[DreamSword]

Episode 2: Tied Sword

Oh yeah, Crimson Moon is for all intents and purposes a Shonen version of Garo.

Is that inherently bad? Well, that totally depends on who you ask. For me personally, no. And I can see why they might wanna try their hand at such.

It's simple really. Attempting to appeal to a younger demographic could potentially lead to bringing in more fans of the franchise, and in turn also give parents who are fans of Garo something to possibly bond with their children over.

Now, is it odd to people who have been with the franchise since the beginning, and even for those who came fresh off the heels of the first anime? Yeah, I can see that, but for me, what matters most are the characters and the writing. As long as I find those entertaining, the target demographic doesn't matter too much.

So how did this episode do? Well, aside from the exposition aspect of the show continuing to be rather clunky, I liked it! It's nothing super deep either. The setup is that the Watchdog Center tasks our heroes with letting an apprentice Makai Knight shadow Raiko in the attempt to learn more about being a knight. But, just like the apprentice in the first anime, things go south rather fast.

Something that definitely stuck out to me in this episode, and something that I imagine is going to remain consistent throughout this show's' run, is the lack of gore from the first anime. Many a shot that would've ended with blood splattered across the pavement in Carved Seal of Flames are instead handled with cutaways and simple sound effects here in Crimson Moon, which makes the twist at the end have slightly less impact, but it's not too important.

Rather, the important thing to come out of this episode was some elaboration on Raiko's' backstory and characterization. Why he's indebted to Seimei, why there's a seal placed on Zaruba, and why he personally is so determined when it comes to his destiny as a Makai Knight. There's a nice moment that highlights his character towards the end, where he's torn on how to handle a Horror of whom he empathizes with, yet realizes that there's no saving someone who's fallen so deep into the darkness at that at the end of the day, he still has a job to do.

It's to the point that the action is a complete nothing in this episode. The fight at the end literally only lasts one swing. But again, this episode wanted to focus on the characters of Seimei and Raiko more than anything, and it did! Establishing the Watchdog Center was also important, as well as just showing what exactly Kintoki does as Raiko's' retainer. There really just wasn't much time to fit in any sort of flashy action sequence. And you know, I respect it. Is the result some of the best character development ever? No, but it got the job done and I am interested in seeing where the stories of this cast leads.

Overall a solid episode, and I hope I can continue to like these characters as the show continues to move forward.