During a momentous occasion that would have sealed the
rift between two waring factions, the Fantasia Union and the Factory Alliance,
a powerful demon, born of chaos, appears and slaughters the faction
patriarchs. Hostilities continue and
there’s no sign of peace for any corner of the land. However, a chance encounter between two very
different people might be able to turn the tide. Theo Corano is a swordsman looking to become
a Knight in order to save his town.
Siluca Meletes is a beautiful Magical Academy student who survived the
Chaos Demon Wedding Massacare. Together,
these two will embark on a journey to purge demons from the land and bring
peace between the Fantasia Union and the Factory Alliance.
Not gonna lie, the only reason I decided to check this
one out is because…let’s face it, when you throw in “Record of __ War” into
your title, youre bound to wonder if it has anything to do with Record of
Lodoss War, aka one of the gold standards of Fantasy Anime. Spoiler Alert: it doesn’t, not at all. In
fact, if Lodoss still holds up as one of the finest example of high adventure
fantasy, Record of Grancrest feels like standard fare, very standard fare…in
short I’d take the “ Record of __ War” out of the title cause it doesn’t
deserve such an epic prop up.
To it’s credit, the very beginning of the first episode
is pretty good, if not the beginnings of standard fantasy storytelling: two
rivals unite for the wedding of their children and put aside their long time
rivalries…only to die a pretty gruesome death when a demon born of chaos arises
to cause trouble…and the war between factions is back on again cause there’s no
wedding. The visuals of the Bloody
Wedding incident are fine enough and it definitely sets up the possibility of a
pretty dangerous big bad in the future.
To top it off, there’s the introduction of Siluca, who in her first
appearance makes me think of Hermione Granger from Harry Potter if she were
more like a superheroine. But after that
little prologue, Grancrest becomes one giant bore for the rest of its debut.
Magical maiden mistaken as a powerless
princess…check. Mysterious knight with
great potential arrives to save said Magical Maiden…check. Swordplay against bad guys and a two headed
demon dog…check. If it sounds like I’m
bored just listing off these check boxes of Fantasy tropes…it’s because I am. Everything about the remainder of Grancrest
War’s premiere feels so basic and standard and does nothing to rise above
them. Siluca acts like a total bad ass
but we don’t get to see her do any real magic on her own (besides summoning a
demon Theo can kill to level up). Even
her costume bothers me, seriously is that cloak hovering behind her? Every bit of dialogue is also very been
there, done that, right down to the “hey this land of fantasy ruled by jerks
sucks and we should change it with (insert goal and maguffin here). But surely if it this is an Anime filled with
swords and demons, the action can save it, right? Nope.
Maybe Demon Slayer’s set too high a bar but Record of Grancrest Wars
action scenes are so freaking slow and lacking any kind of excitement and
energy. Yeah, I’m whining around this
point, this one was tough to sit through just because it became a battle to
stay awake through it and not even a cute Magical Maiden could keep me
interested.
A sequel or spin off to Record of Lodoss War this Anime
is not and that’s a very good thing in my book.
Record of Grancrest War falls into the same trap as most 80s mecha Anime
or present day Issekai Anime: there is nothing to make it stand out from the
rest of the competition…ok theres the fact that it is boring as sin and lacks
anything compelling to kick its story off past an intense prologue…but I’m sure
other shows in the genre have that same problem too. Guess it goes without saying, pass on this
one and check out the true “Record of __ War” Anime instead, it still holds up
far better than Record of Grancrest War and wrote the manual of how to do a
solid and amazing fantasy Anime epic.
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