Garo: Yami O Terasu Mono was a decent, if underwhelming attempt to have a much deeper serialization and stronger on going story. The story was a bit undercooked with characters that were not the deepest nor the most likable. The following year saw an apology with Garo: Makai no Hana that returned to the original canon in the future and was effectively Garo season 3 after the original and Makai Senki. It would seem that Ryoga's world would just be a one-off with no real follow up. But to many people's suprise, or worry if you really hated Yami. The next season returned to Ryoga's world to follow up on him and Rian after the Vol city incident. To some their was some reservation but with Keita Amemiya around it may have helped. But before the actual series, we got the movie first. Yeah unlike previous Garo films that served as epilogues to their respective seasons. Gold storm instead has its movie first to introduce some of the new supporting cast members that we would see upcoming. I neat idea... that if you didn't live in japan would be frustrated with since you would have to wait a bit to actually see the movie.
Following the events of Vol City, Ryuga and Rian are travelling around dealing with horrors that they are tasked with dealing with. When Ryuga collapses in pain after dealing with a group. Zaruba reveals that the armor needs purifying of its negative ki. At the suggestion of Rian they head to Line city to meet with a powerful makai priestess Ryume to clean the armor. Unfortunately at the same time as this, an ancient magical tool Agō reawakens with a plan to eliminate all horros from the world, that also eliminates all humans from the world.
While goldstorm is a sequel to Yami, Goldstorm only really carries over Ryuga, Rian and Zaruba. And it can be viewed on its own merits because boy, does this film feel like its apologizing for that god-awful first episode of Yami in so many ways. The first fight inside of the Weird building city bazzar is probably one of the best introduction the series has ever had. Both Ryuga and Rian show off their abilities, the cinematography is top notch, not pulled so far out you can't see the action going on.
And quite frankly, the entire film blows Yami's best moment out of the water. I know that shouldn't be too hard. But they really went all out here, the tower, the ancient landscape, to many of tokusatsu's personal favorite filming locations like a quarry, a music venue, to an actually unique locale being a highway for the final... fight against giant CGI monstrosity. But this one is a bit different. Some may miss the garo suit after the beginning, but the show does give a good reason as to why and gives it an amazing return by the end.
Even most of the new characters do make a much better introduction here. Yeah Lady Ryume has the sole purpose of fixing the Garo armor, but it does give this future series something that feels closer to the original seasons as sending them on missions for the season. I wouldn't say that Burai was bad as a leader, but the lack of mystery made him feel less special, besides that the other carryovers to the show are D-Ringo and Yukihime, who are fine... but too much of an enigma, just quirky comedy that you want to learn more about.
Garo has definietly run the gambit of normal humans, rogue members of the order, and just the horror itself. Goldstorm proves that even tools can get... used. Agou is mostly straight forward, a old madou tool that is more logical in its approach to dealing with the horro issue facing the world. It'll end up killing a whole bunch of people but in his minds it'll justify it. The more interesting aspect is the debate its sparks between Ryoga and Rian and if they are doing anything that matters, as more Horrors pop up and continue to cause problems. Ultimately they decide it is worth fighting to save humans. And ultimately he ends up being another person who gets hijacked by the newest member of the big evil horror of the season.
While Makai no Hana was the return of the real suits. Gold storm offers that too and it does a lot better. The movie may only have two uses of the armor, but both fights feel grandiose, as both the end of the original Garo armor and the introduction of the new Sho armor for the show. This of course does offer us more out of scene fights that look really, really good. It also allows Agou's samurai looking armor to shine in the interim. As an apology to Yami's lack of suits and by extension the lesser action. It serves as a good sign for the future.
And as a sign for the future, Gold storm is there to show that the future may be gold. As a reintroduction to Ryuga's story and as a one-off. It does everything that Yami's opening episode failed to do. It looks incredible, offers a nice one-off intro to the next season that while not leaving threads of what was to come, just off of looks it gets you hooked for a sequel.
FINAL GRADE: S
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