TV Review: Grimgar, Ashes and Illusions (2016)

Grimgar, Ashes and Illusions (2016) written and partly directed by Ryosuke Nakamura from the manga by Ao Jumonji

Based on a light fantasy novel series (which was turned into a manga series before becoming an anime series), the story starts with a group of six young people in a fantasy world failing to beat one goblin. A flashback reveals that they suddenly appeared in this world with no knowledge of where they came from but they occasionally use words like "cell phone" without understanding them. This part of the story (their mysterious origin) drops out of the narrative quickly as they join the Trainee Volunteer Soldiers. The military group has various guilds, including ones for priests, rangers, thieves, and dark knights. The six form a party to make money by fighting monsters. They haven't been able to get above the most basic monsters, so things need to change.

The characters are interesting people who are different enough from each other to have a variety of conflicts within the group as they move through their new world. The struggle to fit in with other groups and with each other makes some good drama. The action scenes are okay. The visual style is different from other anime I've seen. Most of the backgrounds are watercolors, making the place seem like a different world from ours. The "coming from another world" mystery is never explained here. The novels have a lot more stories so maybe those creators got back around to that eventually. Even so, this is an engaging and entertaining series.

Recommended--I enjoyed this a lot and it is only a dozen episodes, so not the lifelong commitment of a show like One Piece.

The show is available for streaming on Crunchyroll.