Garo: Honoo no Kokuin

In the name of the king, the Valiante Kingdom launched hunts to exterminate users of witchcraft. Seventeen years later, their pursuit is still growing in both size and brutality. Unbeknownst to the citizens, the targets of these witch hunts are the secret protectors of humanity. Known as the Makai Knights and Alchemists, they have a strong will to protect people from Horrors, demons who possess souls plagued by sadness and pain.

One such Makai Knight is 17-year-old Leon Luis who inherits the legendary armor of the Golden Knight Garo from his mother. Though he possesses great power, he struggles to overcome the hatred he bears from his mother's death at the hands of the kingdom. His father German, known as Zoro the Shadow Cutting Knight, is still training Leon when he is called to investigate the upsurge of Horrors in the kingdom's capital. Although German knows Leon's will is wavering, he decides to bring Leon along to continue his training.

As German and Leon head to the capital, the king's amiable son Alfonso San Valiante struggles to find a solution to the growing Horror threat. But before he can do so, he is double-crossed and banished from his own kingdom. To return home, Alfonso sets out to find the help and strength he needs to reclaim the throne. During his search, he comes across Leon, whose interactions with the prince will forever change both of their fates.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Luis, Leon Main

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Luis, German Main

Horiuchi, Kenyuu Japanese

Guzman, Emma Main

Park, Romi Japanese

San Valiante, Alfonso Main

Nomura, Katsuhito Japanese

Lara Supporting

Aiba, Madoka Japanese

Zaruba Supporting

Kageyama, Hironobu Japanese

Banderas, Raphael Supporting

Tenjin, Hidetaka Japanese

Coronado, Ximena Supporting

Sudou, Yumi Japanese

Prostitute Supporting

Miyajima, Eri Japanese

Luis, Anna Supporting

Oozeki, Eri Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Maruyama, Masao Producer

Ootsuka, Manabu Producer

Hayashi, Yuuichirou Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Animation Director, Key Animation

Reviews

Mar 29, 2015

Link_of_Hyrule

Recommended

**SPOILER FREE REVIEW**

If you were one of the people who dropped Garo back in 2014 because the plot seemed a little too aimless, this is a PSA: Y’done goofed. What started off as a slightly clumsy and generally directionless action romp with only a mature tone to differentiate it eventually came into its own and emerged as a visually stunning, well written, memorable action-drama complete with strong characters and an emotionally investing plot. Garo was arguably the best anime that aired this season and it deserves far more attention than it is getting.

Synopsis: In a world full of bloodthirsty creatures known as horrors that terrorize ... the people, the only ones who can protect them are known as the Makai Knights; a secret organization dedicated to preserving peace throughout the kingdom. However, little do the people know, the king is being manipulated by his advisor into painting the Makai Knights and alchemists as evil witches in order to eradicate them.

Before you even figure out what Garo is about, one thing will stick out: It knows how to have a mature tone. Too often do anime fall into the trap of confusing maturity with gratuitous blood, guts, nudity, and/or death; but not Garo. This show deals with topics of emotional loss, altruism, coming of age, sex, and violence without ever feeling like they are in over their head. This alone is commendable because it opens up a far wider spectrum of potential material to deal with that you won’t be able to see in a typical anime that’s bogged down by fanservice, moe, etc.

The biggest complaint that can be made about Garo is that it seems to lack direction or even a real overarching plot, but this only really applies to the first half of the show. Lots of people lost interest in this anime early on because there wasn’t any specific goal in mind, and that’s understandable. However, what emerges from the initial failures of the show is a touching tale about coming of age. It’s complete with some great drama without ever feeling forced, great pacing, and the perfect mix of dialogue and action. It puts you through a great deal of emotional ups and downs, really making you never want to take your eyes off of the screen. If you can tough it out through those first few episodes, you definitely won’t regret it.

While the plot really manages to come into its own, that phenomenon can largely be attributed to the growth and development of the fantastic cast of characters, who are the highlight of Garo in my opinion. Leon, the protagonist, starts off an insufferable, angsty teen. He complains about everything, is never satisfied, and is all around insufferable. So basically, he’s your average teenager. What makes him such an effective focal point for the show is how he learns and grows from his experiences; Leon is a dynamic character who ends up becoming supremely likable and even sympathizable.

However, Leon is only one of the many interesting, dynamic characters. German, Leon’s “father”, accounts for a lot of the personality in the show. He’s very funny without ever diminishing his important and rather serious role in the plot, which is not an easy balance to achieve. There’s also Emma and Alfonso, who each bring their own intriguing subplots to the equation as well. When it comes to characters, Garo overwhelmingly succeeds at fleshing out their respective backstories and motivations. The characters are the reason I was able to stick with the show through the slow start and the payoff ended up being much amazing than I ever thought it could be.

The last thing I’ll mention is how studio MAPPA, who is quickly becoming one of my favorite studios for having the balls to take on risky projects, deserves a lot of praise for the superb animation in Garo. The Makai armor battles are perhaps one of the greatest examples of CGI done right in anime to date, but even more impressive to me were the detailed landscapes and the fight scenes that didn’t use CGI at all. There is one particular fight in the later half of the anime between two main characters that is easily the fight of the year so far. The amazing choreography took my breath away; I probably watched that scene five times just for the hell of it. Combine the uniquely great animation with a… “interesting” soundtrack (watch the OPs and you’ll know what I mean) and you have an anime that delivers in the aspect of presentation.

In conclusion, Garo is a well-written drama with a mature tone and a focus on action that is definitely worth watching. The meandering plot eventually finds its way home and delivers a lovely narrative that you will remember for a long time. I highly recommend Garo to anyone who has a little bit of patience. Here’s to season two!

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Jun 27, 2015

Cauthan

Mixed Feelings

(This is a spoiler-free review adapted for this site)

[Synopsis]: Under the influence of his trusted adviser Mendosa (Hashi, Takaya), the king of Valiante initiates a massive witch hunt in order to exterminate both the Makai Knights and the Makai Alchemists after the king’s health was threatened by the curse of a witch. As she was burned at the stake, the witch in question gave birth to a son, Leon Luis (Namikawa, Daisuke) who was then spirited away by his father and Makai Knight Luis Herman. Many years later Leon returns with his father to exact his revenge on those responsible for his mother’s death and ... a young, escaped prince, Alfonso Variante (Nomura, Katsuhito), seeks to take back his kingdom from Mendosa’s twisted influence.

[Characters]:

I think that Garo had a perfectly sized cast for the story it set out to tell. It concerned itself most with the two protagonists Leon and Alfonso however a good deal of screen time is also given to Herman and a Makai Alchemist named Emma Guzman. The other members of the cast vary a decent amount however a good many are citizens of Valiante and help to reinforce the themes of the show in different ways without needing extensive character investigations themselves.

Leon is a pretty decent character overall and has considerable and overt development over the course of the show. He occupies a fairly static attitude and mindset for the first half of the show however the latter half spends a great deal of time nurturing his development and he ultimately becomes a better character because of it. While he is bent on revenge, he doesn’t quite embody the trait to the degree some other protagonists have and while his revenge may consume him from time to time, it does not define him as it does some characters from other shows.

Alfonso brings with him the usual traits of the crown prince of a kingdom – he is righteous, courageous, and a skilled swordsman and so in this way he is a little typical while being appealing for the same reasons. He isn’t as complex as Leon nor does he have the same level of development because of how his character starts off however he is not unpleasant and his straightforwardness alongside Leon helps contrast the two characters quite well. He improves a decent amount for me once he takes on a mentor and his active pursuit in saving his kingdom makes the character quite endearing.

Herman, Leon’s father, is mostly a comedic character because of his relaxed attitude and his frequent visits to town brothels however he has a few serious moments throughout the show and possesses agency within the plot. I didn’t care for him very much because he had more screen time than I thought his antics deserved, much of it taking place during a slight lull in the show’s pacing where I think it would have been much better for the show to have focused on Leon or perhaps Alfonso.

Lastly, Mendoza, like Alfonso, strikes me as a pretty typical character – this is not the first time we’ve seen a twisted, needlessly evil, adviser to the king and his ambitions and goals are nothing to write home about either. While he is pretty simplistically evil, his backstory is interesting enough and makes the character more acceptable in my eyes however it too is not great work of fiction. Someone I want to make special note of is Mendoza’s attendant Octavia who also serves as a maid to the king. She has nearly no presence in the first half of the show however in the second half she shows surprising innovation and intelligence in her actions. Because of these traits, I found her to be one of the more compelling characters around at that time despite her infrequent appearances and her light presence in the earlier half of the show. Her worship of Mendoza and her reasons for doing so are well-founded and sincere and made her quite an enjoyable character after she starts receiving some attention.

[Art/Animation]:

The first thing to talk about when it comes to the animation in Garo is most definitely the suits of Makai armor donned by the main characters – Garo, Zoro, Gaia (to name a few). While they look fantastic by themselves, their CG depiction by is both hard to initially swallow and contrasts heavily with the show’s environments and sometimes enemies. I wish I could say it gets easier to watch as the show progresses and that you get used to the over-the-top, brilliantly shining, metal suits however I never really felt at home with them and ultimately found them a bit distracting – somewhat damaging the otherwise well executed action sequences. The show also uses CG for the Horrors, the often present enemies of the Makai Knights, and so when both the heroes and enemies are done in CG it makes the whole scene a tad more acceptable as they are no longer clashing however this is not always the case and it still doesn’t fix the stark difference between the armors and their animated environments.

CG aside, the character designs in Garo have an interesting style to them. They are vibrant designs which go together with the over-the-top nature of the show however at times I felt things started to look and feel a bit ridiculous. The characters are extremely simplistic in their design points however also outlandish enough with their hair and body proportions to be called vibrant. The Horrors are not always humanoid and are often more bestial in design; I would even go as far to say they are somewhat abstract at times which makes them feel a bit odd given their large range of depictions and as an antagonistic presence within the show it was hard to pin them down and even take them seriously at times. The character designs would occasionally falter in quality but not too noticeably and not enough to continuously distract the viewer. The action sequences had good animation, somewhat attributed to their use of CG, however there were a few notable fights of importance that I would even call excellent in their execution.

[Story]:

The story was not the area where Garo most excelled as the show primarily felt like a vehicle for glossy, stylistic, CG action sequences with some added backstories, character interests, and plot points to frame them. This is not to dismiss the attempt that Garo made to build a narrative framework for its action scenes and it doesn’t do an abhorrent job of it as the overarching story is not all that bad however it lacks complexity in an extreme way. Where the plot of the show really suffers in my opinion is in the episodes that feel a bit episodic and self-contained.

There is a clear story being told between Leon wanting revenge for the death of his mother, Alfonso wanting to take back his kingdom and restore it to glory, and Mendoza wanting to… commit atrocities – however every few episodes (and sometimes more frequently) we are given a story about a local demon that needs to be dealt with and we watch how the characters cope with it. The horrors don’t have any direct relevance to the greater plot however their extermination falls under the tasks issued to the Makai Knights and so it feels like we are doing necessary work when we watch our heroes confront them despite the fact that they have no explicit ties to a greater enemy. This combined with the lull in pacing around the midsection of the show can make the greater narrative feel a bit distant at times however when it shows up it is not displeasing and the short stories are by no means unwatchable (at least the majority of them). I will submit that the slow pacing in the middle gives birth to some of the better scenes in the show when all is said and done and that once things pick back up that the show gets progressively better and finishes in good form.

One problem I did have was with the way the show laid out its concepts. It does a decent enough job of establishing what the Makai Knights are and even Makai Alchemists however beyond that the Makai Rings, Leon’s markings, and the Watch Dogs are all a bit under-explained and a little hard to make sense of when they are introduced. The rings especially confused me because as Zaruba, Leon’s ring, is introduced, it seems like it is supposed to manage his emotional state however the other Makai Knights also have them and Zaruba’s own purpose within the show seems to alter drastically in the second half where he receives far more dialogue and can actively aid his wearer in combat.

[Music]:

The music was pretty decent all throughout and was probably what one would expect given the nature of the show. The music is often played up during the action scenes (appropriately so) but also did well during the more dramatic and somber scenes. In short I would say that the soundtrack felt at home within the action of the show and avoided falling short or feeling out of place when the show was focused elsewhere. A success coming from MONACA and a strong point for the show.

[Final Thoughts and Rating]:

I think Garo was a fun show despite its often dark tones and tragic circumstances. While it was a little hamfisted in the way it explored it’s themes, they meshed well with the characters and provided at least something of interest that ran throughout the framework of the narrative. At the end of the day I can’t help but feel like the show was more or less an action showcase however I find myself somewhat surprised by how well it did in other areas while still not quite impressing me to the point of the show being ‘good’.

Rating: 6

I gave Garo a 6 because of its fun and over-the-top action scenes, it’s sometimes dark subject matter, and because of a few infrequent triumphs within the plot. What held it back was its sometimes poor pacing, its lackluster characters outside of the main duo and the occasional side character, and because of its rather jarring implementation of CG. It was a fun show and I don’t regret watching it however it lacks both a solid presentation and other areas of interest in order to make it out.

[Recommendations]:

As long as they aren’t turned off by the overt use of CG to accomplish the task, I would recommend Garo to any fans of the action genre because the fights are both frequent and fun. Fans of fantasy and magic would not do wrong to pick up the show however there wasn’t as much magic as I myself was hoping for – the show opting to mainly focus on the armored Makai Knights rather than flame-throwing magicians. The drama is by no means bad and a few of the more memorable moments of the show exist in this area and so I feel confident in recommending it for this reason although it is intermittently present in the show and not the ultimate focus.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Aug 1, 2018

ktulu007

Not Recommended

Garo: Honoo no Kokuin is an anime from the mid 2000s. It was created by Amemiya Keita (who's done a lot of work on Kamen Rider). Although the anime was written by Kobayashi Yasuko (who also worked on the anime for Claymore & Shakugan no Shana) and was brought to us by MAPPA. A studio I only know because they worked on Sakamichi no Apollon, which was pretty crap.

Story:

We open with a very pregnant witch being burned at the stake for “causing disease.” Although she was probably just a woman who owned some land, given the history of actual “witch” burnings. She gives birth while ... in the fire and an armoured knight moves past the soldiers, in spite of their best efforts, and snatches the baby, swiftly disappearing on a mechanical looking stead. We watch a brief compilation of more witches getting hunted down and slaughtered. Cut to years later, horrific monsters are feasting on humans. It turns out the so-called witches were protectors who hunted down these horrors and the hunts have been orchestrated by the king's evil advisor, Mendoza. Why is it you get so many fantasy-based works where the king's advisor or chancellor is just blatantly doing something malevolent but no one notices except for a small band of heroes? In any case, it's up to the armoured knight from before, Germán & his now grown son, León. Can they stop Mendoza and bring peace back to the land?

Here's the fundamental problem with this series. It tries to be a super dark, edgy and adult version of a sentai show. But sentai shows have a lot of elements that don't work well in media for older audiences. The monster of the week format, the one-dimensionally evil antagonists, the really obvious and formulaic plots. And all of those are in this series. But it also has brief depictions of sexual assault that never even come close to being handled in an adult, mature manner. So, there's that.

Let's go into the issue of the plot being really obvious in a little more detail. This is something that's fine in a work for children because they haven't seen a whole lot of media and probably won't see the obvious plot flags as easily as an adult would. But this series is definitely not for children, so let's be as harsh as it deserves. So, we have a young, optimistic prince who finds himself betrayed by the big bad in this world of knights with magic armour. You see that happen, you know he's becoming a major character. Or how about this one. The big bad seems to be killed in battle, but you don't see him actually cut down. Obviously, he's not dead and is going to return. How about this? You have a series that's really trying to be dark and adult but one of the main characters seems to find peace with a nice, accepting family that oh so kindly takes him in. That ends in the exact way you would expect. Seriously, it's not just so trite it's obvious, it's so trite it's painfully obvious. I've actually spoiled that part just by describing the very basic set up. The ending is a bit shit too. It's an obvious ending but one where it briefly seems like they might show some ovarian fortitude and take a bit of a risk but then comes the ass pull. Well, that was close. They almost did something interesting.

That being said, most of this series isn't bad. Yeah, it's really predictable and about as interesting as waving tissue paper around but, with a few exceptions, it's not actively annoying or infuriating to watch. Even the obvious “we found a book on writing formulae and decided to follow it to the letter” bits aren't bad. They're just uninspired, unoriginal and uninteresting. Think of it as unseasoned white bread with no schmear or anything else on it. It's edible but not exactly appetising.

Characters:

Speaking of unoriginal, let's look at our cast of characters. We have the protagonist who carries a deep, burning anger over the past. The more hopeful, paragon character. The irresponsible father who deserves a hard kick to the bollocks but we're supposed to forgive because “he actually really cares about his on even if he doesn't always show it very well.” We have the action girl who's motivated by something that happened to a man in her life. Can't forget the enigmatic supernatural being who offers guidance. We also can't forget the villain who just considers himself above everyone else. To extrapolate the issue here, all of these characters are clichés. And this isn't one of those series that starts with clichéd characters and then develops them into something more. Goodness no. They either get developed in the most bog standard ways or they don't get developed at all. Friendship is Magic has more character complexity than this and it's a show for young girls about multi-coloured cartoon horses.

Art:

Here's one element that I can give a good amount of credit. The action sequences have a strong sense of spectacle to them. The art style is rather nice in general. Particularly when it comes to the armour and monsters. There are some exceptions. Anima looks really bleeding stupid. And the CG may look good on its own but it doesn't always mesh with the regular art style particularly well.

Sound:

MAPPA got some strong actors for this. We have Paku Romi, Namikawa Daisuke & Horiuchi Kenyuu are all good, seasoned actors. Nomura Katsuhito may not have as many roles, but he's pretty good in this. The group MONACA handles the music and they do a pretty good job.

Ho-yay:

There isn't any to be found.

Final Thoughts:

Garo is a series that suffers a lot from a complete reliance on clichés. Which just makes the issues with the writing all the more apparent, since it isn't offering you anything unique to distract your attention or compensate for them. The best element, by far, is the sound but having good sound and decent art can't make up for a narrative that's, at best, sub-par or characters that have nothing to them. Ultimately, I give it a 4/10. If you really want to see the style and the lack of substance isn't going to bother you then you might enjoy it. You may also enjoy it if it's quite literally your first dark fantasy story and you haven't seen everything it does before but, as a whole, I can't recommend it. The writing is simply too mundane on the whole. Next week we'll have our film festival week, starting on Sunday.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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	Poll: Garo: Honoo no Kokuin Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jan 9, 2015	65 replies	by macabongx »» Nov 8, 2023 4:02 PM
	Poll: Garo: Honoo no Kokuin Episode 17 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Feb 6, 2015	204 replies	by Inexplicable »» Oct 4, 2022 3:50 PM
	Poll: Garo: Honoo no Kokuin Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Oct 3, 2014	169 replies	by Inexplicable »» Oct 3, 2022 3:40 PM
	2nd half is a lot better than first Barry_Allen_14 - Aug 16, 2021	2 replies	by Scythe97 »» Sep 30, 2022 3:52 AM
	Poll: Garo: Honoo no Kokuin Episode 18 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Feb 13, 2015	89 replies	by Creepyarea »» Sep 17, 2022 1:42 AM