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

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

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

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

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

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

4. Art

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

5. Final Words

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

Firstly, I found this manga at the corner of the shelf, the place where nobody looks because the series they came to buy (popular shounen) usually lie in the middle of my local comic books store, lying in insignificance like a treasure chest. I've never heard this manga before but the name and the introduction on the back cover intrigued me. I decided to give it a shot and the rest is a story of love at the first sight. Now, The Gods Lie is one of my favourite manga.

The story is really heartwarming and characters fit in the context. You can find something from ... your own self in every character (SPOILERS: except that scum who dares to call himself Rio's and Yuuta's father). They really feel real. The visuals also fit in the context since it's the story of 6th graders; not so much seinen-esque but acceptable. Emotions are nicely reflected that you feel something warm and bright in your heart, just as -I think- the author intended.

The only downside of the series that it's relatively short. It could be longer. The structure of the story allows it but somehow it's only 5 chapters. What a shame...

All in all, this beautiful thing is a 5-chapter blast of warm feelings and a must-read if you like the works of Miyazaki and Shinkai like me.

Before I start: This is my first review, so it’ll not be perfect. If you read it, I appreciate the feedback.

I can describe Gamaran with one phrase: A complete blast of action. No unnecessarily complex plot, no exaggerated emotional breakdowns, almost no trace of romance; there are only ever-changing action and fighting. It makes Gamaran a paragon of shounen action/fighting series in my opinion. When I see “action” and “fighting” in genre section, I want to see some real fighting but most of the modern shonen “fighting” series gives us less fighting, more triviality. But Gamaran is sincere; it’s a fighting series and it gives ... you lots of action and good fights. Nothing more, nothing less and I love that Garaman keeps his promise as a shounen fighting manga.

The strongest element of the series is the fight scenes, which is action-packed, not unnecessarily long and realistic. The mangaka is aware that in the ancient Japan, duels are concluded in several swings since duelists didn’t wear armour and this fact is reflected really well in Gamaran. Also, Nakamura-sensei shows his vast knowledge of the ancient weaponry, you can see it in the descriptions of weapons in series. It takes Gamaran one step further from its peers. And since fights are relatively short, we always see new fighters and different fights. It makes Gamaran more "concentrated".

The weakest point, though, is the almost non-existent story line and lack of any significant characters. However, it is 194-chapters long shounen fighting manga. So, it can be ignorable both because of it and the riveting action.

All in all, Gamaran is worth reading if you like action and fighting genre. This series is a perfect example of how a shounen fighting manga should be: one big blast of ever-changing action.