Record of Lodoss War

[Malintex_Terek]

Someone told me to start watching the TV series first.

Big mistake!

The TV series sucks as a whole because more than half the show is dedicated to Spark and his adventures, and I don't think Spark makes for a very interesting protagonist. He's fine as a character...but is boring and painfully predictable. Reminds me a lot of CosmicDebris' musings on Hot Rod, a character not really ready for leadership and always plagued with self-doubt when he's thrust into the position ahead of time.

First half was good, I wish the rest of the series had maintained that strength. It helped that Ashram was a complex villain and not a stupid retard cardboard cut-out like Wagnard.

Not to mention, in the first half magic was rather restrained and limited, while Wagnard was able to run DXM all over the place with his teleportation skills. Dumb!

I'm interesting in trying out the OVAs, but I think having seeing the TV series first, I've been badly spoiled for them and it won't have the effect. Are they still worth the effort?

[Silence]

Someone told me to start watching the TV series first.

Big mistake!

The TV series sucks as a whole because more than half the show is dedicated to Spark and his adventures, and I don't think Spark makes for a very interesting protagonist. He's fine as a character...but is boring and painfully predictable. Reminds me a lot of CosmicDebris' musings on Hot Rod, a character not really ready for leadership and always plagued with self-doubt when he's thrust into the position ahead of time.

First half was good, I wish the rest of the series had maintained that strength. It helped that Ashram was a complex villain and not a stupid retard cardboard cut-out like Wagnard.

Not to mention, in the first half magic was rather restrained and limited, while Wagnard was able to run DXM all over the place with his teleportation skills. Dumb!

I'm interesting in trying out the OVAs, but I think having seeing the TV series first, I've been badly spoiled for them and it won't have the effect. Are they still worth the effort?

TV series is atrocious: the OVA is largely what is considered to be "Lodoss War" although the TV series more closely follows the books, it's ruined by weak leads and poor animation.

On the other hand, The Lodoss War OVA is one of my most favorite classic anime of all time. I would highly, highly recommend seeing it and pushing Chronicles of a Heroic Knight far from your mind.

[Malintex_Terek]

There are multiple OVAs, what do I start with?

[Silence]

Well, not the Legend of Crystania movie and OVA garbage spin offs, that's for sure.

The original Record of Lodoss War was a 13-episode miniseries done by Madhouse in 1990. Those are the OVAs you want to go for.
It set the standard for medieval fantasy for years to come: it's a friggin' classic. While the Lodoss War OVA ended differently than the original novels so as to give it a more climactic ending, the story was picked up in the Chronicles of a Heroic Knight TV series which is a sequel/retelling, so you'll see a lot of the same characters from the first half of CHK.
Parn and Deedlit are the protagonists - and if you love Ashram, you're in for a treat.

Absolutely see it and pretend Chronicles of a Heroic Knight never happened. That's what I do and it's worked out quite nicely.

[Angelus Dominus]

The TV series sucks as a whole because more than half the show is dedicated to Spark and his adventures, and I don't think Spark makes for a very interesting protagonist. He's fine as a character...but is boring and painfully predictable. Reminds me a lot of CosmicDebris' musings on Hot Rod, a character not really ready for leadership and always plagued with self-doubt when he's thrust into the position ahead of time.

I'm a huge fan of Lodoss War so I was about to troll the shit out of you but yeah, Spark is... well, yeah.

I'm interesting in trying out the OVAs, but I think having seeing the TV series first, I've been badly spoiled for them and it won't have the effect. Are they still worth the effort?

The OVAs are without a doubt prime examples of beautiful music, excellent story-telling, and near flawless animation. I'd definitely check it out. It was Record of Lodoss War (and Vampire Hunter D) that got me into anime in the first place so it's definitely a must see.

[GEPPETTOSMONSTER]

I watched this a long long long time ago and I don't remember if it was the tv series or the OVA