Record of Grancrest War

Episode 21

This week's episode of Record of Grancrest War is brought to you by the element of surprise. Aishela, a side character we knew vaguely to be Siluca's friend, turns out to be more crucial than expected. This episode slows down the punishing pace to teach us some interesting facets of Siluca's past, but it also opens up plot holes in order to push a story development that doesn't quite add up. At least it looks better; without much action to animate, this episode has the most consistent art we've seen in a while.

Let's reminisce about the olden days! Even though they're technically allies now, Aishela is unwilling to forgive Aubeste for almost getting Siluca killed back in their school days. He was really going to watch as they executed his adopted daughter for the crime of freeing Sir Balgyary, a cat with a human's intelligence? I'm not saying Aishela shouldn't be furious (that is awful!) but it turns out this is simply a demonstration of hypocrisy; Aishela's anger at Aubeste is really directed at herself. While Aubeste posed a threat to Siluca's life back in school, it's Aishela who's spying on her in preparation for an assassination, even as she chats with her “cute little sister.”

That evening, as Siluca falls asleep by candlelight, she's awakened by Aishela with a knife. Irvin stops the murder attempt pretty readily, and everybody starts forgiving Aishela. Not one person takes this threat to Siluca's life seriously. Theo literally welcomes them all to chat about what just happened inside his tent! (Keep in mind this is before he knows that she failed on purpose.) Aishela explains that she'd be killed if she didn't obey the orders of her secret society, so she had to at least try to kill Siluca, but that doesn't explain why she joined a traitorous organization in the first place. She tells Siluca that she has been spying on her and Theo's every move to the society, so why was fellow society member Jana the Black Witch so surprised to see Theo just a few episodes ago? I just don't buy that she did this all for Siluca, and I don't like how easily she's welcomed back into the fold. Aishela must be really good at hiding her true intentions, because I never saw this coming, though it does make it easier that she hasn't been on screen very often.

This brings in Priscilla, who pops up to save Aishela's life, ask Siluca to join her religion, and leave. She's not a well-developed character, to say the least; her appearances are limited to when it's time to save somebody's life. But it's that grail-shaped CREST of hers, which has been remarked on since episode 3, that will probably be the key to this show's conclusion.

Though I think the developments with Aishela make little sense, it was nice to slow down and learn more about Siluca's past. Between Aishela and Aubeste, it's a good thing she has a loving partner in Theo, considering each of her family members has either chosen not to object to her execution or outright attempted to sabotage her life. Plus, since most of this episode was just people sitting in dimly lit rooms and talking, there weren't any distracting shifts in animation style. The downside of having such a large cast is that we don't really know very many of them, and it's hard to tell who we can trust. This episode's events prove that even if the Imperial Army is united in name, the loyalties of its characters may not be so simple.

Rating: B

Record of Grancrest War is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about geek careers at Otaku Journalist.