Weekly Review: Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash – ReVisited-
General
Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, one of my favorite anime series. Lately, I’ve found myself going back and watching anime shows that I’ve seen before. Grimgar is one of them, and also others, like The Irregular. Going back and watching Grimgar again made me realize how much I really love this series, and even more now that I’ve watched the dub through as well. This got me thinking, what is it about this show that makes me like it so much? Well, a lot actually. The plot, characters, development, everything is well and good. However, there is also some bad, which many people point out.
Likes
Let’s start off with what this anime series does good and that I like. It’s pretty easy to start out with saying that the characters are quite amazing in this show. They are not your typical, over powered protagonist that you find in other fantasy-like anime shows. No, they are human. Breakable. Which also makes them relatable. Most of the time our protagonists go out and wreck shit as soon as they enter a fantasy world, but this show is different. We get to see the struggle of their survival, and also their struggle to adapt to this vastly different world. I mean, come on, they were thrown into a world and told to fight or die, it’s supposed to be a struggle.
I also love the way they develop the characters, for example Mary and Haru. Haru, the leader of the group, takes over the role after an untimely death. He doesn’t just become the leader, he has to work at it. He realizes his own flaws, and then tries to improve upon them. He messes up, again, and again, but picks himself back up and tries to do better. As for Mary, we get to see her transition from a solo, quiet girl to someone who openly trusts her party members. It’s quite amazing to see.
Dislikes
I, personally, don’t really have any dislikes as far as the story goes. However, there are a few things that bother me with the animation. Sometimes it just got way too sloppy. For instance, there is a scene where Yume and Haru are talking while Yume is throwing knives. She goes on and on about the knives and how her master bought her one, so she bought one just like it. So that means, one plus one equals two. Except… she’s throwing three knives; come on, man. Another example is when Ranta is running away from Death Spots, his helmet was left on the floor below, so he is running around without his helmet, no biggie, right? Well, except for one cut of his chase scene where he is clearly wearing a helmet. It’s little things like these that kind of take away from the overall experience.
Dub vs Sub
I know there are some die hard fans for either side of this debate, but I personally like both. However, if a good dub is available, you better believe I’m going to choose that over the sub. So what about Grimgar, is it good? Yeah, actually pretty damn good. The voices match up very well. The single complaint I have about it is the fact that Ranta’s voice actor changes mid-way through the show, which sucks. A lot.
Overall
All in all, through the love and the hate, I really love this series. It’s a twist on a already exhausted niche, so it didn’t get a whole lot of credit. I personally love the way they took something that has been done to death, and put a new spin on it. I can’t wait to get my hands on the light novels, if they are ever officially translated into English.