(L) Hortensia Saga

[Chosen_Hero]

I gotta say that I appreciate that while this show and King's Raid are adaptations of mobile games, they at least have the decency of not forcing crappy videogame mechanics into their story and lore, they are so far just pure generic fantasy stories. No cheat op MCs, no "leveling up", no guilds, no quest boards, no broken skill lists, no broken ways of receiving skills, none of it.

[grecefar]

I liked the pokemon reference and the nice view of dragon girl.

[blitz1/2]

sorry, I cant take the ep seriously when we have Char's voice going up against a red dragon.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by blitz1/2

sorry, I cant take the ep seriously when we have Char's voice going up against a red dragon.

Char is clearly an important character in this series. You don't get Char to voice side-characters

[blitz1/2]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

Char is clearly an important character in this series. You don't get Char to voice side-characters

(Rosario vampire aside lol)

Too bad Jouji Nakata didn't voice the pope lol.

[magnuskn]

He's probably one of the the bigger antagonists, although the show is letting itself time to breathe to introduce them properly. The pope dude is actually giving off vibes of being not that much of a bad guy, although I could be getting bamboozled here since he's such a bishie.

[alex_drian]

This show is generic, but is not bad by any means so is entertaining. As to fantasy stories at least is not offensive...like the new Orphen.

[grecefar]

I'm liking this anime, is growing on me like kings raid. I thought rugis was going to be another antagonist but he is in grey zone for now, he knows about the church and whatever evil thing is behind the kingdom.

[magnuskn]

Yeah, it's a bit more cheesy overall than King's Raid (although it certainly wears its heart on its sleeve) and not all voice actors are giving their all, but it's a solid fantasy show with no stupid game mechanics shoved in and just interested in telling its story. I really quite like it.

[Top Sergeant]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

Yeah, it's a bit more cheesy overall than King's Raid (although it certainly wears its heart on its sleeve) and not all voice actors are giving their all, but it's a solid fantasy show with no stupid game mechanics shoved in and just interested in telling its story. I really quite like it.

I agree. Actual fantasy shows seem less common these days than their Isekai brethren. I am also enjoying it.

[grecefar]

I can't believe this chapter is in the game, even in the character chapter of that girl, I mean maybe between the lines she being a fake princess but that pokemon mecha I can't believe is in the game lol.

[grecefar]

Well that was quite the ending, I'm down for a second season but I doubt it will have one but one can never know.

[Chosen_Hero]

Well, that ending ruined the show for me, that just felt like the writers wanting the main characters to suffer for the sake of suffering and I don't like that kind of writing.

[Xiyon]

was this "ending" in the game as well?

i was kinda curious if they'd really kill him off, as hinted in the opening song. Didn't think it'd go this route, though.

Also, why does the werewolf keep running away?

[serenade_beta]

Spoiler for final thoughts:

Well, hmm...

It wasn't anything special, but it was okay. Not good, not bad. Just a stock fantasy story.
That said, I found it quite hilarious that the princess literally just followed in her father's steps and revived someone while risking the lives of everyone else.

And yeah, it does suck that the story doesn't end end, but since it does complete its current story, I think I will give it a pass on that.

So, 8/10? Nothing to call home about, it was... just there. But it did an okay job.
Not going to play the game anytime soon.

Originally Posted by Xiyon

was this "ending" in the game as well?

i was kinda curious if they'd really kill him off, as hinted in the opening song. Didn't think it'd go this route, though.

Apparently so. I mean, the game is still continuing (I think), just like the anime's story.

[Cloudedmind]

I wasn't actually expecting that ending, so I'll give the anime props for that. But it does have a now go play the game vibe.

In the princesses defense I don't think she truly realized what she'd done, or that she's even done anything wrong. It seemed to just kind of been brought on by her grief in that moment.

[serenade_beta]

Originally Posted by Cloudedmind

I wasn't actually expecting that ending, so I'll give the anime props for that. But it does have a now go play the game vibe.

In the princesses defense I don't think she truly realized what she'd done, or that she's even done anything wrong. It seemed to just kind of been brought on by her grief in that moment.

The problem with gacha games is that they can't "end" the story, as they have to continue providing new content, unlike consumer games.
So it goes on and on and on, with new enemies and whatever. You could say that is a problem with gacha game adaptions.

[Cloudedmind]

Originally Posted by serenade_beta

The problem with gacha games is that they can't "end" the story, as they have to continue providing new content, unlike consumer games.
So it goes on and on and on, with new enemies and whatever. You could say that is a problem with gacha game adaptions.

True, but some do have arcs, that sort of having endings within the arc where the main conflict within that arc comes to an end more or less. I guess one could argue that the main conflict with the priest is over and now we have a new conflict with whatever is going on with Alfred. But, then there's also the thing with the relic and Rugis which don't have a conclusion. Perhaps those two things are supposed to be an ongoing point of contention within the game.

[magnuskn]

Well, that was an abrupt, inconclusive and a downer of an abrupt ending. Otherwise the anime was pretty decent. Classical fantasy is not very common nowadays and, ending aside, this was pretty a solid outing. The voice acting wasn't too good in some places (ahem, Nonoria, ahem), but other VA's were pretty solid.

All in all, a solid show with very much wasted potential at the very end. As people above pointed out, this is likely due to it being a game adaptation to lead people to play the game. But still, too bad how it ended.

The funny part is, although King's Raid was superior in most ways, it will very likely get a harsher review from me than this show, because the wasted potential there was about 10 times as much as here. At least Hortensia Saga only really bungled the landing, while King's Raid...yeeesh. Anyway, more on that when that show ends.

[Anh_Minh]

Originally Posted by magnuskn

Well, that was an abrupt, inconclusive and a downer of an abrupt ending. Otherwise the anime was pretty decent. Classical fantasy is not very common nowadays and, ending aside, this was pretty a solid outing. The voice acting wasn't too good in some places (ahem, Nonoria, ahem), but other VA's were pretty solid.

All in all, a solid show with very much wasted potential at the very end. As people above pointed out, this is likely due to it being a game adaptation to lead people to play the game. But still, too bad how it ended.

The funny part is, although King's Raid was superior in most ways, it will very likely get a harsher review from me than this show, because the wasted potential there was about 10 times as much as here. At least Hortensia Saga only really bungled the landing, while King's Raid...yeeesh. Anyway, more on that when that show ends.

I guess I should be glad I never finished King's Raid first episode, then.