Twenty Days of Lodoss War - Day 12 - The Look of Lodoss
Overall the look, and design, of Lodoss is superb. There are some aspects that I mocked then, and mock now, and others that have only recently begun to feel dated. In this post I’ll be discussing the more unfortunate aspects of the look of Lodoss.
Let’s start with the obvious: Deedlit.
Overall Deedlit has a lovely character design but dear god those shoulder pads have to go.
I picked this image from the Prologue to the Legend for two reasons.
The first reason is because it is seconds before the scene that created, or at least supported, the theory at JAFWA that the shoulder pads are actually wings. Or gliders at least
The rest of her outfit: not bad, skirt is a little on the short side for an active adventurer but otherwise reasonably practical with some actual armour there. It is certainly more practical than what Pirotess wears anywhere but on a major battlefield in this example:
What you can't see in this image is that in addition to the absolute cleavage, Pirotess also has a shorter skirt. Record of Lodoss Wars very own Ms Fanservice.
The second reason is one that I, among others, incessantly mocked at the time that Lodoss Wars came out: the ears (on all the elves, light and dark).
In a fantasy adventuring world I would expect most elves to lose at least one along the way, possibly both.
And yet, as pointed out by TV Tropes (scroll down to Unusual Ears), in the twenty years since, this design has become almost standard in some places such as online games like Warcraft.
For example this random image snagged from a deviant art page via googling for Warcraft elves:
Warcraft Elf Fan Art by ~Kakatekoyi on deviantART
The aspect that has only begun to appear dated is a trope peculiar in my experience to anime: the experienced characters at the start are a foot taller, a foot wider, and none of it is fat.
You can see this in the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross with Roy Fokker being noticeably taller than all the other pilots.
But Lodoss War took it to a whole new level. Fahn, Beld, and to an only slightly lesser extent Kashue and Ashram, are enormous compared to the main character. For example:
Fahn: A giant among men.
I was noticing it but it was my housemate who commented on it during the duel between Fahn and Beld how ridiculously large they were.
Lodoss Wars is still a stunningly pretty series to look at so long as you accept the odd quirk here and there. Back to the episodes from tomorrow!
Day 1 - Prologue to the Legend
Day 2 - Blazing Departure
Day 3 - The Gender of Lodoss War
Day 4 - The Black Knight
Day 5 - The Grey Witch
Day 6 - Dub vs Sub?
Day 7 - The Desert King
Day 8 - The Sword of the Dark Emperor
Day 9 - The War of Heroes
Day 10 - Requiem for Warriors
Day 11 - Nice job breaking it hero
Day 12 - The Look of Lodoss
Day 13 - The Scepter of Domination
Day 14 - The Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain
Day 15 -
Day 16 - The Wizard's Ambition
Day 17 - Final Battle! Marmo, the Dark Island
Day 18 -
Day 19 - Lodoss, The Burning Continent
Day 20 -
Let’s start with the obvious: Deedlit.
Overall Deedlit has a lovely character design but dear god those shoulder pads have to go.
I picked this image from the Prologue to the Legend for two reasons.
The first reason is because it is seconds before the scene that created, or at least supported, the theory at JAFWA that the shoulder pads are actually wings. Or gliders at least
The rest of her outfit: not bad, skirt is a little on the short side for an active adventurer but otherwise reasonably practical with some actual armour there. It is certainly more practical than what Pirotess wears anywhere but on a major battlefield in this example:
What you can't see in this image is that in addition to the absolute cleavage, Pirotess also has a shorter skirt. Record of Lodoss Wars very own Ms Fanservice.
The second reason is one that I, among others, incessantly mocked at the time that Lodoss Wars came out: the ears (on all the elves, light and dark).
In a fantasy adventuring world I would expect most elves to lose at least one along the way, possibly both.
And yet, as pointed out by TV Tropes (scroll down to Unusual Ears), in the twenty years since, this design has become almost standard in some places such as online games like Warcraft.
For example this random image snagged from a deviant art page via googling for Warcraft elves:
Warcraft Elf Fan Art by ~Kakatekoyi on deviantART
The aspect that has only begun to appear dated is a trope peculiar in my experience to anime: the experienced characters at the start are a foot taller, a foot wider, and none of it is fat.
You can see this in the Super Dimensional Fortress Macross with Roy Fokker being noticeably taller than all the other pilots.
But Lodoss War took it to a whole new level. Fahn, Beld, and to an only slightly lesser extent Kashue and Ashram, are enormous compared to the main character. For example:
Fahn: A giant among men.
I was noticing it but it was my housemate who commented on it during the duel between Fahn and Beld how ridiculously large they were.
Lodoss Wars is still a stunningly pretty series to look at so long as you accept the odd quirk here and there. Back to the episodes from tomorrow!
Day 1 - Prologue to the Legend
Day 2 - Blazing Departure
Day 3 - The Gender of Lodoss War
Day 4 - The Black Knight
Day 5 - The Grey Witch
Day 6 - Dub vs Sub?
Day 7 - The Desert King
Day 8 - The Sword of the Dark Emperor
Day 9 - The War of Heroes
Day 10 - Requiem for Warriors
Day 11 - Nice job breaking it hero
Day 12 - The Look of Lodoss
Day 13 - The Scepter of Domination
Day 14 - The Demon Dragon of Fire Dragon Mountain
Day 15 -
Day 16 - The Wizard's Ambition
Day 17 - Final Battle! Marmo, the Dark Island
Day 18 -
Day 19 - Lodoss, The Burning Continent
Day 20 -