Rating: Summary: Disappointing Review: Maybe I was expecting too much of this series, or maybe I am just picky--either way, I found Record of Lodoss War to be very disappointing. First and foremost, the story is boring. There is absolutely no trace of originality, as it is obviously copied from the Lord of the Rings, as well every other fantasy book with golden-haired elves, battle axe-weilding dwarves, dragons, etc. that followed. The lack of originality could have been countered by a compelling story and some good human drama, but alas, it lacks in this department too. The characters are all one-dimensional cardboard cutouts of their established fantasy stereotypes, and are not well developed at all. The only interesting people are Deedlit the elf and the two mercanaries that the heroes meet midway through; however, even they suffer from the series' less-than-efficient use of its short running time. Despite all these setbacks, the show COULD have been alright, had it been well animated. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like they had the budget to pull this off. The whole time while I was watching, I kept getting distracted by the cheapness of most of the sequences and the obvious money-saving tricks they had used. The characters' faces did not express emotion well, and lots of still images were used in production. That being said, Record of Lodoss War is not the worst thing I've ever seen. It's ok, I guess--but nothing more. By no means is it an anime classic. If you are looking for an epic fantasy series, I would suggest The Vision of Escaflowne; or if you just want some good old fashioned sword & sorcery, go read some Dragonlance books. At least those will be cheaper!
Rating: Summary: Review Of an Rpg (AD&D) Fan Review: Since i am an RPG fan i have only to tell great words for this anime.I have seen in this movie for the first time a very good image of how mages are and do when they cast a spell.In fact after Record Of Lodoss War i have imitate the words of the spells.Great and classic heroes great scenario and very very good score soundtrack.
Rating: Summary: One of the top anime Review: This is a truely great series re-done. The fist box set wasn't near as nice as this set. Central Park Media did a truely excellent job on the DVD case. For those of you that liked The Lord of the Rings, this series is for you. The group that wrote and produced this series played dungeons and dragons together and decided to create an anime series based on their game play, and since the creation of dungeons and dragons was mostly inspired by J.R.R. Tolkien's work, you should see many parallels. The creators of this series tried to keep it true to the dungoens and dragons role-playing game so it starts off a little slowly and really picks up towards the end. I still get chills of excitement watching the last two episodes of the series with all the action and great animation at the end.
Rating: Summary: Entertaining Review: I'm not a big fan of anime, but this one was certainly entertaining enough to keep me interested. I watched the second series first and I liked that one better. But most who watch it in order will probably like the first since the second is almost the same story. Parn and Deedlit are great characters and the cartoon cuts in between episodes are funny to watch.
Rating: Summary: Not as good as the hype Review: It's kind of depressing, because I know that with over a hundred reviews here, mine probably won't get read. Besides, if you honestly scrolled through all of the reviews to get to mine, you're probably such a hard-core fan that you won't listen to me.Still, here goes: I really like all kinds of anime, and after hearing all the hype, I really expected to like this. Alas, my hopes were dashed. Simply put, it's too darn stereotypical. All of the Dungeons and Dragons stereotypes are there, and if you've read Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman's Chronicles (good stuff) then you'll see some obvious and none-too-coincidental similarities.The party of characters in this anime have the tolken fighter, dwarf, elf, thief, cleric and mage. Sound familiar? Anyway, I guess this would be forgivable if it was done well, but it's really not. The first episodes are just kind of boring, and while poor animation can be overlooked, it does get kind of tiring to see the same animation clip repeated over and over, episode after episode. So why two stars? It gets a little better in some of the later episodes (although not the last ones) and the white and black knights Kashu and Ashram are pretty cool (the best characters, actually). And then the climax comes, and you think it's cool at first, and then it drags on and on and on, and when it finally ends you're left with a bad feeling in your mouth. Bottom line, this anime just isn't worth going crazy over.
Rating: Summary: Was the best fantasy series untill I saw Berserk Review: This is a great anime fantasy series, it does lack substance to a certain point, but most anime does. It has wonderfull character designs and great artwork. The one thing that bugs me is they kill of my favorite character Orson (the berserker) early in the series. This is deffinately a must for a fantasy anime fan, since there isnt much else out there. If you want to see an awesome fantasy anime series start buying the Berserk DVD's which are being released in March. After seeing Berserk you will be like "what lodoss war"? TRUST ME Oh yea, Berserk is extra violent, so if you dont like lots of blood and violence in your anime you might not like it.
Rating: Summary: Great Anime Series, A Must for Anime Fans Review: This is one of two Lodoss War boxed sets. This is the OVA series, which consists of 13 episodes. This DVD set is much more reasonable price and size wise than the original VHS boxed set. Story wise, the two Lodoss series are wonderful (though I can't say as much for the odd Crystania offshoot series). If you like Final Fantasy, Lord of the Rings, or Dragon Warrior and the like, I'm sure you'll enjoy this series, with it's incorporation of magic, elves, dwarves, humans, dragons, and other fantasy elements. This is one of the best anime series I've seen. If you liked this OVA, check out the 4 DVD TV series.
Rating: Summary: Record of Lodoss War Review: When I watch this, I am in Lodoss!
Rating: Summary: Very good, but not brilliant clssic fantasy anime Review: Record of Lodoss War was one of the first to fill the void of fantasy anime. It is in most aspects good but not great: the animation, while very good for the time does show it's age a little bit, and the English voice actors could be much better. But this is still a very good series and if you are into the fantasy genre this is the set to own, ... although the DVDs offer almost nothing in the way of extras. Lodoss War is at least a very easy anime series to own, one of the most well known and regarded fantasy animes and will delight anyone who ever liked Tolkien or D&D.
Rating: Summary: Bafflingly overrated Review: I hate to go against the flow (... did that sound convincing?), but I simply can't share in the general enthusiasm that Lodoss War seems to elicit amongst most viewers. I was very much looking forward to seeing it given its outstanding reputation, but after doing so...well, whether the set was worth fifty bucks seems highly debatable. Let's ignore the fact that somebody involved in the production of this series was obviously a reeeeeeally big fan of the Dragonlance Chronicles. After all, that series is something of a fantasy classic; that Lodoss War shamelessly rips off large segments of the DLC story would not make it a bad thing--as long as it was entertaining. And that's the kicker: LW just isn't very much fun to watch. Characters in anime don't have to be hugely deep to be likable, but most of the ones here are just blank slates who never really make up in charm what they lack in depth. There are exceptions (Slayn, who looked cool enough to render any criticism moot; the berserker and his paramour; some of the villains), but it's really not enough, especially when there's something of an air of pointlessness about the whole story, culminating in a confused mess of an ending consisting largely of pointless combat with no real relevance to anything. As far as fantasy anime goes, I'm sticking with Slayers, and that's my final answer. Lodoss War isn't wholly without merit, but in the end, anyone wanting more serious fare would do better to pick up copies of the DL Chronicles--more entertaining, and a helluva lot cheaper.
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