What They Say:
Even after seventeen years, the witch hunts continue. The goal is to eliminate all the protectors of the people. However, the people they protect can be consumed by darkness, fall to darkness, and consume others as well.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
The witch hunts orchestrated by Mendosa continue unabated. On their journey back to the kingdom in which Leon’s mother was slain, his early memories the execution haunt his nightmares and cause his latent Golden Knight powers to go haywire. If not for his father’s timely intervention, he’d have been consumed by them. The organization in charge of the Makai Knights give German information on Mendoza, the former Makai Alchemist who turned on the organization in a grab for power, and promptly sends the duo to a part of the kingdom where it’s been said Horrors are gathering. Stopping in town for the night, they catch word of women vanishing and witches being slain. An investigation leads to a suspicious priest who has unknowingly managed to capture a Makai Alchemist (played rather handily by Romi Park). Upon learning of the truth of his captive, he reveals himself as a Horror. Leon springs into attack, and when he catches the sight of a recently used execution stake, he goes berserk again. Emma, the mysterious alchemist is able to defeat the Horror while German is forced to calm his son down by force.
Meanwhile, Prince Alfonso’s destiny takes a sharp right turn when his mother is (presumably falsely) accused by Mendosa of slowly poisoning the king to hasten Alfonso’s ascent to the throne. What’s more Alfonso is accused of being a bastard child with the blood of a Makai Knight flowing through his veins. With the arrest of his mother, Alfonso is left with no other choice but exile in order to bide the time needed to reclaim the throne that was stolen from him.
Overall, the second outing for Garo maintained the flow the first episode set. The action was frantically paced, the priest’s Horror form was rather cleverly designed (both forms), and the plot seems to be getting ready to bring all of the protagonists together sooner rather than later. The CG, while a sharp contrast to the actual 2D character designs, is no more invasive than Tiger & Bunny or Gatchaman CROWDS. It’s smooth and consistent, keeping pace with the traditionally animated elements as best as it can. There were some odd interactions, particularly between 3D transformed Leon and the 2D priest Horror, but it was nothing that distracted too much. There’s also some terminology to memorize. It’s not too extreme, but there may be a term missed that could play an important role later.
As with the first episode, there is a trigger warning that must be stressed between Emma and the priest. While she is revealed to have the upper hand the entire time of her captivity and the priest is never actually able to physically harm her, she is brought to him bruised and bloodied and the priest has an entire monologue with her about how torturing women gives him sexual pleasure while threatening her with torture devices. It’s nothing of extreme intensity, but it bears mentioning.
In Summary:
Garo’s second outing has some minor flaws, but they shouldn’t distract from a package that is consistently fun. I stand by my statement recommending Garo, it might take a little work to keep with it.
Did I mention the OP yet? That’s pretty good too.
Grade: B+
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment: 17” HP Pavillion Laptop running Windows 8, Google Chrome
