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Garo Season 2 Collection 1 (review)

Posted by :Patches On : August 11, 2018
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Category: Our Store, Stuff You Might Want To Know, What's Happening

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Title: Garo TV Season 2 Collection 1

Director: Keita Amemiya, Makoto Yokoyama, Kengo Kaji & Ryu Kaneda

Network: TV Tokyo

U. S. Distributor: Sentai Filmworks, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: Aug. 7th, 2018

Format: Blu-ray / 13 Episodes / 325 Minutes

Genre: Super Sentai, Super Hero, Action, Adventure

Age Rating: TV MA

Overall Personal Rating: C-

Synopsis:

In the war against the nightmarish creatures known as Horrors, Mankind’s most formidable line of defense has always been the power of the Makai Knights. But now, one by one, the Knights are being mystically marked for death by a mysterious magic user in a crimson mask.

Even Kouga, the bearer of the golden GARO wolf armor, is among the afflicted, with the accursed mark slowly draining his strength, and making the use of his armor incredibly painful. Who is the Red Mask and how has he (or she) been able to target the Knights so effectively? All signs point to a betrayal from within their own ranks and now it’s up to Kouga, Rei, and the other Knights to track down their enemy while they’re still strong enough to defeat him!

Commentary:

Super Sentai is one of those genres that has given us the overrated Power Ranger but also continues to toss out mature series like Garo. Funny thing about Garo is that it really doesn’t need to be a mature series. Take out some nudity and dark unnecessary scenes you would have a series that is no better than the silly Power Rangers. I do miss the early days of Ultraman or even Jonny Socko and his flying Robot / Giant Robo. It is mush easier to deal with these super heroes if they didn’t take themselves so seriously.

I really want to like Kouga, but because of his overtly serious mood all the time he becomes someone I didn’t care for at all. Red and some of the other Makai Knights are easy to like and I wanted them to win and maybe even show Kouga a thing or two.  It never worked out that way and I ended up being sad.

Overall Grade: C-

I would love to say that the special effects are great and that the acting was wonderful, but that is not the way it is. I would also love to say that the stories were well written and insightful along with engrossing, but again that just isn’t the case. The one thing I can say is that the overall production values are above average (except for special effects).

Garo season two is for a very special audience. It is for those Super Sentai fans that need a little nudity and darkness to overshadow the basic story that provides creepy demons and over-the-top good guys. Garo will provide a great look at the Japanese super hero stories that we just don’t see over here and I do suggest seeing a few episodes just to experience this world.

 

GARO Red Requiem (film review)

Posted by :Patches On : March 27, 2018
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Category: Reviews

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Title: GARO Red Requiem on Blu-ray

Director: Keita Amemiya

Written By: Itaru Eda and Keita Amemiya

Starring: Ryosie Konishi, Mary Matsuyama, Masahiro Kuranuki and Hironobu Kageyama

Studio: Tohokushinsha Film

U. S. Distributor: Kraken Releasing, Section 23

U. S. Release Date: April 4th, 2018

Format: Blu-ray/ Feature Film / 97 Minutes

Genre: Super Sentai, Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy

Age Rating: TV MA

Overall Personal Rating: C-

Synopsis:

During the ancient war against the monstrous creatures known as Horrors, many Makai Priestesses have fought and died in battle, yet no woman has ever been chosen to wear the mystic armor of the Makai Knights. Kouga, the current bearer of the gold wolf armor, Garo, doesn’t believe it’s even possible, but when his quest to destroy the Horror Karma thrusts him into conflict alongside the fiery Priestess Rekka, he’s forced to acknowledge that the female is often the deadlier of the species! Because Rekka has a personal score to settle with Karma, and she’s determined to destroy that Horror herself! It will be all Kouga and his Mado Ring Zaruba can do to keep the three of them alive long enough to do it in the GARO universe’s first spectacular feature film directed by Keita Amemiya, GARO Red Requiem.

Commentary:

Garo: Red Requiem is, well, how should I put this, a Super Sentai for adults. Yes, it is Power Rangers all grown up. I can’t say that the transition was all that great, but there are some scenes that contain enough nudity that it requires a mature rating. Other than that, it is just a dark, demonic, Super Sentai. The acting is in par with the Power Rangers and even some of the Ultraman series that have recently been released. It defies logic sometimes to understand how or why the acting is so bad, but it is the nature of this type of shows. Now, in Power Rangers or Ultraman the audience is young enough to see it as fun and extra cool, but in Garo; Red Requiem it just makes it a little more difficult to watch.

Overall Grade: C-

Honestly, I can be a sucker for these silly Super Sentai films because I was raised on Godzilla, Ultraman and even Johnny Socko (who does not rock). Garo: Red Requiem just falls short for me. There is a  solid story line or plot there but the fact that most of the real plot was absent, left me out in the cold. I think that if they would have followed the lead of a film like Zebraman, allowed the story to develop a little more and also added onto the love interest between Kouga and Rekk, then maybe there would have been more connection to the story. Instead there was just hints at connections and then large plot devices left up to the viewer to discover.

For as much as I found lacking with Garo: Red Requiem, I guess that I still enjoyed it enough to laugh at the goofy times and enjoy the battles in a way that is required from these over-the-top stories. So, if you are looking for a Super Sentai film with plenty of computer graphic demons and half naked women to keep you watching, then Garo: Red Requiem is just the ticket.