Series REVIEW: Garo: The One Who Shines in the Darkness

As many Western Garo fans patiently wait to see the end of Kouga's story in Demon Dragon of the Blue Cries, in the meantime there is a new chapter in the Garo legacy that has begun. Presumably taking the action long after Kouga's time as the golden Makai Knight, Garo: The One Who Shines in the Darkness ("Yami o Terasu Mono") picks up with a brand new knight wearing the armour, a new setting and a brand new threat. 

Much like Kouga, Ryuga has good taste in coats

The One Who Shines in the Darkness takes place at the huge Vol City, a thriving metropolis built around a volcano and swarming with the demons known as horror. Ryuga Dougai, the Makai Knight who has inherited the title of Garo, arrives in the city after being summoned to help his former master - Makai Priest Burai, take them down. Joining forces with fellow knights Takeru Jakuzure, Aguri Kusugami and Makai Priest Rian, Ryuga aims to once again make the now-greyed Garo armour shine once again. But the Horror problem in Vol City lies deeper than they originally thought, with the emergence of the more powerful Madō Horrors and a plot to awaken an ancient evil.

Makai badassery

As mentioned earlier as it currently stands this series is almost completely detached from the original two Garo seasons, with the only returning character being the Madou Ring Zaruba...who barely appears in the show either until nearer the end. Instead our new cast consists of the wizened Makai Priest Burai, beautiful badass Rian, the hotheaded Takeru, collected Aguri and of course Ryuga. While Ryuga seems to possess a similar level of fighting prowess to his predecessor, he feels like a very different Garo simply for his slightly more laid back demeanour and ability to crack a smile once in a while. Unfortunately back stories are a little on the light side - Ryuga and Rian get a fair amount (the latter getting her own special prelude episode at the end of the series), but Takeru and Aguri don't get so lucky. Takeru is kind of offset by having his own side-story, but Aguri may as well just be a background guy that fires an arrow every so often.

Smug doesn't even begin to describe

The more urban setting of Vol City allows the Horrors to be explored in a new way, with Madō Horrors placed in certain positions of the city's hierarchy to maintain their scheme.The reveal of the "mastermind" behind the Horrors and the revival of the ancient Horror general Zedom is a excellently crafted moment, simply because of the fact it's not just the last person you expect, but he proves to be such a spineless worm that its hard to believe its him that's behind all of this.

But perhaps one of the show's biggest success stories is Enhou, who just goes to show how unrelentingly twisted and tragic Garo can be at times. Starting off as the captain of Vol City's elite SG1 guard, she goes from being against Kouga to allying with him and befriending Rian to...well, that would spoil it. Her story is very cleverly paced, using visual clues in earlier episodes that won't mean anything until further in. The Horrors themselves may not be as grotesque or weird as they used to be, but you'll see that they really do live up to their name here.

Poor Enhou

Aside from the cast changeover, perhaps the biggest noticeable difference of this new Garo is the absence of physical Makai Knight suits. While the move to completely CGI suits was slowly being implemented during the course of Makai Senki, it's here that we see it fully realised. While the CGI suits for Garo, Zen and Gai (the latter two being Takeru and Aguri's suits respectively) are nicely detailed, anyone familiar with tokusatsu shows will now that Japan's CGI budget's aren't quite what you see in Western productions. However if you can get over this you'll certainly have a blast with the fight sequences, even with their very brief nature. This is because despite the 99.9 seconds rule established in the first Garo series being thrown out of the window by now, the use of the suits still very much feel like a last resort with the majority of the fights being done out of suits. 

How awkward would it be if all it needed was a good polish?

While it doesn't quite live up to the standard of the first two Garo series, The One Who Shines in the Darkness is still a worthy follow-on and one of the best series of its kind out there at the moment. The new cast are very likeable even if some of the backstories are vague and/or underutilised. The connections between this and the original series are still very unclear (as is how the Garo armour lost its golden shine) but with plenty more Garo stories yet to come in the future, I'm hopeful that these are still answers yet to come in the future. If Kouga's story must really come to an end, then it's time for Ryuga Dougai to start really shining.

Series REVIEW: Kamen Rider Ryuki

Kamen Rider Ryuki is the third entry in Kamen Rider's Heisei era, and the 12th installment over all. It ran for a total of 50 episodes in 2002, complete with a feature length film, a TV special and one Hyper Battle Video crossover with the previous series, Kamen Rider Agito.

When people start being mysteriously abducted without a trace, online journalist Shinji Kido is sent to investigate. He discovers an Advent Card Deck, and is sucked into a nearby reflective surface into the Mirror World. Attacked by monsters, Shinji is saved by Ren Akiyama - who appears in the Mirror World as Kamen Rider Knight. Ren warns Shinji to keep away from the Deck and the Rider Battle, where 13 Kamen Riders must fight to the death in order for the victor to have their wish granted. Uninterested in the prize but wanting to protect innocent lives from the monsters and end the fighting, Shinji makes the required contract with a giant dragon named Dragreder to become Kamen Rider Ryuki. But despite his best efforts, Ryuki becomes an opponent to the other Riders wishing to claim the ultimate prize. Shinji strikes up a rocky friendship with Ren and his friend Rei Kanzaki, who is searching for her missing brother Shiro. Could his disappearance be connected with the Mirror World?

So Ryuki features a lot of Kamen Riders. 13 in fact (14 if you want to include the man-made Alternatives). With a massive cast like this, plot threads could easily get rushed and the story be all over the place. But just because there are 13 Riders doesn't mean all 13 are integral to Ryuki's story. Only 10 of the 13 appear in the series itself, with the other 3 relegated to the movie and special (which will be mentioned again later). The core Rider cast is essentially comprised of Shinji (Ryuki), Ren Akiyama (Knight), Shouichi Kitaoka (Zolda) and Takeshi Asakura (Ouja), with the others coming and going as the story fits. Non-Rider main characters include Rei and Shiro Kanzaki, and to a lesser extent Kitaoka's servant Gorou. These are the characters that you pay attention to. Having 13 Riders is nice, but the series is called Kamen Rider Ryuki and so naturally follow's Ryuki's story. The abundance of Riders just shows the scale of Shiro Kanzaki's plan.

Shinji isn't really your typical Rider either, especially in comparison to those that came before him. He's unwillingly thrown into the Rider Battle, and not a particularly great fighter. He's the most comical of the main characters, but is a true Rider in that he has a heart of hero and the desire to protect innocent people from the mirror monsters. In many respects, some might argue that Ryuki is actually more about Ren/Knight than it is about Shinji - he's the stoic one with a back story and reason to fight. The two never really see eye to eye until the very end, but their exchanges are what make this rocky "friendship" interesting. Kitoka/Zolda on the other hand comes across as self-absorbed and arrogant, but his reasons for fighting are pretty tragic. Asakura/Ouja on the other hand is a true villain and an absolute pleasure to watch on screen - a cold blooded murder who's only real desire to to keep on fighting. And to be honest, when you think about it Ouja is actually the one that plays the game best of all. The point is every Rider has their own motives and reason for fighting - you certainly won't like all the characters, but their integral to populating a world where being a Kamen Rider doesn't mean that you're eventually going to be a hero.

The show is reasonably dark, and places a lot of focus on character development and mystery/suspense over Rider action. Early on the fight sequences only really take place at the end of an episode, gradually growing as the Rider Battle comes to its climax. That isn't to say Ryuki doesn't have comedy characters (these come in the form of Shinji's ORE Journal co-workers and Yui's grandmother) or comic moments, but they rarely get in the way of the main plot.

There also comes the subject of endings, which is perhaps a key point when talking about Ryuki. Without giving away too much, the ending of the series is rather divisive among fans with some calling it a cop-out and others praising it. Personally while I can why the ending may frustrate some, the series concludes in the most natural direction and presents an ending which, when you stop and think about, perhaps isn't as much of a cop-out as you may initially think. Ryuki also provides an alternate ending for the series in the form of a full-length film, titled Episode Final. While elements of the film are easier to wrap your head around than the series' plot, the pacing isn't great, characters are pushed aside in favour of new ones and its conclusion is unlikely to satisfy you if you didn't enjoy the way the series ended. Meanwhile the TV special 13 Riders is a much more interesting piece of AU fiction. With the Ryuki story condensed down into just under an hour it isn't particularly in-depth, but the one time all 13 Riders appear together. Some of the role changes are quite interesting and the ending (or endings, since this itself has two alternate ones) shows Shinji at his finest.

Kamen Rider Ryuki is a fantastic series, and one that seems to do pretty much everything right. It has a relatively dark plot with lots of developing mysteries, a core cast despite containing so many Riders and comic relief that doesn't ever get in the way of the main plot. Episode Final and 13 Riders may not live up to the standard the series sets, but these are a bonus and illustrate just how well alternate universe concepts work for Ryuki. If you can get past the slightly dated CGI, then this is a Kamen Rider series that is not to be missed.