I started watching Record of Lodoss War is because of the rpg Lodoss War Online. Upon researching the game, I discovered the anime and plan to watch it, finally start to watch few weeks ago.To be honest, Record of Lodoss War has a good plot but the execution is not good enough for me to feel enthusiastic throughout the series. I become bored and a little frustrated about some characters until Episode 8 came. This anime is enough to rate 6.5 and max 7/10 but I will like to break it down and see if the rating will go up or stay within the range.
Story: 6.5/10
So basically, this is a dark fantasy anime featuring our main character Parn who grow up from a novice to Hero Knight of Lodoss. The history of Lodoss is a brief summary of the narrator, there are important characters who heavily relate to the series but are not given more explanation.
The pacing of the anime is also all over the place, not the worst anime but definitely should be better.
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
Episode 1 is their adventure in a tunnel with some fighting against minor monsters and a dragon, they manage to escape and the episode end with them at the exit. The narrator says their journey will not stop but from Episode 2 onwards, the adventure pretty much disappear, more like completing quests from the Kingdom, pursuing enemies and stop their sinister scheme. Episode 1 could have scrap off and focus more on Parn's training because his swordmanship needs more polishing than ever.Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
The dragons who appear in the opening show up at the last episode and only features their a little of their fight, and not to mention the awakening of the water dragon basically just wake up and do nothing..There are many flaws on plot development but dark fantasy can never grow old and so I still enjoy it in some extent as I continue watching despite being distracted for so many times.
Characters 7/10:
As I say, many important characters such as Karla, Wort (especially) doesn't have enough background information for us to relate.
Spoiler, click to viewclick to hide
Wort is a great sage who I presume had lived 500 years? He is neither dead or alive but he doesn't do unnecessary things other than watching the world. Karla is a witch who lived 500 years inside a ornament and she has to possess a body in order to move. She is deemed as an evil person from the start but her real motive is reveal as the series progress. The anime do mention Karla's background through words, i feel that a proper flashback is better to taste her suffering and understand her choice.Parn, as many Heroes-To-Be fantasy main character who has a bad swordmanship and hardly improve, suddenly can fight some monsters but at the end facing great foes, their weakness come out again. There are many times I just see him standing one side not moving, especially last episode. Well given an anime from 1990 (but hey there are many other anime who did a great job!), I can just let it go.
Deed, a high elf skilled in spells, her personality in Episode 1 is getting on my nerves, making me questioning the intelligence of an elf. But she is still lovable and did MORE than what Parn did, so still a better female protagonist.
Villains, to be honest, the villains has more development than the main party, there are a lot of sides, not just ambitious and coldness, there are also pride and perseverance, and a little empathy. Pretty much they are the ones who drive this anime.
Animation: 7/10
I can say it is fluid? I am not good at discover animation flaw or maybe I just don't bother them too much. As long as I don't discover it, I can safety rate a 7/10
Artstyle: 7/10
1990 anime, how do I exactly rate it when I watch it from 2018. I like first Karla and Ashram design, their looks and aura fits their character and background color is good.
Sound: 7.5/10
I have lesser knowledge about sound, all I take notice is op/ed which are decent in terms of 90s. The opening has this romantic fantasy feel, it sounds better than better after listening few more times.
Total: 7/10
