Granbelm Episode 8 Review: What it Means to Become a Mage

I just remembered that Anna Fugo is out of the tournament. Woohoo!

Plot

So Anna is out, Mangetsu is worried about Shingetsu, and Kuon is fighting Shuisho to get her to lift the curse she has placed on her sister. She even offers to lose the battle just to guarantee her sister’s good health, but nasty yandere Suisho has to stick to her cookie cutter character style and is just acting like a piece of shit. She also talks a lot of nonsense. In a completely and irrationally unexpected turn of events, Suisho somehow manages to extract both their bodies out of their Armanox and force Kuon into some sort of make-out session, which makes me a bit sick to witness, not just because Suisho looks much older, but also because this looks completely not consensual and completely uncalled for. As if that wasn’t enough, Mangetsu and Kuon wake up naked in the same bed. WHAT IS THE POINT OF THIS SERIOUSLY

Shingetsu jumps in to explain the completely unnecessary event and the fact that Anna’s Armanox is now completely destroyed, yes, and there is no coming back to Granbelm for her, thank the lord. Mangetsu receives a message from Nene about some golden pig that randomly showed up in the beginning of the episode (spoiler alert: it’s the USB stick). Mangetsu returns the pig to Nene and she uses the information from it to retrieve information on Suisho’s Armanox. She doesn’t remember anything on Suisho or Anna, and from this Shingetsu deducts that one of the consequences of losing the Grambelm is losing your memories of everything that happened there. Just as they’re discussing this strange event, they pass by Anna’s house, and she shows up completely different, relaxed, and with very short hair. I don’t understand what is going on like, at all. Nene keeps digging on her disappeared memories of Anna, and Kuon has flashbacks of being mouthraped by Suisho. Gross. The Suisho shows up in Mangetsu’s classroom, with zero explanation of course. I wonder, would this show be any different if all these girls were like, you know. Adults. Not going to school. This literally adds nothing to their character, apart from the fact that they are underage. Mangetsu calls Shingetsu and asks her to not blame herself for Anna’s disappearance.

Suisho finally corners Mangetsu and pushes her into realizing that her self proclaimed pure intentions on helping Shingetsu win the tournament to make herself happy may be an illusion. She also mentions that she both like Kuon and her sister in the creepiest way imaginable, and tells Mangetsu to gtfo of Granbelm since she doesn’t really want to become a mage. To be fair, that’s some seriously rational talk for a yandere character. In fact, it’s the most rational thing that has been said in the whole show. That is unless Mangetsu is in love with Shingetsu. That could maybe justify her obsession over risking her life to help her win a stupid magical tournament.

Later, Kuon tries to attack Suisho with a knife but chickens out. Suisho explains that through her, she ate a small part of her sister. Ew. So now she is basically attracting Kuon by using the part of her sister that she ate, making Kuon feel as is Suisho is her sister. It is pretty damn disturbing. Also, how did she do that?

Nene is still trying to figure out why everyone forgot about Anna. She somehow understands what has been going on thanks to her noise cancelling headphones. Something to do with huge magical rodes around the area producing signals. I honestly don’t understand. Maybe this show is too advanced for me.

Shingetsu and Mangetsu sneak out of their house in the middle of the night, naturally no parents are alert or anything. Mangetsu tries to pep talk Shingetsu, but Shingetsu tries to convince her to drop out of Granbelm.

I have to take a moment to say here that this is probably the best part of the show so far. As Shingetsu tries to explain to Mangetsu that she has no reason to fight, Mangetsu actually fights back, and with some good arguments too: she says that her life is dull and that this burdens her, which is why she fights. It may sound like an easy enough excuse to keep her in the show, but it’s phrased quite well at this point.

Kuon is playing the piano while having flashbacks of her sister, who suddenly starts sleepwalking saying Suisho’s name. Finally, Singetsu and Mangetsu decide to gang up on Suisho, and Nene realises that the center of the transmission’s disturbance is actually Mangetsu’s house.

Okay. Next.

I won’t mind seeing Suisho’s face hitting the floor next.

How did you find this Granbelm episode? Let us know in the comment section! And don’t forget to check the rest of the Summer 2019 anime reviews on MANGA.TOKYO!