Posted by OP Sequence
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OP: 「Knew day」 by (K)NoW_NAME
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“Long Day of the Trainee Volunteer Soldier”First Half – Brutal Fighting Treated Like Murder: Hai to Gensou no Grimgar is a tale of two halves – of bloody murder and casual slice of life. While I expected some action in this episode, I didn’t think it would be as great as it ended up being. The art and animation wasn’t as polished this time around, but that worked in its favour when it came to this 6 vs 1 match with the main party against a lone goblin, who was just minding his own business. It’s a funny thing, because killing creeps in your typical MMORPG doesn’t stir much emotion out of you – you kill some low-level monster, you collect your reward, and it spawns in a few minutes’ time for another player to get his loot. Grimgar throws away that mindset and shows what it would be like for everyday teens (or adults, if they’ve been drinking?) would do if they had to kill to make ends meet. While the fight choreography wasn’t the most extravagant, and the many misses and failed strikes showed how bad these noobs are at this, it totally worked; it made the action seem desperate, raw, and stressful. Characters got stabbed, slashed, pinned down, their seemingly dead bodies kicked to the ground, strangled, or stabbed in the face. It was messy. It was bloody. And it was fucking awesome. Unless memory fails me, I cannot think of an anime of this sub-genre that was this brutal when confronted with the reality for killing someone/something else. That little goblin was essentially a neutral creep – he wasn’t harming anyone, but because he had loot that our main characters needed, it became survival of the fittest. Back in the first episode the whole group was told that when you die, you die. That was sort of brushed under the rug, perhaps because that’s how it is in real life. Yet after this episode it’s clear that if something were to go wrong, you may not revive a few seconds later with your memories wiped or with your armour damaged. The threat of death feels very real now, and I can’t wait to see how that is explored in later episodes. Second Half – The Slow Paced, Little Details of Life in Grimgar: The other half to Grimgar is the slice of life – the slow, gradual moments that are drawn out and help set the scene and establish the world these characters inhabit. Personally, I love it. It think it does wonders for the world of Grimgar, and if anyone has read my posts over the the past year or so you will know that I love the little details, and this episode had plenty. As Haruhiro walks through streets of Altana we get a real sense of what life is like for its inhabitants; like seeing the tired warriors sleeping in the shade, the merchants explaining the value of different loots, Mogzo cleaning his blade by the river, or Ranta reflecting on taking his first life. There’s a certain honesty to these moments of downtime, though I must admit, I wasn’t too fond of the episode ending on your typical ‘peeking on the girls in the bathhouse‘ scene. At least we never got to see it on-screen (though perhaps the new OVA – titled Episode 2.5 – will focus on that). If you felt that last week’s episode was too slow, I expect you’ll feel much the same once again. I don’t ever mind a slow-paced show, especially when it’s as picturesque and detailed as this. Heck, how many light novels get a worthy and well-paced adaptation? Rokka no Yuusha is the only example I can think of, but it seems Grimgar may be joining that camp. People are bound to complain that it’s boring and claim that the scene with the insert song was pointless padding, but I love that those making Grimgar are confident in what they’re doing. It’s well crafted, beautiful to watch, and it feels like this is going to be the most realistic and down-to-earth take on the ‘Trapped in the MMO/Fantasy World’ sub-genre that we’ve seen so far. Overview – What’s Next?: Grimgar has definitely divided anime fans. I’ve seen lovers of these sorts of shows claim it’s bland and boring, while others (like myself) appreciate this refreshing approach. But then I’ve seen skeptics enjoying it, while others still think it’s as bad as the rest. Everyone seems to have their own opinion, and though it’s likely to be one of the most popular anime of the winter season, I suspect it will also be one of the more divisive titles. All I know is I’m digging this a lot more than I did for other anime of this sort. And I never expected the fights in this series to be treated like nothing less than murder, giving us the opportunity to focus on the psychological effects that has on the characters. I’m genuinely excited to see what comes next, so you can almost certainly expect to see a post for the third episode this time next week. Full-length images: 01. Preview
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I like what they’re doing here. More series need to be this unapologetic in their delivery. And hell, they are actually cutting a few things to make sure they get all of Vol 1 in 12 episodes, so if this is too slow or dull, never read the source.
And Ranta is still a prick, not even caring that he might’ve killed that poor cat-thing and then going to peek later. He reminds me of guys back in highschool that were always trying to convince anyone that would listen that they were cool. Too bad they need him for DPS.
He is a moron, I hope he dies so they can then realize how not to be an adventurer. Once he made all that noise as they tried to sneak up on the goblin I knew his character is gonna give the party more grief then help.
Delivering the deathblow was needed for Ranta more than the others.
His egotistical nature is very much like the stereotypical internet toughguy, hopefully having a taste of what it is really like matures him a bit.
Kind of looked like he got freaked out by an insect or something, but yeah he’s an idiot.
The second half of the show was absolutely necessary given the tone that the series has adopted. These kids just murdered a living being: something that could clearly think, and clearly didn’t want to die. That had an effect on all of them, not just Ranta who struck the final blows. The second half of the episode was them trying to cope with what had happened, whether through taking a long walk to think, resting on a hill to try to remember that there is still beauty in nature, focusing on duty and small tasks in cleaning weapons and carving a model, going shopping for clothes an accessories just to try to have fun and take your mind off things, going to eat something you haven’t been able to get recently as a rare treat to try to convince yourself that what you’ve done was worthwhile… many things.
They needed that. Killing the goblin shook them to their souls, and they all needed time to process it. Best of all, the show didn’t beat us over the head with it by telling us that’s what they were doing, it just showed us, letting us come to the conclusion naturally.
You spoke my mind. Well said
Just as you say, it’s purposefully slow and allows for reflection. It’s gorgeous to watch, and fits with the tone of the series. Not everyone’s going to appreciate it – I’m sure some people just want an all action/hack and slash MMO-style action like all the rest.
I upvoted this comment when I first read it, but now having read the lower comments I am coming back to respond.
For some reason, almost no one other than Wanderer here seems to have gotten the point of the second half of the episode and how vital it was. It was not slice-of-life. It was coping, and it was coping in the most realistic way, the way we all cope with hard things, by living. If they had just gone home and been fine it wouldn’t have worked, and while they could have had dramatic conversations about coping, that would be less honest.
Very few people deal with grief by having dramatic conversations. You mostly deal with grief by living. The second half was in now way a weird departure from the first half, it was the absolutely integral follow-up to what happened in the first half.
1. im not using the statement that everything is an opinion to make myself seem right
2. i think you missed the point of my initial comment; you making the statement that not liking something doesnt mean it’s bad is a very nebulous one. Just because someone likes something doesnt mean it’s good either. Dont take this the wrong way; im not trying to be rude or anything (just having a discussion) but then my next question is “what’s your point?”, if you’re going to say something like that, how do you then inherently decide whether something is truly bad or not? Your statement is a very weak argument. Then you proceed to say that thinking something is bad just because you dont like it is giving yourself too much power; shouldnt you believe that your opinion has power and worth. I mean after all, you yourself are going out of your way to defend this ep, so then i assume it means you liked it, and if you liked it, then you must have thought it was good…right? And if your saying that the montage wasnt asking anything of us, then why would you say it was a character development piece? that implies that it’s asking us to learn about the characters and be invested in the nuances of their behavior.
The problem i have is that one, the writing hasnt established these characters well enough and it added nothing substantial to the characters. Sure we see the hustle and bustle of the town, but that’s it and even then it lacked impact. You want amazing world-building without dialogue, go watch texhnolyze; that anime didnt miles beyond what this show could ever accomplish. You know what recent anime had an effective montage: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!…it knew that it’s montage was to show how its two main characters were getting acclimated to the world and as each scene goes by, we see them improving themselves economically, having more fun with each passing day, and getting more comfortable with each others company. By the time the montage is over and the MC looks over to our female protagonist, we understand that even though he brought her to this imaginary world out of spite, he now realizes that he is glad that she is by his side. The show doesnt tell you this, but after the montage and the events that preceded it, you are able to see that character progression. The montage goes somewhere; it progresses the relationship of the two leads in a nice way and the pacing doesnt lose a beat. That’s an effective montage.
When evaluating something, It all comes down to a person’s knowledge, how well they can back up their case with facts, and their sense of taste. In this case, when it comes to storytelling mediums, it depends on what the person finds entertaining/what they deem good quality, their ability to recognize good and bad writing, and what they are willing to let go. I already explained in my initial comment why this ep’s second half had weak writing (and why this series in general has weak writing; again the directing saves this show). Again, i get that you’re trying to say that people are quick to jump the gun and call something bad just because they dont like it instead of considering the finer details, but you cant just say that people shouldnt give feel as if their opinion gives them too much power. Just say that more people need to be scrupulous about how they view things. And yea at the end of the day, it does all come down to taste; even the most abhorrent of shows are liked by someone out there (someone thought school days was good…the list goes on)
I’m sorry but i’ll have to agree with Pancakes on this one. The second half was a failure as the characters weren’t fleshed out enough for the viewer to really care and it wasn’t even executed well as we were mostly shown a montage of the markets and nature (didn’t feel immersive, just some generic rpg village backgrounds) which however did look beautiful. I agree with the need to have the slower second half but to me it wasn’t done well. Good idea, bad execution as they say. Next time they should really try to have more character interactions before pulling something like that off because so far it all seems far too pretentious especially with the various tropes laying around.
it all comes down whether you were able to enjoy it or not.
>wasn’t even executed well as we were mostly shown a montage of the markets and nature
The anime is showing you a lot of stuff through its scenes and unless you have some subtitles explain it all, then there’s nothing to get from there?
During the montage, there’s this shot of MC looking at two older tired soldiers sleeping on the street for a few long seconds. What do you think he’s thinking about?.
Then he sees Ranta as he eats a clearly expensive piece of meat. He probably spent his whole cut of the money on that single meal. Shouldn’t he abstain from that and think about long term economy? Or will that meal relief some of the trauma?
If you can’t take anything from scenes like that, then you are watching anime on a very superficial level. This isn’t even 2deep4you, it’s on plain sight.
This is silly. You not enjoying something doesn’t mean it was poorly executed. It just means you didn’t enjoy it (which is fine, but you should always attribute your emotional response to the writer doing a bad job). Beyond that, the montage was character building. Seeing what they each did to deal with the situation established things about them. We learned more about each of them as characters. Some was more concrete (like the seeming hints of a Makoto/shihoru romance) and some was more mysterious (like the warrior carving a freaking airplane, something he shouldn’t remember exists) but we learned something about each character nonetheless.
sorry *shouldn’t*
I think what it comes down to is whether or not you are invested enough in what we’ve seen so far and appreciate the finer details. I can see why some people would prefer the insert song scene to be shorter or that it was too early for a scene like that in only the second episode, but I felt it rather refreshing. I like that it’s found its own pace for the time being. We’ll just have to wait and see how/if that changes with future developments.
@kale ryan “This is silly. You not enjoying something doesn’t mean it was poorly executed. It just means you didn’t enjoy it”
Your statement is a matter of opinion. By you making a statement such as that, it almost becomes difficult to discern whether something in a narrative didnt work because it was badly written or if it just didnt suit the viewers taste. When is it possible to make that distinction in your eyes if not enjoying something doesnt mean it was poorly executed? I get what you’re trying to say: that some people are quick to shout that something was bad on an “objective” level just because they didnt enjoy it; however, realize that literature at the end of the day is subjective, even critiques that take apart stories on their most fundamental level. What makes a critique more “objective” than another is how well that critique is supported by evidence that is based on facts (and even then that’s debatable)
Like Samu said, it all comes down to whether you are invested with everything that has gone down for the past two eps, and in my opinion, the characters have not been written well enough or the world has been fleshed out enough to justify that montage whatsoever. It was a bad decision to do it this early aka bad writing. Trust me, i understand what it’s like to see people shout out “bad writing” when a good amount of viewers dont truly understand what good writing is in relation to bad writing; What makes something in literature fantastic writing versus poor writing; how one defines good directing from bad directing. At most, audiences use their own viewing and reading experiences to make those judgements rather than truly knowing/researching the factual and educational elements of writing good literature/directing a motion picture. Once again, it all comes down to your viewpoint and whether you feel like the story elements worked for you. Subtlety is one of story-telling’s best weapons, however even subtlety means shit if you dont how to use it or if doesnt add anything to your narrative. If it doesnt make the story-telling stronger or it amounts to nothing, then it’s pointless. I see people always throwing around the word “subtle” to sound intelligent but unless it has gravitas, subtlety means nothing
you know, perhaps bad writing is too strong of a phrase for the whole montage thing and the series as a whole; it was more of a misguided decision made worse by the fact that the writing in the series so far has been weak; not bad, just weak. The directing however (again besides the decision to put in the montage) has been what’s saving this series; it’s actually pretty decent all things considered and the montage itself was well directed, just again, it was not yet deserved.
1. nearly everything is an opinion.
2. people use that way too often as an excuse to act as though anything that we say is right and true.
Again, the montage was character-building. It doesn’t need to be ‘earned’ because it wasn’t asking us to care about them based on past experience, it was teaching us about them by showing us how they’re behaving in this situation. It was the ultimate expression of the old ‘show, don’t tell’ version of exposition. A contemporary comparison: the second episode of The Expanse (new space opera tv show) spends most of its run-time on an adrift spaceship with five people that think they are going to die. THAT was unearned. We didn’t know these characters well enough to care if they were going to die, and they were deeply unpleasant. This montage scene isn’t asking anything of us, it was a character development scene without dialogue, that’s all. Would the show have had to ‘earn’ the right to have a conversation about their feelings? Of course not, that’s silly.
There is nothing wrong with not liking something. Believing that because you don’t like something it’s immediately bad is giving yourself too much credit and power. You can just not like something.
@kale rylan
1. im not using the statement that everything is an opinion to make myself seem right
2. i think you missed the point of my initial comment; you making the statement that not liking something doesnt mean it’s bad is a very nebulous one. Just because someone likes something doesnt mean it’s good either. Dont take this the wrong way; im not trying to be rude or anything (just having a discussion) but then my next question is “what’s your point?”, if you’re going to say something like that, how do you then inherently decide whether something is truly bad or not? Your statement is a very weak argument. Then you proceed to say that thinking something is bad just because you dont like it is giving yourself too much power; shouldnt you believe that your opinion has power and worth. I mean after all, you yourself are going out of your way to defend this ep, so then i assume it means you liked it, and if you liked it, then you must have thought it was good…right? And if your saying that the montage wasnt asking anything of us, then why would you say it was a character development piece? that implies that it’s asking us to learn about the characters and be invested in the nuances of their behavior.
The problem i have is that one, the writing hasnt established these characters well enough and it added nothing substantial to the characters. Sure we see the hustle and bustle of the town, but that’s it and even then it lacked impact. You want amazing world-building without dialogue, go watch texhnolyze; that anime didnt miles beyond what this show could ever accomplish. You know what recent anime had an effective montage: Kono Subarashii Sekai ni Shukufuku wo!…it knew that it’s montage was to show how its two main characters were getting acclimated to the world and as each scene goes by, we see them improving themselves economically, having more fun with each passing day, and getting more comfortable with each others company. By the time the montage is over and the MC looks over to our female protagonist, we understand that even though he brought her to this imaginary world out of spite, he now realizes that he is glad that she is by his side. The show doesnt tell you this, but after the montage and the events that preceded it, you are able to see that character progression. The montage goes somewhere; it progresses the relationship of the two leads in a nice way and the pacing doesnt lose a beat. That’s an effective montage.
When evaluating something, It all comes down to a person’s knowledge, how well they can back up their case with facts, and their sense of taste. In this case, when it comes to storytelling mediums, it depends on what the person finds entertaining/what they deem good quality, their ability to recognize good and bad writing, and what they are willing to let go. I already explained in my initial comment why this ep’s second half had weak writing (and why this series in general has weak writing; again the directing saves this show). Again, i get that you’re trying to say that people are quick to jump the gun and call something bad just because they dont like it instead of considering the finer details, but you cant just say that people shouldnt give feel as if their opinion gives them too much power. Just say that more people need to be scrupulous about how they view things. And yea at the end of the day, it does all come down to taste; even the most abhorrent of shows are liked by someone out there (someone thought school days was good…the list goes on)
I think my favorite part about Grimgar is not only the slice of life elements but also how immersive it feels. These characters feel like they’re in a genuine world (with a fantasy aspect of course). They have to cook for themselves, clean, train, even go so far as to kill monsters in cold blood in order to survive. Its kind of crazy how it feels having these guys to survive the game firsthand, without any references or memory, makes me feel excited but also worry for these characters.
Back to the episode, my favorite scene, definitely the one where they had to kill the goblin, giving that sense of danger and adrenaline, and highlighting that important detail that even goblins have a desire to live.
Really nails the irony of them being called “volunteer soldiers”, since given how the show seems to suggest they were basically abducted to a strange land, had their minds wiped, and told this was the only job they could get, I can’t really call much of what they’re doing “voluntary”.
I don’t know anything at all about this series but in the back of my head I’m wondering if they are in Heaven/afterlife?
It gives that feeling just a bit. Can’t guess yet, but what I notice from their habits/personalities is that none are hinted to come from happy backgrounds. Yume eating food too fast, Ranta always ready to fight, Manato saying that he felt like he was born to be yelled at, Shihoru being so timid she’ll cry at teasing; it all comes across as signs of abuse, even without the memories. We don’t know anyone else, though, so it’s hard to know what to take from that idea.
That’s an interesting point. There’s definitely some subtle things going on under the hood here. Even what little we saw of the other party didn’t seem like traditionally ‘good’ people. I believe I mentioned in the last review but there’s something slightly GANTZ-ish about it (I don’t think Gantz purposely picked broken people, but it always worked out that way).
Its a feeling of ‘this is normal’.
Damn that goblin scene……. is he a member of the group in episode 1 because that is sad. I’m imagining it having happy thoughts.
I think he might have been one of the ones at the end of last episode that we saw laughing with his fellow goblin friends/family. It’s kind of remarkable (and sad) how they managed to humanise an NPC like that despite only seeing him on-screen for 3-4 minutes.
I think a big part was how it showed that they were the aggressors. They weren’t jumped on a walk or patrol, they stalked the gob and took it out. There isn’t a choice, it’s all they’re given the option of doing for work, but it still feels like they were put on the side of invaders.
Not only did they stalk it and take it out, IT TRIED TO RUN. They murdered a creature that wasn’t trying to kill them, and was running for its life.
I’ve been liking the gradual pacing and how desperate and grim that fight was. When our little huntress shouted when they were scouting, it was pretty cringe worthy, and was only partially made up by that magnificent ass shot (the girl doesn’t seem to be starving just yet).
The montage in this episode was rather jarring and it felt too early for such a thing and it was just… awkward. There are other ways they could have shown stuff around the city gradually as the show went on. I suppose it was still okay but…it just felt so awkward.
As for the peeping scene… well I guess that’s Ranta’s way of coping. Basically he’s still too bothered about the kill/fight to sleep but doesn’t want everyone else to know it or even deal with it himself. I guess it’s a distraction.
Still, I’m liking this show so far, and the stakes are getting quite high and they’re getting desperate. They know they still suck, they know they’re have a hard time just killing, and they’re scared, especially knowing they’ll have to do it again.
This review/comments section seems to be largely missing the point of the second half except for Wanderer up there who explained it spot-on (other reviews I’ve read got it in one).
That wasn’t a slice of life scene. It was a coping scene. That was everyone reacting to and processing the fact that they were murderers. It was vital to the plot.
And yeah, Ranta’s a prick. But while he is the most unlikable character on the show, he’s at this point the most interesting and fleshed out. Ranta is a prick on purpose, or at least he seems to be. He is shown repeatedly already to have emotional reactions when things go to far, whether it’s messing with Shihoru last time or having to horrifically murder the goblin. He’s the rather hard-edged class clown that I’m sure a lot of us knew growing up who does bad things mostly to get a reaction, not because they’re actually a bully.
The first half was very well done, funny, tragic, and tense.
The second half could have been good – it made a decent effort to show them
dealing with the stress of combat and killing for the first time – but it was shot down by two elements:
(A) The lack of background animation in the montage combined with the slow music showed up the show’s limited budget, as we slowly panned over a village seemingly frozen into still life. Normally I’ve no problem ignoring the limited animation of TV, but the way they directed this was just painful to watch. (The second half of the montage, with the girls, was better as the way it was “shot” gave the scenes more life).
(B) A lame stereotypical “peeking” scene that was just a waste of time with both the guy and the girls following tired anime stereotypes that had no place in this sort of show.
I wonder if the show will continue with an “A” side and a “B” side? Perhaps it should have been a 15-minute anime.
Man, that was the most savage goblin kill I’ve ever seen. The show really managed to hammer in its struggle for life and the desperation both sides experienced in trying to take the other down. Yeah, I can see this won’t be your average ‘hacky-slashy-kill-I’m-a-hero!’ type show.
That said, I do think they overdid it a bit in the second half. At least with the song; the montage was a bit too long and I feel there could’ve been more interesting ways to show off the slice-of-life moments.
Regardless, with this episode this show stands a good chance of making it past my three episode-rule.
I thought there was a deep message between the two halves of this episode.
First, the battle against the lone goblin minding his own business, and the
stark contrast of what the goblin won’t be doing later — the casual slice of
(goblin) life that he won’t enjoy because his life was ended for no reason.
Second, (at least from what I got) was that the victors had no remorse for his loss.
Oh, they were shaken, but not remorseful. Boy, talk about a Anime generating
empathy for a goblin – even Shinsekai Yori didn’t pull that off as effectively
with their rat people (or whatever they were called).
I wonder if they’ll harden their hearts or something different will emerge for
them instead of killing apparently innocent beings…
You could argue that this is population control for a dangerous beast that could be a threat, or you could call it murder for profit. The party seems to choose the first because it’s what they need to do to eat, and don’t seem to have the luxury of finding a different path. I would like a better sense of why this is necessary enough to have an entire organisation devoted to it, though, and why newcomers are forced to take this role.
It was really visceral the part that got to me was the look of fear and desperation on his face on his last ditch effort to get away. then cut to his cries while getting killed. this was an intelligent sentient being with comrades that be missing him in their next campfire drinking party.
RIP goblin #3
Ah, the kill or be killed philosophy?
I hope I’m not going too off topic here, but I just recently finished playing an indie RPG called Undertale. Its a unique gem in the sense that you can have different storylines by either being a regular player, or a bloody murderer killing everyone you meet, or a strong pacifist trying to make peace not war with everyone instead.
Watching this anime right after, it sure does give rise to a few topics worth pondering.
1) Could the protagonists have tried been friends with the goblin and & subsequent monsters instead?
(They did after all attack first instead of trying a harmless approach)
2) Makes you wonder how the monsters view humans then.
(The episode end card being a good example)
https://randomc.net/image/Hai%20to%20Gensou%20no%20Grimgar/Hai%20to%20Gensou%20no%20Grimgar%20-%2002%20-%20Large%20End%20Card.jpg
3) Could peace ever be achieved between the humans and non-humans, if the human economics of hunting them wasn’t a factor?
They gain no gold making the peace with goblins. And Ranta will not gain vices for summon a demon…
Put me down as another who likes what Grimgar is doing. Taking a slow, reflective pace is exactly what I wanted out of this series and it most definitely did that this week.
One thought I had about the drinking part… do they actually know their own ages? Manato and Haruhiko didn’t seem to be thinking at all about whether they could drink or not, but just if they already had or not. Alternatively, they might know their ages like they do their names but the concept of a legal drinking age has been wiped from their minds like many other memories of our world.
Yup, drinking age is very subjective, and country/culture-focused. I grew up in Mexico where the “legal” age is 18, but pretty much drank at all parties from 14 onward, and we started going to bars and nightclubs at 15. Going to college in the US afterwards was annoying. Thank god for fake IDs 🙂
I’m of the opposite opinion here, the second half of the episode was a directorial failure. IMO it was poorly placed, dragged on too long, and relied heavily upon visuals when we have yet to grow any serious attachment to the characters. The montage for me felt upbeat and “background”–rather than the characters actively dealing with the actions they committed, we received a direct view of Grimgar’s markets for a good five minutes. Character reflection was reduced too much to us passively scraping it from the (albeit wonderful) scenery. Although the segment was necessary, I would argue for placing it (the market exploration) at the start of the episode and ending the episode with the goblin’s death. More impact that way, especially if things ended with Ranta breaking down.
As .hack//SIGN shows, slow, meandering shows are not always bad, but they require delicate handling. Grimgar’s adaptation so far is trying too hard in artistically getting its message across, abandoning dialogue too soon in favour of (arguably) pretentious visual displays. Such a strategy this early is not good for hooking the viewer IMO, as beyond Ranta none of the characters have received much fleshing out besides names and roles. The audience can draw conclusions, but has no direct and lasting involvement–the catharsis is mitigated.
Now this isn’t to say I dislike Grimgar, quite the opposite. If the show can better organize its scenes/kairos and develop its pathos then we are likely looking at one hell of a hitter for this season. So far though, Grimgar is disjointed, with (at least for me) all the right parts in all the wrong order. Nevertheless, however, I am looking forward to the next episode if that foreshadowing of a dungeon raid is true.
thaaaankyou…i love slow pacing..but it has to amount to something; it has to have nuanced with purpose. That whole 5 min montage in the town was so out of left field and undeserved. If we got more of the struggles from our protagonist throughout the series, then the montage would have fit better but it was so unnecessary here. It was nice but it didnt fit
don’t forget the insert song that unnecessary long it ruins the mood
To be fair, the song may have worked better for Japanese viewers who could follow the lyrics.
The fact that most pro-subs are unable or unwilling to license song lyrics continues to be annoying but inevitable element involved in getting time-of-release translations, but it is especially troublesome when a song is a major element of a particular episode.
(Please let us get song translations when the new Macross series arrives this spring…)
Grimgar’s definitely the darker version of Log Horizon.
So its confirmed the anime will only cover Vol 1?
With the current pace and all there is in Vol 1 I really don’t see how they could get farther. Definitely won’t finish Vol 2 at any rate, so I don’t see why they’d start in on it when Vol 1 has a good end-point.
I think now we will see the next episodes be more fast pace. From now there is mostly combat and they can show them faster, because the players will learn how to be more effective. I guess that book one will end at episode 6 and the second half will be book 2.
So, next episode will be some goblin fights and Show Spoiler ▼
I’m not going to drop this series, but for now i’ll just put it on hold indefinitely until i feel like going back into it. For now plenty of things just don’t work for me. The series spent way too much time meditating the consequences of characters, each of whom are neither engaging or interesting enought, whose dialogues and interactions kept being dull and dragged on for too long, while their consistently somber mood just killed any chance of them being anything tolerable. But what really murdered the series for me is the pacing; so much time has passed but so little things have been accomplished, which is a complete no-no. I want my fantasy series to be a escapist that’s full of sense of awe and wonderment, with engaging characters and story. But this series has almost none of that, not so far.
I think that you hit on the key problem with the show.
The characters have no real character.
The male characters default between “bland” and “bland but a bit macho/annoying”
The female characters default between “a bit clumsier than the male characters but otherwise bland”
Without decent characters, it doesn’t matter what other clever stuff you do. And these characters just aren’t very interesting.
The show is also uncertain as to whether it wants to be able first level RPG characters (various tropes) or whether it wants to take a realistic look at issues such as conscript soldiers and the mental cost of killing. I guess it can do both, but the latter suffers when you have silly stuff like the RPG job character class setup of episode one.
Complaining that characters have no character at episode 2, or in LN terms first few pages of volume 1, is downright ridiculous and pulling the straws. The quality of a character depends on their character development, and that’s something you don’t get until the story progresses, especially if the pace is slow (and Grimgar is very slow in comparison to other LN adaptations).
They need to make the characters interesting first before anything else. Why should I care for these noobs at all? Their personalities are horrifically shallow and as a result of this both their conversations as well as dynamics with each other are just muted. This weird emotionless default the show has makes everything completely unengaging and inevitably boring.
I mean, don’t get me wrong. I love what the show is doing. The entire conflict they tried to play up with the goblin and the dreary melancholy that followed soon after was fantastically executed but the characters themselves are just begging for improvement. It was about the characters and the harsh reality they’re in but I genuinely feel that the show blew its load too soon (and it’s only on episode 2). It had a far too premature exploration of its cast.
Personally, it’s the amnesia that brings the entire thing down. I doubt the mystery was going to be interesting either way so just write characters who are denizens of that world in the first place. Characters with their own motivations that doesn’t amount to just surviving. Granted, simple survival is a good enough motivation for a story about underdogs like this and I guess everybody loves a good trope breaker of the usual in-another-world fantasy gimmick.
Everything else but the characters are fantastic.
Eh. It’s okay but I hope it gets better.
Being amnesiac foreigners to this world is of vital importance to the plot.
Very few people that don’t spend significant time living in another country appreciate this, but very little in our lives is legitimately new and surprising, because most of us live out our lives in the same surroundings we grew up in. We’re worked into everything at a reasonable pace as we grow.
This is why fish out of water stories are so popular, they allow the characters to react to a world or setting or situation in its entirety in a way real people rarely get the opportunity (unless they move countries or maybe go to war or something). People from this world would not have need an episode to process killing a goblin because they would have grown up accepting that killing goblins is just what you do.
The amnesia in this case is a bit of a trope, but it also makes everything more immediate. They have no basis of self from which to argue against the world around them. They go with the flow to an extent because the flow is the only thing they know. This allows their reactions to be very surprising to themselves because they don’t know themselves.
There’s nothing wrong with not liking a plot, but that doesn’t mean the elements that someone doesn’t like aren’t vital to the story that is being told.
It’s quite possible to combine “foreigner with amnesia” with “has an interesting character.”
There’s a lot of literary precedent (e.g., Zelazny’s Nine Princes in Amber). But even in a TV show, the recent sy-fi channel DARK MATTER, while only a okay series, at least bothered to give its six amnesiac characters – who didn’t even have names – individual and modestly distinct personalities that were identifiable within the first hour of action.
This show, unfortunately, doesn’t really make that effort.
Eh, same as before – mixed bag. There’s definitely something I like about the series – the “realistic RL people go to RPG world” theme, but can’t say I’m enthralled with how this is playing out. The “goblin murder” itself was a mixed bag. Fair enough that some would have psychological trouble in that situation, but for me the scene was undermined by noobs being NOOBS!!! I guess it’s only one day(???) after Ep. 01, BUT, if this is really their last chance before they run out of money (maybe I’m wrong on that), then you’d think that they’d come up with more of a plan than “find a goblin alone, sneak up on it, ???, profit”. I guess the ??? is shout while your “sneaking up” on it before Ranta does his Leeroy Jenkins impersonation. How about Yume (hunter) take a bow shot from what, less than 10m (5m?)? That can work as the attack signal, and she might get lucky and one-shot it. As it was, Haruhiro is lucky to be alive.
The second half song montage had some nice scenery porn, but went on far too long. IMO, it wasn’t particularly effective either. The anime made a BIG deal about the impact the “goblin murder” had on at least a good chunk of the cast. For one, Shihoru fainted at the end, and Yume appeared quite upset as well. So how did they deal with their “trauma”? Went window shopping. Huh? I guess they got over the “shock” easy enough. Same with Haruhiro for that matter. I did, however, like how they handled
LeeroyRanta. Eating at the stall was set up last episode, and at least he seemed to be actually struggling a bit to come to terms with his shock.I have to agree with others that right now the characters are a weak point. I still have no attachment to any of them (and Ranta annoys me even more) except perhaps a slight favorable impression for Manato since he appears to be actually doing something to improve the situation and putting for a modicum of thought into it. That time spent on the song insert montage could have been used to help give some slight amount of depth to the cast beyond Haruhiro. Same goes for the comedy(?) ending with peeping on the girls. That wasn’t long, but again time which could have been spent better IMO.
I’ll table my issues with the amnesia plot line (such as it is) though clearly they remember some things. However, even just looking at the current situation, this group seems too laid back as a whole. If I was in that party, I would be very concerned about my survival. Haruhiro gives some mental lip service to that, but it’s just that. “Well, I guess today wasn’t bad”. First, again, guess he really did get over any “goblin murder trauma”.
Second, NO, it was bad. If the goblin had better aim, you might have had a dagger sticking out of your throat. There was no group coordination, and individual competence is anything but. If (as I actually expected), the goblin screaming it’s head off as everyone just stood around (WHY does Yume even have a bow? SHOOT!) had brought other goblins to the rescue or some random, more powerful monster, the entire party might have died. It’s progress by the smallest of measure, and if the characters can’t be bothered to show some real concern, why should I?
TL:DR = I’m definitely in for another episode, and probably the entire run. That being said, in retrospect, this is kind of a frustrating watch because while I can see how the premise could make for a really good story, execution and other flaws are taking a significant toll. :/
They are n00bs. They have no idea about group strategy. Episode 1 we had the mage being attacked because no one was defending her. Tank don’t know how to be really effective. Dark Knight is an idiot that made a Leeroy Jenkins. Hunter cannot hit with a bow. And they made the thief start combat, when he need be behind the mob for backstab.
Show Spoiler ▼
@João Carlos: I understand what you’re saying. They are noobs, but noobs =/= well, stupid or perhaps lazy as well. They’ve had disastrous results up until now (and IMO this was barely successful). They did realize that they needed to take on only one goblin – so there’s some thought process going on. Manato was at a bar collecting some information/tips unless I’m mistaken. He’s at least doing something. I think there’s been a statement about how they don’t work as a team. Haruhiro mentioned that they “probably should have decided upon a signal”. Yeah, they should have – again, there’s some modicum of thought/planning here, so why not more? Why not a party meaning to show they are trying to think of how to correct the situation? We’ve seen more about chores and food preparation than concern and thought about how to survive battles.
The issue is not that they are unskilled noobs (I actually like that part), but that there’s no discernible sense of urgency and PROACTION as a result beyond a few lip-service statements. No party co-ordination, poor skills, past attempts failing miserably? Again, WHAT are they doing about it beyond “let’s try again and hope it works out”? If they are doing something, show me, because otherwise as given, the answer seems to be “pretty much nothing”. That’s not the type of reaction I would expect for the situation.
I’m lead to believe the situation is dire. They have NO other choice than to do this (“volunteers” my ass). Can’t try to be a blacksmith or merchant or something. They are running out of money and food is a concern. It’s at survival level, yet the characters seem way too laid back in their actions and overall attitude. I’m NOT asking for histrionics, panicking, etc. but show me something beyond what we’ve seen thus far. Like I said, they don’t seem to really care so why should I?
Couple last points. In terms of Yume, if she can’t hit a fairly large stationary target from that distance after some training then either she needs to practice/train a LOT more (again show me she’s worried about her lack of skill/survival) or perhaps even pick a new class if she still sucks. Regardless, close, unaware stationary target? Isn’t that “Hunting 101”? She did get some training – right? Take the freaking shot! As for Ranta, I’m curious to see if he continues his Leeroy Jenkins ways because if he does, I would expect someone to say something about that since it risks the entire party.
Correction/typo. First paragraph: “Why not a party meeting (not meaning] to show…”
Just one Goblin and they are like fighting a Dark Souls boss.
Don’t you know? You never split the party!
Clerics in the back to keep those fighters hale and hearty,
The wizard in the middle, where she can shed some light,
And you never let that damn thief out of sight…
There must be something i’m missing here and if someone could help me out it’d be great. Without having read the original source, am i suppoed to understand the setting and the background of the characters or has it not been fleshed out in the anime adaptation yet? As good as these two episodes have been i still can’t see why there’s been close to no world building yet. Is this supposed to remain a mystery?
Thanks in advance.
They don´t remember their past and from what world they come. And they have no information about Grimgar world except that they need kill monster for living. Remember that they don’t remember what is a “game”, so they cannot use references from fantasy worlds that we all know because they do’t remember it.
Show Spoiler ▼
Unlike nearly every other LN out there, Grimgar doesn’t shoehorn exposition and infodump, so you’re not going to understand the bigger picture yet – we only know as much as the characters. For the time being I don’t think you need to know anything more than this little town and them try to get past on the bare minimum.
Show Spoiler ▼
I remember a time when even if you were a lvl0. a simple goblin wasn’t this difficult, as a young nice guy called Parn in Record of Lodoss War showed us in the past (and barely with equipment, mind you). Fast forward to 2016 and a fully-equipped party barely could defeat one without incurring in heavy injuries and the most pathetic DPS of a Magic Missile I’ve ever seen. What?
I understand the intention for the trauma post-combat for the fact that the party has just been brought from Earth to Grimgar, but if they barely remember something about their past lives, the issue becomes null until the whole idea behing Grimgar is explained. Besides, the light SoL of the 2nd part makes the trauma went away in a matter of half a day. What?
The trauma needs go away or they cannot continue to kill monsters for gain money. They had no other option than deal with trauma, each one its way.
To continue making comparisons to .hack//sign.
This reminds me of the episode where Tsukasa (the person trapped in the game) was asked to take care of someone’s ingame pet for a few days, but when discovering that the pet has a life threatening illness, does all his best to acquire the medicine but fails to in the end, as he arrived with the medicine a few seconds before it dies : The medicine not having enough time to start the effect. Tsukasa commented that when the animal snuggled to Tsukasa before its final breath mentioned that the animal was warm. Or the other time when Tsukasa was actually killed in-game, feeling all the pain before being respawned. Both are experiences that further Tsukasa’s anti-social behavior and depression in the game
Hack//Sign had only three good things going for it:
The Music. The Art. And (maybe) The Ending.
That said, the music was _so good_ that the entire series was worth while just for that. Didn’t buy the anime, but I sure bought the CDs…
In the end of the episode, when the thief guy rises from the bed, some kind of liquid drops near his legs. Does anybody know what was that?
That was not Liquid. This is some Straw out of his bed
https://randomc.net/image/Hai%20to%20Gensou%20no%20Grimgar/Hai%20to%20Gensou%20no%20Grimgar%20-%2002%20-%20Large%2020.jpg
I guess people react to brutality and death differently. Here in my part of the world, watching another person get snuffed is only disturbing the first few times (and yes, i consider that goblin as a person). It gets easier after a while.
What part of the world has both brutal murder common in the streets and the high-speed internet connection necessary to watch anime and then blog about it? This seems a bit strange.
His Gravatar lists the Philippines. Not sure if that meets the quota, though.
The south part of the Philippines is home to terrorists, warlords, drug lords and a city that has its very own (unofficial) deathsquad which makes a habit of going for those listed above. Let’s just say I’ve seen my share of people dying through out my short life here on earth.
I just happen to find the protagonists’ reaction weird. Is it really that shocking to kill someone?
But then again, I blame the environment I grew up in as the main culprit for my different view in life.
Bloody hell that was amazing! The episode really drove home just how gritty it is to kill a living being, and handled the aftereffects incredibly realistically. I’m really just blown away by this show, I love the realism, direction, characters (yes, even Ranta), and all the little details they pack into the show, like the Paladin carving a wooden F-16!
https://randomc.net/image/Hai%20to%20Gensou%20no%20Grimgar/Hai%20to%20Gensou%20no%20Grimgar%20-%2002%20-%2032.jpg
On a less serious note, so, how many adventurers does it take to kill a goblin?
Love the IN song(does anyone know the artist/title for that one?) But it takes too much time
I wouldn’t really mind if this series got like 20+ episode but its the usual 12 episode so every little time is important XP
I’m idiot >.< never mind the question there LOL
Hi Samu. Stellar review again, we seem to have similar tastes.
I love slow exposition and details, and I think this episode was great…. But. I didn’t think the song was spot on, and the second part of the episode was missing a certain something. It was good, but it could’ve been executed better. Also, I wish they left the bath bullshit entirely in the OVA completely.
And the goblin murder was absolutely one of the more disturbing kills (where you’re supposed to root for the aggressor) I’ve seen in ages, if ever.
on a less related note. when you have a series with so many comments being seriously discussed like this you know they are doing something right.
Damn!! at least one person using spear and shield please..
what’s this?? a thief, a berserker(dark knight) and a heavy knight using two handed sword like a spear T_T
That fight was handled quite well – brimming with inexperience and just being messy and bloody. Nothing elegant about it. I was actually scared that one of them would be killed during the fight, acting as a reality check on what they’re getting themselves into.
Thats what in real life. First experience killing living being made tremendous inadequate mental prepared, both psychologically and military for starter in the combat duty. Not just a simple highschool student anime can do that in real life.
Soldiers need to cope fast or they die.
It is rarely if ever that simple. You may have heard of a little thing called PTSD? Killing people messes with a lot of people. ‘Coping’ isn’t always easy.
Really nice episode, and I really enjoy the slow approach this series is taking on. It feels as if we’re in the world, not just being shown plot points and action scenes after another (which is great as long it’s not rushed), but this slow mix of peaceful and violent mix is a refreshing feel that feels unique. Really looking forward to see where this goes. Man winter season is jacked this season. So many good to amazing series to look forward to!
PS. I don’t know how well adapted Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon is, but I heard it was another anime that adapted the LN really well 😛
I can’t comment on Kyoukai Senjou no Horizon since I dropped it after the 2nd episode, but Stilts is your man to ask since I heard he rather likes that series~
Mmmmh it seems that my expectation from this anime rise up after watching this 2nd Ep. The way the Author put it didn’t change though, still feel too calm, but I think that it has in itself some charm as the anime feels like a melodramatic show. At first I thought that it was the typical trapping game anime in a more boring way, but it appears that I was mistaken: what I found really interesting here is the philosophy rising from “The killing itself”. Yes in it’s own way it’s not really that unique to see that kind of thing in anime, but here the Author state it by using a “GAME Background” and that made it feel like a game where there are MOBS and BOSS. But those ones are actually living being who live their life for a purpose, for a dream, for a desire, just like “US” human. SO “how do we feel when we know that what we kill are just like us human? They didn’t pose any threat to us directly so why do we kill them? Because to survive we must kill, just like we kill animals for food?” That’s right we must kill if that’s the way to survive, that goes for human or animals, and it’s in that way that a “NEVER ENDING CYCLE OF HATRED IS BORN”, even if some may say they want to kill it/him because it/he killed one of my friends/relative, noone is really RIGHT in their own purpose, because BOTH SIDE DO IT IN A RIGHTFUL SUBJECTIVE WAY, and that is for self-defense or for survival. Tell me, if you were a Goblin who were a friend of that killed Goblin, what will you do?
Well my impression at first was low in this Anime but I think that after watching this 2nd Ep I’ll stick to it to see how will it end.
I like this anime, whether its arts or charecters, I liked the song part but I feel it felt like it dragged long and the episode ended so calmly I’m wondering what to expect in the next episode.
Mostly when something ends calmly, I know I should from now on expect it to get harder in the future. I like it, I’ll definitely keep watching it.
when ranta kills the poor goblin, “Kanashimino no mukou e” is automatically playing on my mind
Definitely better than the first episode, although I still find the execution for slower paced events to be lacking. I however appreciate all the details shown in gestures/movements during goblin fight, and at least that time I think they got everything right.
Everything should be better at least if they keep developing the characters, although it may be too slow (and few characters are requiring tons of development to make them interesting and likeable), but it might get there at one point.
I’ll just comment on the second part of the episode since it seems very few actually like it. It is, quite literally an example of show and not tell. It clearly shows that they are in a living, breathing world. That really makes me doubt that this is an RPG of some sort. I’d say they’re in another world/dimension. Another thing it did was give me more insight on our five characters. It reinforced some of my earlier assumptions and added some more. The coping mechanism they use after their first mission and also how they view others. Some of it rather obvious, while others are rather vague (what was Haru thinking while looking at that soldier). What it did, for me, was raise my interest in these five characters.
I really enjoyed this episode. Loved the flow and it ended with a good laugh. Probably how Haruhiro and Manato actually felt throughout the episode.
Thank you.
This is one of those times when you really realize how impossible it is to please everyone. SO MANY reviews harp on how you need to show and not tell, show and not tell, then a show comes along and does just that, establishing personality, romance, mystery, friendships, and behavior, in a sequence with no dialogue, and a bunch of people start saying that they need to tell us more before they do something like this. Okay, I give.
You know in games you start at level one.
These guys are like in the negative levels 😛
A rather real fantasy instead of fantasy fantasy.
Feels like a slice of fantasy life so far, wonder if theres a goal/main plot?
Will the series end with a “life goes on” ending?
As usual with these nowadays, it’s based on an (unfinished I assume) LN series, so the series simply won’t have an ending.
@iron2000
The LN is not finished, at volume 7 now. With so low level our heroes don´t will deal with the main plot soon. However, Show Spoiler ▼
Take note that they will need be higher level for enter main plot. The volumes are named based in levels, so volume 1 is named “Level 1”, volume 2 is named “Level 2” and so goes. If max level is 20, there are a lot of volumes before the end.
the ginger guy is too annoying for me to keep watching this show
I really like how refreshing and strangely relaxing this is. Just sit there and let you get dragged in.
Also I <3 the braid over shoulder look. <3 Yume.
The art in Grimgar are so good. I also didn’t like the peeking scene. That was unnecessarily and kind of ruined the feeling the slice of life scene build up.