Hai to Gensou no Grimgar

Apr 1, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

dissipated (All reviews)

749 people found this review helpful

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 read more

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Mar 27, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 2

Captain220 (All reviews)

343 people found this review helpful

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 read more

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Apr 4, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

Cinnamon_Pramma (All reviews)

175 people found this review helpful

Moderator Edit: This review contains spoilers.
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(If you couldn’t give a tuna glass about this review and just want to know if you should watch this, skip all the way to the “What to expect and enjoyment” Either way, read this review if you want an insight of the flaws it had. This is my first review so don’t judge and give me a break lol. My usage of words might come off as wonky so sorry for that)

Grimgar is an anime that doesn’t necessarily bring anything distinctive to the tables. I personally believe that Grimgar was just an anime of progression, where we would read more

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Apr 6, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

Heldengeist (All reviews)

134 people found this review helpful

The show of it's season that everybody likes despite it's pretty bad. We have a group of teens who gets into a world based on RPG ruleset and shortly after this, they forget their previous life... and that's all. We won't get to know who they are, why did they get there, what is that place anyways, why does it operates like a video game, what should they do there. They just live their everyday life, learning some new skills, killing the low level creatures for the loot which they use to cover their living expenses and equipment.

There are some conflict, they lose a teammate, hire a new one who lost her team and slowly move on after their loss, but this doesn't start a real character improvement. It's trying, but doesn't goes anywhere. During their fights, because of this is a team, we might expect it'll be shown from a strategic point of view. They build up the tactics of their ambushes, comment how the teammates use their class' special skills to effectively operate as a team, but no. They just show their newly learnt skills without any deeper concept. We could think that after these they focus on giving the world some depth, who are these goblins and kobolds, are there any relation between them, what kind of society do they live in, why must they fight with them, why are they hostile by nature, by the way what kind of society do humanity live in this world. But no, we wont get to know anything about these either. The main issue with this show is NOT the slow pacing. The slow pacing can not be an excuse for the lack of world building and plot improvement. At the end there were some improvement in the representation of characters and the fight choreography, then, SLIGHT SPOILER, it ended with a terrible plot armor execution, END SPOILER.

The art design is correct. The character design follows the typical A1 Pictures design. One of the main characters looks exactly like a brown haired Kirito. Not quite unique. The environment and backgrounds are a bit better. With this sketchy looking, hand drawn like appearance it's easily distinguishable from the other series of the studio. It's a matter of taste if you like it or not, I found it a bit self-serving, but a creative way to work with low budget, the main issue isn't this. The animation seems really cheap. The fight scenes are dull, there isn't any tension in them at all. It's nowhere near UBW or even SAO. Oh, and SAO, do you all remember the fight against the first boss with Asuna and Kirito? It was a good fight, they were working together, they looked like a team. I'm not an SAO fan, but that scene was alright in concept and visuality. Don't expect anything even remotely like that from Grimgar.

To summarize, when I've seen the first promotional image, I knew I have to have low expectations. And thus fortunately or more like sadly I couldn't get disappointed. Not even pleasantly though. It sticks out downwards from average quality. Maybe the light novel was decent, I didn't read it, but there never were a moment when I felt the anime could be any better than a mediocre fantasy shounen. You won't lose anything if you skip it.

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Mar 27, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

LeaderTGW (All reviews)

69 people found this review helpful

THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, I had some pretty mixed reactions and feelings with this series. It had its' moments in various episodes where character growth, or the story & plot would standout.. then a few moments later an episode it would do a 360. I don't want to call the show a roller-coaster though because I do not think that is the right term to describe.

Moving on from that though, considering where the Light novel left off and where the anime stopped, I think that A-1 Picture's team did a pretty good job with pacing. They were successfully able to cover maybe 94-97% of the original story which is great. Now the story, It had it's moments. Feels, excitement, comedy etc, all of it was in between "Great" and "Meh" I honestly felt like it lacked quality. Now, when I use the word quality I mean that the overall feeling that Hai to Gensou no Grimgar gave off to me, felt like it had everything together, however when things unfolded or events would take place it just seemed like things needed a little extra boost. I felt like most of the times the producers made things feel slower rather than fast paced because they were trying to add a little more emotional elements and moments especially when Minato died.

I was really glad that most the characters personalities, were drastically changed. Well, to be honest, I'm glad that they changed Yume's personality because I wanted to strangle her character in the novel. Her speech was so damn annoying "Yume thinks" "Yume likes" UGGGHh!! I am just so happy that they changed the way she speaks. Now, Haruhiro, I'm glad his profile was changed too because I hated his whiny, lazy, useless ass. Now he's still a bit useless at times in the anime, however to be fair, he is changing, he's finally going through that phase most characters go through.... "CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT"... OR "CHARACTER GROWTH" :) Which ever you prefer to call it. Compared to their original designs, I have to give A-1 major kudo's. I love it when I look at the original illustration designs for either Manga's or Light Novels, then look at the anime adaptions because they change so much to (In most cases) Look a lot better. This is one of the many cases where the anime adaption of the characters look far more superior than the original designs and illustrations. Overall in the characters department I actually wasn't that impressed. I felt like even though most of the characters have potential to be greater than what they are, most of Haruhiro's team was "Non-assertive" or they just had a hard time serious taking action. Except Ranta.. however he was just a reckless S.O.B.

Now with Grimgar, I did think it was worth watching however, I also think it was a title that didn't need to be over-hyped. I felt like I expected too much out of it. In fact, I would say that, that was my biggest issue with the series. I kind of felt like it lacked quality. Now, when I use the word quality I mean that the overall animation, soundtrack, story/plot and character was lacking in various ways.
Animation felt very lackluster. Background settings and quality didn't stand out at all or too much. I feel like if the animators made things pop out and look more visually appealing then I would not have had an issue. However, I personally think with shows like these, background settings add more of a "realistic" type feeling. The terrible painted, water-coloring-ish background settings -practically faded, just didn't work out for me. The ending song, with the water-color-ish animation, that looked great. Very beautiful, plus the song sort of complement the art used.

Overall I believe that Hai to Gensou no Grimgar was overrated , not over-hyped, I take that back. If you're going to watch it, do not expect nothing but great things because the series, like many before and after it, is full of disappointments or faults... I have to give this title an 8/10 because I really liked the story and plot. I am a sucker for adventure and fantasy anime so I love seeing titles like these get noticed and put in the spotlight.. but with Grimgar.. maybe not so much. I hope to see a season 2 later in the future.

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Mar 27, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Hiroui (All reviews)

55 people found this review helpful

Mature version of any "rpg like shows" the done right.
I'll keep this short but informaive as I can.

Many misunderstand what the show is really about and what it's trying to be. They complain "just when will they get over with this and go start adventuring?!" and claim "nothing is happening bs!" what they didn't know is it's not aimed to be that. Grimgar is all about the group of people who have been thrown in a world they don't know, adapting their new environment bit by a bit. So as you can see, action is not the highlight of the show. It's how they adapt the world and how they do it is what makes the conflict. And that's where the interestingness comes from.

The idea of "adapting the world" seems so Log Horizon yet it's far from being exactly the same with Grimgar. the reason why is because Grimgar has a mature theme mixed with. it's realistic, more of portraying the struggle of being in that situation. the struggle of having no money to buy what you need, adjusting to the people you have no relation with and so on.

Though I kind of Implying the series is somewhat of a "survival of the fittest", an opposite side existed. It has a slice of life vibe that gives you this country side feeling. The way it's done is just amazing! it doesn't feel like out of the place and I even find it pretty relaxing to watch and with the the calming music that plays along with the heartwarming backgrounds even make it more refreshing. How the characters respond to this SoL part is just amazing as well. You can totally see what they do when they are not in a hunt or that how they do their personal lives. through this, it helps them flesh out their character and make it complex the way that even if you try to remove the conflict of the story the existence of characters won't feel empty they would still have something in them.

About the characters, many find them boring. I kind of agree that they don't have any interesting side but what makes up for it is their interaction and development(the strongest points of the series actually) and if I have to defend it more, my reason would be because they are not supposed to have an odd or a special personality. They're designed to be realistic. To make you relate to them. Which explains why their team spends so many time to get stronger. Because no normal teenagers would desparetly want to fight for death. which is what I realy like from the series. you can just clearly see their growth. Of how at first they can't kill a single goblin and becomes just like a murderer, the first time they face the act of killing they get nervous and tremble but the afterwards they loses their sense of guilt.

Speaking of the character development greatness, it's just really top notch. It's realistic, way more believable than any shows does. It doesn't happen right away making a huge jump, it's carefully taking its time progressing their development to make sure it will look real and it doesn't completely change their character which some shows or books seems to always get wrong. Their development to their friend's death, is just so good! each of them shows different signs of reaction and develops differently according to how close they were to their friend. Which proves the uniqness of their character. It flows perfectly not missing any phases. From denial to mourning to acceptance and to learning and you can really see the changes of their actions, reactions, and interactions little by little as they repeat the same thing over and over(killing goblins). They start adjusting-- trying to adjust themselves more to each other.(Especially after Mary, the best girl, was introduced) their teamwork becomes better, they get stronger and their relationships gets tougher. It would just really surprise you that the boring characters you thought were actually complex. Just try to compare the whole character development of most of the show they always works the opposite always getting things wrong lmao.

Overall, instead of cool fantasy action shit, what you're going to get in Grimgar is what I wrote above. It's aimed for those people who wants to see something different. Just a reminder though, the series is so slow which most has a problem with. But it's because it's inteded to be that. Slow pacing doesnt really mean bad it depends if the show needs it or not. Like here in Grimgar it's slow paced because the anime focuses at depicting the growth of a character which have to have long exploration. So if you're the guy who would choose to fall asleep when traveling by a plane instead of enjoying a beautiful view then this might not be for you but if you're that guy who would like to window watch to see that beautiful view you should probably try this.

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Apr 6, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

pedrosp14 (All reviews)

46 people found this review helpful

[Spoiler Free Review}

Story (8):
Hai to Gensou no Grimar tells the story of a group of people who all of the sudden see themselves in a completely strange and fantastic world, with no memories of where they come from, or who they where. The only thing they can do is try to survive by forming parties and hunt down monsters to gain enough money to get through the day. The anime shows the struggles of the group in this world. There is nothing really new to this kind of story, but what stands out is the way the story is told. Compared to the light novel read more

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Mar 31, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 10

CrayonMizhan (All reviews)

37 people found this review helpful

Here I am writing my first review. I am not an expert with writing a review but I will try my best to depict the selling points of this anime. I always give every element a 10 and then take a point off along with any setback I find in each of these aspects.

Story: 9. The story would have been a masterpiece if the first three episodes have been squeezed into one. Nothing much happened. It should have dedicated the second and third episodes to explaining a bit more about the characters' past. However, from episode 4 onward the plot keeps up with the audience's read more

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Mar 27, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

_Hans_ (All reviews)

35 people found this review helpful

I enjoyed Grimgar! Did you or should you? Well take a look here to find out.

Pros
+ Exceptional Character development
+ Rich Character Interactions
+ Great approach to to the theme of Tragedy
+ Dark take on the "Trapped in a Video Game/Fantasy World"
+ Video Game world with Realism

Cons
- Easily bored or "Mindless Action" fellows may not like this show
- Very slow paced
- Insert Songs
- The character of Ranta (At times)
- Random and Unnecessary Ecchi

Overall, Grimgar of fantasy and Ash is a astounding take on the "trapped in a world" genre. I honestly can say it is one of the best if not THE best of the read more

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Feb 27, 2018

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

netosolano98 (All reviews)

15 people found this review helpful

Sometimes slow pacing isn't good pacing.

Story 6 | Art 10 | Sound 10 | Character 7 | Enjoyment 7 | Overall: 8

So Hai to Gensou might have the best animation, ost, ending and opening I've heard in anime, and had me expecting more from it, since episode 1, it was cliched but promisng, what fails with this anime is the pacing. Even though I'm a fan of well build up characters, and slow pacing shows helps them do this very well, just like FMA Brotherhood.

The slow read more

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Mar 27, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 7

Stark700 (All reviews)

30 people found this review helpful

Getting transported to a game world with fantasy elements. You’ve heard of these type of stories before in recent years. From Log Horizon to the infamous No Game No Life, it’s a recycled idea that has becoming a growing trend. What’s different about Hai to Gensou no Grimgar? Nothing really at first until you look a bit into the show. Well it’s not vastly different anyways. In essence, this series crafts a refreshing fantasy show with some intruding ideas but also ones that are unbecoming.

Adapted from the light novel of the same name, the series takes place in fantasy world of Grimgar. We don’t get much inside scope on how the characters exactly arrived there but just the fact that they are now stuck in this world. Survival is what should be on the first thing on their minds as the party of strangers have to adapt with their newfound life. Consisting of a group of six members (Manato, Haruhiro, Ranta, Yume, Mogzo, and Shihoru), they are also told to be part of the Reserve Army forces and defend the world from monsters. I guess in a simpler way to say this, it’s their way of making a living and try to make the best of it in this new world.

I have to confess a few things though. First of all, the series’ focus on its world fiction is fantastic. By all means, it is rich in resources from the dense forests to the lush landscapes with a decent amount of wildlife. Plus, civilization is exactly what people may picture from a fantasy game. There’s old fashioned towns, rural caves, mountainous regions, and starry skies crafted with high fantasy elements in this imaginary world. Whatever the author was thinking at the time definitely got the general ideas right for the show. Secondly, the story is what I’d describe more as fusion of fantasy, action, adventure, but also feeling that borderlines slice of life. To sum it up clearly, the slice of life part depicts the every day adventures of the party. Of course, this includes forging new weapons, fighting new enemies, and unlocking new skills to survive. It also adapts character interactions which seems to be a pivotal part of the show. It’s easy to see that the party members become close as time passes on.

In the beginning, they’re complete strangers with little memory about themselves besides their first name. After living in the new world for a few days, we can see the chemistry building between certain characters. Haruhiro’s relationship with Yume and Manato is prominent as they treat each other like close friends. Manato, the leader of the party is also a role model with his charismatic personality and is able to see the positives in people. Even Ranta seems to follow his lead despite being the hotheaded guy of the group, often known for causing troubles especially with Haruhiro and Yume. Speaking of which, Yume is the brave girl. She has confidence and builds a close friendship with Shihoru, a shy mage who struggles to open to others. Then there’s Mogzo, the silent giant who often supports the party in whatever means he can. See the diverse range of character personas here? It’s hard to imagine how they can all get along at first but as time passes, the show is able to capitalize on these characters both individually and collectively as a group. Later on, they even gains new member whom they have a hard time to accept at first but still welcomes her as a valuable member of the team especially upon learning their background story.

Now, the show is pretty repetitive with a sluggish pacing. It shouldn’t take long for anyone to recognize this especially with the nature of the story. The formulaic structure is basically the group learning new skills, occasionally gaining new equipment, while trying to improve their inner relationships. Sadly, monsters are limited to goblins and kobalds in the show and doesn’t get far in that territory. If you realized this and it’s not the type of feeling up your alley, then turn back now because this show will feel like a snoozefest to you. Otherwise for sheer entertainment value, it’s actually an emotional drive after the first half of the show. The concept of death becomes reality for a certain member of the party while the show exploits interpersonal conflicts. While the series does this well, I feel like it’s spending far too much time investing on certain plot mechanics at the expense of other potentials. Given the way this series is adapted (1 cour) and limited volumes, it’s not really impressive. Furthermore, the show‘s relationship dynamics can quickly become a bore once you see how much the show pushes that every episode. Don’t expect any legitimate romance to develop either despite some obvious hints. The show seems to tease that almost every episode especially between Haruhiro and Yume but nothing really comes into fruition. And if you’re not a fan of melancholic songs, then this show could be a nightmare. As a fantasy adventure, Grimgar often feels like a mixed bag; sometimes quite impressive while other times makes you wonder if it’s worth watching.

In the meantime, the show does a fair job at demonstrating how a fantasy series should be about with its mechanics. There’s other adventurer guilds that looks credible, weapons that actually looks like it’s from a fictional world, and also various classes. (thief, mage, priest, etc) While the series isn’t like Sword Art Online with heavy game mechanics, it still knows how to execute some of them. However, the key keyword here is ‘some’. The mage class is one of the more underwhelming roles in the show with its limited spell set from what’s shown. From an objective point, I think the priest also plays an underwhelming role despite being invaluable for any party. Luckily, the action aspects saves that as it delivers some classic entertainment. It’s pretty fluid once you get used to it with a surprising amount of violence. On the other hand, the comedy is woodenly made. I forget the amount of time when the show makes lewd jokes (mostly because of Ranta). From extended dialogues about boobs to awkward misunderstandings, the show still falls into the formulaic light novel adaptations we see so often.

One of the main highlights of the series is the fantastic artwork. It’s not just elegant but feels excitingly mythical that’s painted by colorful water paint. From mountainous landscapes to old fashioned towns, the show capitalizes every detail to precision. Even character designs looks vividly convincing as the guys and girls wear gear appropriate for their class. If you’re also familiar with shows like Aiura, then it’s recognizable at who worked on these designs. The show’s action is coordinated well with a nice amount of focus on teamwork and body movements. But like almost every light novel adaptations, it’s still vulnerable to some subtle fan service like Shirou.

Music is one of the stronger dynamics of the series as well. While some say that the show’s tendency to constantly use insert songs can be an annoyance, it’s actually quite important to highlight the emotional values of the story. Character expressions matches in unison with the insert songs to show what they feel. This can be a hit or miss to viewers depending on how you take it by storytelling standards. Furthermore, character voice mannerisms aren’t too impressive in general. The most recognizable would be Yume though with her kansai-like dialect.

Ryosuke Nakamura’s return to direct the show brings us this fantasy adventure, one that I can say is a good example of portraying an imaginative world. However, the overall storytelling isn’t too impressive while characterization is lacking t times. Still, I think it’s important to address that Grimgar isn’t about conquering the world. It’s quite simple really – just a party of members trying to make the best of their newfound life while trying to survive. If that isn’t your cup of tea, then it’ll be hardly enjoyable. In introspect, Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is a well-made show at what it is but not great.

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Mar 27, 2016

8 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

Sentelin (All reviews)

30 people found this review helpful

Preliminary

Lately I've been watching only handful anime shows, to be more precise for the past 3 months I finished only 3 and currently follow 2. Each one had to met my profound expectations and they are very strict.

When I chose to watch first episode, I didn't expect much , mostly because this kind of anime never has real plot and everything expected action and violence is put in second plan. First thing I noticed is how beautiful art is, I haven't had seen such good looking anime for a long time, later came I noticed good animation, voice acting, heck even though main characters read more

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Mar 27, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 4

MozillaFennekin (All reviews)

24 people found this review helpful

Sometimes an anime will start very well and continue to be interesting for a while, but it ultimately falls apart when it’s time to wrap things up. In some less-common cases, an anime will start very well but fall on its face within minutes. I don’t know which of these categories are worse, but Grimgar is the latter. Grimgar gets you interested immediately, but things go downhill just within the first episode.

Grimgar starts with a fight scene; fight scenes at the very beginning of anything can often be bad since you don’t know anything and don’t care, but Grimgar’s is actually very good because it read more

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Mar 30, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

maddanimeboyo (All reviews)

21 people found this review helpful

If you're looking for a slice of life anime with RPG/fantasy elements this is your show. It gives us a look into what life would actually be like in an RPG/fantasy world where the characters actually spill blood (their own and other creatures). It isn't exactly action packed and there is no definite end to the story, it's just about a group of people trying to survive in a new world that they were thrown into. My only gripe is that they mention a certain character too much.

Story: 8/10
I honestly like the story. There isn't exactly a goal that they are working towards read more

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Mar 30, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

orosan (All reviews)

20 people found this review helpful

When first watching the first episode of it, i honestly found it quite boring, but i insisted maybe there's more to it, and yes there were.

the more you watch the more deep you go within the anime, the development is slow but enjoyable, and very easy to understand what's going on.

Artistically, the drawings is definately above average, maybe Too glossy for others, but doesnt bother me in any way.

Characters mostly we only got to see haruhiko and mary develope the most, the other didnt get enough screentime, but dispite only two developing characters it was still enjoyable to watch.

i definitly recommend this for people read more

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May 3, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

GreyGaming (All reviews)

19 people found this review helpful

If I am being honest right now, I loved Hai to Gensou no Grimgar. To me, it was a fresh look into the Fantasy RPG genre, one which is overcrowded with absolutely god awful shows. It is one of the special shows in this genre in part due to its realism in storytelling in its genre and actual well developed characters.

Story: 8/10

Hai to Gensou no Grimgar tells the story of 7 characters in a world they have magically transported to. Many other characters have also been transported there for no apparent reason. This large group of people forms smaller groups to go and hunt monsters in the surrounding area for loot and to survive. Now you may be wondering to yourself, man this sounds a lot like everything else in this genre, why should I watch it? Well, this is because unlike many of the other shows in this series, Grimgar gives us weak characters that actually develop and grow unlike those Over-powered MCs (I’m looking at you Kirito). The characters have to develop to survive in this world, hone their skills, work on learning new skills, coordinate as a team, and many things you would expect to see in the survival of a group of people. Although the pacing of the story is really slow, it benefits this show helping to develop the characters more thoroughly. The story itself is great but with a generic start, and A-1 pictures being A-1 pictures, the story just fell short in the end not living up to my expectation of how the ending would play out.

Art: 10/10

Now if there is one thing that A-1 pictures can actually do good, it’s the art work of a series. This is some of the best art I’ve seen in a while from an anime. The background is wonderful. The water colored background really stands out to make it different from many other anime out there. There is little to no drop in quality throughout the series. Animation is smooth, clean, it looks wonderful.

Sound: 9/10

The sound is great in this series. It really lends itself to certain scenes. The opening and ending songs are all very beautiful and I really enjoyed them. The insert song “seeds” is also one of the best insert songs I’ve heard in a while. It’s wonderful to hear absolutely great to hear such amazing songs from (K)NoW_NAME.

Characters: 10/10

The characters are absolutely one of the best parts of the series. Most of the characters get great development. Almost all the main characters get a good amount of development and the development is actually very interesting. From tragic backstories in some, dealing with loss in all of them, and how they interact with each other all give us a good look into these characters. These characters also aren’t strong, they are weak, and grow as the story progresses. How they look at life, and what they do in the aftermath of some events really helps to give these characters a realistic feeling. Their reactions to everything feel so authentic. It’s not like watching Sword Art Online where character development is absolutely trash; this anime takes time to develop all its characters. This makes the series slow overall but makes it so much more enjoyable when you actually feel attached to the characters from their backstories and what happens to them. It’s an absolute masterpiece in terms of developing its characters to the fullest and has some of the best characters I have seen in an anime.

Enjoyment: 9/10

I loved this anime, it was an absolute blast to watch in part to its difference to other anime in this genre. It didn’t go through with many of the clichés and did things you would normally not expect in this genre. I really enjoyed that originality aspect of this series. The slow pacing rather than killing the experience for me, heightened it. This was what I though Sword Art Online should have been.

Overall: 9/10

So do I recommend watching Hai to Gensou no Grimgar? Yes, an absolute yes. You must watch this series if you like the Fantasy/RPG genre. This anime shows how good a fantasy anime can be after years of horrible fantasy anime. It brings out all the good points of what a fantasy anime should be. With absolutely amazing characters, sound and world-class art, this is definitely one anime I will come back to watch again.

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Mar 30, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 8

Minechi (All reviews)

19 people found this review helpful

well u know how all the foreplay and teasing can sometimes bore u out....
I mean for an anime with 12 episodes 85 % of it is goblin slaying to be put bluntly....
so why do i give it such a high rating.....

well like the anime i wont get to the point immediately :D

story:8
if put basically it is an anime that focuses on people stuck on a vmmorpg without knowing how they were put there..... Heard of it somewhere before?
yuss it will make u sleep in the first half... i mean can u see how many people dropped it at ep4... like ppl who drop girls bcuz read more

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Apr 3, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 5

Flawfinder (All reviews)

15 people found this review helpful

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.

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Dec 22, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

Bugiboo (All reviews)

11 people found this review helpful

Oh, it'll be a hell of a ride. So fasten your seatbelts and enjoy my review. This review may include some mild spoilers; be warned.

1. Concept
The first thing must be said for Grimgar is it may be the best "being thrown into a game" story after good old Jumanji. Grimgar nails on details no other anime series of the same concept didn't even bother to mention. The best (in my opinion) detail Grimgar is the feel of being in an alien land. Our heroes and heroines have no idea about where they are and what they are supposed to do. They have no clue about their pasts except some bleak words whom they can't remember their meanings. And after being guided to the start of their adventuring career this feeling of being in an alien land reflects itself as inexperience; they make fails, they have coordination problems when fighting as a party, they struggle to survive, they seriously live the stress of earning enough money to buy food (they even can't buy new pairs of underwear for quite some time and had to wash their underwear every day), and hell; they even hesitate to kill a living being since THEY ARE TEENAGERS WHO HAVE NEVER SWUNG A SWORD, SHOT WITH A BOW AND ABSOLUTELY HAVE NEVER, EVER LIVED IN A HIGH FANTASY MEDIEVAL-ESQUE WORLD! This amount of detail is so astonishing that with every passing second, you love this series more and more and more.

2. Story
As I mentioned before, the story is about a group of teenagers struggling to survive in a "land of ash and fantasy". They know nothing about their past lives except some bleak, distant words they use subconsciously (like "phone"), whom they can't comprehend their meaning. So, we know that they are hailing from our world and from our time but their reason to be trapped in Grimgar remains a mystery to be revealed. In the first season, we won't have much clue about it, though. The first season is about their struggle to survive in this world and being adapted to it. And this aspect of the story is handled amazingly well. We see some real struggle while they are trying to be the characters they've intended to be and failing at it, since it's actually really difficult to survive in a world full of monsters and magical things (Tabletop RPG players will understand me and speaking of which, I salute all of you fellow Pen & Paper players!), especially if you are some teenagers from a high-tech world; ours, in particular. This level of authenticity is amazing. On the other hand, I don't know how they will handle about the mystery part of the story but I'm sure that in next seasons (if there will be next seasons, of course) they'll handle it as well as they did in the first season's story.

3. Characters
The number 1 reason I really like Log Horizon, another "being trapped in an MMORPG" anime, is the authenticity of its characters; we have some kids who have hard time to adapt, some adults who lost their sense of sanity because of the event and some other adults who try to stay calm and do something to prevent people from going mad. Grimgar's characters side is also strong at the aspect of authenticity; we have a group of teenagers who have a hard time while trying to adapt to an alien world. The series lets us see clearly what characters think about the situation via dialogues and monologs. We see their doubts, fears, sorrow, sense of being lost and amnesiac. But on the other hand, they are still teenagers; they are exploring themselves like any teenager who hit the puberty. Boys, for example, make dirty jokes, make comments about the hotness of the girls in the party, they even subconsciously take a peek to their breasts. The only one out of this puberty drama is Moguzō; the oldest guy of the party and he shines like a lighthouse of sense in a band of puberty hit teenagers, just as how it should be!

4. Gameplay Mechanics & Fights
As I understood; Grimgar is a game closer to tabletop RPGs' style rather than MMOs'. In my opinion, it's a huge upside. I like Tabletop RPGs' handling gameplay elements like spellcasting, fighting, adventuring, leveling up etc. I'll mention some things about these. For example; in Grimgar, you need to pray for a spell if you are a priest or read invocations and make ritualistic movements if you are a sorcerer. If you want to make your characters stronger you need to find a trainer and spend some time with training. You should allocate money to food, survival gear etc. (Also; you should wear your helmet if you have one since arrow shots to the head or head traumas are fatal things. :D ). "Skills" used in combat are not some flashy and non-practical moves but tricks and techniques derived from real medieval warfare (mostly, even though not completely).

And the last thing I've mentioned makes Grimgar's fight scenes awesome. There are no flashy movements, melee fighters are careful about their footing (which is an important element of real life melee sword fighting), they try to parry or dodge the attacks (since being hurt and in pain are huge disadvantages), ranged fighters and offensive casters tries to make their shots count via having the high ground and reading the battle carefully. And Haruhiro; the ace and the rogue of the party is always moving, seeking the weak points while staying in the shadows and protecting his friends' backs since they are busy with fighting the enemy. Now this is how fighting should be!

4. Art

Art is awesome. There's not much to say; hand-painted backgrounds are awesome, character designs are awesome, almost completely authentic design of weapons and armours are awesome.

5. Final Words

Grimgar is not perfect, I know it but it still has the potential of being the best "being trapped into an MMORPG" anime ever. The story is not complete, there's only one season but I hope the sequels is going to be made. I trust this series' potential with my whole heart. It's a must watch if you like this concept.

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Apr 6, 2016

12 of 12 episodes seen

Overall Rating: 9

Lanciare (All reviews)

12 people found this review helpful

Action, Adventure, Drama, Fantasy and after reading the summary, what are the things that comes into mind when these genres are mentioned?
One might think it could be an intensive and thrilling anime, where you might expect the cast of the anime to be constantly exploring new things and exposing themselves to danger. Or you could expect the main protagonist to be some sort of prodigy who develops himself at a rapid pace, becoming the only sole focus of the anime.

Well let me tell you, this anime isn't anything like those I've mentioned above.
Before I start with my review I will clarify that this anime read more

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Hai to Gensou no Grimgar

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