- Genre : Fantasy, Adventure, action, political
- Studio: A-1 Pictures
Guys, there’s only one more post to go and we will know the winner of the Winter Games. I’m writing this on Friday so Sanrio Boys hasn’t aired yet but we all know how that’s gonna go, right? All the blood… But before that, lets get our Grancrest on!
In case you’re curious, my header gif is from episode 3!
As expected, this episode was indeed a recap of the series but as far as recaps go, I really liked it.
Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t a particularly good or imaginative recap episode, if I was watching this in my usual bingey way, I would definitely have skipped it and I wouldn’t have missed much, but, within the context of this particular show, it did something very well.
The format consisted of expositional voice over layer on top of the relevant scenes which just a few short voiced flashbacks here and there. It was structured so as to give us a general rundown of the events so far, as well as the important characters.
In this way, a lot of the events were simply explained and put into context that was never properly fleshed out before and suddenly things made much more sense. Taking the time to plainly introduce the major players as well really helped me figure out who’s who, where allegiances lie and what the motivation for all this bloodshed is.
It says something that these 20 or so minutes established the storyline better than all the previous episodes put together. Of course they needed to skip over a dozen or so characters but we still got to see a whole lot. They also rearranged the order in which we saw events but it helped the story flow. Honestly this should have been episode 2….
In practice nothing new is actually added to the narrative but simply streamlining it a little and ordering it logically has made it seem so much more coherent and interesting. If someone was to watch just this episode, I think they would really have a very solid understanding of the story so far (which makes you realize just how many useless and squandered scenes there have been) and probably much higher expectations for the rest of the season than I have.
It did remind me of the flashes of potential I keep thinking I see in this show, and the bitter frustration when they don’t come to fruition. I have to admit that I didn’t quite feel up to watching Villar get killed again so I skipped over that part but I’m assuming he did die this time around as well. If they decided to change that in a recap episode though, I will take back every bad thing I’ve ever said about the series and declare it a post modern masterpiece.
Ironically, simplifying the characters and just declaring their motivations and feelings to the audience made them more relatable for me. The character development is really shaky and uneven in this show and although we didn’t get to appreciate Marrine who has been fleshed out interestingly, the remaining cast didn’t loose much depth in the trade off .
Finally, I got to give credit to the editors who seem to have carefully chosen only the best bits of animation for the most part. One could be fooled into thinking that Grancrest is a beautiful show. The CG was still horrendous but there’s no helping that, and there were still a few brief moments of really low detail and odd proportions, but for the most part, the episode looked very good.
This is about all I can say about a recap show. I guess it was great as it only highlighted the strengths of Grancrest and managed to cover up much of the flaws. Do you guys think this episode had a different editor or director (or both). If so, they should probably take over for the second half of the season.
I’m not entirely sure why, but I will keep watching this. I’ll probably even keep reviewing it.
I’m not sure what Astral, Leap and TPAB plan to do with the rest of the season. We had agreed that we would stop the predictions at this point since the other two shows are ending but beyond that, I don’t think anyone had decided what would come next. If they are sticking with it, I will be looking forward to their reviews for the second half.
I cheated this week. I’ve been reusing old screen caps from previous episodes. This of it as a clip show in post form. This said, I don’t have a gallery for you this week since it’s all pics you’ve seen before. But here’s just one last one:
There’s nothing worse than a show that has you going “ooo, here’s where it’s going to get good! … Oh, maybe not.”
It’s mindboggling when it comes at a recap episode….
Ha ha ha! Ya. That IS mind-boggling!! How strange!
Hold the phone, the recap was good and it helped? Maybe I should actually watch it? I’m so conflicted.
So am I now. Maybe I’ll skim it just before watching the next episode. I do intent do finish this series so if the recap actually helps put things into context that can only help.
It actually does. HOLY CRAP. Where did that come from?
Okay. I have to watch it now. You guys are killing me a little bit as I was kind of happy to skip it.
any way you can go back and skip he oher episodes instead?
I’ll work on that text message if the phone-microwave is ever invented. Nothing could possibly go wrong with that.
Reasonable plan!
This may end up the most popular straightforward recap episode in recent memory. (I’ll watch it, too, now, though no telling how much I’ll fast forward.)
That would make for an interesting way to indirectly critique a confusing show: make the recap the most popular episode.
It is going to make reviewing the show even more interesting than it was going to be.
weird right? It makes it seem like a real show- and a decent one…
Who would have thought?
I now watched it ,and I actually got the gist of it. I didn’t catch a few things, the most embarrassing being Milza’s reason for jumping ship (it’s so obvious in hindsight and it’s not like they were exactly subtle about it). My favourite thing I completely missed is the naming difference the Alliance and the Union. It’s basically SF vs. Fantasy; and it makes complete sense that something called the Factory Alliance would engage in mago-chemical warfare.
Seeing it summarised, I have to say I’m siding with Vampire Dude. It’s a cardinal rule of fantasy that the [crests] must not be united. Melt them in Mount Doom or something. Danger, Will Robinson, danger.
I still don’t know what Villar little brother had to do with anything. How many of them are there? There must be at least one family member on the Alliance’s side, too, no?
This show really needs stronger series composition.
But you do have to admit – it’s much more coherent than it appeared to be. AT least for me. I mean I do drink a lot…
Well, it helped me as a refresher, and it showed me some of the subtleties I missed, but I pretty much got the gist of it while watching. Then again, I’ve been reading and watching SF/F epics since I was a child and I’m in my mid 40ies, now. (One of my Childhood Favourites; based on the same souce as the Suikoden games.)
My childhood favorite is Simak’s the City.
Never read any Simak, but he’s on my list. Now I’ve got a title to look for as well: helpful.
I helped me quite a bit.
I would. Weirdly – one of the best episodes of this show…
I agree — having the description helped fill in some of the gaps I missed when I blinked or something during my first viewings. But do you know what really helped me in this episode? The maps! Just knowing how these countries were laid out helped me understand some of the strategies and tactics the characters have been using.
I hope you do keep reviewing it! It’s selfish, of course — at the end of my reviews, I like to link to other interesting viewpoints on the same episode, and if you stop reviewing, I’ll be hard pressed to find a replacement!
Thanks for an interesting read!
Oh you’re right – the maps were awesome and really helped understand the way the armies were moving. I intend to keep at it. I can’t hate this show despite seeing it’s faults