Garo - Honoo no Kokuin - Anime Review

I honestly never watched Garo before. Heck, I'm not even familiar with it at all! But I only know "Yeah dude, this is an Adult tokusatsu series, by adult I mean, there's a lot of cleavages!" when it comes to Garo. So, when it showed up on Fall 2014, I didn't really check it out. Until my friend told me "dude you have to watch it!". So I've watched it, It is a 24 episodes series long with normal air time done by Studio MAPPA. How was it? Let's just jump into the review!


Story
The story took place in a medieval ages, In Valiente Kingdom, Some kind of Spanish inquisition.  where witch hunt is a thing on that era. Witches are perceived to be a bad thing. But in actuality, they are not bad! Witches are keeping the order and peace in secret. In this world, there are monsters called "Horrors". And the witches which are Alchemist and Makai Knights are the one who destroys them. The king's right hand, Mendoza, convinces the king to urge the witch hunt and kill all of them by burning them alive. One day, there's a pregnant witch that is being burned alive, and then suddenly a Makai Knight named German, saved the child from that burning pregnant witch. And then 17 years has passed, the saved child is named Leon. He is under German's supervision and training to become the proper Makai Knight. And both of them hunt the Horrors together and looking for the source where those horrors come from. Will they succeed?

My thoughts on the series

1. When I watched the first episode of this series, I'm hooked instantly! It feels like the first chapters of Berserk Manga. But less serious than Berserk. This series is quite dark and I must say the theme is very mature. Now I understand why this is a series for mature audiences when it comes to Tokusatsu series haha
2. This series has unique and interesting characters. I care for all the characters in this series, (well except the main villain, because I hate him!). And from the first episode alone, German is insta-best character for me! He is a badass character but laid back at the same time. He feels like Spike Spiegel from Cowboy Bebop but the main difference is that he is a womanizer. 
3. Speaking of characters, I really like the character arc for Leon. I hardly can like him as a character at first episodes because he is like this angry teenager at all time. But in the end, he makes a good differences and have a great character development. 
4. This series' is almost episodic at first. But later on, it continues on as a series. Which is great for world building and giving us the exposition that we need to understand how their world looks like and how their world works. 
5. The animation is done by Studio MAPPA. And my god they did deliver! the animation looks solid and cool! Especially eps 18. I won't spoil it for you, but the fighting animation is so good! SAO's fighting animation can go to hell and cry watching this super good animation! When they "henshin" wearing Makai Armor, the animation became 3D CG, it could be jarring for some people. But for me, it looks good for this anime! Mostly people will complain about 3DCG because it feels out of place in anime. But it works in this anime since Makai Knights and Horror are "out of this" world. 
6. The soundtrack is awesome! There are a lot of outstanding tracks for this anime. Especially when they fight as Makai Knights. Every Makai Knights have their own theme song, and when the music cues in, it is sure impactful! My favorite track would be Rafael's theme. The song has choir and my god it is beyond epic! Just listen to this track! 
7. The Opening is done by JAM Project. There are two songs and I think both of them nailed the feel of the series. And for me this two Openings are the one that I won't skip when the episode plays. Because JAM Project always deliver great and epic songs! As for the ending song, they also are good!  

Actually I don't really have problems with this anime at all except for the plot which is somehow predictable for me but still doesn't ruin the experience and my enjoyment for this series. But I think people would be have some problem with the 3D CG Makai Armor. Because that's what people in anime community mostly complain in anime hahahaha!

So final thoughts? Should you watch Garo : Honoo no Kokuin? A solid yes for me if you enjoyed dark fantasy. It's a brilliantly written and crafted animated series that you should be watching right now! It has great animation, great story, great characters, and amazing soundtracks! XD

That's it from me guys, I hope that you will find this review useful for you. This is Reikichi, signing out!