Hai to Gensou no Grimgar, or Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is a tough anime to review, because on one hand it does a lot of great things that you don't see very often in the medium, especially within the fantasy-RPG genre, but on the other hand, it's definitely not something I could recommend to absolutely everyone. So to really kick things off, I want to start with what, in my opinion, are the positives.
PROS:
At first glance, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is seemingly yet another fantasy based anime, borrowing elements from well established MMO mechanics such as partying up, completing dungeons, learning skills, and having specific class roles. So in the anime spectrum, this isn't anything new, we've seen this all before from shows such as Sword Art, Log Horizon, and many others, but luckily for the viewer, this is essentially where the similarities end.
The anime is heavily character driven, and I mean heavily, almost to the point where each episode more-or-less focuses entirely on diving into the psyche of our main protagonist Haruhiro, and if you're reading this review, I've come to assume you've already read the synopsis so for the sake of being slightly less tangential I'll spare you the details. Anyway, now this can be viewed as a good or bad thing depending on whether or not you find complex stories and or characters more preferable within what you watch. Now obviously we would prefer to have both, but if we are talking strengths, the fact that this anime not only has a main character that feels human and relatable, but also has a cast of supporting characters that are all memorable and enjoyable at least on some level is one aspect that the anime succeeded in; and trust me, in a world where you've seen hundreds of anime, it's a breathe of fresh air being able to list characters off the top of my head with ease.
The second aspect that Grimgar succeeds in is showing struggle. This is emphasized heavily within the first couple of episodes. This anime doesn't play by the typical rules of the established shounen genre, there is no over-powered main character, and the motto of this one in-particular could be summed up with "one mistake could get you or someone else killed." This constant fear and struggle that is portrayed gives the viewer a sense of suspense, you're constantly critiquing every mistake that the group makes, often getting frustrated, and even a little worried about the group's survival. Nothing is ever easy for them, and in the brief moments that it seems to be, we are quickly reminded by the harsh reality of this fictional universe, a reality that one mistake will essentially snow ball into another.
The fact that you can visually see the growth that each character goes through, even if it's simply in terms of fighting is just really enjoyable to watch. This is an aspect that makes it so heavily relatable, all of the characters start off absolutely terrible at everything, and I mean terrible. They are uncoordinated, hesitant, often stumbling over each other, and even having quite a few communication issues. As the show goes on though, little by little, these issues disappear, or become at least less obvious. It feels like you're there right with them, following their journey and many failures, and also being there to see the accomplishments that they work so hard to achieve. The anime also focuses on little things, such as mannerisms, body language, and so on to subtly show change without necessarily throwing it in the viewers face, and I'd like to think that many people prefer this method of "show don't tell."
CONS:
Now with the not-so-positive. With an anime that's dependent on it's characters and their development to keep the viewer interested, it is slightly disappointing to see only half of the cast get any real, personalized development that dives into their personalities and why they are the way they are. What's even more disappointing is that even with half of the cast somewhat developed, we only get to view these characters from a first person narrative perspective, thus limiting the possibilities of really ever fleshing them out as much as they possibly could. Now to give a slightly positive retort to that though, I would say that experiencing things through Haruhiro's thoughts is a great way to develop the protagonist well enough to make the audience like him, and it also gives a great psychological feel to it all.
The anime is slow. Now I wouldn’t put this in the cons if it were a 24 episode series, but because of the fact that it has really prioritized the concept of gradual growth, the story suffers because of it. It’s absolutely a blast to see the characters change over time and become better, but with only 12 episodes, the story itself becomes less clear because of this. Obviously the main focus is on the characters, and I would even argue to say that this is a slice of life, but because there is no overarching theme otherwise, this could turn a lot of viewers off.
There are some quirky animation issues. While some of the episodes you won’t really notice them, there are quite a few situations where characters will lose a helmet or something, and then they will magically have it again briefly, only for it to disappear once more like it should have originally. These things aren’t enough to take away from my enjoyment, but little things such as my example really shouldn’t be happening. i get that there are deadlines, people are drawing quickly, and so on, but it’s something that people will be critical of when they see it.
STORY - 6
If you can get past the fact that there isn’t really a world-building-grand-scheme-point to this story thus far, then it’s reasonably enjoyable. At least from the perspective of just viewing it as a simple coming of age story, but nothing that will blow you away.
CHARACTERS - 8
This would be rated higher if they were all developed, but because it’s only half the cast, I have to dock points. The main character is great, he’s relatable, and his internal struggle feels very real. Mary and Ranta were also great, but unfortunately the rest of the cast didn’t really get the same treatment. That being said though, because they did the “show don’t tell” style for the rest of the cast, I’m willing to let some of it slide since we can experience their changes, even though there isn’t quite as much context for them compared to the primary 3 I spoke of.
SOUND - 7
Not much to say here, The opening and ending were very catchy, the voice acting seemed pretty solid, and I liked the fact that Haruhiro had a more realistic and less typical shounen protagonist voice. Otherwise, there aren’t really any songs or tunes within the show that really stood out to me.
ART - 9
The water color backgrounds were all very aesthetically pleasing, making the world deceivingly vibrant and very unique looking. Character designs, while not breaking much of the mold for the norm in terms of style, still looked great and it was nice seeing their gradual change in attire. Plus all of the characters felt very individualistic because of some subtle creative choices.
ENJOYMENT - 9
I’m personally an avid fan of slow, character driven stories, and even more-so a fan of stories that have a psychological aspect to them. I liked seeing their team dynamic slowly evolve, as well as their personal interactions. The fight scenes were great to watch even with some of the animation flaws, and overall it was one of the few anime this season that I really looked forward to each week.
OVERALL - 8
Even with the issues I talked about, and others that I may have not listed, I think Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash is at least something I feel everyone should give a shot. It’s simple, has a really great focus on realistic human interaction, as well as the fact that it dives into themes such as grief and how people all react differently to such hardships. The story is nothing groundbreaking, and if you can get passed the slow pace, Grimgar offers a very unique experience we don’t get too often with anime, and especially with anime within the fantasy-RPG genre.
There’s so much more I could say, but hopefully this does all right for my first review.
