Record of Grancrest War Episode 20: Grancrest, The Soap Opera

Posted on by Karandi
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The three factions meet with a bang and then for some reason have a sit down and chat and decide something that could have been decided about 15 episodes ago. Oh well. I guess now we’ll face the ‘true’ enemy.

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There’s something utterly ridiculous about how seriously the characters in this anime take their own plot. Given how illogical it is, they spend a good three minutes having Marrine give excuse after excuse as to why she can’t just marry Alexis and actually be happy. Seriously. He loves you. He makes pretty roses for you out of non-plant materials. Just marry the guy already. If your goal was to keep him out of the war that has already failed spectacularly.

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The upshot of all of this is that they are going to turn their crests over to Theo leaving everything on his shoulders. Because nothing says saviour of the world like nobody from the sticks who has a cute mage companion by his side. I’m feeling this is the final death flag for either Theo or Siluca (or both) and we’ve past the point of no return. Particularly with Siluca stating that afterward they can turn the crests back over to Alexis and settle down together. It just gives us a clear feeling that there isn’t going to be an after for these two. But everyone else is probably going to get a happily ever after, unless the Mages’ bloodbath gets too extreme.

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Anyway, no real change in terms of quality. The usual hilarious moments of animation failure occur during the battle and the characters are all following some core honour code that hasn’t been adequately explained to make their actions logical. Meanwhile, we can cut down any of the no-name extras without batting an eye and that’s apparently fine.

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Record of Grancrest War Episode 19: Alexis the Artist

Posted on by Karandi
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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).

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Record of Grancrest War Episode 18: That Was Almost Playing Dirty

Posted on by Karandi
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After the events of the past few episodes, Theo and Siluca have returned to centre stage though I’m wondering when Theo became that manipulative.

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There’s something oddly disturbing about this image.

The whole way through this series Theo, when he’s been involved at all, has been the ‘good guy’. The one who puts himself in harms way to protect others, who doesn’t willingly sacrifice those around him, who feels genuine pain when those near him are hurt. And then we get to this episode. I guess we could argue that the war hardened Theo who has finally realised that he won’t accomplish his goals without getting his hands a little dirty has finally stepped up into the world of politics, but that doesn’t ring very true. Theo actually already accomplished his goal and could easily at this stage simply step aside and run his island. Very few people would care or try and stop him.

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So what is going on Theo? This episode he finally takes control of the treaty and declares them separate from the union creating a third faction. The argument is that they are trying to force a stalemate but that only works if they can get Alexis to rally the union and we all know Alexis is pretty useless except at writing poetry. Enter Theo the manipulator. He literally uses Alexis’ emotions and attachment to Marrine against him to push him into taking rash action. Admittedly, it only works because Alexis has the emotional maturity of a turnip (and seriously, Marrine was probably better of with Milza and that’s saying something), but at the same time, Theo the moralising and noble leader has just sent that immature lord out with an army to fight and he has to have done so knowing there’s a good chance Alexis is going to get himself killed. How does Theo reconcile that within himself?

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I guess we’ll find out but from Theo’s expression it doesn’t look like he’s intending to lose a lot of sleep over it. As long as he gets to take Siluca away at the end of it all, I think Theo’s more or less in a ‘do whatever it takes’ mode. Though, will Siluca still be by his side if he gets too underhanded?

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And while we’re on it, how many death flags did Siluca raise in one conversation with Theo. Seriously, is she wanting to be the tragic sacrifice right before they manage to get peace? Though, I’m seeing it play out with Alexis falling to Marrine, Theo taking out Marrine, then Theo having some confrontation with the pope who is apparently important again in this story for whatever reason, before Theo uses all the crests to banish chaos and probably dies in the process (unless Siluca throws herself under the bus for him). It’s a good theory, though this anime has a history of not really being logical so we’ll see what it decides to do next.

In the meantime, I’d love to know your theory about how this is going to play out. Even if that includes the loli werewolf maids suddenly seizing power, because that would be a cool twist.

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Record of Grancrest War Episode 17: Decisive Victory

Posted on by Karandi
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Outnumbered and surrounded Milza decides his best plan is to ride out from the safety of his fortress anyway. Another wonderfully logical move by the characters of this anime.

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I don’t know that I would describe Milza’s strategy as a strategy or even as flexible. Mostly it just seemed to be ride fast, cut down anything in the way, and get to Theo. He became pretty obsessed with killing Theo because apparently Theo is heralding a new age for the world because he’s utilising people power or something. The notion that Lords haven’t used the common people in battle has come up before, but this is the first time this has actually been a major plot point so it suddenly seems like the anime is trying to craft an entirely new theme into its story just as it cuts down Milza who was really Theo’s last real goal after he’d already liberated Sistina. Seriously, why is Theo still involved in this war?

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But who cares about logic? We have a major battle with lots of the allied Lords, all of whom other than Lassic I’ve forgotten the names of and some of them even fight before they run away or have most their men cut down or they are utterly ignored as Milza bypasses them. All of Theo’s closest friends get to attempt to cut down Milza, failing miserably, before it all comes down to a one on one duel. This should more or less be over instantly in Milza’s favour but somehow the crest thing has made Milza weaker and Theo stronger since last time they fought. It would be really great if the crests had been explained properly at any point in time, but again, whatever.

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What I found really funny was how the end of this episode seemed to want to be this grand and cinematic ending and yet the whole fight sequence just seemed kind of hacked out and Theo’s victory was relatively hollow because he just suddenly got better than Milza. There was no real weight behind it and having to drop exposition mid-battle to explain things is never a great move. Anyway onward to fighting Marrine maybe, I’m not even sure what their next goal is but I guess they’ll find someone else to fight given the anime isn’t over yet.

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Record of Grancrest War Episode 16: Doesn’t This All Feel Too Easy?

Posted on by Karandi
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The Lords of Altirk are turning the tide of the battle, though I’m not sure why all their enemies suddenly started sucking. What did you think of this episode?

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Forget the witch and the demons and whatever else as this episode is all about Milza attempting to crush Theo and failing miserably. He heads into the forest and predictably doesn’t accomplish much. What is worse, is he doesn’t appear to really try to do much. Then he goes off with his contracted mage somewhere to the south and gives Theo all the time he needs to rally an army. Then the reinforcements he needs can’t come because every other scheme the allies came up with just go perfectly, including the get naked and try to fight plot, which I’m still just wondering what the writers were thinking other than it had been nearly 6(?) episodes since they made one of the female characters lose their clothes.

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Anyway, the episode ends with Castle Unicorn once again surrounded and Milza realising he might taste defeat. I don’t think he’s going to go down without a pretty fantastic fight and I’m kind of worried Lassic is going to bite the dust, but that kind of clears the way for Theo, doesn’t it?

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This series continues to be maddening in the way it paces things, the way it explains things, and just some of the illogical things it expects the audience to swallow.

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Friday’s Feature: To Recap or Not To Recap?

Posted on by Karandi
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Let me begin this post by giving you a full history of my blog and all of the previous posts that have come before this one. Most of them are irrelevant to the current context and I know you clicked here to read this post, but surely you should acknowledge everything that has previously occurred.

Or wait?

Maybe that’s not the best approach when trying to engage an audience. I mean, I previously did a feature on recap episodes and why some of them make me want to drop an anime then and there particularly when viewing week to week.

Friday’s Feature – Recap Episodes (Or Why I Came Close to Dropping 91 Days)

But even then, I acknowledge that sometimes recap can serve a purpose and be done in an interesting way. The problem is, a lot of anime don’t bother with this. They just cut and paste sequences of previous events together without even really stringing a plot around it. But more and more often, we’re seeing anime try to disguise their recap.

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My Hero Academia Season 3 is one such anime that used this method. They gave us a thin plot of the characters training at the pool (good excuse for buff boys in swimsuits I guess) but interspersed those events with characters reminiscing or discussing prior events supported by flash backs. Now, to give credit where it is due, this approach is better than just a series of disconnected scenes or a rehash of the story. At least the recap is given context and the characters are adding their thoughts or feelings about the situation to our understanding of it, and there’s some small amounts of new-material that has varying levels of entertainment strewn amongst it.

What it doesn’t change, is the fact that My Hero Academia felt that despite less than a year had passed since its previous season and the episode count as a whole is under 50, that the audience couldn’t remember what had happened. And maybe for a more obscure show that might be true, but MHA is not obscure. People were talking about it and sharing parts of it well after it finished airing.

However, if they hadn’t done a recap, there may be some people who would complain that they’d forgotten some detail. So how does a show know when to recap and how to go about it?

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Realistically, if we have a long gap in-between seasons, recap of some sort is needed. Full Metal Panic Invisible Victory won me over by skipping this step, but a thirteen year gap on a series that never had the sort of popularity of MHA probably warranted some work to get new viewers. Instead, only those who have watched at least the first season and second raid need apply because without that knowledge you aren’t following this story. And if your knowledge is over a decade old, rewatch it and do it quick. The anime is brutal and unforgiving, barely reminding you of character roles as we jump between the school and Mithril and are plunged straight into a conflict that will make zero sense without the back story.

So where My Hero Academia could have foregone the recap, Full Metal Panic probably should have tried something. Then again, if they only ever intended to target the original fans, most of them have probably rewatched the anime many times in the years since it aired and like me, they are probably pretty happy to get dropped straight back into the action. It definitely narrows the target audience but at least it keeps the people in that audience pretty happy.

While it might be hard to say when a recap should occur, it is pretty easy to figure out where they shouldn’t. Any series that is only one cour long should never have a recap episode. Not ever. There is no reason on the planet why a series that is thirteen episodes or less needs to recap. if there are production delays, skip the week, or replay episode one, or something. But don’t try and pretend recaps are episodes in their own right. They really, really aren’t particularly when hastily put together to fill a gap in the schedule.

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Record of Grancrest War used a week inbetween seasons to recap and I still have not watched that episode. The interesting thing about that is that a lot of bloggers claim that it made the entire first cour actually make some kind of sense. I wonder if that’s still true now that we’ve seen all the random plot lurches of the second cour occur, but I thought that for once that might be a useful use of recap. If you know your plot has gone off the rails and you are trying to refocus both the writers and the audience as to which direction the story will continue, a recap that crafts the narrative you wanted to see could do wonders. Though, that is admitting your story had fallen apart in the first place.

From where I’m sitting, I’ve come to the conclusion that recap needs to have some thought behind it and effort put into it. I still think Kimi ni Todoke has the best recap episode ever as the special episode before the start of season 2 where the story of season 1 is retold from a different character’s perspective. More anime need to consider what they are giving their audience when they drop half-hearted recap efforts on them and start thinking about how they can use recaps (if they are needed at all) to really re-engage the audience with the story and the characters.

Where do you stand on recap episodes and what do you think of how the returning series of Spring have done with them?

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Karandi James

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Record of Grancrest War Episode 15: Right, So Now Theo Has To Kill Milza and Become King?

Posted on by Karandi
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I’m not sure when Theo’s goal changed to protecting the alliance, defeating Milza and, given the path he’s on, become King, but it seems like that is where this anime intends to go. Are you still following this journey or have you bailed?

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I don’t know when it was ever suggested that Yana might be the witch who started things off but in the grand tradition of how Grancrest likes to tell a story, once Siluca states this even though there is no evidence or link made about how this was determined other than a demon was summoned and Yana can summon demons, the characters take it as a conclusion and the Mages attempt to burn her at the stake. Guys, there is a far easier way to kill someone and it wouldn’t let her have her final hurrah.

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Theo then returns to the mainland, has some time with his boy Lassic, then announces he’s going to kill Milza. Because announcing your intentions to raise an army and kill someone is a great start. It means you really get the benefit of surprise.

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The one thing working in Theo’s favour is that Milza has not taken him seriously as a threat. Every other character in the show seems to be, but Milza is utterly dismissive and so Theo actually manages to get back into his old fortress in the forest and is preparing for the coming battle before Milza actually begins to react. Still not sure how any of this fits in with Theo’s original goal but at least they kind of linked it back to the original tragedy so I guess that’s cohesion.

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Record of Grancrest War Episode 14: If Theo Accomplished His Goal Does That Mean We’re Done?

Posted on by Karandi
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Right, so we’re going to accomplish the protagonist’s main goal in two episodes as a side quest in this anime? Really?

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You know Theo’s wondrous dream of liberating his home land from the evil rule of the Rossini’s and saving the people from the chaos? It was mentioned back in episode 1 and occasionally the anime remembered it was Theo’s goal. Well episode 13 and then this one solved that problem. Okay, not the issue of the chaos running rampant because other than one throw away scene we haven’t seen any sign of the chaos on the island, but the Rossini’s turned out to be pretty easy to crush with the witch and the assassin causing more problems than an entire army.

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Not that I’ve come to expect anything else from this show at this point. But Theo has now accomplished his goal. In theory, he should be building his castle in that village and settling in to the actual task of administration and protecting the island. Instead, I’m pretty sure he’s going to go back to the continent and get involved in the fight there. I’m still unclear as to why anything going on there matters to this conflict and why this conflict matters over there but I’m just not going to ask. Better that way.

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When did this become this sort of anime?

The one thing I appreciated this episode was that Theo has not suddenly become some sort of expert swordsman cutting down his enemies in the blink of an eye. While he might win the fight he isn’t above being underhanded and knows how to wait for his moment.

Otherwise it is pretty much business as usual with the plot falling apart and the characters acting illogically.

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Record of Grancrest War Episode 13: Enter and Exit New Character That I Guess We Were Supposed To Care About

Posted on by Karandi
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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Record of Grancrest War Episode 12: This May Have Found Some Direction, At Last

Posted on by Karandi
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This anime took a week off to do a recap (which I still haven’t got around to watching but according to a lot of reviewers apparently it helps make sense of most of the first 11 episodes), but despite that I found episode 12 to be far more focused than I think I’ve ever seen this series. The characters finally all have a clear motive and direction for their actions and seem to be acting on established ideas rather than plucking new philosophies from mid-air. It was kind of disconcerting how much this seemed like an actually sensibly written episode.

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And with Villar gone, as predicted, Theo and Siluca do take more screen time, though we seem to have a larger ensemble cast. I liked that when Lassic tried to push Theo as the leader of the treaty it was shot down. Theo really hasn’t done much to recommend him to the other lords at large and having them simply fall in behind him at this point would be hard to swallow. At the same time that also gave him a reason to finally pursue his initial goal which had kind of gotten swallowed in amongst all the other politicking that has been going on.

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While this is a nice change for the anime, it remains to be seen whether this is maintained for the rest of the second cour but I’m kind of hopeful. I’ve wanted more from this show and episode 12 seems like a good step in the right direction.

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