×
  • remind me tomorrow
  • remind me next week
  • never remind me
Subscribe to the ANN Newsletter • Wake up every Sunday to a curated list of ANN's most interesting posts of the week. read more

Forum - View topic
EP. REVIEW: Granbelm


Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8  Next

Note: this is the discussion thread for this article

Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback
View previous topic :: View next topic  
Author Message
NeverConvex
Subscriber



Joined: 08 Jun 2013
Posts: 2267
PostPosted: Thu Aug 22, 2019 9:23 am Reply with quote
I thought the seiyuu still sold it really hard, but I just couldn't make the dialogue fit with the acting, scene, or character. It would've been fine if it were somehow relevant to her character arc, I think, but it just sort of came up as a bizarre pseudo-scientific non sequitur.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Sat Aug 24, 2019 9:27 am Reply with quote
Well, look at how wrong I was. I guess imapling your soul will do that as other anime have shown us in the past.
Specially interesting is Nene's assertion that something like this has happened several times in the past, which indeed does crank up the darkness a few notches (also we have never heard of a succesful Princeps in the past, have we?).
Suishou being established as the villain, she knows a whole lot more than she's letting out and I wonder how much of a hand does she play in stuff like Mangetsu and Kibou's being, the magical jamming as well as all that "soul erasure"; replacing Anna's existence with Rosa is the kind of cruel twist I'd expect from her.
Whew, more of the plot has transpired in a single episode without obvious infodumps than in the rest of the series put together.

Also now it seems that each individual Armanox has existed for a long time (I thought they were created by the girls' magic according to their personalities?), except for Drosela Nocture and Aconite Gris which was just deleted from history (and maybe White Lily? But they already know Mangetsu is a weird case).
BTW, here's a couple pics about Viola Katze's creation:
https://twitter.com/granbelm_en/status/1164434811441692673
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
meiam



Joined: 23 Jun 2013
Posts: 3442
PostPosted: Tue Aug 27, 2019 10:42 pm Reply with quote
Well they not only killed the only character I cared about, they flat out erased her presence, so I'm probably dropping out, the adventure of least interesting girl in the world aren't very... interesting.

I'm guessing the big twist is going to be that Mangetsu is a previous participant who was erased before but is now coming back trough <handwave>, maybe she lost in the tournament protecting Shingetsu or something. The idea of erasing the very existence of people who lose is pretty cool, wish they'd started with that and build the show around it rather than introduce it at the very end.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
darkchibi07



Joined: 15 Oct 2003
Posts: 5459
PostPosted: Thu Aug 29, 2019 10:50 pm Reply with quote
That moment between Mangetsu and Shingetsu on the coast line was so good. I'm quite impressed how well Granbelm is selling me with the main two leads despite looking like the Madoka/Homura archetype. I'm also very intrigued how Mangetsu's sister might get involved in all this.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message AIM Address My Anime My Manga
1idd0kun



Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Fri Aug 30, 2019 9:28 pm Reply with quote
For episode 9 make sure to watch after the ending credits. You're gonna miss the all-important Mangetsu reveal if you don't watch that scene.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 4:37 am Reply with quote
For a show so based on cliches, I couldn't predict anything that we have seen this episode, let alone what will happen from now on. I specially didn't expect spoiler[Suishou losing control and actually being in a pinch, both during the episode and in the preview, even if ultimately things played out in her favor]

1idd0kun wrote:
For episode 9 make sure to watch after the ending credits. You're gonna miss the all-important Mangetsu reveal if you don't watch that scene.

Yeah, it was evident that she was weird and special, but not in this way.[/spoiler]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Probablytomorrow



Joined: 04 Aug 2019
Posts: 164
PostPosted: Sat Aug 31, 2019 9:00 am Reply with quote
I love it when the pieces start falling into place.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
pengin senshi
Space Cowboy



Joined: 22 Dec 2017
Posts: 34
PostPosted: Sun Sep 01, 2019 1:42 pm Reply with quote
I was getting worried that we still weren't going to find out what is different about Mangetsu after the Shingetsu and Nene setup, so I'm glad they added the post-credits scene. (They seem to use these credit scenes well!)
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 6:16 pm Reply with quote
Holy cow, this episode didn't have much in the way of new information but the atmosphere was asphyxiating and it's settling each character's roles leading up to the finale.
Kuon's defeat in the face of victory seemed (and was!) unfair and the story was evolving into one of those situations where everything is so dreadful that nothing seems to matter anymore. But then the sister appeared as a beacon of hope.

Now I have to wonder - are Nene and Rosa still alive and well because they weren't attacked as savagely and Anna and Kuon (although White Lily's beamsword doesn't seem any lighter than Drosera's explosion) or was it because they were defeated by someone who can't become the Princeps?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Probablytomorrow



Joined: 04 Aug 2019
Posts: 164
PostPosted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 7:39 pm Reply with quote
Ahaha, and here I was afraid Magiaconatus would be forcing Mangetsu to become the villain. I'm glad for the new Suishou twist.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Tuor_of_Gondolin



Joined: 20 Apr 2009
Posts: 3524
Location: Bellevue, WA
PostPosted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 8:00 pm Reply with quote
The one thing that I kept in mind throughout this episode is that nothing that Suishou says is necessarily true. Her whole shtick is deception, usually aimed at demoralizing and confusing her victims so that they fall more easily to her. Also, she may not be human, either -- spoiler[why did the dagger not hurt her]?
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message Send e-mail My Anime My Manga
Yuvelir



Joined: 06 Jan 2015
Posts: 1529
PostPosted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 8:14 pm Reply with quote
Suishou is in a "I've already won" mood. But even though she's deceptive, she isn't an outright liar - the only time that has happened was because she had been deceived herself. She's no doubt trying to demoralize Shingetsu, but I doubt she's feeding false information.

Right now Suishou is the Lucifer to Magiaconatus' God figure, opposing it and trying to one-up its will. And when it's Magiaconatus that created Shingetsu and Mangetsu and forced those girls into pain and humilliation for a rigged battle, it makes me reconsider who this story's actual villain is.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Probablytomorrow



Joined: 04 Aug 2019
Posts: 164
PostPosted: Fri Sep 06, 2019 8:55 pm Reply with quote
I think Suishou is definitely a creation of Magiaconatus, meant to prevent an unworthy human from winning Granbelm. Maybe she's been at it for generations! She's enjoying her work a bit too much.

Further speculation: Mangetsu spoiler[was created by Magiaconatus to guilt Shingetsu into changing her wish. Mangetsu has every right to be unhappy inhabiting this role. She deserves to live beyond the tournament's end; but on the other hand, if Shingetsu changes her wish then her worst fears will come true and magic will ruin countless lives again. Dilemma!]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
MarshalBanana



Joined: 31 Aug 2014
Posts: 5296
PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 6:48 am Reply with quote
So this is Madoka if she was Pinocchio, fighting in the Holy Grail War with magical Chibi Mechs, to defeat Magane Chikujoins younger sister so her friend can turn her into a real girl.
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message My Anime My Manga
1idd0kun



Joined: 09 Nov 2007
Posts: 62
PostPosted: Sat Sep 07, 2019 12:46 pm Reply with quote
Tuor_of_Gondolin wrote:
The one thing that I kept in mind throughout this episode is that nothing that Suishou says is necessarily true.


Not really. Suishou demoralizes others with unpleasant truths, not outright lying. She was wrong about Kuon's sister because she (Suishou) was deceived by Shisui.

Besides, the reveals were pretty well foreshadowed. For example, the fact that Ernesta is loved by magic was first brought up in episode 6 by Anna's mother. Anna's mother also said only the one loved by magic can win the Granbelm. All this is perfectly consistent with what Suishou revealed in this episode.

Furthermore, Suishou also revealed her own motivation. She wants to win the Granbelm to prove Shingetsu and humans in general aren't worthy of being the Princeps mage. This suggests Suishou herself spoiler[is not human.]
Back to top
View user's profile Send private message
Display posts from previous:   
Reply to topic    Anime News Network Forum Index -> Site-related -> Talkback All times are GMT - 5 Hours
Goto page Previous  1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8  Next
Page 4 of 8

 


Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2005 phpBB Group