If there's one fantasy anime you watch in 2010, this would be it!
When I first heard the title (which translates to "Legend of Legendary Hero") I thought this is an anime that tries to pull parities and make fun of the entire fantasy anime genre. When I saw the opening episode, it further reaffirmed that thought, because that's almost as cookie-cutter as you can be for a typical fantasy anime. But little did I know, this seemingly random and unserious story eventually turns out to be THE most epic fantasy anime in 2010.
In the beginning, the story is simply a mission to collect lost artifacts. Little by little, as side stories being introduced, it completely transformed itself into an epic struggle between the king and opposing political forces. Then you find out there are also wars being fought between different countries in this world. On top of that, there are forces of other factions to further complicate the situation. It didn't take long for the story to go from seemly simple light, funny and plotless to a huge hodgepodge of plots that every single one by itself could be a story in epic proportions.
Then there's the ending. It is not an ending, it is a beginning. By the time you reached the end, you'd realize that this entire series only serve as an introduction of something much much bigger yet to be seen. So you ask, is this one of those stories that leaves audiences hanging without any satisfaction?
ABSOLUTELY NOT! Even though this is only a beginning of something much bigger, but the ending is highly satisfying. Because not only it resolves (well, sort of) one of the biggest issue in the story, it also used a very clever "calmness before the storm" technique to have a semi-filler episode lead into the final climax.
Now back to the harsher reality: animes as epic as this usually requires more effort to follow, in turn, they aren't usually very well received by the mass. Hell, most people I talk to that watches anime aren't even aware of the existence of this one. Naturally, it creates the problem: when an anime doesn't sell well, it will be hard to receive fundings for a sequel. With what this story had set up, it'll be a huge disappointment if no sequel is ever produced. But that already seem to be the norm nowadays. Some of the most epic animes I've ever seen, namely Guin Saga and Tytania never had a sequel. I guess we'll have to live with it...
Final scoreboard:
Drama: 94 (Epic)
Comedy: 90 (Brilliant)
Action: 93 (Fantastic)
Art/Animation: 91 (Typical fantasy style, but very well done)
Sound/Music: 88 (Good)
Character: 97 (Very well developed)
Plot: 97 (Epically epic)
Ending: 91 (The new beginning)
Re-watch value: 70 (A great story always has re-watch value)
Overall: 96 - Definitely one of the better animes of the year
Recommendation: Like I said at the beginning of this post, if there is one fantasy anime you watch in 2010, this would be it! Whether you like this genre or not, this is one of the best anime produced in 2010, and I'm awarding it:
Best Fantasy Anime of 2010
5 comments:
Want to know something scary? (sorry this isn't very relevant)
I found a blog that put Yosuga No Sora as the best fall anime of 2010.
I almost shit myself.
That gotta be some horny little boy's blog, lol.
So far, according to the poll I put up every season, with the exception of High School of the Dead, it seems most of my blog visitors' opinions are similar to mine.
I didn't start to follow this when it began, so when you made post how good it was i was unable to watch since there wouldn't be any good torrents available, i have found a batch now so i'm downloading. now i can see where you are hyping over :p
And to be honest, high school of the dead was just an anime focused on several audience, namely the zombie and (almost) nude girls fans. i happily deleted the file after every episode that i watched
So i finished watching the legend of legendary hero and in my opinion, yes it was the best fantasy anime of 2010, but it is has it flaws. At some points it is hard to follow with the reasoning of certain persons and so being a little confused i have to watch some scenes again to so it actually made sense(first time i watched the ending i was like: "what in heavens name is going on?". Aside from that i hope they will come up with a second season, if they leave this story hanging, I would be very disappointed.
I find the main characters (ryner en ferril) a very good combination, i had my many laughs that keeps the anime interesting when they don't have any story feed ready.I also get the feeling that every character has a purpose to be in the anime, and not just stand there with big boobs to satisfy the audience.
Overall i would give it 8/10 mostly because if its hard to get reasoning.
Well, like I said, this series really just the beginning. There are many "touch and go"s. I'm satisfied with the ending because it mostly resolved how ... and ... (no spoiler :p) felt about each other and proceed with their journey towards their ultimate goal. It'd be disappointing if they don't make an sequel. However, at least now we know that nobody is doubting their own destiny any more. So that's satisfying enough.
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