Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #23554 in DVD
• Released on: 2002-07-09
• Rating: Unrated
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Animated, Color, DVD, Full Screen, NTSC
• Original language: English, Japanese
• Subtitled in: English
• Number of discs: 2
• Running time: 355 minutes

Amazon.com
Since the first chapters debuted as a direct-to-video release in 1990, this sprawling sword-and-sorcery epic has delighted fantasy fans with its ancient prophecies, lost kingdoms, enchanted swords, dragons, and wizards. The tangled story line borrows heavily from The Lord of the Rings, the Star Wars films, and numerous other fantasy works. Six mismatched characters find themselves thrown together to protect the land of Lodoss from imminent destruction: Parn is the impetuous young warrior with heroic potential who typifies the genre; in place of the usual spunky girl, there's Deedlit, an elf with magical powers. They're joined by Etoh, a young priest and healer; Ghim, a dwarf-warrior with a heavy heart; Slayn, a wizard in training; and the rascally thief Woodchuck. Their allies include the dashing lord of a desert realm, a mercenary and her Berserker companion, and a benevolent, Arthurian king. They're pitted against an array of villains that includes human warriors, an evil sorcerer, dragons, kobolds, zombies, and Karla, the mysterious "Gray Witch" [sic]. An elegant art nouveau sensibility runs through the designs of Lodoss War, especially the extravagant armor of the warriors. But the film lacks a coherent plot, probably the result of producing so much animation in a short time with multiple directors. Characters are forever dropping in and out of the story: the initial villain, the evil emperor Beld, is replaced by his henchman, Ashram, who is superseded by the dark sorcerer, Wagnard. The last three episodes build to a titanic climax that leaves a lot of plot points unresolved. Hard-core fantasy fans will love Lodoss War; but other viewers are likely to tire of its drawn-out and needlessly complicated story. Unrated; suitable for ages 12 and up; considerable violence and an extremely complicated plot. --Charles Solomon

Additional features
The ancient prophecies, lost kingdoms, enchanted swords, dragons, elves, and wizards in this vast sword-and-sorcery epic have delighted fantasy fans since the first OAVs appeared in 1990. For this special edition, both the Japanese and English tracks have been rerecorded in Dolby Digital--a marked improvement over earlier versions. Both discs are loaded with extras, although many of them, including "Comics" and "Character Profiles," are quite brief. The DVD-ROM features, which are available only in a PC version, include a huge gallery of images, lists of the English and Japanese vocal casts, and credits. The scripts are transcriptions of the dialogue, with minimal descriptions of the action, unlike an American screenplay. Serious fans of the Lodoss saga will enjoy these additional features; others will probably look at them once, then stick to watching the series. Rated 13 Up: Considerable violence, grotesque imagery, an extremely complicated plot. --Charles Solomon

Customer Reviews

Classic anime fantasy series, but with one slight problem in continueity
Parn is a young warrior living in a small village whose father was a holy knight, who was eventually forced to leave in disgrace. Parn is determined to salvage his family's name. Then one day Parn saves a young woman who is attacked by a gang of goblins in the woods. That goblins should be out in broad daylight is very strange, since they normally only come out at night. Later the other villagers berate him for killing a goblin, since they're certain more will come and retaliate by attacking the village. This does happen, and it's up to Parn and his old friend Etoh, a cleric, (a priest who specializes in healing spells,) as well as two other warriors, Ghim, a dwarf warrior who has embarked on a quest to find and bring back home Karla, a young priestess, and his sorceror friend Slayn, to defend the village. After the battle with the goblins is over, the mayor sends Parn and Etoh out to find out the cause of the goblins strange behavior, like going out in daylight. Ghim and Slayn go with them. Soon the four are joined by Deedlit, a high elf maiden. It isn't long before they are captured by guards of the kingdom of Mice (yes, that's what it's called,) who suspect them of being enemy spies, and taken prisoner. While in prison they meet Woodchuck, a thief. They learn of the evil kingdom of Marmo, which is going out on a journey of conquest. Soon the captain of the guards meets them and realizes what a mistake has been made, and he orders the five released. Parn wants to join the guard ranks, but then Marmo attacks. The heros are unable to stop the oncoming army, and barely make it out with Woodchuck in tow. Now they must embark on a quest to save Loduss from evil.

Just about everything is great about this show, including the voice acting in both lanuges, but there's one serious problem in the continueity that might have some people confused. Episode 1 actually takes place AFTER episodes 2-5. Why they did this, I have no idea. Anyway, if you want the watch the episodes in their proper order, watch them like this:

#2:Blazing Departure
#3:The Black Knight
#4:The Grey Witch
#5:The Desert King
#1:Prologue To The Legend

After this, go to episode 6,"The Sword Of The Dark Emperor:, and watch the rest of the series in order.

Not worth the full 5, but at least a good 4.5
Alrighty, what can I say that hasn't really been said? I disagree with some of the reviews. I've seen both sets, and this one by far is better. I don't understand where one reviewer got the "Grainy" viewing on DVD, mine doesn't have that. Yes, the English dubs aren't as good as the origional voices, but that's a given in almost any anime.

The first episode is a catcher episode, but takes place later in the plot. Aside from that, I found nothing confusing about it, even when the people split up and it skipped back and forth. The only annoying thing about it is the little commercial break thingy in the middle of the episode. If you sit down and watch all 13 in a row, you'll know what I mean.

I enjoyed this anime more than the others of it's type because it has character. You see progress with each character, as they become more proficient in their abilities. Another plus is that even though Good triumphs over evil, good isn't the unstoppable force that only takes a few scratches. Some major setbacks occur, and I almost had to watch a couple scenes twice to make sure that really happened, my mind woulnd't believe it. The storyline also includes several plot twists, that will make you actually reconsider who is good and who is bad.

The full VHS cost me almost twice the DVD cost. When I saw it for DVD for only 50 bucks, I ran out and bought it. This is most definately worth every penny I've spent, and I've seen the entire series 3 times and am still not tired of it. I highly recommend this not just for any anime fan, but for any fantasy fan as well.

Excellent job at the Sword and Sorcery genre for the screen
Lodoss War is D&D brought to the screen, even more so than the old Dungeons and Dragons cartoon. You find nearly all the old classes; fighter, thief, magic-user, cleric, elf, and dwarf. With interesting characters, a well thought out plot, and a villain worth cheering for, this is the fantasy genre at it's best.

As specific to the DVD, this version continues the ongoing, and very annoying, tradition of placing the episodes not in chronological order, but rather in production order. The result is that the first episode of the series actually takes place three or four episodes into the story. This has been a long time pet peave of mine with the various video releases of the series, and I wish someone would watch this before they released it and realize how stupid it is to start in the middle of the story (very briefly) jump to the beginning of the story, and then skip that piece in the middle without explaination.

This episode was produced first, to sell the show to producers because it was exciting and action packed. It was never intended to be aired in that order.