GARO -Vanishing Line-

Episode 23

Garo's penultimate episode, “MY SISTER”, offers just about everything you could want for the climactic entry in the -VANISHING LINE- saga, at least as far as pure spectacle is concerned. The team took some much-needed time last week to steel their resolve for the final showdown, and this episode sees everyone working to take King down once and for all. Sophie and Lizzy venture deep into Eldo Net to shut the whole system down for good, Luke and his father finally get their rematch while Gina takes on Queen, and Sword literally rides straight into the heart of King's dark void to battle him mano a mano.

While these individual clashes don't quite reach the heights of Episode 17's Mad Max-esque ridiculousness, they come pretty darn close, with each individual battle encapsulating all of the excitement and drama you'd expect from an action series' climactic episode. The production values are as polished as they've been in weeks, hearkening back to the slick, cinematic quality of -VANISHING LINE-'s earliest episodes. The character animation is fluid, the models are consistently drawn, and the camera work and editing for each battle scene are sharp and punchy.

Of the three primary action plots, I'd say that Luke and Knight's confrontation is the weakest, purely because it's the least impactful of the bunch. You'd think that the opposite would be true, given the pair's familial connection, but their violent tête-à-tête is all too brief, and it doesn't so much resolve as fizzle out with Knight abandoning Luke unceremoniously to pursue a final bout with Sword. Gina and Queen's battle fares much better in this regard, providing an appropriately thrilling end for King's right-hand woman; while I wish we could have learned more about Queen as a character, she proved to be a solid nemesis for Gina to battle in the end, and Gina's killing blow to the Horror makes for one of the most striking and badass shots of the season.

Speaking of things that are striking and badass, Sword and King's final conflict mostly lived up to GARO's pedigree. We get some explosive crowd battles and solid Zaruba CG in the beginning, though things get especially interesting when King swallows our Hero whole, plunging him into a black-and-white purgatory that's one of the more visually stunning environments we've seen from -VANISHING LINE-. The exotic charcoal effect of the world gave the whole encounter a suitably otherworldly feel, though it also makes some of the CGI elements hard to visually parse. In the end, King's villainy proves most effective from an aesthetic standpoint; he's not the most original or interesting villain, but he fits nicely within the framework of GARO, and I found his undoing at the hands of Sword and Sophie to be mostly satisfying. The callback to previous GARO series and Makai Knights was also a nice bit of fanservice.

When you look past all of the spectacle though, -VANISHING LINE- remains Sophie's story at its core, and she acquits herself beautifully in this episode. Her takedown of Eldo Net and final conversation with Martin are made of equal parts cheese and genuine pathos, equaling out to a satisfying wrap-up for her character arc. I also appreciated her interactions with Lizzy. Though limited, they did a good job of passing the torch from Sword's biological sister to his newly adopted one; the confident smile that Sophie gives when she promises to take care of Sword is all the reassurance I needed to know that these Horror-hunting weirdos will be alright in the end.

At least, they will be as soon as they tie up all the loose ends left behind by King. I still don't know what Bishop's deal is, but Knight has a score to settle, and the episode's final moments set up one last showdown between the Golden and Dark Knights of Garo. Hopefully Luke will be able to get the resolution to this arc the show has spent so much time setting up and help confront Knight himself, but I'm willing to settle for Sword punching the schmuck in the face a few dozen times too. -VANISHING LINE- has been a wild ride, and I'll be sad to see it go next week, but I'm also ready to see our heroes earn their happy ending.

Rating: A-

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.