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About the Author

Series

Works by Ryo Mizuno

La strega grigia (2001) 3 copies
Il demone delle fiamme (2002) 2 copies
Black Knight 1 copy
Pretty Girls 1000 (2002) 1 copy

Associated Works

Record of Grancrest War [Manga] 01 (2018) — Original Creator — 32 copies
Record of Grancrest War [Manga] 02 (2018) — Original Creator — 15 copies
Record of Grancrest War [Manga] 03 (2018) — Original Creator — 13 copies
Record of Grancrest War [Manga] 04 (2019) — Original Creator; Original Creator — 12 copies
Record of Grancrest War [Manga] 06 (2020) — Original Creator — 7 copies
Record of Grancrest War [Manga] 07 (2020) — Original Creator — 6 copies
Record of Grancrest War [Manga] 05 (2019) — Original Creator — 2 copies

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Common Knowledge

Canonical name
Mizuno, Ryo
Legal name
水野 良
Birthdate
1963-07-13
Gender
male
Nationality
Japan

Members

Reviews

I'm really not sure why I thought this series was so awesome when I was a kid... Probably because there was very little anime available, and therefore I devoured anything regardless of the quality or content. Some things clearly just don't age well...
 
Flagged
JaimieRiella | Feb 25, 2021 |
Note: This review originally appeared on my site.

A few years ago I did a video review of the original OVA for Record of Lodoss War. At that time, the OVA was out of print, as was (and still is, sadly) the manga adaptation of the novels. Since then, Funimation (not the company I expected to do it) license rescued all of the anime, and now Seven Seas has done something I never expected to happen - they licensed the first novel, and gave it a fantastic edition in 2017.

The OVA and the novel share a common framework and characters, but have some very dramatic changes from the novel to the anime. Some of these are clearly due to the change in medium. Others appear to be due to budgetary restrictions and length.

The book follows the party of Parn - a young inexperienced warrior seeking to prove himself and try to make the world a better place, Deedlit - an elf looking for adventure who finds herself drawn to Parn and his companions, Etoh - a priest of Pharis and Parn's childhood friend, Slayn Starseeker - a wizard searching for knowledge and something else... he doesn't know what yet, Woodchuck - a thief out for wealth and with a chip on his shoulder, and Ghim - a Dwarf looking for the missing daughter of the priestess of Marfa and his friend, Neese. The party goes on their adventures along the backdrop of an invasion of the island of Lodoss by the forces of the dark empire of Marmo, lead by Emperor Beld. Beld is advised by a mysterious sorceress known only as Karla.

And that's where a lot of similarities end. Probably the biggest example of this is the characters of Ashram and Pirotess. In the anime they are set up very early on as the dark opposites of Parn and Deedlit - both are skilled warriors (though Ashram is very skilled from the beginning), and both care for each other, though Ashram and Pirotess aren't particularly able to show it because in Marmo it would be a sign of weakness. In the anime, Ashram and Parn first meet during the sacking of an Alanian fortress, with Parn witnessing Ashram's attack and swearing revenge. Further, throughout the anime, when the narrative moves to the Marmo camp, in addition to seeing Beld and Karla plotting, we also see Beld and Ashram together (setting up Ashram as Beld's #2), and Ashram and Pirotess (again, setting up Ashram and Pirotess as the dark version of Parn and Deed).

In the novel, on the other hand, while we cut back to Beld and Karla, Ashram barely shows up in this the book, only appearing briefly in the battle between the Empire of Marmo and the Valis Alliance, and Pirotess doesn't show up at all. Wagnard, Beld's court magician, is dramatically much more visible, and has a much more direct connection to our protagonists, though he and the Heroes of Lodoss don't interact in this story.

This leads to the other really dramatic change. Much more time is spent on characters backstory in this installment. In the OVA, we get backstory for Parn and his goal to redeem his father's memory, and Ghim and his goal to bring back Lydia to Neese. However, here we also get more backstory for Woodchuck and Slayn. We learn about Slayn's time at the Wizard's academy, why he left, and we get a connection through him and Wagnard - that Wagnard was a classmate of Slayn's who was not only expelled, but also had a lock placed on his magic so he cannot cast spells without great physical pain. Also, the book sets up that Woodchuck had been incarcerated for almost 20 years for a heist gone wrong, and was only just released, putting a chip on his shoulder that leads to him making a particular decision at the end of the story that he didn't make in the anime.

Additionally, the dungeon crawl that takes up the OVA's first episode takes up about two paragraphs in the novel.

The other changes are a little less dramatic. Parn and company meet Deedlit and Woodchuck in the middle of a festival in the novel, which would have been really expensive to animate in the OVA. Also, in the OVA, the battle between the Valis Alliance and Marmo is just a general pitched battle, without any real tactics or maneuvering (and which generally goes badly for the Alliance before the end), while in the book, it's a more strategically planned battle, with Parn and Kashue taking on a flanking force of Marmo, and only after they are repelled successfully do they join up with the main force, and then at that point do they lose the track of the battle and things start to look closer.

As an aside, there's another change from the book to the OVA, but the Chronicles of the Heroic Knight TV series incorporates and shows the book version, so it less merits mentioning.

Karla is still one of my favorite antagonists, because her worldview is internally consistent, and while it doesn't make sense from a human perspective - that's the point - she's lived so long and through so many bodies that she's effectively lost touch with her humanity, which makes her a more interesting and unique protagonist. The character of Mordenkainen in Greyhawk is the closest character in tabletop RPGs as far as motivations go, through as near as I can tell, the depiction of his motivation as being similar to Karla's doesn't seem to appear until after Lodoss gets a US release in the late 80s, so I don't know if that aspect of the character was inspired by Lodoss .

The Grey Witch isn't exactly a ground-breaking novel now, particularly when it comes to modern heroic fantasy. As with Legend of the Galactic Heroes, it's a genre that has become well trod, and numerous other works have paid reference to and been inspired by. Still, it's worth reading seeing where all those stories came from, and honestly, it's an exciting read.
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1 vote
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Count_Zero | 2 other reviews | Jul 7, 2020 |
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Final Battle
Series: Record of Lodoss War: The Grey Witch Saga #3
Author: Ryo Mizuno
Artist: Yoshihiko Ochi
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 200
Words: 7K

Synopsis:


Chapter 16: Starts out with naming our characters and a one sentence lead about why they are in the story. Everyone returns to Roid, the capital of the kingdom of Valis. King Fahn welcomes back his daughter but makes sure to drive home the lesson that her running away, even for a good cause, cost the lives of several knights. Emperor Beld and Karla discuss the new alliance by the kingdoms on the island of Lodoss and Beld gives Karla permission to do as she sees fit. The chapter ends with Parn and Co coming to meet the king.

Chapter 17: Soldiers from the desert kingdom of Flaim are present at the court and King Kashu is seated next to King Fahn when Parn and Co approach. Everyone ends up discussing Karla and an Ancient Kingdom that was destroyed 500 years ago. Said Kingdom was inhabited by many powerful sorcerers and one sorceress was named Karla. With no real answers available, it is determined to go ask the Sage Wort (one of the 6 Heroes of King Fahn's generation) and see what he knows. Parn and Co volunteer and even when told that their path will go through an abandoned Dwarven Hold now controlled by a dragon and goblins, they aren't persuaded to abandon the quest.

Chapter 18: Wort the Sage is spying on Parn and Co through a crystal ball and we see him talking to Karla. He tells her to what she pleases with the company and she says she still wants them to join her. Wort remembers his adventures with Fahn, Beld and the others and we see the reason Beld is trying to take over Lodoss, to unite it under one king and to bring peace to the whole land. Wort realizes that Beld is imply a pawn in whatever scheme Karla has going. Parn and Co meet Wort and Karla and Karla reveals that both Beld and Fahn have the same dream of bringing peace to Lodoss, one through the power of darkness and the other through the power of light. Karla reveals how the Ancient Kingdom fell and that its destruction was completed by savage barbarians. Her goal appears to be to stop such a thing from happening again.

Chapter 19: Karla claims that neither light nor darkness can bring true peace, but that only a balance between them is the the surest way to lessen warfare. Karla has been interfering in events for 500 years, stirring up small wars so neither light nor darkness can get enough power to overwhelm the other. Small continual warfare is her answer to preventing another huge conflagration that will destroy civilization. Parn summarily rejects her reasoning and Karla leaves, vowing she is still their enemy. King Fahn and King Kashu are discussing how Beld seems to be sowing discord amongst the Alliance and they realize one all out battle is what is necessary. Parn and Co return from Wort's tower. Everyone get's upgrade, Parn is a full knight of Valis, Etoh is now a high priest and Slayn is now full sorcerer. Ghim and Deedlit give their rewards to Woodchuck. Ghim is making a magical comb for Leylia, Karla's host body and Deedlit realizes everyone is going to have to go war.

Chapter 20: We switch back in time to Parn and Co talking with Wort. Ghim reveals that Karla takes over bodies now to survive and that Leylia is her latest victim. His goal is get Leylia back. Wort reveals that Karla won't help Beld anymore if he, Wort, won't help Fahn. He then tells Parn how to destroy Karla and save Leylia. Karla takes over the person who kills her current host body, so they have to take her alive and remove the circlet that is her center of power. Wort gives them a magic wand that will temporarily dispel all magic in its vicinity. Parn relays this all to Fahn and Kashu back in the present and everyone prepares for a final confrontation with Beld. Ghim goes with Slayn, as only they can entrap Karla while Deedlit accompanies Parn and uses her magic to protect him.

Chapter 21: The fighting commences and Slayn tries to put all of Beld's army to sleep to prevent bloodshed. Beld releases fire salamanders, regardless of the carnage it causes among his own soldiers. Wagnard uses a dark elf to kill the Sage of Valis and Fahn and Beld meet for a final showdown. Beld prevails and Parn is prevented from avenging Fahn by a knight of Marmo named Ashuram. Kashu then challenges Beld to another duel. Karla shoots Beld in the chest with an arrow, thus allowing Kashu to kill Beld. Ashurum takes up Beld's sword of darkness and retreats with the remaining forces of Marmo. Parn and Co realize this is the exact outcome that Karla wanted. Parn vows to hunt Karla down and put an end to her meddling that costs so many lives.

Chapter 22: Parn and Co attack Karla at her tower. We flashback to see Woodchuck being commissioned to steal the circlet of Karla's power off of Leylia's body. Parn and Co are just a distraction to gain Karla's attention. Ghim confronts Karla and appeals to the suppressed Leylia. Karla kills Ghim and that sets Leylia off, giving Woodchuck an opportunity to steal the circlet. Unfortunately, Woodchuck's bitterness about his life leads him to put the circlet on, thinking he can control its powers. This allows Karla to keep on surviving, even if in a body without the capability of using magic. Etoh returns to Valis and Princess Fianna, while Slayn returns Leylia and Ghim's body back to Neece. Parn and Deedlit begin a new quest of hunting down Karla and trying to rescue Woodchuck.



When I was done reading, I wasn't really sure what to think. Except that I had just read a D&D campaign where the campaign was over, the villain gets away and this leads to yet another campaign to be played at a later date. It didn't help that the OVA anime jams in another storyline and adds some real pathos and relational drama between Parn and Deedlit.

Speaking of relationships. I'm usually not a fan of that kind of thing playing a big part in the stories I read. However, everything between everyone was so understated that I found myself actually wanting something from them. Deedlit and Parn are a couple but you'd never know it besides the fact that she keeps hanging around Parn and protecting him. Etoh and Princess Fianna do nothing but blush at each other and Slay and Leylia haven't even started their relationship yet. I wanted the romance from the anime.

And I guess that sums up the issues with this. This is a fine manga on its own. But for me, Lodoss started with the OVA and that is the metric that I measure everything related to Lodoss by. It's not fair, but that is just how it is. I mentioned in the review for book 2 that I have some more Lodoss manga and that I was wavering about reading it. I have decided that I won't be. The Chronicles of the Heroic Knight deal with a new cast of characters taking over from Parn, Deedlit, etc and Deedlit's Tale is a shojo manga that involves a high dark elf trying to take Deedlit's affections from Parn. I don't want THAT much relational drama.

Glad I read these but I feel no need to hold onto them or the other Lodoss manga I own. Not sure if I'll try to sell them online or do a book giveaway. The last 2 book giveaways fizzled and I'm not sure that old manga series is going to do better than some Michael Crichton techno-thrillers :-D

Once again, the individual covers were fantastic. This one really showcases the snub-nose art that predominates the manga. The anime was much more classical anime with small, curvy, pointy noises, but the manga-ka here wasn't afraid to show those schnozzes!

★★★☆☆
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BookstoogeLT | Jun 29, 2020 |
This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Birth of a New Knight
Series: Record of Lodoss War: The Grey Witch Saga #2
Author: Ryo Mizuno
Artist: Yoshihiko Ochi
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 214
Words: 7K

Synopsis:


Chapter 9: The Gang meets a group of Holy Knights who are chasing the carriage with Karla and the princess. Parn chases after them to “help” and of course everyone else is dragged along. Before they can catch up a fireball explodes and Deedlit has to summon a spirit of wind to see what has happened. Slayn intervenes and uses magic eyes to see what has happened. He sees Karla and her guards as the sole survivors and recognizes her as the woman in the painting in the manor from before.

Chapter 10: Parn is all set to go charging in to avenge the dead Holy Knights but everyone reins him in. Then Ghim reveals that Leylia is the spitting image of Karla and HE goes charging in. Only it is too late and Karla has left. Etoh revives the one surviving Holy Knight and tells them Karla had kidnapped the Princess. Everyone decides to go after Karla and rescue the princess. They catch up to Karla that night and surprise her. Ghim confirms Karla IS Leylia while she attacks him with magic.

Chapter 11: Karla releases a slumber spell and puts everyone to sleep. She has the remaining guards lock them up as she hopes to recruit Parn and Gang. Karla leaves to go get more guards and leaves a skeleton warrior to guard the gang. Our gang defeat the skeleton warrior and prepare to take on the remaining human guards. They then rescue the Princes and head back to the capital of Vallis.

Chapter 12: They then rescue the Princes and head back to the capital of Vallis.

Chapter 13: Karla catches up to them, offers to let them join her and tells them what she is doing is best for Lodoss overall. The Gang refuses and Karla prepares to incinerate them all.

Chapter 14: Everyone attacks Karla but she doesn't destroy them all for some reason. She just holds them off with a shield spell. Then a bunch of Holy Knights show up with the Head Sorcerer of Valis. Karla makes her escape using a spell that only a High Priestess of Marfa could use, confirming that she is indeed Leylia. Parn reveals his father's name to the Holy Knights and they all react negatively to the news.

Chapter 15: The Sorcerer reveals to Parn how his father died and that he did not die in disgrace as Parn has always been afraid he did. As a reward for saving the Princess the Sorcerer promises Parn that the truth of his father shall be known to all.

My Thoughts:

I did not enjoy this volume quite as much as the previous. Mainly because I could almost hear the dice rolling as the story moved along.

While I know that Karla IS Leylia, and I even know why because of the anime, the continued “mystery” and her evil villain monologue of all 2 sentences about doing everything for the good of Lodoss just had me rolling my eyes.

I have the sequel series in manga as well (in regular tankubon size. This Grey Witch Saga has been in the trade paperback size and I really appreciate that) and I was considering reading them next, but I am seriously reconsidering that now.

Thank goodness for the chapter covers. Those at least are still fantastic.

★★★☆☆
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BookstoogeLT | Jun 15, 2020 |

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