Record of Grancrest War (2018)

[グランクレスト戦記]

Director: Shinichi Omata
Studio: A-1 Pictures
Starring: Kentaro Kumagai, Akari Kito, Yuichi Nakamura
Episodes: 24

Synopsis:
A rebellious mage spurns her intended lord to bind herself to a young wanderer who dreams of liberating his homeland.

Impressions:
I seem to recall this series popping up on the periphery of my awareness, but it wasn't until it popped up in the filmography of a seiyuu I was looking into that I dug deeper and saw that the story was by Ryo Mizuno of Record of Lodoss War fame, which was all the incentive I needed to check it out. The original source is a novel series, but you would be forgiven for thinking this is based on a strategy game as this definitely plays out like one. (The game would come later.) This isn't necessarily a bad thing, though like with many games turned into anime, the plot seems to move a little too quickly, not giving us many opportunities to let the scenario breathe and better flesh out the characters. I like the gimmick with the Crests and how they dominate the power balance in the world and the system of mages contracted to the lords. I was initially concerned that Theo would prove to be a weak-willed pawn of Siluca, but he has a nice character arc and a good dynamic with his better half. The supporting cast is also rather good (though I found myself wanting more for several of them). Some of the battle sequences are quite good and we have a few scenes with a noticeable art shift where it looks almost like a different studio came in to show off (once again, not a bad thing, just interesting). It's far from perfect, but if you're looking for a solid classical fantasy story, you should be happy. The margin is a bit narrow, but it had just enough going for it for me to recommend it for your collection.

Rating:
Own It