Garo is ain’t for Kids

Nowadays, most superhero Japanese programs are intended for kids to watch from their TV sets. You have Super Sentai, the original Americanized version of Power Rangers, Ultraman, and Kamen Rider. Sure, most of these shows are enjoyable and kids these days would do anything to buy the latest action figures and play them around in their backyard, fighting villains and other monsters alike. But then, there’s Garo.

Garo is a different show entirely. It may have similar elements most tokusatsu programs offered in the past, but it’s not like any show I’ve seen before. This show contains mature themes such as nudity and sexuality. And not only the show has those themes, it has certain drama to it like you would watch a daytime soap opera on any given day.

What’s the show about? Garo is a tale of an never-ending battle between good and evil. You have a hero, a so-called Makai Knight sort of like a Jedi Knight from Star Wars, only except that this hero transforms into an armoured figure called Garo, a golden knight of shining armour. Garo isn’t just one show. It’s a franchise like Power Rangers, Ultraman, and Kamen Rider.

There are at least six shows in total, including anime. The main premise is that Garo fights monsters known as Horrors, demons who prey upon humans, which are either based on desires or some other purpose. It’s a dark show unlike any kid-friendly series out there. Each show consists of 23-25 episodes, which I like it by the way because the creators behind the show probably didn’t want to drag the main story down. The other reason is the production costs and they want to cut the number of episodes down, since the show has a lot of special effects, hence the term “tokusatsu.” You wouldn’t want to see 40-50 episodes of a single show like that. It’ll get tiresome due to the main story. For other tokusatsu shows like Power Rangers and Kamen Rider, it’s a fair case because those shows have different heroes and a monster race.

Given the fact that Marvel has offered friendly and family-oriented Marvel movies on their plate, you would think there won’t be any matured themes in the MCU. Netflix has changed that. After watching Daredevil and Jessica Jones, it wouldn’t hurt to break the boundaries of TV entertainment that are restricted, let alone that others thought they are deemed unnecessary. We also have comics that are geared towards the adult audience. Now we have something the tokusatsu series can offer and that is Garo.

If you want to know more information about Garo, check out the Wikipedia page. If you’re a huge fan of superhero Japanese shows and want something different, check out the show on YouTube. You can find the subtitled episodes there. I would suggest watching these shows in certain order to follow the main story.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garo_(TV_series)

There are Kamen Rider shows that has a dark story, except there isn’t nudity and sexuality. I wouldn’t say all of them are dark. Some of them are plain silly, slap-stick comedy like and yes, there are kid-friendly if you ask me.

Here is a list of dark Kamen Rider shows. There are others that could go on the list because I’ve only seen these shows with a dark story.

Kamen Rider Black

Kamen Rider Kuuga

Kamen Rider Agito

Kamen Rider Blade

Kamen Rider 555

Kamen Rider Ryuki

who in god's hell think the whole series is kid friendly ?!

If they knew the information, they won't think that way. But anyone might think the series is intended for kids. It's a tokusatsu series, after all. Just saying.

Awesome review. I knew Garo is not a kid show the moment I saw the previews on youtube. I knew right then and there I would like it. I have not seen the show yet but I will get around to it. Ultraman X had such promise and they kill it with the toy thing. It could have been up there with Ultraman Zero but no they had to make such a kid thing to throw in more toys.

They don't even look like they know martial arts on the Ultraman show over the recent years. It started with Ultraman Ginga, don't get me wrong I like Ultraman Ginga however, the fact that he needed a toy to turn into Ultraman is just silly and it take to long to turn into Ultraman. They take just about as long as a Power Ranger or Super Sentai to transform. I like the cool factor of Ultraman not needing a long time to turn into Ultraman. They took that away just to advertise toys. Ultraman X feel more like Gridman than Ultraman.

@terry2012: Thanks. But I wouldn't say it was a review though. It's more like an overview. On that note, the series is pretty good. It has a good story. The first two series, featuring the main characters acts like two seasons. The rest are just spin-offs and sequels featuring different characters. The fight scenes were top-notch and well-executed. You wouldn't want to miss it.

I've not seen Ultraman shows that much. But I did see one show that has 12 episodes. I don't recall which one is it.

You are welcome.

Was it Ultraman Neos or Ultraman Zearth? If it is not those then can you describe it to me how it is and I might be able to know which one it is. I have seen just about all of the Ultraman series.

@terry2012: No. it was Ultraseven X. I just remembered when I looked it up. It's the one where the main hero lost his memory.

Oh yeah I saw thought one. That one was really good. I had wanted it to be longer.

@terry2012: I know, right? Yeah, it would've been longer though.