Story
Dungeons and Dragons as an anime. All the classic stuff. Fighter, elf, dwarf, mage, cleric. They level up and fight stuff. Good vs. evil. There is a mirror evil team too.
I believe that the story was a transcription of a D&D campaign so all the standard plot events were here. Gobins attacked our fighter's home village. He started adventuring, met allies, ran into enemies, and inserted himself in the middle of war between good and evil.
Nothing is new about this now. But I imagine it was groundbreaking material back then. It was for me when I first saw it.
The real story took place in the first 7 or 8 episodes. The stuff that happened after seemed like an after thought. It was stakes and the conflict was resolved halfway through the season. Apparently, it was because the producers were adapting books couldn't find a good way to spread out the story over 13 episodes.
In any case, the story is average at this point but really good in 1990 or if it is your first foray into the D&D world.
Characters
The characters were straightforward. Lodoss was actually my first dive into D&D. I liked fantasy things before then but never got the real D&D experience. As tropey as they were, they were new and fresh to me.
Parn was our guy. He started as a low-level warrior and took his lumps as he leveled up. He made up for his lack of skill with his conviction to duty and honor. I found it refreshing that he got his ass kicked by just about everyone. He was a budding swordm and had to earn every inch of ground he got. In the first few episodes, he could barely hold his own against basic goblins and guards. He was the shonen protag.
Deedlit is our gal. Waifu S-tier for sure. She just kind of showed up and fell in love with our guy. It was shallow, but how else were the producers going to maximize her screentime? I like that she acted like an elf. In the prologue, she haughty and a little childish, was at odds with the dwarf, and got distracted by random bling. She was madly in love with Parn for some reason. It seemed random, but I rolled with it just because it made for a good story. She was our original anime elf girl.
The other members of the crew are basic but solid. My only gripe was that Etoh, the cleric, didn't really get to do anything cool until the last or second to last episode. And I thought he was a girl for most of the show.
There was a mirror evil team too. Pretty cool group.
Art
The art was pretty good for the most part. The character designs were solid. The action was not good.
The art seemed to focus on the faces. It's been a while since I watched it, but I remember the director zooming in on faces for dramatic reactions. The magic was cool. But the fighting was not well animated. The fighting used a lot of streaks of color and reused footage instead of showing the characters in motion. I remember hearing that it could have been a measure to conserve the budget. Who knows.
The character designs were cool. I remember giant shoulder pads. Maybe this is where Warcraft got its inspiration.
Deedlit is the character you're going to remember.
Sound
The voice acting was good. Everybody sounded like they should. I wasn't sure if Etoh was a guy or a girl for most of it.
The sound effects were okay. Nothing great but it was a professional production.
I love the opening theme and visuals. It captured the epic fantasy romance feel perfectly. The OP is one of the best parts of the show.
The ending theme was decent. Surprisingly, it was more upbeat than the OP. It was not as epic, sweet, or catchy as the OP but still got the fantasy vibe right. Decent song.
Enjoyment
Lodoss was one of the first animes I saw. It was my introduction into the D&D world and high fantasy in general. I had a great time with it.
That said, there were shortcomings. The first episode is the best one out of the lot.
The prologue is awesome. I love creation myths and we are given one that was animated as paintings on a ruined dome. Badass. This is where most of the animation budget probably went.
We're thrown into the middle of the story. Our adventurers are going through a dwarven tunnel to consult the great sage. The sage and a witch decide to toy with our heroes and throw some challenges their way. Our guys show off their character attributes it's cool.
The episode ends with a confrontation with a minor dragon. Our characters do their character stuff complete with tension between the elf and the dwarf. It's cool as hell.
But then after the first episode, things never get quite as good. The action isn't as good, the spells don't hit as hard, and the characters don't have their stereotypical moments. I mean, the rest of the show is still decent, but not as awesome as it could have been. They started on a high note but weren't able to keep it up with the art, action, or storytelling.
Another thing is that the MC is underpowered for most of the show. It's a stark contrast to the OP MCs of modern isekais. I haven't seen too many isekais, but I'll say that being OP takes the piss right out of the story. If our guy is effortless, then what's it really all about? There's no tension. We are confident in our guy prevailing so I don't worry. I don't get invested. I like underpowered MCs because it makes the W feel earned.
Parn got his ass kicked so much through the story. Toward the end, when he was finally making his way through the final castle, he was taking down normal baddies left and right and it felt good. This was ROTJ Luke Skywalker handling shit. He was always headstrong but now he had the skills to back it up. He wasn't the same little boy no more. I loved the growth.
Overall
It shows its age now, but Lodoss was awesome when I saw it.
I loved the underpowered MC who grew up, the OP, and that Deedlit is bae.
