[DreamSword]

Episode 2: Inga

This one is interesting in that it's almost the inverse of the first episode.

While the first episode was all about absorbing you into the world that is GARO, with some baseline set for the main characters, this one is more about giving you a bit more insight into the characters while giving you small peaks of more world building.

The episode's' plot of a money laundering scheme is just sort of a background vehicle for showing off more core values and character traits of Koga and Kaoru.

And hey, I'm all for that. We get the establishment of the Watchdogs, a look into Koga's' family history, Kaoru being a starving artist, and perhaps most importantly, Zaruba's' tendency to snark.

Speaking of the plot though I did like how it took a sort of balanced view of money. Talking about how while money can absolutely be a corrupting force, it's also something that's kind of an outright necessity and can easily be used for pure intentions. Kaoru's' desperation makes it understandable as to why she'd fall for the scheme to begin with, but her desires are not born of greed.

I also wanna mention the music style of the show and how distinct and yet familiar it is in comparison to the anime. It's kinda hard for me to describe but I'll try my best. Take the opening as our first example. Whereas each anime had opening themes that were largely bombastic thanks to the efforts of JAM Project, GARO here has a much more subdued themed that, combined with the visuals, really made me think of Avatar: The Last Airbender.

But yet the fight at the climax of the episode ends with the soundtrack's' iconic "WOOO-OOO-OOOOOOOOOH" that could be heard in some of the tracks for the various anime, which was neat to hear. I dunno if the same team did the soundtrack for every entry in the GARO franchise(they certainly shared a team for each anime), but I really wouldn't doubt it given how consistent the overall tone and quality is. Time will tell if I end up liking this show's' soundtrack as much as the anime ones though(but I don't doubt that I will).

Last, and this might be a weird comparison to make but uh, the show is also reminding me of Pokemon. In that Koga keeps finding ways out of not paying for the painting he took the same way that Ash kept not replacing Misty's' broken bike. And in both instances it's very much meant to be a running gag too. Makes me wonder if Kaoru will get her money from someone else the same way Misty's' bike ended up being replaced by Nurse Joy in the Johto saga of the Pokemon anime. Sure would help her in paying rent, if nothing else(which is another thing that reminded me of the first episode of Blade but shhh).

Not as engrossing to me as the first episode, but it's still a good time overall. And tomorrow I'll finally be thrust into fully unfamiliar territory with episode 3.