Hai to Gensou no Grimgar – 07
There are quite a few things about Mary…
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I think we should let this episode be one for the record books; Ranta both apologized, and thought something out…. |
It might snow tomorrow….
…bookends…
…or in this case it might rain. But before we go there, let’s settle into the start of the episode. It’s very clear that the metaphor for a dungeon is all to apt in Mary’s life. She’s as much underground as anyone is in the grave, she’s just going through all the motions that passes for life, without much to show for it. I guess survivor’s guilt can do that to a person.
Of course, Ranta does rather take his share of the story. I love how quietly, for him that is, he confessed that he is very insecure, and very much aware of that insecurity, but has so much momentum behind him that he cannot help but be his same old abrasive self despite saying some very nice things. That self awareness is important as it underscore exactly how Mary is feeling and why she reacts the way she does. Guilt really is just the tip of the berg.
…lovely use of a lateral shot…
But, someday in the rain, there was a great bit in Haruhiro’s monologue about his teams individual advancements. While it was easy for him to list off what he and the rest have accomplished in the time, he stumbles just a touch at what Mary has been doing. He only mentions that she is a higher level than them. I may be guilty of reading a bunch into it, but…by omission, that isn’t necessarily advancement. It implies that they are slowly but surely catching up to her. But she has not gone any further than where she was when Michiki sacrificed himself to save her.
By catching up to her, a healer of all things, of all people, that means quite a bit. Haruhiro’s speech spells it all out. None of us were the best, we were the rest. But we had a guiding light. We had something good, he sums up, and lost it. We took it for granted while we were at it, he continues, and we might not have deserved it while we had it. We lost more than a leader/tank/friend/healer, we lost our way, and there you are right ahead of us.
I think that Yume just wants another cute girl in the party, the rest is just details…
He was suffering a great deal about how he had to talk to her, second guessing himself so much, but all he really had to be was honest. I think that Shi of all of them, and Moguzo to back her up, maybe recognized that the most, saying at the beginning, to have a friend you’ve got to be one. I think she finally recognizes that in them. No one was seeing each other clearly when they first met, and by extending not just a hand, but by extending more chances, they achieved what they needed.
This week’s Extras….
Shipping is getting damn hard on this show….
It wouldn’t be right to go and not mention some of the other plot stuff going on. The group has gotten the much derided, but well deserved moniker of Goblin Slayers. Every day it’s the same thing, and while it’s true they’ve learned a great deal about their foes, you know other than Ranta don’t go for goblin girls, they are being chided for it. Damn it, Michiki lost his life to a real monster, and these guy look to be piddling around with mooks. They’re advancing, sure, but part of them is standing still. Something has been keeping them behind.
In a brief word: ghosts….
And so that is their next hurdle. They have to build up of course. New armor, getting Moguzo protected as much as possible, and also making sure Ranta’s soft melon is safe too. They scrimp and save, stay at the dorms, live a simple life all for one purpose. Is it revenge? It’s certainly looking that way….Haruhiro has his old blade in mind, and he’ll jump at the chance to get it back, and get back more than just a physical object if he can get away with it. This episode, Yume provided him with a clearer head. But will that last for long….
…seeing as he is a mean looking shit?
About skylion
All around nerd that enjoys just about any anime genre. I love history, politics, public policy, the sciences, literature, arts...pretty much anything can make me geeky...except sports. Follow me @theskylion
POWUH: 400-499 with 462 comments
Don’t knock it: they may not be flashy, but they’re important abilities she needs. Besides, Ranta picked up “step backwards” and “run straight forward.”
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
They pretty much dismissed Yume as Maggie’s Drawers when it came to archery in earlier episodes. So the power’s she got, really feel like skills….the one’s she should have had all along. Maybe it’s how they present the stuff?
…but yeah, Ranta sucks…
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Show ▼
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
For now I’m taking them in the spirit they’re given…
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Wow I just watched it, and Ranta’s evasion skill looks really weak compared to how I imagined it was in the novel.Show ▼
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Yes, a creative step back can be incredibly useful. I’ve played enough Sit-Down RPGs with miniatures to know that being out of range of attacks is the best defense. Plus it looks like he is a skirmisher, getting into a knot of enemies, and causing panic and disruption; suiting his personality to a “T”.
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Ah I forgot to add this but for those curious, when Ranta asked Mary which of the male party members she would choose, Show ▼
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Well, (and I really mean don’t peak unless you want major spoiler)Show ▼
POWUH: iLurker with 15 comments
regarding spoiler info *major romance spoiler*Show ▼
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
Sorry for commenting while watching the anime before, i missed some of the things you pointed out. While the
flashy sword Ranta bought was a questionable investment, the helmet is definitely needed considering his prefered
fighting style. Also yes he did overspend and wasted all him money, not that anyone else pitched in for him IIRC
(since Haruhiro says, and probably everyone else thought the fancy new blade was a waste of money). Yume’s
‘hayame’ (thats what i heard from the audio, I can’t be bothered checking with the light novels but i assume with
my limited japanese knowledge that it means ‘quick eyes’. Idk why the subs translated it as swift) sounded a lot
more badass in the LN, IIRC it described her eyes as moving unnaturally when activated and sounded like some kind
of awesome aimbot sniping skill. Haruhiro’s swat is exactly what it says on the tin and is a defensive skill
allowing him to swat aside attacks with the drawback that he has to completely focus on the point of attack at the
moment when he swats. About your comment “Whereas sexy muffin boy got Tripping Balls on Psychedelic Light and
Murder” (yes i had to look up what psychedelic meant and its pretty amusing given the context) its actually not
a new skill he got. remember how he sometimes sees a line when using backstab? well this is basically the same
thing but he saw it clearer (I personally interpreted it as him getting a critical hit since his rpg class is thief)
he starts seeing it more clearly and more often as time goes by which I assume means he’s actually getting better
at the skill. Ah and Mary’s missing the fun? well she’s got a proper bed 🙂 i hardly think she wants to complain
about how much more comfy that is to their straw bedding and straw sheets ;).
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
…did you have to look up psychedelic? Well, I’m happy to have given the opportunity to educate… 😉 Yeah, there are only so many ways to show off special moves completely in the visual range. I thought they did a good job here, blending it in with Haru’s spoken exposition, but it felt waaaaaaaay to trippy watching it the second time, which is when I finalize my thoughts for the show.
Speaking of special moves. Yeah, I really pick pretty hard on Yume, or at least how they present these abilities and yeah, as you point out, name them. Back when I was playing D&D 4th Edition, they broke down all the class moves as “at will”, “encounter”, and “per day”.
In sit down games this was the equivalent of a way to track a “cool down period” you get in MMO’s. Actually features like this have been around since the 1970s in sit down RPGs and the computer games emulate them, but 4th Edition D&D actually tried to emulate MMOs more…5th edition got away from that….
But, in this system all the magic using classes basically got spells, and since RPGs depend on this artificial bullshit “we have to make the classes balance out!!!!” the non-magical character classes got equal equivalents…and they always sound sooooooo dorky, and even feel dorky…and as I point out…they sound like silly extensions of things the class should already be able to do with their non-special ordinary skill set. So yeah, I guess I can call Yume’s Quick Eyes, “I’m Really Really Looking Hard Now!!!”.
To me, it’s quite amazing that Ranta hasn’t either 1)found another group….from a string of groups that have kicked him out 2)dead as a dormouse in a blender or 3)leader of a group of reaver-like player killers. He was show to take some pretty interesting liberties with his fellows this epsisode, and I’m happy the adapters gave us this on a purely visual basis….
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
BTW, apropos of me forgetting to share it last time around…..dice shaming.
POWUH: 500-599 with 540 comments
HAHAHA, that dice shaming thing reminds me of Haganai when Yozora plagiarised and they hung a sign on her neck saying exactly that XD. You nailed Ranta’s fighting style right on the head, (Haruhiro assumes this is the dread knight fighting style) but the special way he uses his retreat move is a bit different… Show ▼
. One more inconsistency with the anime to the LN that I missed is that Ranta actually says “Man, I want a harem like that too…” Idk why they changed that to him not
being jealous. For any fans of the HMS Yume which appears to be sinking fast, Haruhiro does mentally compliment her new hardened leather armor and hood, saying that he ‘had to admit, she wore it very well’
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
I’ve told my dice that they’ll go in the black bag unless the behave, but I’ve never made a sign and posted it to the web. The most I every did to the most uncooperative of dice was threaten then make good on the threat to give them away to small children – who knows when you’ll be allowed back on a proper gaming table, naughty little spheroids…
As for shipping forecasts, until the confessions are mutually agreed upon, it’s pretty much all fun and games, ain’t it? Having said that, merely telling her she “wore it well” is just admission of the possession of a pulse, nothing more.
POWUH: and Athenaeum Châtelaine with 2212 comments
Do you miss her, Mary?
The first scene is so sad in the caverns and you just don’t know how Mary could have ever stayed sane. As for everyone else, I like that they are really on the mend and that they are really making an effort to be friends with Mary, and that she is doing the same with them. They’ve become really skilled at killing goblins and are becoming more and more advance, hopefully very soon they can become actually soldiers.
Also, I still really like how the sound drops out and Haru and Manato have their little chat/pep-talks. Haruhiro is trying his best to become a good leader and he’s slowly making his way there.
POWUH: and LOLi Defender with 10997 comments
Mary is very much in the slow climb back out of that cavern/dungeon. I do like how her companion said he couldn’t remember how he got out, only that his body remembered the way. That’s a good bit of underscoring and foreshadowing in one go. Do we really know how we can survive instances like that? Only that we must…