Blu-Ray Review: Record of Grancrest War – Part 2

The adventure to forge the Grancrest continues within Record of Grancrest War – Part 2, but what can one expect from this Blu-Ray release? Let’s take a look and find out.

Synopsis:

“I, the Mage Siluca Meletes, hereby enter into a contract with Knight Theo’s Crest, and swear eternal loyalty to him.”

From the Record of War series written by Ryo Mizuno, author of the highly acclaimed Record of Lodoss War with over ten million copies in print, the Record of Grancrest War is brought to life in full animation by A-1 Pictures, with the series composition also by the original author himself.

Our View:

The journey to create the Grancrest, and in turn unify the nation under Theo’s rule, continues within this second instalment of Record of Grancrest War,and despite a few changes it mostly delivers the same type of impact as the previous instalment. The theme of consistent war combined with romance soon expands into secret organisations and generations of hidden agendas being brought to fruition; but more than that it is a simplistic story that focuses on conquest and death.

This second instalment into this conquest can be split into four different mini-arcs that each focus on a specific battle, and it begins with Theo, his contracted mage Siluca and their friends arriving at Theo’s home nation of Sistina in order to prove Theo’s worth of being a leader. To achieve this Theo must obtain the support of the villagers and townspeople and start a revolt against the Rossini’s, a family who has held Sistina in their grasp for several generations. It’s a tough start, but it soon spirals into a major conflict – especially when the Black Witch appears – with Theo defeating the Rossini family and returning Sistina back to the people.

Upon completion of this task Theo returns back to the kingdom that was overthrown by Mirza and this soon sparks the beginning of the second major battle. In this case Theo, and his friends, reside within the mysterious forest and upon discovering this fact Mirza formulates an all out attack. Unfortunately this plan backfires and sees Mirza’s forces in disarray due to the forests unique abilities; and as such a different plan of attack is formed. This second battle once again illustrates the skills of contracted mages and crest holders; but once again it feels like and rinse and repeat process with the hero winning the battle and living to tell the tale.

The third arc of this storyline shifts the battle from Theo and his Treaty faction back to the attention of the Alliance and Union; with both Alexis and Marrine, the two who were due to wed before chaos struct, taking to the battlefield. In this situation Alexis learns of Marrine’s resolve of conquest, and in hope of reclaiming back her hand in marriage he takes to the battlefield and defeat various lords that were under her control. Soon enough the two meet on the same battlefield, but Theo opts to have the two discuss rather than battle and as a result a new partnership is formed. This partnership sees Theo, Alexis and Marrine join forces in order to root out the true evil that has been plaguing the nation and soon enough the narrative of the story within the series changes once again.

With a revolution underway, and the truth behind the chaos plaguing the nation, Theo, Alexis and Marrine join forces and begin their quest to lure out the real threat within the kingdom; the mage academy. Secret agenders, hidden organisations and assassins are all revealed to exist and the tide of battle changes with magic and swords colliding in the heat of battle; so much so that it even sees demonic creatures make their appearance. Truth be told this final arc offers something different and brings some new life into an already ageing story; but it is still mediocre at best.

Put simply the events within Record of Grancrest War – Part 2 follows Theo through the different battles; but while the location is different the animation, presentation and sound effects all remain the same. It is a very rinse and repeat approach that is consistent as much as it is stale. If you are looking for compelling and story driven experiences then you won’t find it here; but if you are looking for violence, swordplay and magic then you’re sorted.

Extras:

Just like the first part, and as with most Aniplex related releases,, the selection of bonus features on Record of Grancrest War – Part 2 is limited to just Textless Songs, Next Episode Previews and Trailers for other anime releases. It’s nothing exciting or interesting, but the trailers do give us chance to view anime not currently available in the UK.

Naturally the highlights of the bonus features are the Next Episode Previews, of which are listed as Web Preview and provide previews for the episodes included in this set in Japanese with removable English subtitles, and trailers. The trailers themselves are for Made in Abys, Granblue Fantasy: The Animation, Fairy Tail Zero, Tales of Zestira X with the latter two titles not currently available in the UK. In short a simplistic set of bonus features for a rather simplistic series.

Specs:

Media:  BD 50 x2
Region: B
Running Time: 2:22:09 (Disc 1), 2:22:14 (Disc 2)
Video: MPEG-4 AVC
Audio: LPCM 2.0 (English & Japanese)
Subtitles: English (White)
Resolution: 1920×1080 (1080p)
Aspect Ratio: 16:9
Frame Rate: 23.976 fps

Overall:

The events found within the first half of Record of Grancrest War provided a compelling reason to sit back and enjoy the events unfold and this second instalment continues that momentum in an almost rinse and repeat fashion. The location and enemies may be different, but the fights and the objective is the same; conquest and salvation. For Theo his objective if unifying the nation, for Alexis it is to marry the woman he loves and for Marrine it is accepting responsibility of past sins caused by the Chaos.

For the most part this second half of Record of Grancrest War continues to deliver the bloody violence experienced previously with Theo and his comrades taking to the battlefield in different locations so that peace can be restored within that nation. In between these battles a narrative helps deliver ‘key plot points’ but in reality it mostly helps progress the story on to the next battlefield with a different set of characters taking part in the fight.

As with the previous instalment the strategic elements of the series may be forgetful, and the sound effects seem reused other series released by Aniplex, but the episodes are still entertaining to watch in both English and Japanese audio. One again subtitles are presented cleanly and easily readable however the subtitles do occasionally change from the bottom of the screen to the top. For some reason this seems to be a trend on Aniplex related releases and, at times, can be annoying.

Overall Record of Grancrest War – Part 2 provides the same consistency as with the previous release, except this time offers an ending rather than an optimistic one. If you enjoyed what the first half of the series then you’ll enjoy where this second half will take you. A satisfying ending to a rather solid series that focuses on war and conquest rather than an underlining story of one’s personal agenda.

Score:

Record of Grancrest War – Part 2 will be available on Blu-Ray on the 9th December 2019 in the UK via MVM Entertainment.