Audience reviews
20 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Flaann
Why didn't I watch this when it first aired?! It was recommended to me, and it was definitely worth it.
At first glance, we see our “protagonist”—and I say that because you’d think this is the typical anime where the main character magically gains powers and possesses a hidden ability that you assume will be the series’ last hope—BUT halfway through, everything takes a drastic turn and leaves you perplexed, or at least that’s how I felt.
Mangetsu, a girl with an ordinary life, is transported to a magical world, where she meets Shingetsu. There, she discovers that her life isn’t what she actually “thinks” it is.
Without a doubt, this will be a series I’ll never forget.
P.S.: I’d love to try one of Mangetsu’s bento boxes.
Read at the sourceEatKimchi
TL;DR: Watch Granbelm if you want a dark magical girl show that not only delivers a healthy dose of screaming anime girls battling to the death in mechas but also delivers a compelling story about identity and what it means to be remembered.
Long review:
You ever just watch Madoka Magica and think, "man, if this anime had mechs in it and had them fight in a battle royale, it would be perfect"?
And then said anime comes out and not only does it live up to your expectations, it also sets itself apart as something wholly unique and special?
That's Granbelm. In 2019, Masaharu Watanabe, just finishing up the then-most recent season of critically acclaimed fantasy isekai anime Re:Zero, teamed up with a couple of other notable figures in the Japanese animation industry (original character desi…
Read at the sourcemohammadwael
the anime was very good i liked the characters alot but the ending is quiet sad i wish it had a better ending.
the osts in this anime are very good and the characters were good too , the fights in the anime were ok tbh i think most people like me will skip most fight because they are quite booring tbh i have only watched three fights in the whole anime and skipped the rest of the fights.
i think granbelm is underated the reason why is when poeple watch the first two or three episodes they will think that this anime is just like any other mecha anime but in reality the the story of this anime is very good and in my opinion the anime worth watching
Read at the sourcedokai_
The 2010s gave anime fans a revival of sorts for the magical girl genre. This can be attributed to shows like Madoka Magica, which gave a darker, more story-based spin on the usual "girl meets talking animal and gets powers" plot, and was targeted towards an older demographic, unlike Sailor Moon and Cardcaptor Sakura. Before long, a new wave of sleeker, story-based magical girl anime hit the scene, some more obscure than others.
Granbelm is one of these shows that spawned out of the shadow of Madoka, but it fails to live up to the show that it's so clearly inspired by.
The story follows the story of the pink-haired protagonist Mangetsu, who, on the night of a full moon, is suddenly transmitted into Granbelm, a battle-royale set in another world, where girls fight eachother in massive mag…
Read at the sourceAmarach
I almost gave up on this one 15 minutes into the first episode, but I am glad I stuck with it. To be frank, I am not a fan of the "mobile suit" style in this anime (I know they are not mobile suits, but simplest analogy.) The SD style doesn't appeal to me, and the action and animation are something of a blur at times, which makes some scenes hard to follow.
However, the story ended up being surprisingly good, with a powerful twist, and I was quite engaged halfway through the series.
While I do have some issues regarding the SD style (personal preference), you might like it. Whether you do or not, the story is worth giving a go.
Read at the sourceHimahito12
Welcome to Grammar Nazi Review
Story : 5
The story is kinda cliche at first, the comedy is all i enjoy in this series.
The ending of the story disappointed me a lot...
Character Design : 9 I love the character designs, even tho i don't really like the mechas and i won't rate the mecha designs.
Animation : 7
Pretty standard, nothing else to praise or critique
Sound : 7
Character : 6
Enjoyment : 5
I only enjoy the comedy of this series, i can't really enjoy how the story starts and ends like what i usually hate to see.
Overall : 6
I don't recommend to watch this series, but if you want to observe the beautiful character design of Shinichirou Ootsuka you can skip the entire dialogue unless you want some comedy from it. The comedy itself is pretty light comedy.
Read at the sourceUnluckyCat13
This series is marginally above average in every respect. It often gets boring, to be honest, but at the same time carries just enough to keep you interested. Most of that is not in the plot, or the endless fight scenes though. The characters are the strongest point, with Shuishou being my favorite and some obvious chemistry between other characters. Even then the anime fails however, as you're often left with not enough breathing room or information about the characters. What even is Nenene's purpose in fighting, and why would she team up with Mangetsu? If you've seen Fate, you'll be very familiar with the concept of shifting alliances and team ups.
In fact, this series is extremely reminiscent of Fate, particularly Fate/Extra. It's quite possible that if you've played Fate/Extra you wil…
Read at the sourceMeelis13
Art & animation:
Overall art quality is quite good actually as colors are vibrant, artwork is quite detailed and character designs look great (even if some are resembling re:zero). Backrounds are especially great to behold in this one
Animation is ranging from good and detailed to average (worth to note im generally generous when it comes to that). Inside mecha views are especially lovely
I do have to bring out mecha parts in separate because this is pretty much only area in art/animation where i have to seriously deduct points. Yes, they look good (in face value) but fight scenes (and this being a mecha shows, there are plenty of those). Besides the animation in fights tends to make them stubby looking and quite frankly oddest looking mechas ive seen in anime (and i have seen plenty, des…
Read at the sourcesoraegyo22
It was a great anime which I recommend to watch if you like cute girls, good fights, mechas, and magic. It is a really touching story about two girls who meet in really uncommon situation and connect somehow since that moment (Even though they are not conscious of it at first).
Shingetu and Mangetsu are the protagonist of this story. They are the typical duo you would ship and love since they relationship develop through time getting stronger and stronger. You would definitely feel some strong emotions with each character. You get attached and feel their desires and sadness, sometimes happiness and at a certain moment you understand them. They are so human with their feelings and thoughts that I cannot describe how much satisfied I felt afterwards. The animation was well developed.
I r…
Read at the sourceFate25
If you are reading this review, stop right now and go watch Granbelm, buy the blu ray set or something. Really, its that good!
Ok, now if you are still reading this. Its now to state my opinions on why I find it so great.
As you probably already read the synopsis, Granbelm is a magical girls' Battle Royale. And much like the currently popular Battle Royale games like PUBG, Fortnite, Apex Legends, the winner gets the big chicken dinner. In this case the chicken dinner is becoming the Princeps Magician, and having all the magical power in the world to do as they wish.
The unique part of the battles is that they are fought in a magical space through magical SD mechs. SD meaning "Super Deformed". Where the face is unproportionally large compared with the rest of the mech's body. This kind…
Read at the sourceSMS_542
What is the meaning of the bond between people is it used to shape their reality and perspective on life. Misguide them and trick them, ruin their lives and make them suffer. Fill them with joy and give their life meaning a direction even just a glimmer of hope that they meant something to someone else, that their lives didn't end up wasted. In the end, these bond show us that we have something, now what do these bonds mean to someone who truly has nothing like a pure white full moon (Mangetsu(満月)) or someone who has the potential to be shaped into something great like the brilliantly shining stars found within the darkness of a new moon(Shingestu(新月))
{this review contains no spoilers}
Art and Animation (8/10)
The art and of itself is nothing special there are times when it shines above…
Read at the sourcejimfaindel
Suppose you were born with a blessing countless girls before and around you all struggled and suffered trying to attain. Suppose you witnessed as one by one those you loved lost everything and made the ultimate sacrifice in pursuit of this blessing, all failing and disappearing in the end, surviving only as a lingering shadow burdened with regret within your own heart. Would you be willing to sacrifice your blessing if it meant sparing others from the same cruel fate? Would you be willing to pay that price if it also meant condemning those precious ghosts within your soul to fade as well? Would you, if what was asked of you was to surrender your only friend's existence? Would you end her to end all suffering, even if she begged you to?
The hidden gem of this season came to us in the form…
Read at the sourceSanaeK10
Nene-nee's sister has a line in Episode 11 were she goes "Things don't always work out the way you hope them to." And I believe this is a good way of referring to both Granbelm thematically and how I felt towards the series.
Granbelm is a mahou shoujo mecha series, two genres that aren't exactly 100% compatible with each other but do share some similarities. Tonally the show is largely melancholic but does get somewhat upbeat and optimistic at times, a la you typical mecha anime, complete with hot blooded ness but not quite as pronounced as say Symphogear. But I will say this, the tonal shifts aren't exactly jarring (not that they feel natural in the first place), so watching the show isn't that much of an uncomfortable experience.
The series is very much a life-and-death drama type sh…
Read at the sourceSCUBAST3V3N
GRANBELM was my very first mech anime, that I can remember anyway (Im sure I watched episodes of Gundam here and there growing up, but don't remember any of it very clearly). For me personally, I don't consider myself to be much of a mech type anime fan, but this was pretty solid. I have my gripes, but, it was a show I looked forward to regularly.
Story: The story follows Mangetsu and Shingetsu, and their parts in a magical mech battle that occurs every full moon, until there's only one person remaining. At that time, the winner has their wish granted. This is called GRANBELM. This lent itself to a nice mix of action and character development and regular world stuff. It was fairly well balanced in my opinion, and you got to see each characters fighting spirit, as well as their regular per…
Read at the sourceAkantor36
This is my first review so bear with me.
My first impression was it seems interesting but also lacking of information. In the first episode you are thrown into the show with little to no knowledge of what’s going on. I honestly thought about giving up on watching; BUT I decided I was still interested and gave it a chance, and I’m glad I did. Because as stated in a review I read from someone else, you are thrown into the events of the story with no knowledge of what’s going on because the main character has no idea either what’s going on. All the ”contestants” seemingly train most their life for this, but the main character didn’t, neither did she know about the existence of magic, like most people. The way you learn more about what’s going on is through watching the main character progre…
Read at the sourceLa_minore
The first few episode are regarded as underwhelming by some people, and a big reason why so many dropped it. But those episodes do not speak for the whole anime at all. They are necessary to set up the story, to build up the actual intense plot that follows up. After watching the whole anime, the first half become absolutely relevant, and all pieces of the puzzle fall into places beautifully, like true magic!
The second half is what gave me a 10/10 rating. Things take a turn drastically, even though there were foreshadowing before, I was still shocked and deeply impressed by the various twists, predicaments and dilemmas the characters have to face. It has many moments, that can totally be regarded as best in anime history, if other people were to stay with it until the end, sure they'll h…
Read at the sourceFunuki
Granbelm really surprised me, it went from a show that I thought it will be mediocre and I shouldn't bother with it, to one of my favourites this season, but sadly not everyone had the patience to go trough the first episodes and because of that the show ended up overlooked.
There'll be some slight spoilers ahead
The story
It starts slow, but it get really interesting as time goes on. Every episode ends up being a build up for another and then by the end when all the puzzle pieces are together you are just amazed, that most of the answers were right in your face since the first episodes. The story is unpredictable, every time I tried to predict what will happen in the next episode I was just egged in the face by how wrong I was.The ending is no exception...
The characters
They were the bes…
Read at the sourceShingster
Please be advised that this review is intended to be read by those that have finished watching Granbelm and while care has been taken to minimise story related spoilers there may still be spoilers within character analysis. You have been warned.
Based upon an original idea Granbelm is a magic and fantasy genre anime that gives us the opportunity to see what will happen if within the modern world to which we all live in, that there exist not just powerful magic users called mages but also a deadly competition that pits these young but powerful mages against each other in a deadly battle where the winner gains the power to wield immense magical power. What will happen if one day when this competition occurs that a seemingly normal high school girl stumbles across this hidden and dangerous…
Read at the sourceAnimeBW
When it comes to Granbelm, I feel like you fall into one of two camps: you either get it, or you don’t.
I realize that’s a pretty vague and unhelpful statement, so let me clarify. To some extent, your ability to enjoy any piece of media is determined by how well you connect with its specific wavelength. The subtle differences in cinematography, dialogue, visual aesthetic, themes and so on can make all the difference in the world in determining why, for example, I dislike the Haruhi franchise, yet I love a show that starts from pretty much the exact same premise, Chuunibyou. If you can latch onto a show’s overriding attitude, you’re going to enjoy it. If you can’t, you won’t. Simple enough on its surface right?
Well, I feel like that Granbelm supercharges that dichotomy to a far greater e…
Read at the sourceCosmic_Penguin
What a ride this is for my first ever seasonal anime that I followed live throughout the weeks instead of binge watching!
Buried way under several major battle shounen anime series and other larger titles of Summer 2019 is an original work sadly completely overlooked by anime communities around the world. Granbelm, a story about magical girls driving mecha in a Battle Royale competition on nights of Full Moon, turns out to be a fantastic work from a lean yet experienced staff team that combines delicately written characters, excellent mecha animations and a thrilling roller coaster story plot.
Story abstract: On a night of the Full Moon, ordinary high school girl Mangetsu Kohinata accidentally entered straight into a Magical Girl Mecha Battle Royale competition named Granbelm. With the h…
Read at the source
