El Grifo

I felt like this series was made with me in mind, but I realize of course that it is also targeted at young adults and teenagers. I was a teenager in the 90s and had a frenzied Wolfgang Holbein phase where I read many of his most popular books. "Der Greif" was one of the most popular and one of the best.

I was a huge fan as a teenager. I also bought the audio play version as a young adult. I realized when I got older, that Holbein has many faults (mostly repetitions of language patterns and plots/characters, lots of clichés and he got his ideas from other famous authors I didn't know as a teen). But "Der Greif" as a live action show is a dream come true for my inner teenager none the less. It's amazing to see the world they came up with, and I really like how they did it.

They did an incredible job overall with a few weak elements that I can forgive easily. The changes and additions they made are reasonable and well done. I don't care for fantasy or teen drama, but I found the characters sympathetic and the drama engaging. That alone is rare for shows from this genre.

I think I could see the influences from "Stranger Things" and "Dark", but they did it very well.

If you like me were a teenager in Germany in the 90's, you will find they have you in mind (especially in the first episode) and lots of music is referred to in almost every episode. The main character is making mix-tapes for his love interest. It almost gets a bit too much, but doesn't take away from the overall story.

I will definitely watch the second season and I also think you don't need to have read the book to "get" what is going on. To be honest, the story of the book is rather weak, it is more about atmosphere and teenage angst stuff. The story in the show is interesting enough, they made it look really great and have nice character building and good drama. A good pace and some action.

The Gryphon is an exciting show that kept me on the edge of my seat from start to finish. The story is interesting and the show has a cool 90s fantasy movie vibe to it. The soundtrack is really good and there's some great classic songs that play throughout the show. I liked all the characters, Memo I'd say is my favorite with Becky a close second. There was good chemistry between the characters and it was a good experience watching them work together. I look forward to what this show may bring in the future in the next season. The first season is only 6 episodes, I wish it had 8, because it felt a little short.

English dub is pretty good, beyond the typical lip syncing issues.

Strong acting, good direction, strong production value, pretty good cgi, and prosthetics used for custom/ monsters, story is a lil predictable at times even for people who didn't read the novels.

Similar vibes to stranger things, the hollow, where teens cross over to another world, but this is a darker tale, not for the squeamish or people looking for a happy ending where everyone is fine and healthy with minimal trauma.

Hope for season 2 !

What else to mention,

minimal filler it gets to the point, some threads left open (teen drama bs and some villain stuff).

Other wise resolved.

I binged it all oops,

I randomly stumbled upon the English dubbed version of The Gryphon and it's a YES for me. Kind of surprised by the mediocre reviews. I feel like it has a Netflix 'Dark' x 'Stranger Things' kind of feel to it. It's set in the early 90's (ish) and has a lot of that synth background music like stranger things (love that). In addition to the 80's synthe music there are a ton of well known alternative songs and old school popular hip hop songs. The villains kind of look like white-walkers, and the other creatures to be feared look like something out of the "Alien" movie franchise. All-in-all I am happy that I found this series and I look forward to future season(s). Fingers Crossed!

Long time fan of the original books here: It has very little in common with the original text, I was a huge fan of back when I was a child. But let this not be a deterence to watch this show.

The actors, even if a little stiff at times, leave little to be desired. The overall "feel" of the show, albeit a slight ripoff of the more recent "stranger things" was very fitting.

The makup/special effecs vaguely reminicent of del toros pans labyrinth and the overall very fitting sounddesing will leave the viewer with an overall very satisfying experience.

I highly recommend this show from a book-reader perspective. If you can ignore the obvious deviances of the source material and are able to enjoy this show on it´s own merits.

For anybody who wants the true experience of the teenage psychological horror i cannot recommend the original book enough, though.