[DreamSword]

Episode 21: Magic Bullet

The GARO formula is back, and with quite the bang!

I won't lie, I absolutely adored this episode from start to finish, and it managed to throw me for a loop in a few different ways!

Remember the bartender lady who collected fingers from early on in the show? Well this episode is all about her father, and the impact that his daughter's' death left in its wake.

And it's through that angle that so many really awesome story details and ideas are brought up. How do the loved ones of those possessed by Horrors deal with them suddenly disappearing without a trace? What about those connected to everyone the Horrors have eaten?

Unfortunately for Koga, he's not exactly properly equipped to handle this sort of emotional aftermath either, especially given that Makai Knights are forbidden from getting involved in human affairs. It's telling that Koga doesn't have a direct answer to all of the questions and accusations getting flung his way. All he knows is that once someone becomes a Horror, there's no turning back, and it's his job to put them out of their misery.

But outside of the philosophical debate on ethics, we're treated to some more slick action with Koga essentially becoming a Yakuza protagonist and slicing through a small army of gunman, with their leader being a Horror with a giant gun barrel for an arm. It's every bit as fun and cool to see play out as it sounds. And it comes with an unexpected comedic bit from Zaruba!

While that was all enough to get me super into the episode, the most unexpected part was that very final shot. What at first just seems like a nice transition from the previous episode to this one is then turned into something to lead everyone into a false sense of security before revealing that Kaoru isn't exactly out of the woods as of yet. Although I'll admit that if it were me in that situation my dumb initial reaction would probably be "Oh hey, sick tattoo" haha. This is why I wouldn't last in the GARO universe.

Anyway, yeah! This episode got a nice, big, emotional reaction out of me, and I couldn't be happier with it. While I don't think it's my favorite episode, it's a rather good one and made for a great time.