Welcome to another ‘inquiring minds want to know’ post where readers ask and I attempt to answer their questions. This is post number 41, and I am really happy to have had so many amazing questions so far in this series, even if my answers don’t always do them justice. Still, this will be the last one in the series for 2018 and I’ll pick this series of posts up again sometime in January. In the meantime, please leave your questions in the survey and I’ll get to them in the new year.
If you could live in one anime/manga/light novel world (excluding Aincrad post-Aincrad arc) which world would you choose? from Alexie The Great
I realised when thinking about this question that way back in June of 2016 I wrote a feature about anime worlds that caught my eye though I will admit that looking back at it, there one world I didn’t include either because I wasn’t aware of it then or because at the time I hadn’t really gotten hooked on in.
And yes, that world is Grimgar from Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash.
I loved the anime of this one, but it is through reading the light novels that I’ve truly fallen head over heels for the world constructed in the narrative. What excites me more is that everything feels like it is part of a much richer wider world so every discovery actually creates the space for more discoveries and for the world to continue to open up. Because we experience the world through Haruhiro and his group’s perception we only have it expand and open up to us as they become stronger and venture further into it.
Now, common sense declares that this is a terrible choice. Seriously, I’d be the last picked for a team, I have no clue what role in the party I’d be given but I doubt I’d be very good at it, and ultimately I’m not sure my survival odds in Grimgar are particularly good.
But, it is a world I would love to explore. A world full of possibilities and amazing creatures and places and a world that expands beyond the realm of our heroes’ knowledge meaning we can continue to explore it for as long as our heroes don’t get killed.
That and the anime was just plain beautiful.
So yes, while Disboard from No Game No Life remains a world I am highly curious about (and is probably a bit safer), and the world explored in Chaika was fun, and travelling worlds with Syaoran in Tsubasa Chronicles sounds like a blast, I think in 2018 my answer to this question would definitely be Grimgar.
That’s of course because Aincrad was taken off the table because I’m still all for exploring there. Now remember, if you have a question, please just fill in the simple survey below (two questions and you don’t need to answer the second one) and returning mid-January, the Inquiring Minds Want to Know series of posts should continue to try to answer your questions.
As always though, I’d like to throw this week’s question over to the readers. So if you could live in one anime/manga/light novel world, which would you pick and why? Share in the comments and I look forward to your responses.
Thanks for reading
Karandi James
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GRIMGAR ASHES AND ILLUSIONS BEST CD
I’d love to live in Grimgar but I’d work as a bartender instead.
Probably a safer plan.
Always nice to see Grimgar get some love… It’s a VERY underrated show. I suspect there’s never been a second season because the manga only covers the first season.
As to where I’d like to live in an anime (that’s not New Aincrad)… Hard to say. I don’t like big cities (though I like being near enough to one when I need one). I don’t like small towns either (not enough stuff/few options). So something like where the girls live in Encouragement of Climb I guess – close enough to the city, but far enough out that the great outdoors isn’t that far away. Not so different than where I live IRL.
There is definitely a best of both worlds feel about that. Where I live at the moment is fine for now, but long term I’ll have to move. I’m just too far from basic services to live here forever – which is a shame because there’s some really nice things about it.
Still, I won’t move back to a city. I couldn’t handle that much noise full time. I plan on moving somewhere where I can get to a reasonable sized town in a couple of hours at most but still somewhere considered rural so I can enjoy the quiet days.
Pokemon world. Gotta catch ’em all mutant critters.
That’s a fair choice.
Hey you don’t necessarily have to fight to make money in fantasy worlds right?
Think of all the vendors in games that probably make a killing marking up crap that adventurers sell to them.
True, but Grimgar seems to funnel visitors or arrivals to the world into the volunteer soldier path and it doesn’t seem like they get a lot of other options.
I guess I’m just old and boring, but like most old folks, I kind of miss my roots. And while I live in a small town with just a few hundred folks, I miss the bucolic open countryside of my youth. I’d pick the rural community portrayed in Non Non Biyori. Heck, I’d probably be Kaede’s best customer. . .
It’s weird, because as someone who lives in rural Queensland, I don’t associate countryside and greenery with small towns or rural communities. I associate desert and dust with them and a general golden brown half-dead look to them. That, and a lot of pubs. So seeing rural communities in anime that are so surrounded by life is kind of surreal.
As it happens, my mother has always wanted to visit Australia. Personally, I figure our entire family came close enough to seeing it after the failure of the Great Rebellion of 1798. (And I have a sister-in-law and nieces and nephews over there. . .)
And now I’m going to have to add Grimgar to my reading pile. After how much I enjoyed Is it Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon, this looks to be another slam dunk. Thanks
I still can’t believe they haven’t made a second season of Grimgar. Once you get passed where the anime got up to, the books get even better and it would make such an amazing anime season. Really wish they would.
I have the anime penciled in as my G for the A to Z challenge next year. Might end up getting to the books first. Looking forward to it.
Are you taking on the A to Z challenge next year? I’ve been thinking about starting it sometime next year after reading Yomu’s posts and it seems like it could be really fun.
Yeah, same. I’m going to try for one a fortnight and make it last all year. It reminded me of my 365 films in a year challenge. I ended up watching anything just to keep up and saw a load of amazing films that I would never had given a chance before.
I think for me, mostly it will be a chance to revisit some anime I haven’t reviewed on the blog because I watched it so long ago that I couldn’t write the review without the rewatch. I’ll throw some new stuff in but there’s a few anime on my review list that I’ve been putting off forever.
That would be a good way of clearing the backlog. I have eight from earlier in the year to get to, but I am really enjoying watching new shows. Only 7 out of the almost 1,000 episodes/movies I’ve watched this year have been rewatches.
I couldn’t do it. Rewatches are like comfort food to me. Just sit down and relax. Then again, I’m someone who used to wear out VHS’ as a kid on a regular basis due to repeatedly watching movies.
I used to do that too, but I had a period where I was moving around and wasn’t watching much anime at all so I had some serious catching up to do.
I am making a thing of rewatching Highschool of the Dead so I could end up adding some repeat viewings of other favourites if that goes well.
I’m watching One Piece daily so that has been a big part of my schedule and will be for a while yet.
That’s a tough question. A lot of the things I like don’t have very happy worlds or universes.
I know, there are lots of anime worlds that would be really bad to live in. They make for great stories but you definitely wouldn’t want to be there.
Oh, the light novels are translated? Do you buy them online?
Book Depository. I’ve read 1 – 7 and have 8 in my tbr pile. Volume 9 I’ve got on pre-order and should receive sometime next year.
I still say Sailor Moon in Crystal Tokyo because it’s basically a peaceful utopia and people have long lifespans. It’s also a pretty city.
Oh it is a pretty city. Very nice choice.
Fairy Tail
I imagine this one would be a popular choice.
Bleach or Gintama, because I’d love to meet the odd jobs.
Gintama could be interesting. I only watched the first season but it was certainly an interesting take on an alternate history.
Aincrad would be a nightmare for me. Lots of people would choose it; I think that’s be the last place for me. I think I’d go with the Soul Society. I’d love to have a ton of spiritual pressure, that’d be really fun!
I think Soul Society would be less fun though if you didn’t have the spiritual pressure. I keep thinking about the poor districts where the kids run around half-starved and then I think about how some of the soul reapers act and I just feel there could be some real issues living there. Still, if you did have a ton of spiritual pressure, you could definitely shake things up a bit.