Record of Lodoss War

[gilgamesh31]

Has anyone heard of this fantasy anime series released in the early nineties? I haven't met a single person who has even heard of it and all the forum based websites have been long abandoned. If you like Suikoden and sword and sorcery kind of stuff then you might well enjoy this series. There are a lot of characters/gods, the nations are intriguing and the storyline though more black and white then Suikoden is interesting.

I recently discovered a website where you can read all the manga's and its rekindled my interest in the series. I have all the DVDs but the manga's far surpass them in terms of depth and content. There was also a video game for the Dreamcast which played very much like Diablo but this was a pretty standard affair. The world and the races that inhabit it are the main attraction at least for me. Other series set in the same world are 'Legend of Crystania' and 'Rune Soldier', the latter being a tongue in cheek take on RPG's and it is actually quite funny, Legend of Crystania is set 300 years after the Record of Lodoss war and features a couple of the characters from that, its decent enough if you look passed the dodgy animation.

Much like Suikoden there are many games and novels unreleased outside Japan, its a shame that there is a lack of international fans for these fine fantasy series, makes me wanna lock myself in a room and force myself to learn Japanese.

[Vextor]

The Record of Lodoss War started as a monthly spot in the old Japanese gaming magazine "Comptique" back in the 80s. The spot basically showed people playing D&D, and the interaction gradually grew into the plot & setting of the Record of Lodoss War. The guy that ran the game (DM) later wrote a novel based on those sessions, which became a hit. The result was the novel being adapted as games, anime, etc. An entirely new TRPG system was created as a result (Sword World RPG) because TSR was being a jackass due to the use of D&D. A bunch of other fantasy seires developed out of the same setting by adapting the Swordworld RPG shell, so it certainly had a tremendous effect on the fantasy genre as a whole in Japan.

[gilgamesh31]

Sword world 0.2 DS is a game i would love to play though it will never get an english translation. Thats interesting what you say about the creator being a DM. I was wondering though, would you happen to know which follows the novels the closest between the manga's or the anime's. They seem to contradict each other, for example events that happen in the movie of 'Record of Lodoss war' are rewritten in the 'Chronicles of the heroic knight' like the fire dragon mountain arc. The manga of COTHK is different then the series where the main villain is completely missed out. I like them all but its really confusing

[Antimatzist]

Some years ago, a tv channel used to show anime movies on tuesday nights here. Thats when I watched Record of Lodoss War, I think it was pretty good. I should watch it again nowadays...

they also showed Neon Genesis Evangelion and Samurai Champloo and iirc a lot of them with OVA. Samurai Champloo was with German VA though iirc, but still pretty good. I miss these times, especially that at that time ( I was 12 or so) I couldnt stay up all night to watch it, but now I could...

[Vextor]

The confusion exists because the OVA was released back in 1991 when the novel was still going on. Because of that, the animators added episodes themselves, which were later refuted by canon (the novel). The TV animation in 1998 reflected canon information from the novel that was completed by then, which is why the two COTHK anime have different plots (mainly towards the end).

The Record of the Lodoss Wars is a fortunate series because the original creator of the world, Ryo Mizuno, is still around and has full creative control over the series-- and he runs his own company. For that reason, the whole world's setting and timeline has no inconsistencies, unlike the mess we have in Suikoden where we have the Zexen Knights being founded twice among other things.

With the huge number of characters and the fact that various stories (sometimes unrelated) take place within the same world, it does seem like a similar type of story to Suikoden.

[gilgamesh31]

Oh right, now it makes sense. Im thought that someone on Suikosource might know the series, as they do have a lot of similarities as you say. I had never read 'The Lady of Pharis' before until a few days ago, it gave the other series' far more depth as it is a prequel. It was a good read and made me like Emporer Beld more then Ashram now that i know his backstory.

[EstrangedIX]

Sounds like I really need to check this out again. Roommate back in the day rented it and a ton of other anime one weekend but this he saved for last. I was too tired to stay up and watch, then everything had to go back the next day. I was pretty upset I missed it because it looked like something I could get into.

[gilgamesh31]

Yeah its awesome you definitely need to check it out. All of the anime series and films can be found on youtube but i would recommend reading the manga versions because the anime seems a little dumbed down and misses out on a lot of the details. The Grey Witch would be the best place to start, i have pasted the address below:

http://manga.animea.net/lodoss-tousenki ... -majo.html

[EstrangedIX]

Sweet, thanks

[gilgamesh31]

No problem . For anyone else who might be interested i have added links below, enjoy:

Record of Lodoss war: The Lady of Pharis manga (This is a prequel set 36 years before The Grey Witch)
http://manga.animea.net/record-of-lodos ... haris.html

Record of Lodoss war: Demon of Flame manga (This is a sequel to The Grey Witch, taken place about two years after)
http://manga.animea.net/lodoss-war-demon-of-flame.html

Record of Lodoss war: Deedlit's Tale manga (Set after Demon of Flame, this story is told through the eyes of the high elf Deedlit)
http://manga.animea.net/record-of-lodos ... -tale.html

Record of Lodoss war: The Chronicles of the Heroic Knight manga (This story takes 15 years after The Grey Witch)
http://manga.animea.net/lodoss-tousenki ... hiden.html

Record of Lodoss war: The Grey Witch Anime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NDzCb3bM ... DzCb3bM29Y

Record of Lodoss war: The Chronicles of the Heroic Knight Anime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99K47mzXo80

Rune Soldier Anime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j1LlGQ3pO88

Legend of Crystania Anime
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcYeKoLVKs0

[KFCrispy]

wait wait wait, this series had more anime beyond the OVA??? i have only seen/heard of the OVA and when i looked it up way back when i only saw mention of some Saturn or something video game. now i have to check it all out again!

[Vextor]

I remember playing the game on the NEC CD-ROM2 console as well as on the old PC 9801 computer. I've also read a couple novels. Never saw the anime or manga tho.

[gilgamesh31]

You read the novels damn i'm jealous. The internet has so little about the series, especially the novels, theres just loads of info on the video game. The Legend of Crystania is the most original series out of them, with its God Beasts and having its own cycle from the rest of the world. It doesn't look as bad as i remember either, after the movie there are three 45 minute long episodes where the animation does improve. Some of the Youtube versions cut out half way so ill add links below to the ones that don't cut out.

EP 1: Cave of the Sealed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wflw4xhI3ts

EP 2: Resurrection of the God's King
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a5upxrQ_8Ak

EP 3: A New Beginning
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BOKJRlTl ... re=related

[KFCrispy]

is the Grey Witch anime just part of the 13 episode OVA? the intro in the youtube vid looks the same...

[gilgamesh31]

Yeah the OVA follows the manga of 'The Grey Witch' plot line until episode 7 and then episodes 8 to 13 are like an alternate version of events that happen in 'The Chronicles of the Heroic Knight' anime. For Legend of Crystania to make sense you need to watch the COTHK because the OVA kills off characters that are alive in Crystania. It is confusing because like Vextor said:

The confusion exists because the OVA was released back in 1991 when the novel was still going on. Because of that, the animators added episodes themselves, which were later refuted by canon (the novel). The TV animation in 1998 reflected canon information from the novel that was completed by then, which is why the two COTHK anime have different plots (mainly towards the end).

So while the OVA is really good, in fact it is probably the most well done of all the animes (Though Crystania holds a lot of memories for me as it was the first one i saw) but you kind of have to think of it as an alternate universe set apart from the others for it to make sense...if that makes sense