Episode 13 of Record of Grancrest War and while this anime found some direction last week, it still hasn’t managed to really figure out how pacing should work. What did you think of this latest episode?
There was a lot to like in this most recent episode. For one thing, Theo was actually acting on the promise he made back in episode 1 and for once seems to have some genuine motivation of his own rather than follow Siluca’s advice to achieve ends we never knew he wanted. The second reason is that this episode brings a few key points in this series back that had kind of drifted away. You know, the whole chaos monster thing that seemed like such a big deal and that witch in the forest who ran away and then we never saw her again? Both of these come back in this episode as actual plot points.
And yet, the anime still doesn’t know how to deal with introductions and pacing. In this episode we meet Rebecca, clearly Theo’s old flame from way back when, we find out Theo’s tragic back story, Rebecca betrays him, then changes her mind, finally she sacrifices herself for Theo’s cause. That’s kind of a lot to pack into twenty minutes and given I hadn’t heard mention of this Rebecca chick prior to this episode it was hard to really share Theo’s pain here.
Still, a fairly decent effort by this show at this point and time and far fewer issues than some of the previous episodes have had.
Previous Reviews:
- Episode 12: This May Have Found Some Direction, At Last
- Episode 11: Does This Mean Theo Will Get Some Actual Screen Time?
- Episode 10: And We’re Back To The Cliff-Notes Version of Epic Battles
- Episode 9: Has This Show Turned A Corner, Or Are They Just Hoping This Will Keep Viewers Into The Spring Season?
- Episode 8: People Show A Startling Lack of Reason Of Good Judgement
- Episode 7: Loyalty Is Quite Cheap In This Show
- Episode 6: A Dance and A Battle
- Episode 5: Did You Know There Were Vampires? I Sure Didn’t
- Episode 4: Finally
- Episode 3: Do You Suppose We’ll Ever Know Everything A Crest Can Do?
- Episode 2: Some Nice Touches This Week
- Episode 1: She’s Going To Help Him Achieve His Dream Provided She Doesn’t Kill Him First
Thanks for reading.
Karandi James
Consider supporting the blog by:
- Becoming a patron
- Buy the ebook ‘Thoughts on Anime 2017‘
- Use the affiliate link to shop Play-Asia
I feel like Record of Grandcrest War would be an outstanding HBO original series of some kind–at least better than Game of Thrones, but I agree with you. As an anime, the pacing and character development leaves a bit to be desired. I still fully plan on seeing this one through, though. It may jump around awkwardly at times, but every now and then there’s an ep or a scene that really hits the mark. I liked Rebecca. She gets mad props for bringing a ladle into battle. It also makes sense that Theo hasn’t really brought her up in the past because 1) it’s kind of an inherently painful memory, and 2) he’s into Siluca.
Okay, her having a ladle as she ran into the battle was kind of hilarious and probably my favourite moment of this episode.
And yeah, I’m not planning on dropping this anymore. I’ve accepted that one way or another I am seeing this through. Still, it annoys me that underneath the poor narrative choices and pacing there’s actually a half-decent story that has just been buried.
But it was a Combat Ladle, wasn’t it? I thought the edge looked sharp…
I didn’t care for Rebecca at all. If she was meant to be someone important, why wouldn’t we have heard about her before? And even if she wasn’t meant to be overly vital to the plot in general, I do think the writers could’ve done a better job of explaining who she was to Theo. I can understand him not wanting to talk about people he knew before while he was away, but maybe some more exposition on his hometown would’ve been nice.
I also though Rossini was killed off way too easily. When the gang of 4 bishonen and daddy Rossini were introduced, I was expecting them to be slightly more formidable enemies, but this guy was just pitiful. I guess they aren’t as dangerous if they can be killed off so easily, despite the show hyping them up as being Super Awful Baddies.
Yep, they did an absolutely terrible job of Rebecca’s introduction with her just appearing, us being told she was important, and then they knocked her off all in once episode.
I think Rossini worked though because it was clear early on that this was a family and from the earlier conversation with his father and brother (?) it was also kind of clear that the one Theo knocked off was a bit of an idiot. I suspect future fights are going to be a little bit tougher.
See I think this episode actively destroyed the pacing and logical progression they had managed to build up in the past .. 2 episodes?
I have given up expecting decent pacing from this and the fact that they were finally dealing with the initial goal of Theo liberating his home made me kind of happy (even if they did turn his primary motivation into a side quest). This show is just bad. Once I accepted that it made it much easier to watch.
Sounds a little like freezing to death…