Quick Summary
In Record of Grancrest War Episode 11.5, “Reminiscence“, we got a recap for the first 11 episodes, so there was no new material. Well, no obvious new material! This episode actually did a great job using maps to show us some of the countries in context of the conflict. It helped some of the battles make a lot more sense. Plus, it was nice to take a breather from the onrush of plot!
Note: This post may include spoilers, so be cautious.
What We Learned
In a series where broad sweeping conflict is king and the pace is furious, it’s easy (at least for me!) to miss some of the finer details — like where the heck all of this is taking place. We’ve seen a map or two here and there, but the shots are really fast and I’ve never had a sense of exactly where all this was taking place. But this episode gave us some maps to orient us, starting with a high-level view of the continent:
This is the continent on which Grancrest Senki takes place. Looks familiar, doesn’t it? Like a slightly distorted Europe? So now I have a context for the war! I know it may seem silly, but unless the setting is local or irrelevant, this kind of thing gives the world more depth for me, so I can more easily suspend my disbelief.
The camera immediately zooms in to show us the “magical city of Eramu,” which we saw in the opening episode and where we watched dreams for peace get pummeled:
Apparently, the city produced a lot of mages and was the seat of considerable political power. Bummer that they lost their chance for peace! On the other hand, a series this quick paced without the war part would probably not work as well.
It has nothing to do with maps, but I have to call out the hilarious title the translation gave for Siluca Meletes (2:02). As they showed a picture of her, the title read: “Young & Intelligent Mage Siluca Meletes.” I laughed a little more than I should have!
The next map shows the location of Altirk, the domain of Villar Constance:
Well, it was until the last episode. You saw what happened to poor Villar and Margaret Odius. And I’m still really angry about Coleen Messala by the way. Guess I carry a grudge! Anyway, though the map’s zoomed in, you can see see that Eramu is highlighted in a dull red, whereas Altirk is in bright red. So, Villar didn’t live far from the capital.
Remember Siluca’s title? Well, it was almost as bad for Priscilla, who the narrator introduced as (4:57) “Priscilla, a priestess of the Holy Order of the Crest.” A moment later, the title flashed on the screen: “Priestess of the Holy Order of the Crest Priscilla.” Thanks, titles! I almost missed it the first time!
Our next introduction to the World of Grancrest was the location of Sistina:
It’s hard to see under Siluca’s apparently enormous face (it’s been a long week, so I apologize for the weak joke), but it looks like it would be where Sicily is on our Europe. It looks enormous compared to Sicily. Maybe it’s been gone through a lot of coastal erosion? But at least now I have an idea of where Theo Cornaro came from.
I’m not sure which is which, but this map shows where Villar’s conquests of Forbes and Clovis are relative to Altirk:
Altirk is in blue, and I think that Waldlind is in red (north of or above Altirk). Forbes and Clovis are in red to the left and down (southwest). I can’t read the Japanese, so if you can and if I’m wrong, please correct me in the comments!
I think this map confirms my guess that Waldlind is north of Altirk:
This is where Marrine Kreische rules the Alliance. If I’m interpreting this map correctly, then Waldlind has a long shared border with Altirk, so it makes perfect sense that they could attack and counter attack each other rapidly — which explains the events in episode 4.
Here, you can see location of Dartania:
This is the home country of Mirza Kooches (or Milza, as the subtitles now call him), who’s now king there after having murdered his father for, of all things, not being bloody enough. I guess to be fair, Mirza would say that his father didn’t have enough ambition. It looks like it’s about where modern day Turkey would be, except that it’s missing the rest of the Middle East. Guess analogies can only be stretched so far!
Here’s a map that shows the countries Villar asked for help in episode 10:
The include Regalia, Kilhis (not shown), and Haman, home of Edokia and her reverse harem. Kilhis is east of Sievis and south of Regalia; you can see Haman as “Hama” in the screen capture. While Gondor had much more luck with Rohan than Villar had from his neighboring countries, I can’t fault Lord Solon for the effort he gave — up to and including his life!
Want more maps? The Grancrest Senki Wiki site has a portion of the continental map that’s been translated into English. It’s upside down, but you can easily download the image and flip it.
This episode didn’t give me as complete a picture as I would have liked, but at least I have a better idea of where some of the key players are. As far as recap episodes go, at least that’s a plus — though it’s no where near as entertaining (and downright delightful, I have to say!) as Re:CREATOR’s episode 13 hosted by Meteora’s very positive self image! That was probably the best recap episode I’ve seen. But this one wasn’t as bad as I feared!
How’s that for a ringing endorsement?
What did you think of this episode or the events it recapped? Let me know in the comments!
Other Posts of Interest
Other Anime Sites
- Reddit Discussion of Grancrest Senki Episode 11.5
- I Drink and Watch Anime: A Record of Grancrest War Ep 11.5 Was That So Hard? (Winter Games 2018)
This Site (Crow’s World of Anime!)
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 1: Contract
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 2: Ambition
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 3: Battle Flag
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 4: Decision
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 5: Forest of Eternal Darkness
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 6: March
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 7: The White Prince
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 8: The Congress Dances
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 9: The Black Princess
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 10: Blade of Betrayal
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 11: The Fall of Castle Unicorn
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 12: A Treaty Formed
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 13: To the Homeland
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 14: The Liberator of Sistina
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 15: Return
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 16: Outpost
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 17: Two Heroes
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 18: Leader
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 19: The Awakening of a Noble
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 20: Pitched Battle of the Three Forces
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 21: Purge
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 22: The Holy Grail
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 23: Castle Walls
- Record of Grancrest War Episode 24: Grancrest
- Record of Grancrest War: Pandora’s Warning
