The Mike Toole Show

Wizards & Warriors

There are many, many good reasons why Mr. Zac Bertschy is the executive editor of this here site. He writes well and hits his deadlines. He's got a long career that tenders respect from most of the site's readership. He's organized and has an eye for talent. And most of all, he puts up with my bullshit. The reason I'm bringing this up is because a couple of weekends back was Nerd City 2012, a.k.a. the Penny Arcade Expo East and Anime Boston happening in the same damn city on the same damn weekend. Generally, I prefer the restless, constant energy of anime cons to the PAX vibe, which is punctuated by brutally crowded, frenetic days and chilled out nights, but I had a problem: I've got a standing promise to take my nephew to PAX East each year, so there wasn't any ducking out of it. In addition to that, I was kicking my dear pals at Gerald Rathkolb. In other words, I was booked to the nines, tens, and elevens.

Of course, I was still going to write my column! I had to. I figured I'd be able to squeeze it in overnight on Friday or Saturday. This was a great plan that was destined to result in an excellent column and a well-rested Mike, and not the exact goddamn opposite. Fortunately, like I said above, Zac's very good at what he does, so he went ahead and suggested that I might want to take the cycle off and enjoy what I already had slated for the weekend. And now you know why there wasn't a Mike Toole Show last time! And knowing is half the battle.

Like many, I was convinced that PAX East and Anime Boston were somehow going to adversely affect each other. Specifically, I figured that the video game show, with its glittering expo hall and galaxy of game-nerd celebrities, would cannibalize the dork faithful from Anime Boston. Naturally, neither show really wanted this, and so they worked together to minimize it, in the form of shuttle buses and a neat AB booth at PAX East where you could both buy a badge (more than a few PAXsters without the coveted Saturday badge went this route) and look through a videoconferencing portal at the other event; this resulted in neat sign-based communication between PAX and AB. (My favorite: a handwritten sign proclaiming "COME TO ANIME BOSTON! WE HAVE GIRLS.") And at the end of the day, incredibly, both events posted growth in attendance. The Nerd Force is strong with Boston, after all.

The other upside of these events was their ability to spur inspiration and creativity. As usual, I was stuck for a column topic-- until I cruised through PAX East and beheld the astonishingly large tabletop gaming area. Right then, it hit me: fantasy anime. It's not surprising that Japanese animation is run through with eastern fantastic imagery, from yokai and yurei to cursed swords and magic portals. But it is kind of neat that, just as with science fiction, anime and manga are more than happy to mine western lore, literature, and film for good stuff to use in their own media. Currently, this is probably best manifested in OVA adaptation.

This 13-episode series spread all over the world pretty quickly-- we got them in North America in 1995-- and the tale, which begins after the big war against darkness had already been fought and won, concerns a young knight from a dishonored house, as he leads a rag-tag band of classic RPG stereotypes - haughty elven ranger, pugnacious dwarven fighter, modest and moral cleric, troubled mage, and sneaky thief - in a struggle against a new force of evil, with the mysterious, cursed island territory of Lodoss as the backdrop. Lodoss certainly went over well, with a supremely accessible story, a large and varied cast of characters (adversaries Ashram and Pirotess are just as fun to watch as Parn and his elven gal-pal Deedlit, to say nothing of cool side characters like Kashue, an ex-gladiator raised to king), and a richly talented crew of animators courtesy of Masao Maruyama wince. Also, thirteen episodes simply wasn't enough to tell Mizuno's story, so the narrative was shortened and a new ending was created, just for the viewers. This would eventually be rectified in Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight, a 26-episode 1998 TV series that is famous for having a thrilling, lavish opening sequence, followed by some of the lamest, ugliest, cheapest animation you'll see this side of Lost Universe. Heroic Knight does, however, manage to present a much more thorough version of the book series' arc, with pivotal heroes Spark and Neese, who were cut out of the OVAs entirely, carrying the story.

There's still a ton more Lodoss media where that came from, as well. Several manga adaptations were published (badly - generally flipped and poorly retouched) by Rune Soldier, aka Rune Soldier Louie. This is my favorite of the story's many, many spinoffs; Louie is an action-comedy that, while cheaply made, hits all the right notes, with a likeably daft hero (his first act as a mage for hire is to break his wand over the head of an advancing orc) anchoring a cast of chatty, combative lady adventurers. They still make new Lodoss media all the time - it's part of SNE's Forcelia RPG world, and there's still manga being published, but there's no new Lodoss anime on the horizon at the moment. But I'm sure there will be, sooner or later; just wait.

If Record of Lodoss War is anime's Lord of the Rings, then Hajime Kanzaka and Dragon Magazine in 1989. The original books are written from the point of view of Lina Inverse, a teenager destined to be one of the most powerful magicians ever. Unfortunately, she's got all the grace and charm of a... well, of a self-centered teen girl. She's loudmouthed, egotistical, greedy, and desperately insecure about her appearance. Lina takes up with Gourry Gabriev, a dashing swordsman with a legendary weapon whose appealing appearance is completely, utterly offset by his plainly ridiculous stupidity. He's got skill with a blade, but Gourry can never seem to what the plan is or where he's going, and routinely forgets the names and faces of both his enemies and his traveling companions. The two are later ed by Zelgadis, a taciturn, stone-faced chimera, and Amelia, a roving princess with a yen for shamanistic magic and a hard-headed, quixotic thirst of justice.

Slayers didn't look like a blockbuster, but its 1995 anime version pretty much flew out of the gates, buoyed by competent production courtesy of Berserk. Berserk is another modern classic, which began its still-ongoing manga run twenty-two years ago holy crap. Actually, if you want a really interesting look at how much an artist's style can evolve and mature, compare Berserk volume 1 to one of the most recent books - Miura's initial pages are vital but a bit crude and dirty, which is contrasted sharply with his dazzlingly intricate current work. Of course, it's long been rumored that a big part of the reason why Berserk is published only sporadically is Miura's insistence on doing most of the comic's artwork solo, without the help of assistants, so that's a double-edged sword for you. The other reason, naturally, is The Idolm@aster; Miura is a dedicated fan of the pop star-training video game franchise, and his deadlines take a beating every time a new installment is released.

Berserk starts off looking an awful lot like low fantasy, a gritty medieval epic with hints of dark magic. The warring kingdoms of Midland and Chuder (I've always liked "Tudor" better, but whatever) seem like mid-European hellholes, with exotic enemies from afar who evoke faint impressions of Persia and India. Protagonist Guts has fallen about as low as you can go; born from a freshly-murdered mother, adopted by a cutthroat who sells the boy as a sex slave for pocket money, Guts slays his foster dad to escape and becomes an expert swordsman at age 9(!) purely to survive the pursuit of his pop's vengeful old drinking buddies. Long accustomed to wielding a heavy broadsword even as a child, Guts becomes an accomplished mercenary until his commander, the ambitious Griffith, betrays both his allegiance and friendship by sacrificing him to supernatural forces of chaos. Guts escapes his curse, at least temporarily, but gets to watch almost all of his friends murdered, his lover raped and psychologically broken, and his own body torn and crippled before his one remaining eye. What happens next is an epic and yet unfinished quest for redemption, justice, and a whole lot of cold, bloody revenge.

Berserk's got a checkered history, when it comes to anime. One of the manga's early arcs, the Golden Age, was adapted as a 26-episode TV series in 1997 by Media Blasters, in brighter days, had frequently promised that their partners in Japan were developing a sequel series, but nothing materialized. It seems like fans were finally getting their wish when a new series of feature films was promised in an ad in the Berserk manga, which has remained very popular. The first of this series came out in February. I'm happy that there's new Berserk anime - the trailer looks great! However, it's an adaptation of the Golden Age arc, the very same story that was already told in the TV series. I kinda wish they'd gone a little further. Viz are releasing the movies in the US, so fans over here will soon get a chance to see for themselves if the new stuff is as good as the old stuff. Beyond that, the only significant parts of Berserk lore are a pair of video games; one of them, the Dreamcast Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage, was released in English (it's pretty good!), but the other, a PS2 title, was not.

Alright, maybe I overdid it when I described Lodoss as Japan's Lord of the Rings. That's partly because Lodoss sprang forth straight from Dungeons and Dragons, and partly because Japan already has its own Lord of the Rings - Guin Saga's possibly the single most expansive fantasy narrative in any language - many acclaimed fantasy writers have written thousands of pages about their worlds and heroes, but starting in 1979, Kurimoto published one hundred and thirty volumes of Guin Saga novels. Granted, most of these are "light" novels that clock in at two or three hundred pages rather than the meaty 500+ page yarns that George R.R. Martin, Stephen R. Donaldson, and Tanya Huff spin up - but still, the sheer scope and ambition of Kurimoto's story is really something, especially when you realize that, right from the start, she envisioned it as a 100-book series. Wow!

Naturally, Guin Saga is an absolute staple of fantasy reading in Japan. Its story is interesting, telling the tale of predestined royal twins and their protector, a mysterious warrior with unparalleled skill in strategy and combat, puzzling gaps in his memory, and the face of a leopard instead of a man. In theory, that's scary and kind of absurd, but Guin is an awesome character, an earthy and honorable fighter akin to Robert E. Howard's Kull the Conqueror. Armed only with a sword, a loincloth, and one strange word stuck in his head - "aurra" - Guin sets off to protect the kids, save the land, and solve his mysteries. While Kurimoto, who sadly ed away in 2009, had finished the main storyline of Guin Saga, she was still toiling away at side stories right up until her death. Fortunately, she stuck around just long enough to see Guin Saga finally make the jump to anime; Netflix, and I say it's good fare.

My final example has one of the best series names ever - Bastard!! Those two exclamation points are VERY IMPORTANT. Anyway, Bastard!! is Yoshiki Hayashi, is practically invincible, and tempts every woman he sees, especially his dark-elf girlfriend, who is also his foster daughter. Because that's just how cool and awesome Dark Schneider is!

Bastard!!, like everything else on this list, is still ongoing. The manga's actually gone to some really interesting places, revealing a lot about Dark Schneider's unholy origin and his rebellious, Hellboy-esque view of the world, when it doesn't involve Dark Schneider beating bad guys, hooking up with ladies, and saying hilarious things. Unfortunately, it wasn't popular in English, so Viz canned it after just 19 volumes – man, I only made it about 8 in, and you can't get most of the rest anymore! As recently as 2009, Geneon, even though their legal eagles mandated some funny name changes (Anslaslax, Metarikana, etc.). These days, it's not too hard to find. I implore you to watch it if you can; it's literally the perfect 1990s OVA, in that it looks great, is pretty short, and got derailed before being finished. That's right, those six episodes were supposed to be eight episodes! Enjoy your cliffhanger, suckers!

Obviously, there's a ton more fantasy anime and manga out there. One of the world's most popular current anime/manga franchises is Hobby Japan. The bits I've seen seem like there's a pretty OK story there, but if you ask me, it's subverted completely by the formula of "take a preposterous female warrior stereotype and get her naked." Still, if you've ever stared at the chainmail bikini babes in a Boris Vallejo painting and wondered what the story was there, man, Queen's Blade is a good enough bet.

And there's more anime fantasy- way more! There's The Little Norse Prince anime. The only major title I can think of that hasn't gotten any sort of English-language adaptation is Ryu Knight. Can you think of another one?

What's your favorite fantasy anime? Mine, well... probably the original Lodoss OVAs. They're a sentimental favorite. If you want to discuss your favorites, or your favorite isn't here, or you want to point out that there's a new Dragon Age anime coming out that I forgot to mention, chime in with a comment!