Record of Lodoss War, Chronicles of the Heroic Knight

No, it's not a sequel, but a remake of the last five episodes of the OVA, based more closely on the novels that inspired them. Unlike the OVA, however, this 27-episode television series hasn't aged as gracefully. The animation, for instance, is an obvious step down from its predecessor, and the story feels lengthier and more drawn out. Parn and his comrades don't get a whole lot to do, as they become shells of their former selves. The first eight episodes recycle the "Fire Dragon Mountain" events, in which Parn and company foil the Black Knight Ashram. The remaining ninteen rehash the "resurection of Kardis" events, this time with a different hero, Spark, who's a clone of Parn, and a new set of companions. As expected there are inconsistencies between the TV series and the OVA, for instance, two characters, Shiris and Orson, encounter Parn and his friends in episode 8 of the OVA, while they meet them for the first time here. That the overall show doesn't have the same epic roller-coaster feel of the OVA is also a let down. The dub is a mixed bag as well. Unlike the OVA dub, it hasn't aged anywhere nearly as gracefully. Although most of the cast from the OVA dub returns (unlike the Japanese version), this dub suffers from issues that its predecessor didn't have. Voice actors drop in and out of roles temporarily or permanently (one character gets three -- count 'em, THREE -- voice actresses!), and there are some truly cringeworthy turns, mostly from the minor characters and some of the newer ones. It's not all bad, though: Crispin Freeman does an outstanding job as Spark, fleshing out what could have been a mono-dimensional character, Lisa Ortiz continues to excel as Deedlit (even though she is infuriatingly replaced for two episodes), and Angora Deb steals all her scenes as the sassy half-elf Leaf. It only the casting inconsistencies didn't exist, it would have at least been a decent dub, but as it is, the TV dub is very flawed and inconsistent. All in all, CHRONICLES isn't a complete waste of time -- there's a fabulous musical score by Kaoru Wada, and arguably a fantastic opening sequence for each episode (arguably the best part of the show), but compared to its predecessor, it's a lesser effort.