Garo

Garo (Japanese: 牙狼〈GARO〉（ガロ, literally "Fanged Wolf") is a tokusatsu horror-action fantasy franchise which started in 2005 and was created by film director and creature designer Keita Amemiya. The films and TV series of the franchise are produced by Tohokushinsha Film Corporation while Studio Mappa does the anime productions. The live action costumes are designed by Keita's company Crowd Inc. The show was created as a Japanese tokusatsu hero program geared towards an older audience, as it has graphic violence, scary imagery and minor bits of female nudity. The aesthetic style of the series is a gothic mixture of Taoism, Buddhism, Japanese culture and urban fantasy mixed with elements of western mythology. The most common element in all the stories have is that no matter how violent, dark and cruel humanity can be, its hope and better nature can shine through the darkness and triumph against wickedness.

The series revolves around a basic good vs. evil plot in a battle between demons known as Horrors and the heroic and ever vigilant Knights and Priests of the Makai Order who fight the Horrors to protect humanity from the vile demonic menace who consume/possess the humans and wreak havoc on the world. The greatest and strongest of the Makai Knights is a warrior who bears the armor and title known as Garo, a golden armor whose legendary heroics bring fear to the Horrors and hope to humanity. Makai Knights can only don their magic armors for 99.9 seconds, any longer and they risk the armor consuming them as they are made from the body parts of the Horror Zedom. The most prominent of the Garo armor bearers is the first of the series, Kouga Saezima, as his story makes up two of the feature films and the first two seasons, with his son Raiga being the star of the fourth season.

The series consists of 6 live action TV shows, 2 animes (with a third coming in 2018-2019) 5 films and multiple spin-offs and specials such as the Zero mini-series spin-offs. Most of them showcase different bearers of the Garo armor in different time periods or simply the continuing adventures of a single bearer. Some of its spinoff materials can focus on supporting cast of characters or in rare cases, the villains.

The series celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2015 and has grown in popularity to the point where the franchise has collaborated with many companies including Square Enix and Capcom to work on crossover projects.

Relationship with the Monster Hunter Series
Garo made a collaboration with Monster Hunter.