Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. Let’s talk about Ryo Mizuno. For a lot of casual fans that name may not mean much but for anime fans growing up in the 90s that name became synonymous with fantasy. Working as an author and game designer, Ryo made a name for himself when he wrote Record of Lodoss War, hands down one of the greatest fantasy animes of all time. The series was like a D&D game told in an anime format and Ryo was the dungeon master. The series was a big hit spawning multiple games and spinoffs. Ryo would go on to write multiple other fantasy novels as well as tabletop games but none of them reached the same level as Lodoss War. However, if I had to pick his most underrated work it has to be Record of Grancrest War. Released in 2013 and ending in 2018 this was Ryo’s attempt at making a fantasy novel for the modern age. To his credit the story was good and got a lot of praise from the Japanese audience. After the novel’s completion, a videogame was made based off the novel as well as an anime done by everyone’s favorite studio A-1 Pictures (Solo Leveling and SAO). While the game got some traction in the west, the anime mostly went unnoticed during its run and came to be known as an underrated anime. Looking back, I can’t really blame people. I mean just look at this poster: https://www-animeherald-com.exactdn.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Record-of-Grancrest-War-Visual-003-20171021.jpg?strip=all&lossy=1&ssl=1, the character designs look so generic. They honestly look like SAO characters. I even thought about skipping the anime until I took a chance and watched the first episode and liked what I saw. Two episodes later and I was hooked and wanted to see what happened next. I say it’s time we give this series the attention it deserves. Join me my fellow fantasy enthusiast. This is Record of Grancrest War.
Opening and Ending Theme
Our first opening is “Starry” by Mashiro Ayano. It’s alright. Nothing too memorable about it in my opinion but it does fit in with the anime. I could totally see this playing as the opening for the game.
The ending is “Pledge” by ASCA. Very beautiful and matches up with our female lead. The instrumentals are great and takes us on a journey. We understand what she’s feeling, going through, and what she hope to gain.
Episodes 1-4
The anime opens up on a wedding between these two factions known as the Alliance and the Federation who have been waging war with each other for years but with this wedding it’ll unite the two factions and peace will set in. Everything seems to be going alright until the demon lord shows up and kills the archdukes of both families (I now pronounce you, dead). As a result, the wedding gets cancelled and war erupts between the two factions once again (why? Because the demon lord decided to be an ass and kill people? He’s just doing his job). Some time passes and we cut to a young woman named Siluca voiced by Akari Kitō (Nezuko from Demon Slayer) who is a mage traveling by carriage with a man named Irvin who is a demon seal holder (whatever that is?). As they’re traveling to perform a job for a lord, they get ambushed by a bunch of bandits but get saved by a young man named Theo a low ranking lord voiced by Kentarō Kumagai who wants to increase his rank so that he can save his homeland from demons and the tyrannical rule of a corrupt lord (I feel your pain). He fights the bandits and scares them away (scene here: https://youtu.be/mrdcvU6HZzU?si=3vhoIbdcxq4doK1c), and once Siluca hears his story she decides to help him earn the rank of knight by having him fight this orthros. Theo barely manages to beat it (scene here: https://youtu.be/WEknUaUUI6M?si=qRcOBklYlGOX6zGy) and after he absorbs what’s known as a demon core (yeah, this anime doesn’t do a good job at explaining stuff) he earns the rank of a knight meaning he can enter a contract with a mage. Since Siluca hates her current contract with another lord, she volunteers herself to be his mage (she’s thirsty for some Theo). The three then go to meet Mesto the lord of the domain they’re traveling through and the one who sent the bandits after Siluca which is a violation of some treaty between lords and mages. Since Mesto broke the treaty he will now be stripped of his title as lord and have to surrender his crest to Theo. Mesto tries to fight them off, but when Irvin puts a knife to his neck he surrenders (with tears in his eyes. Pansy) and gives his crest to Theo which means Theo is now the lord of the domain. The old mage there also enters into a contract with Theo and makes plans to negotiate with the surrounding lords so they’ll recognize him but Siluca tells him not to because Theo will announce that he’s part of the Alliance meaning he’ll be surrounded by enemies who will try to take over his land (oh I get it. Get the other domains to attack us, steal their crest, get their land, and become so big that you become your own independent country. I like it).
In episode 2 news of Theo spreads quickly to the other lords (they heard it through the grapevine) and a cocky lord named Lassic decides to be the first to take a shot at Theo and take his land. He assembles his army along with paid mercenaries and sets out. Siluca calls in her friend Aishela her senpai from school until she left and became an Artist (some kind of skilled warrior). She’s also overly affectionate when it comes to Siluca (a senpai who notices you. How scary). The battle begins where Siluca, Aishela, and Irvin take the frontlines and pretty much halt Lassic’s army themselves (all these men and you can’t defeat 3 people!? You are lucky you are not under my command or I would have each and every one of you killed. It’s embarrassing). Siluca gets into a fight with Lassic’s mage Moreno who also used to be Siluca’s senpai back in school. She gets saved by Theo and captures Moreno to make Lassic surrender where in a shocking move Lassic actually does surrender to save Moreno’s life (even Moreno is shocked by this. Scene here: https://youtu.be/zt9ISBZ8Dw8?si=RNzans79Hqhj6FpE). After the battle, Lassic asks to become Theo’s subordinate. His goal isn’t to be the next emperor; he knows that he’s not fit for the job, he just wants to rule over one nation and Theo’s team seems to have the ambition and drive to make his dream come true so why not partner up with him (this guy is smarter than he looks). Theo accepts him as his subordinate and he earns the rank of baron.
Episode 3 starts off with Theo letting in followers from a religious sect known as the order of the Crest a group of people who go around saying that the crests of lords are contributing to the chaos of the world, don’t belong to them but their god, and have even gone as far as taking the crests of lords as well (talk about letting the faith go to your head). The group is being led by Priscilla who says she wants to join Theo’s cause but Siluca has her doubts. After that, we see that Theo and his men continue to expand their territory and get other lords to submit to him. Siluca proposes that their plan for the future is to have Theo switch over to the Alliance and make his family name Cornaro (the name of the family that helped established the land from where he came from) that way he can inspire the people of his own island to rise against their oppressor and side with him (to arms! To arms). Theo likes and agrees to this plan but an old mage named Sartoros who’s sort of like a second advisor for Theo becomes concerned with Siluca believing that she’s overstepping her boundaries, ignoring the wishes of Theo, and is just using him for her own goals (uh yeah, she kind of told him she was gonna use him when they first met. In fact, Theo said he was okay with that as long as it would allow him to achieve his goal). This talk actually does strike a nerve with her and she decides to go and talk to him but Irvin alerts them that a chaos disaster has occurred in town and they rush to take care of it. The chaos disaster is a powerful fire demon that can’t be harmed by physical attacks (this looks like a job for a hot mage girl). Siluca uses the water from a nearby well to kill the fire demon but the demon explodes and Theo uses his body to keep her safe from the explosion (scene here: https://youtu.be/FkPWxut9V4Y?si=rLP8Er4V9O91NqJ8). Despite a few burns and bruises Theo is fine, yet somehow it’s Siluca who passes out and needs bed rest (how does that work?). Siluca tends to Theo’s wounds and tells him that from now on she’s going to consult him on things going forward. After this, Moreno returns from negotiating with the king of Savis (the owner of the region Theo’s land is on) who’s pissed about Theo declaring himself a free state and decides to settle this on the battlefield (well I say negotiations went well). It doesn’t look good as Theo’s side is outnumbered greatly and so far, the other free states haven’t sent any help. The only help that comes is a couple of workers from Theo’s region who he saved from the fire earlier (and I have to admit it is a good scene that shows how loyal and faithful they are to Theo). The fight begins (sasageyo) where despite being outnumbered Theo’s forces hold up well (you may have the bigger numbers, but do you have the best men?) and long enough for the other free lords to show up and lend their support (took them long enough). They manage to defeat the king of Savis’s army and force him into a humiliating retreat (scene here: https://youtu.be/bpiy25KyTB8?si=3rG6nxC-n6PqSIoD). At the end of the episode, Siluca goes to meet Marrine Kreische the leader of the Alliance in the hopes she’ll allow Theo to join the Alliance (if not, we’ll start our own faction and call it the Rebels).
In episode 4, talks with Marrine break down as Siluca’s adopted father (whose name I don’t know or care to remember) has convinced Marrine not to allow Theo into their ranks (because he is an asshole of a father who likes watching his daughter suffer in an effort to build character). Instead, Theo is ordered to return his lands to the king of Savis or be destroyed by the knights of Valdrind (interesting. Here is my counteroffer. *Clears throat* Fuck you all~). So when those talks break down, Siluca tries to see if the Union will take in Theo but Villar the leader of the Union says he won’t meet with her yet (well that could have gone better. Looks like we’re on our own. Time to start the Rebels). The knights of Valdrind show up with troops numbering 20,000 and Theo’s troops numbering 3,000 (I’ve seen worse odds). The battle gets off to a bad start when Aishela gets a severe injury which almost kills her but Priscilla saves her life (crap, she was our attacker). Things pick up for them where they manage to defend the fort against the knights, forcing them to retreat, and Lassic pulls through for them big time by killing the king of Savis (scene here: https://youtu.be/RuM7vxbJXWo?si=AuOLxL5Ue7oPgYma, you the man Lassic). With them having the first victory, Siluca tries to work out a ceasefire where Theo will give up his lands, hand them over to Lassic, and give up his rank as long as the Alliance spares his life and the lives of everyone else (that seems fair). Of course, Siluca’s dad rejects her terms and instead orders the death of Theo (what the hell is this guy’s problem? You’ve clearly won, at this point you might as well be picking on a child). Theo agrees to forfeit his life for everyone’s safety and when the next day comes they all get saved with the arrival of Villar and the Union (he will now see Siluca) who force the knights to retreat in a humiliating fashion. Once the dust has settled, he goes to talk to Theo where he says that Theo will become the new ruler of Savis. He doesn’t have to serve Villar or join the Union, but Siluca will be going with him because she was originally under his contract. Theo rejects these terms and instead gives up everything and becomes a knight working under Villar in order to keep his contract with Siluca (you love her). Villar agrees to this but Theo has to come live in his castle which he agrees to do. Theo hands Savis over to Lassic and Priscilla decides to go with Theo to the Union (Siluca’s the wife, Priscilla’s the mistress).
Episodes 5-8
Episode 5 is actually a rather sad episode. It starts with Clara the queen of the werewolves talking with Dimitri the king of vampires about how he wants to bring back the chaos so he and his people can prosper again but Clara objects to this saying she wants her clan to live happy lives and says that if Dimitri tries to do anything she’ll be there to take him down. As they talk a seductive woman named Yana a black witch (one who summons demon lords and such. Also, I detect a hint of racism with her title) tries to get Dimitri to fight Clara but he’s kind of a pacifist and doesn’t want to harm his guest (manners are important). Since Dimitri won’t attack, Yana takes matters into her own hands and kidnaps Emma and Luna the daughters of Clara (dark-skinned twin werewolves. Well that’s a turn on, anybody else?). We then cut to Theo and Siluca who are now settling into Villar’s castle where he gives them the task of resolving the issue between the werewolves and vampires happening in the forest of eternal darkness (man the new setting for Castlevania is going old school). They arrive outside the forest where Clara has ventured in alone to save her girls and the rest of the clan are ordered to stay behind where they won’t let anyone through. Dimitri’s shadow shows up and invites them into his castle (please don’t destroy the walls. There are no hearts or chicken legs inside) where he tells them he wants to bring back the chaos, tells them where Clara and Yana are, and takes his leave abandoning the castle and leaving it to them (he’s got like 5 more). Theo and Siluca go into the cellar to help Clara fight Yana who uses gargoyles to hold off Theo and Siluca. Theo reflects her magic attack and Clara uses this distraction to free Emma and Luna and they try to kill Yana but she escapes and Clara unfortunately suffers from the wounds Yana gave to her earlier and dies. Theo brings her dead body to the clan and she dissolves giving her soul to all of them. Theo and Siluca get put in charge of conquering the forest of eternal darkness where they vow to get stronger and the twin werewolves are there to join them and act as maids for Theo.
Nothing much to say in episode 6. It’s Margaret’s 25th birthday and according to the customs of her country she has to return to her country leaving Villar the man she loves behind. Villar gives her a grand party (where they do this world’s version of dirty dancing). Theo sneaks off to have a duel with Milza a lord working under Villar who just doesn’t like Theo (for honestly no reason. Some people just don’t get along). Theo loses the duel with Milza claiming that his weakness is how much he relies on allies and doesn’t have what it takes to be a lord. After this, a meeting of the lords is announced for the Union where Villar and the lords under him will journey by land and along the way conquer 2 of the countries that oppose the Union and present them as gifts. Despite Theo not being a lord, Villar grants him permission to join him and the others and he gets tasked along with Lassic to subjugate Forbes. Most of the lords quickly surrender but a few still hold with the king and refuse to surrender. Milza gets tasked with taking out one of the lords in the region and he does it all by himself and kills a room full of people like nothing (scene here: https://youtu.be/-dzvHW4ONIY?si=_5AYgMTYilQMwBB9. Okay, he’s the truth).
In episode 7 Theo takes on Ladvan another lord who refused to surrender. Not wanting to have a battle in the city and get innocent civilians involved, Theo goes to confront Ladvan and convince him to surrender or settle their fight outside of the city. We see how Ladvan has the loyalty and trust of his people and vice-versa. Not wanting to bring harm to his people, Ladvan decides to switch sides and join the Union (a smart move). Not only that, but he’s so amazed by Theo’s care and concern for not only his troops but the troops of his enemies that he pledges his alliance to Theo as well (damn, Theo not only made this guy change sides, he made him his follower. This guy is gonna be one hell of a leader one day). After this, we see Lassic defeat the king of Forbes and the other country quickly surrenders to the Union with them not losing any soldiers. The anime then becomes boring as we spend the rest of it talking. We get a few new characters such as Pederico the bastard (he even sounds like a bastard who you just wanna punch in the face) who rules over Theo’s homeland, Sistina, and we get to meet Alexis the man that was supposed to marry Marrine in episode 1 (but you know, demon lord came and objected by killing the archdukes) and is currently the true leader of the Union but leaves the running of it to Villar. Alexis seems to hit it off with Theo rather quickly as he really does respect what Theo did in order to keep Siluca by his side (a good chess player never gives up their queen so easily). We also find out that he’s still in love with Marrine and would gladly give up everything to be with her again but he knows his responsibilities to his people and also knows that Marrine is ironclad to her responsibilities as well. While at Theo’s manor in secret, the group gets attacked by assassins courtesy of Pederico. They defeat the assassins with Alexis believing they were after him but Theo knows that the assassins were really after him because of his last name.
Through the majority of episode 8 we see the backstory of Alexis and Marrine (a regular Romeo and Juliet story). Long story short, Alexis fell in love with Marrine at first sight, Marrine tries to ignore his advances but eventually falls in love with him but tries to stay away from him due to their family differences but can’t ignore her heart, and finally agrees to marry him (where again, demon lord). After that backstory we go to the congress of the Union where some of them want to go to war and defeat the Alliance while others want to try and make peace with them (we’re past that point). Alexis tries to step down and hand control over to Villar, but he refuses so it goes to someone else who decides to be a dick and refuse to go to war and throw away a perfectly good opportunity to defeat the Alliance once and for all. Instead, they try to make peace where Marrine decides to be an idiot and instead turn it down and makes preparations for war (what the fuck is wrong with you? You obviously still love Alexis and this was your chance to be with him. You know he’s not responsible for killing your dad, so why are you doing what the assassins want you to do and go to war against your former love?).
Episodes 9-12
Oh man, episode 9 started off on a high note but ended on an incredible low note. The high note being that Theo and Siluca profess their love for each other (scene here: https://youtu.be/nd-goVXg0Mw?si=iRpV-AzpWttVcm_u. This happened sooner than I expected. Hopefully this doesn’t trigger any death flags in the future). The low note being Marrine who has turned into a bitch and whore. They break the rules of war to conquer a fortress by using magic to create a poison which weakens the soldiers in the fortress and she sleeps with Milza who has betrayed Villar and joined the Alliance for power and to have one night with Marrine who openly does this (because like I said previously she has become a bitch and whore. Actually, real talk, a lot of people were so turned off by this chain of events that some of them outright dropped the anime. Why? I mean I can understand them being disgusted with Marrine’s acts of betrayal to the principals of war and to Alexis but you’re gonna drop this series because a character did something you despise? Welcome to life. My only complaint with this scene is that it comes right the fuck out of nowhere. I mean, I knew Milza was an asshole and was going to change sides down the line but the build up for it was done horribly and wasn’t given enough time. As for Marrine, this just shows how much she’s fallen and how desperate she is to win to the point that she’ll turn her back on her morals and give her body to someone she has no feelings for. Bottom line, you deserve better Alexis).
Nothing much happens in episode 10. We get a few fights here and there, Milza tries to attack Villar only to fail, and Margaret returns to Villar’s side.
Episode 11 is Villar’s last stand as his castle is surrounded by Marrine’s forces. Marrine leads the army on land while Vikings attack from the sea and decimate Villar’s allies. Villar steps out of the castle with Margaret and fights with nothing but a sword, no armor, and he manages to defeat a couple of armored units all by himself (that is bullshit) along with Margaret who drinks a potion to unleash her full power but she eventually uses up all her life force and fades away into ashes (ashes to ashes, dust to dust, it’s a shame Villar never got a chance to touch that bust). Villar soon follows and the castle falls into Marrine’s hands with the Alliance gaining a solid foothold in Union territory and Milza gets put in charge of the territory.
In episode 12 the lords who were loyal to Villar form a treaty to work together and reclaim Villar’s land. They appoint Lassic as the leader of their group but he insists that Theo be their leader but the other lords aren’t too sold on the idea (oh come on guys, he’s a great leader. He’s accomplished more in months than you guys have in your entire life). Not wanting to divide the group, Theo encourages Lassic to be the leader for now, but vows to win the support of the lords through his military achievements. After this, we get a fight between Lassic and Milza (ohh~ that’s a good match up. Lassic’s strength and determination against Milza’s fearsome speed and lust for power) where the two almost land fatal blows on each other. Lassic almost got his head cut off while Milza almost got sliced in half and is bleeding out of one eye (I think he might be blind in that eye). Theo and 3,000 men hold up defense in a castle where they come face to face with Marrine’s army. She asks for a summit with Theo where he and Siluca go to meet her and Siluca’s dad (Siluca: Hey dad, meet my boyfriend. (Siluca’s dad): Kill him. Kill him along with everyone in that castle). Theo tells Marrine that Alexis still loves her and how he wants to help reunite them so that they’ll both be happy but Marrine’s not listening and believes that the only way she and Alexis can be together is by showing her military might and capturing his crest. Theo and Siluca take their leave but before returning to the castle Theo shows Marrine not to forget what’s important to her by kissing Siluca in front of everyone (woah~, go Theo. Get you some glory). Marrine’s forces withdraw after they find out that their forces up north have been pushed back leaving their flank totally defenseless so she heads up north to fight. This opens the door for Theo to reclaim Sistina and prove his skills to the lords (and finally reclaim his homeland like he originally set out to do).
And this seems like a good place to stop. Join me next week when we continue with the second half. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.