Otakuism

Recently I was looking over Zero’s posts on tokusatsu (special effects live-action) series, which I admit sounded kind of cool. Since the winter season was disappointing as hell to me I needed something new to watch, and why not try a new medium all together? First I watched some of Kamen Rider Den-O, a pretty fun series btw, and then downloaded a less-known tokusatsu series, Garo. Garo was apparently a tokusatsu series made for adults, airing late at night and filled with more violence, and, hell, even some nudity. After watching the first two episodes of Garo, all I have to say is ‘ why didn’t someone tell me tokusatsu could be so awesomely badass? ‘

In the world of Garo there exists evil demons known as Horrors that possess and eat humans. Ever since the Horrors have existed there have been the Makai Knights who hunt them. Garo is about a particular Makai Knight, Saejima Kouga, your usual stoic badass kind of guy who can transform into a golden armor form to kick Horror ass. Reminds me of Soma Cruz from Dawn of Sorrow, just because he also wears a large, white pimp coat. Mitsuki Kaoru is a young struggling artist just opening her first exhibition. Too bad the gallery owner is possessed by a Horror who wants to rape and eat her. That’s when Kouga comes in to save the day. He uses his badass sword skills and final attack to kill the Horror, whose blood splashes all over Kaoru. Since the blood of the Horror has touched Kaoru, she is now tainted and marked for elimination. Kouga relents however, rationalizing that her tainted blood will draw more Horrors to her, making his job easier. Of course, he actually likes her, but he’s not going to admit it.

I’ve always been wary of tokusatsu series. I’m of the opinion that something that looks good in anime can’t possibly look good in real life. Garo has proved me wrong completely. It manages to have excellent fight scenes fitting a fantasy series, with jumps, charges, and many sword slashes. All the fights are top notch, looking like something Chow Yun Fat or Jet Li would do. There’s a liberal use of CG, of course, but it doesn’t look so out of place to detract from the show. It can look a little weird at times, especially when the Horrors are eating humans by sucking their skin, but there’s a certain amount of suspension of disbelief that has to go with tokusatsu I guess. There’s only a few characters right now, but they’re all pretty interesting. I’m not one to judge acting, but it all seems okay. Definately better than the acting in Kamen Rider Den-O. The show has a wonderful dark atmosphere, a sense of claustrophobia and lurking horror that comes across perfectly in the setting. The show reminds me a lot of Shana for some reason. There’s no loli, of course, but the whole hidden war in the shadows reminds me of it, and Kouga has a talking ring he talks to a lot, just like Alastor. Not that I’m saying there will be any melonpan eating tsundere in the show anytime soon.

Garo has taken all my expectations of what could be done in a live-action television series and completely blown them away. It’s story is interesting, the fight scenes are excellent, and the CG blends almost perfectly. It’s also only 25-episodes, so I don’t think it’s going to be a never-ending villian of the week thing like Kamen Rider. I’ve only watched two episodes so far, but I can’t wait to see the rest. If your at all curious about the tokusatsu genre then check out Garo. It’s a solid action series all around for anime and non-anime fans alike. It’s been subbed completely by TV-Nihon. Oh, and the OP is done by Jam Project, so you know it’s made of HOT BLOOD and AWESOME.