Garo Honoo no Kokuin Episode 4

Garo Honoo no Kokuin

I might still be on a Zaruba kick.

I really like the way this series is teaching the audience the ins and outs of Makai Knights and the Garo franchise in general. This episode showed the Horror checker of the season, usually a lighter with a special flame but currently a bell, which is a good of way of showing the temporal setting of the show for long time watchers and is good to explain how Knights tell the difference between Horrors and regular humans. Also brought up is the Knights non-confrontational nature when it comes to anything not related to the Horrors they hunt. It is something important for the show to establish. It explains why these people with amazing magical powers get easily caught and killed by regular humans, and also why those same super powered people aren’t ruling the world. It is something important. 

The third Makai Knight of the series, who ever he is.

One of the things Garo has always been good at is showing just how horrible humans are. Yes, Horrors torture and maim their food, just to make it sweeter to them, but humans can be just as cruel and for less reasons. We have seen humans feed others to a Horror, human’s that rape and murder before they were Horrors, and this time we see a whole village of people who have no association to the monsters ritualistically sacrificing their own members. While there is a Horror involved, everyone in the episode was working fully independent of that, acting like horrible people, keeping secrets and always looking for the next excuse, the next person to sacrifice in the name of purity. And showing how awful humans are fits into the theme. It is the darkness that we create that brings to life the Horrors. If it wasn’t for us, there would be no monsters.

Example of the darkness of humans? or Just sage fatherly advice? You decide!

The other thing this episode did was really highlight Leon’s inexperience with being a Makai Knight. Combat wise he is fine, with the exception of his suit breaking apart from the inside. What he lacks is experience dealing with people. He is young and foolhardy, and almost always willing to believe anyone. When the villagers said everything was fine, he was ready to move on. That was partially because of his lust for revenge against those who killed his mother, something that this episode also touched on, but we also see that he can’t see past other people’s lies. He believed the mother outright, and I am pretty sure his father didn’t. He also hesitated whenever the Horror showed him the face of the child. This is natural for humans to do, but a Knight can’t hesitate against a Horror, no matter what. One wrong move and it will be over, and that Horror will go and kill many more innocent lives. This is a good way of showing Leon’s inexperience, but also hopefully showing that he will grow as the season progresses. 

The anime has been progressing well over the past four weeks, with each episode being both an interesting look at this new world and also a good introduction to the overall world of Garo for new viewers. Next week though we get to start something brand new, the exploration of a new Makai Knight, a purple knight who is helping out the main character of the secondary plot, the son of the King who was manipulated into killing all those Priests and Knights. It looks like it will be a good time. So until next time, have fun watching. 

I still really like this image.