Forum - View topicThe Mike Toole Show - Wizards & Warriors
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Cranium
Posts: 48 |
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25. |
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prabb
 Posts: 86 |
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Not the second one. |
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Keichitsu0305
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Sands of Destruction: Is that the show with the teddy bear wearing an eyepatch and a bandanna? I'm quite curious about watching it. |
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Surrender Artist
 Posts: 3264 Location: Pennsylvania, USA |
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Yes, yes it is, and I think that it's a pretty entertaining series. Said teddy bear is great because sometimes he manages to be both badass and funny because, well he's a teddy bear. It's a very solid light adventure that's entertaining has just enough sincerity to feel pretty satisfying. (I think the English dub is good and the whole series is on Hulu and FUNImation's website) |
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TitanXL
 Posts: 4036 |
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I haven't seen Orphen in forever, but I do remember enjoying it, and the sequel Orphen Revenge wasn't as good and seemed a lot sillier.
It's based on a game, but Star Ocean EX and all the Tales games would qualify. Star Ocean EX is a bit hit or miss (it's nice seeing Ashton and Oper ainteract, which is impossible in the games) but it misses since it never got a second season to cover the second half of the game (though it did get a drama CD continuation. And a manga) But still pretty enjoyable. Tales of Abyss is pretty nice, and Eternia is... okay for what it is. It's more of a fanservice laden side story than an adaption of the game, which would be impossible with only 13 episodes. My current favorite is probably Fairy Tail. |
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notazaku
 Posts: 135 |
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Speaking of Orphen I seem to remember an Orphen PS2 game was actually released in N. America. I almost forgot all about that.
I recently watched The Legend of the Legendary Heroes(awful name). I didn't quite know what to expect beyond a fantasy about collecting hero relics, but I like how it played out like a political thriller. |
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JuicyB
Posts: 278 |
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This is the best column on ANN, always a pleasure to read. Having said that, Lodoss is a terrible anime. I've never understood why it gets so much love.
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glitteringloke
 Posts: 160 |
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I remember watching Lodoss: COTHK on toonami reactor in college. I remember the last episode aired right after the semester let out and i only had dial up at home
 . Super love for Spark.
And wow, Ryuu Knight was a fun textbook RPG type anime. the follow up OVAs were pretty terrible though. |
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Fifth B
 Posts: 213 |
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What a wonderful column. I've always been a fan of fantasy stories, though my interest tends to fluctuate over time. I was really into D&D as a young lad, but drifted away from it by the time I was a teenager, at which point I preferred Warhammer 40K to fantasy. I have been getting back into fantasy lately, having gone back and reread the first view books of A Song of Ice and Fire.
For fantasy anime and manga, I really love Berserk, though I prefer the manga. Honestly, even though the drawn-out release irritates me to a certain extent, as soon as I lay eyes on a page of Miura's artwork, all that tension turns to awe and anticipation. Hell, sometimes it seems like he's spent and entire year on a single panel. Breathtaking. My favorite fantasy anime is probably still Escaflowne, which remains one of the best structured and best written anime out there. I would also say Fullmetal Alchemist, which I tend to rank above Escaflowne, but I don't really consider it an outright fantasy. Scrapped Princess is another wonderful one, and I particularly love it for the manner in which it blurs the line between fantasy and science fiction. Gotta love Clarke's third law! In a similar vein, I also really enjoy Utawrerumono, which I think of as more of a guilty pleasure. I'll also say that I adore Claymore, and didn't really have any issues with the ending. Yes, it leaves some threads hanging, but I felt it addressed the central conflict in the story, Clare's struggle to hold onto her humanity, quite well. I have fond memories of Moribito, which are unfortunately muddled, as I was watching it at a point in time when my mind was on other things. I definitely intend to rewatch that one some time in the near future. All that being said, I have never seen anything on this list. I've heard that Guin Saga is good, and my one issue with Slayers which keeps me from giving it a go is the span of the franchise. I gave up on trying to find a good, Tolkien-scale fantasy in other mediums a long time ago. Tolkien is Tolkien, and most attempts to outright emulate his work tend to be rather generic. The best fantasies take certain elements of what Tolkien created, learn form his strengths and weaknesses, and try to do their own thing with them, without attempting to become The Lord of the Rings. Also, I'm happy to see I'm not the only one here who digs conlangs! I've been working on my own on and off for a long time now, and if I can ever pull it off, I will consider my life a victory. |
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st_owly
 Posts: 5234 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland |
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A column devoted to fantasy anime and not a single mention of Fushigi Yuugi?! That was one of my first fantasy series and it's still one of my favourites (the manga more than the anime)
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rojse
 Posts: 234 |
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No love for "Aura Battler Dunbine", one of the first anime to combine fantasy and giant robots, and directed by Yoshiyuki Tomino of Gundam fame?
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Fencedude5609
 Posts: 5088 |
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Pft. Wanna bet? Edit: And it does have killer child robots. Technically. |
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ElectricDork
Posts: 73 |
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I've always had a lot of love for Rune Solider. It was the fantasy comedy I was hoping Slayers would be. I found the humor to be fresher and liked how it remained largely episodic, not getting bogged down in long, serious "save the world" story arcs. And, yeah, the dub was great. Jason Douglas nailed Louie's goofiness perfectly.
The Lodoss War OVA is something I liked more when I first watched it 15 or so years back. A recent-ish rewatch left me less than impressed with the plotting and characterization, not to mention the ropey animation, but it's still got atmosphere and some beautiful art. I suppose never having played tabletop RPGs means I can only take the show at face value. My favourite fantasy anime is probably Berserk, with Moribito a close second. |
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nhat
Posts: 922 |
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It's a solid series but it's a bit generic. If you watch the OVAs and enjoy that, you can watch the TV series too. It's recommended because it's what helped developed the fantasy genre in JP. |
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Steel Angel
 Posts: 274 Location: Texas |
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How nostalgic seeing some of these talked about after so long.
I remember the Record of Lodoss War (OAV) well, I also remember all the "talk" when Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight was released. A lot of people in the west hadn't been exposed to other forms of content and were upset at the "changed the story". Some still compare them and their differences, but most at least except that the latter was closer to the actual writing. Both are well worth seeing, though i have no idea how widely available they are anymore. Rune Soldier Louie is a classic, IMO. Has enough to be be good while still retaining humor, with out going too overboard with slap stick like The Slayers does. I own both releases in their entirety of course. Though it was a bit more expensive going from VHS to DVD for the first 3 seasons of Slayers. As to the Movies/OVA for Slayers, while good quality I didn't enjoy them as much as the TV show. Scrapped Princess and Claymore are both great and I'd recommend both to any fantasy lover too. Guin Saga, I enjoyed at first but like Utawrerumono it seems to be delving off into more of "war" as its theme and takes a lot of story telling explaining the various conflicts. Utawrerumono did this for a little while, but didn't dwell on it to the point of overkill. Guin Saga seems to be heading in that direction based on the anime adaptation. No idea how long it will jump into conflict as its primary source of story telling, but to me it distracts too much for any enjoyment. |
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