User blog comment:Miskos3/Fairy Tail Wiki in Anime: Summer 2016/@comment-7418318-20161118194000/@comment-4829046-20161119060924

And another one joins the appreciation wagon. :D

Being serious though, Grimgar is definitely one that bewilders expectation. At the core it is a typical fantasy world Light Novel story but the way it presents itself is more like a subdued drama. Has a very tame mood but with savage realities. I'd say it is a tale of acceptance, in multiple ways.

Not a masterpiece, even going by the LNs, but it tries to tell a good story. For those that felt that say, Re:Zero, despite everything good about it, fell short because of how the story takes so long to answer so many questions, Grimgar would be similarly painful. Low chances of a sequel don't help the case either. Like you said, it is a character driven story, but one can question the overall direction. There are plenty of fantasy world LNs that deal with daily life in such environments, but they always present major plot details at a consistent rate while this doesn't. If anything, the first season acts as an intro. Again, not anything new with LN adaptations, but the pacing can still be a turn-off. Even the little but much appreciated fan service(which is mostly in the OP) is not really enough to keep just anyone hooked.