I wondered what Alexis would be like in a fight. Turns out, he doesn’t so much fight as conduct battles and the result is illogical but pretty (if a bit gruesome).
Theo has vanished again without a single appearance in this week’s episode of Record of Grancrest War. Siluca barely gets a showing at the end when she confronts Marrine and seems to be triggering all out war for reasons that make no sense, as well as labelling the Mage Academy as the hidden big bad. I’m not sure that there’s been enough build up to this, or that the Mage Academy has enough presence other than being talked about to end up being the big bad and for that to be a satisfying conclusion, but whatever.
This episode is about Alexis. At the end of episode 18 he’d been artfully manipulated by Theo and Siluca into riding out to war (artfully manipulated, told to go fight, same difference in this anime). And here we are treated to the notion of war as a work of art with Alexis literally conducting his troops with a shiny baton. Again, I’m wondering how the crests work given in the sea battle in the second half, it seems to almost give the King and troops supernatural powers yet other crests (like Theo’s) just kind of give them a shimmery mark and a morale boost. It is all very inconsistent.
Anyway, there is blood and death all to great music. I’m not entirely convinced of Alexis’ ability in any of this because while he clearly likes making pretty patterns with his troops, he doesn’t fight and a lot of his men are cut down while he is being sheltered behind the scenes. I’m pretty much going to be Alexis’ reunion with Marrine will have him declaring his love and her running him through with that sword she’s been carrying about for most of the series.
Previous Reviews:
- Episode 18: That Was Almost Playing Dirty
- Episode 17: Decisive Victory
- Episode 16: Doesn’t This All Feel Too Easy?
- Episode 15: Right, So Now Theo Has To Kill Milza and Become King?
- Episode 14: If Theo Accomplished His Goal Does That Mean We’re Done?
- Episode 13: Enter and Exit New Character That I Guess We Were Supposed To Care About
- 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
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I thought Dawon’s fight was incredibly stupid. It’s like he was thinking “Shoot, I’m supposed to lose now so I better sally forth and do it immediately so I can keep up with the breakneck speed of the plot progression.”
I thougth was cool to see a more hit-and-run skirmish style of warfare from Alexis’ forces, though. That’s definitely a style of warfare fitting for his character. And as even dumb as some of the facial animation was during that naval battle, man was it fun to watch.
Yes, at least they didn’t try to pretend Alexis was suddenly just going to storm in and take the front lines by himself. He stayed very true to his character even as he stepped up this week.