What They Say:
Episode #16: “Outpost”
The battle continues in the Forest, as Theo tries to lure Milza’s army deep into the Forest. However, not wanting to fall in his trap, Milza and his mage devise plans to draw Theo out. Meanwhile, as the Starcks and Nords close in on Haman, Lady Eudokia and her mage make a difficult decision.
The Review
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
I didn’t notice in the previous episode, but they’re changing the scene montages during the opening theme. Now the footage is all of Theo and Milza squaring off. That’s one way to keep your opening animation current to the events of the story.
The animation completely goes to hell at the beginning of this episode. Milza walks right into the forest with his men and into a guerrilla battle scenario. Milza shrugs off the attacks on his men and keeps marching forward. They arrive at the castle with insufficient forces to lead a siege and retreat with plans to lure Theo out of his forest. This is all because he wouldn’t listen to his mage, who Siluca knows to be a greater strategist than a magic user.
I had to laugh at the scene where Siluca tries to organize the forces via a spell that allows the mages to communicate through their wands. The image of them sitting around chatting on magical cellphones about how best to route an army is pretty great. There are a lot of head games being played out by different forces. Each side has to bet on what the other will likely do and plan accordingly. Siluca asks for a diversion and she gets one, while Theo makes up for his lack of numbers in well-outfitted commoners.
Milza’s mage urges, once again, for them to retreat to the castle as Theo intends to attack it with a force of 50,000. This also forces Milza to ask for reinforcements, which just adds insult on top of insult. Marrine commits only 3,000 of her troops with the assumption that Dartania would provide more. Siluca took into account the civil unrest in Milza’s home country. The foreshadowing of trust issues in the previous episode results in the Nord warrior commander taking her time to arrive. She’d rather pillage Haman and then show up ready for battle. The treaty forces took this attack into their plans and ready a plan of their own. At the same time, Juzel Rossini infiltrated the ranks of the conquered Nord territory, which was mostly made up of conscripted slaves.
Lady Eudokia, the woman who lost all her husbands and her war fleet to the Nords, is cornered. Her new mage by her side comes up with a crazy plan to inspire the forces. That plan? Strip naked to appeal to the troops that she has nothing left but their loyalty. So the ladies stand before the troops wearing nothing except their hair in a Lady Godiva move that does indeed inspire the troops. (There is some fun camera work and blocking in the scene transitions during this bit, but if you were hoping for a peep show well… there really isn’t much to see.)
As the episode closes Milza is finally starting to realize he might lose this battle. Cornered in Castle Unicorn with a force of 80,000 bearing down on him and no reinforcements in sight, it’s now his turn to die on the causeway.
Episode Grade: B
In Summary:
Grancrest has faltered a great deal in the past due to its pacing issues but the last two episodes have actually been quite solid work. Which is a bit funny because the animation quality in these episodes isn’t as strong as what we’ve come to expect with this series. With actual intelligent strategy being employed on both sides and an enemy that has had time to development resentment from the viewer, the upcoming battle is one I’m finally looking forward to. I wish the rest of the series had been this compelling.
Streamed by: Crunchyroll & Hulu
