Granbelm

"I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God."

- Romans, 8:18

Have you ever wondered why you’re alive? It seems like such a silly question, one that a lot of people wouldn’t really take seriously, but then again, there are others that spend their entire lives actively searching for the answer.

Now how about this one… have you ever experienced so much loneliness, pain, and suffering that you wished you *weren’t* alive and wondered what the point of living was if it was going to be like that? Now we’re getting somewhere.

I’m sure many of us, at some point in our lives, have felt absolutely lost, without direction, wondering what our purpose is and where we should be going, not understanding who put us here or why. And I know I’ve at least thought before, maybe more than a few times, that maybe it would be better if I wasn’t alive, that I was a waste of space, that the world didn’t need me, that nobody would miss me if I was gone, that I was basically nonexistent while simultaneously having to exist.

And have you ever dreamed of… have you ever wished with all your heart for something that could miraculously rid your life of all the conflict, pain, suffering, sadness… completely and entirely, forever and ever?

Granbelm, an original production that’s very clearly a passion project, hit me exceptionally hard because it explores and really dissects these very feelings that we’ve all experienced. As a matter of fact, the entire anime might be a cleverly masked commentary on finding self-purpose in life through challenges and obstacles. I’d have to say that it succeeds in doing such because it is not inherently obvious that its goal is exactly that until near the very end of the story.

The story of Granbelm is driven almost entirely by its characters, and what an excellent job character development does on progressing the plot. At the very start, we as the audience are immediately thrown into a scenario that is extremely chaotic. We initially learn very little about what is going on, mirroring the perspective of our protagonist, Mangetsu Kohinata who also knows absolutely nothing. It is only until we begin to learn about each of the characters’ pasts and their reasons for participating in the tournament known as “GRANBELM” do we begin to find out crucial pieces of the puzzle that piece together to give a more formulated picture of what is truly happening and why. This type of plot development, relying heavily on individual character experiences and background, can ruin a story when done incorrectly – when the characters fall flat and the pieces don’t come together nicely, the plot itself becomes a jumbled mess. Granbelm, however, absolutely excels at tying each of the character’s stories into a beautifully presented package of an overarching plot that will simultaneously blow your mind and slice your heart in half.

All of the seven girls participating in Granbelm are ultimately are fighting to become the one true mage, the Princeps, because they have a purpose: something that they’d give everything in the world up for, something so important and precious to them that they’d do anything to succeed by all means necessary. Whether it’s wishing for a miracle, fighting to fulfill what they consider their own purpose, proving their own self-worth, or simply fighting to find their own purpose, what matters most – the only thing that makes a difference in their strength in battle - is how much unshakable conviction they are able to invest into their ambitions. It’s this moral conflict that is at the very center of the premise of Granbelm: how far would you go, how strong are your desires, that you would destroy the dreams of anyone else to obtain them? Is it selfish to destroy everything and everyone in your way for that in which you find your own purpose, your own reason to live? And is it morally right to obtain and use something to which no single person should ever have access, something that shouldn’t exist, a power that could warp the whole world just to grant one wish?

In this way, the battles each month at full moon both symbolize and literally represent the characters’ feelings and desires clashing against one another. All skill, practice, and talent are thrown out the window to give way to raw passion and emotion. Each of the characters’ mechs – their Armonoxs – are said to be a reflection of their inner selves and their souls, which ties perfectly into this moral dilemma whereby physical, tangible value of each of their greatest wishes is thrown out the window for the intangible, unmeasurable strength of desire that they possess. To me, this symbolism is an absolutely incredible and thrilling way of representing the many emotions experienced in life through a physical art form that can be seen, felt, experienced, and shared by anyone. Granbelm is able to transcend the limitations of expressing feelings through words by visually representing them, which meshes perfectly with the themes and goals of the story.

Each girl has their own internal conflicts and are facing some form of suffering. And although six of the seven girls each have a distinct and obvious reason to fight, Mangetsu is set apart because she has no visible reason to desire becoming the Princeps mage. This is where the theme of suffering and the theme of morality in self-purpose come to clash: is there any meaning to living through pain and suffering, and is it right to obtain and take the “easy way out” by destroying anyone and anything in our way? And does it matter what our intentions are for doing so?
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Besides the overarching narrative, there are a few other things I wanted to highlight that made Granbelm the masterpiece I see it as.

The art and animation, although wonky at times, were outstanding for the amount of people working on the show. Very few animators were involved in this, and yet the amount of detail within every scene and the consistent fluidity in the animation really stood out. The mech designs, while… questionable, are entirely drawn in 2D. As a matter of fact, the entire show is in 2D, it’s just mind-blowing how much passion and love was put into this project. Of course, much of the staff that worked on Granbelm also worked on Re:Zero, so it’s not a surprise to see the quality of this production, especially in the direction, writing, and composition.
The writing itself is littered with foreshadowing that I guarantee you won’t notice or understand until your second watch. Lots of things at first don’t make sense because as the audience we are thrown directly into confusion, but seeing how everything has progressed, I’m thinking it was an intentional decision to start this way. The foreshadowing combined with the plot twists take the story from extremely good to masterful.

And now for perhaps the most impressive part of the show: the sound direction. I’d first like to give credit to Kenichiro Suehiro for making me absolutely sob uncontrollably during episodes 12 and 13 with his heartwrenching OST. The music altogether is top-notch – very orchestral and classical and reminds me a lot of a John Williams-type soundtrack that you’d see in something like Star Wars.

Also like something from Star Wars, the sound effects in Granbelm are fantastic and add to the experience tenfold. The sound design and effects are distinctively “magically ethereal” and non-mechanical and fit the atmosphere of the show to a T.
Most strikingly, the vocal performances throughout the entire series are through the roof. I’d like to specifically give a shout-out to Aoi Yuuki, who has given me chills countless numbers of times with her performance as Shuishou.

Lastly, the characters themselves are impressively built and developed. None of the characters feel like cardboard cutouts and each clearly have their own unique purpose to the show. The most impressive part is how impressive the ‘villains’ are depicted – they have a distinct amount of depth to them whereby you can actually sympathize with them, understanding how they ended up the way they did. For a show with a cast as large as Granbelm and only 13 episodes to work with, every girl of our main seven was utilized to perfection and important in their own way. They all have their own desires, wishes, and hopes they are trying to obtain, and each of them is plagued by some type of pain.
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While the other girls are all suffering because of specific occurrences in their lives, Mangetsu’s suffering stems from the exact opposite - the LACK of occurrences, pretty much anything at all happening in her life. Her feelings of non-existence, and loneliness because she wants to be acknowledged by at least someone and has never been are what have led to her inner suffering and pain. Because she feels she has nothing, her goal is simply looking for a purpose for her own life, which she thinks she can find by participating in Granbelm, excelling, standing out, and winning. She has no desire in actually becoming the Princeps mage; rather, she desires to exist and be recognized and believes that simply by winning, she will obtain those things inherently. And also unlike her competition, she has no interest in the power that would come with winning. But although she doesn’t desire power, is it still okay for her participate and destroy those in her path for her own personal gain, to end her suffering? Through participating in Granbelm and interacting with the other girls and learning from her experiences, Mangetsu comes to realize that notoriety and recognition isn’t at all what she needed to obtain. Suffering from an existential crisis, she begins to understand that life is what she makes of it, not what other people make of her. Her progression from a person who is suffering and doesn’t care what she does as long as she gets noticed to someone who can appreciate and find purpose in life for what it is reflects the main purpose of the story:

Suffering and pain are a crucial part of life. Life is filled with all sorts of challenges and obstacles that might seem impossible to overcome and make you want to give up, but it is precisely because of the fight to overcome our own struggles that we can find purpose in our lives. Furthermore, it is of high importance that we live life in an honest manner – without looking for shortcuts or the easy way out – and make the most of what we have.

In the end, Mangetsu is able to fully grasp the opportunity to experience even the just the small things in life, appreciating the beauty in experiencing existence itself. All of life is a precious gift, and she is grateful for the ability to live, even grateful for experiencing suffering and pain. Her understanding of this and her selflessness in the very end ultimately is what liberates her from her chains and frees her soul, giving her true happiness.

Like Mangetsu, the intimate and precious experiences of life itself - everything we think, feel, see, touch, and dream of, our wishes, our aspirations - are what give us hope of finding direction and the strength to keep living. It is precisely through finding and fulfilling our purpose in life, appreciating life for the gift it is, that we will truly and honestly be liberated from the shackles that bind us in life. Only then will we find peace and happiness and transcend all our suffering once and for all.

The story of Granbelm is one of the best I have ever experienced, and I will never forget it.

“Nothing in this world is that simple. But… The world is filled with so many feelings! Feelings like happiness, enjoyment, love… And of course, that’s not all. There’s frustration, sadness, hate… There’s regret, and desire… Hoping things will turn out the way you want, wishing for a miracle…. There are so many wishes that can’t be fulfilled. They’re forgotten, and then they gush forth again, eternally building this world.

Humans live on… and that’s good enough. That’s how people can have hope, how they can live.”

- Mangetsu Kohinata

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The problem with anime and edge is that so often you get edge for the sake of edge rather than edge as the result of well thought out ideas and the natural conclusion of events. And while Granbelm tries to be interesting with its edge, it fails massively and comes off as yet another edgefest that has no idea how to write its ideas well.

The biggest rub is that Granbelm does have some good ideas. There is intrigue in a competition where girls compete to be the sole magical entity in the world. The premise is a bit forced but there is a lot to work with there. You can show why all the characters want that power, how they react when they don't get it, and the lengths that they'll go through for that power. And while Granbelm attempts to hit some of this ideas, and even comes close in some cases, the execution and result is quite lacking and lackluster. For example in the first episode there is a girl who is clearly in the battle, loses, and thusly loses her magical abilities. Rather than exploring this girl and her circumstance and the future that she must now pivot, they just cast her off and focus on less interesting characters. This is a theme with Granbelm.

Because despite having some interesting characters in its cast, Granbelm decides to focus on the most bland of the characters. We have the traditional pink haired magical girl who has no talents, no purpose in life, but for some reason seems to be really good at this magic thing despite never having any experience in it what so ever before. And second to her is the magical girl with long black hair, insane skills and work ethic, who happens to be very cold. Both of these tropes have been done to death. And while a good show can be made out of tired tropes, neither of these two are particularly interesting, and it's even more frustrating when they take away time from much more interesting characters in the cast.

For example, Anna is a girl from a talented mage family who has a grudge against Ernesta. It is clear she hates her for some reason and has a burning desire to out do her. As the show progresses her mental state erodes and you can see how the stress of the competition and her hatred is effecting her. But despite this she is more of a side character than a main one. There are interesting points to her character and her relation with Ernesta but it's often seen in the lens of Ernesta, the main character, rather than Anna. By focusing on Ernesta more the show willingly focuses on a much weaker and flat character and don't explore the interesting traits of Anna quite nearly as much as they should.

This is what the show is like as a whole, it'll bring up good ideas, give hope that it'll explore them and cover something meaningful before diverting back to Mangetsu and Ernesta and ending up failing its potential. The most baffling thing about this show though is despite how edgy it tries to be, whenever the show can actually do something with that edge and give an interesting situation for the characters the show decides to zag in a different route to give a slight less edgy but also a lot less interesting result. It's as if it's trying to both be as edgy and uninteresting as possible. So while the show is very content to make the characters miserable and to make their lives that much worse with each episode, it's also content to take a slightly less miserable path if it means that the characters won't have to react to something interesting or unique.

The art is actually pretty good, and would be nice to have in a much better show. Sadly, the problems with Granblem far outweigh the good art. The sound is passable and doesn't help or hurt the show. The production of the show is pretty good although the fight scenes to me are still pretty boring. They can be dynamic, but they lack the power to really make them shine.

Overall Granbelm is a massive disappointment and forgoes its interesting ideas for bland uninteresting edge. I don't recommend it for anyone unless you need more edge in your life and have ran out of other options.

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When I was beginning to watch Granbelm, I thought another generic series with an average plot and awful characters. Well, this is the time to retract and eat my own words. Granbelm is a good show, underestimated and hated by anime enthusiasts for no reason; One cause cannot be that the director of Granbelm is the same as Re: Zero. Besides, a score below 7.0 is not valid for a series that has some substance, emotion, an acceptable story, and some charming characters.

From my perspective, Granbelm's story is the strongest point in the series. The plot configures two worlds where all the characters interact. These two environments, a real-world, a combat scenario, are directly affected by magic and are the premise of several details that will appear as the story progresses. The idea of the combat scenario is to create a world where the main characters or the selected magicians can use magic robots called "Armanox," and they fight for all the magical power that disappeared from the world (Magiaconatus). The last standing magician will become the "Princeps Mage" and will be worth to use the Magiaconatus. Yes, I know what you're thinking, what the he ..., that sounds messy, the story can be confusing at first, but it is entertaining. I can not explain more because it could spoil the plot with small details. Following that order of ideas, the main characters are the mages who will fight each other. I find it very interesting how the authors fused the two worlds with the help of the characters. They compete in the magical world, and they can be friends, enemies, in the real world, and they do not know what could happen after each fight.

The characters are the magicians. Unfortunately, one of the things that could have scared many viewers is that the entire cast is feminine, so a large group will think it could be a junk story, a fan service story, cute girls doing cute things, but none of that fits this show.
There are two main characters, Mangetsu and Shingetsu. The rest of the cast is secondary because they stimulate Mangetsu and Shingetsu’s traits.

Mangetsu or the girl who has nothing. She appears in the magical world without any magical knowledge and is found worthy of using an Armanox. As the story progresses, its complexity and behavior run brilliantly.

Shingetsu "the white." However, her Armanox is black, but she is wiser than Gandalf. I wanted to give a little magic reference lol. She is one of the strongest magicians. She fights following her ideals and wants to become Princeps for a personal reason. She needs Mangetsu to become a good character. Sometimes her decisions are painful, and she fulfills her role fantastically.

Suisho or the girl who will die soon, I thought that. A complex character with a lot of background. You must pay attention to all her information because it is the most complex character in the series.

Nene or the magical genius with an exciting story. She is the most resourceful character, and her background is a need for the story progression

Anna or cry and angry girl. She considers herself very special and powerful. Maybe it is, or perhaps it's just another aspiring magician. However, she fulfills Shingetsu emotions and boosts her traits and background.

Shisui or she will fight for her. She fights for a relative, and she is a need to show the real face of a certain mage.

Rosa or the girl who steals some time in front of the screen. She fights ... without further details.

All characters contribute to the story in some way. The most important part, they give and add details to the story, and their features are totally different. Furthermore, their background is diverse, so their actions and development vary, which gives the story a refresh of the casual generic characters that appeared in the season * cough tra *.

Art and animation are good. The fights are not ugly; the effects are acceptable, followed by good movement and a proper configuration that varies from one mage to another. Also, the powers and Armanox are subtle. The real world has beautiful and vivid colors, and the magical world changes according to the scenario.

The sound is excellent and the VO is acceptable. I think the most influential part is how the interpretation conveys some feelings to the public. I know it's not a great VO, but it's okay. Also, I'm glad to hear Aoi Eir singing again (well, she came back several months ago, but I'm happy she has recovered as I expressed to her in the past), the opening is good and has good lyrics.

Finally, the show has a different air than the usual magic fight series. It is refreshing, and if it was an experiment, it ended acceptably. I cannot complain about Granbelm. The series has good pacing, the story fragments are explained in the perfect time, and they help the characters to grow and shine. Yes, the show is not excellent, it could have been better, but it is the season's hidden gem and deserves to have a second chance.

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Granbelm is your latest creatively bankrupt seasonal anime featuring bright haired anime girls with tragic backstories in chibi mecha. In essence, this work, by the director of the infamous Re:Zero, is an isekai (sort of) magical girl mecha battle royale where the last mage standing will get the mysterious macguffin that grants wishes. We are introduced to the protagonist Mangetsu who is your usual "do-no-wrong" character who mysteriously ends up in the Magical World despite only those with mage ancestry being able to, and totally does not have a super power lying dormant within her because plot twist plot twist plot twist. Mangetsu becomes aware she does not have a personality so she instead joins in the battle royale to help Shingetsu fulfill her wish.

In this world, magic existed once back in ancient civilization until it was sealed by a circle of mages who sacrificed their lives to do so, but apparently they didn't do such a good job since there are still magic users on Earth and they are able to use magic powers, in and out of the separate world. Despite this magic originally being used by the oldest civilizations of Europe and West Asia, all of the current magic users happen to be pubescent Japanese girls. It would've been much more interesting if it used Japanese history or folklore as to explain this, but alas the writers must've realized that would take effort.

Mecha battles within the magic world consist of characters winning based on how many times they say "envision" or which character remembers their backstory and motivations the hardest. There are also other asspulls such as characters randomly triggering super powers that allow them to win based on how angry they are or random magic powers that weren't ever used prior. The constant back and forth rivalry of Shingetsu and Anna becomes tiring when you realize Shingetsu is just a Mary Sue and Anna is your designated character to hate for that part because she's a pompous yandere that would likely just stop being that and become a good person in the future. Unfortunately it's not like we can really know because it drops it almost immediately after it reaches its crux to instead turn back to Shingetsu and the alternating path of bullshit.

Conveniently, these mecha called "ARMANOX" are the "reflection of the user's soul" or some drivel like that as to explain why characters don't ever have to be any good at using the mecha and can just rely on the writers to decide how it should all go. They then proceed to do this for other magical manifestations because yes.

The wish granting macguffin of this magical world battle royale only involves the most basic motivations when it comes to character's reasons for obtaining it. It's not like I was expecting something on the level of the movie Stalker when it comes to philosophy surrounding such a wish granting device but it's like they didn't even want to try, their motivations never really change or are questioned, they simply exist. It's not like there is any room for characters to even philosophize because everyone that is on the "good side" is a complete yes man for Shingetsu while every villain is just a crazy woman that lusts for power.

There's also some conflict between Suishou and uhh the other white haired girl over her sister which is so poorly conveyed that it's laughable. This conflict is also poorly concluded before it's vestiges are used just to power Shingetsu's motivations. At least the creators were smart enough to realize how boring and forgettable the characters were so they color coded them.

My initial predictions at the start of the show were aiming for a more "generic pseudo-deep" approach and while the show is certainly trying too hard to be deep, I did not account for the sheer stupidity of the writers and their infatuation with PLOT TWISTS. It showers in these plot twists to cover up for a lack of depth to the story, characters, and the narrative as a whole. It actually makes everything worse as it feels like they made it up on the spot with build up to it and roundabout dialogue just being for the reveal itself. Mangetsu's reveal encapsulating this with everyone going "MANGETSU IS...." and constantly reminding you that Mangetsu indeed is. It's soap opera tier of writing. Why do people know of Mangetsu's true identity? They just do. What purpose does it serve the characters to reveal this information? None, it's all done for the sake of a plot twist. Chalk it up to more shallow writing about "the soul" or something if you really want to.

As stated twice before the story has this really good trait of building up arcs, concluding them awfully, then adding the characters involved in it to the Shingetsu motivator waste dump, Mangetsu included. She goes from protagonist that is a Shingetsu worshiper to just a Shingetsu worshiper, and quite literally exists to be a useless motivator character because goddamn if anime characters always need someone to pepper them with platitudes across the show before they actually succeed. Then of course, every scene with Mangetsu doing so has the most manipulative music like they really break out the violins when characters are saying "The world is filled with feelings" as if it's some grand revelation, my god.

The artstyle and design is ultimately "whatever." There's a lot of "same face" which also explains the color coding and they over utilize the exaggerated faces for the sake of portraying someone as crazy or mad. Also the mecha have awful designs that look like toys more than anything dangerous.

If someone looks at this as a "dark magical girl" show and begins referencing Madoka then that's when you know it's bad. If you want "dark magical girl" just watch Utena. If you want mecha, watch Gundam. If you want a story with plot twists and character intrigue, read Dostoevsky. If you want an anime with a cast of bright haired anime girls then go watch whatever waifubait show is on this season. Don't watch this, it's a complete waste of time.

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The dark magical girl genre has been around ever since Madoka, so close to a decade. One could think everything has already been done before, but no, every once in a while a new one comes around that still has something new to show.
Granbelm is one of these series. It came up with an impressive combination, it is some sort of a dark magical girl mech battle royale show, something like a Holy Grail War but instead of masters and servants, with magical girls and mechs.

The dark magical girl part speaks for itself, if you like the genre you probably will enjoy Granbelm too. By the genre's nature, several characters are pushed to the extremes, looking like they are borderline insane, but they do have their reasons, all of them have, except the main girl, who is kind of a wild card. She seemingly has no reason to participate in this "Holy Grail War", she also has strange powers noone can explain, I would say she is the main mystery of the show.

Now about the mechs. I am not a big mech fan, but I like them here. They have an unusual, interesting design that I haven't quite seen yet. The mech battles are very interesting and great looking. It is not just the usual "robots are bashing each other" stuff. They all have different powers, use different tactics and sometimes they can do some random unexpected stuff.

So far I am really enjoying the show, from episode 1 to 5 it keeps on improving from episode to episode. It is also not too predictable, so I am looking forward to see where it will be taking us.

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Granbelm was a really misunderstood anime, many people didn't give it the chance it deserved, quickly digging a grave for it and was left forgotten until Granbelm started to stand by itself, and surprisingly, Granbelm managed to exceed my expectations, being one of the best this season. (Warning, slight spoilers ahead)

Granbelm starts as Fate~ish battle royale with taints of Madoka Magika, employing mechas that are called Armanox, where Mangetsu (our MC) suddenly gets warped into another dimension (If you ask, this isn't an isekai, it's just an alternate reality that takes place each full moon, where our girls will fight) And gets targeted by other witches until Shingetsu (a mysterious black girl) comes to her aid.

Granbelm's best selling point are their characters. And while some of them might be a little annoying due to how edgy they might seem, most of them have their reasons to participate in Granbelm in order to become the Princeps, which will concede them a wish. However, Mangetsu is the only girl among the others who doesn't have a clear goal, taking part on Granbelm as a way to find that something she's missing on her life. Eventually, the rest of the characters will get their background story that carries their motivation, be it family issues, frustration, or even a curse, each story is carefully developed at the right pace and complements the world building, specially about Granbelm and the wizard's lineage.

Granbelm's first episodes focus mostly on developing and introducing the main cast while Mangetsu experience Granbelm. However, after reaching a certain part of the story, more and more questions regarding Mangetsu will start to raise: Who is she?, why most of her memories are blank?, why does she have so much magical power while missing her witch inheritance? All these questions have an answer, and while I can say that I guessed correctly what Mangetsu was, the execution of her twist was done greatly, with a dark and psychological tone, driving us towards one of the best parts of Granbelm: How much Mangetsu matured during all this time as she deals with her identity crisis, realizing how there are many things in life that are worth and how beautiful is to live without being tied to the things you think you need, after all, if we had the capability of getting everything we could wish for, would we really be complete? Would we be depriving ourselves of the ability to grow?

***Slight spoilers ahead***

After Mangetsu's twist, her connection with Granbelm and the Magiaconatus, we will realize, that the real main character here is Shingetsu, the girl who was gifted with powerful magic in order to attend to the trials of the Magiaconatus as she fights on Granbelm. However, having so much power made her unhappy, the only thing she wanted was to have a real friend, to be with someone you could have fun with, to be with someone which you could count on and have the ability to grow. Many times, even after her childhood friend Anna were eradicated from this world, the anime doesn't forget her and shows us many memories of Shingetsu's past as she was hanging out with Anna when they were kids, noticing how Anna was unable to realize how much things she had in life, as she was slowly blinding herself into an spiral of rage and frustration all thanks to the magic, which became the reason why Shingetsu wanted to be the Princeps after winning against all her rivals, in an attempt to free the world from the magic that retains the real happiness

***End of spoilers***

Another great selling point of this anime, its the animation and the sound department. Granbelm is faithful to the traditional 2D animation as the recent industry is starting to lean towards CG animation, specially seen in the design of the Armanox as all of them are 2D models, which helps a lot in battles as it makes them more fluid. Background scenery is also marvelous filled with many details and beautiful landscapes, all of them with an adequate color palette depending on the tone of the scene. The only thing that might not be that attractive is the fact that the character designs looks for the most part, generic, that, and the odd looking mechas that looks like compacted Gundamns due to how small they are. However, is just a matter of getting used to it. The soundtrack of this anime is really good, with epic music for each battle, sad themes for sad moments or serious themes for serious moments, and what not, the anime also knows very well when to be silent. I've gotta give kudos to the overall voice acting as it was done greatly to portray each character and their personality, specially Mangetsu. The SFX are full hype and add a lot of impact in battle scenes, it reminds me a lot of the powerful SFX Planet With had. I've got one complaint tho, Magetsu's Armanox sounds like Togepi from pokémon xD.

And that's all, Granbelm end up being one of the biggest surprises this season and I must say, that despite not looking that appealing, it was worth my time, specially the time invested in the characters, story and the Stunning spectacle it was, being one of the best anime this season. Give Granbelm the chance it deserves.

Overall: 7.5/10

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I simply have NO words to describe the season's (based on MAL) top underrated, most criminally overlooked, least-watched show. All I can say is: pure adrenaline and non-stop anger and excitement stemming from the show from start to finish, and before you cry foul at this show, hear me out. And before you ask, I highly request that you DO NOT USE the "3 episode rule" as that will seriously detriment the entire show's overall imparting values and purposes.

The dark fantasy genre stems as far as Madoka Magica, and Granbelm matches it in the same atmosphere. Combine that with the mecha genre of it being a battle royale show of girls with magical spirits, this show is simply astoundingly stunning in the most flattering way possible. To top the icing on this cake, the production team that is from the phenomenal Isekai show Re:Zero, paired with talented scriptwriter Jukki Hanada, worked together to form this masterpiece of a show in both character design and story settings.

NOTE: This review will be kept away spoiler free so it's up to you to find out the mystery elements of the show!

The story in a nutshell exists in a world where magic used to be commonplace, but for the same reason, it vanished with the resolution that it wages wars for millenia. To this, the netherworld has all the magic sealed to stop the issue from recurring ever again. That didn't stop things though, as magic is back with a vengeance via the netherworld entity deciding to hold a free-for-all, no-holds barred tournament of sorts, to find the next successor (or mage rather) of Granbelm. That's what you know from the get-go...until the insane plot twists keeps on happening and flushes you off-guard with the character cast and their various one-off motivations to be the next chosen one, to grant a wish of their very own. Yes, it sounds cliche, but when the production staff knows how to utilize these to a great effect, it shows the core strength of the series overall.

For the part and cast of characters:
Main (Support) Character Mangetsu Kohinata, voiced by Miyuri Shimabukuro (of Carole & Tuesday's Carole and Hanebado!'s Nagisa), her story of getting involved with Granbelm is a very convoluted one. As average as she is, without any dreams or aspirations, she is completely fine with her kindness and helpfulness making up for her lack of uniqueness. The only thing stopping her from doing is the feeling of being "empty" inside, a soulless spirit. Unless she does something of value, that is how she gets satisfied deep within that she is nothing more than a "tool". Her name means "full moon", mirroring...

The next (another Main) Character, Shingetsu Ernesta Fukami, voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki (of Kono Oto Tomare!'s Houzuki and Mahoutsukai no Yome's Chise), is more than just being Mangetsu's helper and best friend in the crux of getting involved in Granbelm. At start, being opposed with Mangetsu joining the battle royale is a deep challenge, but seemingly as worried as she is, she still coaches Mangetsu to teach her to make a stand in Granbelm and increase her courage to fight for the things that she yearns to protect. Her name means "new moon", mirroring Mangetsu (get it? The Two Princeps???). She too also has a friend, whom is jealous of the power that when wielded, can change hearts and minds to the most corrupt...

And that character is Anna Fugo, voiced by Yoko Hikasa (of Arifureta's Tio). With her family descending from a long line of powerful mages, she was supposed to be blessed with insane magic power (as royal family lineages tend to go), but the moment when Shingetsu appeared in the picture, she was essentially the unwanted child, the doomed/cursed one from the get-go. And as children tend to go with being friends with either friend or foe, it caused the rift between her and Shingetsu until the cold, hard truth came to light, and one of them had to be the sacrifice (I'm sure you could guess who). The demon actress in the spotlight to Anna is...

Suishou Hakamada, the carefree mage with no loyalty and a rebellious heart, voiced by the one and only masterpiece of an VA, Aoi Yuuki. First being an assistant for Anna, she seems like the type to wander around looking for a firm foundation to set her assimilation of a ruptured plan into action of wrecking hearts and mind-game manipulation. Think of her as the kind of person who is like a final villain boss, but only seemingly scarce at the tip of the iceberg that is smart enough to not divulge information about her strengths and weaknesses. Often a manipulator who has survived in Granbelm for time millenia, her coincidence with the next person is one of long-lasting hatred...

And that person is Kuon Tsuchimikado, voiced by Iwaka Manami (of Maquia's Maquia and the new Fruits Basket's Tohru). Between Kuon and Shishou, the fight for justice extends beyond Granbelm, as Kuon is dealt a bad hand at the start when her older sister got heavily involved with Suishou and caused her to be out in the running for Granbelm with a magically induced coma. Man, talk about reverse psychology. Since then, her only motivation is to eliminate Suishou with the hopes that if she was killed, then her sister could be revived somehow. ALAS...that's not the end of the problem there...*watch the show to find out*

The seemingly random character that is Nene Rin, voiced by Yurika Kibo (of Seishun Buta Yarou's Kaede and Love Live!'s Hanayo). Her relation to Granbelm is through Mangetsu's younger sister, and knowing that Mangetsu herself got caught up with the influences that is Granbelm itself, that she started taking notice of Mangetsu and her track record in the netherworld universe, only for said character to eliminate her from the running. That's not all though, as she serves as an essential strategist and invesigator into the events of Granbelm and its many secrets.

Since this series is character-driven, I must say that the character cast and the respective VAs doing this job is dynamically and incredibly spectacular, especially hats off to some for stellar performances (i.e. Aoi Yuuki, hers was heart-wrenching incredible to the highest degree).

The art and animation by the small (but growing) studio that is Nexus, HOLY SHIT is that a production so capable of showing the finest detail and levels of art and smooth, stunning animation that looks and feels like an actual show being made not just for the sake of crap, but actually making out a lot of sense. As Re:Zero's director Masaharu Watanabe inputs his most ingenious of a conspicuously original show from the pedal to the metal, plus adding that together with character designer Shinichirou Otsuka, aside from the striking similarities of Re:Zero to this show. this was a well done product through and through.

What's even better, is the music. Music director Kenichiro Suehiro might've put forth one of the best OSTs ever heard this year, and I'm not even kidding at the non-obtuse and varied lengths of composed music for this show. Starting with the OP by Eir Aoi, her voice in song is always great, no surprise there, she is always the juggernaut when it comes to shows with action (i.e. SAO and the spin-off Alternative). The ED is one that caught me by surprise, with Uru's "Negai" (translated "desire"), while a calm and soothing song, search and translate the song to find its hidden messages that speaks volumes about the characters and how they're involved with each other in subtle ways. Especially, the fight/action-mecha BGM set-pieces, *muacks* magnifiqué.

MARK MY WORDS when I say that Granbelm is definitely one of the strongest anime of the year, however one that is grossly underrated and overlooked...at the tip of the iceberg. Definitely my AOTS and if I think this is better than Re:Zero, it equals said series with its insane levels of realism and running high at playing the emotion game with us.

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[Spoiler Warning]

Granbelm shouldn't be a bad anime at all. The premise even though it seems overused actually felt original and with the different twists every now and then it shouldn't have had this low of a score. However while watching it I just felt cringe and disappointment.

As I stated the premise for this show is quite good even though there is a bunch of shows already with a similar vibe to it, cute girls doing really messed up shit, but I still was semi excited to watch it. However, after watching the first episode I was quickly turned off with how bad it was and stopped watching it. Later after a few more weeks when more episodes were out I picked it back up again only to be disappointed once again.

This show had some good qualities to it though. The OST was amazing and one of the best this season, the uniqueness of some scenes were honestly fun to watch, one which stands out to me was in episode 13 when Suishou was talking with Shingetsu and her shadow was on the pillars and the angle of the scenes actually made me feel terrified and was amazing. Suishou as a character was awesome from her creepy body movements when her body turns into a black figure and distorts as well and her voice at times, genuinely gave me chills. Her backstory was dark and her charisma was a joy to watch. She was what made the show for me and kept me being able to continue watching it.

However, even with the twist about Mangetsu and even what happened to her at the end it didn't honestly shocked me or get me to say, "WTF", I just felt nothing. Maybe it's because the rest of the show was such a turn off for me with Anna's constant screaming and bickering that even when knowing why she acts the way she acts you still feel nothing for her and just wishes she jumps off a bridge, as well as the rest of the characters just being a bore and an annoyance. Most of the characters were just one dimensional beside Suishou, I would of said Shingetsu as well but towards the end she just became bland.

Now, with all this said do I think that this show is not worth watching at all? No, I think it has some amazing qualities which were a joy to watch at times, but the rest of it was such a boring cringe fest that I couldn't honestly feel any excitement when the time came. In all I would say watch the first 2-3 episodes and if you don't like it stop because the amazing things you will see afterward are not worth the torture of getting to that point.

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What a ride this is for my first ever seasonal anime that I followed live throughout the weeks instead of binge watching!

Buried way under several major battle shounen anime series and other larger titles of Summer 2019 is an original work sadly completely overlooked by anime communities around the world. Granbelm, a story about magical girls driving mecha in a Battle Royale competition on nights of Full Moon, turns out to be a fantastic work from a lean yet experienced staff team that combines delicately written characters, excellent mecha animations and a thrilling roller coaster story plot.

Story abstract: On a night of the Full Moon, ordinary high school girl Mangetsu Kohinata accidentally entered straight into a Magical Girl Mecha Battle Royale competition named Granbelm. With the help of new transfer student Shingetsu, she managed to made it through that night and opened up a series of events that would affect every single competitor left in Granbelm, as well as the true nature of this centuries long fight between magician families.

The anime seems at first sight to be a mixture of the likes of Madoka Magica, Fate series and chibi Gundam, but notice the staff composition and you'll be convinced that there's much much more than just a rehash of such ideas. Directed by Masaharu Watanabe, the one director that set off the explosive anime phenomenon known as Re:Zero back in 2016, Granbelm proved to be a roller coaster of a ride from episode to episode, seeing emotional scenes across the whole 13 episodes meshed with interesting mecha fights.

What's even better is the contribution of Scriptwriter Jukki Hanada, one of the best writers in the whole industry today that has lent his hands on leading the writing of so many well admired creations of recent years (Steins;Gate, A Place Further Than The Universe, No Game No Life, Sound Euphonium, Nichijou, Chunibyo, Beyond The Boundary, Bloom Into You, Princess Jellyfish, Lovelive Series, Hitori Bocchi's ○○ Lifestyle etc.). The dialogues between the main characters - notably clashes between Mangetsu, Shingetsu, Anna, Suishou, Nene and Kuon - echoes some of his best writing in his previous works. As a writer well known for writing interactions between young people, he certainly have contributed to the most emotional scenes in this work - ones that have the power to make you cry.

The plot might be the weakest part of this work, yet even here the story is well structured and fairly well paced, switching between mecha fights, SOL scenes and dialogues between main characters evenly. While the show starts out slow and perhaps confusing to the casual watcher, this is done on purpose as the true identity behind the tournament and main characters are painstakingly pieced together towards the end. There are hints spilled over the whole series and the production team have managed fairly well in making use all of them by the end, leaving few loose ends.

The main cast of characters are probably as well developed as they can within a single season, IMHO even broadly comparable with the well-loved cast of Madoka Magica. Unlike Madoka Magica though, our main characters Mangetsu and Shingetsu are of less straight forward personalities as the famous Madoka/Homura pair, and do not be surprised that you feel disconnected with them initially, for there are good reasons with their seemingly weak and even aloof personalities that would be explained deep within the story. This may be controversial, however they feel even more "down to Earth" than many of the magical girls shows around.

The best character developments in this show goes to the veteran VAs voiced Anna and Suishou, who prove to be characters that one will approve and fill pity with as their importance within the story unfolds. Other characters - notably Nene and Kuon - also fill in the plot development with moving scenes.

VAs have done an excellent job in here too. One doesn't have to hear further than the magical voicing skills of famous Yoko Hikasa (Anna) and Aoi Yuuki (Suishou) to become magically attracted to this anime. Other potential future mainstay VAs of the anime world - the likes of Atsumi Tanezaki (Shingetsu) and Miyuri Shimabukuro (Mangetsu) - are also performing well here to round out the interactions between characters. Even the background music are set out well across all scenes, and one must not forget about the contribution of excellent OP and ED from well known Eir Aoi and Uru. There's even Yukari Tamura contributing to one of the inside songs in one episode!

And then there's the artwork and animations. While the mecha design by Jimmy Stone might seems strange, they are more than appropriate for models powered by magical girls. But the most important feature is that almost every single animation is made in 2D - a dying art especially for mecha anime. Yet in here we find mecha fight scenes that even long time fans of Gundam are approving of (and referenced by many of the fighting scenes in Granbelm) - from a lean team of well experienced artists and animators specializing in mecha designs.

Their work is so mind-numbing that one of the climax fighting episodes has ONE SINGLE key animator working on it - almost unheard of in recent years! Even in other episodes, the artwork and animation quality never dropped below decent for the whole duration of the anime, thanks to a production schedule that allows for the whole work to be completed early in the broadcasting season with a leaner than usual staff cast. To see this in a lesser known original source anime in 2019 speaks of true dedication and passion from the whole staff team.

It is so unfortunate that Granbelm has literally flew under the radar for the whole season, for it probably holds up as one of the best magical girl AND mecha themed anime in the turbulent recent years where these two genres are seeking for new identities. And I truly believe that it will be prove to be one of the keystone anime for their further development over the next decade and beyond.

If you feel like interested in this little gem of the Summer 2019 season - GO WATCH IT NOW. You will be treated for a surprise that you will probably come back to re-watch many times in the future.

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Studio Nexus' love letter to the dying art of the 2D Mecha, Granbelm, is one of the most interesting rides an anime has taken me on in years. There's a lot that could reasonably scare a person away from this series, including a jarring 1st episode that intentionally makes itself hard to follow, aesthetic choices that lean very heavily on the series' influences, and a hook that can't really be explained without meta spoilers. However, the series' artistic merit shines through with an incredibly wonderful cast of characters, some of the best sound design I've ever heard in an anime, and a very tightly written story with virtually nothing even resembling filler.


Granbelm's twists and turns into existentialism hit a very sweet spot, never reaching the cynicism and"edge factor" of Madoka Magica, while neither being the fluff of the genre both series were born from. Granbelm WANTS you to love life. Granbelm WANTS you to know that loss can be overcome. Granbelm wants you to be a better person and take stock of the fact that the impact of your actions will always live on after you leave this world.


The pacing of this show is fine, but it requires the benefit of the doubt in the beginning. After a moderately slow start to the show, it kicks into high gear around episode 4 or 5 and never looks back. There was a stretch in the middle of this series where every week I said something to the effect of "that was the best episode yet." because nearly every episode improves on the one previous. One of the things that Granbelm succeeds at is carving out a plot that never takes any of it's runtime for granted. Every moment is important. Every moment builds to something. Small details foreshadow future twists so that none of them feel like they come out of nowhere.

The character animation of the series does it's job, and the art style it what you would expect from the people who made it, but the thing that has to be talked about are probably the most polarizing part of the series: The mechas. I was initially in the camp of these being the biggest misstep the series had going for it, but seeing them in action every week, at some point the coin completely flipped for me. I found myself wanting to own figures of these things, and I never knew when it happen, but I know that seeing them in motion and action is the best possible way to experience them. Fans of SD Gundam will recognize the approach immediately, and I think it's a welcome change from the very humanoid approach to mecha that has been the standard since Evangelion.


The series sound design and use of it's music are absolutely flawless. I would very seriously consider it as the best sound design I've ever heard in any medium. The OST is triumphant when it needs to be, ominous when it needs to be, annd beautiful even when it doesn't need to be, but you never complain. The OP/ED and insert songs are all so heavily tied into the series that they have to be mentioned, conveying the emotional messages the series has to offer the whole way.The SFX are ethereal and mystical, with each character's mecha (or as Granbelm calls it, the Armanox) creating sounds that capture the essense of their character background. Some attacks sound like anguished screams, some like desperate cries for help, some like loneliness and despair, creating some of the most unique sounding battles in anime.


Overall, I think the reduction of art to a number on a x/10 scale is ultimately pointless. I can't pretend to tell you that the series has no flaws, only that it's flaws are so heavily outweighed by things that for 13 weeks, made me experience such overwhelming love for the series and the people who created it, and that love warrants a Granbelm getting a 10/10 to me regardless.

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Granbelm is an interesting, original mecha show from the director of Re;Zero. TL;DR of the premise is effectively many girls put into a mecha battle royale to battle it out for the chance to become a mage. The 2d mech animation is wonderful and the 3d cg mech animation doesn't exist. The first thing that stood out to me about this show is of course, the mecha designs. They've been squished and rounded out compared to the giant hulking behemoths we're all used to. However, with this comes the amazing blessing of not having to deal with random cuts to CG to completely pull you out of the experience. All the mecha animation (to my knowledge) is 100% 2d, and I've not noticed any CG.

The story is definitely a trip. To not get too much into spoiler territory, the first episode will confuse the shit out of you. The second probably will as well. Maybe by episode 3 you'll start to think, hey I think everything is starting to line up and I'm really getting a grasp on the story. From there, the show stops holding your hand. It opens up with clues that may not be obvious at first glance. It'll tell the story at it's own pace, but leave you enough clues to think you're an episode ahead, only to get blindsided. It definitely takes advantage of the fact that the anime is their first way to experience the story.

Currently only at episode 8 with a lot of questions, but every episode so far, they've been consistently nailing the presentation and answering the questions you have to make it hit just right. On top of that though, they're consistently strong with subverting expectations. They'll set up a question in one episode that you'll focus on throughout the week, and then once the next episode hits, they dropkick you with something unexpected.

Overall, the show is amazing. Amazing directing, amazing voice work, great visuals that really show out in important scenes without crutching on the easy CG move many mech shows have taken. If you're an active viewer who loves to dig through scenes and find what the director is subtly telling you, you should pick this up before it's done airing. This show has been a consistent 10 on that front. If you're more of a passive viewer who prefers a story that explains everything, you might want to wait until it's over and binge it. Either way, its well worth the watch.

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To be frank, I was brought onto this anime when I had heard the character designer from Re: Zero was a part of the crew. Twelve weeks later, and I'm left fairly impressed with how this project panned out.

The show is very much divided into two parts; the fights and the spaces of time between said fights. These intermittent periods are the show's bread and butter, as each girl has a fleshed out reason as to why you'd want to root for them. (My favorite would have to go to Nene- the 20 something year old middle schooler). Granbelm is a show with REAL STAKES, and REAL CONSEQUENCES; whenever anything happens, its implications and effect remain prevalent all the way until the end. Very reminiscent of Madoka.

Again, the character design is done by none other than Shinichirou Otsuka, who might have very well balanced moe faces onto disturbing places. Big props on that department. As for the mechs, while they may not look all that aesthetically pleasing, they sure do leave an impression. They somehow remind me of the Kirby games, for some reason.

If you're a fan of Re: Zero, Madoka, Battle Royales, and mechs, it wouldn't hurt to pick this show up for an evening binge. 8/10

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If you are reading this review, stop right now and go watch Granbelm, buy the blu ray set or something. Really, its that good!

Ok, now if you are still reading this. Its now to state my opinions on why I find it so great.

As you probably already read the synopsis, Granbelm is a magical girls' Battle Royale. And much like the currently popular Battle Royale games like PUBG, Fortnite, Apex Legends, the winner gets the big chicken dinner. In this case the chicken dinner is becoming the Princeps Magician, and having all the magical power in the world to do as they wish.

The unique part of the battles is that they are fought in a magical space through magical SD mechs. SD meaning "Super Deformed". Where the face is unproportionally large compared with the rest of the mech's body. This kind of mecha is a throwback to the SD gundam mechs, and certain old school shounen mecha animes from the 1990s era.

The mecha battles are where this show visually shines. The producers certainly know their mecha animes, from the distinctive SD mechs that reflect each pilot's personality, to the big laser lightshows and homing lasers that have Macross and Gundam labelled all over, to the last battle scene being a nostalgic throwback of Amuro's Gundam RX-78-2 vs Char's MSN-02 Zeong. All these really appeal to the long time mecha fan that lies in me.

Story and pacing wise is where a lot of people have divided opinions about this work. I can understand why a lot of anime fans drop this series after watching the first few episodes. The pacing of the first few episodes is REALLY SLOW... So much so that many anime fans get bored and drop it after only watching a few episodes. But if you stay watching till the end, its where you are really REWARDED.

The story is intentionally paced slowly during the first few episodes, so that there is an air of mystery surrounding the characters and the Granbelm battle. As the story goes on we get to know more and more about the characters, their motivations and the story unravels. Much like how the town seems to be surrounded by mysterious mist in the beginning, the mist gradually lifts and the truth is revealed. There is a lot of subtlety in the visuals, the dialogue and the story. And its really rewarding for the dedicated viewer to realise all these details when they reach the later episodes, or when they rewatch the series.

Characters and Sound are another highlight of this series. Each Magical Girl has a unique backstory and motivation on why they want to become the Princeps Mage. And we can see the strong influence of the depressing "Puella Magi Madoka Magica" series here. The mood around each character is somber and melancholic. And just like the Madoka series there is permadeath here. A cool part about this mechanic is that if you visit the official Japanese Granbelm website. The character portraits of those that permadied are greyed out, after the episode of their death aired during the regular TV season. This really drives home the feeling of loss, as it is a sign to the viewers that the character is gone forever, no anime style bending of rules and reviving them. And it also gives the audience a forboding feeling of wondering who will be permakilled next.

Both the character and mecha designs are unique and interesting but we don't really appreciate their diversity, UNTIL the later episodes where each character gets their due development and we get way more invested and involved in each's character's fate and the outcome of the battles.
Anna's mech and her moves are red and flashy because she craves for the attention and recognition of her mother.
Kuon's mech is elegant, slim and uses fans because of her association of japanese music and japanese folk dance with her sister.
Suishou's mech is cloaked and features hidden because she wants to remain like a low profile referee in the background, and hide until the final stages of the Granbelm competition where she reveals her full sinister passion and her desires to control, bind and destroy everyone that stands in her way of becoming the Princeps magician.
Mangetsu's mech is white because she is a blank canvas and an she is the mirror, opposite image of Ernesta (Black). And because it symbolises the full moon as well which is usually pale white.
Ernesta's mech is black and stealthy like a ninja as she hates herself and believes she is like the hidden demon or ninja stealthily living and killing the lives of the people around her. She desperately wants to remain out of the spotlight and fade into the shadows, hence the black, shadowy design of her mech.

And the most obvious design has to be Nene's mech as it is has as defensive shell like a turtle with chameleon hiding powers. She likes to hide in the background, doing calculations and making her impact felt from range, preferably from the comfort of her own home. Her suppressed physical growth and childlike body makes her feel like she cannot compete with the other magical girls when it comes to physical battles, yet when it came down to her final battle against Mangetsu, she revealed her full, huge mech size which is symbolic of her actual age and body of a adult, compared to the much smaller and younger middle age magicial girls.

There is a lot of subtlety involved in the mech and character designs and colours, but they will go unappreciated if the viewer does not watch the entire series and understand each character's background and story.


Soundtrack wise both the OP and ED songs are excellent songs that accompany the melancholic mood of the series. But the standout sounds has to be the OUTSTANDING voice acting of veteran voice actresses Yoko Hikasa (Anna Fugo) and Yuuki Aoi (Suishou). I have to give a standing ovation to Yuuki Aoi for her role as the main antagonist Suishou. Even though technically in a Battle Royale there is no good and evil, as everyone is trying to win for their own selfish reasons. But Yuuki Aoi's sinister voice as Shishou is such a standout, that her main role as the loli demon girl in "Youjo Senki", is a warmup compared to her acting here in Granbelm. It is probably worth rewatching the entire series just to appreciate her voice acting.

If you are a longtime anime fan like me (about 30+ years since I started watching anime as a kid). You might have occasionally wondered what a really well voice acted anime character sounds like. How much can voice acting achieve? Look no further, Yuuki Aoi as Suishou in Granblem is the peak of anime voice acting....

Overall I gave this series a 9 instead of a 10, simply because I am personally biased towards more cheerful animes. I watch anime as a means of escape and that is why I prefer comedies instead of melancholic battle animes where permadeath is a reality. But for viewers that does not have the same bias as me, this series could easily score a perfect 10. Among Granbelm fans, or just viewers who appreciate the depth and effort put into this series, Granbelm will stand as a legendary, classic piece of anime work that will be hard to surpass....

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When it comes to Granbelm, I feel like you fall into one of two camps: you either get it, or you don’t.

I realize that’s a pretty vague and unhelpful statement, so let me clarify. To some extent, your ability to enjoy any piece of media is determined by how well you connect with its specific wavelength. The subtle differences in cinematography, dialogue, visual aesthetic, themes and so on can make all the difference in the world in determining why, for example, I dislike the Haruhi franchise, yet I love a show that starts from pretty much the exact same premise, Chuunibyou. If you can latch onto a show’s overriding attitude, you’re going to enjoy it. If you can’t, you won’t. Simple enough on its surface right?

Well, I feel like that Granbelm supercharges that dichotomy to a far greater extent than I’ve seen in a while. Despite it being one of the least watched anime of Summer 2019, there’s a sizeable contingent of fans who absolutely adore it. On the MAL forums, on Anime News Network, scattered across the internet, there are plenty of people who love this mashup of dark magical girl tropes and mecha action with all their heart, praising the characters and the ideas explored and putting it right up there near the top of their lists for anime of the season. And on the other hand, you have the rest of the anime fandom, who lost interest in it, dropped off after a couple episodes, hated it from the get-go, couldn’t be bothered to care about it, or are still watching but not quite sure why. Something about the particulars of Granbelm’s storytelling leave very little middle ground for an audience to fill you either get it, or you don’t. If you get it, it’s a powerful, resonant piece of art that will stick with you long after it finishes airing. If you don’t get it, it’s a bizarre, disappointing, not really insulting, but overall uninteresting waste of time.

The story, an original script from the director and animation team behind Re:Zero, centers around the titular Granbelm, a Fate/Stay-Night-esque battle royale between young mages that occurs every full moon. These mages, all young girls, fight in stout, stocky mecha that channel their magical energy in powerful attacks, shield them from damage, do weird wobbly magic business and all that good stuff. Defeat doesn’t mean death, thankfully; it just means you’re knocked out of the running, and the competitors who last the night pick the battle right back up when the next full moon rises. The ultimate prize? A supposedly unlimited wish from an unseen entity that’s probably got a monkey’s paw or two up its ass, because this wasn’t enough like Fate already.

At any rate, into this ongoing tournament is thrust our protagonist: Mangetsu, a seemingly normal girl who gets air-dropped into the middle of a Granbelm match and quickly finds herself fighting alongside everyone else in her own mystical dwarf mecha. No one is quite sure what to make of her, least of all herself; if she’s able to compete, it means she’s descended from a mage’s bloodline, but nobody knows which one, and at any rate, her unwittingly joining up after the tournament is already under way it weird enough itself. But if she’s part of Granbelm, there’s nothing to be done; she can either drop out, or keep competing and fight to have her own wish realized. Mangestu, unsurprisingly, chooses to fight, and thus she begins her quest to beat out the rest of the colorful characters who are participating in this tournament, all while forging an initially uneasy alliance with a fellow competitor- Shingetsu- who’s decided to help her orient herself in this confusing new world. No points for guessing that things are darker than they initially appear, the Granbelm tournament itself might be a lie, and everyone’s got a closet full of skeletons ready to expose when it’s time for Maximum Drama(tm)

Honestly, though, for as much as I poke fun, Granbelm’s a lot better constructed than that description would lead you to believe. Calling it a mashup of Madoka and Fate wouldn’t be wrong, but it would also be a disservice to the many original ideas Granbelm comes up with. Even if you can guess the general trajectory of the story, the specifics of what’s actually going on will completely take you by surprise, with enough foreshadowing in the opening episodes for the eventual reveals to make sense. I know I was thrown for a loop when I realized that a couple things that were bugging me about Mangestu’s characterization turned out to be entirely intentional. There’s a damn smart narrative contraption at the core of this thing; no surprise, considering how good Re:Zero was at planting and payoff. And speaking of Re:Zero, another strength its director carries over here is sheer force of hype. The mecha battles are all riveting spectacles, rendered with kinetic cinematography, dizzying displays of power, and lush color palettes steeped in purple and blue. You feel the propulsion of these pieces of psychic armor zooming through the sky, aided by a killer sound design that makes them feel less like lumbering chunks of metal and more like Tron-esque digital programs. There’s so much confidence in every decision that it’s easy enough to get lost in the flow and jam out to the chaos.

So here’s the question I’m left with; If Granbelm is so good at crafting an engaging spectacle, with cool action and direction and interesting plot turns, then why did I- and so many other people- keep getting sucked out of it?

It’s here that we must turn our focus inward and talk about themes and meaning. This, I think, is where the heart of the divide lies between the people who love this show and those who don’t: do you get what it’s trying to say? Do you connect with how it tries to say it? Because from my perspective, Granbelm goes about exploring its themes in a very, very unclear and unfocused manner. Just take a look at the first episode if you want proof of this; it’s entirely dedicated to throwing Mangetsu right into the deep end of Granbelm and watching her experience it from the ground up. It’s certainly cool, but a nagging question I kept coming back to all throughout that episode was, “Why?” We’re given plenty of information about the players of Granbelm, the mechanics and lore, the cool shit we can expect from the battles, but we’re given no context into the emotional stakes involved. We learn nothing about why these girls are fighting, what’s at stake for losing, what deeper meaning is driving their stories, nothing. We’re given no reason to care about Mangestu until the end of the second episode, and even then it’s such a weak motivation- she wants to be useful to people- that it doesn’t feel worth the wait. Sure, you don’t need to dump the entirety of your show’s thesis on the audience right at the start, but at least some context is needed to help them get invested, right?

Unfortunately, I would find myself asking that question of “Why?” plenty of times throughout Granbelm. It takes a while for the scope of the story to really come into focus, and while the eventual reveals are, as I said, cool, it feels like the meaning behind them should’ve been driving the story forward from a lot earlier. Everything feels disconnected and unclear, like every conversation the characters have is meant to be the defining moral statement of an entirely different show. There’s some stuff about self-determination, there’s some stuff about humanity’s natural inclination to abuse power, and I think the ultimate point was something related to accepting the responsibility to evolve, but I feel like I’m scrambling around in the dark trying to piece together an incomplete puzzle. And it’s not a fun mystery where the pursuit of meaning is part of the point; the way Granbelm presents the ideas it explores, it feels like it’s trying to be clear about the point it’s making. But for me, at least, it really wasn’t.

Actually, now that I think about it, the real problem might stem from this: Granbelm is bad at connecting its planting to its payoff. Too many times over the course of this show, it would set up a conflict, and then eventually solve that conflict in a way that technically made sense, but also felt incredibly lacking. To use the most obvious example, Shingetsu’s biggest rival is Anna, a fellow witch who grew up as her close friend and adopted sister. They used to be incredibly close, but Anna eventually descended into jealousy and envy as Shingetsu’s talents far outstripped her own, to the point where she would do anything to take her down, even as Shingetsu desperately wants to mend their broken bond. It’s an understandable enough conflict on its surface, and without spoiling anything, the conclusion it reaches is probably the only conclusion it could have in a story of this nature. But actually watching the conflict play out getting to that point is so. Unbelievably. Not. Interesting. Anna as a character is far too arch, far too underwritten to care about. All she does is scream and make rage faces with increasingly unhinged fury, to the point where it’s impossible to buy into the supposed tragedy of her situation. She’s like a caricature of the jealous rival character, and at every point the story could’ve taken to let her indulge in some actual goddamn pathos, it instead instructs her voice actor to blow out yet another vocal chord and the animators to increase the dilation of her pupils. The way her arc resolves makes sense, but the character herself is so broken that it’s impossible to get invested in her.

And this isn’t the only time something of this nature occurs. There’s another character whose arc revolves around trying to save their sister from a curse, and the exact nature of how they get to the end of that arc feels just as half-baked and underwritten. There’s a lot of question I still have about the nature of the magic system, whether it was supposed to be good or bad or something in between. Occasionally, the show pulls a magic power out of its ass that feels like it’s supposed to be important and meaningful, but for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how it got there. Granbelm feels like a well-constructed show from the outside, but on the inside it’s just a mess. Not an annoying mess (okay, Anna’s shtick got insufferable at times), but a mess all the same, a plot that felt like it did actually know what it was doing, but for some reason couldn’t communicate that knowledge to me. I kept feeling like these was some missing piece I wasn’t getting, some aspect that I wasn’t picking up on that would make all the pieces fit together. But for the life of me, I couldn’t find that piece.

At least, that’s what I got out of it. Like I said, there are plenty of people who really like this show. So maybe that missing piece is still out there, and I just couldn’t find it for whatever reason. Maybe there’s some aspect of Granbelm that just speaks to some people with more clarity than others. All that considered, despite how down I’ve been on this show, I do recommend checking it out. It’s possible you’ll be one of the lucky few who’s able to figure out what it’s going for and thus find a new anime to add to your favorite’s list. And then maybe you can come back and explain it to me, because I’d really like to know what’s so potentially powerful about Granbelm that I just couldn’t figure out. For the moment, though, while I can’t call this show a disaster, I’m definitely frustrated that it never clicked together the way I wanted it to.

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Suppose you were born with a blessing countless girls before and around you all struggled and suffered trying to attain. Suppose you witnessed as one by one those you loved lost everything and made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of this blessing, all failing and disappearing in the end, surviving only as a lingering shadow burdened with regret within your own heart. Would you be willing to sacrifice your blessing if it meant sparing others from the same cruel fate? Would you be willing to pay that price if it also meant condemning those precious ghosts within your soul to fade as well? Would you, if what was asked of you was to surrender your only friend's existence? Would you end her to end all suffering, even if she begged you to?

The hidden gem of this season came to us in the form of Granbelm, a seemingly insignificant Mahou Shoujo / Mecha Battle Royale that instead of trying to awkwardly subvert expectations and tropes like most animes with such tags in recent years, decided to embrace and refine the core strengths of its small niche as closely to perfection as it could muster. War is hell, and being Meguca is suffering, but the human heart is capable of so much more than what we realize. Selflessness, purity, hope, love. The typical concepts you'd expect from a lesser show exposed in a painfully human manner as principles worth dying for and not only that, but the only meaningful reason to go on living.

The introduction of the show was confusing, but it turned out to be diegetic in a way that I could only appreciate upon a second watching of the show. The designs of the mecha were simple, and even infantile at first, but that changed over time and had a beautiful reason to be that way in the first place. The characters were every bit as lovely and tragic, and each choice they made and word they uttered held weight and meaning behind it. And most important of all, every turn in the story was unexpected, captivating and kept me wishing for more. This is one show where you should absolutely stick around for after-credit scenes.

In the end, the seemingly clashing elements of the story complemented each other and informed a unique identity, which bravely decided to go for a decisive and definitive end, tying up loose threads and providing us with tranquility rarely found nowadays in the world of storytelling, so often focused on remaining forever relevant and present.

Granbelm is not a show I will forget anytime soon, as it encapsulates so much of what I love about the stories that preceded it, while blazing a trail forward into the unknown for the stories yet to be told. After all in a world without magic, we humans only have each other to give us strength, and I do hope this tale will inspire many more over the decades to come.

Also, Suishou did nothing wrong and she is the best girl. Fight me!

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This is my first review so bear with me.

My first impression was it seems interesting but also lacking of information. In the first episode you are thrown into the show with little to no knowledge of what’s going on. I honestly thought about giving up on watching; BUT I decided I was still interested and gave it a chance, and I’m glad I did. Because as stated in a review I read from someone else, you are thrown into the events of the story with no knowledge of what’s going on because the main character has no idea either what’s going on. All the ”contestants” seemingly train most their life for this, but the main character didn’t, neither did she know about the existence of magic, like most people. The way you learn more about what’s going on is through watching the main character progress and learn for herself what’s going on. (Which if you ask me is pretty cool, it’s different from being told from the get go)

I think the characters grow a lot and change. Some for the better and some for the worse (worse being they grow, but in a negative way from how they were, it’s still growth but growth in an evil way). The main character grows somewhat, but for reasons you’ll learn later in the show, her growth is different from others for a reason. She does grow and learn about the world but she doesn’t have as drastic of a change in her character like some.

The show overall was really enjoyable. It took a few episodes before I started looking forward to the next episode, but I’m glad I watched it and I recommend it. It’s not cliche nor does it follow other anime’s stories, if you ask me. Would I blame you for dropping it first episode, no. But I think it’s at your loss for giving up on such a different and intriguing story.

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The first few episode are regarded as underwhelming by some people, and a big reason why so many dropped it. But those episodes do not speak for the whole anime at all. They are necessary to set up the story, to build up the actual intense plot that follows up. After watching the whole anime, the first half become absolutely relevant, and all pieces of the puzzle fall into places beautifully, like true magic!

The second half is what gave me a 10/10 rating. Things take a turn drastically, even though there were foreshadowing before, I was still shocked and deeply impressed by the various twists, predicaments and dilemmas the characters have to face. It has many moments, that can totally be regarded as best in anime history, if other people were to stay with it until the end, sure they'll have no choice but agree. After all, the anime leaves beautiful emotional scars within my heart. The emotions and experiences that I will not soon forget. One of the anime that keeps me feeling sad and empty because a masterpiece come to an end, because of the fates of its colorful characters.

The art is absolutely gorgeous. Exquisite hand-drawn fighting animations. I'll be brief, the anime's fight scene is among the I've ever seen in mecha genre, and among another myriad of "hot" anime out there. The dedication put into surpasses everything else.

The music is outstanding. I watched scenes again and again to experience those unique sounds. And they only become better and even better with each rewatch. The melody, the instruments used, the syncing, timing, all fits perfectly into contexts. The music itself is an wild emotional ride that will move anyone, guaranteed!

I will miss this, and will keep on feeling sadness, emptiness 'cause it was there, it was magnificent, and finally it ended. And of course also being proud for staying with it until the very end, being able to truly perceive the incredible magics it has to offer. One can never fully enjoy this to its full potential, because such potential is infinite.

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People say: Don't judge a book by it's cover. Granbelm says: Don't judge an anime by the synopsis + half of the episodes...

At first glance, the show looks completely unoriginal and uninspiring; a quick cash grab trying to bait fans of more popular genres: magical girl and mecha series into a show which has both of these elements combined into one and placed in a battle royal setting. Granbelm however, proved it's something more. Unfortunately, it only picks up speed in the latter half of the show. If you dropped this series after trying the first few episodes, I don't blame you. It was one of the most boring series I watched at first, I usually had to rewatch several scenes because it was so boring I almost fell asleep. The latter half however was a huge improvement to the show, it had me glued to my seat wanting to watch more.

I hated watching this show at first, everything was just so boring and lackluster. Usually you can say something good about a show like having a good story even if the art is terrible, or having good fight scenes even if the plot doesn't make sense; Granbelm however didn't have any of that, storywise and animation-wise, the show was really terrible. The story felt like the writer took bits and pieces of more popular shows and combined them to create frankenstein's monster. It felt unoriginal, like you've already seen it somewhere before despite being an original series. It was so boring that I barely remember the specific things that happen in the show, and I doubt even the writers remember. There's just too much of the characters talking and blabbering about useless things which 90% of the time isn't even important to the story, it's like they wrote it to be forgettable. Each episode usually had them fighting which was the entire point and story of the series, usually towards the end of the episode, and I barely remember any of them. The biggest problem was that there's not enough hype or buildup in the writing to properly explain why they're even fighting in the first place, it's like the characters just decide to fight and there's no explanation.

The animation was probably the worst part, which if you're making a show that involves fight scenes every episode, that's really bad. Usually for niche shows like this, animation is the one saving grace a show can use to make it more enjoyable for the viewers because no matter how badly written or bland the show is, people will still watch if they can see giant robots brawling it out in a good ol' fashion slugfest or cute magical girls casting overthetop magic spells. Animation is the entire purpose of making these shows so niche, so you can use these unique settings to animate things people want to see and get viewers. Because at the end of the day, people just wanna see some action! Unfortunately Granbelm didn't capitalize on this early on despite having a very niche setting.

However, the show really picked up a lot in the second half, simply put: everything just got better. It was like watching a completely different show. The story, sound, voice acting, animation, designs, EVERYTHING became better. The animation in the fight scenes had the biggest improvement. In the first half, fight scenes usually lasted about 2-5 minutes per episode meaning majority of the show you weren't even watching the entire point of the show which was the characters fighting in this nonsensical magical war. In the latter half, the entire episode could be just the characters fighting and I was really impressed with the quality of animation, despite having longer and more fight scenes, animation quality was consistently top tier.

Storywise the setting of course didn't change, so you could argue that the story is still inconsistent regarding the main storyline which is the explanation of the magical war and the entire world they're living in but at the same time, the individual character storylines got really interesting. The dialogue and backstories of the characters were more fleshed out and explained and it wasn't just for the main characters but the side characters as well. In fact they actually gave the side characters more focus and backstory than the main ones, for example one particular supporting character which was annoying in the first half even got an episode dedicated to her backstory and turned into one of the most memorable characters of the series. If you're talking about plot inconsistencies and writing, then yes maybe overall it's not the best writing but if you're reviewing on an episode to episode basis, the latter half of the show really improved the writing of the characters of the show.

If you're a mecha fan who just loves watching giant robots fighting regardless of context, you'll probably like this because they incorporate some unique mechanics and attacks for the machines and their battles. The only problem is all the good fights are in the latter half of the show and the first half is pretty stale in terms of action. But after that all the fights are really well animated and really a treat to watch. Sound direction during the fight animation was also really good, the orchestral soundtrack accompanying the fights really fit with the theme of the show. I really enjoyed watching the show personally and the only reason I'm giving it a lower score is because of its slow start.

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GRANBELM was my very first mech anime, that I can remember anyway (Im sure I watched episodes of Gundam here and there growing up, but don't remember any of it very clearly). For me personally, I don't consider myself to be much of a mech type anime fan, but this was pretty solid. I have my gripes, but, it was a show I looked forward to regularly.

Story: The story follows Mangetsu and Shingetsu, and their parts in a magical mech battle that occurs every full moon, until there's only one person remaining. At that time, the winner has their wish granted. This is called GRANBELM. This lent itself to a nice mix of action and character development and regular world stuff. It was fairly well balanced in my opinion, and you got to see each characters fighting spirit, as well as their regular personality as a human being. They did a pretty solid job of tossing in a few plot twists here and there as well, to keep you on your toes.

Art: The character design was solid. All the girls were visually interesting, and unique. For me personally, I'm only giving the art a seven, because of the mech design. In my opinion, I felt like the mechs looked like they were designed, and then stretched out horizontally, they had this short and wide appearance, which was unique from your typical mech, but honestly just didn't work for me. That aside, the different realms where the fights of GRANBELM took place, where generally beautiful, and very unique from one another. Speaking of the fight scenes, there were a few times where I lost track of what was happening, with all the fast movements, and bright neon lights. Part of that might have just been that this was generally my last anime of the night on Fridays, and by that time, I was normally relatively tired, and lacked some focus- so, I won't hold this against them much.

Sound: The voice acting was good, there were some emotional scenes where I think the actors did a good job of capturing the strong feelings taking place. Outside of those scenes though, there wasn't anything too ridiculous in those regards. I felt like the sound track, and music was well timed, and fitting for each and every occasion. They did a good job of setting the mood with the right score. Plus, the opening was solid as well.

Characters: There were a decent amount of characters in this, I loved the dynamic between Shingetsu and Mangetsu, the other girls along the way added their own uniqueness, and helped keep each battle unique, as they normally focused on a specific girl or group in each of those fights. Outside of GRANBELM, they all had their own personalities, and backstories surrounding their existence, and their reason for taking place in GRANBELM.

Enjoyment: I liked it. It's hard to judge an anime in a genre you're unfamiliar, because you don't have a lot to compare it with, so, I find myself comparing it with just any other anime at the moment. I had a number of times where I was upset to see the end of an episode, and/or excited to get around to the episode the following week. I think the pacing was solid, and I never really found myself getting bored at all, which is always a good thing.

Overall: It gets a 7/10. It wasn't perfect, but, it was an anime that surprised me in terms of how much I enjoyed it. A few things I would have liked if they had done differently, but, I think that's more just preference than anything. I feel like it was a successful introduction for myself into the mecha-anime world. Thanks GRANBELM!

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Granbelm is interesting because it's not normal.

When it tells you what it's going to do, Granbelm goes all-in and is over-the-top. When it doesn't tell you what it's going to do, and you try to guess based on the genre and anime logic you're used to, you end up wrong.

I'm not all that enthused by the plot (though depending on what happens in the last few episodes that may change), as Granbelm leans on several standard tropes. That said, Granbelm's execution of said tropes is always excellent: we know exactly what has to happen in episode 7 with angry girl, but the show carries everything out with such intensity that it doesn't matter that we know. When Granbelm gets like this you can tell its creators were enjoying themselves. I love how everyone's hamming it up, particularly the villains.

But what makes Granbelm interesting is that the choices it makes completely thwart those viewers who insist on combing anime for clues and speculating as to what's really going on. It always reveals only as much as it has to—or perhaps, as little as it must—as it moves forward. Rather than ask (or tempt) viewers to absorb it by rummaging through all the supposed clues it's left, Granbelm lets you enjoy each episode as it happens—and makes sure there's plenty to enjoy. It doesn't foist the work of understanding on the viewer; you just enjoy the ride. And in this way you can be genuinely surprised.

Granbelm is interesting because it forces you to engage it differently from your average genre entry. If you approach it expecting to puzzle-solve, you're probably going to end up bored and irritated, because Granbelm doesn't want you to speculate about it, and it deliberately thwarts attempts to reason out what ought to happen based on previous episodes. If you approach it instead as presenting you with something new, with characters who do their own, crazy things, you'll be happy you watched. Granbelm does the hard work of building something new out of old parts—and is snazzy while it does it.

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