Record of Grancrest War

Episode 7

I was wrong last week—Record of Grancrest War isn't finished doling out hasty new character introductions. Now I feel foolish for thinking that this process will ever be finished. This fantasy world is riddled with lords and ladies and assassins, and we're going to meet every last one. To give the show credit, it's a master of the quick study, showing us everything we need to know about each new character in minutes. But boy, there sure are a lot of them!

Team Theo has almost opened up the path to Jalucia, where Lord Villar is trying to attend a conference. But there's still a couple Alliance outliers to persuade, either through negotiation or battle. Theo convinces Lord Ladvan to take the easy way out, warning him that Lord Lassic will show up with 30,000 men if he doesn't agree now—conveniently leaving out the fact that Theo and Lassic are pals. I'm not sure if Ladvan would have been so incredibly awestruck by Theo if he realized that he's actually using the carrot and stick approach. This week more than ever, it's apparent that Record of Grancrest War is really more of a “record” than a tale, an account of characters doing stuff and then doing more stuff.

In Jalucia it's time for another ball, except this time it's absent any of the bloodlust (or just normal lust) that made last week's episode so captivating. Theo's name is beginning to get him some serious recognition, both from the predictably evil-looking Rossini and from the delicate dandy Lord Alexis. You might recall Alexis from episode one or from the opening sequence. For some reason, this man who has everything by accident of birth only wants his ex-fiancee Marrine back. Now these star-crossed lovers are the figureheads of the Union and Alliance respectively, and it's extremely unclear if Marrine even likes Alexis back. During a clandestine meeting, Alexis admits that he ships Theo and Siluca pretty hard, even though the show hasn't given the pair any time to explore that potential romance. Theo gave up everything in one grand gesture for Siluca, and Alexis says he'd like to do the same for Marrine. I can't help but feel, based on what we've seen so far, that Marrine wouldn't appreciate that at all.

This episode saves the best for last in an all-out battle against a troupe of assassins. Siluca's feline friend is back to save the day, along with those butt-kicking werewolf maid twins. Of course Rossini is to blame—you saw just how evil he looked! This is a place where the plot relies more on our own expectations than developing things through the storytelling. Of course Rossini has to be evil and hate Theo, because otherwise how else would Theo be justified in overthrowing Rossini? I guess when the plot moves this quickly, cutting a few corners is to be expected.

Rating: C+

Record of Grancrest War is currently streaming on Crunchyroll.

Lauren writes about geek careers at Otaku Journalist.