mercenary – Jainituos Presents

The Grimoire of Zero

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Studio: White Fox.

Hello my friends. Welcome to another entry of my blog.

Well. It is time to conclude what I started with my previous review of The Dawn of the Witch, and I actually have little time because I must wake up early tomorrow. So, with said that, I bring you.

And I am going to ask quickly the same questions:

Are you guys ok? Feeling healthy?

If the answer is yes, then I am very happy.

Now. Time to put the with to rest.

This is The Grimoire of Zero.

PREMISE

For those who read my previous review of The dawn of the Witch, and for those who does not, The Grimoire of Zero (Zero kara Hajimeru Mahō no Sho, or ゼロから始める魔法の書) is basically a prequel of the events of the former, based on the elight novels written by Kakeru Kobashiri and illustrated by Yoshinori Shizuma, and piublished by Dengeki Bunko from February 2014 to December 2017. We follow the story of the Mercenary (Yes. That is his actual name), a half-man half-best warrior who is pursued day by day by both humans and witches, and he dreams to become a full human one day. One day, he has a fateful encounter with a young witch, called Zero, who makes a deal with him – That he helps her to find a book that she wrote years ago, called The Grimoire of Zero, and then she will turn him into a human.

With this deal done, both of them go on a journey in a world full of sorcery and magic, where they meet Albus, another young sorcerer that respects a very old witch, called Sorena.

As I mentioned before, The Grimoire of Zero was published for three years in a total of six volumes, and Kakeru Kobashiri immediately continued the story on The Dawn of the Witch. And the anime version was released between April 10 and June 26, of 2017, for a total of 12 episodes.

And from what I heard, the series is available in Amazon. Not pretty sure, but it is definitely worth checking out.

STORY

I must be Honest, When I was preparing my review of The Grimoire of Zero, I though that I will be repeating myself with my opinion of The Dawn of the Witch, but now, after reviving the memories of the episodes I watch, I have to say.

I really like The Grimoire of Zero!!!

In fact, I think it is was better than another favourite anime that was a withc on it. In case you didn’t figure out, that anime is…

Of course, it is ridiculous to compare a series about travelling like Wandering Witch, with a full adventure fantasy like The Grimoire of Zero, but at this point, we all agree that the latter has a pretty decent world-building.

In episode one, we have a very good glimpse of what is this world, how the witches became part of this world, which are most of their powers, but, more importantly, it establishes pretty the plot, with the events of Zero and Mercenary perfectly going calmly and fitting with a tone that, without being dark, it is not too goofy either.

At least in my opinion.

No. Just like Kakeru Kobashiri does with The Dawn of the Witch, the author takes its time to gives the audience the enough information about what needs to be done throughout the story, all of that in two episodes; and while we watch the rest, there are moments of tension that never cease, graping us more and more. Of course that does not happen on the first episodes, but after those. And that is what made me enjoy The Grimoire of Zero over The Journey of Elaina, because it has a story I can get entertained and spent my time getting used to it.

While, with Elaina, is more about our protagonist going from one place to another and meeting people with some other secondary characters being present on an episodic fashion.

But what really surprised me is that The Grimoire of Zero is that its story quickly turns more about characters. What do I mean by this? That each of them have a very defined arc that makes them more compelling, and for me, that is something I enjoy more, rather than just seeing a specific protagonist going from one place to another and meeting new people.

I am not saying that this bad. But some development gives more credibility to the world and to the story, helping me to remember it more.

So yeah, it has good rhythm and pacing.

And the animation… My goodness!!! The animation.

White Fox studio needs no presentation, and again, with Steins: Gate and Re: Zero, I think it is fair to say that they establish a pretty sweet reputation.

So yeah, I am glad I rewatch The Grimoire of Zero, but now I see that it is more enjoyable than I thought.

CHARACTERS

With the characters I am not going into detail, but all of them are pretty well-defined and likeable enough. Of course, you might wondering at first… Who are these people? But believe me, after watching some episodes, you will find Zero and Mercenary pretty interesting.

But other three characters that I enjoyed were Albus, Holdem and Thirteen.

Trust me. Give them time watching The Grimoire of Zero, and these characters will be interesting for you too. I am not saying anything because I will ruin the surprise, and… I don’t have time.

CONCLUSION

To sum up, if you enjoy The Dawn of the Witch, I strongly recommend The Grimoire of Zero. Of course you will prefer to watch this one before go into its sequel, and these are series that… will awaken a certain magic on you.

Now… I apologize, because I am supposed to go to bed now, so, I hope you enjoy my excpress review.

Now… Time for a coma. Really Elaina?

She is really upset of my review.

Have a great week!!!

The Dawn of The Witch

Genre: Fantasy, Adventure

Studio Tezuka Productions

Hello my friends. Welcome to another entry of my blog

Let me tell a little anecdote. Some months ago, I watch an anime, called The Grimoire of Zero,

At first, I confused it with The Familiar of Zero, and that is where I decided to watch the first two episodes. I ended up liking the adventures of Zero and Mercenary, but since then I have a lot of questions about these two characters, and I forgot about it for other series, but some months ago, a sequel from The Grimoire of Zero came out, and after watch the first episode, I decided to talk about it.

Now… Behold…

But before I start, I must ask you the question:

Are you guys ok? Feeling healthy?

If the answer is yes, then I am happy.

Now, let’s get magical with The Dawn of The Witch.

PREMISE

Based on the light novels, written by Kakeru Kobashiri, The Dawn of the Witch, or, Mahōtsukai Reimeiki (魔法使い黎明期), tells the story of Saybil, a young man with no memories of his past life; one day, he meets a mysterious witch, which we then realise is Zero herself, and invites him to a new life. This new life is being a student at the Royal Academy of Magic at Wenias. Three years later, he is the worst student of the Academy. One day he is summoned by the headmistress of the school, Albus, who, reluctantly, takes him to a travel with a legendary witch, Loux Krystas, to a new journey; with them, two more members are going to the journey, Holt, the best student at the school, and Kudo, a lizard Beastfallen (a fusion between human and beast).

But which are the reasons of this journey? All what is now is that Loux wants to meet our protagonist Zero, or at least discover the book that the latter book.

The Dawn of the Witch is available at Crunchyroll.

Mahōtsukai Reimeiki was released five years after the release of the anime of The Grimoire of Zero, being released on April 8th, 2022, and as of May, it has released eight episodes. And according to Myanimelist.com, it will have 12 episodes, which for me is kind of disappointing, because I have the same feeling as with Majo no Tabitabi – the first season has interesting material, but it needs a second season for more, for I have the wish of more.

Anyway, Kakeru Kobashiri started publishing The Dawn of the Witch from August, 2018, almost a year after finishing the eleven volumes of The Grimoire of Zero. Also, the anime has a pretty interesting cast, including Miho Okasaki, Sayumi Suzushiro, and Yumiri Hanamori as Zero.

STORY

I am going to start saying that unlike The Grimoire of Zero, which was animated by White Fox (Steins;Gate, Re: Zero), The Dawn of the Witch was produced by Tezuka Productions, studio that produced Adachi and Shimamura, to which I recently did a review, here is the link for those interested.

JAINITUOS ANIME REVIEWS – ADACHI AND SHIMAMURA (THE SHOW OF YASHIRO CHIKAMA)

So of course the animation will be different, more detailed and with a better use of the shadow.

And I liked it. The animation is fantastic, and it’s definitely one of the strongest elements of the anime. And what about the rest of the episode?

In the beginning, we see Saybil without any memory of his previous life, until Zero meets him and helps him to enrol at the Royal Academy of Magic. Shortly afterwards, three years pass and we discover that Saybil is struggling on his student. At this point, I felt that I missed some backstory; I was expecting to get more about his difficulties and his personality, because I didn’t find the character very interesting. Aloof, cold and practically self-absorbed. I have gotten better impressions from characters like Kirito and Naofumi Iwatani, the former is generic, but at least I was witness of how the context of the conflict shaped him, and with Naofumi was even better.

If I got more flashbacks about the previous life about Saybil at the school, I will be more satisfied about him.

And then we meet Loux, who at first I found annoying, but luckily the character improves throughout the episode. And then Holt.

Her character was very likeable and hooked me immediately. But I couldn’t help to notice the resemblance with Shiden Iida, from 86: Eighty-Six.

But luckily, after, Saybil, Loux and Holt leave the Royal Academy to travel at the orders of Albus, the story starts to get interesting, because this is where we start to know a bit more about the characters, in small detail, but enough to start well, for instance, Saybil reveals that we can use magic, but is afraid to do it so, because he can lost control of it. In the case of Kudo, despite of being brash and a Beastfallen, he is loyal to his friends, and Holt has a lot of secrets that she sometimes hides on her smile.

In other words, the first episode starts with a very rushed rhythm, but then it recovers the timing and starts to establish, little by little the story, very similar to the first episode of The Grimoire of Zero.

I will be waiting for the next episodes to know more about this story.

CHARACTERS

Despite of what I said about the characters, I find them with very defined personalities. And at least the first episode gives us their motivations, Saybil wants to learn to control his magic and more about his past; Holt has more secrets and she is fond to travel with Loux. The latter is eager to know more about the grimoire of zero, and Kudo wants to protect his friends.

With this last characters, I remind me a lot of Mercenary, from The Grimoire of Zero, but I will not reveal lot of him, otherwise, I will go into spoilers.

But… what really surprised me was the change on Zero. Yeah. I said that I only watch the first episode of The Dawn of the Witch, but I casually looked images of Zero, from both The Grimoire of Zero and The Dawn of the Witch.

From Grimoire.

To Dawn.

And because of her, and Mercenary, I am more curious to know how many years have passed between the two stories.

Thanks Zero. My curiosity went from Zero and now is a Hero for Zero.

I don;’t even know why I even said that. I better start watching the anime now before my brain goes zero.

CONCLUSION

The Dawn of the Witch is a great story for those who enjoyed The Grimoire of Zero. But those who hadn’t they might find it a bit confusing in many elements. Still, it manages to be its own thing.

And I probably will enjoy it more after I watch the other episodes. I hope that happens, but if you are a fan of Kakeru Kobashiri, this is definitely for you.

Until then…

I want to show my love for the witches with my gallery of the best witches from anime, manga, light novels and games.