GARO Episode 11: I really liked this episode kind of like a Horror version of the Marvel Villain Arcade so I'm glad he was destroyed. I love the Butler in the beginning he is funny. I love how Kouga played the Horror at the end that was great. I like how he laughed at the end too. It's nice to watch a show that shows a lot of what I like in comic books. I still love the Golden Armor too.

Garo: Yami wo Terasu Mono Episode 2
Wow, that's uh, one effective businessman.

Well that was hot, if albeit short. Now I see the other reason for Garo being a midnight series outside of the obvious step up in violence.

Coming in like a bad mother fucker!

You know outside of the oppressiveness, that doesn't sound like a half bad city. In fact I want to move there! And holy crap a wild Junya Ikeda appeared!

Happy birthday! Congratulations! Subarashii!

So I take it that the girl is one of the priests or mages? Still getting use to all of Garo's terminology. Anyways I like her, as well as the fight scene. It had some really great choreography in it which as the first episode did, showed up pretty much a good chunk of the Sentai and Kamen Rider fights I've seen. Good job Garo, good job!

Now that is one bad mother fucking ass monster.

Okay, that was (for now) single handedly the best fight scene I have ever been witness to. In their civilian forms it was great, in their Horror and Knight forms it was great. So much great sword play, such great back and forth. Just, it was just perfect. The CGI was great to. Not the best I've seen, but it is definitely up there. As I said this fight is just damn perfect.

Come on Ryuga, play nice with the others and you get milk and cookies.

Well episode 2 was just plain boss. Nice little story, perfect action, some nice character interactions, and good effects. Only thing it didn't really have was character development. But that's only one con compared to the good chunk of pros, so it's excusable here.

Just awesome. Simply awesome.

You know, I really tried to get into Bima but I just couldn't go it. Maybe it was translation and timing issues, but I felt the acting was just stilted as all get out.

Am I alone in this?

I loved it on the merit that it was Indonesian so I had no expectations then you get THAT. Gorgeous suits, epic action, just unf.

I will give you that those things alone are pretty awesome.

I have honestly never seen a single piece of Indonesian media, so for it to just come out of nowhere and deliver THAT. I just find that really awesome, especially when there are smaller Japanese projects and BIGGER Chinese ones that don't provide nearly as many thrills.

GARO Episode 12: Wow that was a powerful arc with seeing Taiga and the whole story of what happened to Kouga's father, I'm sure there is more to it and I bet the guy he fought comes back in this series. I loved the small montage of Kouga training to lift his father's sword. Reminded me of a combination of Devil May Cry and Batman in this episode.

Oh yeah, that episode was great!

First episode of Hot Babes The Live. Holy crap is that Dan The White Night? Looks like it isn't just hot babes I've got to look forward too ;D Even if he's playing a smelly version of Shotaro, in a really interestingly dressed set that is meant to be a shack but looks so cool. And fuck me is that Kohei Murakami putting on a stupid voice and playing some weird schizo? This is like a whose who of toku I love it.

The actual episode though wasn't nearly as good as the cast. I mean toku is always kinda crazy, but the use of completely disconnected school girls changing as transition shots, stacked against some weird story of incest, stacked against action that feels like it jumped straight out of Gantz. It was uncomfortably surreal. And when Mikie Hara FINALLY turns up, she plays this obnoxiously annoying and forced character in a bad wig. FML.

If you can stick it out until Ayame Misaki shows up, she makes a nice counterpoint to Mikie Hara's bubbly cheerfulness. I may have to start watching this again in parallel.

How many episodes would I have to stomach?

I think she shows up around episode five, as best I can recall off the top of my head.

Oh not long at all then! Sounds good to me then.

Mark Musashi is in it, too.

I watched the first three episodes a few years ago and meant to see more, but then that whole filesharing meltdown happened and the moment passed.

Can't wait to see him turn up!

Honey 02.

Man for all this shows effort, Hara is so insufferable in this it's more of a boner killer than a boner maker. Admittedly though, I do kind of love it when she 'Honey Flashes' or whatever the proper term for it is.

After watching so much sentai I feel a little burnt out on so many laser beams, so it's nice watching a show which has no energy beams and is entirely centred around exaggerated martial arts. The fight scenes are fantastic.

Also Escape was in this episode for like two seconds, excitement grows!

Honey 03. Mark Musashi! I'm also pretty sure I know Seta Sensei from somewhere but I cannot place him for the life of me.

Honey actually training and not just pulling new powers out of her ass was refreshing, even if it was played as a gag. And even then, as far as gags in this show go, seeing her block with her boobs and seeing the actor who played Dan basically play the polar opposite of that character was pretty fun. It was also nice that Honey actually, finally, had some drama this episode. Plus, as ever, the action sequences are gorgeous.

Still the shows clash of tones is still very alienating. In the same scene where Honey is obnoxiously cheerleading in the background a man LITERALLY THROWS HIS OWN ARM OFF as we find ourself at the grizzly head of a story of a doctor who gives people dangerous drugs which kill them, but give them a superpowered high first. DAFUQ, did I fall into a different show?

I can't speak about the anime since I've never seen it, but the show was written by Toshiki Inoue of Faiz and Shougeki Gouraigan fame.

Oh suddenly so much makes sense. Inoue may well be the worst mainstream toku writer in existence right now, yet he also seems to always pick shows with some of the best action.

I think Inoue probably knows how to work his work relationships pretty well and can be influential in that he actually picks the shows he wants to do rather than have them handed to him as is the case with most writers. It sorta comes with his lineage, his father was the head writer for the original Kamen Rider series. (and it looks like his daughter is joining in, she wrote the Decade novel)

Well it isn't on the quality of his writing! :lol

So what's this show you're watching Locke? I was reading some of the posts it sounds interesting.

It's called Cutie Honey, I'm only four episodes in and the plot hasn't even started yet, so I'm probably not the best person to explain it to you. But it's sorta like if you took the live action Gantz film, added all the sex from that manga back into the film where it took it out and also add a chain of unfunny recurring gags and you get the first four episodes of Cutie Honey.

Cutie Honey Four.

Are they really going to do that "SHIT?!" Scene scene every episode? Echo in GARO was cool as hell, but I find his character in this show really annoying. Hey look I'm gonna talk about profits, and make all of my complaints, entirely in English TOPICAL. Especially when they do this EVERY EPISODE.

Worse than the recurring gags? I'm gonna say it again, as it's still an issue - the clash of tones. Everything about this series is GRIMDARK so to have Hara right in the centre trying her hardest to be cute, shouting "honey flash!" and having naked transformations as everyone she loves dies or is turned evil, as she is thrown into a battle with some evil corporation is so distracting, and drains so much potential out of the show.

Was pretty fun to see Dan fight again though, in an obvious nod to his GARO character.

GARO Episode 13: Also known as the best recap episode I've seen. It was funny at the end when Kouga heard everything that Zaruba was saying.

Well, I suppose I'm just gonna do it here, sell me on an Ultraman series.

Nexus!

That is all, now watch it :)

Max.

Always Max. It may not be fully subbed yet (last five-ish episodes aren't done yet), but if you want a fun, well done modern series that captures the spirit of Ultraman, Max is your best bet. A lot of the episodes are actually remakes, homages, or even indirect sequels to the original series and Ultraseven. It's a great intro into Ultra, much moreso than Nexus, which is good, but completely unlike any other show in the franchise.

Cutie Honey 05. This episode was problematic.

As much as I love to look at Hara, she feels really miscast - someone so womanly doesn't come across well as a cute schoolgirl, even fetishistically. Honestly when she isn't fighting, I hate pretty much every scene with her in it.

But honestly the extent of how much I disliked the character of Honey wasn't really defined for me until I saw this episode which attempted to mirror Honey's escapades with Miki's in her correctional facility.

Miki's show is the show I want, it's more consistent, it's more engaging and it was painful every time we had to cut back to Honey dancing on tables or overacting while eating her lunch or whatever else.

In terms of production, there were some distractingly low production values and continuity errors throughout but given the general silliness of Honey's powers so far, seeing Miki dramatically growl 'Honey Flash' was initially hilarious before she broke out in a surprising and impressive brutal rampage of vicious violence. There was some really good music this episode too.

Cutie Honey 6.

Although the episode wasn't brilliant, Miki's introduction as another honey flash person was pretty badass so I decided to keep watching...only to immediately get a completely predictable, poorly acted, gag episode. I think I'm done with this show.

I mean the action is really well done - considering this is just some "other toku" show, I'm consistently impressed by the general style and production quality this has. Honestly it more consistently provides better action than a lot of the mainstream toku.

The thing is though, I'm just kinda fed up of just slogging through series after series just because I enjoyed the fighting. The more I try and think of toku series I watched because of the story or the characters, it's scarily little. I feel like with the more I watch, I should be increasingly more specific in what I chose to press on with, as I feel like I've already wasted so much time on shows that were ultimately never worth my while.

GARO Episode 14: Alright now I totally see why Rei hates Kouga now. Totally makes sense after learning about his background. Loved them fighting together on Horseback killing horrors. I only have about 11 episodes left or so, man I am glad I have more series to watch left.

Also I love the new theme song it is badass and awesome as much as the previous one.

GARO Episode 15: I enjoyed the first person view done in this episode I thought it was really unique and very cool to see out of each characters' eyes, especially Rei's Makai Knight form. I love Zero getting focus in this episode I find him very interesting. I also love that Kouga breaks the law and doesn't care I mean I swear Rei has to have done the same too. I loved Rei's last words at the end, there is just a lot more to him that I can't wait to see more.

Well just recently watched the Ultraman Monster Galaxy video movie thingy that was pure awesome.

It's great to see the Ultramen on their world and seeing dark ultras and Zero, don't forget Zero ever, now I really want Ultra acts of these guys.

GARO Episode 16: This was a fantastic episode with the Makai Priest and I absolutely loved Bar Chess too. It was great to see Kouga interact like this and not feel stoic most of the time. I feel like Kouga at times and just when I was liking Rei more this episode happens lol. I love them both and I can't wait for more.

As the franchise progressed, I realised Makai Priests are way cooler than Makai Knights.

It certainly helps that pretty much all of them are gorgeous as well.

Mmm, Shiguto...

I'll touch his brush if he touches mine.

GARO Episode 17: Man right in the feels at the end there. I feel bad for Kouga and Kaoru after her finding out he's been using her as bait. Some humans are more psychotic than the horrors in this show. I am intrigued for more especially after this.

GARO Episode 18: Also known as episode that showed me things I've been waiting for. Kodama vs Jabi was totally awesome, I was waiting to see what he could do. Jabi is totally awesome too and intriguing as a character. I love Kouga's emotion in this and his fight with both Jabi and Rei. Rei being misled by the Watchdogs reminds me of the Guardians from Green Lantern, and I didn't like them either. I can't wait for more.

GARO Episode 19: Holy shit this was a fantastic episode! I love the character interactions in this especially Gonza and Kaoru; their talk was great. Rei vs Kouga is always a brilliant fight. Finally seeing the Horror-Eating Makai Knight and finding out more about the 3 in 1 kids too. I can't wait for more but hate that it ends so soon.

GARO Episode 20: That was an amazing episode! Kouga has evolved so much he is so awesome, I loved him in that forest and fighting that Dragon Protector thing. I love how Rei helped him too and knows he's not the target of his revenge. Also Zaruba was badass too. Great to see that they saved Kaoru together.

Yeah man told you! Kouga has one of the best character arcs over the course of a season out of any toku character.

Yeah he is awesome.

GARO Episode 21: Wow that was a great episode, dealing with the Father of that one Psycho bitch who became the Fire/Ice Horror. Great action and depth into Kouga's personality. Also Kouga just being a badass beating all those guns with his sword. I see the Watchdogs have become more of bitchy than usual. Can't wait for more.

GARO Episode 22: That was fantastic, I loved learning more about Barago. Time for the end game of this series and I am truly excited for it and nice to see Rei and Kouga on the same page finally. Great to see Kaoru's father's book too.

Also I'll need the list of the series order again soon, so I know what to watch next.

GARO Episodes 23-25: I don't think I can sum up how amazing these last 3 Episodes were. This was a brilliant way to finish the series and I absolutely loved every minute of it. Kouga, Rei, Kaoru, Zaruba, Silva, and Gonza were all fantastic during these final moments. The fights scenes and the personal scenes were all magnificent. Garo is a beautiful masterpiece.

So what do I watch next? In the GARO series?

Well next would be Byakuya no Maju which is a two part special.

Ah cool thanks I believe I have that.