Garouden: The Way of the Lone Wolf

I would recommend this anime to everybody who enjoys Kengan Ashura or Baki, everybody who enjoys martial arts or hand-to-hand combat in anime should give this series a try.

At times, the animation seems a bit incomplete, but the fights are really well-choreographed, realistic (outside of the main roster of fighter characters being killing machines engineered for carnage), and animated. This may be because the studio wanted quality animated fights in an anime about fighting, which makes total sense. In the name of god, I knew I was gonna see dangerous dudes beating the crap out of each other, so that's where I want the quality ... to be.

Story-wise, It's Okei. It mostly follows the manga drawn by Keisuke Itagaki (Baki's mangaka), with the twist being the main character of this story is not Bunsichi Tanba. It's a story about controlling oneself in a world that wants you to snap, but to know oneself means to also test your limits, a thing which the characters in this anime try in every episode.

NOTE: I read the original manga, as well as the one drawn by Keisuke Itagaki (Baki's mangaka) so I have to admit I was very hyped about this anime. I'm also a Martial Arts practitioner, so the Martial Arts moves in anime really get me. Nevertheless, I tried to be as objective as I could.

Thank you!

When I first saw Garouden announced on the Netflix Anime channel, I will admit, I was interested and looking up to give it a watch, however, after finishing all 8 episodes, I came to a conclusion, one I am not content with, but must voice and accept.
Garouden is not as special as it makes itself to be, especially when it comes to the story it tells. It has a lot of potential, I'd say it has even more potential than the likes of Hajime No Ippo and Megalobox, but the writers failed to put it up that shelf above the two. Except for the main ... character (Makio), no one really has anything going on for their character. No one stands out, and no one has what it takes to stand out, they are only some assets that help Makio elevate in his own story, which is the biggest crime this anime has unknowingly commited and many of us would overlook. The plot is pretty decent, it's enough to grab your attention in the span of the 20 minutes an episode goes on for, but it is offensively innofensive at times, and does not bring much new in the world of anime.
There are many flaws in the writing, but it's still debatable, some people will resonate with it more than I or others will, and I am okay with that, however, there is an argument which I think even the biggest haters of this anime will agree on; the choreography is actually really, REALLY good! The moves demonstrated throughout are actual moves used in actual martial arts, not just anime exaggerations as seen in the likes of Baki or even Hajime No Ippo (except for the first episode when Makio fights a bear, obviously). And the music is just as splendid and memorable, such as the intro, or even better, the ending, I LOVE it! The harmony of the acoustic guitar in the beginning followed by intense drums got me hooked like Walt's blue methamphetamine.
While I could go on and on about the music, animation, voice acting and choreography, it is still not enough to fill in the shoes the story and character development was supposed to fill, I know I'm getting too hung up on this, but if I don't care about the characters, I don't care about the story, and if I don't care about the story, I don't care about the action. Garouden is not bad by any means, I still loved it for what it served, but I was here for the main course, not the side dishes. 6/10

If you ever wanted a martial arts anime to fall asleep to then this is it. I would describe it as the opposite of Grappler Baki. Characters are emotionless cardboard cutouts. These dudes have one facial expression and literally look like boulders being pushed around. It's like they went through the characters and set their personality sliders to zero. The biggest sin of this show is that the fights have zero buildup. The tournament arc starts out of nowhere with a full roster of forgettable generic fighters. If you are looking for anime with hype moments then sadly you won't have any of that here.