Garo: The Animation is an interesting property in a variety of ways. For one, it's an “adaptation” of a very established tokusatsu series - but instead of mirroring the modern format of its parent series, it's actually a period drama riffing on a fantasy version of the Spanish Inquisition. Its head writer Yasuko Kobayashi has not only worked on a variety of renowned anime (Attack on Titan, Casshern Sins), but also has plentiful writing credits on many tokusatsu productions, meaning Garo takes some clear influences from live-action storytelling. And finally, the show is also one of the first full productions by MAPPA, who've made a name for themselves in just a few years through their excellent work on series like Terror in Resonance and Rage of Bahamut. Garo's a somewhat unusual work, but it has a whole lot of talent woven into its DNA.

In light of all that, it's not that surprising that Garo is both a unique and noteworthy production. Medieval fantasy is well-worn territory for anime, but Garo's Spanish Inquisition flavor really gives it a personality all its own. And on top of that, the show hews closer to classic adventure serial storytelling than standard manga or light novel formats. It is archetypal in ways that work to its benefit, and creative in ways that really help it stand out.

Garo presents an alternate Inquisition-era kingdom known as Valiante, where witches actually exist, and are hunted for their presumed wickedness. But in truth, the “witches” of this world are actually members of the Makai order, whose knights and alchemists work to defeat the true monsters, known as Horrors. Makai knights are sworn never to harm ordinary humans, and so when the king's evil advisor Mendoza takes over Valiante, they are powerless to stop his witch hunts. But two chosen boys escape the flames - the Makai Knight Leon Luis, who is saved by his father German, and the king's son, Alfonso. These two young men will have to take hold of their own destinies on the way to a final confrontation with Mendoza.

The show's first half plays out as a series of semi-episodic adventures, as Leon and Alfonso work to become true Makai knights and eventually find either revenge or peace. Leon is straight-laced and full of anger, so focused on vengeance that he often can't even control his own strength. His father German is a consumate scoundrel, generally more interested in seeking women then justice. Together, the two of them ramble across the Valiante countryside, clashing with Makai alchemist Ema and defeating episodic Horror opponents and slowly making their way to the capital and Mendoza.

Garo's characters are charming, and its episodes and overall plot both fairly well-constructed. There's a sense of archetypal rightness to the inevitable strokes of the plot - Leon's struggles with his desire for revenge, and Alfonso's attempts to save his kingdom, both feel like “tales as old as time” material. When the big dramatic beats come, they feel theatrical and completely earned - there's only one way Leon and Alfonso could meet, and only one way their last meeting could end. The show also makes strong use of its premise to set up engaging episodic conflicts, at one point leaning into the “creepy, remote village” school of horror storytelling, and elsewhere letting loose with a ribald tale that German spends almost entirely naked. It's almost the same kind of swashbuckling fantasy storytelling MAPPA also employed in Rage of Bahamut, except with a bit more focus on character than spectacle.

Garo's aesthetics largely work in its favor, though the tokusatsu premise makes for some awkward edges. Basically the one inescapable element of the Garo franchise is the costume itself, here represented as a CG suit of armor that Makai knights don to fight horrors. The CG of the knights' suits and the horrors they fight is about as good as you could expect from a modern television anime, meaning it's occasionally unimpressive, mostly functional, and can sometimes clash with the traditionally animated elements. Fortunately, Garo's direction works hard to make the most of its CG - almost any fight that leans on the tokusatsu suits is composed as a sequence that could only work in CG. Cameras swing around models or follow characters forward through burning buildings, indulging in all manner of perspective tricks that would be impossible to traditionally animate. Garo: The Animation is in some ways a showcase for where anime CG is at today, and though I'm personally an old fogey who's naturally suspicious of heavy CG work, Garo does its best to sell its CG elements.

More consistently strong are Garo's character designs and overall visual direction. Garo's characters have a distinctive, angular style that gives each of them a very unique profile. These characters are quite expressive, and their designs lend themselves to beautiful traditionally animated battles. The overall looseness of the designs also benefits the show's side characters, as minor players can be rendered as exaggerated caricatures of all shapes and sizes. And the show's Horrors are a wild menagerie of awful creatures, each new monster design a reward all of its own. I'd be happy to see more shows embrace visual styles as loose and diverse as Garo's.

The show's direction and shot framing is even more impressive. Not only are the backgrounds of Valiante beautiful, but the composition of many shots here makes poetry of the relationship between characters and their environments. Characters are framed in ominous symmetry, curve to match the rising peaks of the architecture, or find themselves visually trapped in the ice and flames of the show's magical elements. There are a couple episodes here and there that are content to be merely functional in their shot framing, but on the whole, Garo is rife with beautiful moments that honor the show's high fantasy aspirations.

The show's music is also a point in its favor, featuring a varied mix of classical instrumentation, saucy, upbeat guitar, and melancholy vocal tracks. I particularly liked the track generally used for moments of contemplation and mourning, which rides on an understated vocal melody, but the soundtrack is equally well-suited to high adventure and silly character moments. The opening sequence deserves mention as well; JAM Project's energetic style are a good match for the material, but more than that, the constantly morphing visuals are one of the show's best animation treats. The show's dub is also quite strong; David Wald's brash interpretation of German is the easy highlight, but most of the performances are excellent. The only voice that felt a little wonky to me was Monica Rial's Ema, mainly because she seemed to go back and forth on how much of a Spanish accent to give the character.

Garo comes with a pair of commentary tracks featuring those voice actors, where they go into their acting experience, approaches to the characters, and thoughts on the show in general. These tracks are full of the usual interesting inside baseball tidibts: Caitlin Glass, the dub director, was a great aid in helping the actors become fluent in their characters' Spanish names, while the cast apparently got used to pronouncing “Makai” by thinking of it as “Popeye, but with an M and a K.” The collection also comes with a feature starring the Japanese cast, as they share dinner and reminisce on the first half in the special “Daybreak” episode. It's a nice inclusion that puts this collection a slight step above your run-of-the-mill release.

Overall, Garo: The Animation is an easy recommendation to anyone who enjoys classic adventure storytelling. Its characters are fairly archetypal, and the plot likely won't surprise you, but that's not the point - stories like these live and die by the grace of the telling, and Garo is smartly written and beautifully executed. I'd be happy to see more anime branch out into less-explored fantasy premises, and appreciate how gracefully this show tethers its tokusatsu fundamentals to its Inquisition-era themes. The contrast between the CG suits and traditional animation can get a little grating, but that's far from a deal breaker. Garo is a simply excellent action-adventure show.