Garō

A tall, heavyset man with fair skin and a jutting brow, Garo is bald aside from a strip of black hair at his nape. Scars and disfigurement mar his face, which a mask conceals: it wraps his whole head, seals off the ruined jaw behind gas-mask-style vents, and covers his ears too. For clothing he favours a purple, long-sleeved top over trousers, cinched by a white belt that carries a tool pouch on either flank; white leg warmers climb to his shins, and a frayed red shroud hangs behind him, with brown shin guards added later. Mechanical claws stand in where his arms once were. Before the injuries, the anime gives him a full head of brown hair combed back and an unfrayed shroud.

The anime paints the early Garo as cocky and self-satisfied, shrugging off his severed arms as a fair price for power and staying loyal to Kara, though his short fuse strikes Amado as reckless. Once injured, he curdles into a bitter, hostile figure who blames Kawaki for wrecking his jaw and feeds the grudge. Pride drives him: Ao's failure leaves him fussing over the Outers' standing, and he fancies himself climbing to Inner even while stuck with menial errands. He also runs his mouth about delicate matters even with enemies in earshot, which strikes others as plain idiocy. Yet the instant death looms his swagger evaporates, and he grovels and apologises to Kawaki, who only mocks him, laying bare the coward under the bravado.

In the anime, Jigen picks Garo as a possible next vessel. Where most candidates prove incompatible and perish, Garo pulls through, though the ordeal costs him his arms. Once replacements are fitted, he runs into Kawaki as the boy tries to slip away from the Kara hideout; impressed that the child bears a working Kama, Garo offers to teach him about the group, and when Kawaki declines, he moves to discipline him, only for a panicked Kawaki to trigger the Kama and blast him, mangling his jaw and planting a lasting grudge. His Shinobi-Ware lets him fire blasts from his makeshift arms, and the anime casts him as a brutal grappler who piles on suplexes, headbutts, elbow drops, and dropkicks while staying nimble for his size and soaking up heavy punishment; enduring Jigen's experiment despite being incompatible already spoke to that toughness. When Delta invites him to reclaim the vessel near the Land of Fire's border, Garo jumps at it and finds Kawaki among Team Konohamaru. He jeers that he will drag the boy back to Kara and seems to hold the advantage, until Kawaki flares his Kama, impales him, and detonates his upper half, killing the Outer.