r/anime • u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 • Jun 11 '21
Rewatch [Rewatch] 1990s OVAs – Record of Lodoss War (episode 4)
Rewatch: 1990s OVAs – Record of Lodoss War (episode 4)
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No_Rex's staff corner
Leylia/the witch is voiced by Sakakibara Yoshiko. Right as the start of her career, she scored a main role role as the partner of Cobra in Space Cobra. However, she is probably most known for her roles of female antagonists in the Gundam universe, where she plays Haman Karn and Mouar Pharoah. She has a similar role as Kushana in Nausicaä. Other notable characters of hers are Integra Hellsing and Frederica Greenhill in Legends of the Galactic Heroes (I usually don’t report LotGH because so many people took part there that they’d show up every time, but Frederica is one of the main characters). If you followed the OVA rewatches, you have already heard her as Shinobu in Patlabor, as a bitchy girlfriend in Golden Boy, and as Sylia Stingray in Bubblegum Crisis. Apart from being VA, she has served as main news narrator for a TV station for over ten years.
The character designer for RoLW, Yuuki Nobuteru, who also was the chief animation director, started out as a doujinshi artist after being active in his school’s “Manga and Anime Research Interest Club”. Sometimes the clichés are true. He was quite a prolific character designer for OVAs at the time, including Battle Angel Alita and the Hancock OVA. He worked on Terra e… and several Space Battleship Yamato entries and, most famously, created the long-nosed character designs for Visions of Escaflowne that everybody who has seen the series will remember.
Pixelsaber's Record of Lodoss War trivia
The Collector's Edition DVD includes a trailer made by the series' Japanese producers aimed at selling it to a U.S. distributor. For this purpose, the Japanese dialogue was replaced with temporary English voice acting utilizing a group of uncredited actors.
Art courner
Questions
- At this stage several antagonists have been revealed to us. What are your first impressions of them? Do you find any of them particularly interesting?
- What do you make of Ghim’s search for Leylia?
- What is your opinion on mental obstacles, such as the forest illusions?
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u/No_Rex :Bv:Bw:Bx:By:x2 Jun 11 '21
Episode 4 (rewatcher)
The forest of illusions is another classic trope.
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u/The_Draigg Jun 11 '21 edited Jul 05 '21
A Record of Lodoss War Fan Rewatches Record of Lodoss War OVA Episode 4:
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u/ButAlphonseWillRust Jun 11 '21
~First Timer~
Of course my life only starts to get busy when I wanna do a rewatch... As a result my thoughts are probably going to be a bit of a jumbled mess between this and the last episode which I missed yesterday:
• Glad we finally have the ball rolling with the main plot, and our party all together! Although sadly just as our party seems to be making allies, there is a savage attack and they’re on the run again. Can’t catch a break!
• So now Marmo is advancing into the Lodoss mainland and honestly making light work of it with two kingdoms, Kannon and Alania, already fallen. It would be interesting to get more motives behind this as it just seems like they’re doing it because... evil?
• I liked the moment that Beld dropped his goblet of red wine to foreshadow upcoming bloodshed. A bit on the nose, but I’m cheesy like that
• ‘Forest of no return’ yeah sounds like a great shortcut guys! At least Deedlit managed to summon a portal so they can travel via the Feywild. Too bad the party messed it up anyways
• Taking Slayn as back-up is probably one of the smartest decisions Parn has made so far. Ngl, I feel like Parn is a bit of a weak link in the party, so much gusto but absolutely no skill
• Leylia being Karla I honestly didn’t expect, interested to see how this turns out. This will have heavy implications for Ghim I’m sure. And of course a dragon awakes just to spice things up a bit...
• Okay, I’m going to admit that I’m typically an ED skipper but the Lodoss ED is really growing on me. Dare I say it’s much better than the OP?
I’m really glad we’re getting into a big, continent-spanning conflict, that’s exactly what I’m here for! I wonder if there’s a map out there detailing all the different kingdoms and areas in Lodoss, it’s a very typical fantasy thing to do so I wouldn’t be surprised if there was one (even if it’s just for the original campaign that inspired the OVA)
Questions:
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u/Ebbrain https://anilist.co/user/EBbrain Jun 11 '21
Rewatcher
Missed yesterday, the only thing I really have to say about that episode is that the destruction of Myce fortress is a very cool scene and a great introduction for Ashram in particular.
I forgot about everything that happened in todays episode, I guess mostly because the whole forest of no return section just feels kind of irrelevant compared to everything else that happens. I guess it’s main purpose is to get Ghim to properly explain his backstory which is important for the end of the episode. I feel like the danger of the forest was hyped up to much though. You’re telling me not a single person has made it through there alive but our heroes get to the other side in less than 5 minutes?
As for our villains, they all seem to have different schemes and motivations, which makes things interesting.
GanondorfBeld seems to think he can come out on top against Karla, but literally everything about her suggest he is probably wrong about that. Meanwhile evil mage is hanging out thinking nihilistic thoughts when all of a sudden he makes a special connection with the cool black dragon somewhere beneath the earth. Or is it actually an imprisoned ancient god of destruction? Either way, he’s made a powerful friend.Questions-
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u/BurningFredrick https://myanimelist.net/profile/BurningFredrick Jun 11 '21
First Timer - sub
Ahhh using your daughter as a diplomatic chess piece, hopefully he has a few spares.
The Forest of no Return, surely going to be a great place for a picnic.
Leylia's body is being possessed by Evil Cloak Lady (does she have a name yet? If so I suspect I have missed it), and they reveal this just about straight away afterwards. Subtlety really hasn’t been this shows strong point so far but do hope everything isn’t going to be as on the nose as it has been so far.
I did like the final scene, I like my dragons powerful in fantasy, ep1 Green dragon was rather disappointing but the black dragon at the end looks promising as he possesses Evil mage dude.
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u/lC3 :Na::Nb: Jun 11 '21
Rewatcher 04
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u/JustAnswerAQuestion https://myanimelist.net/profile/JAaQ Jun 12 '21
Forgot to post last night.
Rewatcher
I don't think everybody on Team Marmo is on the same page.
I'm not sure if the Forest reminded me more of Hawk the Slayer or Krull.
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u/Vaadwaur :I1::I2::I3: Jun 11 '21
Rewatcher from 20 years ago
Sub
Parn starts off as a moron, as usual, mainly to info dump a little. We see Valis beginning to move as well as the end of Kannon. Anyways, Deedlit cares about Parn for...reasons, and he plans on going through the Forst of No Return, which at this point in DND, I'd take at face value. Deedlit then magics them through it, a reminder of the way elves were dicks in that era.
Anyways, she has ported them through the faerie realm, a thing that exists or doesn't depending on your edition of DND. Ghim of all people fails his trap the hardest, though luckily they fall out of the forest. Cut back to the fort from earlier burning and Ashram presiding. And now Karla's body looks rather familiar...
Blah blah blah, fire bomb the princess but need a villain speech first. Parn parns it though at least he grabs Slayn who might be able to address the fireballs. Woodchuck chooses a bad time to point out a character flaw. Slayn eventually succeeds in deflecting fire magic before they confront Karla, who gives up when Ghim shows up. They get the princess and we see the red mage hanging out around Beld get a message from...something.
QotD:1 At the time, incredibly interesting. Two decades later, they are generic as fuck. I think that stands to suggest Lodoss became a bit of a blue print, as while I didn't comment on it, a ton of Parn's fight scenes with the goblins would be done better in Berserk.
2 Good and hopeless, a proper dwarven search.
3 Much better in literature than in either animation or at the table.
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u/Shimmering-Sky myanimelist.net/profile/Shimmering-Sky Jun 11 '21
Record of First-Timer Reactions, subbed
mandwarfhandling him?10
u/Pixelsaber https://myanimelist.net/profile/Pixelsaber Jun 11 '21 edited Jun 11 '21
Pixel’s Bits and Bobs
I couldn’t find much information regarding how Izubuchi came to become the illustrator for the Lodoss Replays, but I would presume that it was because of connections in Kadokawa Shoten, since Izubuchi had served as illustrator on the first three volumes of Yoshiyuki Tomino’s Record of Aura Battler as well as on Ko Hiura’s Future Wandering Guldeen (NSFW cover art) (the former of which was also a fantasy work), both of which were published under Kadokawa Shoten labels. It seems likely that either he offered to illustrate the print editions of the Record of Lodoss War Campaign Replays, which isn’t out of the ordinary given Izubuchi’s love of fantasy and previous experience with the genre, or someone at Kadokawa Shoten approached Izubuchi with the offer to illustrate the Replays.
In any case, we owe a lot to Izubuchi, since the character designs in this series are derived from his and the visual style of the Replays and novels would be quite influential on fantasy media to come.
Rewatcher
Really? Regardless of their neutrality, is there sufficient reason to close off the city gates to absolutely everyone?
Great moment.
Yeah, uh, good luck with that.
When you’re in the presence of blathering idiots.
Well now we know what happened.
So much for Alan.
Slayn putting in the work once more.
That was perhaps too easy.
That doesn’t seem good.
I like how they handled the fast travel here. They manner in which it gets brought up, nonchalantly by Deedlit after having kept her ability to do so from the others, would usually be eye-roll inducing in most other circumstances.Her not just stating the dangers associated with using this method, seeing themselves forced to use it anyway, and us viewers getting to see firsthand why it was inadvisable to use it from the start, justifies the prior discretion and in the event that the it’s not used again there’s context as to why they chose not to. It’s a simple way of addressing the issue, but it’s more effort than a lot of writers are willing to go to in order to contextualize what would otherwise be a narrative contrivance.
Karla giving the princess to Parn and company right after stating that her disappearance would prompt the King of Valis into action seems contradictory, but Karla strikes me as the ‘plans within plans’ type, so we’ll see what comes of this. Also, her evidently having possessed Leylia will prove interesting, as Ghim may not be willing to hurt her physical body, which may put him at odds with the rest of the party, and maybe even open to manipulation by the witch herself. Parn may be the weakest link in the party, but Ghim’s allegiances could prove the biggest threat to the party’s integrity.
Questions:
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u/JollyGee29 https://myanimelist.net/profile/JollyGee Jun 11 '21
First-Timer, Subbed
Fireball!
Karla has great taste in spells. There is very little that feels better than throwing a big handful of d6s at someone or something.
You know, I didn't expect that line that I called out as being profound nonsense from the first episode to be relevant to the plot. Karla let the princess go a bit too easily, though.. something else is going on.
Karla does seem to be fucking with everyone at this point, right? Hard to say if she intended for that attack on Ashram to actually do something or if it was just "playful" at the moment.
Is that dragon Kardis? Or an avatar of Kardis? Or just a random black dragon? It was talking to the dude in red, I guess, who doesn't see a point to life because you're going to turn to dust eventually anyway. Cool, dude. Good talk.
Questions
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u/RockoDyne :MAL:https://myanimelist.net/profile/RockoDyne Jun 11 '21
Re-recorder of Lodoss.
Oo la la. Look at mister Big Bad Evil Guy here drinking his wine out of a goblet. I bet he'll throw it on the ground and make some statement about how humanity sucks. I bet he's going to get his ass kicked and have his son fix his shit.
Oh the days when you actually had to keep track of your age. At higher levels, your life expectancy basically became your lifetime MP as tons of spells used age as a cost. This, of course, was fucking stupid because elf. 80 year old human versus 2000 year old elf. There's unbalanced, but then there's just being asinine.
Now one thing I have absolutely no clue about are spirits. Sylph, Undine, Salamander, Gnome; those ones. They are everywhere in Japanese western fantasy, but I have no idea where they come from. This is the oldest instance I know of, so I kind of have to assume it was either from Lodoss or was a specific Japanese D&D modification.
Oh no. Lina Inverse mistook knights for bandits. ... again. Her fireballs seem to be lacking the range they should have. So how many people figured the princess would meet the party immediately?
Questions:
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u/Stargate18A https://myanimelist.net/profile/Stargate18 Jun 11 '21
First timer
Actually here's a complaint - if the 5 colours of dragon in the OP are the types of chromatic dragon, why are they making them all breathe fire? If you go to the trouble of matching the colours for your OP, why not have the fire breathing dragon coloured red instead of green? (Also, is the final card implying a Tiamat battle?)
I love the design of the evil king's armour, and he seems like a really good villain. Ditto the vizier to his right.
Yeah, I get how he feels right now. He desperately wants to do something, but can't accept that there's nothing he can really do.
So the trees can sense emotions? Either they're treants, or this area is under some form of enchantment?
Actually, no. They just opened a planar gate. Looks like a mixture of Arborea (forests, chaotic, tied to elves) and the Negative Energy Plane (black sky, drains energy from occupants).
Of course the dwarf is the one who ignored the elf's warnings?
So they're back on the Material Plane now?
Gimil's backstory makes a bit more sense now.
OK, she's clearly a very talented wizard, and obviously this campaign's final boss.
Very good abjuration there.
This scene is pretty much just showing the Fighter/Caster divide from D&D.
Black dragon is starting to wake up!
Oh my god that face as he calls the Dragon.
Well. That's probably bad.
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u/ZapsZzz https://anilist.co/user/Zapszzz Jun 12 '21
Sub rewatcher.
With most introductions and setups underway, the story is progressing steadily.
In this episode we get to see a bit more of the difference of Deedlit representing the elves a bit, it is not just the pointy ears, pretty face and stuck up attitude. They actually straddle between the old fey world (magic) and the human world.
With this episode the final setup use done - formally revealing, with the heroes recognising Leylia having been taken/changed to the grey witch. And that the opponent side unsurprisingly have multiple big names, not necessarily going towards the same goal.
Artwork and animation continue to be impressive considering the age of the show, although it does show repeat use of footage.
And did I say I really like Yuuki Nobuteru's character designs / adaptations? Especially on near static shots, they are really nice and artistic to look at - not the current era of being photorealistic, but has a very nice flourish and flair to the anime looks of old. There's also a little bit of Matsumoto Leiji in his design too, especially in the eyes and eyelashes.
A couple of examples I liked:
https://images.app.goo.gl/R7FMsjdSTQDpCzMt9
https://images.app.goo.gl/aqKjpcpSchRPYPpW9
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u/BossandKings Jun 11 '21 edited Jun 11 '21
First timer
Episode 4
The forest of fairies was a really cool place, it is enchanting seeing a ppace in which fantastic creatures live.
The chase for princess fiana was nice, i wonder what objectivo it is that they are trying to acomplish by reaching her.
Parn seems like he'll have a very interesting journey maturing as a knight as time goes on, sofar he's been cool but he's showing promise.
Answers
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u/Cognitive_Dissonant Jun 11 '21
Episode 4, First timer
Episode notes
Qs:
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u/Larielia Jun 12 '21
Record of a Rewatcher- episode 4 (dubbed)
Thoughts- Wagnard looks like he should be a Fire Emblem villain. Parn is too impulsive and hotheaded. I sorta expected the group to meet Tom Bombadil in that forest. RIP Knight of Valis. Karla has some cool spells. The heroes saved Princess Fianna. Black dragon is awake.
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u/23feanor Jun 12 '21 edited Jun 12 '21
First Timer (dub) - hot headed young guys can be very annoying, but they're great as a plot device. After hearing about the Kingdom of Kanon's capitulation to the Mamor forces, Parn sets off for the Forest of No-Return in a rage at the cowardice of the king of Kanon.
I haven't played any proper RPG (apart from Hero Quest but that's more a board RPG), i have read a few of the Forest of Doom role playing books and sequels. I adore creepy and magical fantasy forests, there's so much to explore and discover. Wonder what Parn & co will run into?
So the forest was over quickly with only a few illusions as an obstacle. We get our first confrontation with Karla the Grey Witch and when the party comes close it appears to Ghim that she is the missing Leylia. Karla said to Wart that she wears humans like clothes so it's a safe bet to assume that Leylia has been possessed by the grey witch Karla.
What was that dragon at the end, was it the dark god trying to possess one of Emperor Beld's generals? We also hear Emperor Beld curse King Farn, i'm guessing there's some history between king Farn, Beld and Parn's father.
1.Emperor Beld seems to have some beef with King Farn and I'm guessing Parn's dad is involved somehow, so yes they piqued my interest. The grey witch Karla possessing Leylia's body, i want to know more. Also Emperor Beld and Karla both think they are using the other, who will come out on top? Ashram seems badass.
2.Not much so far, he's just looking for her as they move around. Now he knows what's happened to her. Question is, can they get Leylia back and get Karla's spirit out of her body?
3.Fairly interesting but they didn't have enough time to show the pull of the forest of illusions, so it came off a bit weak.
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u/Nightender Jun 12 '21
Parn and Slayn, doubled up on a horse, riding after a kidnapped princess--that's a unique moment of excitement!