×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

GARO THE ANIMATION
Episode 16

by Gabriella Ekens,

Well, this was about twenty minutes of things happening. This is the closest GARO's gotten to “werewolf episode” levels of (un)quality since then. While –CURE- shares the "werewolf" episode's bizarre atonality and spotty animation, at least it manages to accomplish its narrative goals. It connects to the whole instead of detracting from it. While I didn't have fun with this one, it does indicate that GARO is finally wrapping up its episodic interludes and getting back to the story.

This looks like the final week of “calm” before the plot storms in again, and it's dedicated to exploring Germán and Ximena's burgeoning relationship. They're not together-together yet, but there's clear spark between them. Ximena has grown jealous of Germán's philandering and started following him around at night to investigate. She catches him speaking to Prince Alfonso and, assuming that Germán is a disguised nobleman, pulls back from him. She also starts working with a mysterious travelling doctor, Fabian, who is actually (surprise!) a Horror. Germán takes it out before it can consume his new paramour, and they reconcile. However, their bliss is broken when Garm sends Germán off on a new assignment – to work with Mendoza on some unspecified mission.

GARO's comedy is a mixed bag. It's funnier than the average anime, but it has a bad habit of misplacing its humor. This is exemplified by the fight with the doctor, which breaks into comedy when the Horror can't help but treat Germán as it beats him up. GARO's at its best when it's taking cracks at Germán's licentiousness and at its worst when it's undermining what should be serious moments. The fight with the doctor would've been the latter, if it had gotten me to care in the first place. If I had been invested in the conflict, it would've been a disruption, but I wasn't, so it was just a mild bit of tonal confusion during a substantial span of nothing. At least the Garobot was weird. This plot just feels like it's filling space.

This also might be the worst looking episode so far. The direction – while still fine – is more tepid than usual. The biggest issue is that there's a serious case of off-model-itis going around. The characters are drawn badly and the colors are flat. Germán's appearance is the most noticeably inconsistent. He has about twice his usual bulk throughout the episode. The extra weight tends to migrate from his shoulders to his butt between shots, so he alternates between looking like The Incredible Hulk and a Nicki Minaj backup dancer. It's funnier than the episode's intended comedy. There are also prominent animation errors – at one point a character recites a line without moving her mouth. It must've been a blessing for the animators that the chatty doctor-Horror's mouth is obscured.

Overall, this is a boring episode that does its job without breaking anything. On to the next.

Grade: C

GARO THE ANIMATION is currently streaming on Funimation.

Gabriella Ekens studies film and literature at a US university. Follow her on twitter.


discuss this in the forum (89 posts) |
bookmark/share with: short url

back to GARO THE ANIMATION
Episode Review homepage / archives