Can you believe it's been ten whole years since the first GARO series aired? In that time it has transformed from a gritty one-off production that should apart from most of its peers into a full blown franchise - encompassing various generations of the golden knight across multiple  tokusatsu and anime productions. The tenth anniversary has brought about the announcement a number of new shows and movies, but among the ones at the forefront of the celebration is Garo: Makai Retsuden (or Makai Tales ). What's particularly interesting about this offering is that it takes the focus away from those who have bore the title of Garo over the years, and takes a look at the various Makai Priests and Knights who have aided them in their battle against the Horrors .

While  Garo  may still seem like a newcomer when compared alongside other main player tokusatsu franchises like Ultraman, Kamen Rider and Super Sentai , what once felt like a highly-acclaimed oddity has actually been a fully fledged franchise for over 10 years - with new instalments starting up as soon as the previous one has run its course. Naturally in that space of time Garo  has managed to build up a pretty sizeable backstory, featuring a wide variety of Makai Knights and Makai Priests in a universe that's branched out into numerous different timelines and stories. While many of these characters have battled alongside the titular Golden Knight , they all also have their own stories to tell. That's exactly what the latest series, entitled Garo: Makai Retsuden (or Makai Tales) looks like it's set out to do - featuring a variety of stories from across the Garo universe.

2014 is undoubtedly the year of Garo . This once small toku production has progressively grown into a full-blown franchise over the past few years, with this year giving us the widest variety of new productions yet. On top of the recently completed Zero spin-off (look forward to a review of that hitting the blog soon), we also still have a The One Who Shines in the Darkness movie to look forward to and even a Garo anime. But before then we have Garo: Makai no Hana (" The Makai Flower "), which sees original creator/writer/director Keita Amemiya return to the fold after a brief absence. And that's not the only exciting thing the show has up its sleeve either.

Where there is light, shadows lurk and fear reigns. But by the blade of knights, mankind was given hope. While there's so much more to the tokusatsu genre than just Super Sentai and Kamen Rider, its arguable that these two franchises are the ones that come to mind first when you think of it (well, those and Godzilla). While in the West most Sentai and Rider fans may be adults, these shows are still meant for kids. But what if there was a similar style programme on offer for adults that wasn't a comedy or parody? Garo might be exactly what you are looking for. After an initial 25 episode series in 2005-2006 (and a feature length TV special), Garo returned for a feature length movie (entitled Red Requiem) in 2010, a spin-off video release in 2011 and finally a 25-episode sequel series: Garo: Makai Senki, between 2011 and 2012. A final film is also confirmed for release. Kouga: Golden Knight and undisputed badass. Garo focuses on Kouga Saejima, a Makai Knight wh...