I knew we’d see that laundry woman again!  I hope something comes from this for German–  she’s a nice contrast to his wild behavior.

Such a great series we have here.  A tokusatsu series nonetheless, but you can definitely tell Amemiya is amazing at conceiving stories filled with adventure.  Like I said previously before, this series very well could have ended last time but we are given much more past the epilogue here with new characters.  This has got to be the slowest moving episode of Garo yet as this plays as a sort of aftermath of Alfonso’s battle against Mendoza’s horror, Leon’s uncontrollable flames and what happens to the city.  Esmeralda’s death ignites even more strength to Alfonso’s character as Prince than he ever had when he first became a Makai Knight!

He’s alive!  Yes!  Leon barely survives and its Lisa that saves his life here.  The transition was done wonderfully–  a man close to death from being unable to protect the city switches perspectives to the heroic Leon and his calling as a Makai Knight or rather the Golden Knight Garo into a frail young man yearning for death.

Leon starts learning how to live outside the bounds of knighthood and begins learning how to work as a farmer.  Incredible!  I think what made me enjoy this episode more than any of the others was how well it switches between Leon’s peaceful life almost as if he might be dead already to Alfonso and German’s Makai lives that haven’t really changed.  They don’t help Leon or even know if he’s alive: their conversation over him really reflects how much Leon might change in the course of living out on that farm.  This episode really took its time especially with the music to get things rolling for Leon.  We’ve shifted away from an overly eager young man destroyed by the Garo title he upheld to a weary hard-working farmer trying to find himself.  The water canal and everything he’s done to get there here including Lisa’s newfound friendship with him gives him just the strength he needs to return to Valiante.

However, I do hope Leon spends more time in the village rather than just up and leaving next episode.  Can’t wait to see what happens next!

OP: “B.B” by JAM Project

The band returns to do the second-cour opening theme.  This was a lot more upbeat than the previous one.  Flash animator to Ping Pong‘s first episode Abel Gongora and Eunyoung Choi of Ping Pong‘s ending handles the animation on this and it looks great!  It’s really subdued with all the black and whites across the screen and the closeup of the Garo shimmering with a tint of gold is very eye-catching.

ED: “FOCUS” by Showtaro Morikubo

This ending is tons better than the first one.  A rock heavy tune as opposed to the previous one that was extremely fast paced in the vocals which is why it was so distracting.  I really like the animation to this one.  Very distinct drawings against a grainy overlay on the video.  Nicely directed!

OVERALL IMPRESSION: 10/10

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