Review:
There’s something deeply satisfying early in a story when the protagonist’s plans go awry. Later in the series it can feel like set-backs exist just to drag the plot out, but early on if victory is too simple there’s no reason to fret. Well, Record of Grancrest War gave us three episodes of very easy victory and things all going Theo and Siluca’s way and then we get to episode 4.
Not once, but twice, Siluca is rebuked by her foster father for over-reaching and both times leads to some fairly severe consequences. Good fortune and protagonist plot armour see them saved at the end but that also isn’t without cost, though one could argue that Theo didn’t exactly work to broker the best deal and it would be nice to know more of what is going on in his head.
Throw in some battle sequences that work well enough (animation is not this anime’s strong point but it isn’t hideous so we’ll leave it alone) in addition to the added emotional investment in the story and this episode finally took this show from enjoyable enough because I like fantasy to genuinely interesting as I ponder what it might do next. Now, it might just return to forgettable mediocrity but I’m kind of hopeful that this is a sign of things to come.
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Thanks,
Karandi James.
finally caught up with this show. it was seeming kinda interesting, but i felt like this episode undoes a decent amount of that. i dont particularly have a problem with theo’s plans backfiring as you pointed out, but id be more entertained if it was at least partly his plan. instead, it seems like siluca’s doing most of the work while theo just sits around being inspiring.
also, the battle itself felt a bit strange. the main characters seemed too much like they were doing well despite the fact that the situation was hopeless for them.
and with respects to animation, there’s a particularly laughable scene when villar’s knights show up. as they run through, the enemies are frozen in place as they’re dying.
Yeah, the animation isn’t amazing but it isn’t the worst either so while there are those particularly off scenes, most of it is fine.