Man, Grimgar of Fantasy and Ash might be my favorite anime this season. Erased, Iron Blooded Orphans, and Showa Genroku Rakugo Shinju are all great too, but every episode of Grimgar just blows me away.
I was expecting another Log Horizon/Sword Art Online/.Hack anime about getting stuck in an MMO, but Grimgar really differentiates itself from other anime of the same theme. I really, really like how Grimgar uses prolonged silence, probably more than any other series I've watched. And for a show that's ostensibly an action anime, it's unique in how slowly paced and relationship-focused it is.
There's something about how it portrays loss that really kicks at something in me, and I think the show's already made me cry two or three times in the few episodes we've had. I just watched the latest episode, and it had another wonderful transition from probably the series' longest fight scene to this point, to one its most emotional scenes so far.
I'm constantly surprised at how contemplative it gets, sometimes without any dialogue, sometimes with Haru's internal monologue, but basically just long, quiet scenes saying "Look at where we are right now."