Garo: Vanishing Line

Garo: Vanishing Line, the 3rd installment of the Garo series, which *SPOLIER TIME* if you don't know, here's a trait of these types: 1) Every Garo story takes place in a different city (Spain, Japan, US) 2) Whatever the story is, the good vs. evil divergence story setting is STILL the same with Makai Knights vs. Horrors and the masterminds behind each series 3) Expect intense action with good yet improving CGI since all of the Garo anime series are done by the one and only MAPPA. ...except, when you realize who's directing this series, and it's a Korean! This is Park Sunghoo's 1st role as director, and whilesome (or most) of us don't quite agree that Koreans should take helm at Japanese anime, I definitely feel that regardless of origin, they can still make wonders and it shines here. Personally, this is my 1st ever exposure into the Garo series, since my niche wasn't action-based and while I wasn't looking forward to watching the others before it (but luckily they weren't related to each other), I gave this a shot, and it holds out pretty well. Story (in a nutshell coz it's too long): There exists Russell City (in the setting of the US), a prospective city in New York, with Garo now being brandished under a very muscular man named Sword who for most intentions, is a lustful oppai worshipper *pun intended* other than his Garo self. His intentions of smirking around the city comes in a form of a passphrase "El Dorado", a sinister plot by the Horrors to use the people in gain for their purposes. An encounter with a girl named Sophia Hennes and her near-encounter death when the Horrors strike down on her from her missing brother's request to bring her into "El Dorado" caught the sight of Sword, and both people (along with Gina and Luke who joined hands later) decided to vain in search only from the lead that is the world of "El Dorado". From the outset, as mentioned in point no.1, every Garo story is set of from a city universe. Along the way, the story did get interesting with the CGI-supported action that really sometimes feel like a letdown, but yet feeling accomplished after all that is said and done, and when it came down to the ending, I was feeling nothing but pure satisfaction that arose from the interest from the very beginning, and I really have to say that this is the pinnacle of the Garo series. Characters: Sword for one, he's strong, robust and doesn't give second thoughts when it comes to exterminating evil as the Makai Golden Knight Garo. Other from his worshipping oppai lustfulness that sometimes rack my funny bones out, I've gotta say that Sword is a full-on-experience person. But all this could not be said without some tragedies, which he lost his sister in the past, and strives to take upon himself to find out what's going on and eradicate it. Most importantly, with his trusty motorbike aid Zaruba who serves as an advisor and a Horror detector, Sword is a character that though can fight like his determination will go, but too has a heart of gold for the other characters, especially for Sophie (as like a father to a daughter). Sophia Hennes is the oddball BUT plot-moving pointer in the series. Her search for her missing brother Martin Hennes come forth in a password that is "El Dorado" a city of people used by Horrors to power their existence (which he was proclaimed the King of El Dorado, but only as a tool). Once an orphan, took into a home to be taken care of until the Horrors searched for her with the unknown purpose of the Horror masters. Her character might be whining from the start as her pursuing of her brother who's a genius hacker and had outstanding IT skills, and as a brother who cared for her in many ways, sets up the mood for how Sophia journeys with Sword, Gina and Luke into discovering the same purposes and fighting off against the same type of evil they were searching for. Gina, another Makai Alchemist, and probably the character we adore the most in this series, as her flirtatious but manipulative self serves as the supporting role to help Sword and Luke fight off the Horrors. When it comes to Gina, her actions light up the overall supporting action that was once great, but her appearance made it better tenfold. Though a woman in heart, when it comes to her sensitivity, there's nothing else that could beat her likeness as her closeness with Sophia re-enacts her decision to protect her ultimate goal (as like a mother to daughter). Luke, yet another Makai Alchemist, and one that might be the most stubborn in the crew, but yet has a life mission in his hands: to overcome his past of a family conflict when he was trained to be a Makai Knight by his father, Knight (now the Dark Knight which serves El Dorado) until the gruesome murder of his mother became the source of hate for him against Knight which he swore his revenge on, improving his skills and awaiting the days where he could take down the Dark Knight, eliminating the hate of years gone by. The gun-welding person in the crew, with bullets targeted to manipulate and eradicate Horrors, he sometimes cannot be empathized for his behavior against the others, but at times the figure of understanding his past gives light to who he is in training towards the fights that he encounters, that solidifies him as the support character in the most sensical way. The Horrors, Bishop, Knight and Queen, did their job at stopping the Makai Knights from realizing their goals, and I'd bet that they truly evoke the "pure evil" tried-and-true villain requirements, that was handsomely put down by the thought of the Makai Knights whose goals have been to eradicate Horrors from the get=go. Overall, a wide range of the cast of characters, but the good kind of showy action. Art/Animation: I'm a huge fan of MAPPA's works, so to see that their expertise from the very get-go doesn't draw any cutback and instead let us right through into the scenes...with intensive action that's led by the CGI effects. Here's the caveat though: Often outlandish action doesn't mean the action lines up with whatever the storytelling is, but whatever Garo: Vanishing Line does, it strikes the chord of well-balanced heavy action with the storytelling, with switching from light-hearted to dark, depressing moments. Props to MAPPA for a series that has consistently improved ever since the 1st installment (since I've heard that the preceding ones didn't do as well of a job as this one does). Sound: With cool, good-looking action, comes some crazy-intense BGM, and it's finger lickin' good (and yes I know it's a pun, but it really supports the action VERY outstandingly well, and always gets me pumped for whatever's to come). But the OPs and EDs...while they're OK, nothing to scorn yet say of its achievements. At first I really thought that people will praise the soundtrack, but that totally backfired. For my preference, I do like JAM Project's songs, and while most people hate the 1st OP, I actually do love the intensity that it gives and it never disappoints. (Rant at me all you want you haters). Same as with the ED, the 2nd one is a vast improvement over the mellow 1st (since the story hasn't yet fleshed out by that point). Overall an OK OST by all terms. Overall: Garo: Vanishing Line, a series that I didn't thought would sell my soul into, became one of the (only few) action anime that I would eventually come to love and set as one of the recent favorites. For all its intensity though, setting this at a 2-cour, 24 episodes setting is really putting a lot of strain on the storyline because thought it might feel that some episodes are canon to the series, it did help set the future stories in motion for their effort. All in all, if you're someone who loves heavy action, try this new installment of the Garo series. You can choose to watch the ones before, but serves no point since they're NOT related to one another, so better off watch this one instead. It's for all intentions, a story that will grip you from start to end.

As a MAPPA fan, I almost never deny their shows a try, with Garo: Vanishing Line being no exception. And it was actually a quite nice watch. Nothing mind-blowing or world-changing, but a comfortable and colourful watch. This is my first entry to the Garo-franchise, so I will have no comparisons with the other series in the Garo-universe in my review. The story is a bit slow paced, taking its time to its finishing line (yes, pun intended). As gathered from the synopsis, the main story is about the girl Sophie Hennes and the Makai knight Sword, and their common goal to find thismystery Eldorado. Its about more than that though. The story takes place in a more or less post-apocalyptic US-like country, with isolated cities scattered throughout. Horrors (demon-like creatures) is rooming the landscape and infiltrating the cities, hunting for human flesh and souls. Humans are usually not aware about the existence of these creatures, and it happens quite frequently that they get possessed by one when their emotions get dark and the horrors get attracted by those emotions. Once possessed, the person can never get human again and the only way to salvation is to get killed along with the horror. Against this threat, a secret group of people exist, the Makai Knights. Their sole purpose is to defeat horrors and protect people from them at all costs. There are different types of Makai Knight´s, like the gunslinger, heavy-sword fighter, or the alchemist, but all have in common that they can use magic of some sort. Sophie is an orphan and are looking for her older brother, and Sword is trying to make up with his with his past. The basic idea isn´t overly original, deep or thought provoking. But as a mentioned before, it has a nice vibe, sometimes cosy and sometimes right out horrifying (yes, pun intended again). It has classic cool elements, like, a young girl looking for her brother, monster that needs to be slain, and personal problems that need to be solved. The main story is built on progressively throughout an otherwise episodic pattern which ebbs out towards the end by getting more coherent. The episodes of episodic nature often have common themes though, like searching for a clue about Eldorado, fighting horrors and other enemies, and eating delicious meals. And some are used to get to know the key characters and their pasts, or current paths. I think it was a nice touch. Is this MAPPA´s most dazzling creation? No, it gets quite obvious that Garo: VL wasn´t their top priority. It looks very good in the beginning, but slowly drops in quality to hit a low somewhere half-way, to get a bit better towards the end again. Especially the art. I like the fact that they used a very strong and distinct colour palette, with vibrant red, purple, yellow, pink, brown, blue and green. I think that drew home the atmosphere of the show. The action scenes can be a “wow” or “whaat?!” experience. They often have neck breaking speed, but if you force yourself to really watch, the movements make sense. Watched like that, they actually became kind of cool, but it demands effort. Character designs are good and original enough, with distinguishing traits. Speaking of the characters, they were actually pretty good. Once again, not ground breaking, but good. Sophie is stubborn, naïve but brave in her own way. Sword is the classic brawny explosive character with a huge fancy for the opposite sex. At first, he has no intentions to team up with Sophie, but she´s quite persistent, and together with some unavoidable events, starts to warm up to her. I digged their dynamic. Tina and Luke are also pretty interesting in their own way. Luke is your quiet and brooding type of guy, which has roots in his past. Tina is your typical femme fatale, but with a pretty heavy arsenal up her sleeve. I liked their individual journey´s and chapters. The rest varied in quality and appeal, but many filled out the story well. The sound and soundtrack are decent enough, but nothing overly exiting either. The VA´s (Japanese) were all more than ok, and well matched with their character. So, to summon things up, I liked Garo: VL quite a lot. Not an 8 maybe, but a solid 7. I will probably re-watch it to get a better all over flow and feeling of it, I have a suspicion that Garo: VL is better watched that way. Sadly, this show seems to have been put in the shadows these past two seasons, and probably never will have a larger audience. Which is a shame, because Garo: VL probably has better qualities than more than half what’s been airing at the same time. I can warmly recommend you Garo: VL if you are into classic action-hero stories, don´t have a problem with slower paced episodic narrative and can accept some quality fluxes in the art and animation.

Would you like to get HYPED? Are you looking for some action? Here is the place! Garo:Vanishing line is a standalone anime, so you don't need to watch the older Garos in order to watch this one. What is this about? Well the sypnosis probably tells it better but in summary: Knights and Alchemists fighting Horrors, making their way to uncover the mysteries of El Dorado. Why did I like it so much? Because it was great. It did exactly what I was looking for. Sometimes it feels like shows try to make action anime epic yet fail with some underhanded tactics. Either fights ending too soon, orjust not being hype enough. But... Garo did it right. The combination of the music, art and animation, and the fight scenes in general were well done. What about the story? There was a general story line about going to El Dorado. But... It was a bit lacking. Since it was a 2 cour, they had a lot of time to... strech? Some episodes didn't really contribute to the general story line and just showed some cool fights. So basically the story picks up its pace only later on. While it didn't feel the most original story ever, it was pretty unique. And you don't really need to reinvent the wheel in order for a story to be great. Sound was amazing, it made every fight scene make me hyped. Also, OP/ED were fine, nothing too impressive but not bad either. As for characters... There was some fine development. Some getting stronger, or for some we can see the relationships grow stronger. None of the characters really fall to "cliches" so that was pretty nice. Overall enjoyment- I didn't watch it weekly. I watched a bunch of episodes every month or two, and this week I binged the last 8 episodes. Binging it all together is a lot more fun than weekly in my opinion. Generally, I enjoyed that. Do I recommend it? YES I do! If you're an action lover, you'll probably like this. Bottom Score: 8/10 Bonus part: Since I watched the very first Garo anime, I might want to compare it a little. Garo:Vanishing Line and the first Garo are pretty different because of the eras. (This one is modern, older one is in the middle ages). Vanishing Line was better. I felt like the older Garo was nice to watch as well but I don't remember it being as hype as Vanishing line. And I also don't recall it having action fights as great as Vanishing Line.

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS MILD SPOILERS Garo: Vanishing Line is the third Garo TV series, with a modern setting with action happening in Russell City, it follows the story of Sword, a makai knight who dons the golden armor to protect human from the eternal threat called horror which comes to this world from Makai Realm using humans negative emotions, Gina, a makai priest who uses spells to destroy horrors, Luke, who uses guns to hunt horrors and Sophie, a girl who is searching for her brother. Great unique story, well paced episodes having well choreographed battles, characters which whom you will instantly love and a ride thatwill make you beg for more is what Vanishing Line lacks. Story 5/10 Let's talk about the story. The story starts good, looking promising. After few episodes I found myself wanting more, after half of this aired I started to feel something was lacking, what this lacks is a good arc, with few exceptions this show follows the episodic rule meaning you won't find longer arcs, the episode starts and by the end the conflict is over, of course there is the long arc which is the sole purpose of this anime who in the end fails to deliver and it brings the old twist that even a 5 year old kid might've guessed. Art 6/10 The animation here is better that it's predecessor which completely failed it. The 3DCG animation blends well with 2D . The character design here is good, showing masculine males when it needs and normal looking females. A good depiction of reality with various types of the human body. What I dislike here is the fact they didn't put enough effort in showing golden armor at it's full potential, the battles where short, you would catch a glimpse of the armor and everything is over in the next second. Sound 6/10 The sound was okay, the voice acting was good and the songs where catchy. Nothing too memorable here. Character 3/10 This is another bad thing about Vanishing Line. The characters are developed, but only in the case of good guys in the case of villains, the creator must thought something among these lines: "I want some villain who is strong and also some drama." "How about some one sided character, a traitor who is obsessed with power for no apparent reason?" "Great! Let's do that!". While others are just there with some brief explanations thrown in haste. While the characters are developed up to some point they stop growing in more directions and when they grow unidirectional the attachment towards them won't change. In my case I was neutral to all because they lacked solid backstories. Heck, I might be attached more to a random character who appears for 2 minutes just to be killed for the sake of story, than the main characters. Enjoyment 3/10 and Overall 4/10 A story that tries to be different but falls in the cliché category too many times, lack of solid twists, predicable developments, although I wasn't particularity displeased in every episode, there are several good episodes in this, I was left hoping for more and it seems it was just another Garo anime made to milk the original series with no intention of surpassing it. This was too long for it's own sake, this could've ended in 12-13 episodes without significant content loss, this fails to bring out the full potential of Garo, the spotlight is more on horrors than the Golden Knight. As a movie this could've been much better,great even, but as a 24 episodes run this stretched for too long, leaving much potential unused and failing to bring in light what could've made this a better anime. As a verdict and also a summary of everything above all I will say is: You might enjoy this if you are not looking for something outstanding, you don't look for too much in your characters, you are happy with action anime that shows little action. Or you are looking for a normal anime, not a part of Garo series, this is okay but as a Garo anime this is a disappointment. For those who want to get into Garo series I'd recommend to watch the original anime or the live action, just stay away from this and the other Garo anime.

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