Martial arts anime Garouden: The Way of the Lone Wolf, streaming on Netflix, puts out impressive fight scenes, but is hampered by its messy story that inelegantly shuttles its anti-hero about in its constrained eight episodes. If Netflix wanted an anime that viewers can binge in a day, it succeeded; but if it wanted a competitor to stand up to other anime heavyweights, it should have offered the series room to breathe and leave an impression.

There is an arc of progression, with wanted fugitive Juzo Fujimaki diving into a blood sport in search of legal and mental absolution, but while NAZ does offer excellent combat animation, the decision to juggle multiple plots dilutes the impact of all of them.

In terms of moments and single scenes, Garouden has some choice fights, but when taken as a whole, those battles never feel like they build up to anything worth caring about afterward.

Garouden Provides a Visual Spectacle That Doesn’t Last

Confused Story Leaves No Impression on Viewers

Garouden’s best twist to the martial arts formula is the fugitive angle that adds a crime element to its combat. While Baki and Kengan Ashura keep everything contained in a neat arena, Juzo’s pursuit by both cops and crooks means he often wanders into fights by accident – in forests, on ferries, or even in amusement parks. NAZ also puts its best foot forward in making the fights grounded but engaging, rotoscoping the movements so that the testing jabs and flying armbars feel natural. The English dub also has solid performances all around, especially with Patrick Seitz convincingly voicing Juzo Fujimaki.

While the visuals and voices are up to snuff, unfortunately, Garouden‘s writing is not. Perhaps in an attempt to be faithful to the novels, Garouden uses its limited episodes to follow various characters and their subplots, be it Tamon’s pursuit of Juzo, Tanba’s duels with other fighters, or Shozan’s attempt to start a tournament. These stories clash rather than mesh, leaving viewers confused as to why they were animated at all: Tamon’s attempts to catch his killer ends without fanfare in a mid-episode fight, while the secret underground battles Juzo partake in end abruptly along with his supposed nemesis, Oleg.

Garouden Is Hampered by Its Too Short Tale

Based on the Novels by Baku Yumemakura, Produced by NAZ

In a longer anime, these may have been better seen as whole arcs, but with the eight episodes afforded by Netflix, it is just a mélange of pretty fights that come and go without proper build-up or resolution. For a few hours of a day, watching fighting for fighting’s sake is acceptable. However, if Netflix and NAZ hope to turn this into an alternative to other long-running franchises, it needs more time to be a story.

As is, Garouden: The Way of the Lone Wolf will remain a whimsy: entertaining for its time, but unlikely to leave a lasting impression.