Along with the first episode and the Princess Kaguya, I would put this episode with the hits. This was a pretty good episode, even though not much happened. It just played with the emotions. But there were still problems with this. So out of the six episodes we’ve gotten so far, only three have I liked. Which isn’t looking too good so far. I should be enjoying every episode, not just a few.
This episode was simple. It actually did bring back the whole rich vs. poor thing, which I’m glad they did. And wow Yasusuke, or rather Hakamadare has created a group where they steal from the rich and give to the poor, like Robin Hood. And damn I didn’t even recognize him with that long hair and cooler clothes. He…he looks really good. Wow. Okay, and we meet a little boy named Gobeh who steals a weird thing from Seimei and brings it to Hakamadare’s group. Gobeh has been stealing things in hopes of helping his mother who’s near death. He also has a baby sister that isn’t getting enough nutrients or breast milk because the mother can barely stand. So Gobeh steals to help his mom. Seimei doesn’t want him with a bandit group so she makes him steal weird things for her and she gives him rewards like money and the like. It’s then that a plague befalls this slum that Gobeh lives in and many people die. And to quarantine these people, the police magistrate forcefully grab the people and take them to the gate, including Gobeh’s mother who’s been infected.
She almost becomes possessed by a Horror, and here we have the problem. Ashiya Douman, whoever the hell he is because he just comes and goes in this show, broke the seal of a very awful Horror that feeds off the negativity of someone in a plague. Why did he do this? I don’t know. We don’t know why he did this, he just did. Which bugs me. What does he want to do anyway? We know nothing about him so I don’t even know how to feel about this. He targets Gobeh’s mother, who would rather live than die, leaving her children behind. In death she’d face nothingness, and she’d rather face darkness to be with her children. So she’s the prime target spewing off this negativity. But then she realizes that Gobeh and her baby will be fine without her. So she accepts death.
And then Raikou comes in, kills the Horror, that’s it.
I felt bad for Gobeh and his sister, they’re orphans now. Poor children…I hope Seimei and the others keep an eye on them. Gobeh looks to be a dependable kid so he should be fine. This episode was good but what was the motivation for Ashiya Douman to do something like that? What would he gain from that? Is he like those cheesy villains that just want DARKNESS AND DEATH IN THE WORLD? If so that’s boring.
I decided that I am going to drop the coverage for Garo. I just don’t feel up to covering it anymore and I don’t want to force myself anymore. As for watching it, I’m going to give it one or two more episodes to see if it improves (though I’m not expecting it to) and if it doesn’t I’m probably going to drop it. This Garo isn’t exactly fantastic. With Honoo no Kokuin I was absorbed into the story and characters right from the first episode. With Guren no Tsuki, I don’t really know what the story is other than these episodic ones. And I don’t feel connected to any of these characters. As for the show tying in Japanese folklore, that’s another thing. So these are just my reasons. I’ll tune in for another week or two, but as for the coverages I’m gonna drop it.
DROPPED
Ah, yes, I understand how you feel, coz I also feel the same with you. I wonder, though, were it being executed in different ways, I may be interested to follow this anime more. I mean, if they put some synopsis in the beginning/middle/end of each episode about folklore related to the episode, I think things would be different. Remember Ore Monogatari and the ‘Blue Oni and Red Oni’ at the beginning and in the middle of the anime? I don’t even know if it was an actual folklore or just a story written by a teacher or something, but because they told us properly like that, we understood the story and what to expect when we watched it. The people making this Garo, though, I have a feeling they expect us to ALREADY knew about the folklores, or at least HAVE HEARD about it a bit. That’s… presumptuous. And I don’t think even every Japanese people understands the references, especially younger ones. So yeah, not a very wide range of target there I guess.