Legend of Crystania

Movie

• length: Feature
• viewed: 20060214
• Rating: 4/10

Legend of Crystania is based on the manga of the same name, the sequel to Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight. (Not a direct sequel to Record of Lodoss War.) It tells us what happens to Ashram and Pirotess after they leave Lodoss.

I just have to say, Ashram just can't get a break. He gets killed in the original Lodoss, essentially exiled in Heroic Knight, and now he gets taken over by a dark god and killed in Crystania. Sheesh! Ashram was one of my favorite characters in Lodoss, his character had a lot more depth and character development than a villain of other fantasy stories. (Of course, that's what the whole Dark Knight mythos tends to lend to a character.)

So why is this rating so low? Well, I had high expectations for it, since the original Lodoss is one of my favorite anime series of all time. (Hey, I came onto it when I was interested in DND stuff.) However, I suppose I should have set my expectations lower after Heroic Knight, but hey. So again, you ask me, why is this one so low? Part of the problem is that the epic story arc you found in Lodoss and Heroic Knight just doesn't come across when it's a single-shot movie. Not necessarily a bad thing, but for a universe that was basically born from a DND campaign, it really shows its weakness in a single-shot.

Secondly, the artwork is light years behind the previous series. I had the feeling I was watching storyboards at a few times and they just forgot to do the final movie. Also, the character designs fell short of Lodoss. The visual redesign of Ashram and Pirotess just left the Lodoss fan crying.

The characters also felt as flat as the artwork. Pirotess had none of the strength of character and depth of the Lodoss stories. Ashram was just a puppet for the most part. (A&P being essentially secondary characters just didn't feel right either.) The main characters were not gripping at all. The little girl was as annoying as .. well, as Gwen in Guild Wars. (I think they used the same model in fact.)

I would definitely not recommend this one unless you just really want to know what happened to them after Heroic Knight, and even then I'd probably recommend reading the manga over watching this.

--Tometheus 12:19, 14 February 2006 (PST)

External Links

• Legend of Crystania on Wikipedia
• Record of Lodoss War on Wikipedia