Garo (franchise)

The **Garo** series is a Japanese horror-action/fantasy franchise created by film director Keita Amemiya in 2005.

## Seasons

* Garo: The first entry in the series which aired from 2005 to 2006. Also known as *The Chapter of the Black Wolf*. The series focuses on a young artist named Kaoru Mitsuki who gets attacked one night by a creature called a Horror and saved by a Makai Knight named Kouga Saezima. During the battle, she gets stained in the blood of the Horror and unbeknownst to her, the blood attracts more Horrors and will kill her in 100 days. Kouga plans to use her as bait to make his job easier, but eventually falls in love with her and tries to save her. All the while Kouga discovers a conspiracy within the organization he works for involving a Black Knight and battles a silver knight named Rei who has a vendetta against him for a murder he didn't commit that has ties to his past.
* Garo: Makai Senki: The second TV series which aired from the Fall of 2011 to the Spring of 2012.
* Garo: Yami o Terasu Mono: The third TV series which aired from April 5, 2013 to September 20, 2013. The show takes place at an unidentified point in the future and features a cast of all new characters including a new main protagonist, Ryuga Dougai. Ryuga and two other knights are assigned to protect the planned development of Vol City from a special type of Horrors called the Madou Horrors, creatures that can reside in human bodies and cannot be detected or destroyed by certain conventional means the Knights use. The Madou Horrors are working with a human as part of a conspiracy to awaken a powerful demon that lies underneath Vol City. As a twist to the show, the Garo armor itself had been greatly weakened in the past during an unseen battle and has lost is golden shine, giving it a jet black coloring on parts of the armor.
* Garo: Makai no Hana: The fourth TV series of the franchise which aired in 2014. The story takes place 20 years after the events of Makai Senki and centers around the son of Kouga and Kaoru Saezima; Raiga. A museum break-in involving a shadowy figure results in an artifact slab being unsealed, releasing nine Horrors and a powerful plant demon called Eiryth, who could act as the resurrection of an old enemy if it is not sealed away again in 100 days. Aiding Raiga in his quest to seal the nine Slab Horrors and Eiryth is a girl named Mayuri, who has the power to seal away special Horrors in her body and the ninja Makai Knight Crow.
* Garo: Gold Storm - Sho: The fifth TV series which aired in 2015. It is both a film and a television series that serve as sequels to *Yami o Terasu Mono*. Wataru Kuriyama and Miki Nanri reprise their roles and are joined by new cast members (among them is Masahiro Inoue as the series antagonist Jinga). The film adaptation was released in theatres on March 28, 2015, while the television series began broadcast on April 3, 2015.
* Garo: Makai Retsuden: The sixth TV series which aired in 2016.

## Garo: The Animation

* Garo: Honoo no Kokuin: An anime entry of the franchise which aired in the fall of 2014. The anime was written by Yasuko Koboyashi of *Attack on Titan* fame and features a story set in the distant past with no connecting characters from previous entries.
* Garo: Guren no Tsuki: The second anime entry of the franchise which aired at the fall of 2015. It takes place in Japan's Heian period.

## Films/Spin-offs

* Garo Special: Byakuya no Maju: A 2 episode TV movie special which aired on the weeks before Christmas in 2006. The special serves as a continuation of the first series and was re-bundled into a feature film upon DVD release in Japan. In the aftermath of the finale, Kouga is reassigned to the Northern District and soon finds that a powerful ancient Horror named Legules is awakening and will bring destruction to the human world. Joined by Rei and a new Makai Knight named Tsubasa, the trio must obtain the Phosphorus Arrow to seal away Legules and bring peace back to the Kantai region or the world will become overshadowed in darkness by Legules armies.
* Garo: Red Requiem: In 2010, four years after the first series concluded, a full length feature film was made by the production staff of the TV series and featured the return of the some of the cast from the show in addition to new characters. Kouga is asked to travel to a city to hunt down the powerful Apostle Horror; Karma, a demon who can travel through mirrors and devour humans by luring them into her world. Kouga joins up with a trio of Makai Priests to track down Karma, but his Armor is stolen by her during a battle with Karma's minions. Kouga must journey into Karma's world in order to get it back and seal her away for good.
* Kiba Gaiden: A 2011 direct-to-video feature set sometime during the final episodes of the first series, the movie gives the origins and back story to the main villain of the first series, Barago/Kiba the Dark Knight.
* Garo: Soukoku no Maryu: A 2013 feature film that act as a follow up to the events of the finale of *Garo: Makai Senki*. Kouga must go to a dimension called the Promised Land, a magical world where the spirits of lost and forgotten objects take on a life of their own to retrieve an artifact called The Fang of Lamentation. During his decent through a portal to get there, three items he needs to equip his armor fall off and scatter across the land upon entering, becoming living things. Along his journey, he makes new allies and learns that the land's beauty is being consumed by the evil Queen Judam. Kouga must stop her from destroying this world and the human world while trying to regain his magic coat, sword and Madou ring Zaruba. This film is a more lighthearted fantasy epic than previous installments.
* Garo Gaiden: Tougen no Fue: A summer 2013 film set during the events of the previous film, the story focuses on the female supporting characters; The Makai Priestesses Jabi and Rekka. The story involves the girls uncovering a mystery about a strange flute made by a Makai Priest to seal away an evil Priestess named Higari. Two other Priestesses named Magi and Agi try to deceive them into reviving Higari though a series of misunderstandings and deception to break Jabi and Rekka apart and then use one of them as a sacrifice to awaken her.
* Zero: Black Blood: A 2014 6 episode TV mini-series spin-off of the series, starring the secondary protagonist of the first two series, Rei Suzumura/ZERO The Silver Fang Knight. The story takes place sometime after the events of Soukoku no Maryu and involves Rei on an assignment to slay an angelic Horror named Ring.
* Biku: A 2015 film, starring Sayaka Akimoto reprising her role as Bikuu from *Makai no Hana*. It was released in theaters on November 14, 2015.
* Zero: A 2016 television series spin-off of the series, starring Ray Fujita (as Rei Suzumura).