You might have heard of Cygames. They made The Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls (Joint with Bandai Namco), Shingeki no Bahamut, Shadowverse and, obviously Granblue Fantasy.

If you don't know, Granblue Fantasy is a turn-based mobile RPG with a gacha system. That's probably the best way to describe it simply.

Fair warning before we start, this review will contain unmarked spoilers. So if you can't take spoilers, stop reading and go do something else. Also, as this is an adaptation, I will be making some comparisons to the game and its story.

So, A-1 Pictures, probably best known for the Sword Art Online anime adaptation. Notably for Cygames they did The Idolm@ster: Cinderella Girls anime adaptation. Certainly this is quite different from an idol/cute girls doing cute things anime.

Let's talk about the art style and the quality of the animation. The art style seems rather rough. It feels like they didn't quite sharpen the characters. Overall the animation is fine, aside from some moments in Episodes 1 and 2.

Time to talk about the main thing, the story. Until Episode 8, the anime is an almost straight adaptation of the game's story. Inside an Erste Empire airship a knight called Katalina is taking a mysterious girl called Lyria and escaping from the Empire. After a general named Pommern waves a glowing purple crystal near Lyria, which seems to cause her some pain, the crystal causes an explosion on the Empire's airship which flings Lyria out of it and down to the ground below. After the OP we cut to a boy named Gran (the game's male protagonist). This farmer boy and his pet/friend, a small dragon-like-thing (that constantly reminds people that call him a lizard that he is not one) Vyrn see something (Lyria) falling down to the island and goes off with Vyrn to investigate. As is typical in an RPG game he takes his sword with him. Gran finds Lyria lying unconscious on the ground. After some knights of the Empire attack Gran, Katalina appears to help.

It all sounds very much like a typical Final Fantasy game doesn't it? Yeah well, this is more or less the start of the game's story.

Anyway, some more things happen and so based on a letter Gran's father sent him, Gran, Lyria and Katalina set off on a journey to Estalucia, the so-called "Island of the Astrals". They are later joined by the airship helmsman Rackam and the young mage Io.

Yeah, it still sounds like a typical Final Fantasy plot. You can't really blame the anime for this, as I said a few lines up, it's the game's story.

However, as I mentioned, Episode 8 (A Pair Apart) changes things. Episode 8 is mainly a filler/side-quest episode which features the treasure hunters Mary and Karva. (Actual characters you can get in the game (!))

Episode 9 (Horizon in the Clouds) goes back to the story again but decides to deviate from the game's story. In the game's story the party goes to the Auguste Isles in pursuit of the Black Knight and meet the retired skyfarer Eugen who is an old friend of Rackam. We find the Empire has come to the isles and has been polluting the oceans which annoys the local Primal Beast Leviathan. The party put a stop to the Empire's plans and beat up Leviathan and calm it down. After that the party head to the Lumacie Archipelago, meet the even more mysterious ~~JK~~ woman Rosetta, who joins the party, and beat up and calm down the Primal Beast Yggdrasil.

The anime however keeps the plot point of the Empire polluting the oceans and meeting Eugen, but the party decide to split up and do some individual tasks while Gran and Lyria explore Auguste. Two more obtainable characters, Lowain (along with his bros Elsam and Tomoi) and Karteira, have a small voiced role. At the end of the episode Lyria is kidnapped by mysterious assailants and in Episode 10 (Separation), Pommern, for lack of a better word, mind breaks Lyria by reminding her that she is a tool. Complete with flashbacks which briefly feature the summon Lich. At the same time Leviathan is clearly annoyed and is trying to flood the island. The party are saved by Rosetta (who also made brief appearances in Episodes 3 and 9) and are told that if they want to heal Lyria they'll need to accompany Rosetta to Lumacie and meet Yggdrasil. The party leaves Eugen behind to help the residents of Auguste while Leviathan is still rampaging.

Episode 11 (Lyria's Wish) starts off by showing something that the game had never shown or hinted at until not long after the episode aired: Yggdrasil can shrink herself to human-size. The episode features Gran diving into Lyria's mind to convince her that she's a friend. After healing Lyria and a brief skirmish with the Empire the party leave Rosetta and Yggdrasil and head back to Auguste. Of course Episode 12 (Showdown on the High Seas) culminates with a battle with with Leviathan.

Episode 12, however, features a multitude of playable characters; Mary and Karva return and also the episode shows (in no particular order): Yuel, Yodarha, Narmaya, Silva, Soriz, Jessica, Feather, Charlotta and Zeta.

Episode 13 (Another Sky) decides to do something different: A fanservice beach episode. However Gran has been replaced with Djeeta (the game's female protagonist). Djeeta offers to help a beach bar in Auguste which has run out of ice. Some more characters that are playable in the game get cameos. (This time I can't be be bothered to list and link them.)

Overall, as I mentioned multiple times the plot is very much a generic Final Fantasy plot. The changes from the game's plot tries to keep it fresh for people who play the game, while still keeping a story for new people. The trouble is its too generic. The story is rather boring, honestly. I can't blame the anime for this though, this does lie as a fault with the with the game.

Gee, I've talked about the plot a lot, haven't I?

Okay, time for something different, the music. Most of the music is taken from the game directly or is a new arrangement. (the anime does particularly seem fond of using The Rusty Bloodline That Burns the Blue Sky. There seems to be a few small incidental tracks that are original. That isn't to say the music is bad (I actually kinda like Granblue's music). The music is mainly composed by Nobuo Uematsu and Tsutomu Narita . Personally, I feel the OP and ED are forgettable.

Next I feel I should talk about the voice actors. (Don't worry, the review is nearly done.) The cast is mostly the same as the games with a few exceptions: Eugen is voiced by Kazuhiro Yamaji (Who happens to voice Yngwie in the game instead of Keiji Fujiwara, Gran and Djeeta are usually voiceless ingame but are voiced here by Yuuki Ono and [Hisako Kanemoto] (/staff/103555), respectively. Overall, the voice acting is spot-on, the actors are putting emotion into their lines, as they should be.

One thing I quickly want to note, is that Pommern is a lot more evil in the anime. The game shows later in the story and in a side-quest that he isnt a complete jerk and that he has his nice moments when he isn't dealing with the party.

Ok, final thoughts time. If you're looking for an anime to pick up, watch something else. If you're interested in Granblue Fantasy, there's plenty of vids of the gameplay and story on Youtube, watch them instead. If you're a Granblue veteran, consider only watching Episode 13 and possibly Episode 12.

By the way, the DVDs and BDs contain codes for ingame items (including exclusive items), so expect them to sell well enough for the anime to get a 2nd season.

(Sorry for the length of this review, by the way.)