Garo: Honoo no Kokuin (GARO: THE ANIMATION)

In the name of the king, the Valiante Kingdom launched hunts to exterminate users of witchcraft. Seventeen years later, their pursuit is still growing in both size and brutality. Unbeknownst to the citizens, the targets of these witch hunts are the secret protectors of humanity. Known as the Makai Knights and Alchemists, they have a strong will to protect people from Horrors, demons who possess souls plagued by sadness and pain.

One such Makai Knight is 17-year-old Leon Luis who inherits the legendary armor of the Golden Knight Garo from his mother. Though he possesses great power, he struggles to overcome the hatred he bears from his mother's death at the hands of the kingdom. His father German, known as Zoro the Shadow Cutting Knight, is still training Leon when he is called to investigate the upsurge of Horrors in the kingdom's capital. Although German knows Leon's will is wavering, he decides to bring Leon along to continue his training.

As German and Leon head to the capital, the king's amiable son Alfonso San Valiante struggles to find a solution to the growing Horror threat. But before he can do so, he is double-crossed and banished from his own kingdom. To return home, Alfonso sets out to find the help and strength he needs to reclaim the throne. During his search, he comes across Leon, whose interactions with the prince will forever change both of their fates.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

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Background

Garo: Honoo no Kokuin is inspired by Garo Tokusatsu and is one of the few Tokusatsu franchises adapted into an animated work.

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Related Anime

Alternative setting:	Garo: Guren no Tsuki, Garo: Vanishing Line
Sequel:	Garo: Honoo no Kokuin - Home
Other:	Garo: Honoo no Kokuin - Yurugaro

Oozeki, Eri
Japanese

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Staff

Cook, Justin

Producer

Maruyama, Masao

Producer

Ootsuka, Manabu

Producer

Hayashi, Yuuichirou

Director, Episode Director, Storyboard, Key Animation, Animation Director

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Opening Theme

	1: "Honoo no Kokuin: DIVINE FLAME (炎の刻印-DIVINE FLAME-)" by JAM Project (eps 1-12)
	2: "B.B." by JAM Project (eps 13-24)

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Ending Theme

	1: "CHIASTOLITE" by Sayaka Sasaki (eps 1-12)
	2: "FOCUS" by Showtaro Morikubo (eps 13-24)

Reviews

Nov 10, 2021

_ecchiman_

Recommended

I usually don't write reviews about anime that are like this (i.e. old, and not seasonal), but I felt like I had to make an exception here due to my ambivalent feelings about this anime. My basic thoughts on this anime are: a little good art never killed nobody.

STORY: 7
Honestly, the story is good enough. The setting is idyllic and rustic, and gives off a medieval vibe throughout. The names seems to hint at the location being in Spain, which is a welcome change for an anime. The premise, although not entirely believable, is good enough and the sort of twisting of the witch ... hunts of the dark ages is interesting and captivating enough of a story foundation. However, a few points are knocked off (at least for me) due to the nature of some of the conflicts within the story. Most of them are rather contrived, and after time end up being trite. Most are solved when a MC dons the armor and slashes the villain one time, without much building. This is especially true in the first 10 episodes, which I found to be the worst episodes of the series, and of any series for a while back. However, despite this, the story overall is still very good, the following 14 episodes definitely save it some. If I had to describe it, its like a looping rollercoaster: kinda fun the first time, but the loops are all the same.

ART: 5
Probably the worst rating I've ever given art in an anime, but honestly I was going to give it a 4 if it wasnt for the second half. I was honestly expecting much more after finding out that the studio behind this anime was MAPPA, but I guess my hopes were short lived. The animation is rather chunky and not smooth, and the art itself in terms of lines and details, seems shoddy and rushed. Especially in the first half, I feel like my eyes actually suffered watching it. Anything that looked good was basically CGI, which even though I'm not one who hates on CGI, its just so jarring given how the rest of the anime is drawn. As for the art style, I'm gonna say it: it sucks. Its horrendous in my opinion. The Main characters look like half baked pokemon and the eyes are pretty unusual. I'd say unique if I was unbiased but honestly I don't think I've ever seen such bad art. And I know art is subjective but damn. Definitely not my taste. Anyways, putting the art style aside, I still found much of the first half to be shoddy, and even parts of the second half too. The second half is animated much better and definitely saves this rating from a flat out 4, and the animation does take a step up. However, the art style is the same, in other words, unenjoyable.

Sound: 6
Overall the sound is okay. Nothing crazy good, nothing crazy bad. Some of the VAs are mediocre, which bring my score down a bit. OP/ED were weird, slightly different from the norm, which isnt bad, but definitely isnt good either. Overall, 6 sounds about fair.

Character: 9
The redeeming quality of this anime is it's characters. Even though I bitched about the art style, I can still recognize decently good character when I see it. Most of it comes down to character development. the two main MCs go through a refreshingly large amount of character development, which is always great to see. they are multifaceted instead of flat, and work well together in the story. It even follows a slightly epic version of the character with a metaphorical death and return. I definitely enjoyed this portion of the anime.

Enjoyment: 5
Why is my enjoyment so low? Well, to me an anime is definitely a weaving of story and character and art, but its also largely the art and animation. We watch things with our eyes and what we see is the art and animation. Sure all the other factors play in, but the major factor, at least for me, in terms of enjoyment is the art. And so suffice to say, I can't rate my enjoyment any higher than the rating of the art. Its almost a baseline for enjoyment, the visual aspect of it. Like, the word anime is literally short for animation. Unfortunately for this anime, the art detracts from the whole experience, bringing my enjoyment to a 5

Overall: 7
I'm pretty ambivalent about this anime, it has some bright spots but also one of the major aspects of the anime bring it down for me. I think a happy average of 7 works out for this anime. Now, did I write this review just to bitch about the art? Yea kinda lol. I got nothing else to do right now. But honestly the art and the animation are huge aspects of stories, especially visual mediums like this. This is why a-list movie actors get paid so much and they don't even do their own stunts half the time: because visually, they are appealing on the big screen, whether that be looks or their acting chops. They know how to look good (and not just by beauty standards, by acting standards). Its the same way with anime: looking good and appealing is a baseline for an anime. If it doesnt look good how can one enjoy it? at the very least, the enjoyment could be higher if the art was better.

Mathematically, as I like to do, I'd give it a 4 for story + 5 for characters -2 for art gives a total of 7.

peace.

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Aug 31, 2021

Sesshomaru

Mixed Feelings

The anime reminds me of the Bruce Springsteen song "Blinded by the Light" (1973) and I don't mean that in a positive way. However, as a spin-off from the live-action series, the anime is not convincing as it takes a different direction than the source material. At best, action fans will enjoy the short CG-enhanced combat spectacles and overlook the fact that the anime as a whole is simply much ado about nothing.

Story: Not bad, but too predictable & uninspired, doesn't hit the right tone for the target group (5/10)
The story opens with a scene that feels like a glimpse into the darkest chapter of ...

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Oct 15, 2020

r3b3lian

Not Recommended

Spoilers Sorry.

Score: 4/10

The Mecha screams gave my ears cancer. And the lighting in fight scenes is worse than old DC movies. Such a good base for a story destroyed by weak characters and anime post-production.

1. The villain gets stripped of his ranks for breaking the Makai codes and becomes even more powerful #facepalm.

2. Queen gets framed by the court advisor. for real?

...

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Poll: Garo: Honoo no Kokuin Episode 13 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Jan 9, 2015	65 replies	by macabongx »» Nov 8, 2023 4:02 PM
Poll: Garo: Honoo no Kokuin Episode 17 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 5 ) Stark700 - Feb 6, 2015	204 replies	by Inexplicable »» Oct 4, 2022 3:50 PM
Poll: Garo: Honoo no Kokuin Episode 1 Discussion ( 1 2 3 4 ) Stark700 - Oct 3, 2014	169 replies	by Inexplicable »» Oct 3, 2022 3:40 PM
2nd half is a lot better than first Barry_Allen_14 - Aug 16, 2021	2 replies	by Scythe97 »» Sep 30, 2022 3:52 AM
Poll: Garo: Honoo no Kokuin Episode 18 Discussion ( 1 2 ) Stark700 - Feb 13, 2015	89 replies	by Creepyarea »» Sep 17, 2022 1:42 AM

Garo: Honoo no Kokuin

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Luis, Leon

Luis, German

Guzman, Emma

San Valiante, Alfonso

Lara

Zaruba

Banderas, Raphael

Coronado, Ximena

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Garo: Honoo no Kokuin

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Information

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Streaming Platforms

Synopsis

Background

Visit MALxJapan MALxJapan -More than just anime-

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Staff

Opening Theme

Ending Theme

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