GARO -Vanishing Line-

Episode 5

Garo -Vanishing Line- seems to have settled into a groove in its second quarter, and while it isn't as high-octane or outright entertaining as those first few episodes, this week's entry at least picks up from last episode's slump. Putting Sword, Gina, and Sophie on a mission together is an excellent idea in general, and forcing them to pose as a family of upper-crust one-percenters to gain entry into an elite socialite's soiree is a setup rife with potential for comedy and a satisfying mystery of the week. As with last time, Garo stumbles a bit too much to call the episode an unqualified success, but it has just enough style and heart to come out on top in the end.

Seeing as Gina and Sophie have proven to be excellent characters already, it only makes sense that pairing them up for a majority of the Horror-hunting adventure provides all the episode's best moments. Not only do they handle 90% of the mystery solving as they traipse through Lady Viola's manor, their banter does an excellent job of fleshing out both their personalities. Sophie has a much more productive and communicative mentor in Gina than she does in Sword, and Gina's concern for Sophie's safety reveals a sentimentality that somehow doesn't play at odds with the self-centered approach she takes to nicking evil relics to sell on the black market. The pair have great chemistry, and I hope to see them pair up as much as possible before the season ends.

Sophie and Gina's A-plot also gives us the most visually interesting segment in an otherwise unambitious episode. Discovering the diary of one of the rich kids Viola took in to “educate”, the episode dives into a flashback that transforms its visuals to match the horrific tale of a young child being hunted by the demons Lady Viola supposedly controls. The scratchy aesthetic is reminiscent of something straight from the pages of a horror manga, and it serves as another reminder of Garo's darker genre influences, which have made for some of the season's best moments. It stands out even more since much of the episode looks middling overall; the fun costume designs help balance things out, but much of the animation remains stiff and inconsistent. Poor Gina suffers the worst of it, with the size of her bust and the intensity of her curves shifting noticeably from scene to scene. As was the case last week, these rough edges aren't bad enough to ruin the episode, but they do detract from the experience nonetheless.

A larger concern is Sword continuing to feel like an afterthought in his own show. Granted, getting him stuck with “distract the demon” duty is part of the joke, but it doesn't change the fact that Sword has almost nothing useful to do this week. The humor surrounding his disgust over Lady Olivia's figure was in poorer taste than what Garo usually indulges, and his final fight with Olivia's horror form was once again disappointingly brief. His three-sizes too small tuxedo was a consistently hilarious visual gag though, so that counts for something. I would also be remiss not to mention the design of Olivia's Horror form, which is so grotesquely sexual that it's hard to believe it aired uncensored. As if the breast-tentacles weren't enough, the creature's body was a couple of embellishments away from literally being a walking vagina-with-teeth. It was as amusing as it was absurd, though it also came close to crossing the line from “charmingly stupid” to “obnoxiously juvenile”.

This is a line that Garo -Vanishing Line- has walked from its first frames of animation though, so I can't fault it too much for staying true to its vision. While I still have reservations about the show's overall dip in quality, this episode was markedly more entertaining than last week's, exhibiting a baseline level of trashy fun that's just excusable enough to keep its audience tuning in every week. Hopefully the plot and action will pick up steam as the season progresses, but for now, I can handle a Garo that's speeding along comfortably on cruise control.

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.