Record of Grancrest War

I've loved Ryo Mizuno's previous works, Record of Lodoss War and Rune Soldier. So I expected that I was going to love this series and that it would be pretty much Lodoss War without elves and dwarfs. And it kind of is that in a way, but I don't know if I would say I loved it. I watched the whole thing, though. Ryo Mizuno's works seem to have several typical tropes, the protagonist who wants to protect everyone including the enemy and whose father paid the ultimate price for that goal, a desert-based tribe who are very skillful but also very violent and ruthless and a secret subplot in the background involving an ancient witch and a magical major player that will be revealed only nearing the end of the story.

That said, I didn't really enjoy the pace of the series nor did I much care for the way that the show treats its characters as pieces of convenience. Not only do characters who seem like they're critical die, but a lot of the times, they die with only a mundane line of dialogue to even let you know that they're dead. Characters get introduced as if we're deep into their story, and their stories end completely abruptly.

The final plot line of the show, which is introduced IMMEDIATELY before it is 'resolved' is so overused and in anime and video games, and once it happens you'll no longer need to wonder why it is that everything seems a bit off in this world.

I was initially interested in a politically complex anime, and I was decently engaged with the alliances, negotiations, and conquering of lands. The Crest system was also pretty cool.

The show does continue to build on its complexities, but unfortunately more characters become involved and there wasn't enough to compel me to continue watching for the original characters.

The main Hero Theo seems initially strong, but is very lukewarm about his main objective. His mage is supposed to help him, but she also has her own motivations, and we're not clear about that either.

By the fifth episode, the show piled on too many characters and too many plot elements, but not enough for me to care.

Almost the game of thrones of anime with a slew of interesting characters mixed with decent animation and touches of love and war.

Enjoyed this story. Story has some sidesteps to the main storyline that tie everything together.

Pros: Nice graphics and some interesting ideas.

Meh: A lot of cgi.

Con: fighting scenes are ridiculous, story is childish and hard to follow.

The concept of crests in the story is interesting and had me intrigued by the first episode or two, but the story itself is simple and ludicrous, following no obvious order. The graphics are not bad except armies are CGI making an ugly mixture when they show up, and whether someone wins or loses a fight seems to have no basis in "reality".

The real story seems to be the negotiations being made, which indeed has a little interest, but they keep throwing in more details as conveniences to keep the story going. The alliances that are made seem superficial and people are too trusting, it feel as if the story was made for five-year-olds.

I dropped the series at the beginning of the fifth episode because it was becoming a bore. Although it's an interesting concept, the story itself is lacking.