Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight Vol-1 (1998)
Released by: Central Park Media
Episodes: 1-6
By Keith "JC" Hayward

Introduction

The Record of Lodoss War OAV was good… damn good, but I needed more. I didn’t want to let go of that iconic cast of characters who I’d just felt like I’d gotten to know. Their adventures played out like any one of the countless adventures I’d read about in a DragonLance novel or experienced myself at the business end of a twenty-sided dice.

My prayers were answered with Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of Heroic Knight, which apparently is a better account of what actually happened in the RoLW novels, from whence the anime came from in the first place.

When the Record of Lodoss War that I’d grown to know and love was created and done, its source material, the novels, were barely half way through the saga. The writers and producers ended up having to make up their own ending of the saga. In Chronicles, we rewind the series backward to the point that takes place five years after the fall of a certain key character in the Lodoss War Fellowship. This is important to know because, like a lot of us, you might think the series takes place after the OVA and thus you’re left wondering why characters are acting like they never met before and why they’re going on quests to do things they’d already done.

Well, forget all that and remember up to the end of the confrontation of the Grey Witch and you’ll find yourself in the right place to join the party in Chronicles of the Heroic Knight.

Story

“Leave your world behind. Return to an age of myth and fantasy. Return to LODOSS. Five years past, a band of six adventurers defeated the conquering armies of Marmo, the dark island, and save the accursed island, LODOSS. But the darkness never perished… Now, a mad wizard threatens to raise an acient evil—the mythical goddess of destruction. Old heroes must heed the call to defend their homeland and new heroes are forged as the battle for LODOSS begins anew.” –Back of the Boxset

Review

What you get in this first installment are six episodes that encompass the introduction of the ever-popular berserker, Orson, and the show down with two dragons, Bramd and the fearsome red dragon, Shooting Star. The Heroes of Lodoss also find out that their arch foe, Ashram is still alive, well, and on the move to find the lost treasure of a fallen kingdom of magic. The race is on for Parn, Slayn, Deedlit and the new heroes that join them to find the Dark Knight Ashram and stop him in his tracks before he’s able to gather the Scepter of Domination.

The pacing of these episodes is slower than what we got in the OVA, because in that, they pretty much only had one episode to cover everything that’s spread out over six episodes in the series. So, as of now you don’t get your requisite “title fight” per episode, but you do get some good match ups that you’d wish you’d gotten to see, like what would happen if Orson faced off with Ashram. Orson also gets to play a more frontal role as well, as Slayn decides to help the young berserker conquer his dark side by putting him in charge of one of the parties that set out to stop Ashram. Plot and character development are also well fleshed out and spread over a longer period of time for you to get to know characters and their back stories. Orson again steps to the front as you get to find out where he got his berserker spirit from in the first place. Expect no huge slam bang throw down per episode, instead you get the story told to you with the Frisbee throw pacing as oppose to the OVA which hit you with a shotgun blast point blank.

Another plus to the series is that there’s no rush to get to the end of the road, so that you’re able to meet more people along the way. Along with the core Heroes and the two Mercenaries, Orson and Shiris, Slayn has an apprentice in the form of the young wizard, Cecil and we’re also introduced to another race of elf, different from that of Deedlit in the grass-runner, Leaf. Those and still more to come in this new Lodoss Saga are a few of the wealth of characters you’re introduced to in the TV Series.

The animation is TV Series quality. The OVA had about the same sized budget, but was about to compact it all in half the time, allowing it to get more gritty and detailed animation, while the series that clocks in at 27 episodes had to spread out what cash it used on animation. Animation quality runs hot and cold in this series. While in this you actually get fight choreography versus the OVA where shots of sword swings would cut to an arch of light, here you actually get to see a fight of Parn versus Orson played out in detail. But another title fight that all fans of the series would just absolutely love to see instead you get very little animation and even that is recycled. One place you do see some breakout fantastic animation is in the series Opening Theme, composed by the world renowned Yokko Kanno and is regarded far and wide as one of the greatest anime openings of all time, from the musical score to the breathtaking visuals. The opening alone is something that just must be seen.

The episodes you get on the first DVD are:

Episode 1: The Free Knight… A New Legend Begins
Episode 2: Dragon… the Guardian of the Lost History
Episode 3: King… The Long Sought Hero
Episode 4: Pirates… The Ship of Dark Ambitions
Episode 5: Demon Sword… The Power to Crush Souls
Episode 6: Heart… Tears Reborn

Conclusion

I love Dungeons & Dragons fantasy and I loved the Heroes of Lodoss first time around so despite the understandable drop in animation quality and slower pacing, it’s still good to once again enter the fantastical realm of Lodoss and this time with even more characters and locales to get to know. With six episodes down, there’s still a long dark road ahead and I’m looking forward to seeing where this one ends up. If you’re down with fantasy and enjoyed your first trip to Lodoss you might want to check this out to see how the story was actually meant to be told.

Keith "JC" Hayward