Vampires versus werewolves.
What They Say:
Episode #5: “Forest of Eternal Darkness”
Pledging to serve Villar, Theo heads to Artuk with Siluca. The first task Villar gives them is to govern the Forest of Eternal Darkness, a territory ruled by vampires. When Theo and Siluca head to the forest, they see the shadow of an ominous-looking woman…
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
As the story enters a new arc we’re introduced to a fantasy element I didn’t expect to see in this series, vampires and werewolves. As per monster movie tradition, the two forces are diametrically opposed, but it wasn’t always so. My original assumption that magic was directly connected to the powers of chaos appears to be confirmed in the opening moments of this episode. Chaos fuels the powers of magic and crests, and if that power was finally sealed off from the world then magic would be gone but so would the demons.
You can imagine that an immortal vampire might see the value in keeping the status quo so that he doesn’t die. The vampire king isn’t even given a name for us viewers, not at this point, and the selfish being doesn’t see a problem in letting others run roughshod over his forest kingdom as long as he gets what he wants. A typically in it for himself villain for the heroes to avoid. The werewolf queen is an impressive woman who is a beacon for her people, but her clan is small and she has two liabilities in her teenage daughters. A typical heroic leader about to be sacrificed for the plot.
Pulling the strings to create, or harness some chaos is a black witch who arrives to break a treaty which has stood through the ages. (As opposed to the white witches, who are good. Because, there weren’t enough factions to follow already.) The black witch lures the werewolf queen into a trap and that’s when news reaches Theo and Siluca at their new home working for Villar.
Speaking of… we’re also introduced to yet more lords and mages at the beginning of this episode, none of whose names I can remember. The cast of this series was already massive and it just keeps growing. The info dumping is real, as we actually get a scene of Siluca reading some history to Theo as they putter around the library waiting for an assignment from their new lord. The neighboring ruler takes the time to insult Theo as being someone not worth his time, which might have finally forced Theo to realize that he really hasn’t done anything to drive the plot.
For as messy as this story is being told, the visuals still remain impressive. The forests name is hilariously fantasy driven, but it’s given a setting which makes its name make sense. It’s a beautiful forest in a mostly covered over by a chasm. The castle is a bit too classic gothic in its design, straight out of Castlevania, but I’ll let it slide because yeah, it looks cool. The battle scenes still look great and remain the real highlight of the series as a whole.
In Summary:
Layers upon layers, Grancrest just keeps pilling it on. It still feels like everything is happening too fast, but if you take this episode as a monster of the week sort of experience it fairs far better than the previous ones. The action scenes are still where this series shines, and they are engaging and entertaining to watch. Two more undeveloped characters join the already sizable cast which continues to grow as new adversaries and allies join the story. I really wish the pacing was slowed down and the existing cast were given some time to breathe and grow. Right now it feels like we’re about to watch the same gameplay loop over again.
Episode Grade: B –
Streamed by: Crunchyroll & Hulu
