[Switchblade]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

Makes me wonder if a Mado Alchemist somewhere ended up designing a Mado Flaemthrower.

Probably not, but I assure you that you’ll see some very cool Makai Priest gear sooner than later.

[DreamSword]

Episode 5: Moonlight

I was all in on this episode the moment it started.

Seriously, that opening sequence was top notch and instantly drew me into the episode. The atmosphere all throughout this thing was on point.

The episode never fully lets it go either, as a good majority of the plot isn't even about Kaoru or Koga, but rather this police investigation into a recent murder case; All filmed like it's an old locked room horror film.

And make no mistake, I totally dug how this plot felt like its own short film almost entirely set apart from GARO as has been established, as it was not only pulled off artistically well with interesting characters, but also helps to show that there's always more going on in this universe than just Horrors running around eating people.

Kaoru and Koga aren't totally left in the dust though. It's established that the two have more in common than it seems, as they both lost their parents at a young age, it's just how the two went about processing it was entirely different. Koga shut himself off from the world and focused on killing Horrors, whereas Kaoru exhibits her thoughts and emotions through her art. But in the end, both have their own hang ups that they need to work through.

The brief interaction the two share in this episode is great too. That screenshot I took comes from when, after moving into Koga's' house, Kaoru points out that he doesn't have much room to complain, given that last episode he ordered her to stay as close to him as possible. The face Koga makes in response is priceless.

And when it comes to influences this show had on the anime, this episode is where Crimson Moon got its "magic butterfly" aspect from. Oh and, since I keep forgetting to mention it, I definitely do prefer how the anime had the armor descending from the halo when a Makai Knight transforms rather than here where the armor just kinda materializes. But I get it, this was the first entry in the franchise and so there's still plenty of room to play with certain aspects and ideas across the establishing universe.

But... yeah. This episode is easily my favorite so far. An interesting story where every character is engaging, a top notch atmosphere and tons of wonderfully artistic direction. The action might've taken a bit of a backseat, where it's just Koga's' actor playing off a bunch of CGI, but that's so minor in comparison to everything else that this episode has going for it. And on that note, it's so cool to see that he does his own stunts, especially nowadays where that's becoming more and more rare in Toku, unfortunately. Don't get me wrong, I get why that is, but it's still so cool to see.

Top notch episode. Loved it.

[Enchilada645]

If there's one thing I'll always compliment about the Garo franchise, is it's insistence in having tons of out of suit action choreography, and the various atmospheres it can show a person that differ from episode to episode.

Amemiya is a pretty big horror film fan if I recall correctly, so having very horror film-like aesthetics to different episodes of the show is cool to see. And I'm saying this as a guy who's not that big into the horror genre to begin with. When Garo can nail a ton of different atmospheres, many within the same season itself, it's really cool to witness.

That being said, yes, we've got more Kouga and Kaoru interactions and since I do have the episodes still on my computer I decided to skim the episode for them. Yep. Still love this duo if I'm being honest. Also Gonza is just the best as well.

[Mesnick]

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

[CENTER]Episode 5: Moonlight

I remember this episode. A very atmospheric story.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Enchilada645

If there's one thing I'll always compliment about the Garo franchise, is it's insistence in having tons of out of suit action choreography, and the various atmospheres it can show a person that differ from episode to episode.

It's something that's sadly going away more and more these days, especially since we're in the era of Simon Bennett being a killjoy. It's why I'm happy to see whenever it's Koichi Sakamoto directing something.

Quote:

Amemiya is a pretty big horror film fan if I recall correctly, so having very horror film-like aesthetics to different episodes of the show is cool to see. And I'm saying this as a guy who's not that big into the horror genre to begin with. When Garo can nail a ton of different atmospheres, many within the same season itself, it's really cool to witness.

Based on what little I've read up on it, yeah. This whole franchise is his personal passion project, so I absolutely believe he's got a passion for horror films ontop of the various Toku and Golden Bat influences throughout.

Quote:

That being said, yes, we've got more Kouga and Kaoru interactions and since I do have the episodes still on my computer I decided to skim the episode for them. Yep. Still love this duo if I'm being honest. Also Gonza is just the best as well.

They play off eachother very well! And seeing them grow together has certainly been interesting so far.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mesnick

I remember this episode. A very atmospheric story.

You nailed it!

[Fish Sandwich]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I probably still won't be watching more than this episode and maybe the second one for a while though.

I decided to avoid making more mistakes instead! GARO is real good so far! I'm all caught up to episode 5 now, and while I don't know if I'll always have something to chime in with, or if I'll avoid falling behind the thread, I am like, 1000% on this train now. Enough to put up with the mediocre GomenRider subs that are giving me traumatic flashbacks to rewatching Faiz, even.

This is absolutely my kind of show. Episode after episode, I've been consistently impressed by how simple each individual story is without at all feeling thin. Partly because the atmosphere is always thicker than molasses, perhaps, but more than just that, I think it goes back to what I said about GARO being so confident in its execution. There's a cleanliness to every episode, where if you boiled it down, so far every installment is nothing more than a monster hunt and exactly one important new factoid about Kouga and/or Kaoru, but the scripts have a way of pulling everything together to make all the elements feel like they connect back to whatever single broader topic is at the center of the plot. I think 3 is the easy gold standard to point to, where it's literally called "Clock", the climax is Kouga fighting an entire clock tower (which, holy s***, what a brilliant escalation), and we learn about how Kaoru is racing against the clock, far more than she already feels like she is throughout the episode.

Again, it doesn't sound like much in theory, especially when reduced to a quick summary, but every little moment along the way is so consistently enjoyable, it becomes so, so much more in practice. It helps that, yeah, it does kinda feel quite a bit like an early Heisei Kamen Rider show in terms of overall tone and pacing (which maybe says more about early Heisei Rider than it does about GARO), but I'm really loving everything I've seen of this series to this point, and can't wait to see more.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fish Sandwich

I decided to avoid making more mistakes instead! GARO is real good so far! I'm all caught up to episode 5 now, and while I don't know if I'll always have something to chime in with, or if I'll avoid falling behind the thread, I am like, 1000% on this train now.

Welcome aboard! Happy to have you along bud!

Quote:

Enough to put up with the mediocre GomenRider subs that are giving me traumatic flashbacks to rewatching Faiz, even.

I am absolutely down for a revival of Fish Scrubs, the unofficial side show which showcases various translation missteps.

There was actually a rather kind user who PM'd me where to find the GomenRider subs, and no offense to them, what they did was very nice, but after some skimming I decided to stick with TV-Nihon. Sure, every episode so far has had a line or two that I personally would've written differently ontop of the trademark TV-N literal translations(I'm convinced that "Mou" is something they'll never translate), but overall they aren't bad. I've read much worse.

Boy, if only those official subs had continued being uploaded to YouTube. Woulda solved alot of problems.

Quote:

I think 3 is the easy gold standard to point to, where it's literally called "Clock", the climax is Kouga fighting an entire clock tower (which, holy s***, what a brilliant escalation), and we learn about how Kaoru is racing against the clock, far more than she already feels like she is throughout the episode.

There's a reason episode 3 is the one that establishes the formula as it were. It's real good!

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but I'm really loving everything I've seen of this series to this point, and can't wait to see more.

This actually made me realize that I probably should've noted this at the start of the thread(I'll be sure to edit it in after this post), but I also plan to include the 3 sequel movies in this watch. Those being Beast of the White Knight, Red Requiem, and Kiba Gaiden. I actually have the official DVDs of all of these, so I'm not sure how I'll get screenshots, but still, should be fun to see how the now out of print official subs compare to TV-N.

Season 2 and onwards of the GARO franchise will be at a much later date, as like with the three seasons of the anime I plan to take a solid break between each major season.

[Switchblade]

This was the first episode where Garo really tried to mess around with its structure and do something different. The shows will do that several times over the years, usually to really interesting results.

Quote:

Originally Posted by DreamSword

This actually made me realize that I probably should've noted this at the start of the thread(I'll be sure to edit it in after this post), but I also plan to include the 3 sequel movies in this watch. Those being Beast of the White Knight, Red Requiem, and Kiba Gaiden. I actually have the official DVDs of all of these, so I'm not sure how I'll get screenshots, but still, should be fun to see how the now out of print official subs compare to TV-N.

Season 2 and onwards of the GARO franchise will be at a much later date, as like with the three seasons of the anime I plan to take a solid break between each major season.

It goes against my better nature to tell someone to watch less (non-cartoon, non-Versus Road) Garo, but Red Requiem and the Kiba Gaiden are more prequels to the second series than sequels to the first. Do with that what you will.

[DreamSword]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Switchblade

It goes against my better nature to tell someone to watch less (non-cartoon, non-Versus Road) Garo, but Red Requiem and the Kiba Gaiden are more prequels to the second series than sequels to the first. Do with that what you will.

Aaahh, I might save those for whenever I start covering the second series then. Thanks for the heads up!

[Enchilada645]

Yeah, I agree. Beast of the White Night is a good send-off for 2005 tbh so it'd be best to stop there for numerous reasons