"Record of Lodoss War" is a 13 episode long anime that takes place in a medieval fantasy world on the continent of Lodoss. The story of "Record of Lodoss War" follows the main character Parn and his group of friends as they embark on a journey to prevent the destruction of Lodoss. This anime can be best described as a Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) campaign turned into an anime. The main characters include a headstrong human (Parn), a sorcerer (Slayn), a high elf (Deedlit), a dwarf (Ghim), a thief (Woodchuck), and a cleric (Etoh)...your typical D&D party mix-up. The plot of the story is a simple one, the land of Lodoss is in turmoil as different individuals fight for power and control of all of Lodoss. An evil witch by the name of Karla is behind the turmoil while in her own twisted way trying to maintain the balance of power in Lodoss by manipulating leaders and diffrent individuals into conflict.
"Record of Lodoss War" is the perfect example of an old school
anime, originally released in 1990 the animation shows the time
period. But this does not take away from the anime by any means, if
anything it adds to the D&D feel that is felt by the viewer. The combination of different characters from different races; high elves, dark elves, humans, dwarves, goblins, dragons, etc. and the different background stories associated with these characters adds to the depth of the story. Faced with different events that continue to bring the group into danger, conflict is always at the heart of the anime, making the action scenes not just random encounters (with only one exception) but apart of the story. This combined with the constant twist and turns of the story will keep the viewer guessing as to just what will happen in the next episode.
The first episode is a little confusing however; instead of taking the time to introduce the characters the show just throws them into a dungeon dive during the first episode then after this starts to introduce the characters and how they met. To top it all of the entire purpose of the first episode is never actually explained instead it seems like a random encounter, but throughout the rest of the series this will never happen again. In all if you are a D&D fan or just enjoy old school medieval fantasy this anime is for you.
Good:
-A plot with depth
-An unpredictable story line
-Great action scenes
Bad:
-First episode is out of place and unexplained (But still a great episode)
Scully Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Watch "Record of Lodoss War" at: http://www.animefreak.tv/watch/record-lodoss-war-english-dubbed-online-free
