Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Animes have been known to leave an impact on its viewers. Some of them big some of them small, but an impact nonetheless. However, there are rare occasions where the anime will leave no impact on its viewers. One anime that left no impact on me was Grimoire of Zero. Released in 2017, Grimoire of Zero is one of those animes that I had to ask: I watched this? Oh yeah, watched this. Based off the light novel written by Kakeru Kobashiri from 2014-2017 and produced by White Fox (Goblin Slayer and Re:Zero) this was one of the more forgetful animes to air in 2017. With the sequel to this series coming up this spring I thought it’d be a good idea to go back and rewatch the series to see if my opinion of it has changed. Did this series leave an impact and I was just too young to appreciate it? Well lets return to zero and find out. This is Grimoire of Zero.
Opening and Ending Theme
For the opening we have “”Hakkensha wa Watashi” by Tapimiru. Kind of in the neutral zone for this song. It just sounds like a typical generic rock song I’ve heard in other animes. Nothing really seems to stand out about this song. Check it out for yourselves and see what I mean.
The ending is “Hajimari no Shirushi” by Chima. This song is a little more memorable than the opening as it’s sung beautifully and the soft melody really does relax me. Not the best or most memorable ending but still decent nonetheless.
Episodes 1-4
The anime starts off with a little backstory. 500 years ago the church waged a holy war to eliminate all witches (it was known as The Great Witch Hunt). They succeeded in eliminating a majority of them but a few got away and now the church continues to hunt them down in the name of the greater good (https://youtu.be/N_q2wBzT6uU). We then focus on a mercenary named Mercenary (not confusing at all) voiced by Tsuyoshi Koyama a half-breast half-human hybrid in the form of a white tiger (Shizuku: White tiger! Where? I wanna hug him) who’s being hunted by bounty hunters. Apparently, in this world, witches cursed humans to give birth to these hybrids which are seen as the servants of the witch thus they are hunted down for their large bounties (or here’s an idea, team up with these beast-like creatures and fight the witches). He easily defeats the bounty hunters and escapes into the forest where at night he gets attacked by a witch but gets saved by another witch who we’ll come to know as Zero voiced by Yumiri Hanamori. Disliking witches, Mercenary runs away but Zero catches up to him and they talk over a nice bowel of soup. Zero explains that she’s on a quest looking for her friend 13 (he has a great trucker hat) who is looking for a grimoire she says could destroy the world if put in the wrong hands. Zero wants him to be her bodyguard and in return for protection and helping her accomplish her mission, she’ll turn him back into a human. The next day they head out where Zero explains that the book that was stolen contains the theories of magic. In this world there’s a difference between magic and sorcery. Sorcery is just drawing up circles and summoning demons and other spirits while magic doesn’t require any of that. Simply chant a few magic words and you’re good to go. They get attacked by that witch last night who turns out to be a young boy (wouldn’t that make him a wizard?). He tries to use magic but it gets denied by Zero because the magic he’s using comes from a grimoire she wrote herself (let’s see, powerful beast and a powerful witch who happens to be a loli. This is going to be an enjoyable series).
In episode 2 we find out that the young witch boy is named Albus and he’s part of the Sorcerers of Zero a resistance group which goes around fighting humans. He agrees to take them to the hideout of Zero’s followers (maybe we’ll run into Lelouch) where they come across a village famous for their witch-hunts and was once home to a witch named Sorena. In past Sorena used to be on good terms with the village but a plaque struck the village and everyone blamed Sorena for it so they burned her at the stake in the town square (well that escalated quickly. No fair trial or anything). They arrive in the village where that arrow to knee reference comes into effect (well it took a few years but it found its way into anime) and Albus gets accused of stealing a ring from an old lady he found in a spring. It gets revealed that he’s a witch and the villagers turn hostile and attack where they escape into the woods (scene here: https://youtu.be/475fo_seMLc). The villagers go after them and since they know the layout of the woods and the group doesn’t want to harm them as it’ll get the attention of the church, it’s only a matter of time before they’re caught. Luckily, they get saved by that old lady from the village who turns out is a witch in disguise who knows that Sorena didn’t cause the plaque (yeah, if a witch wanted to kill you I’m sure her methods would have been a lot more severe) but couldn’t say anything as it would put herself and her husband at risk. She shows them the way out and Albus gives her back the ring before they escape to end the episode.
Not much happens in episode 3. The group reaches a big city where they buy Zero some new clothes and the Mercenary fights a noble beastman named Holdem who takes in women as slaves and manages to beat him with ease.
Another laidback episode in episode 4. The group leaves the city and continues on their journey to reach the hideout of the Sorcerers of Zero hideout. Their journey is a peaceful one (not unlike the first half) as Zero actually helps Albus with his magic skills and she even kisses the Mercenary after finding out the meaning behind kissing (if it continues in this direction maybe he’ll teach her about the meaning of sex. Wow I never thought the day would come when I would be encouraging bestiality). They finally make it to the town of the hideout only to discover that it’s in ruins.
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 starts off with the group investigating the town where they see countless bodies in the street (looks like somebody’s been partying). Upon further investigation they discover that the citizens are dead and were members of the Sorcerers of Zero. Zero suspects a witch was behind the killings and after investigating the hideout, the bodies, and speaking to an eye witness she suspects that the perpetrator behind this attack was 13. An eye soon pops out in the church (it’s the evil eye) and forcefully summons them to 13 where we find out he’s a state sorcerer a witch who hunts down other witches at the request of the government in order to be granted immunity from them and the church. He’s looking for the Grimoire of Zero and after ransacking the place he couldn’t find it and since the others don’t know where it’s at (and they keep saying zero which he hates) he attacks them. Mercenary shields them from a lightning attack but Zero nullifies it and gets pissed that 13 tried to attack her mercenary (okay the ship between them has been confirmed. I approve). Zero and 13 begin to fight (where a lot is riding on this fight from a fan perspective. First off, this is our first real fight between witches. We’ve seen fights between non-witches which were alright so it’ll be interesting to see how witches fight each other. Second, this is also Zero’s first real fight and we’ll finally get an idea of where she stands on the totem pole. We know she’s strong but how strong is she?) where they come to standstill with each other and the Mercenary decides to intervene (let your woman protect you man) before they take the whole place down with all of them in it (scene here: https://youtu.be/Wn8KnexYcfo).
Episode 6 is quite sad, anti-climatic, and cliché. The fight between Zero and 13 comes to a stop when it’s time to eat (oh that’s bullshit, we finally get our magic battle and they ruin it like this). 13 teleports them to the capital’s palace where they eat and 13 explains to them that the reason he’s working with the humans is to find the Grimoire of Zero which was stolen by Albus’s leader. Yep, it turns out Albus’s group is the one secretly igniting the flames of war between the witches and the humans and 13 is trying to stop it (I highly doubt that). Zero confirms this statement and Albus is beside himself because not only has his group been tricked but the people he now believes he’s been traveling with were using him and weren’t really his friends (geez, rushed to that line of thinking quickly). 13 offers sanctum if he agrees to become a state witch but he chooses being burnt at the stake instead (this is the first and definitely not the last instances of stupidity in this episode). Later on, 13 tries to get Zero to return to the cave but she refuses saying that she created the Grimoire of Zero so she’ll be the one to find and destroy it. 13 summons the Mercenary to his studies where he gives him a magic potion that will turn him into a human and convinces him that Zero has been using him all this time and plans to kill him down the line. The Mercenary stupidly believes this (you’re seriously going to believe the guy you just met over the girl you’ve been traveling with for 6 episodes now? Truly the stupidity of the male MC knows no bounds). This causes him to pull his sword out on Zero (Yume: Oh my. (Nitsuj): Not that sword) which pisses Zero off and snaps him out of 13’s manipulation. She says they’re through and she takes her leave ending the episode on such a cliché note that we’ve seen God knows how many times (scene here: https://youtu.be/i7c4qE99HD0).
At the start of episode 7 Mercenary leaves the castle and goes into town where he stays at an inn/tavern. While there he befriends the barmaid (who strangely reminds me of Hestia if she was taller and her breast were smaller) only to discover that she was only being friendly to him in the hopes that he’ll get rid of the other beastfallen that come around and cause trouble. She never really cared for him as a person and only saw him as nothing more than a beast (bitch). He of course overhears all of this (animal hearing, duh) and is rightfully sad but doesn’t show it. He takes care of the drunk beastfallen and takes his leave with the barmaid feeling terrible for her actions (as you should be damnit. You judged him by what he looked like instead of what he is). After taking his leave he goes to camp out in the forest where he gets attacked by Holdem from episode 3 who has come for revenge and has brought witches (the enemy of my enemy is a friend). The witches betray Holdem and shoot him with an arrow while Mercenary takes on the witches and manages to beat them. When he’s about to kill the last witch his animal instincts take over and he’s about to maul right through her (ever seen a tiger maul through a human? It ain’t pretty), he remembers Zero saying how human he is and this brings him back to his senses. He lets the witch live and starts to leave where the Holdem begs him for help (you tried to kill him and now you want his help. Have you no shame?). At first the Mercenary leaves him to die but once he talks about knowing someone who possibly has the Grimoire of Zero he decides to help (and suddenly he became valuable). Back at the castle Zero confronts 13 about tricking Mercenary and turned him against her and she’s pissed about it. Before the two can fight Zero goes down because she used some magic spell on Mercenary to protect him from magic attacks. Whatever magic attack hits him, the pain will be transferred over to her. During his witch fight Mercenary got hit with an arrow and the attack transferred to Zero and she goes down bleeding from her stomach.
We start episode 8 with the Mercenary tending to the wolf and hearing his story. We find out that Holdem used to be human and came from a noble family (there’s not a stench of nobility about him). After getting caught with another man’s wife he fled his kingdom and wondered the land where he came across Sorena and her grandchild. Looking for protection and a place to belong he pleaded with Sorena to turn him into a beastfallen and in return he would look after Sorena’s grandchild. Sorena heard his request and turned him into a wolfman (I do wonder what he’s like on nights of the full moon) and for a while everything was peaceful until the plaque came, the villagers blamed Sorena, and they killed her for it. Holdem escaped with the granddaughter and looked after her all these years but she soon ran away from home and joined the Sorcerer’s of Zero. The wolf all this time has been trying to track her down and save her because he believes that the one who’s leading the Sorcerer’s of Zero is the one who released the plaque and pinned the blame on Sorena (but for what end? Even if the guy did frame Sorena there’s no way he could have predicted Sorena’s granddaughter would join him). Back with Zero she wakes up but is locked in her room and Albus finds out that 13 plans to kill all the witches bad and good in order to stop the war. The next day Albus is about to get burned at the stake where the wolf reveals that Albus is Sorena’s granddaughter (WHAT! I am so confused right now. I don’t know what the wolf’s sexual preference is but anyone can tell that Albus is a boy). They rescue Albus and escape with 13 sending out assassins to bring them back alive (because that’s who I would send to bring back people alive. Assassins).
Episodes 9-12
So my confusion on Albus’s gender gets cleared up in episode 9 as we find out he really is a girl, she’s just been crossdressing this whole time in order to keep her true identity safe from 13 (this makes. . .sense). After waking up, Albus says she doesn’t have the Grimoire of Zero (yeah we know that) and that she can’t fight their leader since she and the rest of the sorcerers signed a witch’s blood pact saying they wouldn’t harm him. If the pact gets broken they’ll die (well that was dumb of them to sign). And to make the situation even more dire thanks to Albus’s speech at the stake the Sorcerers of Zero are gathering for the final battle against the king. But Albus has a plan to solve everything, seal away the magic within the country. Albus will travel with Holdem around the country and create 5 seals that will encompass the country. With Zero, they’ll use her magic to seal away magic once and for all starting everything from zero and teaching everyone the correct teachings of Zero. Before they can enact their plan they need Zero but have no idea where she’s at (are you kidding me? She’s in the damn castle. Raid the place, find her, escape, and then seal away magic. You’re making this more complicated than it needs to be). In order to find Zero they return to the previous town to retrieve Zero’s old cloak that the shop owner kept and for everyone to see (he’s sick) so they can create a divination spell on where Zero is. They figure out that Zero is being kept in a tower so they split up to perform their task. Albus and Holdem going around creating the seals but on the second one the Sorcerers of Zero show up and arrest her and Holdem for getting in the way of their war. While that’s going on the Mercenary climbs the castle walls to save Zero before sunrise (my plan would have been so much better).
Okay, fan theories out the window in episode 10. It starts off with Mercenary and Zero reuniting with each other (making everyone happy) and then getting captured by 13 who locks Zero in a cage and makes Mercenary kneel before him. We find out that 13 is behind everything bad that’s been happening in the series. The rogue witches, the Sorcerers of Zero, and this great witch war that’s about to begin is all because of him. He claims he did it all for Zero so she could rule over her ideal kingdom where everyone lives in peace (yeah, and there’s a trail of dead bodies as far as the eye can see because of you). He now has incited the Sorcerers of Zero to attack the kingdom in two days in order to kill him and when they do their blood oaths will kick into effect and they’ll all die for trying to kill their leader. Speaking of the Sorcerers of Grimoire they all hear Albus’s plan but still decide to fight (probably shouldn’t have made that grand speech on the stake Albus). Luckily, Holdem is able to escape and follows the Sorcerers of Zero as they march to the capital to kill 13 (and in turn face their deaths). Mercenary manages to break free of 13’s spell and frees Zero where she and 13 get ready to fight.
At the start of episode 11 Zero and 13 fight where Zero overpowers him with ease. Just when she’s about to finish him, Mercenary shields him (are you an idiot? Oh wait, you fell for 13’s trick a few episodes back. Yes, you are an idiot) which results in Zero taking the damage but regaining consciousness a few seconds later. 13 yields defeat and agrees to help Zero erase magic from the land (boy he switched sides easily. But then again Zero has proven that if she wanted to she could kill him in no time flat). They go to meet up with Holdem and Albus who have escaped the Sorcerer’s of Zero and were being hunted by them where once Albus finds out that 13 has been controlling everything from behind the scenes (like a puppet master doing a show) she wants revenge for not only being deceived but for 13 being responsible for the death of Sorena. 13 eliminates the blood pact between him and Albus (do that for the others) meaning Albus can kill him at will which he’ll gladly accept.
In the final episode Albus holds herself back from killing 13 after he reveals that he wasn’t the one that started the plaque in Sorena’s village (well that’s one theory we all got wrong). It was instead the work of immature witches. So while 13 had nothing to do with her death, Albus still holds a grudge against him because he didn’t do anything to save her when he had the chance to do it (look, either kill the guy or let him live, we’ve got a war to stop). Mercenary tells them to hold off on their squabble and focus on the remaining four spell circles they still have to create. They split up, finish drawing the spell circles, and meet back up in the center to perform the spell but Sorcerer’s of Zero are there to attack and unfortunately Zero and 13 aren’t strong enough to complete the spell and need Albus to finish it. Mercenary and Holdem manage to hold off the witches and their wild animals long enough for Albus to arrive and they complete the spell with Zero nullifying her contract with the demon by speaking to it through the body of Mercenary (huh, I surprisingly don’t have an Exorcist joke. Shocking). With magic getting erased from the kingdom Zero regains her grimoire (and all she had to do was erase magic and stop a war). Now that he kept his in of the bargain the Mercenary now wants Zero fulfill her end of the bargain of turning him human but she can’t do it because she used up a lot of magic and it’ll take a while for it to recover. Not only that but she also plans on going around to the other kingdoms to check and make sure magic isn’t being used there as well and wants the Mercenary to accompany her (because she liiiikes~ him). A few days go by and peace between the humans and witches is established. Albus becomes the new head state witch and establishes the state witch program to train witches how to use magic properly (so it’s like FMA without government conspiracies. Yet). They fake 13’s death in order to bring the witches and humans together (seeing as how everything in this anime was his fault) and retreats back into the cave he originally came from agreeing to help Albus should the time come. Albus gives the Mercenary a kiss (oh bullshit we want Zero to kiss him) and heads off on his journey with Zero.
Final Thoughts
Well after all these years this anime still doesn’t leave an impact on me. This anime is very mediocre. It doesn’t do anything to distinguish itself from any other fantasy-based story I’ve seen and has multiple scenes that make no sense and makes the characters look stupid. The characters aren’t interesting, they go through no growth, and the story just ends with us not caring about any of these characters at all. Seriously, I feel nothing for these characters or the world they’re in. That is just terrible writing on your part. The music and animation aren’t impressive. You can easily tell this was a low budget anime as the animation reflects this. Aside from one maybe two funny moments this anime really offers nothing. I’m kinda hesitant to call this awful, but I will say this is a boring watch that feels like a waste of time.
Final Score
The final score for Grimoire of Zero is a 3/10. I really wanted this to be a dark horse that would intrigue me. Instead, I got a stereotypical and poorly written fantasy story that does nothing to stand out. Will the sequel be anything other? One could hope so but after this anime my expectations are low. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.