Hai to Gensou no Grimgar

Fear, survival, instinct. Thrown into a foreign land with nothing but hazy memories and the knowledge of their name, they can feel only these three emotions resonating deep within their souls. A group of strangers is given no other choice than to accept the only paying job in this game-like world—the role of a soldier in the Reserve Army—and eliminate anything that threatens the peace in their new world, Grimgar.

When all of the stronger candidates join together, those left behind must create a party together to survive: Manato, a charismatic leader and priest; Haruhiro, a nervous thief; Yume, a cheerful hunter; Shihoru, a shy mage; Moguzo, a kind warrior; and Ranta, a rowdy dark knight. Despite its resemblance to one, this is no game—there are no redos or respawns; it is kill or be killed.

It is now up to this ragtag group of unlikely fighters to survive together in a world where life and death are separated only by a fine line.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Haruhiro Main

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Merry Main

Anzai, Chika Japanese

Yume Main

Komatsu, Mikako Japanese

Manato Main

Shimazaki, Nobunaga Japanese

Ranta Main

Yoshino, Hiroyuki Japanese

Shihoru Main

Terui, Haruka Japanese

Moguzo Main

Ochiai, Fukushi Japanese

Barbara Supporting

Noto, Mamiko Japanese

Renji Supporting

Seki, Tomokazu Japanese

Chibi Supporting

Cook, Justin Producer

Saitou, Masaya Producer

Harada, Naoki Producer

Nakamura, Ryousuke Director, Sound Director, Episode Director, Script, Storyboard, Series Composition, Key Animation

Reviews

Apr 1, 2016

dissipated

Recommended

This is a spoiler-free review.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is a rather unique watch. Shows throughout time have had a tendency to force characters from 0 to a 100 in an unrealistic time frame. This often pertains to the widespread demands of instant gratification. Hai to Gensou no Grimgar challenges these demands by emphasising the natural growth of characters: step by step characters are built through every interaction with the plot. Closely observing this and the plot is paramount as to not miss the abundance of implicit detail dedicated to their development and characterisation. Due to this profound nature of the show, reflection is commonplace ... and as such, the watch is recommended for anyone who enjoys reading pensively into things.

An inherent feature of Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is its large main cast. There’s a greater emphasis on characterising and developing the group as opposed to the individuals; however, it is decently balanced between the group and the individuals such that neither don’t feel completely neglected; the viewers are briefly enlightened on their individual daily lives (roles, recreation, style of living etc.) and personalities. This opportunity to learn about how each character interacts with the group is one of Hai to Gensou no Grimgar best point. Note this orientates Hai to Gensou no Grimgar more towards those who are interested in group development.

The show starts off on a weaker foot but eventually progresses superbly, making it worth the watch if the initial set of annoyances can be endured. Such is also true for the pacing, as it evolves into superbness. Though, it is sometimes deemed ‘slow’, but slow is not bad. It is only when it is incongruously or meaninglessly slow it can be considered such. In this case, the creators have done a superb job at pacing the show such that the story and characters (development and characterisation) are often progressing and the right mood is established. Also, the isn't show is absolutely slow. Explicitly it might seem so but when explored implicitly, there is profoundness behind most interactions and moments (plot-wise and character-wise). Bluntly put, the show might seem slow or idle if one focuses on the explicit details and misses all the implicit detail, which is possibly consequential of not understanding the purpose of the show (detailed later).

Now regardless of the pacing, it is possible for something to be rushed. To rush something is to reach something without having the necessary details or time for the viewers to follow or agree with the outcome. Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is subject to such with the limitation of 12 episodes. This is especially pertinent to an important moment that coalesces some of Hai to Gensou no Grimgar major elements. Whether or not its failure can be pardoned (if it is viewed as such) will ultimately dictate one’s enjoyability of the show. It has been identified and explained it in the spoiler section.

Hai to Grimgar's paramount feature is its realism. The characters will have to manage basic needs, such as food and shelter. The characters will have to face the reality of the world. The dialogue, development, and interactions are all seemingly realistic. One example of such realism is the fact almost nothing major happens at the beginning. Though why should anything extraordinary happen? They lead basic lives and hold little significance. It is abnormal for much to happen outside of their daily struggles. Another excellent feature Hai to Gensou no Grimgar employ is not having over-the-top combat abilities. They were mostly just minor extensions of the human ability, which harmonises well with its realism theme.

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is tailored to fans of slice of life. The combination of realism and narrative focus on character lifestyle and relatively slower progression makes it a natural watch for such people. A conspicuously common issue is approaching this show expecting an action, most likely consequential of the initial action scenes and seemingly shounen setup, and receiving a slice of life instead. It is also important to note that while the premise of the show was to toss the average teenager into a fantasy-themed world, it is not a deconstruction of the fantasy genre—the show lacks the focus on and the necessary intricate details characteristic of a deconstruction to be considered such—and is only one of its enjoyment factors. The watch is instead for those who are interested watching the growth of a group, the bonds they develop, the building of the character etc. It is much more of a character oriented show (60–70%) than a plot oriented one (roughly 35%). It is a show where learning about the characters is essentially progression. Understanding this and what a slice of life entails is critical when encountered with such works.


Story=7.7

Character=8.1

Art=9
The art was dazzling at most times. The beautiful scenery heavily complemented the story by aiding the development of the desired mood. Most noticeably, the watercolour backgrounds evoked a tranquil slice-of-life feel, similar to that of Mushishi. The backgrounds were also unobtrusive allowing a higher focus on the projected characters, which is excellent because Hai to Grimgar is a character-dominated show. However, this conflicted with the action scenes as the projection of the background with 2D art instead of 3D sometimes lacked stimulation, detracting from its thrill.

Sound=9
My praise for the audio component is similar to that for the art. Furthermore, Hai to Grimgar uniquely features many montages. They aided the conveyance of the mood and story and were fairly enjoyable to watch. There were however two misuses. They have been mentioned almost immediately below as to avoid spoilers.






This section henceforth contains spoilers. This section will offer the main criticism and other comments regarding the show.

Its first use (town settling) was inappropriate. It is only warranted once the characters have truly settled in, which was not the case.

The second use (graveyard location) clashed with the mood. The pacing of the song was too fast inhibiting focus on the melancholy scene. The usage of the scene also felt extremely abrupt as Manato’s time with them was seemingly short.

Shihoru is a frivolous character. She can be removed from the show with slight amendments and little difference. This was most apparent during episodes 1–5. She was, however, vital in combat post-episode 5. They need to rework her such that she serves a purpose (plot-wise) outside of combat.


Due to the limitations of 12 episodes, the development of the bond between Manato and the group is rather lacking. 2 episodes were certainly insufficient for evoking the desired sympathy for the characters grieving Manato’s death. The end of episode 4 is the weakest of the series (somewhat rushed outcome) as it draws heavily on Manato’s bond with the group. Common sense dictates that they were distraught but it is rather limited and superficial. This foundation of knowledge would have also fostered understanding of and sympathy for Haruhiro as he confronted his inner-conflict.

More application of the characters is desired; while Hai to Gensou no Grimgar does build the character, they lacked the time to further display the final product. This was most evident in episodes 11 and 12 where new details were introduced to the character but without application. This plays into the 12-episode limitation.

It was exasperating when Haruhiro uttered ‘It would be nice if you could mend clothes with magic as well.’ and proceeded to blatantly explain it. It seemed as if that line was attributed to him solely to inform the viewers. While it was natural, the interpretation should have been somehow left to the viewers.

Ranta escaping at the end was illogical. He was surrounded and barely knew the mine’s caving system as opposed to the Kobolds, which know the place inside-out. Haruhiro’s skill is essentially the visualization of that.

Experience from fighting enemies will yield knowledge about their weak points and effective engagement. The streams of light that direct Haruhiro can be interpreted as the visualization of that. However, this ‘skill’ should have not appeared or appeared so quickly against the Death Spots at the end. As he lacked combat experience specific to Elder Kobalds, it should have been a challenge not something his ‘skill’ could easily relieve him from. It was an opportunity where the creators could have explicitly and satisfyingly displayed the development Haruhiro’s combat abilities and maturity over the course of the show. However, it was wasted by rushing the fight to a conclusion.

Other comments:
They actually fully (and superbly) developed the concept of the main cast being unnatural inhabitants of the world. The main cast were evidently briefly aware of this fact, but overtime the characters neglected it such that it eventually faded. This suggests of their adaption to the world and prioritisation of their survival in the realization of the triviality of pursuing such an oddity as opposed to meeting to the demands of their daily lives; the corroboration follows. At the utter end, Kikkawa (the drunkard) shouted ‘Australia’ in a carefree manner. They could have chosen any word or omitted it all together, but why did they attribute that specific line to him? They deliberately chose ‘Australia’ to connect it with the real world and had Kikkawa, the most carefree character, utter it in such a manner to hint their accordance with and acceptance of the new world. Also, when heard in the context of the characters, the statement sounds greatly insignificant, as it was randomly blurted out by a drunkard, suggesting the same of their unnatural inhabitation of the world.

In conclusion, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar deserves an 8/10, which accordingly to MAL denotes a ‘very good’ show.

Reviewer’s Rating: 8

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Apr 3, 2016

Flawfinder

Mixed Feelings

I'm honestly not comfortable with reviewing something like Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash because it's one of those shows where every single one of my complaints can be countered with "well that's what the fans like about the show". Which is true for a lot of bad anime in general, but Grimgar is one of those shows that's specifically made to draw "feels" from the viewer without the structured story that ERASED used aka the main the reason why I cared for ERASED's cliched "feels drama" in the first place. So me saying it doesn't have a story as the main reason for not liking ... it is the equivalent of me going on a rant about how much Uchouten Kazoku sucks because...oh wait, I did do that.

Nevertheless, mood pieces just seem to exist in the same dimension as "walking simulators" in that they follow their own set of unique rules that most people would consider good, but I consider to be the equivalent of injecting myself with morphine. Forgive me if I was raised to believe that all stories were supposed to have actual story to them. But whatever, we'll play it your way for now, fans. Anyways, Grimgar is another "light novel adaptation about a bunch of teenagers being trapped in a video game fantasy world" and comes with the usual baggage that comes with being based on a light novel. The terrible sexist jokes that add nothing to the product and should have been cut out completely. The large amounts of talking that get in the way of actual plot progression. The fact that certain plot turns are telegraphed from miles away. The fact that this is "light watching" in general, and I don't enjoy light watching.

Similar to Phantom World, Grimgar stands out a bit from the usual by-the-numbers dross that gets tossed our way by having an actually talented director onboard and after a bit of a rough start, it takes itself a lot more seriously. However, unlike KyoAni's thing, Grimgar is first and foremost a drama with some (bad) comedic moments, which is probably why it got a much better reception since A-1's heartstring tugging is something that anime fans love to eat up. But more than that, it actually takes its "trapped in a video game world" premise as something with actual stakes and underdog charm, right down to the characters being so bad that they can't defeat a simple orc and having people actually die, thus causing them grief for a large amount of time. They don't even explicitly state they're in a video game, although the fantasy world is so RPG-like it doesn't matter either way, and the road to forming bonds is a long but well-deserved one indeed - although the fact that the team members getting killed off are guys and the recruits they replace 'em with are girls didn't exactly miss my eye.

This is all solid stuff to build a compelling narrative around, but Grimgar has about as much drive to do something with its edge as the seventh Harry Potter film, and is just content to let the stuff be the substance. You guys remember the complaint regarding how Deathly Hallows Part I was just a lot of running around without any real destination? Well that's exactly what Grimgar lacks in regards to all of its elements: a destination. Ignoring the large amounts of time spent on building up its world and characters at the expense of plot, which quite frankly bored me so hard that I went surfing on the net whilst playing the episode in the background, I don't understand what the end goal of this show is aside from being a more-realistic take on this RPG-genre. Bokurano is a more realistic take on the mecha genre, but it also had a destination for said take to work towards: fifteen kids have to destroy fifteen robots that will invade their world and only by defeating them can they prevent said world from becoming erased.

I mean do these kids even want to go back to the real world, assuming they have a real world to go back to? What's the specific requirement to do so? Okay, they get strong to survive, but to what end? I'm not watching a sitcom here. I'm not even watching something where romance is the main focus - and incidentally, the romantic chemistry between any of the characters in this show is about as stale as Jerry Seinfeld's stand-up these days. None of the characterization is particularly strong to begin with as most of the characters' flaws don't really factor into what actually happens in this show, aside from Mary, who is distant from people because her team was wiped out in a tragic incident that wasn't even her fault. Grimgar isn't a character study. It's some sort of drama I can't place, and if I can't find a good way to describe it, it's kind of hard for me to join in on the feels train unless you guys don't mind "confusion" on board.

You know that post I wrote a few days ago, questioning how much good execution is allowed to carry a product on its own? Well Grimgar embodies that question more than ERASED - and to a lesser extent, Gate - ever could. I mean aside from the bad jokes, it has a serviceable if not outstanding attitude towards its premise, but is that really enough to carry it for twelve episodes (and probably more when the sequels inevitably get announced)?. I mean I'm sure there's going to be people who like that upcoming Hardcore Henry film solely for the first-person gimmick, but that's a two-hour movie. Imagine an entire series based solely on that. And I'm more of an action guy than a feels guy to begin with, so me being worried about enjoying that says a lot.

I know a lot of people already made their position before they even read this review and thus have already dismissed my points out of hand, but...ah I dunno. Maybe I should just avoid mood pieces if what's supposed to be good about them is completely opposed to my own ideals, but I really don't think belonging to a certain genre means you shouldn't at least try to have some sort of end goal in mind. I mean it's not like this thing was advertised as an atmospheric piece of entertainment - no more so than ERASED at least - and I'm still going to be somewhat positive of ERASED when it did this shit because quite frankly, it did it much better. I would have preferred it to not have put itself in a Catch-22 position in regards to using its plot in order to give the emotional moments weight, but that's all done with now. And quite frankly, I and everyone else are getting tired of bringing that show up.

So to sum up this review in a nutshell...if you haven't seen Rakugo, then give it a try right after you close this thing. I'm pretty sure people who like this show's feels will like the ones in that anime several times better.

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

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Mar 27, 2016

Captain220

Not Recommended

The occasional RPG setting within an anime isn't some new, revolutionary trend. Popularized by the underwhelming Sword Art Online, they seem to be popping up a lot more frequently than before and that isn't something I'm particularly fond of. This is mostly due to the lack of originality that comes with these works. To a novice, this idea may seem spectacular on it's own, but at this point, the same thing has been done over and over again and not once did I consider one of them to be good.

With that being said, I believe that this is quite close to the epitome of ... what an anime should not be - from the embarrassingly awful execution to the completely obnoxious and meaningless characters. It honestly baffles me that some people see this title as average, yet alone good. From the legendary A-1 Pictures who've produced such magnificent works of art such as - Sword Art Online, The Asterisk War, The Perfect Insider, Fairy Tail, every single bad light novel adaptation and many more mind-boggling series for our entertainment over the years, comes the awe-inspiring Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.

So the story takes place in a videogame setting, a town called Grimgar and it follows our protagonists as they each individually grow as people, go through hardships together and face the cruel reality that 10 of them can't kill 1 retarded goblin. This is not an exaggeration, our protagonists are so weak that it takes them 5 minutes to kill a single goblin. However, I thought this was a very interesting approach, as it obviously differs from the usual Jesus-kun format. Sadly, this doesn't last for long. There was no big transition in between their entire party not being able to kill a single goblin to them doing full-on raids versus an entire castle full of goblins. It just sort of happened overnight, I don't know.

While I did think it was a neat change, I see this argument used way too often. "Grimgar is special because its story is very realistic unlike the other RPG anime!" I think there is a fine line between realistic and different. A different approach doesn't mean the title is going to be good and this is what people tend to be missing. If it really wanted to be that realistic then it should have cut down a bit on stuff such as discussing a girl's breasts in front of her for 3 minutes straight. Here lies the thesis and basically anything the positive reviews ever say about this show. I wouldn't be surprised if eventually people started calling it a deconstruction of the RPG genre for this sole fact.

The world of Grimgar itself is for the most part very uninteresting and leaves a lot to be desired. It is barely touched upon within the first 2 episodes in some hasty introduction to the basics and the rest of the series is action-driven and focuses more so on the characters. All we know is that there are normal townsfolk and these adventurers who have to fight off goblins in order to survive. We don't know anything about the town, we don't know anything about the goblins, etc. Basically we don't really know much of anything and it would of definitely been better if they tried to implement some sort of interesting lore and went more in detail since it just felt lazy on it's own. Not that I find RPG settings to be particularly interesting anyway but yeah, the worldbuilding was bad.

Some people may tell you that this anime is simply not for you though, due to it's slow pacing which a shonen fanboy such as yourself cannot appreciate. As a fan of shows that take their time in properly developing it's world, themes and characters, I can safely say that Grimgar left me disappointed. It really did not have to be as slow as it was. It just felt like a mere blunder on the production staff's side, rather than a necessity for good development. So even if you do prefer slower paced stuff, I can't really guarantee you'll enjoy Grimgar.

So instead of filling up the weaknesses of the show, they go ahead and introduce irrelevant plotpoints such as: none of the characters having their memories from the real world. I thought this was incredibly useless and stupid, what would knowing anything change? Was this implemented in here just so they could have an easy way out of dealing with character backstories? It is shown early on that none of their items from the real world are transported here to begin with, so why bother? Actually why even bother making the setting a game? Why not just some fantasy world? It's because A-1 knows the demographic it's appealing to far too well.

Okay, gotta give credit where credit is due. The artstyle used in Grimgar is very original and nice, with a watercolor/painterly feel to it. This was definitely a breath of fresh air due to how bland I thought most of the art in these recent seasons looked like so a change of pace was much appreciated. The backgrounds look especially nice, as if you're looking at a painting of some sort. The animation is alright and it clearly excels when the girls' tits bounce. You can just see how much time and effort was put into those jiggles.

Unlike the art and animation, the sound isn't anything spectacular. Sure, you've got some good songs thrown in there, but for every good song you have the same amount of poor utilization and engrish vocals. This is quite a problem as Grimgar tries rather hard to make you emotionally invested, and when such scenes came along, they mostly felt underwhelming due to the mediocre musical direction. For a series that takes itself seriously, I thought the voice acting was rather lackluster. None of the performances stand out and most are just borderline annoying. The only decent performances were Yume, Mary and Haruhiro (although this is probably my bias due to his role as Shichika in Katanagatari).

All aboard the cringe train. This is no doubt the worst part about Grimgar, showing further how A-1 has no clue how to make decent or even half-decent characters. This luckily changes as the series progresses but I still felt like touching upon it - every character interaction between members of the opposite sex has sexual themes or implications in it which makes me wonder if the writer is out of his early teens yet. Adding on to this, it is very impressive when in the first scene of the series it is able to portray the females as useless and clumsy damsels in distress, unable to do anything on their own apart from scream and cry until their beta-male white knight companions come to the rescue. This makes for some of the cringiest scenes I have ever seen, like talking about Shihoru's breasts for a good 3-5 minutes.

You could say that this is just taking the easy route since no matter how bad the actual series in question may be, it's bound to garner some sort of audience. However, I still feel as though it is a very big problem and is ultimately what a lot of modern anime suffer from. While I guess that it just knows what demographic it's appealing to and it's not so bad on it's own, it also means that we have to depend on the male cast to be good or get the proper development. Feel free to take a guess on how it's handled in Grimgar. Yes, not very good...

A lot of people would argue this point because of how well developed they all become upon facing loss! No! The characters can grieve all they want but it won't make them more likable or realistic. Coping with sadness is a great characterization tool if utilized properly and on good characters, but despite these characters being borderline terrible, they barely develop! Most of the characters don't even have a personality that defines them to begin with, apart from Ranta. And, well.. Ranta is just Ranta.

For example, one of the characters was only memorable for his death, nothing else. They didn't even bother to make us feel anything for the character, he was just a bland teenager who got killed off in order to "develop" everyone else. You aren't supposed to remember a character for their death, you're supposed to remember them by their life and their accomplishments BEFORE their death. The drama also felt awfully forced and doesn't work 90% of the time. " Hey guys, let's go to that place where most of Mary's party got brutally murdered which left her scarred for life :D :D :D Oh Mary why u mad bro?? "

I giggled a couple of times when the goblins were screeching so I guess some enjoyment was to be had. Sadly it was all just nullified by Ranta and the female cast's cleavage. The pacing also played a key factor in this but it did get noticeably better as the series went along. Despite this, it is not an exaggeration to say that I was forcing myself through most of the show as in the end, Grimgar struck me as incredibly bland and boring.

This is a series that had a lot of initial potential and sounded pretty good on paper but A-1 went the wrong way of doing it. Especially if the characters were handled properly, Grimgar could of been the highpoint of the RPG genre, covering stuff like how detrimental loss can be in some cases. Sadly, the script looks like something from an otaku's basement, the pacing and execution are incredibly poor and the characters are very bland, uninteresting and have no defining personality.

Reviewer’s Rating: 2

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