GARO: Vanishing Line (牙狼〈GARO〉-VANISHING LINE-, Garo -VANISHING LINE-) is the third Anime Series produced by MAPPA. The series was broadcast from October 2017 to March 2018 on TV Tokyo and other stations in Japan. The story continues centuries after the events of Divine Flame.
The catchphrase is "That is the future that connects to the past" (それは、過去へと繋がる未来, Sore wa, kako e to tsunagaru mirai) "The promised future, beyond the end" (約束された未来 終焉のその先へ, Yakusoku sa reta mirai shūen no sonosakihe).
Synopsis[]
Vanishing Line is set in the giant metropolis of Russell City. The man with the latest title of Garo, the Makai Knight Sword, secretly protects the city from Horrors which can possess humans. One day while annihilating a Horror, Sword encounters the phrase, "El Dorado". Believing it to be the key to a plot by the Horrors, he begins an investigation to find the meaning behind it and encounters a young orphan girl named Sophie. She is seeking her brother who disappeared, but who was also connected to the phrase "El Dorado". Together with the Makai Alchemists, Luke and Gina, they work together to solve the mystery. Their journey takes them to the magical city of "El Dorado" ruled by the enigmatic "King" who is protected by the Makai entities, Bishop, Knight and Queen.
Prologue[]
Centuries has passed after the events of Divine Flame. The Makai Order survived Mendoza's wrath and has since successfully rebuilt their organization into a modern covert paranormal clandestine service. While Garm still lives, everyone else has passed and the Kingdom of Valiante is no more. Set in a modern (yet fictional alternative American) continent, Garo continues to protect people from Horrors. The modern blood inheritors of Garo are the Ragnvald family and their district is Russell City. Two past events will lead the Golden Knight to partner up with a teenage girl.
Over 10 years ago, Edward Ragnvald was killed by Horrors. He is survived by two children, his eldest son, Wilhem, and younger daughter, Lizzy. As blood heirs to Garo, Wilhem was next in line to become Garo and swore to protect Lizzy. The Makai Order supports the Ragnvald siblings as Wilhem goes through knight training. Several years would pass and Lizzy attended the Russell City Middle School while tending to Wilhem's diet as he continues to train to become the next Garo. Unfortunately, Wilhem's entire world would fall apart with the death of Lizzy.
Unknown to everyone, an ancient demon beast, King, has been covertly studying the technological developments of Cygnusram-Tech. Active since the days of Crimson Moon, he controlled a scientist and participated in its research and technological advancements. Intrigued by their development in bio-technological interfacing and virtual reality networks, King saw the technology's potential and infiltrated into their ranks to develop the El Dorado Project. However, the Makai Order caught wind of King's activities and dispatched knights to investigate into the matter. Not willing to lose his work, King created a massive explosion that destroyed Cygnusram-Tech to eliminate all evidence of his involvement and disappeared. Unfortunately, Lizzy's middle school was right next to the company. The ensuing explosion also destroyed the school, killing Lizzy in the process. Wilhem could only watch in shock and horror in the aftermath of the explosion that took Lizzy.
After Lizzy died, Garm reported to Wilhem about their investigation into Cygnusram-Tech and the only clue they got from their own investigation is the mention of El Dorado. Lost and distraught that his sister had died, Wilhem went into a destructive path for a time and lashed out his rage against Horrors as he mourned for Lizzy. Eventually though, Wilhem realized she wouldn't be happy to see him in his state and he had to live on for her. Eventually, Wilhem would succeed as the next Garo, code named Sword, and protector of Russell City. However, El Dorado will be a haunting clue for nearly a decade for him until he encountered another person investigating into the same thing as him.
Away from Russell City, a makai family, the Hardens, are training and protecting the forest from Horrors. Makai Alchemist Adelaide Harden and Silver Knight Christopher Harden are raising their son, Luke, in both disciplines of alchemy and knighthood. Luke originally had his heart set to succeed his father, but it became a family tragedy when his father turned to the dark side. Obsessed in becoming the strongest, Chris practiced the dark arts for more power and became corrupted. The only thing left to prevent his complete dark path is his family; Adelaide fought Chris, but was killed in combat. In her final words, she warned her son that true strength is gained from helping others. Luke survived the incident and decided to become an alchemist instead.
In the shadows, King successfully masked himself after the destruction of Cygnusram-Tech and saved the El Dorado Project. He later left Russell City and found his way to the GarEden Corporation to help continue his project. Through his efforts, he helped create El Dorado City and the Eldo Net system as an advanced telecommunications array. However, an effective interface system that can draw out a human soul into virtual system has yet to exist. Despite his best efforts, perfection of the technology would elude him until he discovered Martin Hennes
Over three years ago, the Hennes siblings, Martin and Sophie, lost their parents and became orphans. Although they had extended family, they were all selfish beings that saw no gain in adopting them and they were sent to an orphanage. Martin deeply loved his sister and wanted to find a way to give her happiness. A computer prodigy, he knew VR technology is on the rise and proposed an advanced cerebral scanning system through the retinal scanners of cell phones to make VR diving into a seamless process. This would allow people to immediately enter a virtual dimension; a world of incredible sensory experiences to create happiness and end suffering. King realized that Martin's work is the final piece to his puzzle and decided to hire him to help him complete his El Dorado Project.
Within minutes of the acceptance of his proposal, one of King's Three Blades, Queen, appeared and gave Martin The Ring of King to control Martin. Queen offered him great rewards if he immediately accepted the job; Martin left Sophie in the dark. For the sake of Sophie's happiness, he left without saying goodbye to help bring his project to fruition. However, all of it was King's plans. Sophie would wake up to find Martin missing and only found a clue, mentioning El Dorado on his computer. This would begin her search for Martin, but her world would change when she encounters Garo.
Main Story[]
The story begins with a fateful encounter between Sophie and Sword. Sword has since graduated as Garo and resides within a Chinese Restaurant (under retired Makai Alchemist Feilong) and partnered with Luke. Sophie is 13 years old and it has been 3 years since Martin went missing. Desperate to find clues for Martin, she accidentally becomes the prey of the Horror Obsessian. Garo protected Sophie and slayed Obsessian in an explosive battle, but Obsessian name-drops El Dorado before dying, causing Sophie to develop an immediate curiosity towards Sword as it is the first clue she had about Martin after all this time.
As daylight broke, the massive battle between Obsessian and Garo couldn't be ignored as there was too many people that witnessed the battle. To pacify the public and mask Garo's actions, Luke creates an instant magical rain to erase the memory of the civilians. Meeting Sword at the diner, Luke expresses his frustration towards Sword for being careless and involved Sophie, a civilian who has nothing to do with their world. Unknown to them, Sophie has begun looking for Sword while a crippled athlete became the demon beast Begand. Sword and Luke was sent by Garm to find the horror; the unlikely duo managed to work together and Luke finished Begand with a head shot.
Eventually, Sophie would get deeper into the Makai World. She found the diner that Sword hangs out and often goes there to get clues by stalking Sword. Although Sword tries not to get Sophie involved in his hunts, she somehow gets involved anyway. Sword eventually realizes it is better to have her around where he can see her than let her stumble into danger. The fact that their lives are tied to El Dorado was also undeniable and Sword wants to see how far their connection goes. While Makai Alchemist Gina Evans welcomes Sophie into the fold, Lucke has been resistant to Sophie's participation; he eventually warms up to Sophie. However, everything would change with the appearance of Knight.
During this whole time, Martin has been manipulated by King to do his bidding. However, the lie could not last forever and King needed Martin to complete the El Dorado Project. King dispatched Bishop to oversee Sophie's return, but Garo always intervened. This time though, King had Knight come for Sophie instead, but Sword stands in Knight's way. When Luke learned his father had come back, he lost his composure and tried to defeat him in combat himself. Unfortunately, Luke was no match against his father and Garo had to battle Knight: Garo Vs Dark Knight Bolg.
Due to the immense power that both knights expended during combat, various parts of the city was severely damaged and suffered heavy casualties. Luke magically erased the supernatural aspects of the battle and the people believed the damaged was caused by explosions. The Makai Order recognized the severity of battle and decided to dispatch Sword to find El Dorado. At the Diner, Chiaki informs Sword of their recent intelligence report on how Knight came into the city from the west side. With that as their only lead, Sword is instructed to take Sophie along to investigate El Dorado while slaying any horrors along the way. Because the order knows Sword will have a hard time fighting evil while minding Sophie, he is to ride to the town of Sun Dell Dios and wait for backup; they will continue on the journey to the western side of the continent to find El Dorado.
Although the plan makes Sophie live bait, she traveled with Sword to get answers about Martin. Once at Sun Dell Dios, Sword and Sophie awaited for their backup when the locals attacked them. Bishop made arrangements with Sheriff Alfil to have the locals do their bidding. Fooled into believing Sword was a kidnapper, Sophie was nearly taken and Sword almost gunned down if it weren't for Gina's intervention (she was the backup). The sheriff revealed himself to be a horror, but Garo slayed the demon in combat. As a parting gift, Bishop destroyed the town; the locals were saved because Gina magically shielded the explosion from killing the locals. With that misunderstanding out of the way, they made their way to a rest stop to reconnoiter their situation.
The trio would find a motel to rest. Belonging to the Cranston Family, Matthew lost his fortunes in Russell City and tried to rebuild in this failing motel with his wife (Sarah) and son (George). Matthew tolerated the horror, Rastapanje, devour his guests to pawn off their property to make ends meet. Sophie befriended George to learn they're both from Russell City. Sword and Gina talked to Matthew about El Dorado and he remarked that many travelers have passed by looking for the same thing. It was while Gina and Sophie was bathing that Rastapanje attacked. When it failed to devour the two, it merged with Matthew and Garo slayed the demon. Gina rewrote George's and Sarah's memory that Matthew died in a freak storm and continued their next destination; they are considered lost.
El Dorado never had an exact location (only a presumed area), Gina suggested the group to head to the hidden village of Ferre Salé Dessimo, a place only Makai Alchemists can go. However, their true goal is to make it to the The Land of Guidance. Ferre Salé Dessimo is an important stop before making it to The Land of Guidance. The Land of Guidance itself is the place where a powerful entity resides that helps members of the Makai Order find strength and direction. However, the Elder of the hidden village must approve and perform a ceremony ritual before gaining access to the entity at night. During that time, Sophie learned that Gina was an orphan and raised here. The Elder usually wouldn't allow a knight and civilian to enter the village, but he sensed Sword's and Sophie's role with fate and gave them an exception.
Because the ritual has always been prepared for an alchemist, Gina must face the entity within the land of guidance to earn its help. Although tempted to fight, Sword stood by and Gina managed to survive her trials and earn the entity's help. As a reward for her survival, a small pearl-life gift was given to Gina and a pathway to lead them to the direction of El Dorado. Gina had no desire for the pearl and decided to give it to Sophie as a gift.
The trio made it to a coastal town, this is their final pit stop before making it to El Dorado. Sophie has been mad at Sword for eating up chocolates and drank her juice. Sword wanted to pick up some supplies, but Sophie was too mad to go with him and left to be on her own. It wasn't long she realized how bad an idea that was with the high criminal element around; Gina escorted Sophie to find lodgings. While shopping, Sword bumps into Pedro, a local boy that has been haunted by the death of his girlfriend Monica. Gordon's gang killed Monica when she refused to be a prostitute for them and has been trying to take them down himself. Sword saved Pedro just as the gang members were about to beat him. As gratitude, Pedro lured Sword to come with him at a local bar with a promise to see a beautiful woman.
Disappointed to discover the beauty was an old lady, Pedro's wounds were patched up and he appealed to Sword to help me get revenge for Monica. Sword challenged Pedro to think if that what she wants for him. Sword can related to Pedro's rage with Lizzy's death, but Sword decided to live his life for Lizzy. Undeterred by Sword's words, Pedro faced the gang the following day and was easily defeated. Sword intervened and saved Pedro. He defeated the gang and it gave Pedro a chance to complete his revenge. However, upon thinking about Monica, he couldn't do it. At the rendezvous, Sword apologized by giving Sophie a box of chocolate. Although it was damaged (due to Pedro's situation), Sophie was happy it was split in three and she shared it with everyone to eat. At a makai disguised gas station, the trio was eating before crossing the desert to El Dorado when Bisop launched a massive horror attack. With an eclipse event happening, the horrors charged at the trio's position as Zaruba remarked an entire battalion of horrors are coming after them.
Not long after Sword left Russell City, Luke left the city on his own journey. Luke survived his own pilgrimage to The Land of Guidance and was sent to a town to face a different corrupted knight. The experience helped give him perspective and it increased his focus and power. Able to find closure to his past and focus to the present, Luke biked to Sword's position. By the time Luke found the trio, Garo was already engaged in combat against a hoard of horrors.
Bishop is still after Sophie and Garo holds off the larger horror forces while Gina attempts to flee. A portion of the attack group splintered off to take on Gina's car. For the first time, Sophie had to fight. Gina installed a Gatling gun into the rear of the car and had Sophie rapid fired against her pursuers. Just when two flying horrors made it to the car to take Sophie, Luke jumped in and used his improved skills to defeat a wave of Horrors. Bishop attempted to grab Sophie, but Zaruba saved Sophie and ran. Unfortunately, the two ran into Knight.
To protect Sophie, Zaruba made a suicide run, attempting to blow up with Knight but the enhanced Bolg armor protected him from destruction. Sword made it to the scene to hold up Zaruba before he vanished. Using the remnants of Zaruba's magical power, he infused the ring's power with his armor, enhancing Garo with thicker armor. The battle was at a stalemate as Knight retreated. The team would take a moment to mourn for the lost of Zaruba before making it to El Dorado.
Finally making it to El Dorado, Gina drops off Sophie, Sword, and Luke behind as she returns to The Land of Guidance to re-arm her car and restore Sword's bike and Zaruba. Finding an emptied building, the trio made it their base while admiring the beauty of the city. At night, the trio explored the city and learned about the city's advanced virtual technology and telecommunications through the GarEden Corporation. While eating at a diner, both Sword and Luke sensed at least two horrors. The two reflect to Sophie the city is probably ran by horrors under King's influence. While Luke went to explore a lead, Sophie and Sword investigated things on their own. While Sword was busy hitting on beautiful women, Sophie explored the Eldo Network and discovered she can enter an immersive VR world.
Within the Eldo Net, Sophie enjoyed the wonders Eldo Net while trying to find a lead about Martin. It was while sulking over the fact she couldn't find anything that an avatar appeared, it mentioned the golden knight and dropped a letter for him. Back at their base, Sophie reported what she experienced and showed Sword the invitation msg. Despite knowing it could be a trap, the trio entered an emptied hall in search of clues. Lured by a drone, the trio discovers the mysterious messenger was a former GarEden employee, Alan.
Alan was a skilled programmer and hacker. Curious about the depths of his own company, he hacked into the GarEden server and discovered the truth about the city harboring horrors and their diner halls. A mysterious benefactor warned Alan that the higher-ups are aware of him and told him to run. To avoid death, he has been hiding at an abandoned building since. Alan revealed the mysterious messenger's name was Sword, but he denied involvement in this matter. It was then a platoon of SWAT-like horrors infiltrated the building to go after everyone. In case something happened to him, Alan downloaded the GarEden database into Sophie's cell phone. Sophie suddenly had complete access to the building's electronics and used it to help Luke and Sword defeat their attackers. After the battle, Sophie realized the database revealed information about Martin.
After the trio sends off Alan to Russell City, Sophie reviews the database in her phone with Sword. The two learned GarEden grew exponentially about 10 years ago when they merged with Sygnusram-Tech Company (the same company that exploded and killed Lizzy). While Sword realized the connection, he didn't explain his suspicions to Sophie. The trio had a big meal before entering GarEden's building to investigate.
At the front entrance, the trio found makai plants overgrown throughout the property as Queen's makai plants feasted on the employees. They found an employee that survived from being eaten and the trio looked after his safety as they ventured deeper. However, the same employee they helped earlier is actually Doctor Stanley in disguise. While Queen distracted Luke and Sword in combat, Dr. Stanley took Sophie to their hidden chamber to reveal the cybernetic apparatus that will link every user to enter Eldo Net to feed upon their souls.
Aftermath & Epilogue[]
A year has passed since the defeat of King. Sophie was returned to the orphanage and resumed her teenage life. She is about 15 years old and life hasn't been entirely the same. Although her memories has been erased, her heart and mind has always felt as if she was missing something very important. Throughout this time, she would space out and experience feelings of missing someone or something important, Sword. One day, during Christmas, Sophie cut her finger and the sight of blood triggered her memories. As soon as Sophie remembered, she ran into her closet to search for her own hoodie she had wore during her travels with Sword. She was happy to find it and rediscover the pendant Gina gifted her earlier. Now fully awakened, she ran off to find Sword.
Sophie ran through the snow, desperate to see Sword. She made it back to the diner to find Gina there. Gina is glad to know that Sophie remembers their history and Sophie expressed great desire to become an alchemist herself. Garm and Gina welcome Sophie into the fold and express great excitement to see Sword again. As Sophie believe Sword is on mission, she wants to see Sword when she becomes a full-fledged alchemist, but the moment was awkwardly broken when Sword appeared. Sword was there from the start, but Garm used him as a test subject for their new menu and that gave him really bad diarrhea; he was stuck in the toilet the whole time. Although surprised to see Sophie, his stomach was still hurting and he went back to poop.
With the strongest of evils defeated, the world has returned back to relative peace, but darkness still lingers. Over the ruins of El Dorado, Bishop reflects upon events. Without King, he is free to do as he pleases and wants to enjoy his freedom. As Meifang manages the Chinese Restaurant, she has been impatient and irritable with everyone. She has feelings for Luke and wants to see him again; she's taking it out on the employees. At the back of the kitchen, it has been revealed the three "old men" in the kitchen crew are actually handsome young men, but none of them caught Meifang's attention like Luke did. Fei-Long noticed Mei-Fang missing him, she couldn't be honest and scolds him. At a French-like city, Luke has become a Makai Knight. He jumps into the air to take on the next horror, revealing a new silver armor, Zelos.
Characters[]
Cast[]
Garo: Vanishing Line's main characters.
- Tomokazu Seki as Wilhem "Sword" Ragnvald/GARO the Golden Knight
- Rie Kugimiya as Sophia "Sophie" Hennes
- Nobunaga Shimazaki as Lukather "Luke" Harden/ZELOS
- Ami Koshimizu as Gina Evans
- Daisuke Namikawa as Christopher "Knight" Harden/BOLG the Dark Knight
- Romi Park as Queen
- Kenyuu Horiuchi as Bishop
- Hironobu Kageyama as Zaruba
- Chiaki Takahashi as Chiaki
- Takaya Hashi as Feilong
- Ayahi Takagaki as Meifang
- Yuuka Misaki as Mia
- Romi Park as Martin Hennes
Staff[]
Episodes[]
- SWORD
- LUKE
- GINA
- BROTHER
- RING
- INTRICACY
- SCOUT
- KNIGHT
- SETTING OFF
- REBIRTH
- KIDNAP
- FAMILY
- GOD'S WILL
- RELIC
- EL DORADO
- CHANCE MEETING
- THE SLANT LINED
- ILLUSION
- FAREWELL
- UTOPIA
- CAUSE AND EFFECT
- YU LIGHT
- MY SISTER
- FUTURE
Music[]
- Opening themes
- "EMG" (Episode 1-12)
- Lyrics: Masami Okui
- Composition: Hiroshi Kitadani
- Arrangement: Yoshichika Kuriyama, Shiho Terada, Atsushi Yokozeki
- Artist: JAM Project
- "HOWLING SWORD" (Episode 13 - 24)
- Lyrics, Composition, Artist: Shuhei Kita
- Arrangement: Takashi Nagasawa
- Ending themes
- "Sophia" (Episode 1-12)
- Lyrics, Composition, Artist: Masami Okui
- Arrangement: Naoyuki Osada
- "Promise" (Episode 13 - 24)
- Lyrics, Composition, Artist: Chihiro Yonekura
- Arrangement: Kyoichi Miyazaki, generalatiONmaster
- Insert song
- "Tomorrow With You" (Episode 9)
- Lyrics: Yosh
- Composition, Arrangement: Keiichi Hirokawa
- Artist: MIWAKO
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- The Episode 23 of GARO: Vanishing Line confirmed that the series, alongside its prequels GARO: The Carved Seal of Flames and GARO: Crimson Moon are set in the same universe where all of them collectively known as GARO: The Animation.
- Also, Vanishing Line, along with GARO: Divine Flame, has the CGI rendering of Makai Armors more improved than the previous installments in the anime series.
- Vanishing Line series draw elements of both Ryūga-verse continuity and Original Series continuity, particularly Makai Gun which made its debut in GARO: The One Who Shines in the Darkness and Bolg armor that draws inspiration from both Zero armor and Kiba armor.
References[]
External links[]
- Vanishing Line on Wikipedia
- Vanishing Line at Anime News Network
- Vanishing Line - Main Japanese Site