Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Granbelm
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NeverConvex
Subscriber
Posts: 2267 |
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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.
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Yuvelir
Posts: 1529 |
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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 |
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meiam
Posts: 3442 |
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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. |
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darkchibi07
Posts: 5459 |
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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.
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1idd0kun
Posts: 62 |
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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.
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Yuvelir
Posts: 1529 |
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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]
Yeah, it was evident that she was weird and special, but not in this way.[/spoiler] |
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Probablytomorrow
Posts: 164 |
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I love it when the pieces start falling into place.
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pengin senshi
Space Cowboy
Posts: 34 |
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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!)
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Yuvelir
Posts: 1529 |
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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? |
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Probablytomorrow
Posts: 164 |
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Ahaha, and here I was afraid Magiaconatus would be forcing Mangetsu to become the villain. I'm glad for the new Suishou twist.
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Tuor_of_Gondolin
Posts: 3524 Location: Bellevue, WA |
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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]?
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Yuvelir
Posts: 1529 |
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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. |
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Probablytomorrow
Posts: 164 |
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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!] |
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MarshalBanana
Posts: 5296 |
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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.
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1idd0kun
Posts: 62 |
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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.] |
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