Friday, October 31, 2008

Record of Lodoss War Part II

If you haven't read the first review, do it now. Unless you could care less.


Continued...

We are now introduced to Orson and Shiris while Parn and his party are heading to Karla's castle. This quick fight shows that somehow Parn's fighting skill has improved dramatically. I guess King Kashue taught him a few things since the battle of the two kingdoms. However, he is quickly bested by Orson when it's revealed that Orson's a chaotic good... or Berserker. Shiris tells Parn to drop his sword or Orson will kill him. It seems that Shiris is the only one able to calm him down. The gang use this opportunity to escape and continue their quest.

They gang stop to rest but Slayn and Ghim discuss strategy while the other rest. Ghim showing his true arrogance decides to go it alone and that he will turn Laylia back to good by showing her a comb he made for her. Thankfully the party show up to help before Ghim is killed. Karla still has her fun with him however. Karla once again preaches about chaos being the only way for Lodoss to survive. She then attempts to beat some sense into Parn, of course it doesn't work. Sigh... Karla then tells Parn why she must cause chaos to save Lodoss. Apparently her old homeland became corrupt after it was ruled by one kingdom and so Lodoss must be kept from the same fate. Karla is angered that Parn and the others decide not to side with her so she attempts to kill them all. However, Slayn protects the party except that Ghim has decided to leave the protective barrier to confront Karla/Laylia head on with the comb. This distracts her for a bit and the gang take the opportunity to attack her from all sides at once. She quickly disposes of the attempts of all but Ghim, who by some means manages to knock the evil tiara off her head without slicing her head off or open. I don't know how, but he does. Laylia is saved, however the evil tiara aka Karla finds a new host body, Woodchuck. Thus eliminating the only member of the party that I had any interest in.

Meanwhile at the hall of injustice(Marmo's castle). Ashram fights off spirits with his new sword "Soul Crusher" the demon Sword that, like an evil excalibur, is a sign of the man who rules Marmo. This info comes from the evil sorceror Wagnard as well as the next plot device, the Scepter of Domination, which apparently grants control of all Lodoss to the wielder. The scepter is protected by the red dragon Shooting Star in the fire dragon mountain. This dragon along with 4 other ancient dragons were awoke by Karla to continue to rain chaos on Lodoss. Shooting star is currently terrorizing the King Kashue's kingdom of Flaim. And so Kashue is headed back to his kingdom to defeat Shooting Star. Parn wants to follow him but Kashue seems to believe Parn's not capable of helping.

A confrontation between Wagnard and Karla reveals that Wagnard is possessed by the Evil God Kardis and he plans to ressurect Kardis with the scepter of Domination. Pirotess and Ashram have a scene together where we see that Pirotess cuts herself claiming that she'd be by Ashrams side again before her wound heals. She is going to capture Deedlit while Ashram seeks out the Scepter of Domination. Pirotess fails thanks to the return of Orson. Now that him and Shiris join the party it's got someone interesting in it again. Orson is to this OVA as Boba Fett is to Star Wars. He barely plays a role in this but his sword must give him charisma +8 cause I like this guy.

In case you haven't caught on, there's a lot of Dungeons and Dragons influence in this anime. Hence all the D&D references.

Anyway, Parn and the gang show up in Flaim and fend off Shooting Star, sending it back to Fire dragon mountain and thus making things a whole lot more difficult in the future for our heroes. They discuss how to defeat the Dragon and obtain the scepter before Marmo forces, consisting of three pikes blessed by high priests. Parn begs Kashue to allow him to come along and is quickly dominated by Kashue as he tells him "no reckless hero business" in not so many words. This sounds like Kashue's asking for the impossible and the inevitable failure to comply.

So the gang proceeds with the 2nd dungeon crawl in Fire Dragon mountain. Parn and the other confront Ashram and his group in the mountain but the battle is interrupted with the arrival of Shooting Star. During this time the Scepter is stolen by a dark elf of Wagnard's, angering Shooting Star. The three pike men then attack the dragon and defeat it. However, it counter attacks with it's flame breath aimed at Ashram. Pirotess guards him with her own body, sacrificing her life for his. However the mountain begins to collapse and it seems that he's going to be crushed to death anyway.

Parn FINALLY makes a move twards Deedlits affections. and a love triangle emerges suddenly. Parn likes Deedlit, Deedlit likes Parn, Shiris Likes Parn, Orson likes Shiris. Is it just me or did this take to long to happen? And then when it does happen it's a fucking love triangle? C'mon! Sigh.

So, yeah. Surprise! Ashram's not dead. Karla saved him so that he would help defeat Wagnard. Also, Deedlit seems to know that she's targeting so that Wagnard can sacrifice her to resurect Kardis. Suddenly, Wagnard appears and attacks Parn and Deedlt. Then he captures Deedlit with relative ease. Parn showcases his lack of tact again by attacking wildly until he's disarmed. Then he hurls himself at the barrier containing Deedlit. At this point I'm not sure if we were supposed to believe Parn would know better or that we should have seen this comming? So Parn is knocked out and eventually rescued by his friends. The battle had destroyed Parn's(father's) sword and Parn feels powerless and beats himself up over the loss of the battle. "Well maybe next time he won't be so brash and stupid.", right? Not likely. Cause he decides to attempt to stop Wagnard himself. But of course, he can always rely on his friends. Princess Fianna gives her father's magic sword to Parn.

Almost done...

We are taken to the alter in Marmo where Wagnard starts the ritual of resurrection. Apparently this requires them taking a long, slow descent to a cavern deep below the castle where the soul of Kardis sleeps. While this happens King Kashue and his Naval forces make their way to Marmo but are intercepted by the Ancient Aquatic Dragon. Parn and Ashram simultaneously kill the beasts keeping them from entering the castle. Suddenly the land around the castle splits and the Dark Dragon Narse and the Golden Dragon Mycen emerge.

Now we see the final elements of the Ceremony of Resurrection. Consisting of the sacrifice of all the Dark Priest of Marmo, one by one of course. Parn and Crew have entered the castle and they meed their first of many boss battles, a giant acid worm. Slayn and laylia fend off the enemy as Parn and Etoh escape further into the castle. Meanwhile the Gold and Dark Dragons begin to battle, while Wort and Karla discuss the future of Lodoss. Back at the ceremony, Ashram appears and kills one of the priests in an attempt to buy some time while Parn and Etoh battle a ghostly demon in the caverns. Once again Parn is allowed to escape thanks to Etoh.

In the final episode Ashram has his ass handed to him by the now super powerful Wagnard while Parn see's this above. Meanwhile the Dark Dragon attacks the Golden dragon causing the Golden dragon to draw power from the Ice Dragon Bramd which causes the Dark Dragon to retaliate by drawing power from the Water Dragon from before. This battle seems somewhat pointless and really just comes of as the writer/director to show off some cool dragon fights. But we soon return back to the magic rape that Ashram is receiving. Just as Wagnard tries to deliver a final blow to Ashram he is intercepted by Parn. During this distraction Ashram lands a sweet looking sword chop to the skull of Wagnard from behind. Wagnard then collapses into the vacant "death pillar" left exposed causeing the final step of the resurrection to begin. However as Parn goes to rescue Deedlit he's confronted by Ashram who wants a final knock down drag out brawl. Which he inevitable loses, but this is only due to the as not dead yet Wagnard coming out of his pit and attacking him. However it's a pretty cool scene when Wagnard takes the sword into his chest and reaches up and chokes Ashram. Ashram thinks he won once Wagnard collapses but he realized he's been mortally wounded and collapses as well. We see that Wagnard isn't completely dead yet, somehow, as he reaches up and "force chokes" the scepter of Domination, destroying it. After this he claims that nothing can stop/control Kardis now causing Parn to take both magical swords in hand and, not surprisingly, brashly attacks the field around Deedlit. The swords dispel the seal and Parn saves Deedlt.

The kingdoms of Flaim and Fallis celebrate and Parn and Deedlit Ride off to find more adventure.

That's the end, basically. Now for the Review...

Story:

Overall though this was a good OVA. However, the Story is very scattered and doesn't have proper closure. The completest in me tells me I have to at least see the TV series that follows. I haven't had any luck finding it, however. This anime has a special place in my heart due to the nostalgia factor. I only hope that the TV series that follows this up somehow gives better closure. And one minor gripe, I think all of us understood the backstory of Lodoss by the 3rd episode so it really wasn't nessesary to retell it prior to every episode.

Art:

It's very good looking for an older piece, however it's not so old as to forgive some of the shortcuts and mistakes that are noticable.

Sound:

I love good sound. This doesn't really diliver however. IMHO there's no excuse for 2.0 now that dvd has been on the market so long. other wise it's got repetative music that you'll never forget. But that doens't make it good. Sigh...

Character:

All of the characters have some sort of charisma to them. Parn and Deedlit are still one of the most recognized anime couples of all time. I just wish there was more down to earth characters like Woodchuck.

Enjoyment:

I really do like this anime alot. It's more nostalgia than anything but I do like it. I recommend this Anime to fans of Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons or other swords and sorcery stories.

Overall:

I only hope that the TV series that follows this up somehow gives better closure.

Overall though this was a good OVA. However, the Story is very scattered and doesn't have proper closure. The completest in me tells me I have to at least see the TV series that follows. I haven't had any luck finding it, however. This anime doesn't have a special place in my heart due to the nostalgia factor.

I recommend this Anime to fans of Lord of the Rings and Dungeons and Dragons or other swords and sorcery stories. However, fanboy opinion and nostalgia aside you should...

Borrow it!

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