RECORD OF GRANCREST WAR Genre: action, fantasy Studio: A-1 Pictures Director: Shinichi Omata Writer: Ryou Mizuno (light novel) Ryou Mizuno & Satoshi Yano (series composition and script writing) This is the first anime from this upcoming season that I’m actually very excited about. Mainly because, while I do still consider it viable for this list, it is a sequel of sorts. To be exact it is the spiritual successor to Record of Lodoss War. The story will follow a, in my opinion, gorgeous looking blonde mage who’s noble and headstrong nature puts her in the crosshairs of the lords of the land who’ve forsaken their vows to protect it and instead battle each other for supremacy. The impression I get from this series is that it takes the stereotypical medieval fantasy world and infuses it with a good amount of political intrigue and strategizing. This in turn once again reminds me strongly of Alderamin on the Sky and if this show turns out anything like that one...ho boy are we ever in for a treat! Behind the scenes, everything also seems to be very much in order with the show being produced by A-1 Pictures and having some of the most talented people in the anime indusry working on it. The PV also had me impressed with some beautiful animation, a good balance between political intrigue and action and while we can’t say much about the actual personalities, at least visually I had no problem telling the characters apart which is a very good thing for a show that has as extensive a cast as this one seems to have. While we won’t know if this show is really any good until at least the first episode has aired this is one of the few shows this season that I’m actually willing to bet on being awesome. Mainly because of how much it already has going for it. Here’s hoping I’m not wrong in that assumption.