[DreamSword]

Episode 16: Red Sake

Talky episodes are a tricky thing to pull off in fantasy shows.

In my experience, they more often than not come across as boring to many viewers, especially those who are initially drawn in by the action.

And while I certainly have experienced a bit of that myself(hi Blassreiter), I actually find myself drawn to them more often than not, because the key thing in making these episodes work is the subject matter at hand.

While the majority of this episode is just characters talking, it's all about the continued arc of Koga ontop of establishing a bit more world building lore for the show, namely the establishment of Makai Alchemists and what exactly it is that they do.

So if that didn't make it already clear, I really liked this one! It was like I was watching an episode of Yu-Gi-Oh, except in the GARO universe, and I feel it came together rather well. Loved the use of the silhouettes from the opening sequence to represent the battle of ki between Koga and Zaruba's' father, and despite the heightened drama, most of the dialogue felt natural.

Though it is a bit obvious, there's also a bit of furthering in the plot pertaining to who killed Taiga, but I did like how the episode played into how Koga might not be remembering everything as vividly as he thought due to his own trauma, and it's likely connected to the incoming threat of a great Horror, if they aren't one in the same. Needless to say I'd be very surprised if the Dark Knight who looks like Garo isn't the final boss in some form or another.

Lastly, while it is brief, I did like how Amon brought up that morality is very rarely ever black and white or some sort of straight line. It's the sort of lesson I think alot of people could stand to learn. Today's' friends could become tomorrow's' enemies and vice-versa. It's good to keep an open mind, because valuable information could come from the least likely of sources. Sure, it's mainly foreshadowing Garo and Zero working together, but it's still a nice lesson for, well, just about everyone, I think.

So, yeah. It's the first episode with no real action scenes to speak of, but I still loved it all the same.