"Seeing With Fire – How I Fell in Love with Garo (Again)"

Much credit goes to: https://garo.fandom.com/wiki/Horrors_(Anime)#The_Crimson_Moon

I’ve been watching and rewatching Garo: Crimson Moon—and yes, when you’re blind, watching anime is a hell of a process.

You need to research what characters and monsters look like, look up the events of each episode, then watch it… watch it again… and maybe by the third time around, it actually makes sense.

To put it into perspective:

  • First Watch: “This sounds kinda cool… but WTF is going on?”

  • Second Watch: “Ahh okay, that’s the scene where that monster does that thing from the wiki…” (Also: lots of pausing, rewinding, and checking your notes.)

  • Third Watch and Beyond: Now it’s beer-in-hand, pants-off, dub-laughing time.

It’s tough—but it’s worth it. Every time I dive into an anime like this, I do it to indulge my inner child. To relive those feelings. To spoil that part of me that still wants to believe in magic, monsters, and metal armor.

How I Discovered Garo

We flash back to 2017. I’d never even heard of Garo… until I accidentally bought a statue off eBay. When it arrived, I was floored by the wolf-head design of the armor. I thought, “What the hell is this cool looking bastard?”

Turns out, Garo was originally a Japanese tokusatsu (live-action) series—like Power Rangers but darker, bloodier, and way more mature. The show featured Makai Knights fighting demonic creatures known as Horrors. And then, it was adapted into anime: first Garo: The Carved Seal of Flames, followed by Crimson Moon, and eventually Vanishing Line.

[Series Origin Insert]

Garo was created by Keita Amemiya in 2005 and quickly became a cult favorite. Unlike the more kid-friendly tokusatsu shows, Garo embraced horror, adult themes, and high-concept mythos. The Golden Knight Garo is a title passed down through bloodlines, with each Makai Knight facing off against twisted monsters birthed from human darkness. The anime adaptations each tell standalone stories set in different eras of the Garo universe.




I jumped on YouTube and—bless old internet lawlessness—I found the entire Seal of Flames series dubbed and free to stream. I downloaded the audio and started watching.

But I hit a wall. I couldn’t see the characters. I had no idea what the monsters looked like. And when half the appeal of a show is the visual design, that’s a damn shame.

So I did something I rarely do—I asked for help.

I posted on Reddit:
👉 Help a blind person enjoy anime (r/anime)

And baby… the responses were overwhelming. Thoughtful. Detailed. Kind. A reminder that sometimes, the internet can be beautiful.

Here’s what I got:

u/CritSrc wrote:

Leon is a slender 17 year old with a slender figure, a black trenchcoat. Red, voluminous hair that grows upwards like flames and covering his eyes of contempt.

German is taller. A big, very well built man. With a brown beard around his chin all the way to his sideburns, surrounding his lips to form a sharp moustache underlining his mischievous grin of a scoundrel. His blonde hair is volumous like Leon's but surrounds him like great Lion's mane. A purple rolled up shirt, plain brown trousers, with travelling boots for his vagabond life.

Alfonso is slender like Leon, although he has been groomed to be in shape for his young age as well. He shall be the crowned prince who knows how to wield a sword as well. He has a short, if a bit spiky blonde hair and a soft, caring face of a just soul.

Emma wears a one piece dress with lines down to her thighs. But also a stylistic, wavy purple robe with a big lighter purple collar. Most of her green hair is tied in a big pony tail, but she also leaves two bangs that fall to her upper chest, along with another set of shorter, wider bangs on the sides of her sharp eyes. She fights differently from our Knights, for she is an Alchemist who uses string instead, due to her fighting style requiring a lot of movement, all these features give her the aesthetic of a dancer of death.

Would you like me to describe the armors?

u/babydave371 wrote:

Sure Garo is one of my favourite shows so I'd be happy to. I'm assuming you are watching the first Garo series and not Crimson Moon, because Crimson Moon sucks! I'll go through all the characters for you...

León Luis – Slight, moody teen. Shaggy red hair covering one eye. Long black coat over a red shirt, blue trousers tucked into high boots.

Germán Luis – Barrel-chested hero with a lion’s mane of blonde hair. Fancy mustache, green cravat, light pink shirt, crazy trousers. “Dapper as fuck.”

Alfonso San Valiante – Short, spiky blonde hair. Slightly bulkier than Leon. White t-shirt, gloves, red cape, thigh-high boots.

Ema Guzmán – Medium build, realistically sized boobs, dark green hair in a high ponytail with highlights. Short white dress, long floor-length coat, thigh-high boots.

Fernando San Valiante – Old film king look. Long white beard and hair, tall crown, green and white robe “like a snuggie.”

Esmeralda – Slender and elegant, blonde hair in buns, white dress with a frilly collar.

Ximena Coronado – Medium build, long brown hair in twin ponytails, green coat, long brown skirt.

Mendoza – Pale, tall, triangular face, wears a weird mage beret and long blue/white robes. Pink cross earrings.

Octavia – Sad-looking. Freckles, mole near her mouth, pale pink hair with straight fringe. Long dark green dress.

Bernardo Dion – Tall and slender. Dark blue wavy hair in a ponytail. Long grey-blue coat, black pantaloons.

Rafael Banderas – Gruff, stocky, black short hair, goatee. Ragged black coat with gold detailing. No sleeves. Red scarf, blue shirt, dark trousers.

Garm – Pale, slim, wears a summer dress in pale blue with thigh-high white platform boots. Hair shaped like the top of a mushroom.

Anna Luis – Thin waist, very busty. Medium red hair in side ponytail. Tight dark blue corset, boobs nearly spilling out. Long dark purple loincloth-style skirt with side slits. Sexy stockings.

Lara – Medium build, short brown hair, pink hair clip, grey dress with brown shawl.

And the Horrors?

Hanamushi – Sexy lady with red hair then becomes a short fat lilac oval basically with lots of big teeth.

Metaclim – Big black cat with hands. Front legs in a set of stocks. Stone-like human face.

Banbora – Skeleton. Solid body inside ribcage. Forearms are super long blades.

Almar – Big blue hulk. Left shoulder is a burning metal wheel. Head looks like a cut-up sheet draped over it.

Chimera of Orvien – Giant gothic doors made of bones. Grim Reapers with scythes on each side. Carried by the dead. Shoots lasers, spawns tentacles, and has a massive skull inside the gate.

The Chimera fight (Described in FULL):

The Chimera is the standout design in the show, to be honest—nothing else comes close in terms of originality. The heroes were definitely taken aback by the sheer scale of the thing; it was taller than the canyon it was in.

The Chimera had several attacks. First, the giant Grim Reaper-type figures on either side of the central door swing away with their scythes. Leon disables them quickly.

Then the Chimera summons many small portal-like things—just bigger than a person’s head—that fire what are basically laser beams. These chase Leon, leaving Alfonso open to deliver a heavy strike to the gate.

The doors open to reveal a flat gray surface with a round, tooth-lined mouth at the center, which fires a massive laser that vaporizes half a castle and a whole mountain.

The gate then grows spikes and unleashes a storm of lasers and laser chains. It’s visually trippy. Leon is hit, thrown against the canyon wall, and pinned by the Chimera itself.

Alfonso tries to help but is also hit. Then Rafael appears on a rope bridge. He gives a little speech, swirls his sword to summon his armor (that’s how they all do it), and the bridge explodes as he charges.

Rafael dives into the laser storm and smashes into the Chimera’s front, freeing Leon. He plunges his sword into it, causing a ripple that erases the spikes—but the Chimera retaliates. Tentacles made of bone stab Rafael from behind.

As he’s crucified and pulled toward the gate, Rafael makes a final speech. He’s eaten by three giant worm-like creatures. His sword flies to Alfonso, who dons his armor.

The worms grow, twist, and lurch toward Alfonso. He dodges, launches through the gate, and skewers the Chimera’s head—a purple fleshy human skull.

In a dreamlike sequence, Rafael speaks to Alfonso. Then the Chimera explodes.

Yeah, I can understand how you had no idea what the fuck was happening there. It’s crazy even if you can see it.

By the way—one really annoying thing about Garo, and a lot of monster-based anime, is that the Horrors have official names on the wikis and guides, but they’re never mentioned in the show itself.

Hanamushi? She shows up, gets wrecked, and is never named. So unless you’re lucky enough to stumble across her page, you’d never know who she was.

Trying to match the monsters you hear with the ones in guides? It’s an uphill battle—especially when they’re just one-episode villains.

Now... Back to Present Day

Eight years later, I’m watching Garo: Crimson Moon. But this time, I’m not running to Reddit. I’m running images of each Horror through AI and asking for visual descriptions.

Oh baby, how the world has changed.

It’s still slow. Still a bit tedious. But at least it’s possible now without relying entirely on other people.

That said, even AI can’t touch descriptions like:

“Hanamushi – Sexy lady with red hair then becomes a short fat lilac oval basically with lots of big teeth.”

That’s the kind of geeky love that makes a show come alive. That human touch? Still unbeatable.

There’s something poetic about this journey. Garo was first portrayed by humans in suits. Then it became animation. Then it came alive for me through strangers' words. And now… I bring it to life with tech.

A Promise, A Cliffhanger

So… I’ll leave you here for now, on a personal and heartfelt note.

To the beautiful, generous souls who helped me enjoy Garo back in 2017—thank you. I’ve never forgotten. And now, I’m giving back.

In upcoming posts, I’ll break down each episode of Crimson Moon:

  • With detailed summaries.

  • Personal reactions.

  • Character and monster descriptions—for blind and visually impaired fans who, like me, want to see with fire.

This isn’t just anime. This is accessibility. This is community. This is heart.

Stay tuned, my lovely wolves. We’ve got more horror, more armor, and more soul-scorching beauty to come.

Hashtags:
#BlindAnimeFan #GaroCrimsonMoon #AnimeAccessibility #DisabilityAwareness #GaroTheAnimation #Tokusatsu #BlindFandom #CrimsonMoon #MakaiKnights #AnimeReview #RetroAnimeLove #GaroFranchise #AnimeCommunity #TechForAccessibility


💥 Dive into more fire-forged thoughts, art, and love at www.tigertactile.com and www.johnnytiger.com 💥

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