Garo (牙狼〈-GARO-〉, "Fanged Wolf"), also known as "Chapter of the Dark Makai Knight" (暗黒魔戒騎士篇, Ankoku Makai Kishi-hen)[2] is a Japanese tokusatsu television series broadcast on TV Tokyo from October 7, 2005, to March 31, 2006, lasting 25 episodes (with one additional "Overview" special, summarizing the events of episodes 1 through 13, aired before episode 14). It is the first installment of the Garo series as well as the beginning of the Original Timeline and the metaseries as a whole.
The series is also considered by many tokusatsu fans as a serious turning point attempt in tokusatsu entertainment, as it was marketed towards adults and older teenagers as opposed to younger children. The story is succeeded by the TV special: Beast of the Demon Night.
Story[]
Where there is light, shadows lurk and fear reigns. Yet by the blade of the knights, Mankind was given hope.
Introduction[]
Since the beginning, the darkness within humanity had the power to influence the Makai World. It is through this darkness that malevolent creatures called Horrors (a demonic spiritual predator), breaks into the mortal realm through gateways. These gateways are influenced by negative energies (inga). If an object or space is contaminated with enough inga, it can create a crack into the Makai Realm and allow Horrors to into the mortal realm, where the Horrors can cross over and prey on humanity for subsistence. As creatures that operate within the shadows, many lives were ruined by the Horrors; they aim to turn the world into a dark world. The only force stopping them is the Makai Order. Through the use of spell-casting, mysticism, and martial arts, the Makai Order established their own clandestine force of priests and knights that hunt down and defeat all forces of darkness. One such defender is the Makai Knight, Golden Knight Garo.
Prologue[]
Approximately 20 years in the past, Makai Knight Taiga Saejima, Gold Knight Garo, married Makai Priestess Rin and have a son together, Kouga Saejima. Unfortunately, Rin died from an illness and left Taiga to raise Kouga alone. As both a knight and father, Taiga would often bring Kouga along on his missions as a means to spend time with his son, but also personally trained him to prepare for knighthood. Taiga also had an apprentice, Barago, where he helped train him to become a strong knight. However, unknown to Taiga, Barago was obsessed with ultimate power.
Barago lost his parents to Horrors and desired greater power. The Mother of Horrors, Messiah, sensed his dark desire and called for him. Leading Barago into a forgotten lair filled with forbidden techniques, Messiah's shadow had been hidden inside a forbidden magical tome. She offered Barago ultimate power, but it can only happen if he can resurrect her. By agreeing to help her, they entered a contract. Messiah renamed Barago as Kiba the Dark Knight and instructed him to surpass his armor's time limit as proof of his commitment and ability. After surviving the soul armor's time limit, managing to will himself out of his Lost Soul Beast Kiba (心滅獣身呀 Shinmetsu Jūshin Kiba) form, he successfully became the dark knight. By the time Taiga realized Barago's dark path, Barago already survived his dark knight transformation. Taiga attempted to save his corrupted disciple and fought him. Unfortunately, little Kouga trailed his father that fateful night.
Little Kouga appeared in the middle of their mortal combat and Barago went after Kouga. Taiga defended Kouga by shielding him from a deadly strike, but at the cost of his life. Before his death, Garo cross-slashed Barago's face with the Mark of Death; Barago survived the ordeal but his face was horrifically disfigured. Because of this, Barago realized he despised Makai Knights more than Horrors and claimed to have devoured them as well. Kouga witnessed the death of his own father and mourned his passing. Before his spirit left, Zaruba (his magical ring), helped him convey Taiga's final words for him to be strong.
Determined to succeed his father as the next Garo, Kouga attempted to recover the Garo Sword, but the sword wouldn't budge. With the help of his faithful servant, Gonza Kurahashi, Kouga went on a long journey to train and when he finally reached adulthood, he finally had the ability to lift the sword out of the ground and succeed as the next Golden Knight. However, years of determined training made him a very impersonal character. Our story actually begins here, the fateful meeting between a knight and an artist.
Chapter of the Dark Makai Knight[]
Young aspiring artist, Kaoru Mitsuki, wanted to gain recognition for her artistic abilities. However, she didn't realize the art curator was already possessed by a Horror. Kaoru nearly got devoured until Kouga arrived and saved her. During combat, Garo slashed the Horror and part of its blood splattered on Kaoru's arm. Kaoru didn't realize it, but anyone tainted in Horror's blood will die within 100 days of exposure. Standard regulation demands Kouga would slay her to spare her a painful death; Kaoru reminded Kouga of his mother and decided to spare her. This would begin a long and complicated relationship between the two.
Unknown to Kaoru, she's become tainted (a version of Dolce of Blood), the favorite food to Horrors. She's now a living beacon as every Horror near her would be attracted to her invisibly tainted scent and wish to devour her. Kouga observed Kaoru as she unknowingly baited every horror in her path. He actively protected her whenever Horrors come after her. Kouga gave her a tracking ring made from a part of Zaruba, making it easier to help detect Horrors near her and also track her movements. Not understanding the depth of her situation, Kaoru thought Kouga was a strangely infatuated stalker; she quickly learned it was a means to protect her (just not the tainted part). Because Kaoru is a struggling artist, she often worked at various temporary jobs to keep up with rent, but she eventually got evicted and opportunistically used Kouga's excuse of having her close to move into his mansion. Kouga couldn't argue his way out of it and the two became reluctant roommates. As Kouga protected and saved Kaoru from one Horror incident after another, the two became friends and developed feelings for each other. Kaoru began using her experiences to form a picture book, reminiscent of her late father's work. Just as the two gotten closer, Silver Knight Rei appeared.
Rei's family was slaughtered by Barago prior main events. His father, Dōji Suzumura, had a special tonic that can change the appearance of a person's face. It was Barago that appeared and killed Dōji and Rei's fiancée, Shizuka. The attack was done in the dark and the figure before them appears to be a blackened Garo. Enraged and desperate for vengeance, Rei began harassing both Kaoru and Kouga as he believes Garo is the cause of his family's death. Garo and Zero would frequently meet each other, often conflicting with each other. Because Rei never explained his reasons for disliking Kouga, the two never got along. Things finally cleared up between the two when Kiba appeared after the two failed to kill a giant Horror. Kiba devoured the Horror and left, but Rei realized his true enemy and made peace with Kouga.
During this whole time, Barago pretended to be Kaoru's therapist. It was his way of keeping tabs on her as he anointed her as a living gateway and vessel for Messiah when she was just a child. After Kouga realized the full circumstances of events (including Rei being manipulated over his family's true killer), Barago had arrived and kidnapped Kaoru. They also realized that the Watch Dogs, Ker-Ber-Rose, and her servant, Kodama, follows Kiba. Rei and Kouga found where Kaoru was taken and faced Kodama, it was there that Kouga became desperate and lost control of himself. He became Lost Beast Soul Garo, a giant creature of great destruction that killed Kodama in the process. With the help of Zero, Kouga was able to recover from his dark transformation and the two faced Gulm and Barago.
As the two fought their way to Kaoru, Gulm fought Zero while Garo took on Kiba. However, before Kouga faced Barago, he was already lost. Barago thought his journey for power is at an end as he'll awaken Messiah and merge with her. An awakened Messiah corrected Kiba and told him that the legend about an immortal knight was all a ruse to lure those who desired power to help resurrect her and help her make it to Earth realm. Messiah ironically devoured Barago and resurrected herself. Kouga arrived to save Kaoru and faced Messiah. It was a losing battle as Garo didn't have enough power to defeat the Mother of all Horrors. It was during this time that Kaoru used her spiritual connection to Garo to paint a pair of wings and it came true; Garo is now the Winged Golden Knight and he flew to face Messiah. Kouga managed to slay Messiah and returned back home safely with Kaoru. However, things wouldn't end there.
Just as everyone thought the coast was cleared, Kiba returned from the makai realm and fought Kouga. Unable to become Garo due to a magical seal, Zaruba assisted Kouga in retrieving his armor while the two fought. In an outlandish battle, the two fought within the makai gateway and continued to fight as the giant ring fell down from a tall skyscraper. They crash landed at the docks and the two continued their fight until Zaruba helped Kouga return his armor. Kouga was able to become Garo again and successfully defeated Kiba, but at the cost of Zaruba. The energy took to regain Garo overtaxed Zaruba and he disintegrated.
In the end, Kaoru completed her father's art book and decided to attend an art school overseas. Kaoru gave the finished book to Kouga as a farewell present and he was touched to the point of tears. Rei also bid his farewell, but not before giving a restored Zaruba to Kouga (without any past memories) as a gift. Kouga himself has gotten a new assignment to monitor a different sector of Japan and went on his way. However, their journey doesn't end as it continues through events of Beast of the Demon Night.
Characters[]
Makai Knights[]
- Kouga Saejima/GARO the Golden Knight
- Rei Suzumura/ZERO the Silver Fanged Knight
- Taiga Saejima/GARO the Golden Knight
Makai Priests[]
Madogu[]
Other protagonists[]
Antagonists[]
Cast[]
- Kouga Saejima (冴島 鋼牙, Saejima Kōga): Hiroki Konishi (小西 大樹, Konishi Hiroki)
- Kaoru Mitsuki (御月 カオル, Mitsuki Kaoru): Mika Hijii (肘井 美佳, Hijii Mika)
- Rei Suzumura (涼邑 零, Suzumura Rei): Ray Fujita (藤田 玲, Fujita Rei)
- Karune Ryūzaki (龍崎 駈音, Ryūzaki Karune): Masaki Kyomoto (京本 政樹, Kyōmoto Masaki)
- Barago (バラゴ, Barago): Kenichi Kobayashi (小林 健一, Kobayashi Kenichi)
- Gonza Kurahashi (倉橋 ゴンザ, Kurahashi Gonza): Yukijirō Hotaru (螢 雪次朗, Hotaru Yukijirō)
- Jabi (邪美 ): Yasue Sato (佐藤 康恵, Satō Yasue)
- Keiru (ケイル ): Keaki Watanabe (渡辺 けあき, Watanabe Keaki)
- Keiru (Voice): Fumiko Inoue (井上 富美子, Inoue Fumiko)
- Beru (ベル ): Anri Okamoto (岡本 杏理, Okamoto Anri)
- Beru (Voice): Machiko Kawana (川名 真知子, Kawana Machiko)
- Rose (ローズ, Rōzu): Yukina Kashiwa (柏 幸奈, Kashiwa Yukina)
- Rose (Voice): Akemi Satō (佐藤 朱, Satō Akemi)
- Kodama (コダマ ): Mark Musashi (マーク武蔵, Māku Musashi)
- Madō Ring Zaruba (魔導輪ザルバ, Madōrin Zaruba, Voice): Hironobu Kageyama (影山 ヒロノブ, Kageyama Hironobu)
- Madō Necklace Silva (魔導具シルヴァ, Madōgu Shiruva, Voice): Ai Orikasa (折笠 愛, Orikasa Ai)
- Asami Shinohara (篠原亜佐美, Shinohara Asami): Mina Fukui (福井未菜, Fukui Mina)
- Gulm (ガーム, Gulm): Kimika Yoshino (吉野公佳, Yoshino Kimika)
- Shizuka (静香, Shizuka): Alisa Yuriko Durbrow (ダーブロウ有紗, Durbrow Yuriko Alisa)
- Taiga Saejima (冴島 大河, Saejima Taiga): Hiroyuki Watanabe (渡辺 裕之, Watanabe Hiroyuki)
- Narrator (Voice ): Ward Sexton (ウォード・セクストン )
Suit Actors[]
- Garo: Masaki Onishi (大西正樹, Ōnishi Masaki)
- Zero: Mark Musashi (マーク武蔵, Māku Musashi)
- Kiba: Hiroshi Maeda (前田浩, Maeda Hiroshi)
- Beastform Gulm: Minena Yashiro (八代峯奈, Yashiro Minena)
- Demon Beast Armor Kodama: Tomohiko Akiyama (秋山 智緋子, Akiyama Tomohiko)
- Horrors: Akira Ohashi (大橋 明, Ōhashi Akira)
- Moloch: Minoru Tomita (富田稔, Tomita Minoru)
- Humpty: Makoto Arakawa (荒川真, Arakawa Makoto)
- Haru: Miko (巫女, Miko)
Episodes[]
- Picture Book
- Inga
- Clock
- Dinner
- Moonlight
- Beauty
- Silver Fang
- Ring
- Ordeal
- Puppet
- Game
- Taiga
- Promise
- Nightmare
- Statue
- Red Sake
- Fish Tank
- World Charm
- Black Flame
- Life
- Magic Bullet
- Engraving
- Heart Destruction
- Girl
- Heroic Spirits
Music[]
- Openings
- "Theme of GARO" by TRYFORCE
- "GARO ~Savior in the Dark~" by JAM Project
- Endings
- "GARO ~I'll Keep Showing You My Love~" by Kyōmoto Masaki
- "I Shouldn't Still Be Loving" by Kyōmoto Masaki
- "GARO ~I'll Keep Showing You My Love~" by GARO Project
- "I Shouldn't Still Be Loving" by GARO Project
- "Under the Aurora" by GARO Project (Beast of the White Night special)
- Insert
- "Fencer of GOLD" by JAM Project (released in a single along with "Savior in the Dark")
- "Red Rose" by GARO Project (released in a single along with "Under the Aurora")
Trivia[]
Keita Amemiya originally wanted the show to be a Mahōu Shōujō show, but then he got the idea of a reboot of Golden Bat, Japan’s first ever Superhero, Keita kept drawing the Golden Bat until the point where he looked something along the lines of a Wolf Knight.
GARO was originally meant to be a children’s show like Sentai, Rider and Precure, but then Keita got the idea of pushing the show towards adults.