Record of Lodoss War

[StormbringerGT]

Hey I just thought I would point this out to FFH fans.

Its called Record of Lodoss War. Its a great Movie series! It has Orcs, Elves, War and other good crap!

If you like FFH, Lotr or dungeons and dragons this should be right up your ally! Now I'm not a huge Anime Fan. I don't hate it, I just never got into it. This and Ninja Scroll are where my expertise ends.

However this is very very good. It has high production values a great story and very nice orchestra music.

Check out the first episode here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yiZh1E403Aw

If you like it and want to see the rest try to find the japanese version with subtitles. Its way better than the English version. The voice acting is kinda cheesy and some of the dialogue doesnt make sense in the english version. That because when they translate they then have to fit that sentence into the characters animated mouth. So they have to take some.... Liberties. Thats why the Japanese with subs are the best version.

Enjoy and post your thoughts.

 

[kraaa]

yeah, it's a good one. i think it's influence on japanese fantasy anime/games is on par with the creation of D&D.

Both the OVA and the TV series are fantastic, though i prefer the OVA more as the story is more compacted.

 

[Ashdrake]

Seen it a while ago, was very good for his time (2002? if i recall correctly). I have somewhere around the house burned on a DVD.

PS: I recommand you see "The Twelve Kingdoms" thats a very very interesting anime.

PSS: i have about 800 GB of anime aroudn the house, is that making me a maniac?

 

[StormbringerGT]

Seen it a while ago, was very good for his time (2002? if i recall correctly). I have somewhere around the house burned on a DVD.

PS: I recommand you see "The Twelve Kingdoms" thats a very very interesting anime.

PSS: i have about 800 GB of anime aroudn the house, is that making me a maniac?

I want 12 kingdoms but I cant find it, I read its good.

 

[MaxAstro]

I've never seen the original Record of Lodoss War, however I have seen about half of the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, and I loved it. Very much recommend the series.

 

[StormbringerGT]

I've never seen the original Record of Lodoss War, however I have seen about half of the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, and I loved it. Very much recommend the series.

See it! The series is good, the orignial OVA is great!

 

[xienwolf]

Both versions of Lodoss are pretty good, and quite distinctly seperate. While the one follows primarily Parn, the other quickly transfers to following the next generation. The one which focuses on Parn primarily screws up the original story timeline just a tad so they can fit a few of the more interesting characters into the series.


And yes... Twelve Kingdoms is the best thing to have come into existence EVER. Amazing story and world, I just wish they kept going with it. Oh, and if you do watch it, be prepared for a vocabulary lesson every other episode, but it is worth it

 

[KingOfLands]

Record of Lodoss War is pretty much Japan's equivalent of RA Salvatore's books: it's a gateway for a lot of fantasy enthusiasts. I'm a big fan.

As far as Twelve Kingdoms goes, I watched the first 16 or so episodes, up to the "History Lesson" one, and wasn't that impressed. Too much yammering insecurity for me, and I even manage to put up with Bleach's journeys into that realm, so that's saying something. Does it get better?

 

[Ashdrake]

I can point you in the direction where you can Download the twelve kingdoms, it's not legal so i am not posting anything here but you can PM me and i'll give you a link.

 

[xienwolf]

Well, I've watched a fair amount of anime, so I tend to ignore whining by default. It DOES get a lot better once you move away from the girl they focus on initially and start to explore the entire world more (it changes focus and skips from one kingdom to another, with the stories each intertwining in small ways to form the whole world). Though I cannot recall precisely how many episodes that took them (about 4 per disc and 10 discs total would lead me to believe episode 16 was right about where they finally moved away from her)

 

[zup]

I really don't watch much anime, but it's not that I don't like it. I just don't have much of a chance to watch it.

Also, I like long, pointy ears. So maybe I will watch this. (yes, Warcraft influence)

 

[Kael]

I loved the original Lodoss wars series, I have it on VHS from way back. I grabbed the chronicles of the herioic knight on DVD and it wasn't nearly as good.

My favorite aspects of the original series was the sorcerors incredible power when he wanted to do something. He didn't act very often, but when he did monsters started exploding (gargoyles) or just falling dead where they stood (the orcs). For a teenage D&D player there is nothing better (excpet girls, but how many teenage D&D players ever got to see those ).

He's definitely modeled strongly on Gandalf (as most post-LotR wizards were) but still very cool.

 

[thewyrm]

Don't forget the one (I think Tales of Crystania?) that details what happened to Ashram and Pirotess.

 

[Mortenart]

5 words - The Heroic Legend of Arislan Anime at its finest. Deep, epic, great voice acting (on the whole) and a superb story. Awesome musical score too.

 

[xienwolf]

Yes, Tales of Crystania. Was a bit too divergent from the original flavor for my tastes I'm afraid. But a decent story by itself.

 

[Verdian]

I remember Record of Lodoss War. I heard good things about it and purchased the anime in the mid to late 90s. I watched it and was really let down. I did not like the animation style, and the plot seemed weak. What a let down. I loooooved the music, though. I didn't know they made more episodes. Maybe I will give them a shot.

My favorite fantasy anime back then (and probably still) was Slayers. Except for season 3.

 

[StormbringerGT]

I loved the original Lodoss wars series, I have it on VHS from way back. I grabbed the chronicles of the herioic knight on DVD and it wasn't nearly as good.

My favorite aspects of the original series was the sorcerors incredible power when he wanted to do something. He didn't act very often, but when he did monsters started exploding (gargoyles) or just falling dead where they stood (the orcs). For a teenage D&D player there is nothing better (excpet girls, but how many teenage D&D players ever got to see those ).

He's definitely modeled strongly on Gandalf (as most post-LotR wizards were) but still very cool.

Yeah I still have my giant VHS box collection of it. The music in it is epic. I usually avoid anime, as J-pop gets annoying.

But man did I have many a great campaign in my days! Thanks to this series, our dungeon master had his muse and made some great stuff. He didnt copy either, I guess it just got him to thinking creatively. Although we did fight a an evil knight a lot like Ashram... but thats a story for another time!

 

[Arcite36575]

I remember Record of Lodoss War. I heard good things about it and purchased the anime in the mid to late 90s. I watched it and was really let down. I did not like the animation style, and the plot seemed weak. What a let down. I loooooved the music, though. I didn't know they made more episodes. Maybe I will give them a shot.

My favorite fantasy anime back then (and probably still) was Slayers. Except for season 3.

Yeah, when I watched this as a kid, I thought this was the greatest thing I had seen. Looking back on it now well, here's some criticisms:

- Major implausiblities:
*spoiler one example*
I think it's the 7th episode (maybe off by one or two). The villian's decided to let the two rival armies merge in order that they can "wipe them out in one strike." The heros' army is then completely surrounded and outnumbered, and their troops are panicing. Then, in the next minute, a stalemate develops, and the two kings decide to settle things mano-a-mano. huh??
- No character arcs
One of the keys to great literature is dynamic characters. EVERYONE'S character stays the same thoughout the entire story. Even the main character, Parn, never changes, or matures at all. By the end, he merely "lucks" into success, and is still the whiny, hot-headed, clueless brat he is at the end of the story as he was at the beginning.
- Recycled animation
Pretty common in anime in general. This is pretty noticable in the second half. The show also uses a lot of still pictures in general.

But yes, the soundtrack was awesome.

 

[StormbringerGT]

Yeah, when I watched this as a kid, I thought this was the greatest thing I had seen. Looking back on it now well, here's some criticisms:

- Major implausiblities:
*spoiler one example*
I think it's the 7th episode (maybe off by one or two). The villian's decided to let the two rival armies merge in order that they can "wipe them out in one strike." The heros' army is then completely surrounded and outnumbered, and their troops are panicing. Then, in the next minute, a stalemate develops, and the two kings decide to settle things mano-a-mano. huh??
- No character arcs
One of the keys to great literature is dynamic characters. EVERYONE'S character stays the same thoughout the entire story. Even the main character, Parn, never changes, or matures at all. By the end, he merely "lucks" into success, and is still the whiny, hot-headed, clueless brat he is at the end of the story as he was at the beginning.
- Recycled animation
Pretty common in anime in general. This is pretty noticable in the second half. The show also uses a lot of still pictures in general.

But yes, the soundtrack was awesome.

Ashram goes through some minor changes, or at the least you see a little bit more about him. Remember at the end?

 

[KingOfLands]

Anime in general isn't really about character development, except for the quickly-becoming-mandatory whiner to butt-kicker arc that plays out over and over again (I'm currently suffering through the grueling Princess Vivi arc in One Piece... argh). Glad to see I'm not the only one who notices it, Xienwolf, though I haven't managed become inoculated to it the way you have as of yet. The original RoLW doesn't have any room for character development anyway due to the aforementioned editing crunch it went through.

On the subject of music, the theme song from Legend of the Heroic Knight is really excellent.