Friday, February 20, 2015

Garo Honoo no Kokuin ep18



Garo Honoo no Kokuin 

While the death of Leon’s potential lover is something that I am pretty sure everyone called, it has been very well handled within the show. Alfonso’s leaving Leon alone to bury his dead, only leaving him with a sword to defend himself with, is an honest human mistake that one would make when dealing with a grieving friend or relative. You think they need time to sort themselves out but really they need someone to help them grieve with. That’s why the reappearance of Leon’s inner rage makes sense. He is at his most vulnerable here, and the inner anger is going to take advantage of that. I don’t personally like what they did with Leon’s curse mark thingy. I was hoping that is was going to be something more than just a manifestation of Leon’s unhealthy quest for vengeance. Like that it was something that happened from the death of his mother, an accidently Makai magic gone wrong. And while that still has the possibility of being something deeper than just rage issues, it kind of closes the door on that for the most part. 

Leon’s fight with Alfonso was the highlight of the episode. It was an amazing show of skill and animation. It was definitely one of the best fights in the series so far. In the lore of the world, at least in the live action series, Makai Knights are no allowed to fight one another outside of very special occasions, or if a fellow Knight has fallen to darkness. But despite this restriction the fights between Knights are always great. It is a great mix of martial arts and sword play and is just a good time. I’m happy that the anime has kept up with this pseudo-tradition. And the outcome of the fight, while expected, was still very nice to see. Leon in the real Garo armor, not the strange version that he had before, is a sight to see and he plays the regal Knight very well. And he has Zaruba back, and Zaruba is talking with him! That just makes this episode the best one for me. More Zaruba is always welcome here.

The other big plot point of the episode is about German. He finally slept with the woman he was staying with, and then he leaves her before the morning, leaving her alone and sad. But he leaves her to apparently work with the big bad from the previous cour, on orders from the Makai big bosses, the Watch Dogs. This is going to be the new plot for till the end of the show, I assume, with German on one side and the younger Makai Knights on the other. It looks like it is building to an interesting climax to the series. So until next time, have fun watching.

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