The last couple months has been all about HBO’s Game of Thrones fantasy series adapted from the novel of the same name. With that series’ first season now in the books and the fifth book on it’s way to it’s inevitable release on July 12, 2011 I had to find something to fill the void until the new season rolls around next spring. One fantasy series which I loved when I first saw it almost 20 years ago and still do to this day is the fantasy anime 13-episode series Record of Lodoss War (Rōdosu-tō Senki).

This fantasy series was adapted from a series of novels and role-playing games by Mizuno Ryo which borrowed heavily on the core rules and role-classes from the classic Dungeons & Dragons pen-and-paper role-playing games. In fact, the first time I saw the anime (through the VHS set which cost quite a penny when it was released by Central Park Media in the US in the early 1990’s) my first thoughts were that Record of Lodoss War was almost like Dungeons & Dragons.

The series lasted 13 episodes and were produced by acclaimed Japanese animation studio Madhouse (Highschool of the Dead, Summer Wars, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, Gunslinger Girl) and even 20 years since the series first premiered the animation still holds up. The story of Record of Lodoss War was your typical high fantasy epic tale of a young man’s journey into becoming a hero, a complex antagonist whose agenda never becomes fully known until the end, a world on the brink of war and chaos plus a diverse group of characters who band together to save the world. Anyone who has ever played a Dungeons & Dragons game and/or read the countless fantasy novels of the past 40 years would be right at home with Mizuno Ryo’s Record of Lodoss War.

I really would recommend this anime series, old as it is compared to the latest ones, to those needing to find a way to fill the void before season 2 of Game of Thrones begins. While the story might seem to be right out of typical high fantasy the characters in the anime were actually more developed that your usual fantasy characters. It’s hard not to watch the dark knight Ashram through the 13-episode run and not have him become a favorite character. Record of Lodoss War has something for everyone and someone doesn’t even have to be a huge anime fan to fully appreciate just how entertaining the series turns out to be.