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I guess with Makai no Hana ended and Honou no Kokuin started more new people gonna start checking out the whole franchise. Well... inevitable. But you know, I just can't help feeling a bit defensive of the series whenever new smartasses tried to put down the show.
Well... I ended up looking at the tumblr tags, and then saw some posts by people. And well...
I just don't get people's tendencies about comparing stuff to justify their opinion about certain shows. Can you just judge a series/show without having to compare another?
Cos I saw this post amongst others.... and kinda miffed at the statement. Is Garo better than Kamen Rider or Super Sentai? How Garo any different than shows written for kids aside from the boobs and nudity? Shallow statements that annoys me. Whether it's Garo, or Kamen Rider or Metai Heroes or Kaijuu or Ultraman etc... they all have their own different style and qualities and what makes people love them. And the writers of one genre of toku are most often also wrote for another genre. Doesn't disqualify any of their writings.
If ever I made any opinion saying that I enjoyed Garo more than some other series, it won't be because it was 'adult'. Just because Garo was aimed for older audience doesn't make it 'better' than the shows written for kids. Also don't make any Garo series 'bad' just because the writing is on a similar level as the usual KR/Sentai shows. Because tbh, the writing wasn't any better than the other. If the writer was good, it won't matter if he wrote it for Garo... or Kamen Rider series. It will STILL be good.
The difference that one could actually say about Garo in comparison to other aimed for kids shows, is that Garo does not need to worry about toy sales. Therefore, Garo can at least put less emphasize on Garo's (or other Makai armours) 'upgrades' if there was any and focus on character, story and plot development. Of course there would still be 'Monster of the Week' for a number of the episodes, but the monsters are there as part of the plot and not just as a method to allow the hero character to keep fighting and use different upgrades and introduce more toys to fight the monsters. And since the amount of episodes per series is half of an average KR/SS series, the show can make do without having to put up with other side plots just to make more episodes. And due to it not especially aimed for kids, the writers can freely include scenes that usually had to be removed or toned down if it should be made for a kids show. Garo didn't have that limitation, so you can have the monsters looking as sexually as it can be.... or scary as one would want. And the plot could be as complicated or serious and you don't have to worry that your audience won't be able to understand the plot. And it could be as detailed or fleshed out as much as possible and you won't have to worry if it would be too offensive.
That also means we can have people being stabbed and seeing blood coming out and put out gory scenes without having the worry that it might scare little kids. Because the show ISN'T meant for kids. (But that still mean you need to be careful to not let kids watch Garo a bit too soon.) That's it. In that sense, KR series or SS series could STILL have similar writing style/qualities as Garo but unlike GARO, the former would have limitations as to how much they were allowed to show. Think about Hibiki and how halfway though the whole staff were forced to change because parents complained that it's too scary.
That aside, I now wonder if Amemiya-san could ever consider having Kida Tsuyoshi write a few episode for the next Garo series should they want to continue Raiga's season. Maybe then Kida-san could explore some of the things he didn't manage to achieve in Hibiki. Or Wizard.
Anyway yes, the appeal of Garo is not JUST about the boobs and nudity or the dark settings. It's more than that. That was the original aim when Garo first season was made. To create a new series that don't have to confine itself to the limitations of 'shows made for kids' and just make a good superhero tokusatsu show. That's all there is to it.
To be honest, that was part of something that I don't like about Yami wo Terasu Mono. The only Garo season I don't really like so much despite some parts of it was still... acceptible. It tried so 'hard' to appeal to the new audience by setting aside the more traditional way the prev. series have been approached. And budget constraints also might be part of that. And yeah... they tried so hard. Particually in putting up a bit more daring nude horrors.... yet falls short when it comes to Zedom. Seriously I imagined Zedom to be more tribal-like comparable to Messiah's style yet with an appropriate set of armours fitting his title as a general. Yet we got a boring old man. Sorry.... minor YwTM rant.
That said, while I do love the other toku series, Garo had that special place in my heart. And NO, dammit... just because some KR had dark/grim themes as well you CANNOT use that to justify whether or not Garo series was any good. If it doesn't appeal to you, then just admit it that you watch a toku show simply for the toys, powerups and fights and don't even care about the plot or the characters. (Like when do you ever get to see Garo reuse any of his powerups that happened due to the heat of the moment. No?) Not saying that KR/SS series don't also place importance to plot writing, but sometimes after putting in so much different elements in a show, kinda hard to REALLY resolve every plot element that might have still surface near the end.
Well... I ended up looking at the tumblr tags, and then saw some posts by people. And well...
I just don't get people's tendencies about comparing stuff to justify their opinion about certain shows. Can you just judge a series/show without having to compare another?
Cos I saw this post amongst others.... and kinda miffed at the statement. Is Garo better than Kamen Rider or Super Sentai? How Garo any different than shows written for kids aside from the boobs and nudity? Shallow statements that annoys me. Whether it's Garo, or Kamen Rider or Metai Heroes or Kaijuu or Ultraman etc... they all have their own different style and qualities and what makes people love them. And the writers of one genre of toku are most often also wrote for another genre. Doesn't disqualify any of their writings.
If ever I made any opinion saying that I enjoyed Garo more than some other series, it won't be because it was 'adult'. Just because Garo was aimed for older audience doesn't make it 'better' than the shows written for kids. Also don't make any Garo series 'bad' just because the writing is on a similar level as the usual KR/Sentai shows. Because tbh, the writing wasn't any better than the other. If the writer was good, it won't matter if he wrote it for Garo... or Kamen Rider series. It will STILL be good.
The difference that one could actually say about Garo in comparison to other aimed for kids shows, is that Garo does not need to worry about toy sales. Therefore, Garo can at least put less emphasize on Garo's (or other Makai armours) 'upgrades' if there was any and focus on character, story and plot development. Of course there would still be 'Monster of the Week' for a number of the episodes, but the monsters are there as part of the plot and not just as a method to allow the hero character to keep fighting and use different upgrades and introduce more toys to fight the monsters. And since the amount of episodes per series is half of an average KR/SS series, the show can make do without having to put up with other side plots just to make more episodes. And due to it not especially aimed for kids, the writers can freely include scenes that usually had to be removed or toned down if it should be made for a kids show. Garo didn't have that limitation, so you can have the monsters looking as sexually as it can be.... or scary as one would want. And the plot could be as complicated or serious and you don't have to worry that your audience won't be able to understand the plot. And it could be as detailed or fleshed out as much as possible and you won't have to worry if it would be too offensive.
That also means we can have people being stabbed and seeing blood coming out and put out gory scenes without having the worry that it might scare little kids. Because the show ISN'T meant for kids. (But that still mean you need to be careful to not let kids watch Garo a bit too soon.) That's it. In that sense, KR series or SS series could STILL have similar writing style/qualities as Garo but unlike GARO, the former would have limitations as to how much they were allowed to show. Think about Hibiki and how halfway though the whole staff were forced to change because parents complained that it's too scary.
That aside, I now wonder if Amemiya-san could ever consider having Kida Tsuyoshi write a few episode for the next Garo series should they want to continue Raiga's season. Maybe then Kida-san could explore some of the things he didn't manage to achieve in Hibiki. Or Wizard.
Anyway yes, the appeal of Garo is not JUST about the boobs and nudity or the dark settings. It's more than that. That was the original aim when Garo first season was made. To create a new series that don't have to confine itself to the limitations of 'shows made for kids' and just make a good superhero tokusatsu show. That's all there is to it.
To be honest, that was part of something that I don't like about Yami wo Terasu Mono. The only Garo season I don't really like so much despite some parts of it was still... acceptible. It tried so 'hard' to appeal to the new audience by setting aside the more traditional way the prev. series have been approached. And budget constraints also might be part of that. And yeah... they tried so hard. Particually in putting up a bit more daring nude horrors.... yet falls short when it comes to Zedom. Seriously I imagined Zedom to be more tribal-like comparable to Messiah's style yet with an appropriate set of armours fitting his title as a general. Yet we got a boring old man. Sorry.... minor YwTM rant.
That said, while I do love the other toku series, Garo had that special place in my heart. And NO, dammit... just because some KR had dark/grim themes as well you CANNOT use that to justify whether or not Garo series was any good. If it doesn't appeal to you, then just admit it that you watch a toku show simply for the toys, powerups and fights and don't even care about the plot or the characters. (Like when do you ever get to see Garo reuse any of his powerups that happened due to the heat of the moment. No?) Not saying that KR/SS series don't also place importance to plot writing, but sometimes after putting in so much different elements in a show, kinda hard to REALLY resolve every plot element that might have still surface near the end.
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