Record of Grancrest War

This review contains SPOILERS that will reveal everything about this anime! Do not read on if you do not wish to know. Of course, this show is a fairy tale, from the beginning to the end, with the only non-fairy-tale moment being the end of the ninth episode. If only a pink unicorn had run under that rainbow at the very end, then it would have been "perfect". Well, what is this all about, dear children? This show is about good, honest, and righteous Theo who is wandering the world with his big plan and steely determination. However, alas, he has absolutely no idea how to achieve what he has set out to do. Oh, and this also is a tale about a beautiful, intelligent, and strong woman who is not happy with the fate that has been chosen for her. Therefore, there is the one who knows what he wants, although he does not know how to achieve it. He meets a woman who does not know what she wants; however, because of how intelligent she is, she can achieve anything. They are the perfect couple! And so the whole world is shaking at its foundations, and all the problems are being resolved until it is time to add a romantic subplot. Then their grand plans have to take a back seat for a while because what kind of prince would Theo be if he was not willing to give up everything for his princess? Which, if I remember correctly, pissed a lot of people off. It annoyed people because the love story just did not seem logical at the time and contradicted all the strategies going on in the plot. Plus, the main two protagonists were not the only ones with a plan; there were others, like the sad princess with big eyes and a long tragic backstory. She failed to marry Prince Charming, the wedding was a disaster, so everyone could understand that this sucks. She is furious and determined, and she would do anything for her vision of an ideal society. Anything! And so we have reached the end of the ninth episode... This moment annoyed another section of the audience because it was in incredible contrast with all the fairy tale stuff going on up to that point. It was perhaps too realistic, and surprisingly for me, it made perfect sense! However, even this princess eventually succumbs to the plot armor of Theo. He comes along with Prince Charming and forgives everyone, and even in a battle the prince shows what beautiful things he can paint in the "dust". There is also Holy Maiden Maria, a martyr who joins Theo along the way. We do not get to know her until almost the end. However, that is just to show us what a martyr she is and to martyr herself and fall in a "terribly unexpectedly" way for the greater good. In the end, Theo defeats the terrible secret conspiracy. These evil overlords ruined Prince Charming and the princess's wedding. He also defeats a demon (okay, it is actually a vampire) because demons are always behind everything, and the ideal antagonists, for the sole purpose of learning another unexpected piece of information about how it is all going to end badly and get a moralistic thumbs up. Of course, our hero Theo is not scared of that either. So it ends with a wedding and retirement to the vineyard, probably because even Geralt of Rivia thinks this is a good ending. And now the fairy tail about Little Red Riding Hood... So, this show is basically a fairy tale, or perhaps it is a very naive and not very good fantasy show. The main male protagonist is really irritating because of his incompetence. Also, apart from bullshitting about his ideals, he could not come up with anything himself, in my opinion. On the other hand, there are other characters like Lassic David, who actually has balls. He is a character who beats a one-eyed cyclops in one of the ugliest (animated) fight scenes I have seen this year. Luckily, there is still the bear from Golden Kamuy, which beats it. Poor old Theo seems more like the kind of cute yappy dog that Siluca keeps on a leash. This girl Siluca is adorable - she is also strong and capable, and you do not see that so often - I found her likable. The female characters in this show are generally much more active, stronger, and more engaging than their male counterparts. So, enough about what it was like, now to talk about what I liked about it - I mostly took it as a mediocre fantasy B-movie. However, after the sickeningly sweet ending with the totally unexpected morality tale packed into it, I feel kind of annoyed. So, that means I am pretty much saying in effect that I am probably too old for such fairy tales. If the whole world fell into the shadows, I would give it three stars, but since they lit the place up, tough luck. Record of Grancrest War is a below-average fantasy show, an average fairy tale, and a below-average anime series, 4/10. (23/06/2018) (less) (more)