[.ca] "Record of Lodoss War: Episodes 1-13 (Collector's ...

From Amazon.com:
Since the first chapters debuted as a direct-to-video release in 1990, this sprawling sword-and-sorcery epic has delighted fantasy fans with its ancient prophecies, lost kingdoms, enchanted swords, dragons, and wizards. The tangled story line borrows heavily from The Lord of the Rings, the Star Wars films, and numerous other fantasy works. Six mismatched characters find themselves thrown together to protect the land of Lodoss from imminent destruction: Parn is the impetuous young warrior with heroic potential who typifies the genre; in place of the usual spunky girl, there's Deedlit, an elf with magical powers. They're joined by Etoh, a young priest and healer; Ghim, a dwarf-warrior with a heavy heart; Slayn, a wizard in training; and the rascally thief Woodchuck. Their allies include the dashing lord of a desert realm, a mercenary and her Berserker companion, and a benevolent, Arthurian king. They're pitted against an array of villains that includes human warriors, an evil sorcerer, dragons, kobolds, zombies, and Karla, the mysterious "Gray Witch" \osic\c. An elegant art nouveau sensibility runs through the designs of Lodoss War, especially the extravagant armor of the warriors. But the film lacks a coherent plot, probably the result of producing so much animation in a short time with multiple directors. Characters are forever dropping in and out of the story: the initial villain, the evil emperor Beld, is replaced by his henchman, Ashram, who is superseded by the dark sorcerer, Wagnard. The last three episodes build to a titanic climax that leaves a lot of plot points unresolved. Hard-core fantasy fans will love Lodoss War; but other viewers are likely to tire of its drawn-out and needlessly complicated story. Unrated; suitable for ages 12 and up; considerable violence and an extremely complicated plot. --Charles Solomon

Additional Features:
The ancient prophecies, lost kingdoms, enchanted swords, dragons, elves, and wizards in this vast sword-and-sorcery epic have delighted fantasy fans since the first OAVs appeared in 1990. For this special edition, both the Japanese and English tracks have been rerecorded in Dolby Digital--a marked improvement over earlier versions. Both discs are loaded with extras, although many of them, including "Comics" and "Character Profiles," are quite brief. The DVD-ROM features, which are available only in a PC version, include a huge gallery of images, lists of the English and Japanese vocal casts, and credits. The scripts are transcriptions of the dialogue, with minimal descriptions of the action, unlike an American screenplay. Serious fans of the Lodoss saga will enjoy these additional features; others will probably look at them once, then stick to watching the series. Rated 13 Up: Considerable violence, grotesque imagery, an extremely complicated plot. --Charles Solomon

Absolutely entertaining fantasy adventure tale, Anime-style!:
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 \othe dragon\c'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.

The Greatest Fantasy Anime Ever:
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.

The BEST:
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!

Love it!:
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.

Best fantasy before Jackson's LOTR; but borrows a lot..:
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.