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Captivating show. Slow burn.
It's slow because you will witness character relationship, world building, and progress in a realistic way.
None of the character is OP right from the start.
Grimgar is like a novel, but animated. You have chapters, intros, build-ups. It takes you through the steps of becoming more familiar with a foreign world. Grimgar's concept of isekai is self-respecting. Unlike modern isekais, where the author expect you to come in knowing the genre and "how things go". Grimgar is not a meta narrative, where everything is dumped onto you, or you can immediately expect something to pan out one way or the other ... that comes as baggage for isekais.
Characters are not overly cartoonish, childish, or easily categorized. In fact, we know very little about characters beyond our main cast. We are seeing the story through the eye of one individual.
Human conflicts develop naturally, and are reasonable.
Subtle details such as weapon maintenance, clothing repair, hay beds are some of the proof I needed to really confirm this show is meant to be taken as a saga. A planned out story that wants to tell a journey. Not just another cash grab.

Grimgar's story has a "beginning of an epic" atmosphere to it. A legend is being told, with missing pieces. A folklore.

Peak anime. Very corny but done well. It's like a solid 9.7/10 in its own genre/category.
Definitely does not rank high if you want to compare it to everything else out there.
However, that would be an unfair comparison.
Since we don't compare seafood dishes to like carbohydrates, 0 nutritional value junk food.

Make Heroine is top-tier garbage food, amongst other garbage foods.
The production value is absolutely stunning. All the female characters look visually pleasing.
Uniform has 4 bows, which looks goofy as hell if you think about it too hard.
I find it super enjoyable despite how predictable it is.

The only downside I ... have with the show is the student health teacher. Wish they removed that character. She's so unnecessary to everything. She feels like a plot device manifested as a character to justify weird/illogical actions done by the male lead.
For example, male lead and another female lead is getting into some romantic situation that's clearly indicative of one of them confessing. THen out of nowhere the mc goes "hush wait. don't blush. I'm doing all of this because the student health teacher/nurse is right around the corner".
Like yeah, alright buddy. You had sharingans, or predator vision and see that bitch through walls.

The sequel is much more polished compared to the original.
The origin / back story for the aliens seem to not match with the prequel.

I find myself being able to relate to both villains, not counting the alien race.
I also find it funny, and realistic to see the alien race die of disease.

I am slightly confused on who's the main character. Or if the series was written with two main characters in mind.
Our nerdy main character seems to be out of the spot light for the most part. They have 0 combat abilities.

The ending does make me feel sad for the ... main cast's efforts though. Because it implies that there are still remnants scattered across the world. So in the end, the protagonists never really eliminated the threat. They simply delayed it.

It's the first in the series so it's bound to be less polished.
The concept is the same as the sequel.
I enjoyed the gore and brutal depiction of an advanced society needing to sacrifice their forms to compensate for deep space travel.

Honestly, though, I think the sequel is a parallel universe that follows some other event with the 2 main regenerators.
The ending seems to imply the extinction of the man-eating alien race.

The character motivations were clear. There was never an intentionally stupid action done by the character to create "suspense" or "drama". Things are there for a reason.

Themes of the movie: Teen love, Dysfunctional family, Trauma, Accidental death, Time Dilation, Dreams & Anxiety
The movie was balancing 3 things : family, trauma, and dream. We were given enough information about the family dynamics in the first part of the movie. The second part of the movie unravels more indepth about the trauma associated with each main character's family. The last part is resolving that trauma by replacing it with hopes and dreams. Something that makes the main character feel passionate about life again.
Yes, the most upsetting part of the movie is that none of what either of the main characters wanted was ... achieved in any capacity. However, I think this was very much intentional. The movie was probably trying to give a grounded, realistic response to trauma with a paranormal spin. In life, people will move on. They will have their lows. But if they keep marching forward, they will find a new meaning in life, despite the past being unchanged.
I think the tunnel was not ment to be the focus of the movie. The fact that the dead bird and shoe of the Mc's sister was retrieved and brought back to existance serves as a narrative device to pull the audience and the main character towards chasing the past. The male main character had to make the ultimate choice between choosing his future, or living his past.
The movie delivered on its message of wanting people to live for the present and future, by having the abusive father finding a new partner. By having the bully apologize to the female main character. By having the male main character return to the real world. These are all small things that tells us, "hey, it's worth it to move on. It will get better."

Personal scoring of the movie:
Visual 10/10
Narrative 7.5/10
Music (Didn't pay attention)
Audio engineering & Foley 10/10
Pacing 10/10

Surprisingly good pacing despite having what felt like a bunch of concepts being mashed into one thing. I enjoyed most of the movie. Just didn't like the ending, cause I personally don't like wasted efforts.

Is the story unique?
Tremendously unique. One of a kind. I've read it 9 years ago. And it remained firmly in my mind ever since.
Do you think the art style is fitting for the story?
The artstyle is super gritty and detailed. Superb for the story.
Were the characters well-rounded?
For the most part, the characters are very linear. But the author is good at explaining why they are linear, if that makes sense.
Like we are slowly given bits and pieces of information for character actions
Did the characters react to situations and events in a realistic way?
Suprisingly, very realistic. You will come to understand why, once ... you are adjusted to the setting / world view, on top of having all the information.
Do you think others will enjoy/dislike this series?
I cant say for sure. Because not everyone shares the same view about sex and violence. So yeah.


This manga is very hardcore in it's story telling and graphics.
It does not pull any punches.
Do not expect any of your "favorite" characters to survive. This not a spoiler btw. It's simply the unpredicatable nature of the story, written by the author.

What you can expect:
Extreme violence, gore, super powers, factions / politics, plot twists, chekov's gun, foreshadowing.

What might deter you from reading:
Very sexual & graphic nature of the story.

Read this for the plot twists, and brain dead funny super powers. Don't expect more beyond that.

Absolutely a great show.
It shares a similar vibe to Shin Sekai Yori, but much less complex, and grim.

Every episode there is something that keeps your interest. Be it self-contained story arcs, new characters that were red-herrings, foreshadowed moments, etc. There's plenty of Chekov's gun in this show.

Now comparing it to Shin Sekai, Tengoku features more light-hearted protagonists. They face challenges that don't feel as serious, or dangerous. Tengoku plays on mystery, and the journey aspect. While I thnk Shin Sekai excelled in suspense, and atmosphere.

The point I'm taking off is for being slightly too predictable. If you've watched enough shows, and have ... some imagination, it's easy to piece together the show by episode 4-5.

What I do enjoy about the show the most is how it dissects every aspect of humanity. From selflessness, to selfishness, to vengence, to sense of duty, to lack of duty, so on and so forth. We see humanity shine in a world that tries its best to kill it off.

The concepts in this show are super engaging, and asthetically pleasing.

Shows got a few things right.
Hidding away MC's background, be it pre-planned or not, dont matter. It's a safe way to play your cards when you're trying to sell a Isekai show in a market like this right now.
Understandable flow of obtaining characters.
Some level of interesting character development/motivation. Not often you see a violent mc. Obtaining a goddess as a companion? W
Summoning a literal other-worlder as companion? Actual W.

What the show got wrong:
Plain and forgettable supporting characters.
Very rudimentary world development.
No obstacle whatsoever.
...
Story's pretty linear as far as Isekai goes.
Art style fits the cookie cutter

Turn your brain off. Show's kinda fine.

I'm going to be honest. I dont like the way the main girl died.
The author gave enough consideration to run parallels between Tiny Prince, gave plenty of red herrings, foreshadowed the stabbing, and even introduced Chekov's gun in the form of the gum character to show the boy's growth. So by no means, the final death is a random choice.

So here's my analysis / thought on why the author chose stabbing / crime as the final cause of death. We were given the expectation the entire time that she will die of natural cause. Even her opening accompanied by the narration made it ... seem that way. The author might have wanted to inject a sense of brutal realism that blindsides everyone, including the audience themself who had God's Point of View the entire time. We are finally taken out the seat of comfort, and tossed into this chaotic situation, much like her closest friends are experiencing. (Sakura's best friends will be experiencing what we experience, but just backwards. They feel the shock of the murder, then the reveal of the illness. We feel the illness, then the absolute shock of murder.)

Although the ending is really unpleasant to think about, I find it that the author is delicate enough to let us viewers know that Sakura saw Haruki's final mesage.

Unrelated to the section discussed above. I honestly thought, just moments before it was revealed that she got stabbed, that Sakura has actually chosen to lie about her time remaining, and was creating pre-planned text messages that gets sent on different days. It would've been tremendously soul crushing if that was the case. And it might create a more bitter-sweat ending. (However, if chosen this route, it is not supported by her backstory where she insists that she does not lie to her friends, she is simply putting up a front)
It is also very touching that the name of the male character is hidden until the end.