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GARO: Chapter of the Black Wolf is the first season of the Garo series and the beginning of the Original Timeline and the metaseries as a whole. The story is succeeded by the TV special: Demon Beast of the White Night.
Story
Where there is light, shadows lurk and fear reigns. Yet by the blade of the knights, Mankind was given hope.
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 destructive spiritual predator breaks into the human realm through gateways. These gateways are influenced by negative energies. Be it a gun or a lamp, if the object or place is contaminated with enough dark energies, it becomes a crack between realms that allow Horrors to escape into the human realm, where the Horror(s) can cross over and prey on humanity as subsistence. As creatures that operate within the shadows, many lives were ruined and destroyed by the Horrors; they aim to turn the world into darkness. The only force preventing their attempts to overthrow humanity is the Makai Order. Through the use of spell-casting, mysticism, and martial arts, the Makai Order established their own shadow force of priests and knights that secretly hunt down and defeat all forces of darkness. One such defender is the Makai Knight, Golden Knight Garo.
Approximately 20 years in the past, Makai Knight Taiga Saejima, Gold Knight Garo, marries Makai Priestess Rin and have a son together, Kouga Saejima. Unfortunately, Rin died from 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 get him prepared for knighthood and personally trained him when not on a mission. 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. Barago discovered a forgotten lair filled with forbidden techniques. Messiah's shadow had been hidden inside a forbidden magical tome and called forth Barago. 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. It was then that Taiga was forced to take action against Barago, pursuing his corrupted disciple and engaged him in mortal combat. Unfortunately, Taiga's son followed his father.
Little Kouga appeared in the middle of mortal combat and Barago went after Taiga's son. Taiga defended Kouga, but at the cost of his life. Before his death, Garo cross-slashed Barago the "Mark of Death" in the face. Barago survived the ordeal, but his face was horrifically disfigured. It was by that time that Barago came to the realization that he despised Makai Knights more than Horrors as he 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 became 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.
A young aspiring artist, Kaoru Mitsuki, just wanted to gain recognition for her artistic abilities. However, she didn't realize the art curator is 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, however, 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. However, Kouga counted on that and 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. However, 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 was 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 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. However, just as the two gotten closer, Silver Knight Rei appeared.
Rei's family was slaughtered by Barago. 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 fiance, Shizuka. However, the attack was done in the dark and the figure before them appears to be 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 and at times fighting 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 arrived at the scene after the two failed to kill a giant Horror. Kiba devoured the Horror and left, but Rei finally 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. After Kouga realized the full circumstances of events, Barago had arrived and kidnapped Kaoru. They also realized that the Watch Dogs, Ker-Ber-Rose, and her servant, Kodama, was in league with Kiba. Rei and Kouga found where Kaoru was taken and faced Kodama, it was there that Kouga lost control of himself and became Lost Beast Soul Garo, a giant creature of destruction that killed Kodama in the process. With the help of Zero, he became normal again 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. However, it was there that Messiah corrected him 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 knock the giant down and slay her 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 to the ground. 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 vaporized.
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 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 Demon Beast of the White 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
- Ryosei Konishi: Kouga Saejima
- Mika Hijii: Kaoru Mitsuki
- Ray Fujita: Rei Suzumura
- Masaki Kyomoto: Karune Ryuzaki
- Kenichi Kobayashi: Barago
- Yukijirou Hotaru: Gonza Kurahashi
- Yasue Sato: Jabi
- Keaki Watanabe/Fumiko Inoue (voice): Keiru
- Anri Okamoto/Machiko Kawana (voice): Beru
- Yukina Kashiwa/Akemi Satō (voice): Rose
- Mark Musashi: Kodama
- Hironobu Kageyama (voice): Zaruba
- Ai Orikasa (voice): Silva
- Mina Fukui: Asami Shinohara
- Kimika Yoshino: Gulm
- Alisa Yuriko Durbrow: Shizuka
- Hiroyuki Watanabe: Taiga Saejima
Episodes
List of GARO episodes:
- Picture Book
- Yin Self
- Clock
- Dinner
- Moonlight
- Beauty
- Silver Fang
- Ring
- Ordeal
- Doll
- Game
- Taiga
- Promise
- Nightmare
- Statue
- Red Sake
- Fish Tank
- World Charm
- Black Flame
- Life
- Magic Bullet
- Engraving
- Mental Breakdown
- Girl
- Heroic Spirit
Theme Songs
- 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")
References
TBA