Brains, Beauty, and a Plan to Change the World
- Episodes: 24
- Genre: Action, Drama, Fantasy, Romance
- Airing Date: January 2018 – June 2018
- Studio: A-1 Pictures
Grancrest Senki Preview (No Spoilers)
Atlatan is a continent ruled by Chaos. Chaos twists the laws of nature causing demons, monsters, and spirits to appear. The nobility, fearing the disaster brought forth by Chaos, were granted Crests to help quell the Chaos. You can also gain a Crest by defeating a lord and taking theirs or -- if you're strong enough -- defeating a Chaos demon and seizing its core. The Lords quickly decide to abandon the purpose of the Crests and begin waging war upon each other trying to steal each other’s Crests to gain dominion over one another.
Siluca Meletes, a prodigy mage, hates what the world has become and wants to remake the lordly order and rid the world of Chaos. She finds a young Lord named Theo who she decides to support in order to make him the leader the world needs. She wants him to unite all the Crests and rid the land of the destructive Chaos.
Siluca Meletes Character Highlights (Spoilers Beyond This Point)
1. Siluca, Woman of Action
We are first introduced to Siluca as she is pushing her way through a crowd because she is late to a royal wedding that could unify the continent. She stands in the audience with the other mages when she realizes a Chaos convergence has begun near the altar, the same place as the fathers of the bride and groom are standing. She leaps into action, shouting for people to run while readying a spell. The confused security detail stops her and the Chaos convergence takes the lives of the two leading lords and stops the wedding. Siluca also serves with distinction on the front lines of one of Theo’s first battles to secure his position as a lord with territory. She uses an array of magic to corner ¼ of the enemy forces and take them out of action.
2. Siluca, Woman of Intelligence
Siluca isn’t just good at magic, she is also a strategic thinker. We can tell that from the moment she meets Theo she has a plan. She starts by testing his strength by summoning a demon, which he defeats. We watch her play the game of Crests, directing Theo’s actions in order to grow his legitimacy as a ruler and gain Crests for his own power. She also directs him to give up his Crests at one point. Siluca has him relinquish his Crests as part of her master plan to inspire his allies to eventually put their Crests in his care and become his subordinates. She is an intelligent leader who knows what battles to lose in order to win a war. Siluca also seems able to adapt quickly when the plans she makes don’t always go as she planned, like when proposed alliances fall apart before they even start.
3. Siluca, The Overconfident and Sarcastic
Siluca is a young mage who has never failed at anything. She is, as you’d imagine, confident in her abilities. She, without really knowing Theo, pits him against a demon she summons to see if he has what it takes to take part in her plan. She could have killed him with that gamble, but he defeats the demon, seizes its core, and increases his rank. We think sometimes she might be overconfident and overplays her hand. The first time we see this is when Theo becomes a landed Lord. She goes to Marrine Kreishe, the leader of the Factory Alliance, and is dismissed and told that Theo needs to surrender to them. She and Theo have to quickly come up with a plan to combat the army that will be sent against them. Siluca, though in Theo’s service, often makes fun of him and takes a sarcastic attitude towards people. A missionary of sorts, Priscilla Farnese comes to join Theo and Siluca promptly shuts the door in her face not wanting to deal with a “sketchy religious sect.”
4. Siluca, The Modest or Oh We Love It When She Blushes
Before she meets Theo, Siluca is destined to be a contract mage to Villar Constance the Earl of Altirk aka “the lustful earl.” We hear her complain to her footman about being embarrassed in the revealing uniform the Earl wants her to wear. We see the skimpy miniskirt uniform several times throughout the series even though she is in Theo's service and not Altirk’s. She may be confident, but she does have a sense of modesty and propriety. We see her blush a lot after that, especially where Theo is concerned. The confident mage is often made sheepish by complements or a gesture of affection by Theo. As part of a deal, Theo hands over many of his collected Crests to the Earl of Altirk and only request to hold onto his rank as knight so he may keep Siluca as his mage and not hand her over to the Earl with whom she was originally contracted. She visibly blushes and is taken aback by his demand. He kisses her in front of the troops and she says she may nearly die of embarrassment. She goes from badass mage who orchestrated the victory to cute in less than a second. We love those moments of weakness in her and in watching her growing affection for Theo.
Final Thoughts
Siluca is a strong female character and we love her for that. She may not be the “main” character but she is the one indispensable person in the plot. The young mage is the one who chooses Theo, directs Theo, expands his initial goal of gaining just enough power to be lord of his town to becoming the Emperor of the continent and ridding the land of Chaos for good. She is smart, sexy, and selfless. In many ways, she is the perfect woman -- with or without a male protagonist to push to the front.