Record of Lodoss War Part 1 Episodes 1-7

(Originally written April 27, 2014)

Lodoss, the Accursed Island.  Once this land was the setting of a clash amongst Gods that shaped the island to its current state.  Thousands of years after the battles end, darkness begins to creep again.  Emperor Belge and the forces of Marmo march for conquest.  But even they may be the least of concerns when compared with ancient forces capable of controlling the fiercest Dragons.  A battle hardened Dwarf, a beautiful Elf, a sagely Wizard, a kind hearted Priest, a sarcastic Thief and a would be Knight are all individuals one would not expect to work together.  But a storm of darkness is approaching Lodoss…and they are all that stands in its way.

Record of Lodoss War was a series I first saw when I was younger, middle school I think.  The series had been advertised on Toonamis new streaming website and it look pretty cool. (I then discovered it wasn’t this OVA but the TV series, Chronicles of the Heroic Knight).  As luck would have it I found the complete OVA collection at a Blockbuster and watched it over a free weekend.  I was hooked and I think it was one the first time I did some serious marathoning with an anime, even Dragon Ball Z and Gundam Wing.  So when I picked this title up finally at a video and record store in the city, and totally made the cashier jealous hehe, I was ready to rewatch the classic once again.  Does it hold up for me now as an adult as it did when I was in middle school?  Yes and no.

Besides the classic art style, this OVA came out in the early 90’s, ROLW sports many aspects of the fantasy genre that are now major staples.  The core cast is an ideal Dungeons and Dragons questing crew that is sent on a Star Wars/Lord of the Rinds style journey for destroy a powerful enemy and save the world.  Parn is the Luke Skywalker of this tale, a kid with next to little combat experience who wants to be a (Jedi) Knight like his father and protect the realm.  Ghim is his Chewbacca, though not as cuddly.  The Dwarf can kick all kinds of ass for an old man and spurs Parn on to become a better fighter.  There is even a Han Solo type to be found in Woodchuck.  He’s a thief who has a small sense of honor still left to him as he sticks with Parn after he is saved by the kid.  But he’s also a gambler and eager to stay out of the big picture though when he is forced to, he doesn’t run from the fight.  There’s also a Wizard named Slayn and a Healer named Etoh to round out the DnD party but they are not nearly as interesting, especially Etoh, who seems to just be there to make this an even party of six.  However, there is still the scene stealer of the series.  Deedlit is his beautiful companion who isn’t in much need of saving so far in the series.  In fact she, like so many others, saves Parn more often than not.  Blonde, graceful, fearless legs for days and a master of a Rapier, Deedlit is the quintessential Anime fantasy heroine and a perfect foil for the headstrong Parn.  Their scenes together are a joy to watch.  My favorite is the ballroom scene in episode 5 where Deedlit is clearly a hit with everyone around her but Parn is too focused on his hero worship/man crush on King Cashew.  Deedlit pouts, puffs and frowns but eventually forces Parn to dance with her.  THEN he sees the beautiful girl before him.

 

There are others of course in a story so big.  The villains are standard fare, guys who want to take over the world.  We get some glimpses at the bad ass black knight Ashrum, who is set for a good rivalry with Parn from the looks of it, and his Dark Elf companion Pirotess, who falls for the handsome knight in seconds.  The strangest villain of the series so far is the beautiful grey witch Karla, who seeks to restore Lodoss to proper balance…by throwing everything into total chaos.  Sure she’s powerful but she stands around, or floats, and monologues just because she can.  It’s gets pretty annoying when she pops up, seemingly knowing something no one else can guess when really she’s just there to say, “Hey I can cause trouble whenever I want just because I can…nyeh.”  Though beyond her the first half of the series does hint at something bigger and scarier than she is popping up…the sight of five Dragons waking up Voltron style is an instance of good promise.

Speaking of bigger, the scale of this series can be felt and not felt at the same time.  It’s one thing to see Dragons soar and armies clash and while the action is great, you can tell they might be saving some money for later on in the series.  Much of the shows later battle sequences when the cast goes to war are minor duel sequences followed by long pan shots of drawings if the conflict with battles effects and sounds rather than fluid motion.  It’s kind of a let down to see this in a fantasy OVA when films and TV series, most notably anything Mobile Suit Gundam related, showcase armies of hundreds duking it out and flying all over the place rather than being frozen on screen for a thirty second pan shot.  But again, this is only looking at the first half of the series so im sure things will improve once the second half gets going if I remember correctly.

There is a nice bit of nostalgia to watching this show again.  The kid in me is happy to see it again, so is the adult.  It’s just that there are certain things that I can now see are not as charming or enjoyable about it as I recall.  That’s not a bad thing at the moment, not at all.  I still love this series right now: the scale of it all, FREAKING DRAGONS, Parn and Deedlit…ok more Deedlit than Parn, and the beautiful opening and closing theme songs.  Still the first half leaves a lot to be desired after an action filled to mark a brief stopping point.  Can the action get better, will certain characters become more bearable, can Deedlit get her own spin off story with Parn just to look sexy and bad ass by comparison to the would be heroic knight?  At least two of those three are a possibility, the third, that’s what fan fiction is for.