(L) Hai to Gensou to Grimmgal

[DemonneoPT]

This was definitily a nice approach to the anime MMO genre. Loved seeing how hard life is for a rookie adventurer in contrast to what we imagine if we were trapped inside a game. I think the best scene in the series was when the main characters tried to kill a single Goblin. It was one of the most intense battles i ever saw and we could actually feel how hard that was (both physically and mentally) for the protagonists. I even felt sorry for the poor Goblin...lol... the little guy was also fighting for his life. Too bad there were no more battles like that and like someone here already said, the final fight against the Death Spot Boss was underwhelming to say at least. The only cool detail about it were those lines Haru can see. Nice skill tho
The characters were not bad but i would prefer if they were a bit older like those other guys in the tavern. Anyway, their drama was fun to watch and it had a solid development, so overall this was a very nice surprise in the season.
It saddens me that certain animes with dubious quality get a second season and Grimgar will be forever forgotten. And the manga is far behind when compared to the anime and looks like there is no one to translate it. There is no justice in this world xD

[Wandering Soul]

I can safely say that I am more than satisfied with the way the anime turned out. It captured the atmosphere and tone of the original source material. It also had great fights that had tension to them. The slow pacing they chose to go with also really helped the characterization for the cast and made them feel more realistic.

[xeviouses]

This was definitely a damn good ride, my only complaints:

- some of the insert songs felt long, sure its to enhance the mood but sometimes they take too much time.

- the sudden shoving HaruXMary down our throats by the anime, I get its to make up for her lack of screen time during the first eps, but couldn't they be subtle about it?

Well aside from those points, 8.5/10 for me.

[monir]

Originally Posted by DemonneoPT

I think the best scene in the series was when the main characters tried to kill a single Goblin. It was one of the most intense battles i ever saw and we could actually feel how hard that was (both physically and mentally) for the protagonists. I even felt sorry for the poor Goblin...lol... the little guy was also fighting for his life.

Same here!!!! I have never seen anything like that in any anime adaptation of mmorpg/rpg genre. I came out so impressed that I looked forward to this show the most since then. This series was special. I especially loved the art style. I just love that style. I am going to miss looking forward to this show each week, so I'm hoping there is a plan for a second season.

[DragoonKain3]

Well, Mystic Eyes of Death Perception FTW? Pretty much expected it TBH, and it's not so much anti-climatic for me as it is so BADLY animated. Like seriously, the Death Spots duel woulda been so good if it wasn't being shown in like 5 frames per second or something. XD

Just fucking love Mary and her reactions to leaving Haru behind. Pretty much every scene before that has them shown together, but her wanting to go after Haru after he fell and the party pulling her way was just so HHHNNNGGGG!

To top it all of? She fucking stole the osananajimi ending of "Tadaima, Okaeri". Yep, Mary, I dub thee honorary osananajimi.

Not a perfect series, not by a long shot, but definitely my favourite anime of the cour. Helps that Konosuba exists in the same cour that made this more enjoyable by contrast, and that Winter season was pretty weak, but together with Iron Blooded Orphans it is the reason why Sundays was my favourite for the past three months. Will definitely be missed.

[PreSage]

Originally Posted by DemonneoPT

This was definitily a nice approach to the anime MMO genre. Loved seeing how hard life is for a rookie adventurer in contrast to what we imagine if we were trapped inside a game. I think the best scene in the series was when the main characters tried to kill a single Goblin. It was one of the most intense battles i ever saw and we could actually feel how hard that was (both physically and mentally) for the protagonists. I even felt sorry for the poor Goblin...lol... the little guy was also fighting for his life.
...

It saddens me that certain animes with dubious quality get a second season and Grimgar will be forever forgotten. And the manga is far behind when compared to the anime and looks like there is no one to translate it. There is no justice in this world xD

I totally agree. That is the one thing that this series stood out for me was the more realistic take of a gaming world. Both sides, goblins and humans alike, fought for their lives and livelihoods.

I really like the last touch with Haru visiting Manato's grave near the end, all by himself. The scene gives a nice concluding feeling to the overall series.

Will there be a second season? The last ep concluded with a "See you tomorrow."? Does that mean anything? Or am I just grasping at straws?

[Friday]

9.5 /10

great.....another good series end.....

[Yamada II]

Episode 12 (Finale)
So Ranta is a stubborn little bastard who doesn't want to die and hence he somehow manages to escape the kobold infested floor. Lol Ranta's only regret was that he didn't touch Yume's boobs. That bastard. Haruhiro and co reach Ranta and kill a few kobolds while distracting the others and they all escape. They get cornered by death spots again and Haruhiro stays behind to let everyone else escape. Those green lines he used to see occasionally help him out here and he kills death spots alone and they all get a 30 gold reward.

This has been a good watch. The slow pacing helped show the kids survive and grow stronger in this dangerous new world, which was one of the things the anime wanted to show. It did a great job there. Manato's death was an issue mainly because I didn't care about him. The other parts relating to how the remaining guys coped with the death was done somewhat nicely, but it could have benefited a lot if they had shown Manato spending time with each party member.

The artwork saw a decline throughout. It wasn't anything to write home about in the beginning, but was at least passable. Things got progressivel less good in the artwork department. The soundtrack was quite good throughout.

One big problem is the lack of development the characters got. Save for Haruhiro and Mary, I don't know and don't care about any other character (except maybe Yume because she's got a nice butt and legs and is cute). Ranta got some time of his own, but the rest, not so much.

My biggest complaint is that they didn't even talk about the fact that these people mysteriously appeared in this strange land without any memories. I mean, didn't this ever cross someone's mind at any point that they don't belong here or why did they come here? Didn't anyone even think of bringing this topic up during any of their random chit-chat sessions? Apart from maybe the first couple of episodes and the occasional mention of the moon being red by Haruhiro, they didn't even talk about this until the last few seconds of this episode. They should have at least mentioned this thing and what these kids think about it.

Anyway, this was an overall good anime. I wouldn't mind this getting a sequel. In fact, it should get a sequel so that the characters may think about the strange world their in and try searching for some answers.

[RDNexus]

Originally Posted by PreSage

Will there be a second season? The last ep concluded with a "See you tomorrow."? Does that mean anything? Or am I just grasping at straws?

"See You Tomorrow" was the title of this last episode.
So no, there are garantees that a Season2 may come around, that's what DemonneoPT was kinda commenting about.

[Benigmatica]

Episode 12:
Glad that Haruhiro survived and killed Death Spots. Not only that, his party earned some respect from fellow Volunteer Soldiers!

While it wasn't perfect, Grimgar sure made it more interesting after Episode 4 or 5. Seeing Haruhiro and his party earning their place thru sheer hardwork and understanding sure is satisfying to watch! Then again, I feel that I won't see another season of this series...

[Craxuan]

Blue Ray for Mary!

[kgrodriguez]

Is it bad that I was nearly in tears as the episode came to an end? I kept on waiting for an announcement of a second season in the end (like IBO did) but, ugh.

I love this series. Was it perfect? Nope. Will it eventually be forgotten by most? Probably. But not me. I hope not me. Like Haru said, there are some things that I dont want to forget.

And while it may felt forced to some, I absolutely love Mary and their pairing with Haru. I really hope there is a 2nd season as one of my reasons is that I want to see them be together.

[Iron Maw]

Heh, well Haru is right, Ranta is nothing if tenacious and... extremely lucky. That Demon familiar though... um are you sure being a Dread/Dark Knight is worth that?

That unexpected one-to-one with the Death Spot and Haru was okay aside from really iffy animation, but within framework of a series which strongly emphasized teamwork and team dynamics to overcome the most difficult trials it's pretty odd for the final fight to end in such a way. On the more positive though it did make for some nice drama, that Haru x Mary probably gave a ton of people cavities.

In the end, Grimgar ranked 2nd within my top 3 of the season, just right below Konosoba and but above Gundam IBO. It's probably by far the most unique take on the trapped an Video Game/MMO I've seen not because of it's concepts itself, but how approaches them. Tossing aside the usual premise of a "Grand Adventure" to instead focus on the day-to-day lives of adventures was certainly ballsy, but intriguing idea. In that sense the show came across like a character study moreso about Haru and how cast and world constantly reflected through his eyes and how it came affect him. That in turn allow Haru himself to connect with the cast and provide some needed character development for quite a of them. To that end the show was brilliantly done.

However it's unique approach to storytelling wasn't without issues. Grimgar's strong SOL nature ended up having it ignore some of the important plot threads such as why they were there in first place which show introduces, but never expands upon. Which lead to the understandable complaints about how aimless this series felt. The world building itself is minimal with only currency talked about in much detail, so much of how anything works (or where territories and like are established) even at the most basic level, is still a mystery. Despite it's character driven nature only 3 of the main characters get any real development (Haru, Mary and Ranta) and while other like Mogozo and Shihhou are kind of just there. In fairness everyone well characterized at least. At a lesser extent the slow pacing wasn't too much of an issue for me since I got what the anime was going for, however I still feel like it didn't always make the best use of its time even then. The scenes where an insert song would pay for like 5-7 minutes while it pans over the town proper and the strangely lengthly awkward pauses between characters during conversations in particular were the main culprits of this. Not because their were bad in itself, but they happened a little too frequently which interpreted any given episode's general pacing and forced things to a crawl.

Overall though, Grimgar was ultimately stronger than sum of it's parts for me. Aesthetics were unique beautiful (Mary's dream in episode 11 was drop dead amazing) and the animation was consistently good. The characters were pretty fun and likable for the most part, even my impression of Ranta improved in the last 2 or so episodes. I would definitely like to see a 2nd season, partly because I think my gripes would be addressed there and just because I really enjoyed my time with it.

Even without this scored pretty high with me. Overall score 8.75/10.

[Jaden]

I was one of the people in this thread railing on about how there should be a bigger plot and more world-building, given the setting it went with. But after the excellent ending, I felt like the anime managed with its self-containment to be a complete adventure in 12 episodes, true to its own atmospheric style all the way, unlike all the other titles of the season. That has to be worthy of some respect. I'll give it my seal of approval.

[Lenox]

Originally Posted by Iron Maw

However it's unique approach to storytelling wasn't without issues. Grimgar's strong SOL nature ended up having it ignore some of the important plot threads such as why they were there in first place which show introduces, but never expands upon. Which lead to the understandable complaints about how aimless this series felt. The world building itself is minimal with only currency talked about in much detail, so much of how anything works (or where territories and like are established) even at the most basic level, is still a mystery. Despite it's character driven nature only 3 of the main characters get any real development (Haru, Mary and Ranta) and while other like Mogozo and Shihhou are kind of just there. In fairness everyone well characterized at least. At a lesser extent the slow pacing wasn't too much of an issue for me since I got what the anime was going for, however I still feel like it didn't always make the best use of its time even then. The scenes where an insert song would pay for like 5-7 minutes while it pans over the town proper and the strangely lengthly awkward pauses between characters during conversations in particular were the main culprits of this. Not because their were bad in itself, but they happened a little too frequently which interpreted any given episode's general pacing and forced things to a crawl.

Just wanted to point out a few things, the anime only adapts volume one and two of the light novel and removes certain scenes which are relevant to the overarching plot as well as deal with some of the flaws you've stated. So hopefully we get a second season that deals with that

[PreSage]

Originally Posted by xrick

"See You Tomorrow" was the title of this last episode.
So no, there are garantees that a Season2 may come around, that's what DemonneoPT was kinda commenting about.

Ah, I quoted him but completely forgot about that part in his quote when I wrote my post.

Well, that's too bad. I would like to see another season for this series.

[FateAnomaly]

Yup, this is a good show. Although the arguments between Ranta and the rest of the party gets pretty tedious. Mary's background is also rather cliche but acceptable.
My favourite part has to when the take revenge on the goblin party. Goblins, goblins, goblins rain or shine its goblins, goblins, goblins everyday.

[Alf]

The final episode got quite a bit of quality problem, but overall I don't have much to complain beside the fight with Dead Spot. After checking number of animation directors since ep8, it's quite clear that the studio is in living hell to catch up with the schedule. Funny enough, the keyframe only shot that Dead Spot got defeated kind of worked. I'll wait for the BDs to fix the problems. Yes, I'm buying the discs in hope of rising a bit of chance for a 2nd season.

Overall, I really like the pacing and detailed character reactions. There are a lot of insert songs and sometimes it's more than necessary, but overall well used to set moods. Afterall, we won't have an anime for it if not for those songs. The biggest drawback is the lack of background characters for world building, and that narrows the view.

Being grown up with CRPGs, this show is getting me into the everyday life of these games in a realistic manner, which is what an ex-RPGamer could ever ask for. And this has became my favorite of the season despite there are better shows like Rakugo.

[Malicre]

6/10, it was "okay"

[Arya]

Originally Posted by monir

Same here!!!! I have never seen anything like that in any anime adaptation of mmorpg/rpg genre. I came out so impressed that I looked forward to this show the most since then. This series was special. I especially loved the art style. I just love that style. I am going to miss looking forward to this show each week, so I'm hoping there is a plan for a second season.

Second this. The first fight was amazing, the whole episode I'd say, because the aftermath was beautiful as well for me with that awesome song and backgrounds.
I found also the Manato's revenge fight pretty strong, not on par, but close to. Given them it's clear how soloing death Spot fell at the very bottom of the list as the least engaging one. It was worth only for Merry!!! And it was worth for me

There are tons of beautiful moments in this show that made it great to me that it's hard to remember, Merry Haru long walk back under the snow, all the aftermath of the first killing, Yume Haru break moment, Merry dream, ahhh, ok I'll stop here.
I might buy the disks of this one too.

And I'll praise the art style that make it particular and awesome (quality issues apart) , but also the music, to me it's not rare that it is this "detail" that separates a very good show from an awesome one. For me it's a really important factor because it helps me to connect better with the mood, the characters and the story.