The style and design for 1986 was far beyond its time. Though considered old school by our standards today, when you view it from the point of view of its original release, it just truly amazes me of how well detailed the characters and settings are. The designs like I said are not only detailed, but you’re getting a huge range that isn’t stylistically one-dimensional though they are archetypical. Of course you got the pretty looking girls like Marian, Izu’s wife, and you also have the testosterone-taking Queen despite having a beautiful daughter. So I’m glad there’s really no repetition to the design. Though I wouldn’t say the art and animation is the same league of Akira, which came out a few years later, the execution of its respective concept just truly made it breath taking. But then again, they are different styles so you really can’t compare them in that approach. The battle sequences aren’t really at the levels of something like Braveheart but they do a good job of conveying how pointless and trivial the war between the two nations is. But some of the mechanical concepts in context to medieval setting of the story brings a Miyazaki like quality to it in both presentation and story telling.
Despite significant script changes and characterization, the acting in the dub is still very superb and masterful. I say it’s far superior to a lot of dubs to this day. The selected actors do a tremendous job of bringing their characters to life and you feel their portrayals. I don’t really know the names of those involved in the dub, but I feel that these are the best-unknown dub actors you’ll ever hear regardless of what was changed. But if you want to watch Windaria for the story it was intended to be told in, naturally you’ll have to go to the Japanese version. I was able to distinct some iconic names. To start off, Izu is played by Furuya Tooru, most famous as being Amuro from Gundam, Seiya from Saint Seiya, and Tuxedo Mask from Sailor Moon. He’s excellent in Izu’s portrayal of being carefree and optimistic, while the English actor does a great job of portraying him as serious and realistic in context to the situation. And Inoue Kazuhiko, who is famous to casual fans of Naruto and to Narutards alike as the voice of Kakashi, also plays a huge role as Prince Jill who brings a unique kind of charisma to the character as he does with all of his roles. For the English dub, rather than script and dialog change as mentioned earlier, the execution is enough to be convincing that Windaria still shares its unique distinction in Japanese anime and animation as a whole.
The soundtrack also accurately depicts the timeless romanticism that is demonstrated throughout this series as well as its fantasy setting. The Japanese track has a few insert Japanese pop songs that still capture what Windaria is all about.
To conclude, I will address the outrage that some fans would have over the changes and omissions the English release has, and this goes for other anime throughout the 1980s such as Robotech and Voltron. You have to keep in mind that when those series came to America, there was really no official anime market at the time and this was the only way to have any direct exposure to Japanese anime. Fansubs weren’t yet conceived and who the hell heard of subs vs dubs debates? I feel that Carl Maceck is in no ways an Al Kahn or a Haim Saban. Granted that Robotech upon initially watching it during its heyday didn’t exactly tell you what anime was nor was it 100% a true American adaptation of its Japanese counter parts, I felt that Robotech nor was the American version of Windaria dumbed down to a point where it loses their unique distinctions rather than the fact they are from Japan. I still feel they tell excellent quality stories with realistic characters and a new way to view animation, though the why wasn’t really there. While with 4Kids, they want to omit every Japanese reference as possible and their edits are just of course stupid and trivial to a point where it truly loses its distinction as an anime. But look at Ronin Warriors and Sailor Moon in English. Granted there were some changes, but Japanese references and settings weren’t edited out. And hell, those two animes in their English versions kept their death scenes. I felt the English Windaria still retains its distinguishing qualities such as the presentation of Japanese values such as giri ninjo meaning duty and obligation in a more universal presentation with its fantasy setting.
