[Blade Raider]

My very thought is "I should turn my lights off." What? I'm not gonna let a ring tell me what to do! The lights go off. Otherwise, shadows lurk and fear reigns. I don't want that interrupting my show.


Seriously though, you can tell right off the bat that they are trying to go for something different as the show no longer has the infamous opening narration. This kind of made me sad, but I'll get over it.

Speaking of different, there seems to be a Western theme going on here. The music is something more akined to Trigun than Garo's use to. The commercial bumper is a Garo branding iron (which is awesome!). Plus, the Makai Priest in the outro (the female lead we haven't seen yet) is meshing with a gun and bullets. Oh, and there's a Japanese cowboy driving a station wagon. That made me laugh. So yeah, I like this theme.

I'm guessing Ryuga is a "cowboy" Makai Knight. Doing things his own way, wondering from town to town with a mission (and like a hobo). Crying at the sound of statues...what the hell was that? Seriously though, Ryuga looks to be like a very different kind of character than Kouga. He's showing way more emotion and that's okay.

Plotwise, I can get the gist of it from the translated trailer and what's on screen. Besically, they set up a plot where Ryuga doesn't want to work with the other Makais to save the city and there's a plot dealing with the miltary. This should be a lot more clear once subs are up. Oh, and Zaruba can't talk.

The action is the great stuff Garo is known for. Good wire work, good CG work, good everything. The use of the armor was over the top in that way only Garo does.