Customer Reviews

Legend of Crystania - The Chaos Ring

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

As has been said by previous reviewers, Legend of Crystania is not a sequel to Record of Lodoss Wars, although it appears to bill itself as such. While the names of Lord Ashrom and the dark elf Pirotess are employed, and the hero bears a striking resemblance to Parn of RLW, that is where the similarities end.

The animation is average at best. The voice acting is somewhere between indifferent and poor, and the character depictions flat terrible. The dark elf acts nothing like any dark elf I've ever seen or read about. Another character is apparently meant to be a berserker, but is only a pale shadow of what he could or should be.

All these problems notwithstanding, the story somehow holds together and manages to retain the viewer's interest. By the end, you may actually find yourself hoping that Ashrom and Pirotess at last have a chance for mutual happiness. Weak as it is, Legend of Crystania does work.

If you approach this DVD hoping it will be a continuation of the Lodoss War saga, you will be disappointed. However, if you can set that preconception aside and accept Legend of Crystania as a sword and sorcery tale entirely its own, you may find it a surprisingly satisfying story.

Recommended, but just barely.

Trying to compare this to Record of Lodoss War is neearly impossible. Lodoss War had an entire 13 part series to flesh out its universe. So you shouldn't try to compare them. It is also not any sort of sequel to Lodoss War, rather a kind of offshoot. The biggest mistake they did with this movie was advertising it as a Lodoss War followup, because the biggest problem people have with it is it isn't a followup at all.

The movie itself is very good. A lot of people were turned off by the animation, but I thought it suited the storyline well (a bit darker of a look then Lodoss). There are a lot of great action sequences and enough of a storyline to hold things together. If you're looking for another Lodoss War then I suggest you might want to look for the upcoming tv series, this is a different story and a different feel. Redon is a kid who will get emotional at times and is more naive then even Parn was. His goals at the start are FAR from pure and he is not noble at all, atleast at the start. And it is fairly brutal, although not anywhere near the real brutal anime movies like Fist of the North Star. And last but not least, Ashrom and Piroteuse are portrayed differently then in Lodoss (and I must note here that this is 300 years after the events in Lodoss and I would have to think the characters would change a bit, especially due to how much they care for each other). Purist fanatics need not apply to this movie. I would rate this 4 and half stars if it was avaiable, but since it isn't I'll mark it up to 5.

The bottom line is if you're the type of person who hates anything different from the established and are a purist Lodoss War fan, you'll probably despise this. I've actually checked the net and the reviews vary from "perfect 5 star movie", usually unbiased reviewers, to "avoid this like the plague", usually die hard Lodoss fans. If you want a good fantasy movie though this is a good one to pick up. I said it once and I'll say it again you don't need every story to be the same thing over and over again and I like the way Crystania seperates itself from Lodoss.

Down to the point, Legend of Crystania isn't a complete flop. Truthfully, the story could have been very good and captivating. It however isn't back to the old loved style of Record of Lodoss War. The animation can look wonderful at times, but usually lacks color and has very thick, black lines for details. As for the story, it seems a bit rushed and lacks depth in character. The main characters don't have real personalities and thus, you don't get attached to them. The story is pretty good, but it takes time and effort to figure out the whole story. After watching it, you feel empty, and the story just doesn't make since, like bits and pieces were left out. It does add a bit more to the Lodoss Saga and is worth you time at least. So all in all, Legend of Crystania isn't great due to rushed story and very unrealistic characters... But before you just blow it off, you should at least rent it and see it for yourself.

Actually I always and still want to buy Record of Lodoss War, but because in Germany they didn't have the English Version I discovered Legend of Crystania and thought it might be a good replacement for Lodoss War. But no, instead we got this flop.I was very disappointed in this movie.I mean I've read some Fantasy stories myself and found most of them very, very suspenseful and exciting. What disappoints me most is the animation of the characters. Just look at the colors; almost lifeless and without emotion. Okay, the plot for a fantasy is quite okay, but not as suspenseful as I have hoped for. You can be lucky that I'm a reasonable person, otherwise I'd give this movie only 2 stars.

I thought Record of Lodoss War was fantastic on many levels. However Crystania bears virtually no relation to Lodoss at all other than the fact that Ashram and Pirotesse are in it. When did Pirotesse become a weakling that couldn't defend herself? When did Ashram become one of the good guys? The animation is as similiar to Lodoss as Peanuts is to Disney's Fantasia. I have to disagree with the other reviews about the voice acting, it was bad also. The story was terrible and seems to have been concocted by someone's 10 year old nephew. Do yourself a favor and rent this movie first (you will see I was so disappointed) if you are truly interested.

Some of the characters of Lodoss War are here: Pirotess and Ashram. Some say this is a sequel. If it really is, it certainly doesn't compare to Lodoss War at all (based on animation quality and story). As a "standalone" movie, it's not too bad, not good either. The cover looks really nice though, that's probably the best I can say about it. The plot of the movie is old and weak, I mean c'mon, humans that transform into lizards or lions? The Pirotess here, doesn't even look half as good as the Pirotess of Lodoss War. I almost fell asleep watching this. You probably should rent this first before buying it. If your really like D&D stuff, BUY Lodoss War instead, you won't regret it.

Although the music is pretty decent, the voice-acting fair, and the story interesting, the Legend of Crystania simply isn't worth it. Record of Lodoss War was fantastic, and Crystania simply doesn't earn the title of 'sequel' for Lodoss. The animation was poor (Lodoss' animation may not have been fantastic [ie the dragons] but it was still great), the shading / color scheme was terrible, and the story did get rather dull at times. It's as if they were trying to leech off Lodoss' fame to bring in a few quick bucks.

I was very disappointed in this video, as it was represented as a follow up to Lodoss Wars. The art is only okay and the coloring pastel, much like the personalities of the characters. The only two characters continuing from Lodoss are unrecognizable and are not in leading roles. I'm sure I'd have liked this better if they'd left it to its own merits and not tried the flimsy tie in to Lodoss Wars.

I found none of the previous reviews deal with this movie. They all refer back to Legend of Crystania - The Movie. This is the sequel to that movie. I had to do a bit of research on the internet prior to buying it as I already had the movie. If you enjoyed the movie, you will enjoy this, as it is better. The story is not of the depth or scope of the Lodoss DVDs. It, however, has very good animation, no still pictures charging into battle as in Lodoss. The voice acting suffers a bit from overly hormonal actors, which seems to plague the English voice tracks in anime. Overall I enjoyed it and gave it 4 stars only because, I gave Lodoss 5 and it is not that good.

Legend of Crystania.....where should I begin? I'm not really sure...

If you are a fan of Lodoss, this will probably appeal to you. It has a few familiar characters, such as Pirotess and Ashram. But don't expect this to be Lodoss. Though there are some similarities, this is different. The plot isn't bad, but parts are a bit hard to follow. Maybe if there had been more episodes, more material could have been covered, and more explained. Even so, you can follow it, and Legend of Crystania keeps you entertained.

The animation isn't bad. The characters (Pirotess and Ashram) look different, but I thought that was good, so that you're able to keep it separate from Lodoss. For the most part the animation looks very good.

The music threw me a bit. It tended to be a bit jazz-y and I didn't expect that. But it wasn't bad.

The ending was....well.....I don't want to spoil it, but I was a little disappointed. That's why I give it 3 1/2 instead of 4 stars. Don't get me wrong, there was really nothing wrong with it, it wraps up the major plot points fairly well, and it was more satisfying than some anime I've seen, but it wasn't exactly what I was hoping for.

All in all, I'd recommend it. You might want to rent it first, I can see how some would be upset with themselves for spending the money on it. However, I'm not. I'm glad I bought it. To me, it's like a Lodoss fanfiction. Interesting to look at, but ultimately just not part of the story, if you can understand that. And if you watch this with a mindset like that, you'll probably like it a lot.