Story: 4
The premise of this anime is basically the same as Sword art online, except with the twist that the story revolves around the characters and little more.
If you want a detailed virtual world with a deep lore and gameplay mechanics you are not going to find it here. Hai to Gensou no Grimgar or just Grimgar to make it easier it's a anime devoid of any interest in telling you a compelling story outside of it's characters struggles. The world is not developed at all and even the reason as why these people find themselves in this world is not explained in any way. Instead you get writers that are completely happy in just ignoring the entire premise of the story and going as far telling the viewer that every single character as an extremely plot convenient amnesia, just because they were too lazy to write their backstory.
To add insult to injury none of this virtual world mechanics or rules are explained. You will hear characters talking about "levels" but there's no experience points, stats or even a leveling up system of any kind. You hear characters talking about buying ability's but you never see what learning a new ability actually looks like, everything is done off camera.
This makes for a very confusing first episodes, since you don't know if the writers simply forgot these people are supposed to be in a virtual rpg game. It also makes it hard to care for the characters when you don't even know who's a actual person trapped in this world and who is an AI controlled NPC.
But the bad things continue to pile up in the form of intrusive and pointless fan-service. In the same moment the anime it's trying to convey the harsh reality of being poor in a unfamiliar world you also get constant boob references, sexual innuendo and most of all extremely attractive and healthy looking females that are supposed to be depressed and malnourished. It goes to the point of writers putting so much emphasis in the fact characters only have old clothes and armor because they're poor, only to show the same characters in shinning armor and pristine outfits 5 seconds latter.
The show also has terribly predictable moments where a certain character dies just to move the plot forward and absolutely slow as molasses pacing. If you though just 12 episodes would make the anime have a very snappy pace, think again.
Art: 8
Probably the best part of the show. It's detailed, fluid and the backgrounds look absolutely lovely. The only drawback is lack of diversity as the story repeats the same locations over and over again.
Sound: 6
No complaints here other that the soundtrack was forgettable for me.
Character: 8
Another high point of the show and what is it's redeeming quality in my opinion. Even if predictable and filled with annoying fan-service, the struggle of these characters made me continue to watch the show until the end. They're believable and all of them look and sound like individuals without being caricatures.
Enjoyment: 6
It was hard to enjoy this anime for the reasons i wrote above. There's just too much unnecessary things and not enough explanation of what the hell is going on with these people and this world.
Overall: 6
The best part about Grimgar has to be the fact that it gives a new twist of what has become a new and already stagnant genre of anime. It's just too bad that that twist is not enough to make it a compelling experience overall.
