Soukoku no Maryu recap/review
It took me a bit more time to find it... but I finally managed to find Soukoku's raw. <3
Garo: Soukoku no Maryu
So we continue off from where we last see Kouga as he returned to Gajari before being sent to the Promised Land. Unlike the usual opening montage of Garo, this one was actually part of the storyline as well as we see Kouga falling through the portal into Promised Land; while gradually having lost his Garo sword, Zaruba and his magical white robe. I'll try not to insert my fangirling too much... but Konitan was just beautiful. XP
In between, we had snippets of our other boys; Rei, Leo and Tsubasa as they have their own things to do while waiting for Kouga to return. And if you've seen Tougen no Fue already, there's a mention of that 'competition' between the knights that Jabi and Rekka talked about. There's some scenes of Tsubasa training some new trainees... but this didn't have much importance until later.
Back to Kouga, he woke up drenched inside a forest. Noticing that he lost Zaruba and his white robe, it wasn't long before he witnessed how his Garo sword changed form and disappeared. Well, before we delved much further... it's important to note that the Promised Land is where things took form of another and came alive. Even 'rain' took form of a creature as Kouga found out soon enough.
The imageries of the Promised Land was very well-drawn, it's even more beautiful than the trailer showed you. It's really like a fairy tale world, where it's very different than in the world of humans.
So now, aside from his mission to find the Fang of Sorrow for Gajari... Kouga also had to recover Zaruba, Garo sword and his white magical robe that was set loose into the Promised Land. This really ended up into some adventure-ridden tale full of fun!
Kouga soon stumbled into some small metal suits of armours, dragging in a portrait with wings which later one of them started attacking him. A monster later appeared and after Kouga defeating it, caused the remaining tiny suits to run away... leaving the portrait behind. The portrait changed into a blue humanoid girl named Meru, having been freed from its captors. Meru later ended up helping Kouga to try finding the thing (Chi e no hoksa?) who can help him locate the Fang of Sorrow.
It ended up that the metal suits were minions of Judam, who likes to collect pretty things humans created. And she would use every means to acquire anything that she wanted.
Meru led Kouga towards the location of the thing that can help him find the Fang of Sorrow. While continuing alone, Kouga was stopped by a scarecrow. Unaware of the rules of the Promised Land, Kouga inevitably gave it a name and that sets it free. Meru later caught up to him and told him that he had to be careful to not do something like that, since in Promised Land... once you gave a thing a name, it'll come to life. She further explained that they were in a graveyard of things; where things that were forgotten laid to rest. They were later attacked by some more monsters that turned out to be accumulation of things that had forgotten their names.
They later reached the place they were looking for and Meru helped Kouga passed through. Inside the place, it turned out that the 'Chi e no hoksa' was actually Zaruba who forgot who he was and became a thing. After a short duel, a drop of Kouga's blood fell on Zaruba and that allowed him to recall who he was and protected Kouga from a debris. Zaruba regained his true form and they resumed to find the rest of Kouga's things. But before that, Kouga call out someone who had been tailing them and it turned out to be a gnome-like creature named Kiria. The reason for Kiria to follow them was to ask help from Kouga to save the Promised Land since he's a human. Kiria told him about the demon dragon and and asked Kouga to slay it to save the Promised Land.
Kiriya showed Kouga how a black wind has covered the land. Kouga explained about Gajari and how this trip came to be and the wondered if the demon dragon's fang was related to the Fang of sorrow.
That led them to come to Kiria's place, where a lot of things roamed free. I find this scene so cute because the was a point where they required Kouga to sing (since he's human) and Kouga was kinda like NO. It was really adorable... and Meru ended up helping him out. It was so cute, cos it looked like for a moment Kouga turned into a child and had a bit of fun. Literally.
And then the party was broken by the return of the scarecrow, who really got himself comfy with his new name Kakashi. As well as his sidekick called Kuromaru. Kakashi challenged Kouga into a fight which later was interrupted by a white 'bird'. Sensing something about the bird, Zaruba confirmed that the bird was indeed Kouga's magical robe. I knew it that it's the robe! Because it was so pretty... and if you looked carefully, you can really see the robes intricate design on the bird. I've stared at the robe too long to notice its many layers LOL.
Kouga abandoned the fight to chase after the bird as Kakashi followed, annoyed that Kouga didn't want to continue the duel. They were eventually caught by Judam who has taken interest on Kouga. It was then revealed that the reason Judam stole the fang of the demon dragon (originally in Kakashi's keeping) was the same reason Kakashi went after it, to use its powers to turn herself into human. She deemed things to be ugly and loved human's beautiful creations thus wanting to become one. Kouga disagreed and escaped with Kakashi with help of Kuromaru. But due to Kakashi's own desire, they ended up almost fighting again before Kiria came to take Kouga away. And it seemed that Kouga could not yet recover his magical robe since in order to make it remember its form, Kouga would need to recover the Garo sword.
Back at Kiria's place, Judam's minions raided the place and taken Meru away. Raudo, Kiria's friend which was a book got hurt in the process and disappeared. It caused Kiria to forget Raudo and he laments how this always happened whenever he lost something. But Kouga helped Kiria remember and they left to save Meru. It turned out that Judam wanted to use Meru in a ritual to awaken the demon dragon.
Before she could do it though, Kouga saved Meru and recovered her before noticing the Garo sword, turned into the form of a Makai wolf; who was attracted by the presence of the demon dragon. Kouga went to confront the Garo sword to made it remember its true form and while doing so, reunited for a brief moment with Taiga.
It was at this point I started bawling like a baby. Because this wasn't just an image of Taiga, it WAS him. In memory and spirit. Taiga expressed how proud he was with Kouga and explained how the Garo sword and magic robe kept the memories of everyone connected to it. Thus the reason why it could revert back. It was just so sad to see the exchange between Taiga and Zaruba as Zaruba said that the old friend who used to fight alongside him was no more. And that he's a different Zaruba now. Despite the fact he did feel a sense of an old attachment. It was really an emotional scene. Taiga further explain how the Promised Land was formed by the accumulation of people's important memories and how the objects that were lost were all gathered together. Taiga tells Kouga that he will always be with him and that he will always be supported by his important friends.
And we're off to fighting Judam who ended up combining to become the Demon Dragon herself. And while the fight turned dire, Kouga was almost defeated before Kakashi came and offered his own heart to help him fight. Judam and the dragon was destroyed and the Promised Land was saved.
Kouga went back to the dying Kakashi as he asked why Kakashi hated him so much. In truth, it wasn't that Kakashi hated him but it's because he wanted to see how strong Kouga was. [Spoiler] It turned out, Kakashi was actually the training tool that Kouga used to train with when he used to be little. In a way, Kakashi sort of missed that small child who used to trained his hardest to become strong. Funny how even in this short scene you also feel that nostalgic bond between a child and a thing. [Spoiler] Kakashi disappeared to the alarm or Kuromaru.
Meru and Kiria caught up with Kouga as Kiria thanked him for saving their world. And this is where Kouga will always be my beloved Makai knight~ he said that this wasn't his own victory, he was helped by many. Not only Kakashi... but the many things that held the memories of the people who treasured them. Kuromaru started to glow, as Kiria noted that it's a sign that someone from the human world have found Kuromaro's true form (which was a doll) and held it precious. Because of that, Kuromaru no longer have to remain inside Promised Land and can return to the human world. And it turned out the same thing was happening to Kiria as he was actually an old fountain pen (and then you realised his hat did looked like a pen tip and his arrows were representative as to how 'a pen can be mightier than a sword') and that his owner had found him and started to use him again. He bid Kouga farewell and to meet again in the real world.
Kouga cut down a piece of the demon dragon that remained (to Zaruba's alarm) as he explained that the Fang of sorrow was actually inside of him, and that it's a will inside every Makai knight to carry around as they protect people from horrors. Gajari then appeared to confirm that that was indeed true. Zaruba questioned how it could be like that since they came to the Land to retrieve a part of Gajari, not a Makai knight; and Gajari stated that the will inside the Makai knight WAS indeed a part of him as the knights used its powers to protect people. The reason Gajari sent Kouga into the Promised Land was for him to realise this fact. With that, he can finally return to the human world and so can Meru. Kouga also revealed that he had always known what was Meru's true form. She was indeed... is Kaoru, but not the real Kaoru but Kaoru the Makai dragon--the very same one that Rekka gave him to watch over Kouga in her place. And we now realise why Meru so readily wanted to help Kouga in his mission. <3 And why, her body had always been blue with an orange dress. The Makai dragon was originally blue in colour (as with Rian's dragon) while Rekka's always been orange in colour.
Back to our other boys, it seemed that the competition between Tsubasa and Rei reached a conclusion as Rei started on another trip... which ended up with him meeting up with Kouga. That lead to another duel as Rei explained that this was not a normal one, and people that they would have wanted to see would appear. And then we see the credit rolls and bits of behind the scenes clip as well as older clips of the show...
Before finally we returned to that important scene. Where Kaoru... finally reunited with Kouga. And even if the scene was short, this is where my OTP just soared~~~
----------------------------
People may feel that this movie was a weird one. Well, if you're not at least able to understand bits of Japanese it might really be like that. But this movie really do had lots of message... like many of Amemiya-san's writings. It's like ever wondered about all the things/objects we have that we gave names to... didn't we sort of treat it like it's a living thing? And I don't know about you... watching the movie gave me a lot of feelings as I do have some stuffs in my possession that may seem trash to others, but was precious to me because of the memories it was attached to.
And I love the fact this movie delve more into Kouga's character development almost similar in a way with Rekka and Kengi, through his reunion again with Taiga. And we kept being reminded that Kouga was not invincible, that he gained his strength through the people who loved him. As well of the many trials and tribulations he faced. So even if he's still that awkward kid who can't openly expressed himself to the people he loved, Kouga's still able to connect himself with others and become the strong knight that was the hope of many.
And admit it you LOVE that reunion scene. It's just awesome~
This entry was originally posted on Kaleidoscope World.
Garo: Soukoku no Maryu
So we continue off from where we last see Kouga as he returned to Gajari before being sent to the Promised Land. Unlike the usual opening montage of Garo, this one was actually part of the storyline as well as we see Kouga falling through the portal into Promised Land; while gradually having lost his Garo sword, Zaruba and his magical white robe. I'll try not to insert my fangirling too much... but Konitan was just beautiful. XP
In between, we had snippets of our other boys; Rei, Leo and Tsubasa as they have their own things to do while waiting for Kouga to return. And if you've seen Tougen no Fue already, there's a mention of that 'competition' between the knights that Jabi and Rekka talked about. There's some scenes of Tsubasa training some new trainees... but this didn't have much importance until later.
Back to Kouga, he woke up drenched inside a forest. Noticing that he lost Zaruba and his white robe, it wasn't long before he witnessed how his Garo sword changed form and disappeared. Well, before we delved much further... it's important to note that the Promised Land is where things took form of another and came alive. Even 'rain' took form of a creature as Kouga found out soon enough.
The imageries of the Promised Land was very well-drawn, it's even more beautiful than the trailer showed you. It's really like a fairy tale world, where it's very different than in the world of humans.
So now, aside from his mission to find the Fang of Sorrow for Gajari... Kouga also had to recover Zaruba, Garo sword and his white magical robe that was set loose into the Promised Land. This really ended up into some adventure-ridden tale full of fun!
Kouga soon stumbled into some small metal suits of armours, dragging in a portrait with wings which later one of them started attacking him. A monster later appeared and after Kouga defeating it, caused the remaining tiny suits to run away... leaving the portrait behind. The portrait changed into a blue humanoid girl named Meru, having been freed from its captors. Meru later ended up helping Kouga to try finding the thing (Chi e no hoksa?) who can help him locate the Fang of Sorrow.
It ended up that the metal suits were minions of Judam, who likes to collect pretty things humans created. And she would use every means to acquire anything that she wanted.
Meru led Kouga towards the location of the thing that can help him find the Fang of Sorrow. While continuing alone, Kouga was stopped by a scarecrow. Unaware of the rules of the Promised Land, Kouga inevitably gave it a name and that sets it free. Meru later caught up to him and told him that he had to be careful to not do something like that, since in Promised Land... once you gave a thing a name, it'll come to life. She further explained that they were in a graveyard of things; where things that were forgotten laid to rest. They were later attacked by some more monsters that turned out to be accumulation of things that had forgotten their names.
They later reached the place they were looking for and Meru helped Kouga passed through. Inside the place, it turned out that the 'Chi e no hoksa' was actually Zaruba who forgot who he was and became a thing. After a short duel, a drop of Kouga's blood fell on Zaruba and that allowed him to recall who he was and protected Kouga from a debris. Zaruba regained his true form and they resumed to find the rest of Kouga's things. But before that, Kouga call out someone who had been tailing them and it turned out to be a gnome-like creature named Kiria. The reason for Kiria to follow them was to ask help from Kouga to save the Promised Land since he's a human. Kiria told him about the demon dragon and and asked Kouga to slay it to save the Promised Land.
Kiriya showed Kouga how a black wind has covered the land. Kouga explained about Gajari and how this trip came to be and the wondered if the demon dragon's fang was related to the Fang of sorrow.
That led them to come to Kiria's place, where a lot of things roamed free. I find this scene so cute because the was a point where they required Kouga to sing (since he's human) and Kouga was kinda like NO. It was really adorable... and Meru ended up helping him out. It was so cute, cos it looked like for a moment Kouga turned into a child and had a bit of fun. Literally.
And then the party was broken by the return of the scarecrow, who really got himself comfy with his new name Kakashi. As well as his sidekick called Kuromaru. Kakashi challenged Kouga into a fight which later was interrupted by a white 'bird'. Sensing something about the bird, Zaruba confirmed that the bird was indeed Kouga's magical robe. I knew it that it's the robe! Because it was so pretty... and if you looked carefully, you can really see the robes intricate design on the bird. I've stared at the robe too long to notice its many layers LOL.
Kouga abandoned the fight to chase after the bird as Kakashi followed, annoyed that Kouga didn't want to continue the duel. They were eventually caught by Judam who has taken interest on Kouga. It was then revealed that the reason Judam stole the fang of the demon dragon (originally in Kakashi's keeping) was the same reason Kakashi went after it, to use its powers to turn herself into human. She deemed things to be ugly and loved human's beautiful creations thus wanting to become one. Kouga disagreed and escaped with Kakashi with help of Kuromaru. But due to Kakashi's own desire, they ended up almost fighting again before Kiria came to take Kouga away. And it seemed that Kouga could not yet recover his magical robe since in order to make it remember its form, Kouga would need to recover the Garo sword.
Back at Kiria's place, Judam's minions raided the place and taken Meru away. Raudo, Kiria's friend which was a book got hurt in the process and disappeared. It caused Kiria to forget Raudo and he laments how this always happened whenever he lost something. But Kouga helped Kiria remember and they left to save Meru. It turned out that Judam wanted to use Meru in a ritual to awaken the demon dragon.
Before she could do it though, Kouga saved Meru and recovered her before noticing the Garo sword, turned into the form of a Makai wolf; who was attracted by the presence of the demon dragon. Kouga went to confront the Garo sword to made it remember its true form and while doing so, reunited for a brief moment with Taiga.
It was at this point I started bawling like a baby. Because this wasn't just an image of Taiga, it WAS him. In memory and spirit. Taiga expressed how proud he was with Kouga and explained how the Garo sword and magic robe kept the memories of everyone connected to it. Thus the reason why it could revert back. It was just so sad to see the exchange between Taiga and Zaruba as Zaruba said that the old friend who used to fight alongside him was no more. And that he's a different Zaruba now. Despite the fact he did feel a sense of an old attachment. It was really an emotional scene. Taiga further explain how the Promised Land was formed by the accumulation of people's important memories and how the objects that were lost were all gathered together. Taiga tells Kouga that he will always be with him and that he will always be supported by his important friends.
And we're off to fighting Judam who ended up combining to become the Demon Dragon herself. And while the fight turned dire, Kouga was almost defeated before Kakashi came and offered his own heart to help him fight. Judam and the dragon was destroyed and the Promised Land was saved.
Kouga went back to the dying Kakashi as he asked why Kakashi hated him so much. In truth, it wasn't that Kakashi hated him but it's because he wanted to see how strong Kouga was. [Spoiler] It turned out, Kakashi was actually the training tool that Kouga used to train with when he used to be little. In a way, Kakashi sort of missed that small child who used to trained his hardest to become strong. Funny how even in this short scene you also feel that nostalgic bond between a child and a thing. [Spoiler] Kakashi disappeared to the alarm or Kuromaru.
Meru and Kiria caught up with Kouga as Kiria thanked him for saving their world. And this is where Kouga will always be my beloved Makai knight~ he said that this wasn't his own victory, he was helped by many. Not only Kakashi... but the many things that held the memories of the people who treasured them. Kuromaru started to glow, as Kiria noted that it's a sign that someone from the human world have found Kuromaro's true form (which was a doll) and held it precious. Because of that, Kuromaru no longer have to remain inside Promised Land and can return to the human world. And it turned out the same thing was happening to Kiria as he was actually an old fountain pen (and then you realised his hat did looked like a pen tip and his arrows were representative as to how 'a pen can be mightier than a sword') and that his owner had found him and started to use him again. He bid Kouga farewell and to meet again in the real world.
Kouga cut down a piece of the demon dragon that remained (to Zaruba's alarm) as he explained that the Fang of sorrow was actually inside of him, and that it's a will inside every Makai knight to carry around as they protect people from horrors. Gajari then appeared to confirm that that was indeed true. Zaruba questioned how it could be like that since they came to the Land to retrieve a part of Gajari, not a Makai knight; and Gajari stated that the will inside the Makai knight WAS indeed a part of him as the knights used its powers to protect people. The reason Gajari sent Kouga into the Promised Land was for him to realise this fact. With that, he can finally return to the human world and so can Meru. Kouga also revealed that he had always known what was Meru's true form. She was indeed... is Kaoru, but not the real Kaoru but Kaoru the Makai dragon--the very same one that Rekka gave him to watch over Kouga in her place. And we now realise why Meru so readily wanted to help Kouga in his mission. <3 And why, her body had always been blue with an orange dress. The Makai dragon was originally blue in colour (as with Rian's dragon) while Rekka's always been orange in colour.
Back to our other boys, it seemed that the competition between Tsubasa and Rei reached a conclusion as Rei started on another trip... which ended up with him meeting up with Kouga. That lead to another duel as Rei explained that this was not a normal one, and people that they would have wanted to see would appear. And then we see the credit rolls and bits of behind the scenes clip as well as older clips of the show...
Before finally we returned to that important scene. Where Kaoru... finally reunited with Kouga. And even if the scene was short, this is where my OTP just soared~~~
----------------------------
People may feel that this movie was a weird one. Well, if you're not at least able to understand bits of Japanese it might really be like that. But this movie really do had lots of message... like many of Amemiya-san's writings. It's like ever wondered about all the things/objects we have that we gave names to... didn't we sort of treat it like it's a living thing? And I don't know about you... watching the movie gave me a lot of feelings as I do have some stuffs in my possession that may seem trash to others, but was precious to me because of the memories it was attached to.
And I love the fact this movie delve more into Kouga's character development almost similar in a way with Rekka and Kengi, through his reunion again with Taiga. And we kept being reminded that Kouga was not invincible, that he gained his strength through the people who loved him. As well of the many trials and tribulations he faced. So even if he's still that awkward kid who can't openly expressed himself to the people he loved, Kouga's still able to connect himself with others and become the strong knight that was the hope of many.
And admit it you LOVE that reunion scene. It's just awesome~
This entry was originally posted on Kaleidoscope World.