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Review is for the Light Novel up to book 11 which is right now the newest one translated.

Story: Grimgar has a very slow and character driven story. A lot of time is used to show the interaction of the characters with each other and their own self image, especially from the perspective of Haruhiro, the main POV character through most of the series. But there are also bits for a greater narrative that takes place and is very slowly brought up and explained to the reader. We learn more and more about the world and also therefore about the mystery where they came from, ... why they cant remember their previous world and the truth behind all that. That is very slowly but consistently build up through the series and in my opinion very well executed and keeps the tension high especially as we know that the main characters are quite weak and there is always the chance that one might die.
in the end it has tension, amazing character development and interesting fights as well as a higher plot that slowly begins to unravel. 10/10


Art: The art is sometimes a bit unusual but it rather dark tone with more shades works very well for the characters so I`m satisfied there.
8/10


The world: Something Grimgar really shines in is its worldbuilding. We learn a lot about how our characters life, what they usually do and what they know about the world. we learn about different species, more about the geography and history of this world and as the story continues even about more than just this world. Many things are explained or at least mentioned and its easy to feel with the characters as you know their circumstances and lifes quite well.
10/10

the characters: By far the main driving point of this series. At first they mostly feel one dimensional and stereotypical but the more the story continues the more we learn about the characters and the more you come to care about them. Their struggle, their bickering and so much more really makes you feel with them. One explanation is that they are just in essence totally normal people, of different background and history that were summoned in this world. they don't have knowledge from their original world or any kind of cheat skills or abilities and even struggle to defeat even the weakest opponents. It's a very realistic approach to the typical Isekai Genre where usually the Main Character has some sort of advantage and is quite overpowered from the beginning. So the feeling that death is a real threat to the characters and that they must improve and work together to overcome this is an important part of the story and one I quite enjoy. Another point is how the characters develop and bond due to loss, new challenges and new comrades or places they visit. They change, all of them do, but its not so abrupt as one big moment and the personality changed 100%. You can see that they slowly change over time and while deep losses leave their scares you see that the characters need time to evolve and accept it or to start and rethink their decisions.

But what I love most about the characters is, that after reading from the perspective of all of them I can bond with them on an emotional level. This is because they are all deeply flawed and scarred from the very beginning. Haruhiro for example has deep inferiority complex and depression due to which he often cannot see himself in a good light, and constantly compares himself to stronger volunteer soldiers instead of accepting his own grow. He is aware of that, but also knows that just being aware doesn't mean that he can simply change and become a different person, which I personally love about the story. I feel like the author really knows this kind of attitude well, an attitude that I feel I share to some extend so that I'm really happy to find a negativ character who tries to overcome his flaws but knows the difficulty of this and changes only little over the course of the story. That is in my eyes on of he best writing I have ever seen, and I have never felt so connected to a character personally than to him, because he is the first character that really thinks the same way I do. And that is something I can say about all characters to an extend. They all have their own problems that hold them back. These problems may change but more often than not I feel like to true enemy lies not in the monsters they are fighting but in their own heart. Which is why charachters would get even more than 10/10 if possible.

At last let me say that Grimgar will not speak to everyone. The plot advances very slowly and mostly concentrates on the group and their little interactions. For those that love overpowered or strong protagonists, powerful magic or a fast exciting plot this may not be the story. But if you like small interactions and slow development over time I truly recommend this Light Novel series to you. I have read 11 volumes so far and I can safely say that together with Spice and Wolf its my favourite Light Novel of all time

Its usually a very hard thing for me to rate OVAs, as they are not as long, deep and important in terms of plot but rather to promote an anime.
In this case it was not the case.
Without talking about the story, first I would like to point out the stunning art style used, the entire OVA has so many beautiful and stunning moments, that I often had to stop and replay because I just kept getting lost in them. The music as well is great, doing a great job in supporting the visuals and the story.
But what I loved most was the ... setting of the OVA. It was obviously set in Chises past, so people who did not know the Manga might have been confused, but is a great and heartwarming story in itself. Fear of magical creatures, which cannot be seen by most, together with this emotional feeling of being an outcast because of that, has moved me to tears. As the story goes on and we find the library, I got even more engrossed, as the beauty about bonding over books, and finally finding a place of solace in this for Chise frightening outside world. Riichi as a kind man, who could emphasize with Chise, while being troubled with fragments of his own past, improved the story quite a big deal, as a guide, a teacher and most importantly a friend to the young child. Their interactions and bonding in the library was very well done, as it showed a glimpse of hope for Chise, as she found finally a place she was at peace. The tragic and bittersweet ending moved me to tears, as it managed in a perfect way to show how to move on, and yet to still remember beautiful moments in the past.
Especially as someone who read countless books when I was Chises age, I was mesmerized how much this reminded my of my own connection with books and how this changed my as a person. I started to return to the old library I frequently visited and found so many beautiful memories hidden inside.
This is the reason why for me this OVA cannot deserve anything less than a 10 out of 10. A perfect reminder of my own childhood, a beatiful and touching story about magic and a love that was not meant to be and in the end a wonderful example of the beauty that is Mahou Tsukai no Yome

Shimoneta greatly depends on the way you look at it. You can see a trashy Light Novel adaptation which does perverted jokes for no reason and has boring characters. But in my opinion then you have not understood the deeper meaning of Shimoneta at all.
The setting of Shimoneta is a kind of Dystopie, in which dirty jokes and anything sexual got forbidden. A setting which kind of reminds you of at that time newer japanese laws about more censorship were etablished. And here is what Shimoneta kind of tries to do. It warns and shows criticism about the dangers of censorship, by making it ... in a over the top way dystopie the topic, while showing the trouble arising due to that. Children not knowing anything about sex is greatly exaggerated in many scenes and even with the main character Anna criticized, as she tried to rape the protagonist, as she did not now what she was doing. She the world is not all love and sunshine, but does a great job of criticizing the problems of missing knowledge and censorship. Thought the best part is the irony of being censored in speech and Art all the time while criticizing exactly that. The two female main characters also represent there two different ideas, instead of being characters with more of a interesting personality. While Anna is considered "pure" and "just", she does act upon her extreme feelings, trying to rape Tanikuchi, as she does not now, that her acts oppose her ideals. Which makes her the counterpart of the SOX Leader Ayame, who does know everything about sex, but when faced with lewd things, often backs down after all, knowing a feeling of shame, coming from her education. The only weaker character is of course the main character, who really does not feel any different from any other 08/15 main character.
Yet the character Artwork is great, shows many different ideas, as much as possible in the typical highschool setting. The story is great especially when one likes dirty jokes and a deeper meaning behind all of that.
The reason I like Shimoneta is, that it, behind its funny and exaggerated facade, it has a deeper meaning and story, especially compared to most other typical Ecchi series

Steins Gate is an Anime I had planned to watch for a very long time before I got the chance. I was interested why it had such a good MAL score and was not often talked about in Anime groups I was part of. When I finally started to watch it I was first confused, then slowly hyped, as I started to figure out what was happening and the devastated when the theme shifted around Episode 12. Steins Gate did a great job in introducing a small cast of characters with all very different personalities that are much deeper than one would imagine after the ... first few episodes. It intrigues with an interesting plot and a rather scientific way to talk about time travel. I loved the fact, how everything was thought through, the characters and their behaviour, the plot and all comes together in the end. The ending truly did justice in my opinion, as it all came together, so all clues from episode 1 did in the end prepared the ending from the very beginning. That was masterfully done, and did in no way seemed forced. The Characters were well written, and especially Okabe in the second part of the story showed a great deal of dephts, not often seen in Anime.
Steins;Gate did a interesting way to tackle to famous time travel genre and in a way ruined it for me. I can`t watch any time travel stories anymore, as I would always compare them to Steins;Gate, which is for me at least, the absolute number one in that genre.

Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is a rather interesting show about the struggle to get used to a life in an Isekai world. Contray to most Isekai, in Grimgar the characters send to the world are in no way strong, knowledgeable or have any other advantages given to them by some kind of divine being. They don`t even remember their life before waking up in that strange tower. Completely disorientated some of the new arrivals, are unsure how to deal with the situation and are unable to completely cope with the situation. Others get used to it quite quickly and soon become powerful in their ... own right. But Grimgar does not focus on these guys. Grimgar focuses on the "leftovers" those, that were deemed weak or useless.
Haruhiro and the others do show from the very beginning very interesting character traits, especially in terms how their different character types influence their fights. As Ranta is rather reckless, he is usually the first to attack, often not coordinating with the other Party members. Shihorus shyness as well makes her fighting style more supportive and you can see how her shyness makes her prone for mistakes. This kind of problem can be seen for every character, may it be Yumes choice to become a Hunter, which does not fit with her actual abilities, or Moguzos problem to be a true frontline fighter in the very beginning. These problems of their character traits, as well as choices have a big influence in the fights, which makes these fights very interesting for me.
The characters itself are also another big reason why this anime became one of my all time favourites. Thought not all characters are completely fleshed out by now, they all have their unique personality and truly outgrow any stereotype they might have been in the beginning. especially Haruhiro is in my opinion an excellent character, whose negative outlook on life and pessimistic view is very believable and I can emphasize with him very much, due to having similiar character traits. He is basically pushed into a role, unfit for him, yet he tries his best to still keep the party together, which is a hard task especially for him.
The way the characters dealt with grieve was in my opinion done perfectly in the series, as it truly shows to have an impact on them and their behaviour.
The Art, is amazing, especially the background art perfectly resembles the mood of the situation and together with the sound works quite well to support the story.
As this is a slow grow story, which has a rather slow pacing and a focus on character development, it completely suited my taste.
I loved the characters, the Art, the Sound and the story about coping with grieve and how everything was mixed perfectly with each other.
Of course, the story wasn`t perfect, the fanservice scenes did annoy me, and some characters stayed a bit blank. Yet for me these were all small factors compared to the overall enjoyment so it cleary is a 10/10 for me, as well as my all-time favourity #3