Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Record of Grancrest War
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#844391
Posts: 517 |
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I love how trusting Theo is of Hubertus when he meets him, and how Siluca doesn't try and talk any sense into him.
Hubertus: "If you want answers, all you need is to touch this thing which summoned a super demon that killed the last two kings, by the way, I was was responsible for that. This is totally not a trap." Theos: "That sounds reasonable." Siluca: "This is probably a trap but I'll go along with it." Considering how Hubertus spent the last couple episodes explaining how no sacrifice is too great to kill off Theo I was half expecting a demon to jump out and eat him and Siluca when they touched it. This whole series is basically how the people involved are responsible for all their own problems. The ancient civilization almost destroyed the world because of taking technology to far, they then sunk the world into a dark age to prevent the rise of civilization. The Pandora organization kills off anyone who may lead humanity into a golden age by uniting the crests. Marrine starts a war so she can unite lords who were already ready to unite through marriage. There's no evil mastermind or super villain plotting humanity's destruction or anything, all of the events are a direct results of humanity screwing themselves over in one way or another. And what ARE the crests? Why do they exist? If the whole plan was to keep humanity suppressed by living in an age of chaos, why were the crests made at all? And why didn't Pandora simply take them all (or enough to prevent the grand crest from being made) and just hide them away? They seemed like they would have enough influence to do so. |
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FilthyCasual
Posts: 2190 |
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They were jumping off of each other to stay in midair and kill more shades, like during the fight against Yana. |
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NeverConvex
 Subscriber Posts: 2301 |
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I guess they could have been doing that, but I just rewatched that little bit to check; I don't see where it shows them jumping off one another. They just do this goofiness:
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DRosencraft
Posts: 665 |
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What kills me is that the reaction to "we need chaos so humanity doesn't wipe itself like it almost did before" is, "I don't care." I mean, I'm not expecting a real nuanced, artful, answer on the fly here. But he couldn't even manage a "humans aren't the same as they were" or "we can change" or anything. Just a "well that sucks, and you're probably right, but that's the future, and current me doesn't care." As noted, if the series wasn't a lightning flash, this "reveal" would've been a few episodes ago and we would've seen some manifestation of a worldview how to react to that big reveal. It was an extremely weak reaction that borders on childish.
Then there was his supposed to rousing ascension speech. "I'm gonna lead you all to the future, but if I, or any of my future successors, do a bad job, I give you permission to revolt" is a terrible message. First, because he retires and turns the reins over to the two worst decision-makers in this series, after only 3 years. And you DON'T preface your leadership by telling your people they have your permission to throw a revolution if they disagree with you. You just got through learning that the biggest fear of the future is humanity butchering yourself, and you decide the best idea is to give any person who disagrees with anything you say or do to incite a rebellion? You've been fighting nothing but rebellions this entire series. How about just not mentioning the whole "rebellion" thing? I'm not buying the eyewash of a sappy, happy, ending, when it completely comes at a limping narrative and terrible graphics. This show started poorly, got worse, recovered slightly, and then coasted to the finish purely on the inertia built up from its torrid pace from earlier in the story, even the art falling apart by the end. |
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Echii
Posts: 107 |
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One of the most underrated shows. I personally enjoyed this even more than hero academia. Hero academia has good action, but the story is not so good. Grancrest Senki on other hand has better, more mature and deeper story/romance
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2301 |
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DRosencraft: yeah, completely agree. It was an awful lot've build up with the Pandora principles reveal in order to pose literally no answer whatsoever to the argument Pandora made about human nature, and to immediately put back into power some of the least competent leaders in the series.
Echii: I don't see how the story in Grancrest Senki could be called mature or deep, but I did think Theo and Siluca's romance was a highlight for the series. No obnoxious tsundere dynamic for 20 episodes, just two people recognizing they love one another. The forest scene where Theo first admits he loves Siluca was a definite high point for Grancrest. |
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3767 |
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I'd have to agree with NeverConvex on being skeptical about the story's depth or maturity. You may need to expand upon that, Echii. I will agree with both about Theo and Siluca's romance being a strong point, though I would have preferred that more of their earlier dynamic would have been preserved, but that is mainly a matter of personal taste for me. I'd say that the story was often elevated by some excellent direction and animation, though the latter was inconsistent in quality, especially towards the end.
Edit:
I would have liked to have seen more of him on this show, but I'm sure he has had other obligations. He would have been working on Apocrypha in the earlier part of the series, among other animators. I'd say this idea downplays the worthy contributions of other animators on the show, but I think the main issue is that, unfortunately, they just didn't have the time to get everything on that level. I don't think anyone can accuse A-1 of being the best at planning. |
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Angel M Cazares
 Posts: 5424 Location: Iscandar |
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Episode 24 was messy, but it delivered an adequate conclusion. I always liked the premise and setting of this show, but the crazy, break necking pace did a lot of damage to what could have been a good quality anime. Lastly, Siluca was a highlight to me from start to finish and one of the main reasons why I stuck with this inconsistent show.
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Chaos Wings
 Posts: 277 Location: Your guess is as good as mine?! |
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Overall I think I enjoyed Grancrest but i'm 99% sure I won't be picking it up when the blu-rays drop coz it doesn't feel shelf worthy imo.
We got a conclusive ending that should satisfy most people but how we got there was pretty dicey at times. I agree with others that Theo and Siluca's romance was a highlight of the show, easily one of it's strongest aspects. But in that vain I would also say that Alexis and Marrine's romance was equally one of series' weakest parts. Then again I might be too biased because I hate Marrine's character sooo much. I mean after everything she did the only consequence she suffered for her actions was losing her hymen to a detestable schmuck (excuse me for being so crass). So many lives lost pointlessly yet apparently everyone in the show still adores her? Also the way the Mages Academy basically just gives up at the end is quite laughable and calls into question the whole point of the story to begin with. The war that dominated the 24 episodes was pointless and the Mages who were masterminding certain events rolled over and gave up so easily you'd question the strength of their resolve in the first place. Basically the wedding from episode 1 could have gone ahead and we could have skipped to the last 5-10 mins of episode 24 THE END. Granted a lot of the individual character stories would be lost (most importantly Theo and Siluca's) but the main plot thread wouldn't differ that dramatically. Ultimately I came away feeling that the main conflict of the series was a futile struggle because almost all the antagonists were screwing themselves over. Grancrest proved itself a fun show but one that you have to watch with your brain firmly switched off. EDIT: On reflection maybe Grancrest is more about the individual characters and their personal stories. People fighting for the futures they want and carving out a path they choose to make it happen. Meaning the main (throw away?) plot simply exists just to facilitate that? i.e. the characters don't react as the plot decides, the plot reacts as the characters decide. The destination was never important, it was how everyone got there that matter. Still it doesn't stop Theo's reasoning at the end from being very UBW Shiro. "Just because you're correct doesn't mean you're right". 
Last edited by Chaos Wings on Sun Jun 24, 2018 8:53 am; edited 1 time in total |
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NeverConvex
Subscriber Posts: 2301 |
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I kind've forgot in writing my thoughts about the finale: whatever happened to the demon lord(s) that Pandora/the mages summoned to stop the Grancrest-ification back in episode 1? Shouldn't Pandora/the mages have... you know.. done that again, when faced with the new Grancrest threat of Theo Cornaro and Siluca sidekick? It feels like the demon lord(s) was/were built up as this major threat throughout the series, but then the show forgot about them somewhere along the way.
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Gina Szanboti
Posts: 11354 |
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^ That's kinda what I was trying to get at in my previous post. I thought it was creating the Grancrest that was necessary to end the Age of Chaos, but in the end that seemed to be just a formality for show, since they'd already defeated everyone who could oppose that. Rather than being the nuke that actually ended it, it felt more like just signing a treaty after everyone had laid down their arms.
Which I guess explains why they didn't seem to feel any urgency to create it at any point in this. It was just symbolic, rather than an actual weapon, but that feels like false advertising to me. |
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Realismfan
Posts: 9 |
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I hope that this series gets an English dub and that the original light novels get an English translation. There is so much more background information I want to know, such as the fate of that redheaded Viking girl or some of the battles that were mention but not shown for instance. If you want to read the original light novels as well, Please let your English light novel publishers know that you want the original light novel series to be licensed.
Last edited by Realismfan on Sun Jun 24, 2018 10:16 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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TexZero
Posts: 583 |
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My overall view of this show was unmoved by the final episode.
It has incredible pacing and consistency issue that could be fixed by expanding the show from 24 episodes to right around 100. It's ultimately going to be forgettable because of these two underlying issues. |
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zrnzle500
Posts: 3767 |
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While I don't disagree that it was paced quickly and could have merited a longer adaptation, a hundred episodes for a late night anime these days is just not plausible. They don't even give new shonen series that many episodes. Also, I think slowing the pace by a factor of 4 would blow past well paced to extremely slow. 50 or even 39 might be better, although given how some have felt that much of the conflict was ultimately pointless, stretching it out further probably would have exacerbated that issue. I'm not sure the production would have lasted that long anyhow. |
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TexZero
Posts: 583 |
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I personally don't feel a 100 is too long. There were several plot points, including character interactions and introductions that just kinda appear without rhyme, reason or explanation. Expanding upon those alone could add substantial run time and clarity to some of the otherwise extremely shallow and murky character developement. I do however agree that 100 episodes or 4 cours is something that's no longer done in modern anime because of the almost incessant need to sell merchandise over selling a good product. My personal take on this is that if they wanted to sell me the light novels they've failed and if they wanted to sell me the next big fantasy epic (akin to it's predecessor in Lodoss) they also failed. I can't in good faith recommend this to many people let alone recommend a purchase. |
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