Record of Lodoss War (1998) – I liked, but didn’t love, the original Lodoss War OVA, and this is pretty much a step down from that series all around. It’s sort of a sequel, sort of an expansion/continuation, and is about twice as long. The visuals aren’t terrible, but they use a lot more static images than I like to see, and the story felt dragged out a bit, with several points where the conflict only continued because the characters just didn’t choose an obvious solution. The biggest example of which was the young woman in the party who was a key component of the villain’s big dark magic scheme to resurrect the god of death and become the Necromancer King. The characters explain that her virginity is required for the spell to work, which suggests a certain, simple solution. But no, they have to spend ten more episodes fighting their way to his secret lair instead. One thing I will say, however, is that it had a superb opening, with fantastic shots of 90s-style characters, their hair fluttering dramatically in the wind, set to a beautiful song by Maaya Sakamoto. 6/10
Gintama Ep.278-299 – I watched fewer than my usual 25 episodes this week, because a longish serious arc was about to start, and I figured I’d just watch it all together next week. This batch had the first serious arc I really didn’t care for, as the Shinigami arc just didn’t make much sense, and introduced some weird characters I don’t think the story needed. Other than that, all the comedy arcs were still good. I especially enjoyed seeing Gintoki and Hijikata switch bodies, and Kagura fake her death. The comedy arcs are what this show does the best to my mind, so I’m a little concerned about how much of the remaining story looks to be on the serious side.