Garo: The AnimationSeason One
Genre: Action, Adventure, Super-Natural
Synopsis: The story revolves around a young man (Leon Luis), his father (German Luis), taking place in a medieval setting. It begins with a king, his queen and son alongside his advisor (Mendoza), took watch from the top of their castle down towards the town's center. Where an pregnant woman had been tied to a pole, and the constant chants of 'burn the witch' radiated from the townsfolk. She was accused of the many disappearances of other villagers and also of the ailment that the king himself had. As the grotesque execution began, the queen and son was chided inside into the castle. It was then, they set her ablaze. In that very moment, an armored knight clad is a dark grey appeared from behind the King and with a great leap ended up soaring over the King's head and landing before the woman-- whom while being burned gave birth to a child. Shielded by some magic aura. The Knight proceeds to take the child into his arms and leap off onto an metallic horse and strode out of the city. . The story takes place seventeen years later, as the witch hunts continued.
As an avid anime watcher, one who constantly watches shows new and old in search for gems. This show was one of those shows that had the potential to become one of those very gems to stumble upon. To begin with the animation quality had been something of a treat to watch, as you soon discover that the witch hunts were really unjust and the 'witches' were really good people called Makai Knights. Who pride themselves on destroying these monsters call horrors; and the man known as Mendoza, had been the catalyst in hunting them down for reasons unknown. And let me tell you one thing; the Makai Knight transformation sequence is swift, to the point and flawless in my eyes. Shifting from 2d to CGI 2.5D seamlessly and naturally; as the mixture of the two manages to fit well in the anime. The fight scenes are something that just gradually gets better, but of course with great fight scenes comes a lot of spaces that seem lacking throughout the anime.
One of these spaces, in my opinion. Are the characters; The father is a lecherous old man cliche type. The one who gets drunk and goes after any woman that is remotely attractive-- and is not shy to go after prostitutes. While the son, was so blindly edgy that it began to cause me great annoyance. As it reminded me of edgy characters like a certain character from Naruto. [Sasuke, I'm looking at you]. The odd combination makes for some light hearted and comical scenes, but not cohesive enough to keep me entertained by it. But then, the prince comes into play. A character you knew would eventually return does so, and does so in a way you do not expect. I do not enjoy doing spoilers, as you do not really see the prince until a few episodes in. But lets just say the prince quickly became a character I enjoyed more on screen then Leon. And honestly, the prince saved the entire show from falling into obscurity (In my eyes).
Overall-- The plot, while being something that is almost cookie cutter. Gets developed in a manner over the episodes that it becomes very interesting; but the beginning half of the series was extremely lacking in luster in my eyes. It couldn't keep my attention for too long, as many of the situations were predictable. It was towards the later half that the it started to really pick up on me, and the scenes and plot became more pronounced. So, while this was only a review for Season One (Episodes 1 - 12) I will say this! After watching the last episode I wanted to watch the second half, which says a lot with the bumpy start. So to say the least, I feel like this was just a prologue season; backstory to where the plot 'really' begins. So because of this, I have high hopes season 2 will not disappoint.
Final Score: 3 out of 5
