GARO THE ANIMATION

Episode 12

León has embraced the darkness. Having succumbed all too easily to Mendoza's destabilizing mental illusions, his rage turns the Golden Armor monstrous, and Alfonso is forced to take it down and don it in León's stead. With Mendoza seemingly defeated, Alfonso returns to the castle, while León wanders the countryside, purposeless and despondent.

This was a culminant episode for León. At Mendoza's prompting, his mommy issues have finally overwhelmed him, rendering him useless during a critical battle. Worse than useless, actually - he ends up destroying most of the city in this state, as well as Alfonso's esteem for him. His actions revoke his role as the Golden Knight GARO, and he ends the episode wandering around on the brink of suicide. This is a textbook lowest point in a hero's trajectory, and it'll be nice to finally see some growth out of León, who has so far been set up as a deeply flawed but sympathetic character. I like how this episode let our hero be really pitiable, crawling on the floor and groveling for his armor back. The next one looks like it'll be his introspective journey. I'm excited to see how they handle it.

I wish that I could praise Alfonso's characterization here too. This was an important, well-executed episode, but it also made a number of small missteps, character-wise. The main problem is that Alfonso's complete severity toward León is not believable. I get it - this was a big moment and León messed up in a way that almost killed a lot of people. But it's odd that the compassionate, naive Prince's immediate response to his cousin/friend going berserk is resolving to kill him. There's not an ounce of sympathy in Alfonso until his own mother dies (which is another problem in and of itself). This feels like a character flaw, but it wasn't foreshadowed enough before this moment. C'mon, Alfie, cut León some slack. He was just subject to torture illusions that tricked him into setting fire to the city, and then you hijacked his reason for living. That sucks.

The second issue was Esmeralda's death. Thematically, her suicide feels like a prelude to Alfonso's potential tragedy - he could end up stupidly self-sacrificing if he keeps denying himself as a person - but it would have worked better if the sacrifice had been shown. The dead idealized mom trope is common in fantasy, and this is the second time that GARO has used it. The first time has been handled alright, but I don't know if I trust it with the second. C'mon, showrunners, this is cheap. You can do better than that.

Mendoza isn't dead. I will buy the $800 Garden of Sinners Limited Edition DVD Box Set and eat it if he's really dead. Even the characters comment on his demise being anticlimactic. This is definitely playing into his plans somehow, and Alfonso won't be the permanent owner of the golden armor, especially since he has another more meaningful one waiting as backup.

Overall, this was an important if not particularly surprising episode. However, someone should tell Studio MAPPA that it's wrong to end with a shot of the main character throwing themselves off a cliff (a real cliffhanger hahahahahahahaha) and then reveal that the next episode is a making-of documentary. I can't wait two weeks to find out what happens next! This should be illegal.

Grade: B

GARO THE ANIMATION is currently streaming on Funimation.

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