A Record of Grancrest War Ep 22 – Concern

• Genre : Fantasy, Adventure, action, political
• Studio: A-1 Pictures

I don’t know guys, the last few episodes have highlighted the frustrating inconsistency and disregard for plot integrity that have plagued A Record of Grancrest War throughout the season. And this one is no better. Although it did have it’s moments it did seem like a largely useless detour with only two episodes left to go. I can’t wait to see how tcrow manages to put a positive spin on this one!

So you know how we just found pout the the Mages were the real bad guys and the secret group called Pandora within the mages were the even badder guys. Well put that aside for a moment because it turns out the church are also the bad guys. (Isn’t that always the case)!

So um, Grancrest?… We’re at episode 22 (of 24) and you want me to get to know an entire new group of antagonists? And care? Don’t we already have a few things to clear up here? What about the werewolves, surely they weren’t just there to give us a couple of rarely seen fanservicy maid lollies? Or the vampires, they were supposed to be a thing, weren’t they? What’s going on with the witches? We still don’t know anything about the assassins. In fact, I don’t even know who the evil mages are….Did the slaves ever revolt? Is that quelled? Did Theo just slaughter them to teach the rest a lesson?

So apparently the Order (the church) is also against Theo and just a straight forward unsophisticated evil. Just to make it clear (for a change), Grancrest even had the representatives of the Order casually plan to sacrifice hundreds of innocents as a PR move in the first minute. One thing’s for sure, we know who we’re expected to root for.

Now I can’t predict what’s going to happen to Theo and Siluca. I have no cue whether those crazy kids are going to make it out of this alive. I’m fairly confident that marriage is NOT going to last though. Since the Order put our a veiled declaration of war, Priscilla offered to go negotiate a non aggression treaty in person. Boy did that not go over well with Theo. I don’t think I’ve ever seen him so agitated. In fact he only agreed to let her go once Siluca offered to accompany her. Because having his fiancée in danger also made it better.

I know what you’re going to say…Siluca is a trained battle mage with combat experience so it’s different. Consider this:

1. Theo has had no qualms about putting civilians, actual children and twin teenage maids on the battle front.
2. Priscilla’s initial role was to assist the wounded IN BATTLE. Theoretically, she should be equipped to deal with a negotiation.
3. She was always going to have an armed escort (Irvin and Aishela).
4. Siluca disposed of her want and as far as Theo knows can no longer do any magic, making her more vulnerable than the powerful crest wielding priest.
5. Theo’s parting words to Priscilla: Please come back safe
6. Theo’s parting words to his one true love: What’s with the broom?

You tell me what all this means…. At least Theo still has Lassic to fall back on after loosing his best girl and (also his) fiancée. Remember how freakishly happy Theo was to see Lassic a few weeks ago?

Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like Siluca seems to care much either way. She took her unusually physically affectionate sister, her tsundere inducing *friend* and her really very attractive body guard without so much as a wave goodby to her beloved.

Just like I tend to be unimpressed by Heroic Last Stands, I’m also not particularly fond of Noble Sacrifices. When done right they can be extremely effective but I fond that often, they fall apart under scrutiny, seeming short sighted and kinda stupid and become apparent cheap attempt at manipulating the audience into an emotional response when the narrative has failed to properly build up a character.

Priscilla’s crazy eyed, almost indulgently “good” speech was already a little too naive for my taste. However, once she decided to let herself get murdered to prove a point and because it was “her role to play”…I mean c’mon… Grancrest, do you really want us to take you seriously as an intricate strategy driven story. Cause this is just amateur hour. I will say that the ensuing battles between the Holy Guard and Irvin and Aishela, were very well animated and fun to watch. They only lasted a minute but I’ll take what I can get.

I started off this post whining about a new faction getting introduced at the 11th hour – good news, they’re all irrelevant now! Woohoo. What was the point of all this? Priscilla could easily have pledged or given her crest to Theo at any time…

I’ll tell you what the point was. It was to show us a completely devastated Theo (who’s lost countless soldiers, seen his childhood sweetheart cut down in front of him, had his current ally murder his mentor and protector and lost most of his family before the start of the show) grieve for Priscilla like he’s never grieved before. Make his way to the Order where everything happened to apparently unify church and state. Hug the dead body of the priest girl he’s talk to 4 times before(?) and gently tell her they are going home while not even sparing a hello for the love of his life.

They were trying to kill Siluca too. Theo didn’t even ask her how she is? This is going to end in some weird fantasy divorce trial, isn’t it?

As usual, Grancrest looks really great in still shots. Taking these caps is particularly frustrating because it reminds me how great this show could have been…