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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Watch | 8 | 8 | 8 | 5 | 5 | 5 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:3109#1552] |
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Garo: Crimson Moon adapts the story elements of Garo: The Animation, yet within a feudal Japan settings focusing on the efforts of Raikou and others to slay the supernatural beings known as Horrors. Whereas the original Garo got by with complex characters having their moral flaws like Leon's goals of revenge, Crimson Moon opts to go into more cliched territory by watering down its characters to follow simple archetypes to a great degree and the storytelling going down a similar path where the majority of episodes follow a "Horror of the day" mold before pushing into its main conflict with the plans of Ashiya Douman. Visually, the series is better-looking on the eyes compared to the original Garo with more polished artwork and details, with the Makai Knight attire being more smoothly integrated with the regular animation. Still, better visuals don't save this baby from being inferior in storytelling quality compared to its earlier counterpart as the more cliched storytelling makes it more forgettable to watch in comparison.
Last updated Sunday, June 25 2017. Created Sunday, June 25 2017. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
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[series:3109#628] | ||||||
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(Five episodes watched): I figured that this show was unrelated to Garo: The Animation, since it had a Samurai-era Japanese setting whereas that one had been more medieval European. But the mentions of 'Horrors', a 'Makai Priest', and most of all the appearance of a supernaturally powered suit of ornate armor made it clear that the two were closely related. The basic premise is the same, but the location and characters have been redone. The basic plot seems to be different, not just a redo of the first that is set in Japan. I recall that the original Garo was an OK show which I watched to the end, and this one seemed kind of fun and intriguing as well. Lord Raikou, apparently a down on his luck nobleman, and his child (or is he a midget?) assistant were sort of neat characters who I found modestly interesting (many anime cannot manage to create characters which I find even slightly interesting). I hope Lady Seimei is as much fun as Garn, the lazy but sharp-tongued girl in the first series. I also recall that the story in the first series got confusing and frustrating at times, and only time would tell if this one had the same problem. But Garo II had passed it's first test and I would watch some more. Episode two seemed kind of confusing. It seemed that a fourth member was joining the Horror fighting team, then the plot suddenly made a 180 degree turn and it didn't happen after all. Perhaps I have never completely understood what Horrors are and why they are such a big deal; and now yet another sort of evil creature comes along, which leaves me sort of scratching my head. What's this guy with scars all over his face again? How can he vanish into thin air? What's the difference between a Horror and a Demon (and were there even more evil creatures? I forget)? I wish the premise and plot of this show were made more clear. It's not a bad show, it just could have been better if a little care had been taken to tell the story more skillfully. For instance, the episode where a Princess seems to actually be a Horror, and Raikou and friends investigate. It was modestly interesting, but the solution wasn't all that remarkable and the story didn't have much of a lesson to it. This sequel just doesn't seem quite as good as the first Garo series. In episode five a modestly interesting conflict involving an aristocratic man and the peasant girl he loves is set up--and then everything is thrown away as she becomes possessed by a Horror. I hated this; she had been a likeable character that I could feel sympathy for, then her personality was casually discarded. Apparently anybody who gets angry is liable to be seized by a Horror, so free will is largely pointless and neither good nor evil means anything. And WTF are Horrors anyway? I think this show would be better if it discarded Horrors altogether and Raikou was just a hero who tries to correct injustice. It just seems sloppy and careless at times. Some minor downloading problems were more than enough to make Garo II no longer worth watching to me. Last updated Thursday, March 24 2016. Created Thursday, October 15 2015. | ||||||||
