Garo: Kiba

Garo Kiba is the story of the evil maki knight, bargo.... This was also my first time seeing garo in blu ray seeing as I NEVER saw this special in the bootleg copy DVD that contains 4 movies and 6 seasons.... It simply didn't exist. Yes it does look good in that blu ray quality.It basically starts with bargo talking to Kaoru, basically near the end of season 1 when he kidnapped her to open the gate is what he is telling his backstory to her, in a black and white style we all know from garo of it's kind of calligraphy as well as it's cheesy 3D animation we all know and love. It was intresting to understand how he became an innocent boy from a evil maki knight... All because of his obsession to be powerfull.... In bargos eyes, he doesn't think he is doing wrong in seaking power even if it's the power of darkness. Oh it also tells the backstory of bargos horror servant horror woman... I don't blame her for being evil.... We also see another maki knight we have never seen before, who will mostly be in season 2 or the later seasons as I remeber in the youtube video "all garo transformations" that he does return. I hope Kouga actually kisses Kaoru in season 2.... I only watched season 1 even though I have all the seasons in dvd. So since the blu ray releases of all 6 seasons, movies, specials will come out then I no longer need the bootleg dvd copy... Maybe I'll just keep it to watch it once in dvd quality and once in blu ray quality just to see how it holds up...I would highly recommend watching this special RIGHT after bargo kidnap Kaoru seeing as this special takes place after he kidnapps her... Typical villian monologue for an entire hour... It's a really short special,It's a really good special for what it is, not sure what the other reviewer is talking about being OK. Sure for only 50 minutes it is rather short.... But you guys pay more for short 30 minute OVA's of animes...

I recommend it

WARNING: the present-day events of this special takes place near the end of the first Garo tv series. If you plan to watch the first series, it is best you watch that first as it will spoil certain things from that portion of the series, including the main villain of the first series.With Kaoru captured, the fallen Makai Knight Barago is preparing to make her the host body for the Horror Messiah. To pass the time, he tells her his backstory before eventually entering his soul in the present-day to cleanse it of the last vestiges of goodness that remain within.Kiba uses various styles to tell its story. From the normal live-action seen in the series to silhouette live-action to animation in the style of Japanese ink wash, it helps give Kiba a unique identity from the other entries in the series (that and it probably acted as a cost-saving action on the part of production).The CG has also improved from the first series. While you can still tell it CG, it is no longer the obvious green screen seen in Garo, nor does the CGI knights and horses look like something from an early video game trying for realistic models. It probably helps that Kiba came out five years after the first series, allowing for it to take advantage of advancement in CG. Plus, being a 50-minute special, it doesn't have to worry about budgeting the effects budget over twenty-five thirty-minute episodes, allowing for more polish.We also get a touch of world building. Through the new character of Eruda, we learn of the concept of Makai Guides, Makai Priests that serve as fortune-tellers. Though from what I looked up online, Eruda is the only one shown in the series so far, with the implication that she may be the only one left.However, I had several problems with the story and the execution of certain aspects, first of which being that Barago apparently has some good inside him. Nothing in this or the original Garo series indicated this. It feels like an informed flaw.Next, the character of Eruda. A fallen Makai Guide and servant of Barago's, she only shows up in this special. There isn't even a mention of her in the original series and, as far as I know, has not made an appearance in later series or movies. Only Garum and her son was ever shown to be working with Barago. It almost comes off as they wanted to use Garum again, couldn't get the actress back, and created a new character to fill her spot. Though I do like the fact they used her backstory to set up a plot point for the second Garo series.Speaking of her backstory, it is narrated in English. The actress, being from Nevada, speaks perfect English. However, there are bits in the narration where the phrasing is awkward and the performace is stilted in places, a result of the director applying Japanese acting to another language. She also uses the Japanese pronouncation of Messiah, instead of the English pronouncation. However, my biggest problem with Eruda's narration is how Kraken subbed it. See, whenever English or Horror-speech is used, Japanese subtitles are displayed. In Garo, Kraken Release puts the English subtitles above the Japanese ones (or in the case of the opening narration, only the Japanese subs). Here, on the other hand, the English subtitles are plastered on top of the Japanese ones, making it impossible to read the originals and making the English ones hard to read at times if your not up close to the screen.The final problem I had was the time spent on Barago's apprenticeship to Taiga. We only get a few seconds of silhouette sparring. Considering the first thing we learn of Barago was that he was a former apprentice of Taiga's, I would had expected more time spent on it. Shame, really. Especially since part of the battle within his soul involved fighting the Taiga-verison of Garo.Overall, I found Garo: Kiba to be an okay. The fight choreography and music continue to be great but it suffers the standard prequel syndrome of what we heard in the original work sounded better than what we eventually see.

This is not Blu-ray quality. It is poor DVD quality. The lowest of it's kind. Do not buy this scammed product.