Rating: 
Summary: A Fantastic Adventure of Epic Proportions !!
Review: I bought this DVD for my little brother and without a doubt it's paid for itself 10 times over with the amount of fun we've had with it.Record of Lodoss War is my favorite Anime series to date. The animation is top-notch, colorful and intense, the story is complicated enough to keep you guessing, the characters are wonderful and lively, and the musical score is out of this world!! If you enjoy losing yourself in a fantastic world of heroes and heroines, wizards and dragons, castles and enchanted woods, raging battles and medieval festivals, and everything else you'd hope to find in a quality epic fantasy adventure, Lodoss War is for you! Whether you're a hardcore Anime fan or just starting out, Lodoss War is not to be missed. P.S. I've heard from a few people that they dislike Lodoss War because it's "too mainstream" and because "everyone thinks it's good". Don't listen to people who say this!--just because something is popular doesn't mean it is unoriginal or clichéd. Lodoss War is so popular because it sets a standard of quality in animated storytelling that commands broad and diverse respect.
Rating: 
Summary: Swords, Dragons, and Magic...Oh My
Review: One word to define Lodoss War is...stereotypical. I know a lot of Otaku will probably kill me for this, but it's just a "GOOD" anime. Nothing spectacular, but a worthwile viewing effort. Of course, that's if you could sit through and watch all 13 episodes in one sitting. It seems to be one of the few animes where more isn't always better. I loved the characters to begin with, but the storyline seems too epic for it's own good. You sort of get lost with all the different directions the characters zig zag to. Granted, it's supposed to be a "Quest Series", it ends up being a stereotypical one. Don't get me wrong, it's as good as the rest and one of my favorites in it's genre, but let me just point out the flaws since most everybody hypes this series up so much. So I'll give it a 3...er...4 because the good definetly outweighs the bad (and I'm afraid of the consequences of giving it a bad score). Just set your expectations a little lower than what you had before you watch this series (or from what you heard) and you'll find it to be a wild sword and sorcery ride. My final verdict...A great anime for what it's worth and should be in your "watch before you judge" list.
Rating:
Summary: Best fantasy before Jackson's LOTR; but borrows a lot..
Review: A dwarf named Gim(Ghim,even Gimli, depending on some dubbing errors of the early anime fan club dubbings). I saw the dubbings from the college anime clubs before the cleaned up Americanized commercial versions. It really is the best Tolkien-D&D based fantasy realised on media before Jackson's LOTR. Star Wars doesn't count because it was a "space fantasy" as Lucas said while he was researching Tolkien for ideas during the months he wrote his script with Gary Kurtz for Coppola, a biographical fact. No wonder Luke's moisture farm looks like a hobbit mound! Back to Lodoss. It definitely was made by some RPG fans. The principal characters even go on a small "hunt" in the beginning seemingly for nothing else except to gain experience as in D&D! How convenient to have a "low level" orc cave or such nearby! Besides Gimli, the wizard and cleric are definitely from Gary Gygax's D&D game since Gandalf and Elrond are totally different from the D&D wizard and priest. There's even differentiation between green dragons, red dragons and gold dragons, again gold dragons are "chaotic good" in TSR games. However, as originally all these ideas came from Tolkien, Lodoss also borrows a lot not just from Lord of the Rings, but also the Silmarillion and even from the Hobbit. Pan and his elf girlfriend saga can best be compared to Beren and Luthien in Tolkien's Silmarillion, the first couple of elf and man who were Elrond and Aragorns(all the kings of Numenor) ancestors in the 1st age predating LOTR by 5000 years in Tolkien's timeline. Beornson the "Berserker" definitely comes from Beor in the "Hobbit" and his werewolf like "berserk" mode, or the AD&D character class "Berserker, a variant of Ranger" if you played Balder's Gate. The wierd evil-witch-goddess whatever , Carla, can be considered a corrupted Maiar like Saruman. But it's nice Lodoss gives us lots of dragon fights. The dragons fighting each other is reminscent of the Great Eagles and Earendil vs. Ancalagon the black dragon over Thangorodrim in the Silmarillion. And of course the gold dragon Glaurung was the most sinister dragon again from the Silmarillion. All dragons in Tolkien's world are evil with no exception then Gygax's D&D changed it around. And the dark elves are from Drizzdt novels and more D&D. Lodoss has great darkelf characters including the badgirl darkelf but also has a senitmental crush(as usual in anime). Then there's the love triangle from TTT with the elf girl Pan, and the human wild lady. At the last episodes they're even riding flying steeds to battle ala ROTK.
But there is the usual Japanese anime style of hero focusing and overpowered "weapons" with Pan and his sword with the exception from most anime(ex. Akira) , he does not become all powerful in the end. To sum up, Japanese animation fits fantasy and elves very well, and Lodoss continues to be the definitive anime fantasy , though derivative and unoriginal conceptwise as it is. There are enough great moments(dragon's flying etc. and decent music) , versimillitude to RPG and Tolkien conventions, to propel it to the top over its imitators. The artwork is excellent, the animation decent, at least much better than the old Starblazers.
Rating:
Summary: Reconnect with your inner youth and imagination :)
Review: The manga provides a little more story (those of you who mentioned the lack of story might want to thumb through the manga). This is only an OVA and the story seemed to get kind of smashed into a few episodes.
I love both old cel and CG animation. I actually prefer cel, although CG is becoming more impressive. It's not really something to be compared. I think the effect is just different with each and different anime require different "dressing". *******Good, soft, pleasing animation. The beautiful music adds to the epic feel. Story was a bit hurried, but if you provide your own enthusiasm and imagination, it will not matter much. A nice old-school role-playing game feel-a simple romp through an honest-to-goodness original-style fantasy. Tall, elegant elves with ancient knowledge; stocky, axe-wielding dwarves with their admirable strength; innocent knights coming of age; and priests with holy magic and maces! The stories we grew up with :) I'm a bit upset that the original DVD boxset (which apparently came out when DVD was in its infancy) is not as pretty as this one *pout* and didn't come with as many goodies! I have the older version (animation isn't as clean as this one is supposed to be, but it didn't bother me :) This newer version has a sturdier, more beautiful box with more goodies! I can't bring myself to buy it though, since I already have the older version...boo hoo! And I bought the older one seemingly the night before they released the newer one, how sad for me :p
Maybe I would've given 5 stars if I had this version...hmm
Anyway, this OVA series is... ****Refreshingly back to basics!****
Rating:
Summary: Excellent job at the Sword and Sorcery genre for the screen
Review: Lodoss War is D&D brought to the screen, even more so than the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. You find nearly all the old classes; fighter, thief, magic-user, cleric, elf, and dwarf. With interesting characters, a well thought out plot, and a villain worth cheering for, this is the fantasy genre at it's best. As specific to the DVD, this version continues the ongoing, and very annoying, tradition of placing the episodes not in chronological order, but rather in production order. The result is that the first episode of the series actually takes place three or four episodes into the story. This has been a long time pet peave of mine with the various video releases of the series, and I wish someone would watch this before they released it and realize how stupid it is to start in the middle of the story (very briefly) jump to the beginning of the story, and then skip that piece in the middle without explaination. This episode was produced first, to sell the show to producers because it was exciting and action packed. It was never intended to be aired in that order.
Rating:
Summary: Love it!
Review: Best anime I've seen yet. I'm a big fan of fantasy, and this was simply awesome. My one complaint, and it's minor, is that the animations for the ancient dragons was less than stellar. But it's a great story, with well-developed characters. All I can say is this: Get it.
Rating:
Summary: Swords, Dragons, and Magic...Oh My
Review: One word to define Lodoss War is...stereotypical. I know a lot of Otaku will probably kill me for this, but it's just a "GOOD" anime. Nothing spectacular, but a worthwile viewing effort. Of course, that's if you could sit through and watch all 13 episodes in one sitting. It seems to be one of the few animes where more isn't always better. I loved the characters to begin with, but the storyline seems too epic for it's own good. You sort of get lost with all the different directions the characters zig zag to. Granted, it's supposed to be a "Quest Series", it ends up being a stereotypical one. Don't get me wrong, it's as good as the rest and one of my favorites in it's genre, but let me just point out the flaws since most everybody hypes this series up so much. So I'll give it a 3...er...4 because the good definetly outweighs the bad (and I'm afraid of the consequences of giving it a bad score). Just set your expectations a little lower than what you had before you watch this series (or from what you heard) and you'll find it to be a wild sword and sorcery ride. My final verdict...A great anime for what it's worth and should be in your "watch before you judge" list.
Rating:
Summary: The BEST
Review: This is the BEST Fantasy Anime EVER made! This series is my favorite. I love the characters and it seems like an Rpg type Anime, yes it takes things from LOTR and other fantasy stories but it still maintains it's own uniqueness. I find the idea of how Lodoss was created is very well done and the characters seem to be very real. This show has a HUGE fan base but isn't the reason to check it out, the reason to check it out is because its GREAT fantasy! You won't be dissapointed!
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely entertaining fantasy adventure tale, Anime-style!
Review: Okay, I'm gonna start off with a personal note: RECORD OF LODOSS WAR is probably one of my all-time favorite series ever. At the time that I was just getting warmed up to Anime (thanks to witnessing Miyazaki's wonderful artistry), I happened upon this title in my local videostore. Instantly, I fell in love with this thirteen-part direct-to-video series -- being a fan of the SNES game FINAL FANTASY III and J.R.R. Tolkien in general, watching RECORD OF LODOSS WAR was like a dream come true. It's a hybrid of these two great works filled with just about everything any fan could ask for -- dragons, elves, dark gods, a band of unlikely yet loyal heroes, villains you'll love to hate, action, suspense, romance, a small touch of humor, and engaging from start to finish. The story is hardly original, but it's done very well for this kind of show. In fact, the one minor flaw of this series is the way the plot "jumps around" from one event to the next. However, it's the characters which make RECORD OF LODOSS WAR so much fun, and much of the best scenes belong to Parn and Deedlit; especially the dance sequence. Ghim and Deed also get to bicker about each other's differences while Parn, on a quest to clear his disgraced father's name, finds a father figure in Kashue. Ashram has a Dark Elf named Pirotess (the opposite of Deedlit) who'll do anything to prove her loyalty to him... including sacrificing herself, Karla is shifty and cunning, while Wagnard is just plain evil -- an over-the-top, maniacal monster equivalent of Kefka from FF III who cackles fiendishly as he puts his dark plans into action. The chemistry between this cast of characters is so well done and the show is so engrossing that it's easy to forgive its occasional shortcomings, notably the jumpy plotting and the animation, which, although gorgeously drawn, uses a low cel count which results with some stiff movements. It may take a while for one to warm up to the music, but by the end, it really grows on you. For fantasy buffs, RECORD OF LODOSS WAR is simply great fun. Central Park Media made a DVD release of this title a few years ago, but have since rereleased it in a more beefed up package, with some new bonus features to speak of, including the behind-the-scenes featurette we saw on the VHS tapes as well as a Promotional video (dubbed in English), which sounds, I'm sad to say, awful. There's even some DVD-ROM features (identical to those on the CHRONICLES set), including the dub script and credits for both casts. As far as I'm concerned, the visual transfer is very well done, but then I've never seen the old release so I can't compare it with that. (I was told, though, that CPM used a new Digital Video Remastering process to clean up the visuals for this release.) For purists, the Japanese language track is on here with clear, easy to read subtitles, and an optional English dub. Considering that it was recorded at a time when dubs had a very bad reputation, this English production is surprisingly good. It got somewhat mixed reviews; some say it's fake and/or mediocre while others find it annoying, but here's a better review from one of its many enthusiastic fans (that's me!). No, it's not perfect, and some lines do come off as a bit awkward, but a lot of the voiceovers are really good. In particular, Billy Regan (Parn), Lisa Ortiz (Deedlit), Al Muscari (Slayn), Jacques Le Can (Woodchuck), Simone Grant (Karla & Leylia), John Knox (Ashram), Jayce Reeves (deliciously malevolent as Wagnard), and Alexander J. Rose (Wort and the Narrator), are among my favorites. Plus, the dialogue is close to the subtitled script and packed with some memorable one-liners (Parn: "Quick, Deed, what's [the dragon]'s weak spot?" Deedlit: "I'm not a dragon expert! How should I know?!") and great chemistry between the actors. I especially loved the interactions between Parn and Deedlit, the banter between Ghim and Deed, and a lot of other things. Which is why it saddens me that some would find all of this "inferior" to the Japanese language track. I listened to parts of the Japanese language track, too, and while I did find it to be of top-quality, I find that the dub still holds its own position decently. Of course, it may be in danger of being overshadowed by some of the better dub productions of today, but for a dub made in 1996, its a rather decent, if unspectacular listen. I'm still fond of it, as a matter of fact, even after hearing some better ones. Whatever language you choose to watch it in, you'll still be experiencing one of the greatest fantasy series of all time. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: The Greatest Fantasy Anime Ever
Review: I have been a big fan of fantasy movies, books, video games, and anime. When I first saw Record of Lodoss War (in 2003) I first thought the animation dated (during the intro). But after the film truly opened I was impressed with the superb quality of the animation, especially in an older film. The story is excellent. The characters are all likable (except that whiny priest guy, Etoh). Parn and Deedlit make the perfect mismatched couple. My only problems are that the love story never fully evolves and that the last few episodes rush along whereas the first 7 are well paced. The extras are limited but the only extra that really matters is the inclusion of both English and Japanese dialogue. One other question, IS Kashum Parn's dad or what???? I think this is still the best fantasy anime despite the small setbacks. I recommend this for any fan of a good fantasy tale.
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