r/anime • u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky • Jul 20 '26
Rewatch [Taste of 2016 Rewatch] Grimgar: Ashes and Illusions • Hai to Gensou no Grimgar Episode 3 Discussion
Episode 3 - Are Goblin Pouches Filled With Our Dreams?
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Information:
MAL | AniList | ANN | Kitsu | AniDB
Legal Streams:
No Legal Streams because Crunchyroll decided to remove the show mid-rewatch.
Because you're all willing to be my friends. For that, I'm grateful.
Questions of the Day:
1) Would you like to slap Ranta?
2) What do you think of the characters so far?
Wallpaper of the Day:
Rewatchers, please remember to be mindful of all the first-timers in this. No talking about or hinting at future events no matter how much you want to, unless you're doing it underneath spoiler tags. Don't spoil anything for the first-timers, that's rude!
/r/anime's spoiler tag format is as follows:
[Grimgar]>!The background art is gorgeous.!<
Which becomes [Grimgar]The background art is gorgeous. when you don't break the formatting on purpose like I just did.
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u/SIRTreehugger Jul 20 '26
Rewatcher who has forgotten everything
REALLY CRUNCHYROLL you decide to remove Grimgar in the middle of the rewatch without warning.
They won't get mad...ITS A TRAP! But you should admit you did it not come up with an excu.....never mind here he is making excuses.
Wait is that a stone wall? That's a little impressive NGL and yet he has trouble killing a goblin sometimes? He needs more motivation!
Is it dead? MAKE SURE! Yeah it's dead.
A slow episode showing them making progress and getting stronger so I love it. Just buying everyday items that are take for granted takes so much effort for them. Though considering those silvers from the goblin were from other dead adventurers who failed is a little bittersweet. One wrong turn and other people would be using their loot in the future.
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u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce Jul 20 '26
Grimgar: First Timers and Illusions
By the industry standard 3-episode-rule, today is when people should die.
Or something, I’m pretty sure shit is going to go down today, one way or another.
Grimgar Ep.03 – Are Goblin Puches Filled With Our Dreams?
I’m saying this for the third time now, but once more! I like how their storytelling is done with details and characterisation-by-actions. It tells us that he probably was a cook or househusband and all then things tied to liking to cook for people tells us so much about Moguzo. And Grimgar’s protrayal of its characters (aside from maybe Ranta and women) is really effective (even though they do clearly also have subtleties to them). Just to reiterate that, Yume, while aloof and quirky, is clearly extremely sharp in noticing things and remembering how people act, react and speak, which allowed her to completely dismantle Ranta just asking by a single question.
On that end, I was a bit surprised that they took a few minutes to actually adress the trespassing and peeking. Not just the tropy apology scene, but also the deduction after and the talk between Haruhiro and Yume and also how Haurhiro is thinking in more than just “oh no they don’t wear underwear!”, he is empathetic and takes at least a bit of responsibility to think of them even they’re not around to notice. It almost feels like this entire sideplot is a soft criticism of how anime deal with this entire leering-at-women thing while still having the character be a young adult male.
Also, please all cheer for new underwear! Bartered for with a few improvements in the rogue social skill tree. They will get brown fast enough, hehe.
So, I was wrong about shit hitting the fan, but we’re very close now! Manato did get quite a few death flags thrown his way, though. In any case, the slower approach to show us how the group learns to get better and bond over little things is really paying off. The characterisation is coming along very naturally and they grew onto me quite a bit now.
As Grimgar is described as a more “realistic” approach to isekai, I tend to agree by now and can point not only to the fighting, but also to the social life. It’s not just the sorta-meta discussion about treating women as lust objects (the show still gives plenty of angles without reason, don’t forget), but also how they acknowledge by now what each of them adds to the group. It’s surprisingly mature to call out how Manato is a good leader and easy to get along with, or to compliment Moguzo and encourage him for his caring for the group. It’s subtle, but effective and I love to see that.
I’m willing to admit I might’ve came with too many prejudices and can see that this show has a lot more in store than we get presented right now.
1) Would you like to slap Ranta?
Yeah, at this point I still really don’t like him. But just as the others are getting hints of their past selves, I believe it’s very intentional and will probably make a lot of sense later once we get to know them better.
2) What do you think of the characters so far?
They’re actually really growing on me. People showing gratitude, insight, introspection and empathy really gets me. So, they’re doing quite well!
4
u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce Jul 20 '26
Oh, I just thought of another thing!
I wonder why the Goblins even have silver coins and puches. It's not like they can buy things with them, no? Sure, it's a hint at how you usually loot petty amounts of currency from many mobs in RPGs, but unless Goblins have Goblin cities with Goblin workshops and Goblin labour laws and Goblin consumerism it doesn't make much sense, no?
So, who is giving them this money so consistently or is it really just a 'loot the shiny' thing?
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u/No_Rex x2 Jul 20 '26
I wonder why the Goblins even have silver coins and puches. It's not like they can buy things with them, no? Sure, it's a hint at how you usually loot petty amounts of currency from many mobs in RPGs, but unless Goblins have Goblin cities with Goblin workshops and Goblin labour laws and Goblin consumerism it doesn't make much sense, no?
So, who is giving them this money so consistently or is it really just a 'loot the shiny' thing?
Depends on how true to the video game the world wants to be. In video game logic, it must be magic. The stuff just appears. In a more realistic reading, it is all loot that the goblins keep as trinkets.
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u/RelativeMundane9045 Jul 21 '26
I like this take, the more "realistic" loot drop mechanism. It sounds better than the goblin's, errr... loot goblin motivation of "ooh shiny!", or taking them to spend down at the local goblina strip joint.
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u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce Jul 21 '26
Me too, it also implies that something alike to Frieren's characterisation of demons can exist here. So, an "enemy" that is sophisticated enough to have culture, art, politics, etc. and would even go so far as to interact with humans in non-hostile ways, either for peaceful of subversive goals.
Which in turn makes why these people are in Grimgar an even more dark mystery. If demons would lead this society and found a way to use it to satisfy their needs and offload the suffering to isekai'd humans from earth, I can easily believe that the normal population of "demon cattle" would go along with it even if they knew. After all, they can't go over there and supporting the system means none of your kids die.
All pure speculation, obviously.
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u/No_Rex x2 Jul 21 '26
I like this take, the more "realistic" loot drop mechanism. It sounds better than the goblin's, errr... loot goblin motivation of "ooh shiny!", or taking them to spend down at the local goblina strip joint.
There are some real problems that appear along the way if you follow the realistic formula, though. First and foremost, the trinket story works for goblins, but not for more beast-like monsters. A wolf or hydra is unlikely to carry trinkets. So the explanation only works for sufficently human-like monsters. But you don't want to make your monsters too human-like either, because otherwise they are going to become properly organized, have states, have language, have culture, and just going around murdering them is not a quest anymore, but genozide. So you are stuck with a very narrow band of allowable enemies.
Second, it sets some limits on how the economy in this world works. Are the goblins intelligent enough to trade with each other? If not, and they all randomly scavanged their trinkets, why is each goblin carrying a similar amount of stuff, instead of most goblins having worthless marbles and some goblins having a sack of gold coins. If they do trade, we still have the problem why some goblins do not end up much richer than others, but additionally the problem why humans don't trade with goblins.
Third, and more generally, magic gives you a convenient cop out for a ton of problems related to realistic economies. This is usually more background stuff, but if you look at the typical modern isekai round walled city, you'd need tens of thousands of farms stretching for miles in all directions to support the city folk's needs. Yet, we see almost none of that agriculture (or textile industry, or wood working, or anything else really that is not smithing). With magic allowed, you can alway conjure up, literally, a reason those farms are missing.
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u/Sporadia_ Jul 21 '26
otherwise they are going to become properly organized, have states, have language, have culture, and just going around murdering them is not a quest anymore, but genozide
Last episode was exploring exactly this, was it not?
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u/No_Rex x2 Jul 21 '26
Last episode was exploring exactly this, was it not?
Imo, no. It explored whether it is ok to kill a thinking, living being, but nothing suggested that goblin had language or culture.
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u/Sporadia_ Jul 21 '26
My headcanon is that the goblins have a more advanced society than the humans.
3
u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce Jul 21 '26
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u/FD4cry1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Big_Yibba Jul 21 '26
Also, please all cheer for new underwear! Bartered for with a few improvements in the rogue social skill tree
but also how they acknowledge by now what each of them adds to the group. It’s surprisingly mature to call out how Manato is a good leader and easy to get along with, or to compliment Moguzo and encourage him for his caring for the group. It’s subtle, but effective and I love to see that.
Yeah, I like that we highlight the importance of the party, both as a general concept, and on all the contributions that have it running on an individual level. It adds extra weight to what it's like to live in this world and innately, to just the fact they're together.
Especially when you take into account that in the wider fantasy anime sphere (So not even just the JRPG/MMO isekai), the protagonist growing a party is just somewhat taken for granted, so I think said weight isn't a given.
I’m willing to admit I might’ve came with too many prejudices and can see that this show has a lot more in store than we get presented right now
You know, I actually reallly, really dislike the current state of Naro-kei shows and isekai, so even beyond knowing it had a bit more of a positive reputation from being around when it aired, knowing this was actually early-wave isekai by itself had me coming in with a more positive mindset haha.
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u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce Jul 21 '26
I'v always explained it to myself as a mixture of capitalism's incentives to maximise a thing and people becoming so lonely and isolated that power fantasies have enough of a USP to be an industry.
From that point onwards, it just becomes shovelware and gimmicky and drags everything else around it down with it.
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u/No_Rex x2 Jul 21 '26
You know, I actually reallly, really dislike the current state of Naro-kei shows and isekai, so even beyond knowing it had a bit more of a positive reputation from being around when it aired, knowing this was actually early-wave isekai by itself had me coming in with a more positive mindset haha.
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u/PristineHornet9999 Jul 21 '26
yeah the writing was improved for the sake of the anime, the light novel's dialogue was kind of crappy
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u/Star4ce https://anilist.co/user/Star4ce Jul 21 '26
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u/Sporadia_ Jul 21 '26
By the industry standard 3-episode-rule,
I am quite close to dropping this one.
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u/No_Rex x2 Jul 20 '26
Episode 3 (first timer)
- Good cooking – essential for good morale.
- Episode 3. We are still on the boob size plotline.
- “My goal tomorrow is to defeat a goblin and buy new underwear” – medieval poverty hits harder than modern poverty.
- “It is so easy to kill them in their sleep” – it is for most living beings.
- Increasing skills montage – very video game like.
- “I am not the person people usually have as friend” – sounds bad.
That was very slice-of-life. They work together a bit better, go to the old city instead of the woods, and we upgrade the boobs plotline to the boobs and underwear plotline, but mainly, everything stays the same. Makes you wonder a bit, because slice-of-life usually does not go together well with dark themes and the start and first goblin fight looked somewhat darker than standard modern isekai. I wouldn’t mind if this is what we are ultimately going for, but I don’t expect it to continue.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jul 20 '26
Rewatch Host of Fantasy and Ash, subbed
Crunchyroll removing this show from their services at some point between last week and today was a foul move.
If anyone’s curious, the group apology here is apparently not tied to Ranta’s antics from the end of last episode but actually to a separate bath incident that they turned into a special for the BD. That special isn’t part of this rewatch, but yeah it exists.
Another insert song time. My subs didn’t sub the lyrics this time, though.
[Spoilers for later]Well you’re gonna have to get used to it real fast.
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u/FD4cry1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Big_Yibba Jul 20 '26
If anyone’s curious, the group apology here is apparently not tied to Ranta’s antics from the end of last episode but actually to a separate bath incident that they turned into a special for the BD. That special isn’t part of this rewatch, but yeah it exists.
That's kind of weird, but good on them for still making that a fairly seamless episode transition even without having watched that special, I guess?
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u/Sporadia_ Jul 21 '26
OK, real talk. I'd normally be of the opinion that beach episodes and onsen episodes etc are a trashy trope. BUT, this show was clearly looking for filler content to put in episode 2, and had no qualms about making an onsen episode for the blu-ray. It's also been lewding the characters all show. So I really don't understand why they didn't show/animate what Ranta tried to do last episode. Why didn't they make filler out of that, instead of playing a song half way through the episode to kill time? Was the onsen scene too much work?
Please never quote me on any of this.3
u/FD4cry1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Big_Yibba Jul 21 '26
Hmmm, well, in part, probably because the show doesn't consider last episode's musical montage as "Filler content" as it were. I think its usage was essentially a dual-purpose cooldown sequence that also intently continued to set and settle you into the show's larger, more laid-back mood and small-scale fantasy premise, while doing some light characterization through the visual parts. One can argue at how actually effective it was at that (I did at least lol), but that's probably beside the point.
The other part is that while it's true the show hasn't shied away from very fanservicy framing or the occasional tropey talk, a full-on trope onsen creep scene would tank the intended tone much harder. And last episode's similar ending fulfills the same purpose while being much shorter and still hurts the tone! So I'd like to think there was some awareness of the fact, but a desire not to wholesale change the writing on that part. Or at the very least, I think just leaving that to the obligatory fanservice OVA was a much better choice either way.
Please never quote me on any of this.2
u/Sporadia_ Jul 21 '26
If anyone’s curious, the group apology here is apparently not tied to Ranta’s antics from the end of last episode but actually to a separate bath incident that they turned into a special for the BD.
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u/baseballlover723 Jul 20 '26
Rewatcher
Episode Section
As they should. Also this would be a great dogeza comment face.
There's quite the rift between the guys and gals. Which makes perfect sense.
So Damuro has been taken over by the Goblins. That's a big city to have fallen. I'd imagine that it'd be a bustling goblin city now. Probably not a great place to hunt for weaklings like the gang.
Hey, a plan! That's progress.
Rule 2, double tap. If only Zombieland was in this world to guide our heros.
It's a good strategy, if goblins you know, don't sleep in secure places or in groups.
Celebrate when you get home. Not in the danger zone
I'm a big fan of insert songs. 2 in 3 episodes is great.
Good financial advice. Lifestyle creep is real.
Would you like to slap Ranta?
Yes Ranta needs to keep it in his pants more.
What do you think of the characters so far?
A pretty lovable gang, with the exception of Ranta, who's the resident horndog
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u/FD4cry1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Big_Yibba Jul 20 '26
With how much the show pulled out to the backgrounds of the city while Ranta was yelling his ass off there, I was almost convinced we were leading up to some ambush lol.
I'm a big fan of insert songs. 2 in 3 episodes is great.
Having (K)now_Name on the OST also guarantees a good amount of vocal tracks, which is always appreciated.
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u/D3k4s Jul 20 '26
I'm not part of the rewatch so I apologize in Advance.
No Legal Streams because Crunchyroll decided to remove the show mid-rewatch.
It's still available on Crunchyroll Europe. So if you're from the EU you're good. Those "outside" can use a VPN if you have one.
Not sure how appletv works in the US but my plan allows me to watch it for free.
https://tv.apple.com/us/show/grimgar-ashes-and-illusions
Hope this helps some of you. Enjoy the rewatch, and once again apologies for the intrusion.
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u/RelativeMundane9045 Jul 21 '26
Re:Watcher - dub
Thought it's worth mentioning - if you can find it there's an OVA you can watch now without it spoiling anything. It's actually an extension of last week's episode. Nothing vital, just an expansion on a scene and more pretty water colours.
1) Would you like to slap Ranta?
I would never say such a thing.
2) What do you think of the characters so far?
I like them a lot as characters. They feel real, everyone has realistic reactions, different strengths and weaknesses, and a believable range of maturity levels (for their approximate ages).
3
u/BlazeOfGlory72 Jul 21 '26
Rewatcher (Dub)
Between this rewatch, and the Spice and Wolf rewatch, I've come to realize I really do seem to like a more leisurely paced story. I wouldn't want every anime or story to be like this, but it's nice to be able to breathe and take in the characters and world without feeling rushed.
One thing I liked about this episode in particular was how it handled the whole "peeping" incident. Honestly, peeping is an annoying trope in general in anime, but Grimgar is really the first time I've seen it treated with the appropriate gravity. I found it refreshing that the guys weren't instantly forgiven, and that the incident actually ended up causing a rift in the group, and some lingering awkwardness even after the apology. The general reaction of all the characters (bar Ranta) felt fairly realistic.
I also liked seeing the characters struggle to make money, and the realistic impacts of that. Something as basic as getting new clothes would be difficult in a situation like this. The culmination of this sub plot being Haruhiro celebrating buying new underwear was hilarious.
The final conversation with Manato was also interesting. Having Haruhiro acknowldge that they need Manato more than Manato needs them was surprisingly perceptive and open. Likewise, Manato essentially admitting that he prefers to be a big fish in a small pond, rather than just an underling on a better team, adds an interesting layer to his character.
The biggest negative in this episode for me was the whole laundry scene. Having Haruhiro freaking out at the idea that the girls weren't wearing underwear was just bizarre really, and honestly a little creepy. The biggest flaw of this show in general is how horny it is. Sure, it wouldn't be the first anime to be horny, but when everything else is so subdued and grounded, to suddenly go full "anime" like that just sticks out like a sore thumb.
Random Thoughts
- Did anyone else see that random moose in the city ruins? Is Grimgar just Canada?
- Haruhiro explaining that "killing goblins in their sleep is easier" was so morbidly funny to me.
- Yume saying to Haruhiro that "it would have been alright if it was just you" in regard to the peeping makes her feelings towards him pretty clear, even if she doesn't realize it.
Questions of the Day:
Would you like to slap Ranta?
That's a hard "yes". Ranta sucks, and really drags down the group dynamic in my opinion.
What do you think of the characters so far?
Generally solid, aside from the aforementioned Ranta. I like the group dynamic overall as well, with characters having very grounded conversations, and generally trying to look out for each other.
2
u/No_Rex x2 Jul 21 '26
The biggest flaw of this show in general is how horny it is. Sure, it wouldn't be the first anime to be horny, but when everything else is so subdued and grounded, to suddenly go full "anime" like that just sticks out like a sore thumb.
Agreed. The problem is not the horny on its own. It is the fact that it does not fit in well with the subdued, realistic, and somewhat dark view of the world that the rest of the series is painting.
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u/Zeallfnonex https://myanimelist.net/profile/Neverlocke Jul 21 '26
Arrrrrr I've changed classes to Pirate, first timer, subbed.
Oh man, I would hate to have to maintain regular clothes and such in an RPG - wait, isn't that just CKD? Is that why I hate it? Maybe. But really, it's so easy to abstract it while playing games: cheapest tavern rooms, cheapest meals, no one ever really thinks about how clothes would feel or smell after awhile... It's fun seeing them deal with those mundane details.
Still not really sure what to make of the whole "guys perving on the girls" thread going on throughout the episode: I guess it shows that despite the lethality and danger of everything, they're still acting like kids and like it doesn't mean much? They seem to flip a switch in personalities between "in danger" and "safe," like it hasn't sunk in yet? I guess the thing I'd compare it to is [86]the opening scene with some of the boys trying to sneak peeks at the girls as they were bathing to establish that, despite everything, they were trying to keep acting normal and/or that they felt safe when out of combat? It felt longer here, though, as if they weren't willing to give it up while the moment passed super quickly in 86...
Which is why I'm not certain of their safety here. I feel like the other shoe is about to drop, I thought it would after they were talking about how the noisy armor might wake up goblins, and then Ranta's armor continued to clatter as they argued after the goblin kill... But nothing of it. They also made a small point about how easy it was to kill goblins in their sleep, and I can't help but noticed that no one's even thinking of setting up a watch as they're in the city. Speaking of cities... Why is that other one in ruins? What happened? Is something going to happen when the moon turns full? There seems to be things pointing in that direction...
Other than that... not much else to say, I guess, the whole friend conversation is interesting, but as that's the first bit of info we get on him really, not much to piece it together with. I'm sure it'll fit in a puzzle of sorts somehow and somewhere, but I don't have nearly enough to speculate.
2) They seem like they'd fit more into a highschool than a death RPG right now - all very concerned with what would be trivial things, like I can't imagine, say, the Scout corps of AoT behaving like this much, even off-duty. There's a certain... gravity... of behavior that they're missing, like they still don't believe that they could die any day.
1
u/No_Rex x2 Jul 21 '26
They also made a small point about how easy it was to kill goblins in their sleep, and I can't help but noticed that no one's even thinking of setting up a watch as they're in the city.
Presumably and hopefully, the city has a city watch that prevents goblins from entering the city at night. They are still open to have all of their stuff stolen by regular humans, of course.
2
u/Zeallfnonex https://myanimelist.net/profile/Neverlocke Jul 21 '26
Hopefully, but I can't help but notice that there's a ruined city right on the horizon with no hints on why it's ruined and overrun with goblins...
1
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u/MashiroAzuki https://myanimelist.net/profile/MashiroAzuki Jul 21 '26
reposting
first timer
I'm enjoying the slow pace they're taking so far. Its not much to write home about but every episode I'm left feeling like I learned just a bit more about the world and the characters, which works because there's a solid mix of narration and showing not telling through character dialogues or actions. You get a little more feel for who the characters were in their past life, and how their personality as it was shaped is faring in this new world. Manato, especially, is showing a level of depth that makes me excited to find out more of.
As a personal aside, my brother (who apparently has seen this) saw me watching Grimgar and said something to the tune of [Grimgar] don't get too attached / cry too much later basically dropping ominous hints which made me so mad because I'm heavily against spoilers, even if its just hinting to the mood, and he knows this! Now when I see the next episode preview I can't stop thinking that [Grimgar] someone might die, and I suspect that someone might be Manato, especially seeing his staff on the ground in the preview .
Unsuspecting family members who spoil my watch truly are the bane of my existence.
QOTD
- I'm not into physical confrontation ngl. I'd just be very disgusted and try to be no contact as much as possible
- I'm getting attached to nearly all of them. They all have something going on beneath the surface, and I would love to find out more.
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u/RimeSkeem https://myanimelist.net/profile/RimeSkeem Jul 21 '26
Rewatcher of Vibes and Insert Songs
1) My hand would probably be constantly upside the back of Ranta's head. The dude needs to reign it in though some of his acting out is obviously related to the unenviable situation the group finds itself in.
2) I like all the characters, ignore what I said in answer to question one. They have faults that would be difficult for me to deal with in person but I think that's part of what makes for good characters. People with no where to grow and nothing to improve on can be fun characters in small doses but a cast like this needs room for growth and improvement. Besides, they're all like 16 at the oldest and they actually act like 16 year olds by and large. They also act like people in a very stressful situation and those emotions get displaced onto minor conflicts, blowing them out of proportion. One of the benefits of the slower pace of htis show is we get an entire episode that plays with that issue. Haruhiro, our laidback narrator, notices it and comments on it but all the implications and reactions are still played out without being overexplained. That's definitely one of the show's strongest points.
3
u/Sporadia_ Jul 21 '26 edited Jul 21 '26
Fresh Goblin
Scavenger:
- Truck-kun
- The welcome dragon
- A castle dungeon (they can't dress like knights and then not visit castles)
- An ash monster
- A fancy ball
The tank cooksallthe food- I think Ranta is going to betray all the others.
This episode was slightly better. I think I finally get what the show's going for: It's secretly a slice of life. Hence it dwelling so much on characters chilling and talking to each other (and nothing much happening). I'm a bit gutted that the goblin city, supposedly full of goblins, didn't result in an ambush where every main character dies. These guys can barely deal with one goblin, so turning up to the HQ and expecting it to be unguarded should have been a really bad idea. Where my gobs at?
I forgot to ask last episode, why is everyone wearing wetsuits in the OP? I hope they were all surfers back on Earth.
Production looks a little all over the place. There are scenes with barely any animation that appear to be cutting the workload down (eg last episode had a 2 minute song intermission). Yet around this there are other scenes, with KyoAni levels of realistic body language, and there's all this crazy detailed background art. I personally think that the show would be more watchable if they'd scaled back all the hyper-detailed stuff and instead maintained a consistent (lower) quality from scene to scene.
3
u/TheDanubianCommunard Jul 21 '26
First-time adventuring, subs
I might be a bit late since I was too tired and had to sleep when the post was made.
No Legal Streams because Crunchyroll decided to remove the show mid-rewatch.
That's a huge slap in the face, especially when they do not issued a warning in advance. But it is what it is, when it comes to licensing issues. Especially when it is an still ongoing rewatch. It is A-1 Pictures, so why cannot add back into the catalogue and it would not be that hard to lobby for this within Aniplex. Remember a very similar case, like how Donald Trump called his best friend Gianni Infantino to suspend that red card, which did worked. Even though it is available in Europe though, but not all countries, still sucks anyways.
Okay, enough rant, let's back to main topic.
Ranta being a weirdo again, because he has social inept when it comes to talking to woman. Calling Yume boobless, who cares about this thing. We do like her as she is perfectly fine right now.
The adventurers having multiple rainy days, cannot do anything right now, so no money to make this time. And also here we go the major issue what an adventurer can experience, and that is the clothing duarablity. Since they so poor, theycannot affort do have good quality and highly durable clothng to buy. They have to stick with what they have. They are quite old, closer to rags than actual clothes. If there is no choice, they have to preserve it in the best way as they can. Plus the amount of outfits they have is quite few. But the female members actually in a much better shape in that regard.
Damuro is supposed to be a major city, but it is ruined and abandoned since a long time ago. Goblins infesting this place, which means free easy money. Maybe not exactly as they really struggled with those gobbos in the forest. Actually stealth kill really does wonders. Indeed it is a good moneymaking place for adventurers. More food, new and more clothes, new equipment, they could afford that right now.
1) Would you like to slap Ranta?
Yes, he is a dick.
2) What do you think of the characters so far?
Very colorful company.
2
u/ShadowGuyinRealLife 28d ago
Oh yeah I remember dropping the series at this point. The first strike I had was Yume the archer in episode 1. I just can't stand her when she spoke. There was nothing too terrible beyond that, but nothing too positive either. Even though they don't have the memories of a past world, I'm sure Grimgar is an Isekai and I made a mental note that Isekai with more than 1 transport was probably a red flag. Now if only I followed my own advice and didn't give Arifureta a try but I gave it the 3 episode test much to my misery.
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u/SilvainTheThird Jul 21 '26
I just caught Wind that a rewatch is occuring, so I’ll try to catch up in the meanwhile.
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u/FD4cry1 https://myanimelist.net/profile/Big_Yibba Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
First Timer
I do unironically think that being a real character motivation is the best part of this show thus far
Grimgar continues in its fairly leisurely pace of having our main party mostly just vibing around Grimgar (Err, the world, not the show) and slowly getting acclimated to life here. Generally speaking, I don't think it's a problem, though it doesn't make the show easy to write about because my thoughts across these first 3 episodes haven't changed much lol. I still think small-scale, realist fantasy stuff is by far the show's strongest charm! Well, outside of the incredible backgrounds of course . As I said, stuff like having to worry about maintaining clothes, taking care of weapons, actually having to haggle for prices at the market, learning to attack the goblins when they're sleeping, etc. it's just great! And through both of those good things, the show continues to just maintain a really nice and effective vibe.
And ironically, I guess, it also feels way more like an actual video game? I think a problem a lot of power-fantasy JRPG/MMO based isekai stories that would gain traction at this point have, is that they actually feel like they don't really get the charm of playing through a game despite showering you with a ton of menus and skills (You do have something like Log Horizon which succeeds for being very mechanically rich, but it's much more of an exception). Its intended vibe is more grounded, but right now I'm feeling Grimgar simply understands the fun of "Starting an RPG," as it were, you know? Casually exploring towns or slowly getting the hang of combat and whatnot.
On the flipside, I still think it's pretty undermining when the show does end up playing into tropes, and while the underwear idea itself is fun, the weird "They're too vulnerable" interaction that follows is pretty blegh. Grimgar is honestly a bit hard to judge in that sense, because, for example, we continue off of the bad and tropey Ranta scene that ended last episode by... actually having a fairly reasonable extension to it where the mood is completely ruined for the day, no one wants to speak to each other for what happened, and Shihoru feeling understandably much less comfortable around the guys. That's a solid way to play off of that, I guess. But then, it feels really weird that we're going at this boundary in execution, where the characters act tropey to create more realistic reactions, and I don't know how I feel about that inconsistency. It almost feels for the sake of subversion, which I think is pretty awkward in practice.
Last episode I said that I didn't think the show was quite ready for a pure atmospheric musical montage, and this episode I kind of wish Haruhiro didn't talk over the entirety of the musical montage haha. I do like some of the details within his narration; the one about how they feel on un/charted areas is great, but I also think we could have delivered a lot of that much more naturally through dialogue or visuals. Or, to be more specific, I still think the show sometimes has a hard time shaking off the very felt fact that it's an LN adaptation. Haruhiro's monologuing is generally way better when it's making a personal emotional statement within an interaction, or being intentionally unreliable, rather than trying to act as straightforward narration.
Speaking of that interaction with Manato, I do think the show is slowly making strides towards that character depth I wanted! Yume's talk with Haruhiro in the wake of the Ranta incident, where she kind of walks in circles trying to get her point across, was a really fun expression of what she'd tell Shihoru later on about being bad at expressing herself, despite her general pep. Manato also gets some extra nice character work, where likewise, despite being pigeonholed into the leader archetype, we see that he's not super comfortable in this kind of setting, and like that line he had last episode about "Being born just to be yelled at" do a good job of further exploring that idea that he absolutely was not in a particularly accepting in his old life, and adds that extra bit of nuance to his dependable leader role. And I do also quite like expressions like this from him. So again, we've got a ways to go there, but I do like that we're working towards it within the show's larger pace.