Return to the Accursed Island – This Week in Anime

Lucas


Chris, believe it or not, the year 2026 has brought us yet another addition to the Record of Lodoss War franchise! Penned as a webcomic via Studio White—itself a collaborative effort involving KADOKAWA, LINE Digital Frontier, and REDICE STUDIO—Record of Lodoss War: Queen of Death serves as a prequel to the cherished original saga. Having gone through the initial four translated entries, I am sad to report that this new webtoon simply lacks that old-school magic…

That said, checking it out pushed me to finally sit down and watch the original Record of Lodoss War anime, which is an absolute masterpiece. Now I am practically begging to talk about it alongside a treasure trove of other vintage fantasy titles with you or anyone else willing to listen!

Come on, Chris! Answer the call to adventure and dive into this Tolkien- and D&D-inspired retrospective with me. My friends and my fiancée have done their absolute best to tolerate my rambling, but I desperately need a fellow anime expert to join me on this epic quest!

Pardon the early tangent, but Honor Among Thieves was such a breath of fresh air for the action-adventure and heist genres following years of superhero dominance. It was genuinely exhilarating to watch a fantasy film that didn’t constantly hit the brakes to spell out the lore behind every single proper noun in the script. I’m well aware it didn’t rake in blockbuster profits and the current licensing situation for D&D makes a sequel unlikely, but that movie punched way above its weight and deserves all the praise it gets!

With that side quest wrapped up, let’s return to our main feature! Maybe I’m just burnt out on modern isekai pap, but Lodoss War immediately captivated me with its grim, post-calamity setting teetering on the edge of ruin. Witnessing a Western-style fantasy world in anime that takes zero cues from Dragon Quest is immensely refreshing, and it hits on precisely why I adore FromSoftware‘s brand of dark fantasy!

You hit the nail on the head, Chris! Between the foreboding tone, the mythic world-building, and some genuinely stellar high fantasy action, I was hooked immediately. And beyond just rewarding my attention narratively, Lodoss War is visually decadent—it’s practically a dragon’s hoard of gorgeous art!

They always say “every frame a painting,” but every single shot in Lodoss War looks like the kind of airbrushed mural you’d find painted on the side of a van owned by a cool uncle who loves Led Zeppelin. I cannot overstate how incredible this anime looks.

Look at this random supporting villain whose name I’ve already forgotten! It has been roughly 35 years since this OVA dropped, and no character has ever looked more effortlessly evil than this guy!

While I was vaguely aware of Lodoss War‘s aesthetic reputation, watching the first six episodes made so much of Japanese fantasy design history finally click for me! Everything from the visual layout of early Fire Emblem titles to the art direction in ATLUS‘s Metaphor: ReFantazio is clearly taking notes from this anime’s interpretation of Tolkien’s tropes combined with Wizardry.

While Tolkien’s literary works and the Wizardry franchise are ultimately the foundational roots for Japanese interpretations of Western fantasy outside of overt Dragon Quest clones, the way Lodoss War crystallizes that aesthetic is nothing short of breathtaking.

It’s a testament to Wizardry‘s legacy that it continues inspiring creators to this day! Though please don’t ask me to choose between Marcille and Deedlit. I adore my anxious, queer, half-elf disaster daughter, but also…

There’s a very good reason Deedlit became the blueprint for waifus that subsequent creators drew from for over a decade. She oozes charisma and sex appeal without ever being reduced to cheap eye candy, and I have immense respect for whichever artist decided their dream girl needed to be an absolute badass!

Thank you for opening my eyes to the massive rabbit hole of Lodoss War video games waiting for me! And you’re completely right: the way every component of Lodoss War—its lore, its visuals, its character roster—coheres into a familiar yet immensely confident masterwork is incredible to witness. After two decades of fantasy media trying to iterate on or subvert what Lodoss perfected, discovering that it not only holds up but stands as a high-water mark for the genre was a genuine thrill.

Of course, Lodoss War isn’t the only classic fantasy series we checked out for this column! While none quite reach its dizzying heights, Gestalt at least gives dark elf fans a wonderful character in Suzu!

Speaking of which, the only notable dark elf we’ve seen recently is Mariabell from Yandere Dark Elf, which is a terrible show and basically proof that anime culture is losing its way.

Returning to our main topic, I was surprised by how much more Gestalt leaned into a comedic parody of fantasy tropes despite arriving only seven years after Lodoss War. Standard anime conventions are far more overt here, complete with fourth-wall-breaking nods to franchises like Final Fantasy.

I realize this stems from how rapidly the genre saturated the Japanese market during the early and mid-’90s, but it’s striking how much closer Gestalt feels to a contemporary take on Western fantasy compared to its predecessors.

Fairy Princess Ren goes by as many aliases as Gou has sisters, and it’s a riot no matter what title you use! While the darker, grittier ’90s titles did the heavy lifting for introducing anime to Western audiences, Elf Princess Rane helped cement the wacky, irreverent humor the medium is equally famous for. Though the stellar Media Blasters dub definitely carries a lot of the weight for me personally.

I was also pleasantly surprised by how well the comedy in Ren the Fairy Princess holds up! Beyond the rapid-fire gag writing throughout the OVA, extended bits like Gou interrupting his sisters trying to pose for a dramatic album cover feel like a joke straight out of a modern sitcom.

I mean… since you brought it up, I have plenty to say about the 1992 Bastard!! Heavy Metal, Dark Fantasy OVA! Which definitely tiptoes right up to the edge of hentai territory on multiple occasions!

That tonal mismatch is precisely why I bounced off the 2022 revival! Well, that and the fact that hyper-stylized ’90s character designs often struggle to translate into modern digital animation (though reboots like Urusei Yatsura and Go For It, Nakamura-kun!! remain exceptions). On the other hand, the original OVA clicked immediately because its over-the-top script and performances made it clear the show wasn’t taking itself seriously—and neither should the audience.

Hearing Darren Norris lean into his Jack from American Dad persona for Dark Schneider (while sounding like he’s trying not to crack up mid-take) had me hooked instantly, and the sheer audacity of the protagonist made me realize Bastard!! is pure, unadulterated camp rather than a straight fantasy epic.

Plus, it’s a blast spotting classic D&D monsters appearing throughout with their authentic vintage designs!

Current industry landscape aside, AnimEigo is phenomenal, and everyone reading this should support companies working to keep anime history accessible! And Ruin Explorers has been sitting on my watchlist forever.

Given my love for dungeon crawlers, I knew I’d adore it—and I’m starved for fantasy anime that treats its female characters with genuine respect and enthusiasm. Ruin Explorers feels like a five-course meal after years of the industry forcing endless male power fantasies down our throats in this genre.

Hell yes! Everything about the characters and the world practically screams “homebrew campaign,” and I hope physical media collectors show up for this release now that physical media is cool again (though let’s be real, collecting physical media never stopped being cool).

On the topic of pure silliness, Luna Varga is literally an anime about a high-fantasy princess who fuses with a demon that happens to be a dinosaur in order to save her kingdom.

That synopsis tells you everything you need to know, lol. The character designs bear a distinct, neat resemblance to Saint Seiya, but at its core, the show delivers precisely what the “dinosaur princess” premise promises and will mostly appeal to anyone whose ears immediately perked up at that pitch.

As you and Sylvia discussed recently, giant women have always held a sacred spot in humanity’s collective imagination.

The final classic series on my radar for today is Shamanic Princess. Judging by the lightweight promotional art and summaries, I expected something sweet and cutesy, but it ended up pulling a proto-Madoka on me—it’s surprisingly visceral and VERY gay!

At the very least, these titles continue to leave their fingerprints on modern creators, as we’ve seen throughout our conversation. As remakes become increasingly common in the industry, hopefully fresh adaptations will help drive attention back to the originals. Regardless, the anime community has always done a far better job preserving media history than corporate archives, and I’m confident these classics will remain just a couple of clicks away for anyone eager to find them!

While relying on grassroots accessibility isn’t ideal, fans take what they can get—though I sincerely hope their enduring popularity might convince some industry executives to open up official channels for these masterpieces.