[DreamSword]

Episode 17: Fish Tank

There is a LOT going on in this episode.

And I don't mean just in terms of events unfolding, but also in terms of character development, themes, and fully swinging GARO as a whole into its third act.

Or atleast that's certainly what it feels like, because lemme tell ya, I did not expect an episode with a title like this, which opens in the way that it does, to be the episode where everything reaches its emotional boiling point.

The biggest theme of the episode is Protection. What it means to protect something, the reason why people do so, and how while it sounds nice and flowery on the surface, it can easily be twisted into something obsessive and nasty. It can just as easily be a tool of malice as it is of justice.

But I won't lie, the aspect of all of this that stood out to me most, whether it be intentional or not, is another thematic idea the story of GARO as a whole has had which comes to a point here; Truth. The time has finally come for Kaoru to learn the real reason Koga has stayed with her, as well as just what exactly her being stained by Horror blood means going forward.

While it's not revealed to her that she'll eventually die, what is brought to light is more than enough to break the poor girl. Koga can't even bring himself to try and justify his actions or plead with her to stay, because he knows he doesn't have a right to. Just when it seemed like she and Koga were making real progress together as people, life came and dropkicked her right down into the dirt. The worst kind of betrayal.

Koga isn't off scott free in any of this though. His actor does a fantastic job with his body language here; Showcasing how Koga's' own sense of ethics being at odds with both the philosophy of the Watchdogs as well as his own treatment of Kaoru over the past couple of months are really tearing him up inside despite all of his attempts at staying vigilant. His sense of justice gets challenged the most here, via meeting a human who's not a Horror, yet still has no issue committing to the evils of one.

Everyone is put through the wringer here, and it's not due to any sort of grand scheme or ultimate evil, no. It's all been snowballing this whole time due to the actions of Koga, only to come to a crash thanks to a random, pathetic Horror who can't live outside of water and her lackey who has no qualms with murder. The entire scenario is one that outright defines the sort of storytelling I love most: A plot driven almost entirely by its characters rather than the other way around. It's intense, it's dramatic, and by the end, it's an awful situation that was bound to happen eventually.

This was a really friggen good episode you guys.