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Set in a World in the Sky, a fateful encounter changes the lives of Zinkentstill residents Gran and his little dragon companion Vyrn as they run into Katalina and Lyria. The two strangers are being chased by soldiers of the Erste Empire, a government that tries to rule the world by military force. Like a hero, Gran assists them in repelling the pursuers. But during a fight against the Hydra that almost took out his life, Gran formed a link with the Girl in Blue, connecting their life force. With new companions by his side, Gran embarks on a skyfaring journey to reach the island of Estalucia, as written in a letter he received from his missing father. This also gives Lyria and Katalina the fighting chance to run away from the Empire. As they travel towards their destination across several floating islands of the Skydom, they even meet more friends and adversaries along the way.

The anime adaptation of the mobile game, officially titled Granblue Fantasy The Animation by A-1 Pictures, airing in the spring 2017 anime season.

The first two episodes were aired in January as part of an hour-long special, with the 13-episode season (Including the finished versions of the first two episodes) kicking off on April 2, 2017. The season's 12 episodes cover the first chapters of the Girl in Blue Arc from the game's main story. The 13th episode, "Another Sky" is a separate story featuring Djeeta taking the role of Gran as the captain, with guest appearances of some of the game's fan-favorite characters. An OVA bundled with the seventh Blu-Ray and DVD was released on November 29, 2017 under the title of Granblue Fantasy The Animation: Jack O'Lantern.

It is available on Crunchyroll both subtitled and dubbed, marking it the first truly official Granblue media to be released in the West.

Trailers: 2013, Aniplex (Japanese Dub) and Aniplex 2018 (English Dub).

A second season began airing on October 4, 2019. This time, it is an Art-Shifted Sequel, with MAPPA being in charge of the new artstyle and animation.

Similar to the video game it is derived from, this anime has no relations to Grand Blue, and also not to be confused with the similarly-sounding Granbelm.


Aside from those listed at the main page, the anime contains the following tropes:

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    Season 1 (2017) 
  • 2D Visuals, 3D Effects: The non-humanoid Primal Beasts like Proto Bahamut and Leviathan are clearly 3D-modeled. The larger airships are also obvious CG in both seasons.
  • Adaptational Super Power Change: Lyria's ability to summon Primal Beasts works a bit differently in this anime. In-game, her summoning causes the beast to unleash one attack and leave. In the anime, she can bring them forth for an extended duration and command them to perform actions different than their in-game Summon Call or even Charge Attack. For instance:
    • Tiamat empowers the party's attacks in the anime, despite decreasing enemy's attack in-game. Although this may be viewed as a Production Foreshadowing for when Tiamat becomes Promoted to Playable in the game, as she can indeed strengthen your party.
    • Yggdrasil does not cast Axis Mundi in the 12th episode. Instead, she creates earthen spiked platforms to allow Gran in reaching Leviathan.
  • Adaptation Deviation: The entire arc starting from Lyria's coma (courtesy of Pommern's Break Them by Talking tactic), Rosetta's Big Damn Heroes rescue of the team, up to Lyria's awakening with the help of Yggdrasil acts as the climax of the anime, which took a different turn from the actual sequence of the game's story.
  • Adaptation Distillation: The main cast excluding Rosetta, were given supplementary backstory scenes that focus on their Character Development even before they formed the crew, most of which are taken from their individual fate episodes but streamlined into the anime's adaptation of the main story:
    • Io's childhood moment of meeting Tzaka is from her Grand version's Fate Episode.
  • Adaptation Expansion:
    • From the first two episodes alone, scenes like Lyria's escape from the Empire and Gran's death and revival, which were bit parts of the tutorial segment, have been significantly expanded. And since details were added and moved, it is only during the second episode where Gran read the letter from his father, whereas in the game, it was read at the very beginning.
    • The sightseeing and errands portion of Episode 9 are exclusively in the anime.
    • Lich makes somewhat of a cameo as Lyria's summon in the flashback scene of Episode 10 when she is used for an experiment.
  • The Anime of the Game: A 14-episode Spring 2017 anime officially titled Granblue Fantasy: The Animation.
  • Beach Episode: Episode 13 takes place on a beach, bringing with it lots of Fanservice as many of the female characters who were only seen briefly show up.
  • The Cameo: Several gacha characters also have their own screen time, with the 12th to 14th episodes prominently featuring them alongside the main cast. Among these characters, Mary appears in three episodes, and shares the spotlight with Karva in the 8th. There's also Lich, a primal beast that is irrelevant to the game's story gets introduced here in Lyria's flashback.
  • Canon Foreigner: The anime introduces a new character, Aaron, as a childhood friend of Gran.
  • Cover Innocent Eyes and Ears: Katalina covers Lyria's eyes in the 13th episode, as the crew wreaks havoc on the Erste troops off-screen. However, the combat banter of the crew during the said scene can still be heard.
  • DVD Bonus Content: A marketing strategy of Cygames, wherein redeemable item codes for rare in-game items in Granblue Fantasy are bundled with the DVD/Blu-Ray discs of their games' anime adaptations such as Rage of Bahamut: Genesis and Uma Musume. Of course, the Granblue anime is no exception.
  • Evolving Credits: The last part of episode 13 replaces Gran with Djeeta, a woman who takes his place during said episode. Oddly enough, he still appears in the first half of the ending as well as the opening.
  • Feed It a Bomb: This is how the crew defeated the Clay Golem. As Mary's bomb bounced off and failed to hit the spot, Gran immediately slam-dunks the bomb on the golem's mouth.
  • Filler: Episode 8, derived from a plot of Mary's SR version and Episode 13, from Narmaya's summer version.
  • Fisher King: When Leviathan is corrupted by the dark crystal, Auguste is covered with stormy clouds. The weather clears up once Gran breaks the crystal to bring Leviathan back to normal.
  • Improbably Female Cast: Episode 13. Any male characters get relegated to background characters with maybe 1 or 2 lines, while the episode focuses heavily on the much larger crew consisting almost entirely of women. Even poor Gran is replaced with Djeeta, a lady who essentially takes his place.
  • Indy Escape: Mary and Karva had to run away from a boulder after activating a trap switch in the 8th episode.
  • I Never Told You My Name: In Episode 3, Sturm and Drang attempt to approach Gran and Lyria to offer them a spare airship. However, Drang ends up name dropping Katalina by name and rank, the latter of which he'd definitely only know if he was associated with the Erste Empire.
  • Info Dump: The extra episode "Another Sky" begins with Lyria's recap of the twelve episodes' plotline, but with Djeeta replacing Gran as the protagonist.
  • Journey to the Center of the Mind: When Lyria voluntarily goes into a comatose out of the fear that her existence can cause the death of her friends, Gran had to enlist the help of Yggdrasil so that he could enter Lyria's consciousness and convince her to return.
  • Last Episode, New Character: In Episode 12, many characters who were at best briefly seen earlier, suddenly show up to assist Gran and his crew with the latest Monster of the Week. It's implied that they ran into said characters before, since Gran's group mostly acknowledges them by name. Episode 13 also mixes things up by replacing Gran with Djeeta, a lady who essentially does the same things he did, and also has a mostly all-female crew.
  • Late-Arrival Spoiler: The last episodes spoil the Black Knight's true name and relation to Eugen, a secret that is only revealed near the climax of the game's first arc.
  • Line Boil: The outlines for the characters and objects this season are visibly rougher and subtly wobbles from frame to frame in an attempt to match the original game's art style.
  • Mook Horror Show: In Episode 13, the Empire's soldiers get stomped by Djeeta's crew off screen. Instead, several character's have a horrified look on their face, and Katalina covers Lyria's eyes so as not to see the carnage the rest of Djeeta's crew is causing to the soldiers. They then run out of the cave with their tails tucked between their legs.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • Most of the anime's episode titles are taken from the game, such as the first episode being titled "Girl in Blue", which is also the name of the game's first story arc. Another interesting example would be the ninth episode titled "Horizon in the Clouds", which is the same title of the ninth chapter in the game.
    • The Filler episodes of the anime reference story points of some characters' individual Fate Episodes. For example:
      • Lyria and the rest of the crew fall from an unstable ground in the 8th episode, just like what happens to her in the Fate Episode of Mary's SR version.
      • Episode 13 also uses the plot of Narmaya's Summer episode where the crew has to find an alternative source of ice now that Sierokarte's shaved ice stock ran out.
    • In Episode 3, Gran mimicks the in-game pose of the Fighter class after he bought a sword.
    • Aside from the default Fighter outfit, Episode 4 shows a few characters wearing the Priest outfit, while the 13th episode has Djeeta hanging several of her class outfits (Arcana Dueler, Hermit, Superstar and Warlock) in the Grandcypher. When she tries some swimsuits, one of them is actually the outfit of the Ogre Class.
    • In a Grand Blues! comic, Katalina accidentally injures Vyrn's head after petting the little dragon while wearing her steel gloves. In the anime, she takes off the glove just before petting a cat.
    • In the 12th episode, Eugen snipes the commander fish that causes the rest of the mind-control swarm to scatter. This tactic of taking out the leader is also used by Silva in her episodes in the game. She injures the monster swarm's alpha, which scatters the rest of the pack in confusion.
    • Also in the 12th episode, Leviathan is unable to move when Yggdrasil traps him by summoning an earth pillar. Later, Eugen delivers a shot that finishes the swarm of polluted fish. Both attacks that made Leviathan vulnerable are performed by Earth-elemental characters. This is a reference to the Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanic of the mobile game wherein Water enemies are weak to the Earth element. Likewise, Zeta's attack on the large fish swarm was implied to be ineffective because she's a Fire-elemental character, who is weak to Water.
  • New Game Plus: An odd variation of this occurs in Episode 13. Gran, the main protagonist in the show, is suddenly replaced by Djeeta, a woman who essentially did everything he did, as recapped in a quick Info Dump scene after the opening credits. Interestingly enough, Djeeta is much, much stronger than he is, and has absolutely no problems taking out the Empire's flying drones, and bosses that Gran had some difficulty with in previous episodes are easily handled by her. Several characters even lampshade this when they find out she has yet again taken on another quest, but apparently doesn't need help from The Cavalry that arrives moments later.
  • Opening Dissonance: In the opening sequence, one short scene just before the title has Gran jumping towards Bahamut with his sword in hand. While this implies that the dragon becomes a threat that the crew must face, it does not actually happen by any means during the entire season. Instead, Bahamut is benevolent, saves the party from the Hydra, and can offer its power to Gran's weapon at Lyria's command.
  • "Pan Up to the Sky" Ending: The last scene played every time an episode ends has the main crew looking up at the vast blue sky.
  • Reused Character Design: In Episode 6, the party questions two gunsmiths who share the same appearance and occupation as the unnamed parents of Silva, Cucouroux and Camieux.
  • Ship Tease: The 12th episode adds a subtle one that is not referenced by the game material. Why did Yuel suddenly get excited when she heard Feather in the distance? (leaving Yodahara behind to assist Feather instead). And when Feather and Soriz had a tight arm-wrestling contest, she appears to be cheering.
  • Tempting Apple: Drang tries to convince the party to accept their offer of a free airship (and subsequently leave Port Breeze unharmed), all while extending an apple in his hand. Vyrn, obviously shivers while resisting the temptation, his Trademark Favorite Food.
  • Truth in Television: Io repairs Lyria's shattered hairpin by joining the pieces with gold. This is based from a real-life Japanese practice called Kintsugi.

    Season 2 (2019) 
  • 2D Visuals, 3D Effects:
    • While the first season used 3D models for most of the primal beasts, it gets averted this time in the case of Tezcatlipoca, which is hand-drawn.
    • When the Grandcypher evades the barrage of magic from the Erste shamans, it becomes computer-generated for a while.
    • The Black Knight's armor is obviously 3D this time around. Ditto that of the Empire's soldiers' armor.
    • Likewise, Celeste is incredibly obviously a 3D model in all of its appearances.
  • Adaptation Deviation: An even more drastic case than the first season. While almost all of the major plot points are kept intact, the Tramont arc and the Golonzo arc are structured very differently compared to the game. In particular, the Tramont arc adds in parts of the Lumacie arc that were left out in season 1 while the Golonzo arc is re-tooled as the climax of season 2, similar to how Auguste was the climax of season 1.
  • Adaptational Early Appearance: Ferry's sister appears in a Flash Back whereas in the game, it took half a decade for her to appear in a fate episode.
  • Adaptation Expansion: Apart from the Fillers, more scenes and dialogue are introduced to expand further on the character interactions. A few expositions are also added to serve as a quick recap of the early plot points.
  • Adaptational Modesty: A curious case with Ferry. Her outfit shows a little less skin at the sides than the in-game version, but is still cut in such a way that it would inevitably show the sides of her breasts, especially when raising her arms. Nothing is ever shown, which is weird, considering that other fanservicey characters like Aliza, Vira and Sturm didn't get the same treatment.
  • Adaptational Villainy: The doctor that visited Tramont island. While responsible for summoning Celeste in both continuities (and probably with the same goal in mind), he was only a minor villain in the game who had become a mindless ghoul/ghost by somehow merging with Celeste, and the crew wonders if this was a failed experiment of his. In the anime, he tricked an Erune father and his ill daughter into becoming sacrifices, and when this failed to gain him immortality, he took possession of Celeste, which he had apparently planned for, just in case. Everything that happens after that is his doing, not Celeste's.
  • Adapted Out: Ferry's ghost pets do not appear in the anime.
  • Animation Bump: The first episode has considerably more fluid animation and better visual quality than most of the rest of the season.
  • Arbitrary Skepticism: Sturm doesn't believe in the existence of zombies even when they are in the same room with her.
  • Art-Shifted Sequel: MAPPA is doing the artstyle and animation this time around, and as a result, the second season bears a significant visual change compared to the first season which was drawn and animated by A-1 Pictures. The most visible change being the cleaner outlines on the characters compared to the rougher and more game-accurate look of the first. Characters in the second season also tend to look older / more mature, with less round-ish faces and sharper eyes, while Katalina also gains a bit of makeup on her bottom lip. The one exception to this is the Halloween OVA, which is handled by A-1 with the same style and animation team as Season 1.
  • The Assimilator: The Doctor. Abusing the power of a primal beast to sustain himself, his initial goal was to absorb Ferry's immortality. Eventually, he gets the chance to make Lyria's power his own. It doesn't end well for him.
  • Asskicking Leads to Leadership: It is tradition in Albion that the next Lord Commander is chosen from the cadets of the academy in a 1v1 tournament. Also overlaps with Rank Scales with Asskicking, as the victorious cadet then bonds with the primal beast Luminiera, amplifying their capabilities to Physical God levels, but also binding them to the island of Albion.
  • Attack Drone: Luminiera has two of these, which are used in a variety of ways, from firing beams to projecting energy fields. Also, when Noa goes berserk, the crew has to fight dozens of attack drones that act both as ground troops and as interceptors.
  • Badass Fingersnap: Pommern agitates an imprisoned Tezcatlipoca by activating the dark essence with a fingersnap.
  • Bait-and-Switch: In one scene, it looks like Gran would receive a Smooch of Victory from Vira. It's then revealed she's just whispering in his ear that there will be dire consequences for him if anything happens to Katalina. It's Played for Laughs.
  • Bearer of Bad News: Eugen gets the dubious honour of having to tell Katalina and Rackam that something bad happened to Lyria and Io. He first considers how to break the news only to blurt it out directly:
    Eugen: Um ... how do I say this? ... Lyria and Io have been swallowed by the primal beast.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Drang gets his moment when he saves Gran from falling to his death in their battle against Celeste.
  • Bitter Sweet Ending: The residents of Tramont island were freed from the curse of undeath, the crew can finally resume their journey and Ferry regained her memories. However, in her memories it's revealed that her father died protecting her, and that she had a younger sister, who is long gone at that point. Remembering this causes her to break down crying among the field of white flowers, and she's notably absent when the Grandcypher crew leaves the island, implying that they might not even have gotten to say goodbye. Drang then finds her gazing at the sky, not looking particularly happy, and the last scene before the credits shows them visiting her sister's grave together.
  • Book Ends: The beginning of the mist-shrouded island arc includes a short scene of Ferry looking at the sky while the Grandcypher flies past. At the end of the arc, she is again shown looking at the distant skies by herself.
  • Breather Episode: Episode 6 has a few gags (mostly at Lyria's expense due to her fear of ghosts) and some lighthearted banter when the crew meet Sturm & Drang in the zombies' village, eventually setting up a much darker story arc.
  • Broken Pedestal: How Vira comes to see Katalina, who instead of becoming the exemplary knight she had always dreamed of became a traitor and fugitive. Katalina on the other hand sees herself as a Defector from Decadence, who re-discovered what it really meant to be a knight.
  • The Cameo: Similar to the first season, some gacha-recruitable characters and primal beasts briefly have guest appearances:
    • Aliza teams up with the protagonists and helps in calming down Tezcatlipoca.
    • The Stinger of episode 2 shows the Black Knight and Orchis fighting against the Vortex Dragon, a light element SSR summon from the game.
  • Cassandra Truth: When Drang says they're on vacation when the party runs into him and Sturm on the mist-shrouded island, the party doesn't believe him, suspecting that it's a lame excuse and that he has some kind of hidden motive. The merc duo really is on vacation, but even Sturm can't fathom why Drang would want to spend it on a creepy, misty island.
  • Chronic Hero Syndrome: Gran's defining trait is to help others in need without asking questions. This gets to the point wherein the second season gives some Lampshade Hanging that the other Grandcypher members already got used to this.
    • Shadow!Gran even calls him out on this, accusing him of doing this just so he can become "a magnificent Skyfarer like his father". Of course that accusation was aimed at breaking Gran's spirit. It doesn't work.
  • Continuity Nod: The first season has actually deviated some of its parts from the original story of the game, and this sequel goes along referencing some anime-only plot points, implying that these anime adaptations now set their own continuity in some parts, but keeping the major plot points of the game's main story intact:
    • Rosetta re-appears at the end of Episode 1, and Sierokarte discusses if she would return to the Grandcypher, considering how she left behind on Lumacie in the first season.
    • It may seem a bit random that only Lyria could see Ferry (at first). In the game however, she was also the only one who could see Honey, Sarunan's ghost familar.
    • Before summoning Celeste, Ferry mentions to Gran that it'll work "this time" because the life link between Gran and Lyria (who were separated at the time) will act as a signal. This references the concept introduced in the game's "Wayfaring Astral" arc that Ferry's power to guide living beings back from the Otherworld only works when a strong frame of reference is present, such as the life link.
    • Lyria tries to summon Bahamut while inside the core of Celeste, but fails because Bahamut only exists in the outside world. In the game, the same thing happens when Lyria is trapped in the Otherworld.
  • Couch Gag: The opening and ending credits are the same in episode 14, except Gran is replaced by Djeeta.
  • Covers Always Lie: The cover of one of the volumes (each spanning 2 episodes) shows Ferry in a relatively fanservicey pose, with her whip in hand and her pets by her side. Neither make an appearance in the actual show. The blurb also states details from the game that simply aren't true in the anime, such as Ferry yearning to be re-united with her sister; She doesn't even remember that she has a sister until the very end of her story arc.
  • Darker and Edgier: The second season is in many ways darker and more cynical than the first one. Episodes tend to focus on the drama caused by the various characters' Dark and Troubled Past as well as their psychological trauma. Exemplified during Gran's showdown with the Black Knight, where he's hopelessly outmatched but calls her out on all the destruction and suffering that she and the empire are causing, to which she replies that power is the only thing that matters when seeking to accomplish one's goals.
  • Dark Is Not Evil:
    • Tezcatlipoca certainly looks evil due to its dark colour scheme and its overall appearance, but like many other primal beasts, it's peaceful unless agitated.
    • Celeste in the anime is much more benevolent than it was in the game, despite looking even more monstrous here. The person manipulating it on the other hand ...
  • David vs. Goliath: In the 4th OVA, Gran has to wrestle a primal beast that is at least a couple storeys tall. Subverted, as it shrinks down to a more normal size to keep things fair, but it's still pretty massive.
  • Deal with the Devil: Gran's party meets up with General Furias again on the island of Albion. There he has a contract written up clearing the group of any crimes against the Empire, and Furias claims they've got bigger fish to worry about than Lyria. Gran thinks it's too good to be true, and later finds out that the real deal was that Katalina would be forced to stay behind to assume the role of the new Lord Commander, and the Empire would use the primal beast, Luminiera, for their own purposes. And Furias was supposed to kill Gran and his crew except for Katalina. And when he almost accidentally kills her, this angers Vira's, and she starts to attack him with Luminiera's powers.
  • Death by Adaptation: Furias is apparently killed as early as the Albion arc when Vira performs a Diagonal Cut on the Imperial flagship.
  • Deer in the Headlights: Ferry and Orchis freeze up completely when Celeste targets them. It takes a Diving Save from Gran to save the former.
  • Dramatic Irony: During the mist-shrouded island arc, Katalina stays behind on the Grandcypher with Rackam, telling him that Lyria has Gran by her side who'll protect her. Cue Lyria getting swallowed by the primal beast.
  • Easily Forgiven: Vira. Despite acting out of pure self-interest, which included guilt-tripping Katalina into leaving the crew, withholding information, outright lying about her "broken" bond with Luminiera, coming extremely close to killing Gran and accidentally stabbing Katalina in the process, she and the crew still part on friendly terms. Gran even asks her to join the crew, but she declines due to her duties as Lord Commander of Albion; but not without warning him to keep Katalina safe, or else.
  • Eldritch Location: The insides of Celeste. At first appearing as landscapes connected by randomly placed doors, whoever reaches the center is in for a nasty surprise.
  • Exact Eavesdropping: Vira conveniently overheard Katalina being forced into accepting the title of Lord Commander, as she was the expected winner of the tournament. Which is why Vira gave it her all in the final duel to claim the title.
  • Fading Away: It's revealed in a conversation with Rosetta that primal beasts can "disappear" when they use too much of their power at once.
  • Fate Worse than Death: Having one's soul devoured by Celeste doesn't lead to Cessation of Existence. Rather, the victims are immobilized and lose their memories, but apparently stay conscious. They possibly remain in this state for all eternity.
  • Filler:
    • Episode 1 has a cameo of Aliza helping the protagonists in a quest of fighting Tezcatlipoca. Although the episode then reveals their next destination as the Albion Citadel, continuing the main story arc from the game.
    • The Halloween OVA, or rather its placement right between episode 5 and 6. It has no bearing on the plot whatsoever due to being set in an Alternate Continuity (where Djeeta is the captain), and whatever we learn about the characters involved does not necessarily apply to them in season 2's main continuity. Not helped is the art style, which is back to being the one seen throughout Season 1 due to being made and released before Season 2 proper.
  • Flash Back: Almost Once an Episode. In general, if a character is (re-)introduced who appears in more than just one episode, flashbacks WILL be used to tell their stories. Often coupled with exposition and comments provided by the characters themselves.
  • Flower Motifs: The white flowers native to the mist-shrouded island. There's a whole field of them that almost makes it seem like the landscape was covered in snow. It's the spot where Ferry and her sister said goodbye to each other. This is probably intentional as the colour white can be representative for death.
  • Food as Bribe: Siero requires the assistance of the crew in taking down a primal beast. In exchange, dinner in the Knickknack Shop for that night will be free of charge.
  • Foreshadowing:
    • In The Stinger of episode 5, Drang says that since they are now on vacation, there's a place where he'd like to go and brandishes a somewhat old-looking envelope. It's implied to be the same letter that Ferry wrote to her sister in a flashback. The envelope is identical in shape and colour and the letter mentions a "treasure", something that Drang also brings up later.
    • When the schematics for Celeste are shown, it looks slightly different from how it actually appears in the anime. This serves as a clue that it was corrupted.
    • When Ferry talks about how she feels the pain of having lost something important, she places her hand over her heart. It's where her father put his remaining life force.
    • At the site where Celeste is summoned, Ferry spots a pair of broken glasses on the ground. They belonged to her father.
    • The (modified) plot of the Golonzo arc foreshadows Freesia's plan to awaken Akasha.
  • Formula-Breaking Episode: Episode 14, which is split into two parts. The first has Gran entering a wrestling match with a muscly god, and in the second half, Djeeta is a student at St. Albion, along with Io and Lyria. It starts out like a generic Bishoujo Series show, and then turns into a Mecha parody after Vira transforms into a mecha from extreme jealousy at Djeeta. Which then turns out to be a random story one of Djeeta's crewmates came up with. And who could that be if not the Lowain bros?
  • Friendly Zombie: The residents of Tramont island are for the most part normal people, except for the fact that they are zombies. They are even fairly welcoming of strangers since they don't get visitors often.
  • From Nobody to Nightmare: The doctor. Not only did he sacrifice a father and his daugher under the pretense of helping them, but somehow also managed to merge with and overpower a primal beast. From there on, his motives decayed even further, from initially simply wanting immortality to desiring to become a perfect being that would eventually consume all life.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation:
    • The Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors mechanics are not strictly followed here, since Tezcatlipoca gets distracted and held in place by the Fire-elemental Colossus, whereas its in-game elemental weakness should be Wind. The same applies with its attack as well, Tezcat is able to burn down a tree, but in-game, it is an Earth-elemental primal beast.
    • In the game, the crew would be fairly sizeable by the Albion arc, but the anime treats recruitable characters as aquaintances and friends rather than permanent crew members, which means that they only join the crew for specific occasions but are otherwise separate.
  • Ghost Story: Early in episode 6, Eugen tells Lyria a scary story about a rumoured Ghost Ship and that the fog traps anyone who enters. He's not that far off the mark.
  • Glowing Eyes of Doom:
    • Tezcatlipoca's eyes glow red under the corruption of the dark essence, they revert to blue once it's calmed down.
    • Celeste's eyes start glowing a bright purple when it is corrupted. This is also accompanied by a shot of it transforming into a larger and even more monstrous form.
  • Godhood Seeker: The doctor in control of Celeste, upon realizing that he may be able to absorb Lyria's power.
    Celeste???: Let us now surpass the boundaries of life! Behold! I shall rule over these skies and become the perfect being!
  • Grave-Marking Scene: At the end of episode 8, Ferry and Drang are shown visiting her sister's grave.
  • Heroic Second Wind: Played for Laughs in the first half of episode 14, after Gran is seemingly knocked out by a German suplex during the wrestling match. The crowd starts cheering for him, giving him a boost of power, which he then uses to defeat his opponent.
    • Played more seriously in Gran's fight against Shadow!Gran, where he only narrowly avoids the coup d'grace and then goes on to re-emphasize his promise to Lyria that they will reach Estalucia together.
  • Human Resources: The Erste Empire uses some Applied Phlebotinum to collect the Life Energy of the residents of Golonzo and turn it into fuel for Noa's rampage. Also, Celeste devours zombies (or rather their souls) to sustain the one controlling it.
  • Human Sacrifice: Celeste apparently grants immortality for the sacrifice of two lives. Things didn't go according to plan however, as it was one of the sacrifices who ended up being granted immortality.
  • Immortality Immorality: The doctor was a nasty person even before partially achieving his goal by merging with Celeste. But upon discovering what he could do with such power, he completely discarded the last bits of his humanity and became a soul-eating abomination.
  • Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Katalina gets stabbed all the way through her abdomen while trying to shield Gran. She survives, thanks to healing magic.
  • Invisible to Normals: Ferry, at first. It's implied that this is her father's doing as even Celeste couldn't see her.
  • I See Dead People: Lyria and Orchis. And make them visible to everyone else too.
  • It Began with a Twist of Fate: Episode 1 expanded how the encounter with Lyria changed Gran's life – While becoming a skyfarer is indeed his dream, he never really had an opportunity to leave Zinkenstill. Thus, it was her who set the story in motion.
  • It's All My Fault:
    • Katalina blames herself for Vira's situation, as she followed her dream of becoming a knight instead of becoming Lord Commander of Albion.
    • Ferry thinks she's responsible for the apparent death of Lyria, Orchis and Io, as she was the initial target of the attack but ended up being saved by Gran. He then assures her that they are fine.
  • Karma Houdini: Vira loses absolutely nothing from her actions. In fact, she gains the ability to go everywhere she wants, courtesy of Lyria absorbing part of Luminiera's power.
  • Knight of Cerebus: The doctor. He's the first unambiguously evil character introduced this season who is not presented as quirky or cartoonish in any way. There's almost no comedy after his first appearance, and when he's dealt with, Freesia takes his place as this.
  • Lonely at the Top: As the best student at Albion's military academy and the most talented warrior, Vira could no longer relate to others. Only Katalina, who matched and even surpassed her in skill and strenght could bring out her good side and the two spent their academy days as Heterosexual Life-Partners, until Vira was chosen as the new Lord Commander of Albion.
  • Long-Lost Relative: Ferry is Drang's grandaunt.
  • Love Makes You Crazy: Vira feels Lyria was the reason Katalina became a fugitive, and almost starts to attack her after finding that Katalina still wants to protect her. She also starts getting angry seeing Katalina reaching out to Lyria, and blames the latter for Katalina's turn to a life of crime. Her deal with Furias to basically clear Gran's group of any crimes with the Empire was done under the guise of having Katalina take over the Lord Commander role so she would be stuck in Albion, which would mean Vira could then spend the rest of their lives together. In exchange, Furias was supposed to get Luminiera for use as a weapon for the Empire.
  • Magical Incantation: Done at different points by Io, Lyria and Ferry.
  • Mirror Match: At some point, Gran has to fight a shadow-version of himself.
  • Mood Whiplash: A fairly dark episode to begin with, episode 7 has a little moment of Ferry acting clumsily and getting buried under a bunch of books. After having found what she was looking for, she excitedly goes outside to tell the others ... Only for them to not notice her at all. For a few seconds, her smile turns into an expression of pure hopelessness.
    Drang: Is something wrong? You look so sad.
    Ferry: I was afraid you guys were no longer able to see me. But luckily that wasn't the case. It's good to have someone that can call you by your name. Even if it's not your true name.
  • Mythology Gag:
    • The "next episode" title card for this season depicts a mural of Bahamut and the skydwellers, much like how all the episodic title cards of Rage of Bahamut: Genesis and Virgin Soul also display a mural of the dragon. Quite fitting, since these three shows are done by MAPPA.
    • As in the first season, some episodes are named after the corresponding chapters in the game's main story, such as "The immortal beast".
    • Some dialogue seems deliberately worded to reference Ferry's Arc Words ("to guide", "guidepost") from the game.
    • The story about the "Apple Man" that Vyrn uses to distract some guards? It originated from the Grand Blues! gag manga.
  • Non-Indicative First Episode: The first episode would give viewers reasons to assume that cameos of side characters, as well as Filler episodes consisting of side stories are going to be a regular occurence, like they were in the first season. The second season instead focuses on the main story and its associated characters.
  • Only Sane Man: After Siero offered free dinner for everyone in the shack in exchange for the Grandcypher's services, the customers took advantage of this by quickly requesting more food orders... Except for Katalina who reminded them to have at least a sense of restraint.
  • Our Ghosts Are Different: It's left ambiguous whether Ferry became an actual ghost, or rather just an immortal that also happened to be invisible, as she displays no ghostly abilities at all in her story arc after Lyria reveals her presence and is never referred to as a ghost.
  • Plot Hole: There is really no excuse for Gran going all by himself to board Celeste when nearly his whole crew was available at the time, and given the stakes involved ...
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Vira and Katalina, both in outfit colours and personalities.
  • Removing the Rival: Vira thinks it's best to take Katalina's friends out of the equation so she can have her to herself.
  • Ship Tease: A LOT between Gran and Lyria. Especially in the second episode where Gran blushes and gets really nervous when he sees Lyria all dressed up for the banquet. And then Rackam and Eugen together push him right towards her ...
  • Shock Collar: Noa has to wear one, as he's being used as a research subject by the Empire.
  • Shoo Out the Clowns: Sturm and Drang are not seen again after episode 8, and the series stays mostly serious after that point, not counting the OVAs.
  • Spikes Of Viillainy: When Celeste is taken over, it gains additional spikes and its "claws" grow in size. Not that it wasn't looking evil to begin with.
  • Stick 'em Up: Gran does this with a large soup spoon. It's only revealed afterwards that he wasn't using his sword.
  • Strong Family Resemblance: Ferry, her sister Firra and Drang all share the same hair, eye and ear colours. But the anime goes a step further by extending this to Ferry's father.
  • Tastes Better Than It Looks: The zombie villagers on Tramont island serve a stew of unusual colour that looks like it might've been cooked by Katalina. After initial hesitation, everyone finds it delicious.
  • Tearful Smile: Ferry, while looking at the sky after reliving the memory of her sister departing from the island.
  • That Was the Last Entry: The doctor describes very accurately in his journal how he is planning to gain immortality. The journal ends right after that, deepening the mystery, as it's apparent at least some part of his plan must have been successful.
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: Vyrn actually manages to distract 2 guards by showing them a bad drawing of a supposed "Apple man" who is about to eat all the apples in Albion and must be stopped. It works ... for a short time.
  • The Promise: It's eventually revealed that Drang promised his grandmother to save her sister. And he succeeds.
  • Trying Not to Cry: Ferry can just barely hold back her tears when she tells the others that they are the first people that ever noticed her existence. Although subtle, the highlights in her eyes also quiver in one scene at the resolution of her story arc, when she tells her sister she'll always be with her, no matter how far they are apart.
  • Un-person: A supernatural variant. It's why Rackam couldn't remember anything about Noa and his promise.
  • Wrecked Weapon: Gran's sword ends up getting shattered in a duel against the Black Knight.
  • Wham Line: Freesia refers to Gran's father as the "Primal Killer", but that detail is only revealed towards the audience.
  • What the Hell, Hero?: Vira sacrificed her dreams to win the tournament to become the new Lord Commander of Albion so that Katalina wasn't forced to give up her dreams of being a knight since the Lord Commander would be unable to ever leave the island due to their contract with Luminiera. Though it pained her to no longer have Katalina by her side, she endured it, until finding out that Katalina became a fugitive later on by escaping with Lyria.
  • Wistful Amnesia: Ferry feels that she forgot something incredibly important to her. That something/someone being her sister, whose existence is not even hinted at until The Reveal at the end of the story arc.

Alternative Title(s): Granblue Fantasy The Animation

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