Keep in mind this review is based off of the first 3 episodes Ive watched Where to start? Was it good? No. Was it bad? Hasnt provided me enough material to overturn my judgement yet about it being good sooo.. I guess it was. Grar of Fantasy and Ash while it seemed like a good watch at the time when I finally started the series it left me severely disappointed. While the concept of being stuck in a fantasy world seemed interesting I havent seen much of thisFantasy or World in that matter to make me not gouge my eyes out because of sheer boredom. The story line hasnt even begun developing the characters themselves I find have little development the action while its enough to leave me satisfied makes me yearn for something more and the adventure I was promised if there was any is barely there. I did find a redeeming quality to the anime in the form of its art and animation. The fight scenes were beautifully done making me excited for more of them especially during the 1st episode and the artworks style literally made me pause the episode just to view its glory. Now Let me explain my thoughts: 1. The Fantasy Of course Im not blind to ignore the magic or the magical creatures which apparently only consists of a single goblin hallowed be thy name or its friends besides that there hasnt been any other fantasy elements to truly pique my intrigue towards this anime. I havent seen any mystical strange or even outrageously stupid elements which I would like to see or even any different creatures or races in the world theyre in. Likewise the different classes of the characters outside of the occasional spell which from what Ive seen only consists of the same single spell I wouldve liked to see any particular special skill especially a magical or one with a single fantasy element thats been granted to the characters due to their class. But as far as I know all they know is basic physical skills that they constantly repeat and a single special class skill from the Dark Knight class that they touched upon but never elaborated. This lack of a fantasy element truly makes me doubt if the anime should be labeled Fantasy instead of just Magical if even. 2. The World/Adventure/Action I was deeply disappointed by the lack of adventure seen in this anime. I personally define Adventure as going out exploring the world and participating in many different events. In Grar I havent seen even the slightest inclination towards the characters even going on an adventure. Firstly they havent even left the bloody town where they started in and venture out more than 10ft away besides them just going to the forest where they get their butts handed to them by a single goblin hallowed be thy name. Secondly all I have seen them do is sit on their butts all day sitting around something and eating food. Which tells me nothing is going to happen for a very very very long time or in laymans terms they aint going to do shit. Mixed in with this lack of adventure is the lack of the world that they currently exist in. No special land forms monuments or even a distinct architecture type that tells me they now reside in a different world instead of their previous human world. Even the lack of new creatures people races and new ideas havent been touched upon in the anime which wouldve made me very excited to see. I wouldve loved for more exploration of the world of Grar thats currently full of possibilities due to it being fantasy world but alas my dreams and desires have not been fulfilled. Although the action is beautifully animated the action itself leaves a lot to be desired. The amount of action is few in number and some of it can even can be considered redundant. Why do I consider it redundant you say? Well the characters have shown me a sort of functional fixedness where they keep using their weapons the same way techniquewise expecting a different result. Yes I know Im being harsh because theyre relatively new to this world and havent completely grasped the concept of professional combat. But they have been taught by mentors of their own respective classes which means they have a lot more skills in their repertoire. I would love to see these skills and techniques be used in their fights instead of just seeing a Runescapelike hackandslash with them just swinging their weapons like hillbillies no offence. I would also love to see them fight something else besides the same single goblin hallowed be thy name by adding more variety of creatures to fight. For those wondering why I keep saying hallowed be thy name whenever I mention the goblin. Its because I find the goblin to be essentially immortal. It was stabbed in many lethal areas and a multitude of times then somehow it still lives insert Jackie Chan meme here so essentially it must be some sort of immortal god where it can brush off all those strikes of death. 3. Story/Characters The plot of Grar of Fantasy and Ash is very slow going with little development. Already 3 episodes in and I still have no idea what its about besides the rough outline provided by the animes summary. This overarching storyline of discovering their purpose of who they are and what their purpose is is constantly overshadowed and left in the corner to rot. Instead of developing the storyline in the episodes it feels more like a slice of life where we get a small insight into how the characters deal with their situation. The plot has so far remained stagnant with little effort to even try to develop it as evidenced in episode 2 where half the episode was a fight scene against the goblin hallowed be thy name and the other half was basically an animation of the characters dawdling around doing nothing while music is played in the background making you feel cheated in your time watching the episode. The only way I can see the plot even attempting to budge is if a huge massive Deux ex Machina just slammed into the series and made such an impact nothing or nobody can ignore it. If the storyline has to continue like this with little development and if they truly need Deux ex Machinas to move along the story this is going to turn out to be a very cheapshot anime. Now onto the characters while all they do is sit down and talk most of the day I havent really been able to build a connection with them because of how little I even know about them. Some of the characters dont even stray past the typical archetypes that typical animes have which gives me little hope of the characters getting a full thorough development that would make me very happy to see. Yeah sure you can say information has been revealed about them to reveal their general character but beyond that I dont really personally know their characters of them as individuals. I can see in the story that there is a beginning towards developing the characters. But with their lack of memories you cant truly understand how they act due to their past experiences and how they grew up. 4. Art/Animation Just like I said in my introduction amazing and breathtaking Anymore of my abhorrence towards this anime would make me negatively judge it. Overall: This anime so far as been a disappointing experience for me as I continue to watch begrudgingly in hopes of a new direction the anime is going. I hope the anime becomes better than what Ive depicted because Im just not ready to throw in the towel on this anime after I selected it out of the multitude of others I couldve chosen. But as long as I see this anime remain this way this review isnt going to change neither is my opinion. So I tell you if your interest was piqued by this anime like mine go ahead by all means go watch it but in my opinion its going to be a very disappointing ride.
40 /100
16 out of 74 users liked this review