Review of Record of Grancrest War

I'll be honest right off the bat. This show is super generic. But that isn't always a bad thing. Yes it's bland in a way. But if you like a straight up fantasy show, then this is it. That's exactly what I was looking for going in, and mostly, I wasn't let down. Gonna break this up by each of the categories used by MAL when rating these things. Story: probably it's weakest feature tbh. It's not very original. It's kinda bland. It's got some really uneven pacing. Feels stretched in some spots and feels dragged in others. The overall plot is fairly easy tounderstand. Young guy wants to save his home land but get swept up in something bigger than just that. Been there done that. Pretty basic. But ya know what, despite that, it's got some charm to it. It's kinda meh on story but it's easy going nature makes it an easy show in and of itself. 6.

Art: nothing too special. There were some definite highlights in there, episode 17 kicked so much ass!! But mostly it was serviceable at best. Again, kinda meh for the most part. Not much to say on it really. 7.

Sound: probably it's best feature. Speaking on the openings and endings, they were all really good. Not best of season good, but pretty good none the less. The OST is amazing though. Like they use some awesome orchestral music and one track in particular stood out to me and something special. The sound design too was great. The effects in all the battle scenes were always on point. Voice acting too, whomever played Theo sounded great. 9.

Characters: again, common theme too, kinda meh. Some better than others or course but a pretty mixed bag. With the story being so lackluster the characters suffer from that a lot. Theo himself was a good lead, basic and cookie cutter as he was, he still made me respect his beliefs and his determination. Siluca was a good foil for him. She took the lead for most of the first half if the show. While Theo was still learning how to geopolitics. The rest of the cast was alright I suppose. They did their job well enough. The major "villain" for a lot of the show was really cool though, as I said before, episode 17 was amazing and the whole arc with Milza vs Theo from about episodes 12-27 was incredible to see. At least the parts of them interacting. 7.

Enjoyment: ya know, despite all the lackluster things with this show. I can't say I didn't have a good time honestly. All these people ragging on it even though they watched it all, supposedly, make no sense to me cause it's a long show and you're just wasting time at that point and that's on you. But anyways, I had a genuine amount of fun with this show. I always wanted more. It always did at least enough to keep me coming back. 8.

Overall: despite its basic as hell plot and it's mostly dull characters and it's wonky, uneven writing. I still enjoyed this show a lot. It's a by the books fantasy through and through. Doesn't break the mold in any way whatsoever. But it's still a fun time and does enough. I liked it a lot more than I thought I would. The ending too was very sweet and pretty perfect. 8/10.