The medieval fantasy genre is a punching bag for japanese authors. Most of the time they pick an epic quest of heroes and transform it into a silly comedy trip filled with otaku stereotypes. Very few members of this genre escaped this trend and became classics like Record of Lodoss War, Berserk, and Claymore. Recently though, it seems the medieval fantasy was eaten alive by the isekai genre, turning any attempt to mimic a Dungeons & Dragons campaign into a shitty trip into a world filled with MMO terms and nerdgasm.

Record of Grancrest War (Grancrest) seems to shy away from this doomed trail, but falls into another one, which had its number of show being released a few years back, such as Arslan, Vanadis, and Rage of Bahamut. As in those shows, mixing scheming and warfare into a medieval fantasy is not as easy as it seems, and, although careful not to become a complete bullshit, Grancrest still tumbles at some aspects.

The deal here is about Theo and Siluca, the first a wandering warrior and the second a lone mage who dislikes the current status of the world. Together these two start to climb the ladder of politics with the ultimate goal of freeing the land of Atlatan from the chaos it is immersed into. The tools at their disposal are wits, strategy, and a magical crest which is granted to lords.

Oh, the pace

Well, the pace is all over the place. Grancrest is not shy to simply jump days ahead, move troops instantly from place to place, craft betrayals and allegiances out of thin air, and simply squeeze entire arcs into a couple episodes. The result is an overall sense of rush, a lack of depth to the large cast, and a superficial take on what a medieval warfare could’ve been. This is certainly the most problematic aspect of the show and it is a large initial barrier to overcome, especially when the first sets of episodes reek of overused cliches and a tone that is too light and cheerful for what is being presented in the background.

It has Theo too

Both Theo and Siluca share the lead, but neither is exactly good at doing that. Siluca seems shallow, a fragment of a character that you never really get to know besides cute moments and her out-of-nowhere strategies that always end up working. You could tolerate her though. Theo, on the other hand, is once again a terrible male lead for a shounen show. He is a typical good guy who never does anything wrong, abides to all rules, and ultimately always end up being loved by those around him. The only people who are against him are clear villains and must die for the greater good, which makes Theo even more boring and one-dimensional. Theo likes the guy? Then he is a good guy. Theo has trouble with this dude? Then this dude is evil and will reveal himself in the next episodes.

The entire setting is this way

Theo’s problem is spread among the entire cast perhaps except for the villain mourning princess, Marrine, and the stylish lord, Villar. Everyone else is either clearly a good person doing good things, or an evil prick ready to betray, kill, murder, and oppress the population. There is hardly any grey area here, and that is a big problem when you propose to make a show about politics, scheming, and warfare. The mourning princess’ motivation is also another big issue, which seems something so easily solved and completely inappropriate when you later learn about her tale.

Oh, it’s A1-Pictures

Yeah. Remember? Dark theme and light presentation? These guys never fail in that. Once again the studio’s colorful approach is harmful for the tale’s proposal. Although the cast itself is clearly holy or profane, the artwork makes them too gleaming, cheerful, and cute to be taken as oppressive lords, holy knights, and brutish warriors. At the second half the studio decides to use a darker color palette during combat moments, giving blood a lot more room, yet the animation is these scenes is complete bullshit. They seem to remind us of Shinsekai Yori, yet the laziness of the art is widely different from every other scene here, which makes you wonder if combats were simply rushed or if it was outsourced to some guys who had no idea what the rest of the show looked like.

Fortunately, for a medieval fantasy show, Grancrest boasts one hell of a sound-track. If the visuals are bit cheesy, the music certainly isn’t.

It gets better though

Well, not the animation, but everything else. The pace is never really fixed, but the plot starts to get on its track and the less important characters move away from the screen and give the show valuable time to detail the interesting setting and making sure you know what is at stake by the time the final battle begins. It also does a good job at defining the results of combats, keeping a balanced set of powers at play, and never really forcing the plot to bend at some points. It could work better if Theo had more charisma or achievements to truly back all the support he gets, but at least it makes sense.

Record of Grancrest War is a decent addition to the medieval fantasy genre, but that only because the entry level is low. I mean, it is a more enjoyable warfare take than Arslan, but suffers from similar aspects and is certainly inferior when establishing the atmosphere of the setting. Yet, this is ok. There are few true medieval fantasy shows around, and not sucking is a feat on its own.

If you wish to see war, to see noble knights rising in the ranks, some bit of politics and less focus on flashy combats, than perhaps Grancrest is for you. It is not as RPG-like as Rage of Bahamut or Record of Lodoss War, but it breaks the entry barrier of the genre with decent warfare presentation and a plot that makes sense even if very rushed. Give it a chance.