[Locke]

Makai Senki 07.

I actually ended up watching this twice, I was exhausted when I watched this the first time and my write up on the episode didn't do it justice, because it was so so fantastic. This is seriously turning into the best toku show I have ever watched. I mean the first season was really great (if poorly paced) but this is turning into a real masterpiece.

Like when the masked Priest Knight Horror dude (come on man, is this Ichigo?) attacks Kouga, and the two literally start fighting through buildings, leading to them fighting in the wreckage of their battle that floats beautifully above the city, just like something you'd see right at the end of one of Marvel's movies and that is every other episode here.

GARO may not have the most polished effects in the world (could they seriously not have made those blades look so cheap and plasticy?), but it seems like a much higher quality product simply because it's so well staged. Most toku action is so disconnected from the real world, as it rages in abandoned buildings and quarries, it's hard to truly get a sense of 'epic' like you do with one of GARO's key confrontations.

What was the point of Lates? Does he become more important later? He just kinda appears, is an asshole for a bit and then just leaves. Although a lot about his appearance was kinda confusing. They travelled on that lift for hours, then got on that magic train that no one seemed to want to explain...to turn up on some random rooftop that wasn't even where the meeting was held? What? If they can just open doors from anywhere, seemingly run endlessly and y'know...FUCKING DRIVE, what was the point of this?

GARO is a mature show in more than just boobies, I understand gender roles is an important thing in society, period, but when we learn that women can't be Makai Knights and how much Lates looks down on women I couldn't help but wonder if this was a critique of toku, in general. You look at the sausagefest that is Kamen Rider, and how novel, rare and fairly useless the female Riders have been, or even as you look at Sentai, which always features a female or two on the team, but is usually simply tied to 'the female one' with no character beyond that. Go GARO full of pointless nudity, while also featuring a protagonist campaigning for women's rights (in the Horror hunting world)!

Although a hinted love triangle? Come on guys. The romance between Kaoru and Kouga is barely realised, let alone this shit.