Wednesday 6 April 2016

Knight Fantasy Sword & Sorcery Anime Watched By Katsuden

Record of Grancrest War
I give this anime a try because the title is kind of close to 'Record of Lodoss War' and this anime sure didn't disappoint me. This anime re-ignited my love for knight fantasy genre again and one anime that I continue watching one episode after another. It's the anime that I would stay up watching and sacrificing my sleep. It's almost like Langrisser in anime form knights, mages, valkyrie, vampire, werewolves to mystery creature. The drawing to some scenes may lack but good efforts throwing in so much battle scenes. 


Chain Chronicle: The Light of Haecceitas
Unexpected found through watching paid television channel and this is good. The episode 1 caught my attention with an epic battle before the already established hero goes back on another adventure, training a new protagonist and at the same time doubted his faith. It has both the accents of RPG and strategy game. 


Madan no Ou to Vanadis
One of my recent favourite knight fantasy anime. Very classic presentation and drawing style of 80's game/anime knight like Langrisser.  An epic adventure filled with complex war tactics and beautiful women. Adapted from the light novel written by Tsukasa Kawaguchi. Some critics on the quality of the drawing however it didn't affect me.

If you like the old school type of knight fantasy anime like 'Lodoss War' or 'Bastard!', you would likely to like 'Madan no ou to Vanadis'. The hero here is not Robin Hood, but a lad who also uses bow. Most people would the stigma of archer been cowardly, hiding behind troopers and sniping at a distance. Male protagonist is wise, courageous and possessed a compassionate hearts. The real deal of this anime would be the war maidens who were both skillful in battle and charming. The drawings were a bit raw however it had been compensated by fan service ^_^. Some of the male knight like Roland, the wielder of Durandal, had extra bulky armour design like those of Langrisser. This is a story of a Persian prince who managed to escape death from the betrayal of his dad's general and in-return built up an army of his own to reclaim his homeland. Watch the anime to see how prince Arslan uses his wit and benevolence to win the hearts of his followers and allies.

Overlord
Another of those trapped in the Knight Fantasy game type of anime where NPCs begin to develop personalities and minds of their own while the protagonist decides to put his skills to use as the game's new overlord. I actually likes the protagonist wearing the knight armour over this sorcerer robe. Fairly interesting which I think is a good pass time anime. 

Sword Art Online
Highly popular and I don't think this anime need any introduction. My first exposure to this genre of trapped in game anime. Very refreshing and the plot spiked a lot of emotions. I meant the first arc which truly was epic and memorable. One of my top Knight Fantasy anime. 

Tower of Druaga
Based on a classic game of dungeon exploration. An anime that I didn't fall in love at first sight but slow enjoying it as the story progresses. Its a 2-part anime with a nice ending. First part titled 'The Aegis of Uruk'  and the second season, titled 'The Sword of Uruk'.

Log Horizon
Trapped in game genre anime which is often compared to 'Sword Art Online'. It explain more on the complexity of been trapped in the game and highlighted some really intelligent strategies in the anime. Not some highly action packed with ups and downs while the plot develops and gradually build up the scenarios.  

Akame Ga Kill!
I will highly recommend this anime for its action and twisted in plot. you will be thrilled by the sudden death of some characters. The plot takes me on a roll-coaster ride and makes me really emo. The kind of anime that you keep on going following on one episode after another.

Berserk
Always intriguing to be hooked to those spectacular battle scenes set in medieval Europe and especially when Guts, the main character wielded his oversized board sword. In my opinion, the initial part of the story was excellent when juvenile Guts joined the rogue army known as 'Hawk Band' with wave of difficult but successful battles glorifying the key characters. However the story kind of lost its focus when creatures from hell started appearing berserkly. The anime also ended abruptly with Hawk Leader 'Griffith, corrupted for more power, fallen from grace with betrayal. Maybe the author 'Kentarou Miura' wanted to channel fan to its manga for continuation... I’m not a fan of manga, so I didn't follow the story after the anime ended. If the TV series drawing is too old for you, try the re-drawn movie OVA that highly recommended. 


Maoyu Maou Yusha 
Translated as 'Demon King and Hero'. Not quite as I expected when I watched the anime. I start really slow in the beginning. I think the action only started after episode 6. When I watched the first few episodes, I almost thought I watched the wrong anime as the anime talks about agriculture more other thing else...

Record of Lodoss Wars
A definite 1st spot on my list! In the late eighties and early ninties, people were much fascinated with dragons, knights, elves, dwarfs and etc... That was the era when animes and games based on knight fantasy started to emerge. Some of which we are familiar with may include Dungeons and Dragons, Fire Emblem, Warsong, Langrisser, Legend of Zelda and Record of Lodoss War. Before even Lord of the Ring existed, we were already exposed to knight fantasy through Record of Lodoss War. Record of Lodoss War featured many classes of warriors including knight, thief, elve, dwarf, magician, berserker, healer and summoner.

Ys
This is an anime derived from its successful RPG game series. I have not played any of its games but found interest in the anime while searching for knight fantasy anime. The story main focus is on a young hero called Adol Christine who was on his quest or should I say fulfilling his destiny to save the land of Esteria as well as the ancient land of Ys. He had to collect the six books of Ys with the help of two beautiful goddesses as well asthe descendants of the six keepers of those books.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes
Last but not least is this anime with a long long title - 'Legend of the Legendary Heroes'. It may seems like a happy go luckily anime for a start but the plot gets serious and with political agenda as the story progress. The comic relief remembered me of 'Slayer' however the role switched in this anime with the female protagonist being the sword wielder and the male protagonist being the sorcerer, Alpha Stigma in this context. The anime had been around for a while so I'm quite the late-comer to this anime. 

Queen's Blade
Definitely not for the young! Not for the plot as you know it almost all ecchi and sometimes overboard. For the character design for this anime. In fact, I'm contemplating to get add this in on the post. Story of an exile warrior's journey across the entire Continent to overthrow  tyrannical rule led by Claudette. 

Fire Emblem
Sadly, the anime was discontinued only after the release of two episodes, which means this DVD contain two episodes. I'm a big fan of Fire Emblem games, so my liking for this anime is really indescribable and it keeps me wondering why only two episodes. 
Plot Summary: Once, in a time before the first histories were recorded, there existed a land known as Akanea, founded by the great hero Anri. The three gods of Discord, Madness and War sent Medius, tyrant of the country of Durhua, to join forces with Garnev, the ruler and supreme priest of Khadin. The armies and strongholds of Akanea were no match against their combined might and despite a valiant resistance, the land was soon consumed by the black tides of darkness. However, Medius would soon learn to rue the day he conquered Akanea. For the spirit of Akanea could not be extinguished while the fires of freedom continued to burn in the hearts of the Akanean people. Not while a hero still breathed in whose veins the blood of Anri yet flowed. With the enchanted sword Falcion in his hands, Prince Mars would rally the people and begin a crusade to liberate Akanea....

Rage of Bahamut Genesis
An adaptation of a popular hand phone apps battle card game whereby gods, angels, demons, dragons, monsters with many other mythical creatures and legendary immortals were a part of the bundle and the anime as followed. I would say it's a well drawn anime with some epics fights. The male protagonist is the untypical hero who's not prime and proper, not to mention honorable. A short 12 episodes which I remembered most was the impressive story intro of gods versus the raging Bahamut and the story nicely roped in holy maiden Jeanne D'Arc as one of the supporting casts. 

Tears to Tiara
I watched the anime before playing the game. A typical RPG set-up that will not go down. Quite and amazing work with the resurrection of the demon king helping the descendants of a good friend restoring order and royal bloodline. Good character development and story to the final showdown. 

Fate Stay Night / Zero series
These include all the Fate series. Both Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night were great anime which the steak of tragic had stirred up a lot of emotions in me. On the other hand, the anime had it gave hope bigger than life and self sacrifices for others for a better future. Could not help feeling a pinch of sadness at the end of both anime. Fate/Zero is the prequel produced after Fate/Stay Night focusing on the fourth Grail War.
Fate/Zero is one knockout prequel after Fate/Stay Night, so good that the storyline and fight scenes took anime standard to a next level. The tragic of individual characters casted strong deep impression and flashback of the anime. The recent Fate/Stay Night Unlimited Blade Works, seems to me at first like a remake of first Fate/Stay Night, but apparently with some changes whereby plot of the episodes is primarily based on the Unlimited Blade Works storyline in the Fate/stay night visual novel.


Tales of Verperia
If you are fan of "Tales" game/anime, check this out. An adaptation from game which the OVA which tell the story before what lead to the game's storyline. Flynn is the protagonist, Yuri Lowell's best friend and both trained as Imperial Knights. unlike Yuri, wishes to change the Empire from the inside.

Romeo X Juliet
I watched this anime when I saw the pegasus and some scenes of the characters in their knight armour which I thought would be similar to 'Fire Emblem'. In actual fact, the anime take on Shakespeare's literature and translate it in a knight fantasy world. It's more of romance genre than action.  

Bastard!!
Was recommended by a friend when I first watched the anime years back and fell in love with the anime. instantly. This is an anime originated from comic and the story is about a evil warlock (Dark Schneider) who resurrected to become a hero. You will be able to see a lot of battles, magic and dragon in this anime. Too bad the anime only has of six episodes and discontinued after which. An anime of classic and iconically status. Based on a manga in Japan, published monthly by Shonen Jump Comics which had its OVA. Schneider is lone warlock, freed from years of imprisonment, stands against an army of destruction bent on world conquest and resurrection of an ancient evil. But Dark Schneider is not protecting the desperate people of Meta-Rikana out of the goodness of his heart. After all, they were the ones who imprisoned him for leading this same army against thier city the first time! However, he's not about to let his old army, his old generals, and his ex-girlfriend show him up. Besides, his new girlfriend is counting on him, and its been a while since he had some fun...

Claymore
Very appealing to me and the anime also touch some aspects of strategies. I was searching for anime of knight fantasy anime and I came across 'Claymore'. It's more of a dark fantasy anime set in medieval era. I find rather intriguing with good fight scenes of brute and gore. In fact, I'm a latecomer to knowing this manga adaptation. The story centered on Clare, monster hunter working under an organization where their agents wield oversized sword like Claymore used by Scottish warrior, particularly 'William Wallace'. Even though Clare is ranked lowest of all Claymores at number 47, she's no weakling when it comes to slaying Yomas and has even managed to kill several Awakened Beings! The anime also tells how Clare's fate intertwined with Theresa, the Fade Smile.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan
When I first watched the anime, it was the old OVA version till in recent years, the TV series launched with a more in depth story telling and of course a better drawn anime. This is a story of a Persian prince who managed to escape death from the betrayal of his dad's general and in-return built up an army of his own to reclaim his homeland. Watch the anime to see how prince Arslan uses his wit and benevolence to win the hearts of his followers and allies.

Dragon Knight - Wheel of Time
Dragon Knight is a popular Hentai franchise for anime and game but if you think the code one dvd released by ADV is hentai, then think again! Don't asked me how I know. Hee! Hee! Somehow, ADV had taken away all the sexual content so this version is now safe for anyone above the age of 15 years old. The anime about a knight, Kakeru, who goes back in time to correct a mistake he had made so as to end humankind suffering under the hands of an evil sorcerer. In fact, the anime is neater and better focus with the sexual contents removed.

Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon?
This is another really nice anime for all ages and would be love by those who don't usually watch knight fantasy anime as well. It's light-hearted with romance and adventure that keep you entertain. Tells a story of the protagonist, Bell Cranel's fateful encounter with the tiny Goddess Hestia and motivation to strive after been rescued by the Ais Wallenstein, his crush, in the dungeon. 

Seven Deadly Sins
The drawing of this anime may seems a bit unusual however it does has a good plot of assembling seven warriors, each tagged to a certain deadly sins. Don't be mistaken! They are the good guys been set-up and framed. Together, they help the princess and her kingdom flush out the corrupted so call "Holy Knights". Can expect good humour and flashy fight scenes in this anime.

Legend of Lemnear
Attracted to this anime mainly due to the design of the armour. It's typical that characters of knight fantasy have huge armour plate on their shoulders. The characters design of 'Legend of Lemnear' resemble Langerisser a lot. Most importantly, the heroine of 'Legend of Lemnear' is very sexy.

Deltora Quest
DELTORA is the abbreviation, made up by the first letters from each of the seven precious gems Diamond, Emerald, Lapis, Topaz, Opal, Ruby and Amethyst Doing a repost of this enchanting knight fantasy RPG genre anime after I had continued from episode 26 dated 29.09.2009. It has been a long interval however never forgotten. I had watched till episode 52 whereby Lief managed to unit the seven tribes across the land of Deltora, gather the seven gem and arranged them in order on the belt of Deltora. Hence, summoned Odin drove the Shadow Lord back to the shadow land. That's the ending for the English version as the Japanese version continued till Shadow lord was finally destroy in episode 62. The anime of Deltora Quest is based on its original children's fantasy story books, written by Australian author Emily Rodda.

4 comments:

Yami said...

I think 90s were the best time for Fantasy Genre since they puts lots of effort back then when it comes to world-building which is very important for this genre.

However i am rather averse toward the recent ones especially the ones from last five years. if i put it in Role-Playing terms is because they focus more on Crunch rather than Fluff. And that tend empower the characters too much which tend to make them look like Munchkins or Powergamers. I think those recent Fantasy writers in Japan should try to play Western RPG as Dungeon Masters so they can learn better story-telling instead of making bunch of Mary Sues.

In my opinion Lodoss Senki OVA is the hallmark of High Fantasy Anime and so far none have dethrone it. I think i will give Bastard and Lemnear a watch eventually since they seems interesting enough.

As other fantasy animes that i have watched i can recommend Utawarerumono which is awesome oriental fantasy or Slayers which is quite decent if Generic. I think Orphen and Popolocrois should be decent too. As for other media in general Falcom make really good fantasy titles and if you don't mind H, Rance are really awesome with the fluff too.

Dennis aka Katsuden said...

>> Yami
In true that 90s is an era of knight fantasy animes with strong influence of RPG and turn-based strategy knight fantasy such as 'Langrisser', 'Fire Emblem' and 'Dungeon & Dragons'. Even book and dice knight fantasy games were in trend in the early years. The era before 'Game of Thrones' or 'Lord of the Ring' we're even heard ^_^ 'Lodoss' indeed remains top spot and not easy to throne. Think game on 'Lodoss' is coming and hopefully some franchises or anime redrawn to come with it. Thank you for the detailed comment and anime recommendations

chrismandesign said...

Looks like someone was spending time (a lot) with knights, swords, spirits, dragons, princesses, dark lords and other mythical creatures in the medieval age...

While I was pretty busy watching zombies, survivors, witches, mechas and other murky or spooky things =P ...

HEHE...

I’m not particularly fan of medieval-esque anime series, with western style, but developed by eastern creators, just because their stories set in such period, result quite baffling most of the times, for a western viewer, like me...

Don’t get me wrong, pal, is not that those are bad stories or something like that, rather is that the medieval age was lived differently in the west and in the east sides of the world; the cultural background undeniably changes the way people perceive their world around...

Now, I also prefer stories set in the future, more than those set in the past and it’s just a personal preference, since a good story works fine independently of the time it’s set...

Yet, Bastard! (yeah, it was not just Bastard, it was Bastard!, which sound even more Bastardly Bastard for me LOLOLOL), with such a defiant title, really caught my attention and probably I will give it a chance... I think there is nothing as intriguing as a Bastard! (here we go again LOL) doing good deeds against his own will, because of the circumstances... =OOOOO

Dennis aka Katsuden said...

>> Chrismandesign
I think ppl are usually curious about other cultures like the westerners taking interest in oriental counterparts.

Apart from knight fantasy animes also spend a lot of time of mecha and at time zombie anime too.. Without doubt, my blog is primarily influences by mecha anime. As for zombie anime, I remember having watched "High School of the Dead" & "Are you a Zombie?".

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