Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash - Reviews

Alt title: Hai to Gensou no Grimgar

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wisaya's avatar
Nov 6, 2021

it's kinda bad tbh

it reminds me of Erased a lot, so and the only thing this anime has got going for it is the animation. ep1 made me hopeful and i was let down. i wouldn't recommend, if you watch i can promise withing 2 weeks you'll forget what it was about lol

3/10 story
9/10 animation
4/10 sound
3/10 characters
4/10 overall
ZamHalen's avatar
May 12, 2016

Simplified Review

Not what you're expecting.

Character driven show with emphasis on character interaction and themes.

Action is well executed but is not the focus.

Art style is jarring with impressionist back drop (I almost want to drop the animation score to 5 because of it).

Tl;dr conclusion:Watch if you like shows that focus on thematic material. If you want straight action go elsewhere.

Kind of Spoilers Ahead Full Review

Simply put my experience watching this anime would be best described as conflicted. After reading and watching other's reviews I am thoroughly convinced that the anime community actually doesn't know what it wants.

Grimgar is your standard trapped in a fantasy world story, a premise that is easily dismissed seeing that it has been done to death in recent years in popular shows such as Sword Art Online and DanMachi. I would argue that the similarities end here. While the aforementioned shows focus primarily on action and immense power, the characters of Grimgar are, for all intents and purposes, weak. This creates the premise of our main characters teaming up to survive in this new and harsh environment as they have effectively been cast aside as the weak by their peers early on. For this reason rather than being based around intense battles the story is rooted heavily in dialogue and character dynamic, an idea that may be offputting to anyone who was expecting the norm or was looking for a good action based show. We get to see the cast develop and react to the situations at hand and learn from their actions and previous experiences and gradually become stronger which is, in my less than humble opinion, good to see.

Major themes in the story are the the five stages grief, what it is to be a leader/roles in group, and the moral ground of the work our characters do. Fairly early in the show we have the death of an important character and the way the characters cope heavily parallels the 5 Stages of Grief. It is handled fairly decently but is another overdone concept that you may or may not like. The idea of leadership and what it is to lead and play roles within a group is a concept that is heavily discussed in this anime and I honestly really like it. It starkly contrasts the one-shot Gary Sue personas we've grown accustomed to more recently and really emphasizes the idea that every character is important in some way. The point that really sold me at first though is the moral ambiguity of our characters situation. We are presented with concept of survival with our characters' first successful kill leaving eveyone visibly shaken. The entire time we watch the introduction to show, we are given the full personification of the goblins the characters are hunting giving a sense that our characters are not heroes (which is why I have avoided using the term or anything similar). The exploration of this theme, or lack thereof, also serves as a major shortcoming as it is explored almost entirely through implication and is never fully developed.

My biggest problems with this show lie within the art direction and music. The characters themselves are well animated (especially Mary as some have pointed out) and fight scenes are fluid with realism relative to the setting. The choice that almost made me drop the show however, was the ridiculously out of place impressionist style backgrounds, which says a lot because impressionism is my favorite artistic movement. My liking of impressionism does not excuse the fact that anime characters in this context do not mesh well with with the "vague" whimsical backdrop, and as I said in TL;DR, is jarring from the perspective of visuals. The music was just way too generic with none of the soundtracks or insert songs really staying with me longer than their duration. A sad point when considering the show is partially funded by a record company.

Overall, Grimgar is a decently entertaining show. While the plot is slow at first it fully develops into something we really haven't seen recently in this genre. That being said if you like a faster paced story progression, or are looking for action this is not show for you and I would not suggest this show for you as it was definitely a problem for me at first. However, if you want a slightly different take on a story that is being told time and time again, look no further than Grimgar to try something different. Just try to ignore the art style.

*Grammar and Spelling Disclaimer:Written at 2AM will be further proofread eventually.

7/10 story
9/10 animation
5/10 sound
8/10 characters
7.8/10 overall
Boidem's avatar
Feb 3, 2016

Duuude... This show...
I have a hard time actually getting attached to an animated character, and I've seen how even fucking Clannad took almost two fucking seasons to milk a tear out of people. I did get somewhat sad at all of this, but I didn't fucking cry or anything. And again, I'm not someone who gets attached that easily. BUT! This show man... This fffffffffucking show... *SOME MAY FIND THIS SHIT A SPOILER* Episode 4 comes... Something happens. Not gonna tell you what, I'm not a fucking spoiler or anything, BUT... Something happens... Something BAD happens... And I, the same guy who laughed while this little ghost girl from Anohana faded away, fucking felt sad. 
Whatever you have to say about A-1 Pictures, you can't deny that they did a magnificent job with the character development and all that shit with this show, man... 
Also, good story, beautiful animation, great sound blah blah blah I rate 5/7. No but seriously, 8.5/10 seems good enough for this show... (for now anyway. May be higher, and it may also be lower at the end.)

Edit:

YO, THIS SHOW MAN... THIS FUCKING SHOW MAN... FUCKING EPISODE 8! EEIIGHT!! I'M WATCHING THE FUCKING 8TH EPISODE, YEA? AND GUESS WHAT THE FUCK HAPPENS. I'M FUCKING TOUCHED! WHAT IS THIS MAGIC THEY'RE USING?! WHAT IS THIS SORCERY?! DID THEIR FUCKING MAGE USE A FUCKING SPELL ON ME THAT MADE ME FUCKING GET ATTACHED TO THE FUCKING CHARACTERS OR SOME SHIT? LIKE, HOLY SHIT MAN!

FUCK IT! THIS SHIT GOIN' 9.5 NOW, BITCH!

ANOTHER FUCKING EDIT:

TWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! EPISODE, TWEEEEEEEEEEEELVE!!!!! THIS SHOW IS FUCKING RELENTLESS MY MAN! 
YOOOO, IT'S LIKE EVERY 4 EPISODES YOU GET ONE EPISODE THAT HITS YOU HARD MAN. THIS SHOW.... THIS FUCKING SHOW MAN.... TWEEEEEEEEEEEELVE! EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELVE! 
DUDE! YO, IT HAPPENED MY DUDES. 10/10 MIGHT WATCH THE 12TH EPISODE AGAIN WHEN THE DUB REACHES IT.

YO THIS NEEDS TO CONTINUE UNTIL THEY GET BACK HOME OR SOME SHIT MAN, THIS IS MY FAVORITE FUCKING SHOW BY FAR.

10/10 story
10/10 animation
10/10 sound
10/10 characters
10/10 overall
PappaAppa's avatar
Sep 10, 2019

I’m sure this anime got a lot of dislike and I can understand why people don’t like it, but I think this anime was so amazingly well done. I love how the premise focuses on more of a reality of what this kind of life is. I love how it focuses on portraying the emotions of the characters and it does a damn good job at that. There might not have been a whole huge background to the story but that’s what made the story itself. 

The characters no nothing about what they’re lives were before or how they came to be because it confuses them and they can’t understand it.

The stereotypes of this anime are little to none except for it being “teleported into a video game like world” which people see as the entire anime. 

I guess that’s just my opinion though and others have there’s.

10/10 story
9/10 animation
10/10 sound
10/10 characters
10/10 overall
Velerok's avatar
Apr 21, 2020

Just finished it right after i finished Goblin Slayer also. If you like Anime that stay in the bounds of realistic human capacity , without characters that are overpowering or god like , you probably will find this anime worthwhile.

Pros

        Realistic , the characters are not imortal , unlike other anime in this genre.

        I did not consider any of the characters to be annoying or obnoxious.

        Very little Ecchi , not enough to overshadow or ruin the anime.

Cons

        No world building. We find out close to 0% about the world they are in. No filler characters at all , which makes the                town , and the whole world , to seem pretty empty. Not a lot of action also. 

        The plot , and the settings were good , i just wished they would have expended on the world building.

Overall , i have to give it 10/10. The cons are the kind of bonus i would enjoy getting , but i take what i get.

An anime  to my liking, got me satisfied. 

       

        

10/10 story
10/10 animation
10/10 sound
10/10 characters
10/10 overall
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