What is your favorite RPG inspired anime?

[Crust]

I remember getting the entire 6-tape set of Record of the Lodoss War for Christmas exactly 10 years ago. I caught the prologue episode on Sci-Fi's anime Saturday line-up back in the mid-90s, and I was stunned. Parn and Deedlit faced a green dragon (wingless, sadly), and Ghim with his axe... THUNK right into the dragon's muzzle. Slayn and his magic... So authentic. I still own them, and still pop them in now and then. I adore that series.

The next set of movies were weaker than the first, with the blue-haired Spark, if I remember correctly. I never bought those.

I'm also a big fan of the Berserk series, which I don't own. Over the top medieval violence with a healthy pinch of the demonic. Guts is almost as cool as Conan.

Other animes that have heavily influenced my games, whether it be through story or just combat scenario coolness, are Ninja Scroll, Princess Mononoke, Fist of the North Star, and Vampire Hunter D (the original and Bloodlust). In fact, when Bloodlust came out, I soon after created a massive dungeon complex crawling with vampires. Talk about inspiration. Bloodlust turned my campaign into a protracted vampire hunt.

 

[WayneLigon]

I'd assume that this is true of all but the most undiscerning viewers. Like most media, some anime is really good, some is really bad, and a lot of it is completely uninteresting.

It is. This is why Netflix is your best friend in this regard. They have a ton of anime - way more than any normal video place - so you can try out stuff and see if you like it. I've found some very good series by renting from them, and tried some that sounded good but were terrible, terrible shows when I actually watched them. I'd have hated to spend $30 on a DVD to find that out.

As far as western-style fantasy, there's only a handful of things to go on, most of what have been mentioned here.

Slightly less traditional fantasy is a bit easier to find. Heroic Prince Arislan (aka Arslan) is a good set, but it will feel incomplete; I think they animated the middle chapters of a seven or eight book series, so of course it feels a bit disjointed.

I'd like to put in a special word for Twelve Kingdoms. It's a complex series and you really do have to stick with it over the long haul. At first it appears to have some standard anime tropes, such as the person who does not want the power thrust upon them, but almost uniquely the heroine overcomes her problems and moves past them. It's also a marvelously done series. The mythology behind it would be a great setting for a campaign, and shows that even though the gods might be interventionist and such, that human nature will always conspire to screw up even the most perfect of worlds.

 

[Weregrognard]

Dragon Half has my vote, even though it's a parody of RPGs. Note: watch it subtitled instead of dubbed, the translation is funnier, in my opinion.

 

[ThirdWizard]

While not the best (or even really close) someone should bring up Sorcerer Hunters! It's wonky funny, and I love it, and I'm okay with that. Slayers Try is my favorite of the Slayers bunch. And, I prefer the Record of Lodoss War series over the OAV. A friend of mine is trying to get me into Beet the Vandal Buster, but so far he has been unsuccessful.

 

[Dykstrav]

The only anime I ever really enjoyed a whole lot was Graveyard of the Fireflies. But ask the typical anime fan about it and you get some half-mumbled responses about how it's not "real" anime because there's no mecha or tentacle rape. Whatever. I largely ignore anime, although I inevitably saw some of it during my high school days. It's become very conventional and conservative in its own ways, like the mainstream film industry and even the gaming industry to some extent. Eh... I don't use anime for inspiration, I prefer mythology and folklore for good D&D ideas.

All that being said, I did catch Record of Lodoss War. It has very strong, clear D&D roots. I don't like it for the same reasons that I don't like most anime: clunky dialogue, awkward plot holes, exagerrated physical characteristics, and broadly drawn style-over-substance characterization. For D&D comparisons, check out Conan: the Barbarian or the Harryhausen Jason and the Argonauts instead of anime. It doesn't have big swords and smirking spike-haired protagonists but they are much closer to my D&D games than any anime I've ever seen.

Its merits as an anime aside, I could see how it could be useful for someone to watch an episode or two to get an idea of what this roleplaying game thing is about. Record of Lodoss War is clear enough and generic enough to get a taste of what some generic D&D games are like.

 

[FnordBear]

I kinda got on the anime kick in the late 90s when Mange entertainment started importing tons of exploitation anime, as I have grown so have my tastes.

For RPG inspiration it has veeb said many times now but Lodoss is a timeless classic. I personally like the remake called Record of the Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight which retells the origional OAV in a 25 episode format with new characters and a second, longer story arc. Also not know to many the anime Rune Soldier Louie is set on the continant north of Lodoss (Alacrast) Unlike Lodoss, Louie is a comedy anime, the best description I can give is that it is like a D&D session gone horribly wrong(or right depending on your point of view).

The thing to remember is anime is from a culture other than ours so you wont find many patterned exclusively after western-style fantasy. That said there are a metric ton of anime series great for RPG inspiration. The first that comes to my mind is Escflowne the series, it is far more "fantasyish" in my opinion that the movie (mmmm mecha with swords). Berserk is another good classic and the best depiction of a D&D barbarian ever. Slayers I admit I have not seen much of, however what I have seen I enjoyed and found humorous. Another good one is Sorceror Stabber Orphen, this is a pretty good take on the whole lone-wizard on a quest thing(I am unsure but this might also be in the Lodoss setting) Now if western styling is not important I would also recomend looking in to Sorceror Hunters, Soul Hunter, Ninja Scroll (both series and movie), sakura wars(more steampunk than fantasy), and lastly even though it isnt truely a Japaneese anime per se, Thundercats(ducks)

All in all if I had to pick a favorite it is a toss up between Rune Soldier Louie and Escaflowne the series.

 

[Drowbane]

...My personal favorite is the original Lodoss War series...

You said it man.

Side note: My favorite anime-inspired RPG would have to be Robotech.

 

[CRGreathouse]

I am very surprised most gamers don't watch japanese anime. I've gone through most of my life believing that if you're a gamer and love D&D and other tabletop RPGs, then you also love video games and japanese anime. I'm actually shocked everytime I talk about anime to another gamer and they look at me like I was a beholder.

Yeah, sorry. I'm not much of a video game player -- sometimes I play a computer game, but not often, and I don't own a console. I've seen maybe a dozen different anime shows (had a friend who was into it) and didn't like a one.

 

[Vanye]

I'd like to put in a special word for Twelve Kingdoms. It's a complex series and you really do have to stick with it over the long haul. At first it appears to have some standard anime tropes, such as the person who does not want the power thrust upon them, but almost uniquely the heroine overcomes her problems and moves past them. It's also a marvelously done series. The mythology behind it would be a great setting for a campaign, and shows that even though the gods might be interventionist and such, that human nature will always conspire to screw up even the most perfect of worlds.

Is it a full series, or does it have a "to be continued" vibe to it? My gf doesn't like incomplete stories, and I dont' like it when there is no chance of it being finished, or being more than a teaser for a manga and/or novel series (Such as Here is Greenwood, and Please Save My Earth) that will lprobably never be released in the States....

 

[Dykstrav]

I am very surprised most gamers don't watch japanese anime. I've gone through most of my life believing that if you're a gamer and love D&D and other tabletop RPGs, then you also love video games and japanese anime. I'm actually shocked everytime I talk about anime to another gamer and they look at me like I was a beholder.

I dig mythology myself- I got into gaming through reading the Illiad and the Odyssey, the only RPG-esque movie I ever really liked was Conan: the Barbarian. I'm even lukewarm on the Lord of the Rings movies, which is tantamount to blasphemy in most gaming circles.

You'll find that many older gamers (30+) either got into gaming through old-school fantasy novels or even just picked it up through the odd friend or something. It's kinda weird, but there's already a marked 'generation gap' in the gaming hobby. Bring up Tome of Battle in a mixed group, for instance, and watch the sparks fly.

No, I don't really dig video games or anime that much. I do own some consoles and some computer games, but they just aren't as engaging to me as pen and paper RPGs are. I usually get bored with video games pretty quickly because the plots and available actions are typically limited and they rely on flashy graphics and effects to keep you interested. Check out the Vampire: the Masquerade video games (Redemption and Bloodlines), which actually have deep characters and engaging plots. Some anime is interesting (such as Trinity Blood), but I usually only watch it when it's what's on Adult Swim when I'm going to bed.