Record of Grancrest War

War isn’t so bad but it’s what and how it leads to it. It seems in fantasy war stories these days, we rarely encounter a story that isn’t saturated with the most generic tropes possible. Romance, tragedy, revenge, politics. You name it. It’s there. What does that say for a show like Grancrest Senki (Record of the Grancrest War) though? To be fair, I’ve never read the original light novels before. It’s written by a guy named Ryo Mizuno who created the Record of Lodoss War series. Even as an anime original viewer, it felt like a series that was easy to jump into. Thepremise isn’t overly complicated as we learn about how war broke loose in the world of Grancrest Senki. Humanity uses Crests that are capable of utilizing magic to deal with supernatural threats such as demons. The most powerful crests are known as Grancrest. Unfortunately, humans are flawed and war broke loose as people seek to gain the most powerful crests themselves. The series chronicles the story of Siluca Meletes and Theo Corano as the two hopes to end the conflict between humanity themselves and defeat the demons. Ok. It's not complicated but as an anime viewer, I’m baffled by the storytelling pacing of the show from the very start. It’s lightning fast that by the time I finished the fourth or fifth episode, it felt like the series jumped way over itself. It would be fair game if the show focused on the story with concrete development but instead, we are introduced with many characters early from the start. Besides Siluca and Theo, the show contains lots of characters of nobility. Aristocrats are a common sight and stands at the high tier of society. On the other hand, there are also characters that dedicates themselves to their own devoted duties such as Aishela, Irvin, and Margaret, and Marrine. Unfortunately, most of these characters have flaws like the way humans do. Some of their decisions in the show are very controversial. Marrine is a prime example in one of the later episodes as she makes a choice that will rub people in the wrong way. I have attempted to forgive the characters’ choices making as it’s not easy for a show like this to make adequate ones. In other words, how should we judge the characters? Let’s talk about our main protagonists, Siluca and Theo. These two come from different backgrounds but are perhaps the least corrupted individuals in their world. Siluca may be an inexperienced mage but she has a heart of gold. While not as skilled as some others, Siluca is a character with a clever mind although can be forceful at times to get her point across. It didn’t surprise to me that she would sometimes take risks to accomplish her goals. On the other hand, Theo is a man who is perhaps one of the most calm characters in the show. Always keeping his cool and in control of his emotions, it feels like the show designates him as an eventual leader. He also has human morals that are often shown through his actions and words. Often choosing a path with the least violence, Theo does engage in fighting if he feels absolutely necessary. While you could say that these two are perfectly suited for the show, they do make mistakes as well. It’s also inevitable that romance would eventually develop between the two as many hints are dropped in throughout the show. However, unlike most couple pairings, it seems these two really are destined to be together with their similar ideals. This is in contrast with some character pairings such as Marrine/Alexis or Villar/Margaret where fate somehow interferes with their love. Still, the show tries its best to maintain a balanced war story. Romance is actually subtle even with some of the background storytelling such as the one between Marrine and Alexis. In a show like this, I have to admit that throwing in many tropes at once doesn’t help it flow better. It’s like an amalgamation of fictional elements all coming together that may leave viewers feel distracted. The political affairs in the show also feels forced on many occasions despite being necessary for the overall story. With 24 episodes, the show’s pacing somehow still takes a stab in the heart. Some episodes are abruptly resolved while others loves to play around with its tropes. The storytelling itself is also predictable with some events that are inevitable to happen. As I mentioned before, there are too many characters that some are just left in the dust and others hardly developed. Aishela is a crime of this as we barely finds out anything about her at all until near the end of the show. By then, I wonder if viewers even cares. Others such as Priscilla and Mirza suffers from characterization as there are hardly any memorable qualities about them. It feels like the author decided to thrown in all sort of characters in at once to make the show feel credible. This even extends to characters with supernatural origins such as werewolves and vampires. Well, I suppose the creators wanted to take that risk but to me, it wasn’t rewarding in the end. With so many characters, Grancrest Senki felt like a play with an overstacked roster where not everyone got their chance to shine. To the surprise of no one, A-1 Pictures adapts the show as many of the series have a similar style when it comes to fantasy series. Because this show also involves war and magic, you’ll definitely get a familiarity of what they present each episode. First of all, I would like to say that the animation quality does look sharp especially in early episodes. The action choreography looks smooth and characters are decorated with enough details suitable for this show. However, the character designs themselves leaves little to be desired. Siluca’s ridiculous outfit is a prime example of being distracting to the point that she herself is aware of it. Others such as Marrine and Alexis looks incredibly one dimensional that fits with the nobility stereotype. Oh and of course, fan service exists. There’s skinship in some episodes that leaves little to the imagination while action is shown in brutal uncensored details. To say the least, A-1 did its job but not one that I can confess as impressive overall. The production quality does drop over time in typical A-1 fashion as time passes. Compared to a few other fantasy war stories I’ve watched, I’d say that Grancrest Senki has a moderate soundtrack. It didn’t set the bar high though as it still sounds very generic even during climatic battle scenes. The theme songs contains the sort of J-Pop style lyrics you probably hear often these days. Character voice mannerisms are moderate at best although I have to admit that certain cast members really sounds motivated. Even Siluca has her own moments that are sometimes worth quoting despite her personality. Watching Grancrest Senki reminds me of playing a video game where the developer wants you to love what the designed. Truth to be told, I think the show is average at best. It reached its high points in the show on some episodes while making an ill early impression. Quite frankly, there are way too many characters that by the time the show is over, I can only recall a few names. The pacing feel sloppy and really could have improved on many levels. Watch it if you want but be prepare for being underwhelmed.

I have watched almost 200 anime. There were better and worse ones. I have few that are my favourites but when I finished Grancrest Senki yesterday I was super happy that I had a chance to watch this one. Overall I can say that it was amazing story, full of action, magic, battles, creatures and romance. For me MC and his mage were really nicely done (however Silica should have more screen time) along with a lot of other characters like Shadow, twin werewolves, valkyrie, vampire lord, black witch and few lords. Draw style was really nice, music was good but not superb. What I alsoliked about this anime was that there were no hentai/echhi elements and instead we had a lot of drama but not so much like in Akame ga kill. Characters are not overpowered (maybe in fight with the cyclop...), they are humans which can easily die. I was kinda worried about MC and Silica at the end (japanese creators love to kill some MC or make them disappear forever) because I like happy endings. However the ending was really nice (yet final fight with the Artist was kinda boring). I can recommend this anime to everyone. For me - best anime I have ever watched - 10/10 :)

If there an anime studio that I hate the most it would be A1 Pictures. Not because of Digibro with his 12 part Asterisk Wars sucks series. I hate A1 pictures is because the way they constantly ditching out garbage left and right as well not learning from the mistakes. Some people way say that Toei and Pierrot are the worse but least at times they can actually ditch out some quality and enjoyable projects every now and then compare to A1 Pictures where almost all the anime that were done by A1 are either mediocre or steaming pile of shit that shouldn’t exist. Ina nutshell, they are basically the anime equivalent of Electronic Arts where they love to pander to the lowest common denominator with the buggy releases, forced micro-transactions, and overall shallow games. Record of the Grancrest war along with Darling in the Franxx which is mainly a A1 show mind you are the latest A1 shows to come out from A1’s dog collars to deliver us two seasonal anime train-wrecks in order to once again please the lowest common dominator of anime with the atrocious writing, bland tropey characters, subpar art and preachy themes. Like with most A1 productions I kept my expectations very low because honestly the moment I praise a show from A1 the show would go back to its awful roots by having a stupid plot twist that completely goes against the narrative that has been previously been set up in previous episodes to having creepy and horrible sex scenes… Needless to say, I and my good friend decided to marathon this train-wreck of a show and by the end of it, we were shocked of how bad it was to a point where I actually one of A1 worst shows. Now with that, all said Hello everyone this is Shawn aka PhantomKurata and welcome to my review of Record of the Grancrest war and with that said let’s dive into this train-wreck shall we. Story. Atlatan, a land ruled by Chaos. Fearing disaster brought about by chaos, the people lived protected by “Lords;” those with the power of “Crests,” used to suppress the chaos. However, the Lords decided to abandon the concept of protecting the people and turn against each other, stealing each other’s Crests to gain dominion over one another. The story follows Siluca a young mage who scorns the feuding lords for abandoning their people. One day she meets a wandering swordsman and Crest holder Theo who is trying to liberate his hometown from its tyrant lord. Seeking for an opportunity Siluca helps Theo raise his rank to a knight as well forming a contract with him. Joining forces, Siluca, Theo and their allies fight together to end the war between the different noble factions, and put an end to the threat of Chaos. Like with most A1 productions they all have great concept and ideas on paper, however, A1 Pictures has the really nasty habit of taking things that have great potential and decides to screw it all up in actual execution and Record of Grancrest War no different. The story in Record of Grancrest War is only interesting if you have never seen any action fantasy anime in your life because it’s one of the most generic run of the mill fantasy story that there is. A character starts off as a nobody but as soon as he gets invited to set army and trains for a while he became one of the strongest characters from the army. All of the fantasy cliches are present here. The writing is poor at best as it features a lot of questionable acts that go happened within the show, for example, the end of episode 9 where the alliance Marrine wanted to meet with Lord Milza so they can perform a ritual together by having sex in the open of a countryside. What the hell were you thinking A1 Pictures? It’s bad enough that they have sex in the open where at anytime they can get shot down by arrows by any faction but the way Marrine was acting during that sex act was incredibly disturbing and made me feel uncomfortable. I don’t sex scenes in anime but they A1 Pictures does them is creepy and forced. I hope to god that A1 Pictures will never animate a sex scene ever again because these incompetent bastards don’t know the meaning of sex. Don’t get me started with this shows directing because I have never seen a war fantasy show that skips fights/battles and a great example of this was in episode 17 where the Kilhis army focus was planning to attack the Dartanian army and instead of showing the whole battle as soon the leader puts on the golden mask on the show fades out and the next shot we see that the Killhis forces were defeated and to add insult to entry the leader info-dumps all the events that happened in the battle instead of showing us the battle… WHY JUST WHY. I understand the show wanted to establish of how powerful the Dartanian army is but this was the cheapest way to do it. It’s like they clearly ran out of budget just for that scene. The worst thing from this show that single-handily killed the show was the pacing. The pacing in Record of Grancrest war is way too fast for its own good. It’ was okay in the beginning but it really became a big problem as the series goes on and because of the shows fast pacing almost all of the things that go on in the show feels incredibly rushed. The perfect example of this show awful pacing is with Theo character progression. In the beginning of the series, the show establishes that he is a sloppy fighter who cannot defend himself but in a couple of episodes later he suddenly becomes an expert fighter as well a ruler of his own lead who is very capable of taking over mutable lands. The sad part is thanks to the shows fast pacing we barely got to see any character development and growth from Theo at all. This was single-handily Record of the Grancrest war biggest mistake and because of that the show became an insufferable train-wreck most A1 productions Overall the story for Record of Grancrest Senki is just awful. 2/10 Characters. Like with the story the characters are only interesting if you never seen a fantasy anime before because they are all just generic fantasy characters that we all seen before. Am not trying that having generic characters in a fictional work is bad because generic characters can actually be likable and charming if done right. The problems is apart from Siluca all of the characters in Record of the Grancrest war are all generic and one dimensional who have no charm at all. Theo is your typical fantasy lead that we all seen before other fantasy animes in the past. His character development is nearly non-existent thanks to this show pacing issues and his personality is boring. Siluca is a pretty decent female lead overall. She’s strong, likable, and just very enjoyable to watch. It’s such a shame that she’s not really the main focus because she could have been a great character if Theo didn’t exist. Now if I think about it Theo existence completely hold this character back from being great as she kinda devolves as a character as the series goes along where she just wants to lick on Theo’s dick. Such a shame really because she could have been a great character. The rest of the characters in Record of Garncrest War are just your generic fantasy characters that we all seen before and they are not even worth mentioning due to how one note all of them are including the villains. Overall the characters in Record of Garncrest War were really bad and forgetful. 3/10 Visuals. When it comes to the visuals of Record of Garncrest war I thought the visuals were pretty alright for the most part. The characters designs are pretty decent overall especially for the females who have the best designs in the series. The fan-service in this anime is pretty tolerable for the most, however, the anime at times can get carried away with the fan-service but least it not as bad as The Asterisk Wars and Eromanga Sensei. The one thing that I didn’t like about the art is how inconstant it is from character going off model in various scenes in the show to awkwardly use of CGI in many scenes in the show. The animation is passable for the most part however it had its fair share of still frames in many areas as well as some awkward shots. Overall the visuals of Record of the Garncrest war is decent for the most part. 6/10 Sound. Like with most A1 Productions the soundtrack is easily the best part about these shows and Record of the Garncrest war is no different. Both opening and ending themes of the show were pretty good overall. The voice acting is pretty good for the type of show that it is and I have no complaints whatsoever. 6/10 Final Thoughts. Record of the Grancrest War is one of the worst directed show I have ever seen from this genre. It was very boring to watch and it made me wish I was watching other fantasy names. The story is shallow and poorly written. The directing and pacing was beyond trash, most of the characters were sucked and the animation was subpar. The only decent things about this show were the visuals and music. Like with most A1 Productions it should be thrown in the dumpster where it should be destroyed. If you like Record of Grancrest War and any A1 production than good for you but don’t go out there and say that A1 is a great anime studio because you will only piss off more experienced anime fans such as myself. Don’t get me wrong I like a couple of A-1 shows like Black Butler Book of Circus/Murder, Woatkoi, Magi and Shinsekai Yori but for every A-1 show that I like these always a bunch of A1 shows that I hate like Eromanga Sensei, The Asterisk Wars, Fate Apocrypha, Sword Art Online etc. I don’t recommend this show to anyone unless you want to see how incompetent A-1 Pictures is as a studio for the 20th time. Hopefully, the PS4 game will be better. Final Score 2.5/10

This anime is a truly heartwarming experience, with a storytelling style that feels refreshingly unique compared to many others I’ve seen. At its core, it tells a bittersweet tale of a noble knight’s quest to defeat chaos, blending moments of warmth with the sadness of loss and the resilience found in overcoming hardships. Set in a beautifully crafted fantasy world, the series is filled with poignant scenes that moved me to tears with their bittersweet beauty. The heartfelt storytelling, unforgettable characters, and thrilling action make it an emotional journey that is sure to resonate deeply with viewers. I have no doubt that others will find themselvescaptivated by its powerful narrative and enduring charm.