The Age of Gods was closing. Eternity had come to an end. The heavens shook as the armies of Falis, God of Light clashed with those of Falaris, God of Darkness. In the unceasing battle which followed, the earth wept... The seas boiled... At last, only two survivors remained of both sides. Marfa, Goddess of Creation, and Kardis, Goddess of Destruction, who met in a clash which echoed to the ends of the earth. At the end of the fierce battle a new land was born, split off from the continent. And the life's fires of the goddesses of Light and Dark flickered and died away. Thousands of years have since passed. And now, the land to the south of the continent of Alecrast has become known as "Lodoss - The Accursed Island."

And so begins the thirteen-episode series, Record of Lodoss War. Taking place in a Dungeons & Dragons-style world, and preceded by an electronic game of the same name, Record of Lodoss War is a spell-binding adventure through the continent of Lodoss. One of my favorite series, Record of Lodoss War is one of the great fantasy anime titles, with great character designs, great music (both vocal and background), and an epic story.

Record of Lodoss War was originally based upon the Japanese Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game system, which was in turn based upon the American system. So for those of you familiar with our Dungeons & Dragons, many aspects of Record of Lodoss War will seem familiar. It contains many elements stereotypical of a D&D game, such as the grouchy dwarf warrior, the young and inexperienced human warrior, and the spellcasting elf. Dragons abound and are all immensely huge and mighty, and spellcasters throw copious amounts of destructive energy at whoever is unlucky enough to cross their paths. Although some consider the stereotypicalism of Record of Lodoss War to be a weakness, I find it a positive facet of the series. Just as fans of manga enjoy seeing their favorite characters come to life, I enjoyed seeing these various goblins, elves, humans, and whatnot come to life on my TV, no longer confined to images conjured in my imagination by reading text on a page.

At this point, I must warn you about the first episode of Record of Lodoss War. If one were to string all thirteen episodes out by order of plot content, take the fifth or sixth one out, call it the "Prologue," and make that episode one, then one would have done exactly what the creators did. I theorize that they did so in order to throw the audience right into the action and story. I thought it was a great way to start things off, instead of the typical introduction (bring in main characters... start plot off... introduce bad guy... blah blah blah). I was left feeling a bit confused and muddle-headed by the first episode, but that was all overridden by an eager desire to see more and find out all the plot previous to episode one. I'm sure you'll feel the same, and I hope you'll love Record of Lodoss War as much as I do.