Story: 8/10
Hai to Gensou no Grimgar tells the story of 7 characters in a world they have magically transported to. Many other characters have also been transported there for no apparent reason. This large group of people forms smaller groups to go and hunt monsters in the surrounding area for loot and to survive. Now you may be wondering to yourself, man this sounds a lot like everything else in this genre, why should I watch it? Well, this is because unlike many of the other shows in this series, Grimgar gives us weak characters that actually develop and grow unlike those Over-powered MCs (I’m looking at you Kirito). The characters have to develop to survive in this world, hone their skills, work on learning new skills, coordinate as a team, and many things you would expect to see in the survival of a group of people. Although the pacing of the story is really slow, it benefits this show helping to develop the characters more thoroughly. The story itself is great but with a generic start, and A-1 pictures being A-1 pictures, the story just fell short in the end not living up to my expectation of how the ending would play out.
Art: 10/10
Now if there is one thing that A-1 pictures can actually do good, it’s the art work of a series. This is some of the best art I’ve seen in a while from an anime. The background is wonderful. The water colored background really stands out to make it different from many other anime out there. There is little to no drop in quality throughout the series. Animation is smooth, clean, it looks wonderful.
Sound: 9/10
The sound is great in this series. It really lends itself to certain scenes. The opening and ending songs are all very beautiful and I really enjoyed them. The insert song “seeds” is also one of the best insert songs I’ve heard in a while. It’s wonderful to hear absolutely great to hear such amazing songs from (K)NoW_NAME.
Characters: 10/10
The characters are absolutely one of the best parts of the series. Most of the characters get great development. Almost all the main characters get a good amount of development and the development is actually very interesting. From tragic backstories in some, dealing with loss in all of them, and how they interact with each other all give us a good look into these characters. These characters also aren’t strong, they are weak, and grow as the story progresses. How they look at life, and what they do in the aftermath of some events really helps to give these characters a realistic feeling. Their reactions to everything feel so authentic. It’s not like watching Sword Art Online where character development is absolutely trash; this anime takes time to develop all its characters. This makes the series slow overall but makes it so much more enjoyable when you actually feel attached to the characters from their backstories and what happens to them. It’s an absolute masterpiece in terms of developing its characters to the fullest and has some of the best characters I have seen in an anime.
Enjoyment: 9/10
I loved this anime, it was an absolute blast to watch in part to its difference to other anime in this genre. It didn’t go through with many of the clichés and did things you would normally not expect in this genre. I really enjoyed that originality aspect of this series. The slow pacing rather than killing the experience for me, heightened it. This was what I though Sword Art Online should have been.
Overall: 9/10
So do I recommend watching Hai to Gensou no Grimgar? Yes, an absolute yes. You must watch this series if you like the Fantasy/RPG genre. This anime shows how good a fantasy anime can be after years of horrible fantasy anime. It brings out all the good points of what a fantasy anime should be. With absolutely amazing characters, sound and world-class art, this is definitely one anime I will come back to watch again.
