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Record of Grancrest War
Episode 15

by Lauren Orsini,

How would you rate episode 15 of
Record of Grancrest War ?
Community score: 4.1

It's time for an entire episode of people sitting around and talking to each other about the plot! Historically, Record of Grancrest War has made up for its punishingly quick pace and disposable cast by inserting some truly cool action scenes. But this week, there was simply too much exposition to fit in anything else. Enjoy scenes of Milza talking to his mage, of Siluca talking to Lassic's mage, and of Theo talking to pretty much everyone else about everything. “Return” drops some pretty huge hints about interesting plot developments, but it contains little else.

Siluca's intelligence never disappoints. It turns out she's kept the witch Jana alive specifically to interrogate her about whether her demon summoning skill came in handy at the Great Hall Tragedy. Siluca was right to be suspicious, but after that initial reveal, resolution comes way too easily. Though Siluca tells us a thorough investigation would normally follow her discovery, the Mage Academy takes Siluca's sole interrogation as enough evidence to dispose of Jana immediately (by burning at the stake, how traditional!). Jana's words about being used and cast aside at her execution are fishy too. Could the Mage Academy be the real culprit behind reviving the Chaos? I smell a cover-up. If this is the case, it'd reveal that Grancrest War has a vision beyond the command-and-conquer routine, and that it still has some tricks up its sleeve.

Next it's time for Theo to get a triumphant hero's return. He's accomplished his main goal of freeing his homeland (or rather, ruling over it himself), and now he can devote his full focus to getting back Altirk. There's a lot of politics going on as Theo, Lassic, and everyone else discuss whether or not Theo is qualified to be the leader of the treaty yet, or whether it's even time for a leadership change at all. Siluca confides with Moreno about a plan for making the meeting run smoothly, but every time she opens her mouth to speak, Theo talks over her. I found this pretty irritating, because Siluca is such a likable character and her silver tongue is her greatest asset. Though Theo's earlier actions indicate that Siluca is important to him, the show seems to be tripping over itself to indicate that he doesn't need her as a political ally anymore. He says all the right things while Siluca is barely able to get a word in edgewise.

Siluca's probably just having an off week, but for Milza, the writing really is on the wall. In two separate conversations, he stresses his low opinion of Theo; thatunderestimation is going to be his doom, and everyone around Milza can see it but him. At tea with Marrine, I knew he was going to crush that homemade cookie in his fist the moment he picked it up. Milza's strength is his physical might, and it confuses and enrages him that physically weaker but more charismatic opponents like Lord Villar and Theo can inspire so much goodwill from their underlings, far more than Milza has ever been able to garner himself. Theo has the power of friendship on his side—he's even able to get people he conquered just last episode, like Juzel Rossini, to offer to help him in any way they can. It's no surprise that everything's coming up Theo, but this episode hints that the real surprises are coming next week. All I can say is that it better be truly jaw-dropping after the amount of exposition I had to sit through.

Rating: C

Record of Grancrest War is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about geek careers at Otaku Journalist.


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