GARO: The One Who Shines in the Darkness (2013)

Well-Crafted Visuals... Nothing More Than That.

GARO - The One Who Shines In The Darkness has one of the most poorly written stories I've ever come across in the tokusatsu genre. It's very confusing, with characters and situations appearing and unfolding without explicit motivation or character development. The work is riddled with dozens of plot holes and inconsistencies; things that seem one way in the first arc of the story take a completely nonsensical turn later on. The effects are acceptable and even well done (considering it's a 2013 tokusatsu series, of course). The acting is mediocre to poor. The overacting of some actors can be off-putting, but for those already accustomed to tokusatsu, it's nothing out of the ordinary. However, moments of extreme, poorly constructed melodrama on screen can be painful and cringeworthy to watch (such as the appearance and death of Ryuga's mother).
The quality of the choreography, as always, is incredible in GARO series. Nothing is terribly unwatchable, just very confusing. The effects carry this series, and the writers are a constant stumbling block to its narrative quality. I would only recommend it to GARO fans and tokusatsu enthusiasts.

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