Summary: >

Many years have passed since the gods of light and darkness fought an epic war. The great magicians of old are also just faded memories. But elves, dwarfs, and humans still squabble amongst themselves for land, power, and fame. Even so, the island of Lodoss has known relative peace for many years now. But all around strange things are starting to stir and it looks like a war may be imminent. A young man named Parn set out to become a knight and help combat this great evil. Parn soon found himself allied with many companions. But as Parn's journey continues, he finds that his fight against evil isn't so simple. Especially when you begin to understand that most everything is in shades of gray.

Thoughts: >

Aside from being one of my favorite titles (for YEARS now), Record of Lodoss War continues to fascinate me with how you could take an RPG and spin such a fantastic tale. Originally this series was an RPG. Then I think it was actually made into a novel. And the interesting thing is that you can see how the characters are cut and dried RPG classes. But despite that their characters are well developed and quite interesting. I'd be lying if I said that I had high expectations on coming to the realization of the RPG roots after the first episode. But by the third episode you start to see that this anime isn't going to be confined to just having characters following the tracks you expect.

One thing I do love about this series is how it turns your knowledge of good and evil on its ear by the middle. It looks so black and white in the beginning, but you find out that neither black nor white was much of either. And the characters just have so much depth to them. Even the "bad guys" like Ashram and Pirotess have reasons for what they do. You could say that the weakest character is Parn. Initially he starts out as this naive bull headed kid who just wants to become a knight. Actually that's ALL he is, but the honest truth is that pretty much every great knight probably started out much the same. And that is Parn's tale. He grows in understanding that the ideals he believed as a kid weren't so simple as he developed.

Also in the line of characters, Pirotess is the hottest elf chick ever. And I can say that even having seen the Lord of the Rings movies which had Liv Taylor as an elf. Yeah and actually as far as that goes I'd totally take Deedlit too. Even better if I could get Pirotess and Deedlit at the same time. I heard this old legend once, that if you date two elf girls at the same time, you get an automatic +5 dexterity bonus in all RPGs...

Okay I'm going to stop with the gushing over my beloved Record of Lodoss Wars. It is probably one of my favorite titles of all time, and much deserving of it too. I suppose the one thing that might stop you would be the fantasy genre. If you have a deep hatred of fantasy, then I guess you have a point because this title is exactly that. If however you are not allergic to fantasy, then you're an idiot for not watching this title. No, seriously watch it.

Screen Caps: >