Kouga Saezima (Ryosei Konishi) is a Makai Knight defending Jinkei (planet Earth) from demonic beings called Horrors. His last victory came about through a bargain struck with a powerful but ambiguous otherworldly ink-and-paint-animated dragon-like entity named Gajari. To repay the debt Kouga leaves his sweetheart Kaori (Mika Hijii) to travel to the wildly whimsical Promised Land to retrieve the Fang of Sorrow. Upon arriving however, Kouga loses his demon-destroying Garo sword, Makai armour and talking magic Madou ring Zaruba (voiced by Hironobu Kageyama), each of which become strange super-beings opposing his quest. He also rescues Meru (Anna Aoi), a gorgeous blue-skinned fairy in a red dress, on her way to become an offering to the evil Judam (Keiko Matsukaza), self-styled Queen of the Promised Land. A desire to possess all beautiful things has amassed a framed collection of captive fairy girls at her Jean Cocteau-on-acid styled castle. Now Judam intends to 'merge' with the deadliest monster in the realm, the wailing dragon Maryuu so she can finally conquer the human world. Aided by Meru and lumpy-faced goblin archer Kiria (Yukijiro Hotaru), Kouga aims to stop Judam but has not reckoned on Kakashi (Yuji Kubota) the reanimated scarecrow, somehow brought to life through Kouga's own imagination. With his dog-like muppet buddy Kuromaru, a Howl's Moving Castle-style musical house able to fly or walk on spider-legs and sword skills rivalling Kouga's own, dandyish eccentric Kakashi also sets after the Maryuu for his own mysterious ends.
Made for a fraction of the budget for Transformers: Age of Extinction, Garo and the Wailing Dragon has more energy, imagination and ingenuity than Michael Bay's wildest dreams. Hugely popular across Japan and wider Asia, the Garo multimedia franchise has so far spawned several television serials, an anime and previous feature length spin-off Garo: Red Requiem (2010). For this second film series creator Keita Amemiya expands his imaginary world to an epic scope even more eye-popping than the already ambitious TV serial. The result is his magnum opus where he seemingly attempts to realize every outlandish idea he ever had. Famed for the cult hits Zeiram (1992) and Moon Over Tao (1997), Amemiya's distinctive style incorporating traditional Eastern motifs and symbolism with science fiction concepts has made him the most innovative auteur in the tokusatsu genre.
The candy-coloured imagery of Garo and the Wailing Dragon resembles an anime interpretation of ancient scroll paintings: living buildings and mountains styled like smiling Hello Kitty-like animal beings, a deceptively innocent looking baby dragon that morphs into a towering steampunk robo-kaiju, Kakashi's crazy Pee Wee Herman-inspired flying house and a menagerie of crazy creatures rivalling Labyrinth (1986) or Return of the Jedi (1983) for variety and oddball personality. It's seventh heaven for monster fans. However, unlike the usual CG-sterility Amemiya's quirky visuals exude an idiosyncratic hand-made charm. Take for example the sequence where Kouga and friends arrive in the so-called Land of Bliss. Wacky little fairy beings that resemble Walt Disney animating artwork by Wassily Kandinsky urge the solemn Kouga to sing and dance. There follows a genuine psychedelic musical number that is like a Sid and Marty Kroft version of the stargate sequence from 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968) set to a Bollywood beat. No wonder Kouga cracks a smile.
Comparisons with video games or music videos miss the point, this is style as substance. Much like Dario Argento does with the horror film Amemiya approaches sentai (superhero) films as abstract art, driven by dream logic yet laden with subliminal meaning. It is an ingenious cut-and-paste re-imagining of motifs from both The Wizard of Oz (1939) (with Kouga joined on his journey by a group of magical misfits, including a scarecrow yearning after a soul in this instance instead of a brain, with counterparts in the 'real' world) and The Never Ending Story (1984). In the latter case Amemiya not only throws in a couple of laser-shooting sky cycles modelled after Falkor the Luck Dragon but lifts the concept of a fictional realm threatened by an abstract force of pure 'Nothingness.' For Kouga discovers the Promised Land is the world of discarded human dreams and forgotten childhood fantasies. When humans cease to believe in the ideals they represent these creatures tragically cease to exist. Understandably they are not too happy about that and a few decide to take their frustration out on capricious human beings. According to traditional Shinto beliefs even inanimate objects have a soul. The plot puts a poetic spin on a concept familiar to many Japanese that results in some moving moments as Kouga slowly realizes who Meru and Kakashi's alter-egos are. Admittedly it might help to have seen a handful of episodes of the TV show as without any back-story Kouga comes across a stoically remote hero. Yet somebody has to play the straight guy. Whereas the supporting cast deliver engaging party turns the more outlandish things get the more sincerely Ryosei Konishi plays his part. Keep watching after the end credits for a sweet romantic ending.
