Aug 13, 2022
Grimgar is not for everyone.
While the setup is your familiar Isekai story, similar to Sword Art Online (SAO), the plot is anything but SAO. The story follows a group of friends, working together to adapt and live in this new world. And boy, do we really follow the characters' journey, step by step. Hence, patience is first required to get used to the slower than expected pace which we are familiar from Isekai Action Fantasy animes. With that said, why do I still rate Grimgar as Good? It's because the payoff comes after you manage to sit through the slower pace of the story.
The
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key thing that was unique about this story is how it makes our main characters to be very ordinary. They are sort of like the "leftover" ones in the game world. Like any RPG rule, the group of six have clear roles within the group and skills that'll help them progresses to Boss level fight. While the plot of "underdogs turning the strongest" is favored by some, the characters really take a long time to even clear level 1. And we audience, are shown this part of the effort and journey. It's more than 3 episodes before the group of six learn how to work together as a team. Heck, we are even shown their mundane day-to-day living of cooking, shopping, hanging out, getting to know (and tolerate) each other etc. when they aren't busy fighting monster. So if one is expecting a lot of cool fight scenes and adventuring of the game world, Grimgar is not that show.
Another thing that's different is the concept of death - both killing and overcoming them. Grimgar takes its own sweet time to show something that is not very sweet. It fleshes out how difficult it is for the characters to hurt the monster. Even if our characters have the resolve to kill, the monsters would fight back ferociously. Giving up is not the solution here because their survival depends on it per RPG rule. I also like how Grimgar shows the contrast of characters coping with it - some put up a strong front, some don't question it, some are outright anxious and make elementary mistakes that allow the monster to have upper hand. That's a very real world take on a topic we generally avoid facing.
What's truly gold about this show is the characters. As you follow the characters' step by step of figuring out the world and their mundane life, you start to care about them at some point precisely because of the time you have to know them. While there are some key traits highlighted to us about the group of six at the beginning, you get to see their growth along the way - some more than others. Our main character, Manato had the most growth and maturity when he is thrust a responsibility he couldn't escape - and you'd definitely root for him for his self doubts, confusion and then facing it head on are very relatable.
In short, Grimgar is a story that feature real life in RPG. It only uses RPG as a backdrop. But everything about the plot, the story, the characters, the dynamic and interactions, feels more like a slice of life story.
Reviewer’s Rating: 7
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