History YMMV / GrimoireOfZero

** Just like ''LightNovel/ReZero'', ''Grimoire of Zero'' features a white-haired wizard as the main female character who is much older than she seems and has odd interpretations of morality. And of course, Creator/TakehitoKoyasu plays the ObviouslyEvil AntiHero who [[HeelFaceTurn changes sides]]. It happens when both series are animated by Creator/WhiteFox.

* MemeticMutation: Because of the strong similarity of the full Japanese name with the original name ''LightNovel/ReZero'' and the animation studio, a lot of jokes were devoted to how some people mistook this anime for its second season or a spin-off.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: What starts as a fairly harmless dark fantasy anime aimed at younger audiences turns into a colossal ShockingSwerve featuring sex slaves, interspecies romance and genocide. And then there's the pedophilia jokes. Of course it was gonna raise a few eyebrows.

** Just like ''ReZero'', ''Grimoire of Zero'' features a white-haired wizard as the main female character who is much older than she seems and has odd interpretations of morality. And of course, Creator/TakehitoKoyasu plays the ObviouslyEvil AntiHero who [[HeelFaceTurn changes sides]]. It happens when both series are animated by Creator/WhiteFox.

* PopularWithFurries: Invoked with Mercenary and his MrFanservice status. The promos seem to be aimed specifically at furries.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: What starts as a fairly harmless dark fantasy anime aimed at younger audiences turns into a colossal ShockingSwerve featuring sex slaves, interspecies romance and genocide. And then there's the pedophilia jokes. Of course it was gonna raise a few eyebrows.

* TheScrappy: Even when their identity is concealed, Albus causes much more trouble than he's worth- and that's exactly why everyone loathes him. In episode 2, he approaches the village elder with a missing ring on his finger. Instead of doing the reasonable thing and taking it off to return it to the woman, [[WhatAnIdiot he does the bad thing and keeps it on]].

* WhatAnIdiot: [[spoiler: Starting a civil war among witches, triggering a justified WitchHunt, is not the right way to create a tolerant world that appreciates magic, you idiots!]]

* BrokenBase: The anime is not very popular with fans of the original novel series, as several of the more complex interactions and dialogue were cut or altered. The end result is just another generic dark fantasy anime with absolutely zero context whatsoever. Due to this compression, the adaptation begins to suffer SeasonalRot as soon as episodes 3 or 4. The absence of romantic subplots is also a point of debate for the series.

* BaseBreakingCharacter: Is the Mercenary a rather original protagonist with a defined backstory and goals? Or was he made a bastardized caricature of tropes related to dark fantasy? Or worse, is he a disgraceful interpretation of the original character? Furries ''really'' want Mercenary to be the true protagonist. They don't give a damn about the rest of the cast.
* BestKnownForTheFanservice: Mercenary was a very different take on light novel protagonists at the time. And that's all people know the anime for nowadays. He got prevalence in most advertising and promos for the series over Zero.
* MemeticMutation: Because of the strong similarity of the full Japanese name with the original name ''LightNovel/ReZero'' and the animation studio, a lot of jokes were devoted to how some people mistook this anime for its second season or a spin-off.

* PopularWithFurries: Invoked with Mercenary and his MrFanservice status. The promos seem to be aimed specifically at furries.
* ItWasHisSled: Because of how ridiculous it looks, it's too easy to figure out early on that [[spoiler: Albus is actually a girl.]]

* BaseBreakingCharacter:
** Is the Mercenary a rather original protagonist with a defined backstory and goals? Or was he made a bastardized caricature of tropes related to dark fantasy? Or worse, is he a disgraceful interpretation of the original character?
** Furries ''really'' want Mercenary to be the true protagonist. They don't give a damn about the rest of the cast.

* KarmaHoudini: Holdem and Thirteenth get off fairly easily for their actions. Their punishment basically amounts to scowling and a "well, now he's on our side!" reaction.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: The opening theme pretty well sets the further atmosphere of the show, making the work more fabulous.

** Many mistakenly perceived Albus as a traveler from our world, as his suit resembled a sport suit.
* KarmaHoudini: Holdem and Thirteenth do not receive any real punishment for their crimes, the only thing that awaits them is a reproachful look and the phrase "well, now he's on our side!".
* TheScrappy: Not only that, Albus is quite the obvious KidSidekick, he still seems to exist in story only in order that, because of his stupidity, the characters have problems even if they successfully hide their identity. For example, in the second episode, he approaches the village elder with a missing ring on his finger, instead of immediately removing it and giving it to the old woman.
* SpecialEffectFailure: The CG's crowd in the last episodes looks too artificial and cheap, which only increases when the characters run between people in the square, or when the crowd supports Thirteenth in the 10th episode.
* {{Squick}}: To get past security and save on traveling fees, Zero quickly clams she and Albus are Mercenary's sex slaves, which Albus plays along with. Mercenary quickly scolds them for making him look like a degenerate afterwards.
* WhatAnIdiot: [[spoiler: How to convince people of the value of magical knowledge and create an ideal world where humanity uses magic with profit? Unleash a civil war with witches, which will lead to a principled WitchHunt, of course!]]
* WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids: Basically caused by the adaptation. First you start watching this series as a dark tale, and then ... story shows you sex slaves, inter-species romance and genocide. And do not forget about a few jokes about pedophilia, oh yeah.

* BrokenBase: A notable part of the fans of the original novel hates adaptation, believing that the studio, for unknown reasons, cut out many serious or difficult to understand scenes, turning a more difficult work into a dark fantasy fairy tale. Another often accusation of adaptation, this is a very strong artificial stretching of the plot, because of what was paid little attention in the novel, the anime stretches for several episodes.

** Is the Mercenary a rather original protagonist with his backstory and goals, or an overly cartoon element of the work that prevents you from taking the show seriously and at the very beginning kills any opportunity for romance in the storyline?
** There are also those who don't really care for the other characters and just want the Mercenary to be the main character. Take a few guesses who those people are.
* BestKnownForTheFanservice: The Mercenary as an unusual protagonist for light novels, this is the only thing that most people know about this work.

* PopularWithFurries: Take a wild guess. And being fair, the show itself seems to actively be aiming for this. Especially with Mercenary's MrFanservice status.
* ItWasHisSled: Due to the fact that it looked silly admittedly, it's now difficult to start watching or reading the series, not knowing that [[spoiler: Albus is actually a girl.]]

** To what has already been said about how the title of this work is misleading about a non-existent relationship with ReZero, both of these works have white-haired wizards as the main female characters that are much older than they seem and have very strange ideas about modern morality.
** In addition to the above, here Creator/TakehitoKoyasu again after ''ReZero'' plays ObviouslyEvil AntiHero, which is a high-ranking strong magician and changes his side as the series develops. And yes, it's an anime again from Creator/WhiteFox.

* CounterpartComparison: Large man carrying a {{BFS}}, wears a dark BadassCape, also has a BadassBandolier where he keeps his throwing knives, has a pouch of mini-bombs, isn't exactly one of the most well-liked people due to his reputation, also works as a lone mercenary and has a little witch for a companion. Guts from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'', anyone?

* AwesomeMusic: The opening theme pretty well sets the further atmosphere of the show, making the work more fabulous.

** In addition to the above, there Creator/TakehitoKoyasu again after ''ReZero'' plays ObviouslyEvil AntiHero, which is a high-ranking strong magician and changes his side as the series develops. And yes, it's an anime again from Creator/WhiteFox.

** Creator/TakehitoKoyasu again plays ObviouslyEvil AntiHero, which is a high-ranking strong magician and changes his side as the series develops. And yes, it's an anime again from Creator/WhiteFox.
**
* FanPreferredCouple: Grimoire of Zero is known for its CrackPairing, since despite the absence of a romance in series and obvious problems of pairing between a miniature girl and a large mighty man, many fans of this work hope to see in the future any hint of feelings development between Zero and the Mercenary.
* PopularWithFurries: Take a wild guess. And being fair, the show itself seems to actively be aiming for this. Especially with Mercenary's MrFanservice status.
* ItWasHisSled: Due to the fact that it looked silly admittedly, it's now difficult to start watching or reading the series, not knowing that [[spoiler: Albus is actually a girl.]]
* HilariousInHindsight:

* IdiotBall: [[spoiler: How to convince people of the value of magical knowledge and create an ideal world where humanity uses magic with profit? Unleash a civil war with witches, which will lead to a principled WitchHunt, of course!]]

* ShockingSwerve: [[spoiler:Thirteen is actually "Him" as well, and had [[MacGuffin the Grimoire]] all along. One has to wonder why, if he wants to genocide all witches, he didn't just already done it, considering the Grimoire itself makes him even more of a PersonOfMassDestruction than he already is in the first place...]]
** [[spoiler:Because he didn't want to kill all the witches. His original goal was to have them act as heroes for the people and better the kingdom so that Zero could eventually rule over it. Since the Sorcerers of Zero went off track, he basically decided to go with plan B: killing all of them after they've caused a big enough mess.]]

* {{Squick}}: To get past security and save on traveling fees, Zero quickly clams she and Albus are Mercenary's sex slaves, which Albus plays along with. Mercenary quickly scolds them for making him look like a degenerate afterwards.