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| Legendary sadist |
Alright, this will probably be my shortest series review ever. While this was plenty interesting on its own, it was not a very great anime. The story followed the light novel series of the same name, released four years ago. The novel also has a sequel and several side story light novel series to it as well. I'll get in depth as it why it was not a good anime.
Overall rating (out of 10 Relics): 6
Recommended for: Adventures, Magic & Swords, Shonen
Do not read past this point if you intend to watch this series, as there will be spoilers, you have been warned.
Alright, so as I said above, this anime is based on Densetsu no Yuusha no Densetsu, a light novel series by Saori Toyota. The series had 11 volumes and ended in 2006, but this whole series was really only the backstory to the actual story Toyota wanted to write, which is The Legend of the Great Heroes of Legend. The whole first series only served to outline the reasoning of 'Heroes' for their actions in the sequel, which means this in itself is not a complete story.
While many anime can and have ended with an sequel-ending, anime that ended this way usually (not everytime) have pretty good indication that it will get a second season to continue the story (Gundam 00 comes to mind). Anime that does not have a good solid plan to continue usually choose to end with an open-ending (Inuyasha), or an anime-original ending (Most Bones' work). The problem with LoLH is that the anime chose to end with a sequel-ending indicating clearly they want to do a second season, but with no back-up whatsoever that they will. This leaves the viewers on a cliffhanger that may or may not be solved. This is why this series failed as an anime. For the light novel, Toyota knew he would have a second series lined up since he writes the stories, but for Xebec, they never know if they will be allowed to do the second season.
As for the anime itself, it was pretty good overall with plenty of action and comedy. The Ferris/Ryner slapstick was pretty funny at first but it got old pretty quick. However, they are plenty of humor to go around in the series which made the otherwise dark story brighter. The animation was iffy as always with Xebec, some episodes were good while others (such as 17, where Ryner briefly leaves Ferris) was so bad I feel like it was an animation-school assignment. The inconsistency with the quality took away from some of the better scenes in the anime, which is unfortunate.
The characters were redesigned for the anime, if you wiki the original series you can see the difference in the design. I personally love the anime Ferris design as she was sexy and cute; Sion was also pretty good as you can see the elegance on his figure as a king. Ryner is alright, I'm not a big fan but also did not hate it. On the other hand, Jun Fukuyama did a pretty good job again with another leading character. He did a good job expressing the sorrow from Ryner, at the same time he also voiced his 'apathetic' emotions relatively well, with some overacting. Of course, what's Jun without the 'insane genius overmind' side, and he showcased that with the otherside of Ryner. Ferris, in my opinion, was the best seiyuu in the series. Ayahi Takagaki played out Ferris' playful side and her serious side equally vivid, and never once did I feel the Ferris was out-of-character with her voice acting, unlike Ryner and Sion.
Aside from the obvious fault in the ending, and the pacing being inconsistent, the story itself was good enough to keep my entertained for the entire series. Of course, some parts of it were very confusing and I had to request the help of anime forums, but overall it was enjoyable and entertaining for what it's worth.
I sincerely hope that the series will continue with a second season, although the TV ratings would indicate otherwise.
Finally, I'll leave you with this:
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