Sword and sorcery anime

[tecnowraith]

I am needing help searching sword and sorcery in anime. I know there are some like Record of Lodoss War and Orphen but I know I amissing a lot also. When I mean sword and sorcery, I mean sword fighting, magic, other worlds, different races and strange creatures and tech. Thanks

 

[horacethegrey]

BERSERK!

Quite possibly the best fantasy manga and anime out right now. But be warned, it's a very dark and violent fantasy story with some genuinely disturbing content. Astoundingly well written and illustrated, you can't go wrong with Kentaro Miura's masterpiece.

 

[Loincloth of Armour]

Scrapped Princess (a good romp, and fun when you realize the main character's siblings can never make successful will saves)

Louie The Rune Soldier (mostly comedy, but any show with a sorcerer/barbarian who in one episode has Exotic Weapon Proficiency: Dead Boar is worthwhile.)

Murder Princess (princess and a hard-living female merc brain switch. Hilarity and destruction ensues.

Louise the Zero. (Imagine Harry Potter, but the main female lead is an evoker whose fireballs have a range of 0 ft.)

Ruin Explorers

Magical Knights Rayearth (mostly a magical girl show... but pretty good combats)

Lyrical Magic Girl Nanoha and Nanoha A. (not sword and sorcery, but good if you want to see artillery class magic tossed around by young girls.)

 

[Ranger REG]

Does Slayers count? (Though I can't stand the English voice of Lina Inverse.)

 

[Soel]

Weathering Continent
http://www.themanime.org/viewreview.php?id=474

Reign the Conqueror - fantasy revision of Alexander the Great (not sure if last parts of the series were actually released though. I'd love to finish it!)

 

[D.Shaffer]

Are we sticking with just European style sword and sorcery or are you including the Japanese/Chinese styled fantasy shows too?

Record of Lodoss Wars (OAV and TV series), Rune Soldier Louie (Louie PUNCH!!), and Legend of Crystania all take place in the same world. It's interesting to watch all of these to see the different takes of the same world.

Slayers has had 3 seasons of eps, numerous movies, and more then a few OAVs. Mostly played for laughs but good for an example of over the top, high powered spell use. (The main character uses spells that can wipe out an entire village just because she gets ticked off at someone)

Escaflowne is a sword and sorcery world that includes mecha. Interesting for that alone.

An older, classic series that may be harder to find now: Heroic Legend of Arslan. All the standard tropes.

Bastard! is considered another classic, although it's not one of my favorites. The various heavy metal based names are amusing, though.

There's more one shot OAV's than I care to name, of different degrees of quality.

 

[TwinBahamut]

Other than the obvious Record of Lodoss War (both OVA and TV versions), I will echo the support for Slayers (hilarious), Scrapped Princess (fun), Escaflowne (mecha), and Berserk (dark).

I especially reccomend the Berserk manga, rather than the anime. The anime ends before the story even gets going, so you will need to go to the manga eventually, so just start reading it sooner rather than later.

It is a bit gothic, but Vampire Hunter D, especially Vampire Hunter D Bloodlust, somewhat fits under the definition, and is fairly good.

The Twelve Kingdoms is based more on Chinese and Japanese aesthetics, but it is a great fantasy story filled with monster-slaying and politics. One of my favorites.

The .hack stuff kinda counts, except for the being inside a videogame part.

I know there are a lot more, but I can't think of them...

Err... I never watched it myself (can't find the budget), but Aura Battler Dunbine is a mecha series that takes place in a land of fairy tales. Older series, but well-regarded.