Questions. So many questions. And I just don’t think this world makes a whole lot of sense at this point in time.
Right, so Theo’s now Emperor (maybe not officially but everyone acts like he is) and the three armies are all unified, only the Lords who don’t want to fight are allowed to leave, as are the Mages who don’t want to fight, leaving just the group of characters we’ve mostly seen throughout the series (which kind of mocks the whole unified statement really). The Mage academy are purging Lords and Mages who oppose them and there are apparently cursed spies who will carry out attacks from within the ranks. But plucky hero boy and his main squeeze will rise to the challenge with a reduced army, mages who can’t really cast magic quickly because they broke their wands, and no real plan.
Oh yeah, this makes a lot of sense.
Can I just ask the story to back up a bit? Mostly because we only found out the Mage Academy were the ‘true’ enemy like two episodes ago. And what evidence do we have of that? Siluca said so. Now they are running around orchestrating a massacre. And they aren’t even asking mages if they are on the Lords’ side or theirs, they are just killing them while wearing mysterious looking robes.
And do the Lords really want something different from the Mages? I mean, the Mages don’t want the Grancrest made, but the Lords were only making that to stop chaos. So if there’s some reason that would be a bad thing, surely the Mages could explain that. Then if the Lords don’t see reason they could go to war. But they seem to have just skipped all those steps.
More importantly, wasn’t the Mage Academy the ones that sent Mages out as contractors to the Lords? Isn’t that why Siluca was supposed to become Vilar’s Mage like way back at the start when she defied that by becoming Theo’s Mage?
And while we’re on it, isn’t Theo now entitled to more than one contracted Mage given he’s now the Emperor. I kind of recall something about quotas of how many whatevers people could have based on their rank. Which raised the question of where are the rest of Alexis’ and Marrine’s mages, etc.
Ah, this anime is just so frustrating.
Previous Reviews:
- Episode 20: Grancrest, The Soap Opera
- Episode 19: Alexis the Artist
- 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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Our Twitter conversation and your review got me thinking. It’s not that Grancrest isn’t making any sense. Either of us could come up with an explanation for every question you raised — answers that wouldn’t contradict anything we’ve been told.
The problem’s that the show hasn’t given us enough information to know!
Questions poised deliberately to propel the plot forward are one thing. Questions left by gaping holes in the world, characters, or plot are quite another.
If you’ve read Larry Brooks’ Story Engineering, at this point in Grancrest, we should be in the Second Plot Point heading for the Final Resolution Scene. But the story has withheld so much information that it’s hard to feel any anticipation. It’s getting hard to maintain suspension of disbelief.
Well, it’s getting harder for me. I kinda think your bubble’s done burst!
I think it’s a shame, because the potential’s there. A bit more data about Crests here; substitution of a no-name death for greater character background motivation there. We’re just tweaks away from solid entertainment!
I’m still enjoying it (I say doggedly!), but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t apprehensive about the ending. Let’s hope we’re both surprised!
As much as I complain about this, I am enjoying it. It is fantasy, and it is fun in its own way. It just isn’t good story telling. If I just switched my brain off, accepted Theo’s going to be the hero, and that everything else is just background to Theo being a bigger hero, then it would be fine. Unfortunately, I keep wanting the show to be more, or at least just to be sensible. But yeah, gaping plot holes and almost nothing from character development have left me hoping this comes to an end that is enjoyable and then I’ll put this series on a shelf in the back of my mind and forget about it.
I need to catch up on this
I was thinking I need it to end. I realised I’ve given this show nearly 6 months of my life. And while I don’t regret it, I’m starting to feel like it needs to come to an end.
I see.
Your snarky reviews are the best! Does Alexis have a mage?
Wasn’t he the old guy who left? But I wondered why he only had one given how many Vilar had and I’m sure that Siluca made a remark early on about Theo’s status allowing him a Mage, so I assumed that more powerful lords were entitled to more. So where is Alexis’ group of Mages or did he seriously just have that one old guy who quit? Not the most important thing that makes no sense mind you, but it kind of bugged me.
You’re right he was. He left to betray them and Alex hugged him… Brilliant strategists all of them…
Yeah, but it was a “I know your going to betray me but I’ll hug you so you feel really guilty later!” kind of hug.
You try so hard and I love that about you
I think hugging your enemies might catch on. In some parallel universe somewhere.