Der Greif

I randomly stumbled upon the English dubbed version of The Gryphon and it's a YES for me. Kind of surprised by the mediocre reviews. I feel like it has a Netflix 'Dark' x 'Stranger Things' kind of feel to it. It's set in the early 90's (ish) and has a lot of that synth background music like stranger things (love that). In addition to the 80's synthe music there are a ton of well known alternative songs and old school popular hip hop songs. The villains kind of look like white-walkers, and the other creatures to be feared look like something out of the "Alien" movie franchise. All-in-all I am happy that I found this series and I look forward to future season(s). Fingers Crossed!

The character pacing is great in the show. The main character is developed slowly and is allowed to learn instead of feeling like an overpowered individual that is just there to save the day.

It never felt too cringe. And for the most part, the show was beautifully shot. It had a cinematic feel to it and the actors did a fantastic job as well.

There were some side characters that I honestly did not care too much for, and it did distract from the main story line. But the supporting characters were awesome!

Also, you'll notice a bunch of great 90's music sprinkled through out the show which made me feel a bit nostalgic! Overall, great show!

I was excited to see, this will be a series. The novel this show is based on was my start into fantasy and is probably not known to an international audience. Funnily the plot is set in 1994 which is about the time I devoured the book as a 14-year-old. I remember reading around 250 pages on a rainy Sunday.

So as it is obvious the creators are trying to follow the success of "Stranger Things" in some ways, do not make the mistake to compare The Gryphon too much to the Netflix hit. It is an original story that Hohlbein created long before. As far as I can tell after three episodes (earlier start in Germany as it is a German production) the buildup is good and leaves enough things to your imagination, while hinting enough to keep it interesting.

The series seems to be a little darker than the book, which was youth fantasy, whereas this is fun to watch as an adult. CGI quality is better than I expected and acting and plot are fine. So is the depiction of 1994 Germany, although the town of Krefelden is fictious. I feel like most clothing styles of the teenagers came up a few years later.

After almost thirty years after first reading the book (and many others by Wolfgang Hohlbein) I enjoy this so far and will keep watching, respectively bingeing the episodes to come. I just fear this season will end in a cliffhanger and the wait for continuation will be painful.

I felt like this series was made with me in mind, but I realize of course that it is also targeted at young adults and teenagers. I was a teenager in the 90s and had a frenzied Wolfgang Holbein phase where I read many of his most popular books. "Der Greif" was one of the most popular and one of the best.

I was a huge fan as a teenager. I also bought the audio play version as a young adult. I realized when I got older, that Holbein has many faults (mostly repetitions of language patterns and plots/characters, lots of clichés and he got his ideas from other famous authors I didn't know as a teen). But "Der Greif" as a live action show is a dream come true for my inner teenager none the less. It's amazing to see the world they came up with, and I really like how they did it.

They did an incredible job overall with a few weak elements that I can forgive easily. The changes and additions they made are reasonable and well done. I don't care for fantasy or teen drama, but I found the characters sympathetic and the drama engaging. That alone is rare for shows from this genre.

I think I could see the influences from "Stranger Things" and "Dark", but they did it very well.

If you like me were a teenager in Germany in the 90's, you will find they have you in mind (especially in the first episode) and lots of music is referred to in almost every episode. The main character is making mix-tapes for his love interest. It almost gets a bit too much, but doesn't take away from the overall story.

I will definitely watch the second season and I also think you don't need to have read the book to "get" what is going on. To be honest, the story of the book is rather weak, it is more about atmosphere and teenage angst stuff. The story in the show is interesting enough, they made it look really great and have nice character building and good drama. A good pace and some action.

English dub is pretty good, beyond the typical lip syncing issues.

Strong acting, good direction, strong production value, pretty good cgi, and prosthetics used for custom/ monsters, story is a lil predictable at times even for people who didn't read the novels.

Similar vibes to stranger things, the hollow, where teens cross over to another world, but this is a darker tale, not for the squeamish or people looking for a happy ending where everyone is fine and healthy with minimal trauma.

Hope for season 2 !

What else to mention,

minimal filler it gets to the point, some threads left open (teen drama bs and some villain stuff).

Other wise resolved.

I binged it all oops,