Grimgar, Ashes and Illusions: The Complete Series [Blu-ray]

Grimgar quickly became one of my favorite shows I’ve seen. I definitely enjoyed it more than death note, full metal alchemist brotherhood, is it wrong to try to pick up girls in a dungeon, Sword oratoria. This has in my opinion the best voice acting all the voices fit each character perfectly and the execution and emotion is fantastic. I love the characters too and they all are very realistic which is rare. The realistic aspect of the show is one of the things that elevates this show above others. Seeing the characters struggle to survive is kinda new to me especially compared to Sword Art Online which focuses on an expert. Early on you get to see a very cool scene that exemplifies the realism I’m talking about. Ranta is a bigmouth who talks big about what he is capable of but when he finally stabs the goblin you get to see a very refreshing reaction that I think most shows never let you see. I just think that if these types of shows were to actually happen this is a very realistic look at how people would really progress. And all the characters change and I know people who are like every single character and they did a great job of giving them specific personalities without taking traits to extremes. The ending song is also amazing and you get some serious emotion from it. This is also an incredibly emotional show and for being only 12 episodes it feels like it tells a full story is never rushed and isn’t too slow. But I am desperately hoping they do another season! Being only 12 episodes is the only thing that keeps me from saying I like it better than sword art online. I personally like grimgar better than even the first arch of sword art online but because there are more seasons and they are all good I give Sword Art Online the edge overall, but grimgar is definitely one of my favorites and to me I probably should rank it ahead of Sword Art Online but I’m not ready to give a definitive. For those wondering there is some mild language but it’s not too bad, the violence is there but as I’ve said in other reviews I don’t think violence is a reason to keep anyone from watching, and lastly there isn’t too much sexual stuff, there is one minor character dressed in a pretty inappropriate way but other than that it’s more just camera shots/angles of rear ends and some inappropriate “flat chest” comments from the character that is an insecure jerk, but really I would say if you are ok with your kid seeing a PG-13 movie then there shouldn’t be any issues with this. Again, I need a season 2!I had to add that some people complain it is slow. I don’t really understand that as it moves at a perfect speed in my opinion. I mean they are amateurs at best so getting to see everything they go through is part of the development. If you like fast pace then sword art online is probably more up your alley where they scale countless amounts of floors between episodes and you only see a handful of boss battles. But he’s a stud top player so it would be boring to watch him destroy every boss and enemy, but this is completely different and I don’t care how “slow” you think this is I don’t understand how you can’t enjoy it. This is another reason I feel like grimgar appeals to me more than Sword Art Online cause I liked the pacing of grimgar. I also didn’t mention but it’s worth reiterating what basically everyone says that the animation is amazing, if nothing else the visuals are worth watching. It’s kinda interesting though cause there are times where it looks awkward and very “watercolorish” but looking back it seems to be at transition times and then it slowly fades to perfection. Like the very first minute or so kinda had a clashy animation style and I was unsure about it, but then without me realizing where it changes I was super impressed how great the background animation was.

When I bought Grimgar, I was hoping that if nothing else, I would at least enjoy it. Imagine my surprise when, having finished the series over a couple of days, it has become one of my favorite anime releases this year.Grimgar's story focuses on a group of teenagers who awaken in a fantasy world; none of them have any memory of who they are or even where they came from before arriving in this mysterious world. They decide to band together in order to survive in this place, and to that end they begin learning skills and traits that correspond with classic RPG roles such as thief, hunter, mage, priest, etc. One thing I love about the story is how little exposition we're offered; while it seems these characters are trapped in a game, the only thing that hints at that is how they progress and update their skills. The show doesn't waste time trying to figure that out, though, and I must say it works better because of it.One thing that I feel the show deserves high praise for is in how vulnerable it makes the main characters feel. In an early episode, when trying to kill a lone goblin, each character struggles when trying to bring it down. The goblin puts up quite a fight, and each character feels legitimately frightened and eventually guilty about cutting its life short. I highlight this scene because it pulls off what a lot of anime try (and often fail) at trying to portray; our heroes as vulnerable and scared human beings as opposed to supermen.Character development is also something that I feel the show handles fairly well. Granted, not every character gets a chance to shine, but those that do exhibit growth and a growing confidence that they lacked prior. These characters may seem like cliches at first, but they soon evolve into something better and considerably more enjoyable to watch.Besides the characters and plot, the show is quite nice to look at. The environments are typically well realized and our characters are animated quite fluidly. I love how the show uses color; everything from the armor the characters wear to the way the sky looks, color is used beautifully in nearly every facet of the show.If there is one criticism I have of the show, it's that the plot can sometimes feel a bit aimless. We know that the protagonists are trying to become stronger, but it would be nice for them to have more justification for journeying forward other than leveling up. There doesn't seem to be a much larger adventure lying in wait for them, at least not in what we're shown here. If there is to be a sequel series, I'd like for there to be something grander in scale.Ultimately, Grimgar is a great show that I am happy to have taken a chance on. It's beautiful visually, and its characters are fun to watch develop and grow. The plot handles themes such as vulnerability, fear and loss in a much more mature manner than many anime do, and that's an accomplishment in and of itself. I'm really hoping that we see a second season someday very soon, because Grimgar is a place I can't wait to see more of.

There are quite a few volumes of Grimgar light novels and manga published in English. This 12 episode anime adaptation covers the first couple of volumes. A group of high school-age children or young adults wake up in a strange place with only vague fragments of memories. They recall the word "game" but don't know what it means. With few options for getting money to eat and live, they join together and take a fee to fight monsters as trainees,. The each join a guild and pay to learn skills. That factor alone makes this different than many other isekai stories, but the memory loss is also unusual. There are other elements that combine to make the world of Grimgar unique and interesting. I have not yet read the novels or mangas but am certainly interested in seeing where the story goes.

The portion of the story told by this twelve-episode animé is entertaining, well done visually, and has equally good voice acting, but it is only "complete" in the sense that the studio that produced it went under so they won't be completing the story told by the original (and currently ongoing) novel series. Though the animé ends at a satisfactory point, questions raised about the nature of the reality the characters find themselves in and their forgotten pasts are never answered or even explored after the first episode.Disappointingly, neither of the two DVDs contain any extras (not even trailers) and, despite both the product description and a sticker on the actual packaging, episode 2.5 is not included. The second Blu-ray disc has "extras" printed on it so presumably it contains the "episode 04 video commentary" listed on the back cover of the case as well as OVA episode 2.5 which I was forced to find online. That's doubly disappointing when you consider it would have taken literally only a few minutes for them to edit it into episode 2 where it belongs.Overall, I'm pleased to include "Grimgar, Ashes and Illusions" as part of my animé collection and I'm happy to recommend it despite the false advertising and lack of extras.

Very interesting premise here, a group of people are transported to another world that is fantasy based in nature. To survive they have to become adventurers and defeat monsters to earn money to live. However, what happens when a group of young kids, inept in the actual understanding of what it means to survive and live in such a world do when faced with the stark fact that you have to kill these monsters that do not want to die and are actually trying to kill them in turn to survive. Is it really that easy to take a life, especially when that person/creature is doing everything they can to keep and preserve their own life? And what happens when one of your band, your friends, your family dies? How do you carry on? Really loved this anime and found parts of it very touching, later in the series when one of the characters dies. Always wish they did a follow up to this as either a full OVA film or a new spin of series looking where they are at 5-10 years later.

The seemingly watercolour world of Grimgar made for a nice backdrop for this series. The series itself seemed to move at a fairly slow pace given that there are only twelve episodes. There was supposed to be a second season, further based on the manga I would assume, but it has never been released. The main character and secondary characters are well established and just start to get interesting when this very short season comes to an end. It's a shame really, as it was obvious that there was more to come that never arrived.Overall I would have given it three and a half, but rounded to 4 stars. There's not a lot here that is really original or similar to something that you haven't seen elsewhere. The characters in the party all belong to different guilds and develop their skills in RPG/board game style. They also tend to call out the names of those skills as if they were moves in Street Fighter II. It's not to say that it wasn't a god watch, or a lot of fun. It's just that Grimgar isn't original enough to say that it is groundbreaking or something you absolutely have to see if your are an anime/manga fan.

I grew up watching anime in the 80's and 90's, then it got really popular with Dragon Ball and Sailor Moon. There's plenty of anime available to watch now, but I find that only a handful are actually good. I was expecting this to be something similar to the Record of Lodoss War, but instead it has its own take on medieval fantasy. It has role playing game elements, which reminded me a bit of Sword Art Online, without being a rip off of SAO.Anyway, if you enjoy medieval fantasy anime, definitely take a peek into the world of Grimgar, you might get drawn in and want to see more!