Friday, February 6, 2015

Garo Honoo no Kokuin ep 14, 15, 16



Garo Honoo no Kokuin

I am really terrible with keeping schedule. I blame being a college student and having a ton of stuff to do. Luckily for me not much happened in the past three episodes. Let’s not waste any time and look at the past three episodes of Garo Honoo no Kokuin.

Episode 14- We mainly follow Alphonso around in this episode. We start by seeing his day to day duties as the prince and for substituting for his father, and then him running away for a bit of relaxation, but of course he ends up finding only danger and has to kill a Horror, one who was once his childhood hero, a legendary knight. On that level it is interesting to see Alphonso be confronted this way, with his childhood past sort of ripped apart in front of him, but they don’t really do anything with it except for maybe showing Alphonse being distracted for a split second, but I think the girl falling off the building was the bigger distraction there. I do like the idea that we are now seeing how being both a leader of men by day and a hero by night is starting to wear on Alphonso, but he still has German to relay on so it isn’t over whelming yet. We also get to see Leon, and he is still living with the nice farming folks and getting closer to the daughter. I admit, after the success of the last episode just focusing on those folks and Leon, I want more of that. Though when Leon eventually leaves will just be all the more painful because of that. All in all not an important episode, but nothing really wrong with it. 

Episode 15- This is probably the most interesting of the three episodes I will be covering in quick succession. A group of crafters, from metal working to cloths and boot making to a butcher, are so inspired by the Knight of Light, Alphonso using the Garo armor that they want to make their own and protect the city themselves. The episode is very silly with the main character for it speaking into a camera, though none exist at this time in history that the series takes place in, to the suit they built having a rocket punch feature. From the second the episode started I was expecting this whole endeavor to do dark very quickly. I was expecting the suit to act as a gateway for a Horror, or someone to take the building of the suit too far and sacrifice someone for it. And the show knew that. They joke about the intestines used for the steam pipes being the intestines of the butcher’s son, but not his real son but his prized piglet, really through me for a loop in a good way. Garo as a franchise does episodes like this fairly often, where the focus isn’t on our heroes at all, usually only showing up for a short scene in the middle and then at the end to defeat the Horror of the week. It usually goes very dark very quickly, but this time everyone lived. For a really random episode that didn’t even really have a Horror in it, it was really great. 

Episode 16- This episode follows German in one of the more classic Horrors that the anime has produced. Many Horrors in the live action series usually prey on a specific type of meal. They like to make their food taste better by bathing them in an emotion of some sort. Fear for some Horrors, bliss for others. There was one who would create a scene of absolute fear, followed by relief that it was actually fake, and then eat her meal. So this week’s Horror, a doctor who heals his prey and when they are at the height of health once again, consumes, is right in that wheel house. The Horror was really great. He was so obsessed with healing the sick he had to heal German in the middle of the fight. That is just really funny, and gives the Horror some much needed characterization. Yes they are monsters but the older ones have personalities and quirks. It’s nice to see them once in a while. German also shined in this episode. I like his slowly developing relationship with the one girl, though I also know that most likely it will end in tragedy. That’s just how Garo works. Nice things happen only at the series finale. But this was a classic style episode and was very enjoyable 

Next week, and yes I will get back on track with doing these weekly, we see more of Leon and his life in the country. Let’s see how badly it goes for him. So until then, keep on watching.

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