Reviews of Record of Lodoss War (1990) and related work
- Spin-off: Legend of Crystania (1995)
Record of Lodoss War (1990
)
Kawajiri Yoshiaki (key animator).
Review applies to the English dub.
A young boy (read low-level Fighter) forms a party with a Rogue, a Wizard and who cares what else. They battle their way to Campbellian conquests.
Fantasy in the Dungeons & Dragons school. As a matter of fact, Record stems from a series of campaign chronicles published by Japanese gamers in the youth of AD&D.
The creators take the task of adaptation seriously. There are lots of clichés but no systemic references.
Kawajiri only worked on a few episodes.
moving picture TRPG Japanese production animation fiction series
‣ Legend of Crystania (1995)
Review applies to the dub.
An assassin fails to murder a king, only to find the benevolent would-be victim offering him knighthood and then dying in an insurrection a few moments later. The assassin accompanies the son of the king out of their land and into another. The prince swears revenge and believes he must acquire greater power to achieve it. That black knight from the 1990 series, here recast as a king in the new land but retaining his dark elf groupie (now lighter!), was possessed by a wicked god some 300 years back, and so offers to help.
Fantasy centered on shapeshifters and gods, heavy-handedly retconned into the franchise. It is stereotypes versus some interesting surprises. For instance, the prince never gets to return to take his revenge, and there are moments of impressive darkness in gore, crippled kids, dead principal characters, and so on. Nothing special, but it could have been far worse.
moving picture spin-off Japanese production animation fiction