Rating: 
Summary: ... LIKE CANTALOUPES!!
Review: ...well, i'm not about to explain where that punch line came from but you'll get to hear in the first 15 minutes. it sets the stage for lot's o' sophomoric humor that's definitely NOT for the younger teens. there are also mild explicatives throughout.what it does illustrate, IMHO, is how well jokes were written for the English version. there're a lot of over-the-top humor in El Hazard that have been adapted well into colloquial English plus the voice acting is quite good. as noted by other reviewers, this DVD boxset contains the excellent OAV, El Hazard - the Alternate World and the fair made-for-TV series, EL Hazard2 - the Wanderers. you'll notice right away that the OAV (disk 1&2) has consistantly good animation throughout while the TV series' (disk 3)animation goes from good to average. the story in the OAV is much tighter and centers around a highschool freshman, Makoto. he along with his teacher and two schoolmates, upon discovering ancient ruins underneath, of all places, their school, promptly gets transported to the land of El Hazard. once there, they are asked to help save the land of El Hazard from the opposing Bugrom forces -- needless to say, this involves the usual cross dressing, new found super powers, meeting alternate lifestyles and, of course, brief nudity. the TV series picks up right after the OAV and deals with a search for Makoto's teacher and running into another force that could destroy El Hazard and the resurgence of the Bugrom forces. El Hazard is pretty unique, though the best way for me to describe it is that the story is more 'Tenchi' while the jokes more 'Ranma 1/2'... but very funny. yeah, this boxset isn't cheap but if you've had a chance to see it, you'd be exempt from 'Fujisawa's Fists of Justice'!!!
Rating: 
Summary: A vortex of idleness sucked me into this one...
Review: After reading the reviews of El Hazard, I was curious. Seeing that a used import copy of the full series was available through Amazon, I figured I'd take a stab at it for 25 bucks (better than _110_ for the American version). The import version is fine, but the series is like chewing on glass. Good skin, bad banana. The Amazon.com review summarizes the plot well, I won't reinvent the wheel. The first two episodes had me hoping it would pick up. The humor was ok, the characters were underdeveloped and one-dimensional, but had potential to actually go somewhere. But by the third episode, it was clear that the guys who invented the series had no idea what to do with it. Nudity's fine in and of itself - but here it's just a cheap distraction from a poor storyline. The poor synth music that is supposed to support the atmosphere in the series just added to my misery. Around the fourth and fifth episode, when the main character Makoto (who was whisked away from earth to El Hazard) finally meets another main character, Ifurita, the series approaches interesting. Then the writers demonstrate that 'interesting' is beyond them. El Hazard's artwork is occasionally beautiful - I can't sell it short when it has earned that. The second series _is_ better than the first, but it's like a revision of the first series, and that's why. Most people can learn from their mistakes, so it's no credit to the studio that they improved on a product from scattered fragments to mostly broken. A comedy should have more humor; an action movie should have more (and better) action. A romance or a drama should have some realistic characters and some multilayered relationships. A porn should be erotic, and an epic should be at least slightly ennobling. This series fails, and it fails on at least 6 levels. It is pure escapism - at least, it aspires to be; it won't even help you escape. Buy 12 Kingdoms, and stick it out past the first few episodes of that (it becomes excellent), or buy Cowboy Bebop or Evangelion. If you've seen all them, wait for something else worthy - don't capitulate to low standards from Anime Studios.
Rating: 
Summary: My favorite anime comes to DVD!
Review: El Hazard is my favorite anime title? Sailor Moon, Dragonball Z, Evangelion, Escaflowne, FLCL, Ranma, and Tenchi are all wonderful, but pound-for-pound (dollar-for-dollar), you can't beat El Hazard. There is more entertainment in the first 7 OAVs of El Hazard than in most SEASONS of other anime titles. It takes everything I like about anime and does it RIGHT. While it doesn't break any new ground, it is the most sucessful mixture of action, adventure, comedy, drama, and romance that I've ever seen. Unlike Tenchi (which many compare it to), El Hazard has NO plotholes or last minute story changes. Like Tenchi, El Hazard has memorable characters (everyone loves Shayla-Shayla), great artwork and a "just plain fun-to-watch" aspect to it. Also, while I don't usually like English dubs, the English dub of El Hazard is phenominally good! Yes, even better than the original Japanese. The voice-work of Jinnai and Fujisawa are especially brilliant. Boxed sets can be expensive (I know, I own a LOT of them), but the El Hazard boxed set is hands down, the BEST purchase I've ever made on one. I guarentee you'll love it!
Rating:
Summary: Oh yes.
Review: El-Hazard is, in my opinion, one of the greatest animes ever.The plot is wonderful, the characters are fun, the voice work is great, and the art is fantastic. Just imagine as mildmannered high school student Makoto and his friends are transported to the world of El-Hazard and much hillarity and action and romance and adventure. Also there arn't really any holes in the plot or weird moments that kind of make you go, "huh, that's not quite right," that you sometimes see in anime, except for a couple parts that are likely just a problem in translation. The first seven episodes are, beyond a doubt the best of the set as the box set includes the seven episodes of the origional OVA and the four episodes of OVA 2, and while OVA 2 is somewhat lack luster, and a lot of people don't like it, I enjoyed it greatly. And if you enjoyed the two OVAs you'll probably enjoy the Alternative World, which is a sort of sequal series that takes place shortly after the second OVA. But anyway, overall El-Hazard is a wonderful comical/adventurous romp that will delight viewers.
Rating:
Summary: A Mildly Disappointing Release of an Incredible Series...
Review: El-Hazard, next to Tenchi, is the most enduring series AIC has put out and this boxset is the first time that the original OVA (i.e. direct-to-video) series has been available in DVD format in the US. However, also like the Tenchi Muyo phenomenon, none of the sequels, follow-ups, and 'reimaginings' have had the same impact as the original. In a nutshell, El-Hazard is the story of a high school student who, along with two classmates and a teacher, get transported to another world across space, time and possibly dimensions. The prevent one war between two races on the planet they arrive at, cause another and ultimately find themselves intimately involved with a doomsday device from that planet's distant past. This is an incredibly synoptic description of the series, but to get acrosss the full nuances of the series, I could write for pages. Needless to say, though, that the story itself has far more humor, adventure, romance and generally neat storytelling than my description implies. As for the DVD set itself, though, Pioneer has missed a few great opportunities here. While the addition of a 5.1 Dolby track is excellent (the difference is noticeable even on my archaic TV), the other extras leave a bit to be desired. There's an art gallery, creditless openings and endings and an explanation of all the different worlds across which the El-Hazard metaseries takes place. It's all pretty standard stuff. No 'making-of' section, no look at the development process, no original trailers, and no interviews with the creator, producer, etc. - in other words, none of what really makes special DVD editions shine. ... While the packaging is gorgeous, the sound great and the video everything you'd expect from a DVD, I honestly wouldn't recommend picking it up unless you (a) have a system that will do serious justice to the extra quality, (b) don't have the original OAV on tape or laserdisc or (c) for some reason really like El-Hazard 2 - in which case you'd be getting a decent deal. Serious otaku will probably disregard this advice, but serious otaku will have probably already long-since ordered the set before reading this review anyway. So, in short, the series is, as always, wonderful, but Pioneer really could have done a better job with this DVD release. Perhaps someday they'll rerelease it on DVD at a lower price with more bells and whistles...
Rating: 
Summary: AAAAAAAAGH - Includes the horrid 2nd series!!
Review: Finally, El-Hazard comes out on DVD, and it's even released as a set--but WITH the disgusting tumor that is El-Hazard 2. Why?! They aren't alike--series 2 is almost a betrayal to the development of series 1, besides being horribly derivative, uninteresting and just downright dumb. 4 volumes for 11 episodes probably means you can't split off the 4 episode refuse and sell it (or more likely trade it in as used somewhere). So the real question is: is a 7 OAV series worth $90? For El-Hazard, it might be. El-hazard follows the adventures of some kids and a teacher who are transported to a world of magic. They don't all follow the same path, and there are some interesting turns along the way to the world-threatening climax and a suprisingly touching end. Also, its humor is well done, and doesn't detract like in so many other recent anime series. If you must watch El-Hazard 2, at least wait a while in between so your memory of the first is less tainted by the horror that is El-hazard 2. Well, to be fair, El-Hazard 2 alone isn't _that_ bad compared to a lot of other low-grade anime out there. It's just so much worse after the first series. What a disappointing release.
Rating:
Summary: This is where Anime begins
Review: Finally, this true Anime classic has made to DVD. El Hazard is one of the best anime of all time, this show is where the Anime begnins along with Tenchi Muyo. Join all the fans for this beautiful world of El Hazard.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best Anime of All time has finally arrived
Review: First was Tenchi Muyo, then comes El Hazard The Magnificent World. You can't ask any better classic Anime than this one. I think everyone must have seen El Hazard alredy, so we will cut the chase for the plot. If you haven't seen it, then don't expect to see some high flying action or mind killing drama/suspense, just sit back and enjoy this fun ride.
Rating:
Summary: Finally, the best anime comes to DVD!
Review: For as long as I've been a fan of anime, I've been a fan of El Hazard. As soon as I saw the first episode of the first series, I was hooked as a fan for life. I've waited a long, long time for this to come to DVD, and now that it has, I'm in anime heaven. This anime is not one of the more well-known series in the anime world, and that is a terrible shame, but one that is definitey worth giving a try. This DVD set contains the first two OAV's (Magnificent World and Magnificent World 2). The Magnificent World (first OAV, and first 7 eps.) is by far the greatest anime I've ever witnessed. It has everything I could ever want in an anime. I enjoyed every second of the series. From the animators of Tenchi, this anime centers around the adventures of Makoto and his friends. In short, Makoto and a few friends (and one enemy) get transported from their high school to the world of El Hazard. Once there, Makoto and co. are assigned with the task of saving El Hazard (no pressure there!) from the evil Bugroms. Filled with great humour, adventure, romance, action, a great story, wonderful characters, good animation, nudity, and lesbian themes, this has something for everyone. I especially loved the ending, it was original. There is a Tenchi-esque feel to this series, so if you like Tenchi, you'll love this. Makoto (similar to Tenchi) is surrounded by beautiful and powerful women, and is the love interest of many of them (sound familiar). But, this anime is NOTHING like Tenchi, don't think that's what I'm saying. I personally think it far surpasses what Tenchi was able to do. The animation is stunning, some of the best I've ever seen. And the animators really did a wonderful job at the backgrounds and scenery of El Hazard (beautiful, just beautiful). But it's the characters that make El Hazard a true classic. This is one of the better cast of characters I've ever seen (Nanami is a bit annoying and pointless, but you can get past her). BTW, you'll love Shayla-Shayla....she's da bomb (and my favourite)! Each character has many things to love about each of them. The only problems I have with this anime are: 1) it's too short. The first OAV is only 7 episodes (although they do pack a lot into the series) and the second OAV is 4 episodes. 2) The second OAV isn't nearly as good as the first, it's definitely not the continuation I would have liked after watching the first series. It's still good, but when compared to the first, it doesn't stack up. But, you can easily get past these, because the first OAV is worth every second you invest watching it. After watching these series, if you like it, be sure to check out the conclusion to this series in "El Hazard: The Alternative World." It's a great series as well, and a descent conclusion. And for an alternative telling to "El Hazard: The Magnificent World" check out "El Hazard: The Wanderers." It's not a continuation of the other three series, but simply an alternative telling (and some good changes are made in this telling). All in all, El Hazard is a truly wonderful series with great characters and beautiful animation. It has something for everyone, and I personally feel that everyone that watches it will truly enjoy it. Do yourself a favour and check this one out, you won't be disappointed if you do. Oh yes, be sure to watch this DUBBED (yes you heard me, the dubbed version). It's actually better than the subbed, yes better. The voices are just perfectly picked for each character. It is one of only a select group of animes that are wonderful no matter how you watch.
Rating:
Summary: WAI!! ^_^
Review: I bought the boxed set out of curiousity and I was pleasantly surprised. El Hazard has an excellent mix of slapstick humor, romance, adventure, in an involving storyline (not to mention the gorgeoous artwork) The story revolves around Mizuhara Makoto (your typical, Japanese, high school boy which tips you off right away that he's in for it), his crazy rival Jinnai Katsuhiko, Katsuhiko's sister Jinnai Nanami, and their drunkard teacher Fujisawa Masamichi. They get transported from Japan to the world of El Hazard by Ifurita (a demon god although they don't know it at the time) and have all kinds of crazy adventures. I wouldn't let any kids watch this, though. Like the Tenchi series (in its original form) it contains a lot of nudity and sexual innuendo (two of the characters are lesbians if you haven't gotten the point by now). At any rate, its a great buy for the true anime fan.
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