Garo Honoo no Kokuin
So I’ve been a little late with
these this past few weeks. It’s been finals, and holidays, the 12 days posts,
and just a lot of interruptions which led to me having to again do all three episodes
in one go. Let’s not wait any longer, and take a look at the past three episodes
of Garo Honoo no Kokuin.
Episode 10
Episode ten had the reunion of
our main characters. There was some nice comedy between German believing that
Alfonso was the son of his wife without him knowing, and his at first despair
and then acceptance of the situation. I honestly really liked that he wants
Alfonso to call him father and that he is ready to accept and love Alfonso just
like his own flesh and blood. And a short cameo from Ema was appreciated,
especially with her eluding to her own story that will hopefully be told in the
upcoming episodes, maybe the latter half of the series. But the most important part
was a single moment that completely established the difference between Leon and
Alfonso, both as Makai Knights and as people. Leon expects Alfonso to be coming
with them to save his mother, like how Leon is there to get revenge on the
villain. But that is not Alfonso’s plan. He is there not to save his mother,
but to save his kingdom. He wants to protect the people who have been hurt by
Mendoza, not just his mother who has been hurt by him. That alone sums up the
difference between Leon and Alfonso. Leon is basically here only for personal
gain, he wants revenge and will do anything to get it. Alfonso though is much
more like an actual Makai Knight. His duty is to protect people. He doesn’t
want to fight Mendoza to prove anything or gain anything. Mendoza has hurt
people using Makai tools, and it is up to a Makai Knight to correct his wrongs,
and Alfonso just happens to be the Makai Knight there. It is a very interesting
difference in character, and to me the most important part of the episode.
Episode 11
Episode 11’s focus is the battle between
German and Bernardo. We learn how Bernardo fell, actually seeing him kill a few
humans in his attempt to protect German and his lover. It is always interesting
to watch why a Makai Knight or Priest falls. In the past it has been because of
good intentions gone wrong, or trying to save a loved one. For Bernardo, it was
interesting because we had seen previously that he was always in some way
dissatisfied with the way the system works; that is part of a group that are so
powerful and do a thankless job. They should be the ones ruling the humans, not
protecting them and serving them. And when he is pushed into corner and lashes
out, his dissatisfaction with the system comes to the front. And then Mendoza
turns him into a skeleton for second and Bernardo serves Mendoza now. It is
honestly the only failing in Bernardo’s story. If Mendoza convinced him that
what he was doing was for the greater good, that his plan was to rule humanity
and not just get revenge on all Makai Knights, I would have liked his turn to
evil better. But his death at the hands of German was very well done, actually
letting the true personality of Bernardo coming to the forefront one last time
and letting these two friends have one last moment. Also, the horses finally
showed up! In the main series, when a Makai Knight kills their first hundred
Horrors, they are presented with a challenge by their armor, and if they
succeed they are able to use a new weapon in their arsenal, a cool metal horse.
They even through the horse! It was a really good battle, with a really
touching end.
Episode 12
Holy knight this was a huge episode.
First of all, it had all the characteristics of a classic Garo finale. The Garo
armor got a new form that will never be used again, and there was a huge fight
that took place mainly in the air. It is weird that Garo finales all have those
two same characteristics, but I wouldn’t feel right if one didn’t to some extent.
The episode had Leon finally confronting Mendoza, and Mendoza being a much more
mentally competent foe. He stirs up Leon’s anger so much that he loses control
of his armor, practically becoming consumed by it and rampaging, destroying the
town they worked so hard to protect and free from the rein of Mendoza. Then we
get this amazing fight between Leon in his rampaging armor and Alfonso, in a truly
no holds bare battle. This was a fight right out of the series, and I think it
will be a classic in the franchise. Just Alfonso kicking his blade into Leon’s stomach
or waist in the moonlight, it was perfect. And once they fall to earth, Mendoza
is still summoning a huge Horror, so Alfonso picks up Leon’s blade and summons
the Garo armor! The armor he wore was perfect. It looked like the Garo armor
from the live action shows. Leon’s always looked like an anime interpretation
of the armor, it was more animalistic and had those giant metal things off the
back instead of the cape. Now I didn’t hate that, but I thought it was just to
make the armor look different for the sake of the anime. The cracks were Leon’s
fault, but everything else I thought was just style. But instead it is that
Alfonso is able to wield the armor better, while Leon couldn’t. It is Alfonso
who defeats Mendoza while Leon couldn’t. It is Alfonso who saves the city, the
kingdom, while Leon couldn’t. And then that ending. Leon, driven from all that
he knows, with his armor taken away from him and alone, stands on the precipice
of a cliff, and is about to fall, and the episode ends. This was an amazing
episode. It brought Leon as low possible, stripped him of his dignity, his
armor, and almost his life. It is the perfect ending of the first half of the
series.
I believe Garo has the week off,
so expect me to get back on the wagon with weekly posts when Garo comes back.
But if Garo was to never come back, and this was the end of the anime series,
it would be an amazing and deeply emotional ending. It would hurt, but it would
be amazing. But until Garo returns, keep on watching.
No comments:
Post a Comment