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GARO -Vanishing Line-
Episodes 1-2

by James Beckett,

How would you rate episode 1 of
Garo -Vanishing Line- ?
Community score: 4.1

How would you rate episode 2 of
Garo -Vanishing Line- ?
Community score: 4.1

Watching Garo -Vanishing Line-'s first episode again for this review, my thoughts remain essentially unchanged from what I wrote in the preview guide. From its bonkers opening scene featuring a monster made entirely of boobs, Garo sells itself as a very dumb and very entertaining celebration of the overly stylized manly-man aesthetic of '80s and '90s OVAs. We have a hero whose name is literally Sword, who uses his snarky talking motorcycle and magical suit of armor to kill demonic Horrors, only ever pausing to enjoy comically oversized steaks and thank the gods for the voluptuous bosoms of the women he meets along the way. Garo: Vanishing Line's premiere episode is just so incredibly stupid that it ends up being charming, and I'm only a little ashamed to admit that I loved it.

Unfortunately, this week's follow-up is a step down from the first episode, though it isn't entirely without merit. We get to meet the cold and antisocial Luke, the calm yin to Sword's yang, and the two do complement each other nicely. Luke is largely apathetic to the needs of other people, to the point where he almost comes across as sociopathic, though the fighting couple and scam-artist kids he brushes off are admittedly of less concern than hunting down otherworldly demons. Sword, on the other hand, continues to demonstrate at least basic empathy for the citizens of Russel City, though he also seems battle-hardened enough to brush off the killing he needs to do on a daily basis. Luke isn't the most interesting character on his own so far, but he serves as a solid foil for Sword, so we'll see where that dynamic goes from here.

Surprisingly enough, Sophie gets almost nothing to do this week. After she gets discharged from the hospital following her adventure with Sword, we get to meet the nun who serves as her guardian, but after that Sophie darts off to continue her search for her brother, and she doesn't come back for the rest of the episode. After the premiere established her as the audience surrogate character that falls headfirst into the world of Makai Knights and Horrors, it's disappointing to see her get such short shift so soon. Her brief scene really serves to introduce Enith and Hardy, whose tragic story forms the basis for Horror-based action this week.

I'm of two minds about Hardy's story in this episode, and a lot of that has to do with my cultural perspective as an American. On the one hand, I was pleasantly surprised to see two black characters take center stage here, since that isn't a common development in anime. Both Hardy and his wife Enith were presented as three-dimensional, sympathetic people who have gone through a lot of hardship together (they also seem to be partially inspired by real life Olympic athletes). The two were drawn and written as real people instead of caricatures or disposable extras.

Then Hardy makes a deal with a demon to get back the use of his legs, so that he may one day be a star athlete again, and his characterization takes a turn into questionable territory. I don't want to apply too much of a Western lens to the art and writing of a Japanese production, but Hardy's eventual full-fledged Horror form pushed some buttons for me, emphasizing Hardy's distorted muscles and horrific face in a manner that felt dangerously similar to a racist caricature. The fact that Garo is a Japanese show, produced by people operating in a culture with more limited experiences depicting different races, keeps Hardy's turn from outright ruining the episode, but I still feel that I should highlight this aspect of the episode not sitting well with me.

More relevant to the production of the episode itself, the final fight with Hardy just wasn't as exciting or well-animated as last week's encounter. The framerate of the motorcycle chase scene felt much less consistent, giving the pursuit a herky-jerky vibe that killed a lot of the tension. Luke's reliance on long-range attacks also distanced the viewer from the action, and while it makes sense thematically to highlight Luke's different approach to fighting Horror's, it doesn't make the battle feel any less underwhelming.

That's the word I would use to describe much of Garo's second episode: underwhelming. While I can overlook Hardy's unfortunate depiction as a Horror, I find it harder to ignore the fact that this simply wasn't as fun or entertaining as the season opener. Hopefully this sophomore slump is a one-off misfire. If next week can take Garo: Vanishing Line back to the ludicrous heights of its beginning, it could still make for a season of enjoyably dumb fun.

Rating: B-

Garo -Vanishing Line- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is an English teacher who has loved anime his entire life, and he spends way too much time on Twitter and his blog.


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