Title: Record of Grancrest War Vol. 5
Author: Ryo Mizuno (Story), Makoto Yotsuba (Story/Art), Miyuu (Character Art)
Publisher: VIZ Media
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 160
Genre: Fantasy, Battle
Publication Date: November 12, 2019
The Story
Volume five of Record of Grancrest War calms down after the battle with Waldlind and the death of the King of Sievis. Villar Constance launches a surprise attack on Marrine; however, he ends up sparing her life, mainly due to the fact that he doesn’t want his cousin’s blood on his hands. Instead, he pays Siluca and Theo a visit. He wants Siluca to rejoin his side as his mage and to make Theo the new King of Sievis! Theo declines the offer and Villar decides a new role for him.
Siluca and Theo report to Altirk where they learn about the history of the land, its geography, and all of the other necessary knowledge when starting life in another land. After her studies, Siluca is tested on her knowledge. After impressing the other mages (as well as gaining their jealousy), Villar sends Siluca out on a task of meeting with three important leaders: The Queen of the Werewolves, The Elder of the Witches, and The King of the Vampires.
Before we get to that, we see Elmer, a soldier of Waldlind lost in Altirk’s Forest of Darkness. He stumbles upon a cottage where… let’s just say, the volume earns its Parental Advisory for Explicit Content!
Siluca meets with the Queen of the Witches first where she learns a little bit about herself and the history of the world in regards to the Demon Lords that have been summoned in the past. She receives an ill omen from the Witch before heading off to meet the Queen of the Werewolves. There, they are enjoying a feast when it was reported there was an attack on their clan. Things almost get out of control but Siluca steps in and formulates a strategy for retaliation!
Things calmed down as expected for this volume but we did end up getting some nice world-building and character development here. There is a bit more to Siluca than we first knew and although it wasn’t much, it still added some layers to her character. As for the story itself, it looks as if there are quite a few stories here being sewn. There will be some battles ahead but it’s not quite clear if these stories will intertwine with each other. For now, they look to be individual stories with their own conclusions but with the little information we have now, it’s hard to tell if they will be related.
Characters
The character who received the biggest development was Villar Constance. When Siluca first entered into a pact with him, he was known as the Lustful Lord. We learn that the title doesn’t live up to its reputation. Villar is not a lustful pervert… well… completely. While he doesn’t force his women into lustful situations, he does have them wear pretty revealing uniforms when in his presence. That’s about as far as it goes, though. Villar is actually a more noble character than the rumors have stated. He is rather kind and not too full of himself. He seems like a character that has firm control over everything that he oversees. Pretty solid, if you ask me.
As for Siluca, we learn about her strengths as one of the rare mages who have learned all colors of magic. She was painted as a jack of all trades and a master of none. With some of the Witch’s encouragement, we may see a bit of a power-up arc for Siluca in the future. Combine that with her strategic prowess and Siluca could become an absolute unstoppable powerhouse later on in the series.
Theo was, once again, as humble as he could be. Declining the offer to become King of Sievis in order to stay by Siluca’s side was a touching moment… especially when Siluca ran away to only become overrun with emotion. She didn’t want anyone to see her like that so it wasn’t that she ran because she was appalled. It was quite the opposite of her being deeply touched by Theo’s actions. This also furthers the whole Siluca x Theo ship that seems to be more and more obvious with each and every volume!
Overall Thoughts
I felt this was a better volume of Record of Grancrest War. Last volume, I felt that there were some Deus Ex Machina moments (one of which came through here in Volume 5. If you’ve read the previous volume, it was only a matter of time before a certain character returned). Still, despite that, things seemed more down to Earth in this volume. As new stories begin, one has to wonder just how long they are going to last. This volume covered up to Chapter 33 of the series and, according to MyAnimeList.net, there are only 46 chapters in total. That means there are 13 chapters left for a total of 10 volumes. Either volumes 6-10 are going to be extremely shallow, or VIZ Media has compiled them into bigger books.
I’m guessing it’s the latter as I can’t see them spreading out 13 chapters over five volumes. The only other logical explanation is that the series went to a different format and had larger chapters in the end, which would make sense. I’m only following this series now through its English releases so I don’t know the full story of its publication.
In any event, this volume got me hyped up for what is looking like the final arc. With some of the things mentioned here, it would certainly seem that this series is rushing towards a conclusion which is a shame. I’ve been enjoying this and feel it’s ending too quickly.
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This item was provided for review by VIZ Media
