some minor gripes with that episode, GARO here goes in an entire different direction both from LH and from what I was expecting, and I didn't really get much out of it.

See, given how the episode opens, I was suspecting that the Horror's' power of bringing people's' inner thoughts to the surface was either going to result in Koga and Kaoru fully opening up to eachother, or alternatively the episode would talk about how while there are thoughts that they keep to themselves, not everyone "wears a mask" as it were.

But it was not to be. The whole moral dilemma that the Horror brings forth is instead refuted with "humans are liars, but oh well" which I mean, valid take I guess, but it's not exactly emotionally satisfying, ya know? And that's not even getting into how Rei is suddenly brought in in a way that frames that the second half of the episode will be about him, but then it isn't. He's instead just kinda there to show off how he transforms different from Koga.

I also wonder the artistic merit of having the monster clown make Legend of Zelda noises as it fights, but it's a giant CGI monster so anything goes I guess. Heck, on that note, both this Horror and the one in previous episode aren't even established characters -- not really. Especially in comparison to almost every episode beforehand, which, granted, they aren't the main focal point, so I'm not trying to harp on it too much, but it is a bit of a letdown after GARO has shown how well it can balance character focus and development so many times before.

In the end, the episode itself is overall just fine to me. The Kaoru stuff was engaging(though I question how that publisher had Kaoru's' old teddy bear), and the plot hook about her dad being connected to Koga's' is a solid one, but the rest of the episode was just kinda whatever. Not a bad episode, but not one that's a super standout either, and I really do hope that it's more meant to serve as a building block for future developments rather than its own standalone sort of thing, which I'm sure it will be used as one, but still.

A step up from last episode at least.

The most I remember about this episode is the giant clown monster that made weird sounds.

Yeah that's about it. Episode didn't really resonate with me that much since I can barely recall it.

Yeah, that and that the guy who sexually harassed Kaoru at her her new job was the cafe owner on Kiva.

I always felt like the clown really didn't fit the general aesthetic of Garo, even if the way he ate people was pretty visually unsettling.

The sound effects on the monster clown are such a bizarre decision. I really have no idea what they were going for with that.

Boy, that's gonna be an interesting parallel to make whenever I get around to watching all of Kiva.

Yeah, I'd guess I'd agree this isn't necessarily the absolute tightest the show has had to offer. Even so, looking at it from a more Series Composition point of view, I think it's placed super well. It's the first time we've had Zero just kind of in a normal monster plot, which is fresh, all the more so because Rei was completely absent from the previous episode (which even used the old opening without his credit). Plus, that episode was all about Kaoru and Kouga separately exploring their father's legacies, and hey, what do you know? They start to tie those together here, which is absolutely a super interesting idea!

Also, you're all talking about Clown Guy's weird noises, but I'm more focused on how adorable his hand puppets were.