Hai to Gensou no Grimgar

[shinta|hikari]

Ep 12:












Ranta confirmed as a tsundere. He's pretty bro once you get past his nonsensical blabbermouth exterior. Poor guy has the hots for Yume, but the girl openly said she hated him He should lay off the flat chest comments if he wants a shot at that DFC.

Yume has come a long way, from not being able to use her bows at all to sniping Date Spots' eye. Now if she spent more time with the bow and less climbing rocks, she might have sniped both eyes before running out of ammo. Then again, maybe it was her hobby that pushed Ranta to try climbing for fun. That's the only explanation I can think of for him being able to climb out of that well.

Haru was bad ass this episode. So the reason why he wasn't cut out to be a leader was because he's a fucking assassin, which makes sense because he's a thief. If he can master those death lines, then he'll be the most powerful killer out there. His predecessors Shiki and Shiki and Shiki have proven that much.

Renji is great as always, and I like how Haru has grown enough to realize how immature he reacted the last time they met.

30 gold coins is a huge sum. That should push them forward a lot.

Haru X Mary is pretty much confirmed at this point. She's so sweet and cool at the same time. Best waifu material.

Now I kinda understand why this show was so slow, not that I condone that decision. They probably had no better stopping point than this, so they decided to cap off the cour with it. If you asked me, I'd have preferred a 10 episode like Konosuba to make the entire thing more compact and riveting, but maybe there's more happening on the sales/production end of it I'm not aware of.

[NeoCybercoin]

Agreed. Rant is just a big tsundere. Despite admitting wanting to fondle Yume he didn't when he could. Guess he knows there are lines he can't cross. Though peeing is fine in his mind. The only one that can control Ranta is Mary.
Anyway those death lines...man they make Haru badass and actually quite OP when you think about it. Still want a next season but don't think it's gonna happen.

Also...poor animation mistake when he used Exhaust...suddenly he had his helmet again.

EDIT: SPYING no peeing. Dafuq where my hands doing when I typed?

[shinta|hikari]

Saw that too and even took a screenshot, but I forgot to put it in my post.
2016-03-27.png

[MFauli]

Lame ending. Haru´s ability reminds me of the Danmachi hero. It´s overpowered and thus boring. If Haru gets this sort of ability every time they face an overwhelming enemy, that´s just bs. Without this cheat-like ability, they´d have been dead.

Best thing from this episode: Guts taking the sword of Dead Spots.

[shinta|hikari]

I'm glad Haru has this OP ability. He's the hero, after all. It was about time he did something noteworthy.

[KrayZ33]

Watched this show over the past few weeks, it was a pretty amazing ride.

This show is probably the only one in it's genre that's also truely focusing on the party and their relationship with each other and not just about a single hero. On top of that, it truely managed to get the "exploring"-factor right... when Haru walked around in episode 9 it really felt like that moment you have in games when you visit and explore a big town for the first time.
Since I could watch all the episodes at once, it didn't feel slow to me either... though I can only imagine how it must've been to see them doing nothing but hunting goblins for ~3-4 weeks when you have to wait a week for 1 episode.

I'm so going to read the LNs... and I kinda hope that the BDs make Death Spot's death more epic somehow.. it really felt like it was a budget-cut even though I'm pretty sure they were trying to make Haru look like he was in a trance.

easily a 9/10, might be in my top 5 list.
Nice action, nice character interaction, nice story, it had both (very) sad and funny moments and nice animation.

I could bond with *every* single (main) character (even the boring good-guy type Manato!!!), in that regard it's probably the best show I've seen yet.

I can't even pick a favorite, Yume? Mary? Moguzo? Yume's carefree attitude is truely *genuine* (it was *so* much different from most "genki" characters), Moguzo' gentle giant archetype was both fitting and well done and when he got into that duel with the hob-goblin he became even more awesome. And Mary has clearly shown the most drastic change and even though she was supposed to be calm, calculating and "cold hearted" at first, you could clearly see that something else was going on... which, now after writing it out, probably made her my favorite (or at least most interesting) in this show. However, I can't say that her looks didn't play a role in that valuation - hehe.
But then there is Ranta and Haru too, and their interactions were probably the most important in this show...

One more thing that I appreciated a lot was Manato's ghost appereances whenever Haru was alone, not knowing what to do. I got emotional whenever that happened, it didn't feel forced, he/it didn't even give answers most of the time.. you could tell that it was Haru talking to himself and that the answers he got were basically what he knew he had to do already. It was truely beautiful, shit I'm actually tearing up whenever I think about them, especially the first one where he was sitting near the campfire, the night before they decided to buy a helmet for Moguzo. It's just one of these moments and interactions where you can tell how the group worked before and what kind of impact it has on them when one part of it is missing.

I can only suggest rewatching this show in 1-2 sessions if someone got bored in the middle of it. Doki has the BDs up until episode 8. Pay attention to some of the details and conversations, it's really worth it imho.

[shinta|hikari]

Didn't you mind the odd slowness at times? And the never ending musical scenes? It's not a deal breaker or anything, but it was a really odd direction choice.

Volume 3 is out by the way. It continues right where the anime left off. You gotta read it. It's awesome.

[KrayZ33]

In fact I liked them, because the musical scenes introduced the world or the town. And sometimes they were pretty impactful (for example when they gave Manato his badge). It wasn't *really* slow when you watch ~4-5 episodes in a row or with only a day in between them...

Actually, the pace was really good, you had slow, calm scenes where the party members interacted with each other and then when they fought something, it got really fast and chaotic. It's pretty similar to how Final Fantasy handles it, especially with the music.

Right now, I can't imagine how it would've been if it were any faster, because none of the scenes I've watched seemed pointless as each of them were impactful enough to be worthwhile.

edit:
Take episode 4 for example @ around 8:20... you might write it off as pointless babbling from Yume, but it's actually interesting to hear about the Hunter's Guild and the way Yume talks about it tells us alot about her character while Haru's reaction shows us something about how he sees Yume and whether he likes to interact with her or not etc.
It's pretty darn cute on top of that and when Haru started wagging with his head you might even catch yourself doing the same thing (at least I did...lol). It pretty much shows how Yume is able to calm everyone down and how pleasant it must be for Haru to talk to her about unimportant/mildly interesting things like these.

And then take a look at what happens right after their talk and how both the pace and music change.

It's going Up and Down, Up and Down in this show and the most important thing, it nevers goes down while there is still something going on... no flashbacks during action scenes, if there is action going on, they always showed the whole thing until it's over... from all kind of angles and views, you could always tell what each party member is doing.
Overall, the show enjoyed a really solid direction.

As I said however, when you watch it week after week, I can imagine you get the feeling that not alot happened... after all, if you only focus on/or watch it for the action, all they ever did was killing goblins and then some kobolds later on and the show ended there. Not something you would expect from a "MMO-ish" Anime. Yet each character and their interrelationship is probably more fleshed out than any Log Horizon or SAO character could ever hope to be after 2-3 seasons.

If there is a show that deserves another season, it's this one for sure, especially after the amount of buildup they did... but from what I know, it sold rather poorly compared to top sellers and it didn't even boost the LNs that much?

[shinta|hikari]

If I watched the entire series straight, I think I'd be even more annoyed of the constant musical scenes because they are way too close to each other. But that's just me. The first one was actually really well done, and maybe the Manato death one, but all the others felt like padding.

I think if they only had 10 episodes, this would've been much better. There will always be something exciting happening in each episode, and they won't need as many blank air time.

The concept and premise are really good. Goblins playing chess? Hell yeah. These adventurers are fucking evil lol. They almost deserve their suffering haha.

[Munsu]

I just finished the series myself, and I loved it. I do have to say that I was disappointed that we didn't get to explore more of this world, even more of the town they're living in.

In all, I just wanted a lot more of what this series managed to offer, but even so I enjoyed this series a lot.

[KrayZ33]

If I watched the entire series straight, I think I'd be even more annoyed of the constant musical scenes because they are way too close to each other. But that's just me. The first one was actually really well done, and maybe the Manato death one, but all the others felt like padding.

I think if they only had 10 episodes, this would've been much better. There will always be something exciting happening in each episode, and they won't need as many blank air time.

The concept and premise are really good. Goblins playing chess? Hell yeah. These adventurers are fucking evil lol. They almost deserve their suffering haha.

I'm not sure if we are actually talking about the same thing right now... what musical scenes are you referring too, because after the rather short first one and the one after minatos death, there is only one sight seeing (where Haru found out about where Mary lives) and maybe the one where they gave Manato his badge..even though they were actually talking and doing something throughout that scene so I guess it's pretty much "BGM" in that regard.

They weren't really that numerous. If you add them all together, they might've been 10 minutes long.
(~4 minutes at the end of the episode where Manato died and ~4 minutes where Haru explored the town on their day off after they avenged him)

But these are rather... normal, aren't they? Even Naruto has a lot of these. I guess one needs to realize it's less of an "action" show, but more of a - I actually don't know what to call it - show. (coming of age + adventure?) before watching it.

[MFauli]

I guess the series is a lot easier to stomach when you don´t have to wait a week in-between every episode. Then it might even have a movie-feel to it due to the aforementioned music scenes.

My biggest problem with this anime remains: It was completely unsatisfying. You don´t do the typical caught-inside-a-mmorpg plot and then stop after 12 episodes. That cannot work. And it didn´t. By nature, stories about mmorpgs are big, epic, long-winded. Add to that the snail pace of Grimgar and you have the perfect storm.
I´d LOVE to see more of this story, but it needed to be a 70 episode-anime to cover a reasonable amount of story. Similarily Overloard was also frustrating because it ended after a single season.

Fuck the anime industry that thinks it´s okay to use anime as an advertisement for the manga or whatever. I watch anime because it´s the best medium to tell a traditional story. If I wanted to read manga or light novels or visual novels, I´d do exactly that. Giving me 12 episodes of a big story, getting me all hot and hyped, only to leave me with blue balls, sucks.

mmorpg anime I´m still waiting for another season:

- Hai to Sensou no Grimgar
- Overlord
- Log Horizon
- Accel World
- Sword Art Online (that one is coming, at least. fuck you, Kirito)

[KrayZ33]

To be fair, they ended Grimgar at a very solid point considering that they most likely only wanted to test the water.
Of course, there is so much more to be explored and to do in that World and the question why they are even there remains, but overall it was probably the best moment for them to stop after 12 episodes.

It might even be the reason why this show is considered "slower" than most. They didn't want to start new threads and mysteries, instead they focused on finishing scores that had to be settled and could define the characters more accurately in the process. Compare that to what Log Horizon did... open and unfinished plot lines everywhere, even after 2 seasons. More and more were added.

I can honestly say that Grimgar had a nice ending that doesn't leave you hanging somewhere in the middle of something.

[Munsu]

I guess the series is a lot easier to stomach when you don´t have to wait a week in-between every episode. Then it might even have a movie-feel to it due to the aforementioned music scenes.

My biggest problem with this anime remains: It was completely unsatisfying. You don´t do the typical caught-inside-a-mmorpg plot and then stop after 12 episodes. That cannot work. And it didn´t. By nature, stories about mmorpgs are big, epic, long-winded. Add to that the snail pace of Grimgar and you have the perfect storm.
I´d LOVE to see more of this story, but it needed to be a 70 episode-anime to cover a reasonable amount of story. Similarily Overloard was also frustrating because it ended after a single season.

Fuck the anime industry that thinks it´s okay to use anime as an advertisement for the manga or whatever. I watch anime because it´s the best medium to tell a traditional story. If I wanted to read manga or light novels or visual novels, I´d do exactly that. Giving me 12 episodes of a big story, getting me all hot and hyped, only to leave me with blue balls, sucks.

mmorpg anime I´m still waiting for another season:

- Hai to Sensou no Grimgar
- Overlord
- Log Horizon
- Accel World
- Sword Art Online (that one is coming, at least. fuck you, Kirito)

I'd kill for more Overlord, what an awesome series that was.

Log Horizon, indeed, hoping for more. I wonder how much the recent troubles with the author may play into the decision.

Accel World is getting a sequel of sorts movie, so hopefully that leads into another season eventually.

There's also No Game, No Life which is getting a sequel movie (but it's set in the past). That also needs a sequel fully.

[MFauli]

Can anybody reasonably explain why series like Overlord and No Game, No Life aren´t getting more seasons asap? I can see how Log Horizon was too ... schematic for the larger audience. But Overlord and NGNL were pure, unfiltered fun and awesomeness. They had to be successful, hadn´t they?

[shinta|hikari]

Not enough content, maybe? At least not enough to have a good stopping point for a second season.

And NGNL will have a movie made from the best book in the story, so it kinda doesn't count.

@Krayz - It doesn't help your point about musical scenes when the series you bring up is Naruto.

I'm actually okay with musical scenes if they are done for a reason, not including padding of course. Those scenes are ideally added to modify pacing. When things are going too fast, you add them to tone things down. When things are going slow, you add them to cram a lot of content in a minute or so of no-dialog music.

Grimgar, an already slow show, used them to... well... do nothing much. You can literally take them all out and the show wouldn't be any worse. Well, except for the first one because we knew nothing about the characters back then, so any info was welcome.

Also take note that this show was made to air weekly. While I agree with you that watching it in one go would alleviate the slowness, that doesn't make it okay for it to feel really slow in the airing schedule it was originally created for. In short, while it isn't a deal breaker, the criticism is valid.

[Munsu]

So, long neglected (as I began watching it last year), I'm now resuming watching Rage of Bahamut: Genesis and it's quite clear that this is a sequel to Grimgar, but with Ranta as the MC. I don't know why he changed his name though, maybe too many enemies.

[shinta|hikari]

But Ranta dies in the 3rd novel of Grimgar. So no.

[Munsu]

But Ranta dies in the 3rd novel of Grimgar. So no.

Faked his death you mean.

[MFauli]

But Ranta dies in the 3rd novel of Grimgar. So no.

Are we really posting random spoilers now? :/