Not sure if this thread is gonna catch on, but let's give it a try :>

I'm two episodes from finishing my long-overdue rewatch of "Record of Lodoss War" and I'm amazed at how good this medievil-fantasy adventure-anime still is. The pacing is near perfect, there's no boring downtime, each episodes bring the plot forward. The character designs are SO good, it really is a total difference to nowaday's "where is their nose?!"-designs. And speaking of characters, it really feels great how important EVERY character is. Sure, knight Parn is somewhat in the center of everything, but everyone around him does things of importance, too. Even the thief that would be a slapstick sidekick in any modern version of this story, has a thing or two to say, and later on even becomes important to the main plot.

If there's two things I would criticize, it's that:
1.) while I praise the pacing, sometimes the jump between scenes/episodes can feel a bit too much, like, you need to fill in the gaps in your head. Not enough that it becomes a real issue, but a couple additional scenes here and there wouldn't hurt the story.
2.) Sometimes the ongoing plot is really simple compared to what you'd expect. For one, how quickly Parn and his friends become important to the upper royalty, conversing with King Kasshuk like they're equals, despite Parn being a noname beginner (well, the king knew his father, but still ...). Also, we never see other light elves like Deedo (unless they appear in the final 2 episodes), and since they aren't extinct, it makes you wonder why Deedo or Parn never ask them for help. Considering how capable elves are, they'd be a great help in all. There's more stuff like that, but ultimately it's easy to accept these logic holes in favor of the swift pacing.

I'm glad I finally did the rewatch, it really still is the genre-defining anime that I thought it was for all these years. Anyone who hasn't seen it definitely should do so, if there's an interest in medieval fantasy. Really, what a great anime, and I can't get over how good the art is. I must look up who's responsible for it, because at times it reminds me of "The Last Unicorn"'s art which I also adore.

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So far from my first posting. Feel free to comment on my rewatch and/or post about your own recent/current rewatch!