Twelve Days of Fantasy and Ash (Christmas Special Part 1)

I mentioned before that I wanted to talk about Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash, so I decided I should do it now as a special. I will put out one of these posts every day for the next twelve days, reviewing that episode of Grimgar. I recommend watching the entire show before reading this or the rest of these reviews, so go do that, then come back. I will not shy away from spoilers.

I decided Grimgar would be good for a christmas special because it hits me emotionally every time I watch it. It was one of only two anime that ever made me wonder about my future. It has a special importance to me that I'm not sure other people will understand, but here I go, trying to make you understand. Let's start episode 1.

The first scene demonstrates a few staples of the series: goblin hunting, and the paint style backgrounds. No, this is not part of the goblin craze; the show came out two years ago. Anyway, our team of protagonists are shown fighting a few goblins in a forest. The dialogue and fighting styles perfectly introduce the characters before we even know who they are supposed to be. Haruhiro gets in close combat with the goblins while Ranta complains at him. Moguzo swings his giant sword and gets it stuck in a tree, typical of a tank trying to take such a direct attacking role. The airheaded Yume frightens her party by accidentally shooting an arrow at them. Shihoru shyly casts a spell, but is knocked over, and Manato heals the scrape she got with his magic. Then the first plot point is introduced: these kids are weak; weaker than the goblins they are fighting, and their teamwork is garbage.

The next scene is the party chilling at their temporary quarters, preparing and eating breakfast. The abundance of these scenes, especially in the first few episodes really helps to create a connection between the audience and the characters. They feel like a family. They may not all get along well, but they obviously care for each other. I argue that despite this being an action fantasy show, these chill scenes do not distract from the plot, they are the plot. I feel that getting the audience used to them early is a better choice than trying to build up a shounen audience, just to bore them all. As the meal ends, it is revealed that despite knowing the word "game," none of them know its meaning. They are all but confirmed to have been from our universe, but have since lost their memories.

Next up is the introduction. Many anime will start at this point, explaining that these people were transported to a new world, and only answering the how implicitly. A gay military recruiter greets them and congratulates the incoming group of transported people for becoming new volunteer soldiers (it was not very voluntary). His explanation of the world to the characters is used as exposition for the audience in a somewhat demeaning way, but the dark comedy in the scene makes up for it. He says there will be no easy answers, after which the muscle of the group, Renji, takes the lead. He is fine playing by the new rules in this world of combat and hunting, while some of the other people are still concerned and flustered. They all are told life will be a struggle, which will soon prove true.

The next part is not so interesting. The team members simply learned the next few steps to training, those being to join a guild, and to train into class-based skills. They become a thief, dark knight, warrior, hunter, magician, and priest in the order I listed them before. Then Yume goes off on one of her stream of consciousness rants that I honestly find adorable, but don't really add much to the series. At this point, I really have to give credit to the voice actors. They have great use of inflection to really drive home their characters, perfectly matching their appearance, demeanor, and art. It just makes the setting that much more lively. Ranta does his normal troll thing and insults Shihoru for saying she's fat despite looking fine. I relate to Ranta in a few ways, and one of those ways is his own view of what he says. He feels no shame in saying anything, and consequently expects people to simply ignore parts of what he says. I usually expect the same either when I speak superficially or on a subject I know I don't understand. When Shihoru starts crying, Ranta is surprised she took him seriously.

The epsiode ends with them all broke and hungry.