Anime Review: Record of Lodoss War

[John Funk]

So this review has been 20 years in the making. I feel honored to see the dream finally realized.

Don't get snippy over free content.

No sense of humor about this?

Sorry but I find reviewing a 20 year old Anime, and trying to pin some modern day relevance/significance (DA:O) to justify reviewing a 20 year Anime, rather than just taking the stance of "Lets look at a classic" kinda amusing.

There must be a funny story in there somewhere of distribution/shipping errors, a frantic reviewer calling up asking where the shipment is, after lots of calls and finding out the shipment is not going to be there in time, someone saying "look, just review something you have at home." Then being sent a review for a 20 year old Anime the day of publication, and being all 'Screw it, were going to print it."

That's how the set up goes in my world, if yours differs to the mundane then don't tell me and spoil it for me, I would rather keep my interpretation of events.

"Huh, Funimation didn't send us enough new stuff this month. What'll we send out?

Oh hey, we've got our big boxes of archive stuff. Let's pull something interesting out that isn't a six-season box set. Lodoss War! Hey, it's a classic. Right, let's send it on to Tom and call it a day."

 

[Void(null)]

Damn it! >.<

I thought I said:

if yours differs to the mundane then don't tell me and spoil it for me, I would rather keep my interpretation of events

 

[Slycne]

Ah Record of the Lodoss War, even if it does show its age some 20 years later, I can't help but coming back to this series every now and then. It was quite literally the first anime I ever saw. I was flipping through the channels one Saturday morning in the '80s, probably between commercials for something else, when I came across it. While it's dated by todays standards the massive quality increase between this and your average Saturday morning cartoon was the first thing that drew me in. Back then I also appreciated that Parn grew throughout the series, and started out as more of a liability then a great swordsmen.

So this series always brings back great memories and I continue to keep it on my list of favorites despite some of its flaws.

 

[MDSnowman]

Can you guys please review something people have hear of?

If you haven't heard of an anime classic, that ain't nobody's fault but yours.

Exactly, broaden your horizons!

Just because it wasn't released within the past five years doesn't mean it isn't worth watching.

I had Record of Lodoss War on VHS for ages now. I kind of like the longer RoLW: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight better. I like to pretend the first half of Lodoss war happened (right up until the big showdown with the witch)and then see Chronicles as the true ending.

Now I must go stew over how old this post makes me sound.

 

[Denmarkian]

I found it a little funny that there was no mention of the 27 episode alternate version called ROLW: Chronicles of the heroic knight. Basically its just an expanded version of the original, but its still worth at least a little mention.

Actually, Chronicles of the Heroic Knight is an entirely different story, about an entirely different knight named Spark (not kidding) who idolizes Parn. If my memory serves me, the first 8 episodes of Chronicles is a review of what happened on the 12-episode series reviewed here. The rest is about Spark becoming as good a knight as Parn.

 

[MDSnowman]

I found it a little funny that there was no mention of the 27 episode alternate version called ROLW: Chronicles of the heroic knight. Basically its just an expanded version of the original, but its still worth at least a little mention.

Actually, Chronicles of the Heroic Knight is an entirely different story, about an entirely different knight named Spark (not kidding) who idolizes Parn. If my memory serves me, the first 8 episodes of Chronicles is a review of what happened on the 12-episode series reviewed here. The rest is about Spark becoming as good a knight as Parn.

Yeah it doesn't help that the link to this review was of the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight box art.

 

[TraumaHound]

Can you guys please review something people have hear of?

If you haven't heard of an anime classic, that ain't nobody's fault but yours.

Exactly. I've heard of it (see post #2 [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/jump/6.172899.4813615]), clearly Tom Thonhat's heard of it [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/articles/view/editorials/reviews/anime/7120-Anime-Review-Record-of-Lodoss-War]; that's 2 right there, plus the others who've chimed in. Just because there's a lack of Pokemon, Digimon, Dragonballs, or Akira doesn't mean no one's heard of it and that it's irrelevant to review it. That also implies that anything deemed "classic" isn't worth revisiting which, in the gaming world alone, we know isn't true at all (gives Nintendo a good, hard stare.) Anime (or tv, books, music, films, etc.) shouldn't be treated any differently.

 

[Count_ZeroOR]

I found it a little funny that there was no mention of the 27 episode alternate version called ROLW: Chronicles of the heroic knight. Basically its just an expanded version of the original, but its still worth at least a little mention.

Actually, Chronicles of the Heroic Knight is an entirely different story, about an entirely different knight named Spark (not kidding) who idolizes Parn. If my memory serves me, the first 8 episodes of Chronicles is a review of what happened on the 12-episode series reviewed here. The rest is about Spark becoming as good a knight as Parn.

Pretty much, though Chronicles of the Heroic Knight re-does the ending somewhat. Though, from what I've heard, the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight hews closer to the novels than the first anime series. Not that it's the series fault - you only get so much length in an OVA.

 

[Trivun]

Can you guys please review something people have hear of?

If you haven't heard of an anime classic, that ain't nobody's fault but yours.

Record of Lodoss War is 20 years old, this is like getting a review for Dr. Mario on the NES (Also released in 1990.)

If you have an interest in Anime, and you have not heard of or seen RoLW by now, you fail at even casual anime fandom.

There are two camps of people:

Those who like Anime, Those who do not.

Those who like Anime watch Anime, continue to watch Anime, look for new Anime to watch and generally keep well informed. This means that the majority of them know about the classics, and have most likely seen them.

Those who do not watch anime... do not give a rats ass about one from 1990.

Can we please skip the reviews for the following:

Spoiler: Snipped for length

Akira
Ghost in the Shell
Vampire Hunter D
Hellsing
Berserk
Sailor Moon
Utena
Excel Saga
Ninja Scroll
Macross
Ranma 1/12
Elfen lied
Fushigi Yûgi
Dragon Ball
Blood
Cowboy Bebop
ah! My GoddesS
Tenchi Muyo!
Twin Dolls
Dominion Tank Police
Rozen Maiden
Fist of the North Star
3x3 Eyes

Pretty much anything that someone in the past 25 years may have already seen...

Thanks.

So where do I fall into that category? I've only gotten into anime very recently. I've seen Elfen Lied and Hellsing, and I'm planning to watch Death Note soon too. I have no idea about which animes I would be interested in and which I wouldn't. So I look at these reviews and get an idea of what kind of anime would suit my interests. Including ones from the past 25 years. Such a generalisation as you have made is extremely condescending and patronizing to those of us who enjoy anime yet don't have as much experience of it as you do. If you don't like what's being reviewed, you don't have to look at it. There's no need to post which reviews you do and don't want to see, when you have no obligation to even see them anyway.

 

[raankh]

If you played D&D back in the nineteens, this is a must watch (although if you did, I suspect you've at least seen it at some convention or other).

Originally it's a serialized account (a "replay") of Ryo Mizuno DM'ing his group. I haven't read the manga, but I've heard it's both a bit different and more of the same. Cool stuff anyhow.

In particular it should be of interest to people on this site, since while it's one of many anime adaptations of games, it's also one of the few where the underlying game actually has any relevance. You can clearly see the underlying rule system in the plot and characters. Oh and most anime based on game franchises suck rotten leek, but this one predates the inflation of creativity we are faced with today and thus actually has some redeeming qualities.

As a game geek and an old-time RPGer it's good stuff!

 

[The Philistine]

If you have an interest in Anime, and you have not heard of or seen RoLW by now, you fail at even casual anime fandom.

There are two camps of people:

Those who like Anime, Those who do not.

Those who like Anime watch Anime, continue to watch Anime, look for new Anime to watch and generally keep well informed. This means that the majority of them know about the classics, and have most likely seen them.

Those who do not watch anime... do not give a rats ass about one from 1990.

Hm, apparently I fail at casual anime fandom, don't like to watch anime, or even like anime. Cool story.

 

[RedFox042]

Record of Lodoss war (gods this makes me sound old)is something I grew up with. And I'm only 23, I remember seeing it for the first time at the movie store and renting each disc individually. Great series . . . now that I'm hearing about it again, I think I need to go looking it up on DVD again, maybe buy it this time. That and Battle Angel Alita's anime . . . not that anyone else has EVER heard of that.

I member one weekend at home back in towards the end of middle school, flipped on the Sci-Fi, and caught RoLW playing. Here was this cartoon, but not kids stuff either, but wow stuff that I would watch! I sat there transfixed and watched the first 2 episodes. before it switched over to Doctor Who ( the Tom Baker Years). RoLW is what got me into anime, and I just recently found another favorite of mine on DVD GunSmith Cats.