GARO -Vanishing Line-

Episode 18

Shockingly, after so many weeks of buildup, actually getting inside El Dorado turned out to be one of the easiest steps of &TEAM Garo's journey. After last week's slam-bang action extravaganza, I figured we'd need at least one more episode to get Sword, Sophie, and Luke into the fabled city, but they sneak in at the top of the episode with little fanfare. This anticlimax is mediated somewhat since we already got our ominous introduction to El Dorado in its standalone episode a few weeks back, but I was nevertheless surprised by just how quickly &TEAM Garo was able to work their way into the city and set up a base of operations. Given how much eventually goes down in this episode, I can understand why -VANISHING LINE- might have been eager to keep the plot moving as briskly as possible. “ILLUSION” might start off lackadaisically, with Luke and Sophie tolerating Sword's almost childish touristy glee, but once the &TEAM starts to hunt down leads on the whereabouts of King and Sophie's brother Martin, things get much more interesting.

The standout sequence of the episode comes in this investigatory first half, when Sophie enters the virtual reality world of ELDO NET to get in on the sleuthing action. It's been a long time since we've gotten to see her cute little bear avatar in action, and this candy-colored descent into El Dorado's surreal VR intranet made up for that absence in spades. Everything from the choppy animation to the creepy stylized avatars Sophie runs into gives the scene a creepy yet gorgeous vibe we haven't seen from the show since its early episodes. Really, all of “ILLUSION” feels like a throwback to the early days of -VANISHING LINE-, from its more detailed character models to its emphasis on a grittier color palette. The road trip arc was a vital and entertaining direction for the story, but I will admit that I'm glad to have the show back in its old element. With Sword, Sophie, and Luke having grown so much as individuals, it will be a welcome contrast to see how well they work together now that they've been dropped into an urban element where the Horrors don't just hunt; they thrive.

Appropriately enough, Sophie's digging eventually leads our heroes into a situation where they must work together to fight their way past a horde of Horrors. It turns out that one of the avatars Sophie met in ELDO NET was a former employee of GarEden Corporation, who discovered just how many of the city's bigshots and leaders are Horrors in disguise. Right after revealing that "Sword" was the one to reveal the truth to him via email (which Sword himself denies), a small army of armed Horrors bears down on the gang to keep the truth from spreading. The following action sequence is fine, though not particularly noteworthy compared to the best examples of animation and direction under the show's belt. The CG Horrors work surprisingly well, but Sword is given almost nothing to do, and Luke's limited gunplay pales in comparisons to last week's show-stopping setpiece.

What's more interesting is how the employee's data transfer to Sophie's cell phone induces a vision of a ghostly girl in white with searing red eyes, who apparently gives Sophie control over the building's cameras and electronics. It's all very vague, but I'm willing to bet it has something to do with her brother's involvement in El Dorado's super-secret society of hackers and schemers. While I can't say if the development is going to pay off or not in the long run, I will always support giving Sophie more ways to get in on the Horror-slaying action.

Overall, this episode had a lot of jobs to do, and it did most of them well enough to be considered a success. &TEAM Garo is finally in El Dorado, they have some leads on where to find King and Martin, and the stakes are slowly but surely raising to climactic levels. The scripting was a little rushed and the action a little lackluster, but I can forgive Garo a little sloppiness now and again, so long as it's in service of getting us to bigger and better stories in the future. All we need now is to get Gina back in town, and the stage will be set for an exciting batch of final episodes.

Rating: B

Garo -Vanishing Line- is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

James is an English teacher who has loved anime his entire life, and he spends way too much time on Twitter and his blog.