Anime Review: Legend of the Legendary Heroes

I suppose on occasion it might be in my best interest to write up a serious review, so without further ado I'll delve right into the main content of today's post. At the moment I'm looking at Funimation's Blu-ray boxset of Legend of the Legendary Heroes. We'll begin with the boring details and go into the series proper from there.

Legend of the Legendary Heroes

The Blu-ray two-part boxset offered by Funimation

Legend of the Legendary Heroes (2010) is a 24-episode series based on a series of light novels that have--as of now--only been released in Japan. This, unfortunately, means that the series is only the beginning of a much larger narrative. The Japanese vocal cast consists of Jun Fukuyama, Daisuke Ono, and Ayahi Takagaki as the three lead characters. To most die-hard anime fans these names should ring a bell and--if memorizing names isn't your thing--the voices should at least sound familiar to those who watch their anime in sub. The English dub features Ian Sinclair, Eric Vale, and Luci Christian. Many of these are familiar voices as well, to those who prefer to watch in dub.

As for the physical contents of the Blu-ray/DVD pack Funimation has put their effort into offering something more than the bare necessities but unfortunately there is little more than that. While the Blu-ray comes together with the DVD series (as is common these days) they offer little more than the usual extra features. Commentary and textless openings/endings are standard these days. The DVDs do, however, come with character cards in each. Personally I'm a little saddened to see Shion left out of the action. With three main characters it is unfortunate that only two of them come with the Blu-rays.

The limited edition of the first Blu-ray does, however, come with a nice box to store both cases in.

The Story: 

The series follows three characters each working towards the goal of creating a world in which they can all live peacefully. Ryner Lute is an idealist who has been persecuted his whole life due to the Alpha Stigma, a power that allows him to copy the magic of others. He dreams of an easygoing life spent napping while on his quest together with Ferris Eris to find the "hero relics" that will hopefully move the world towards peace. Meanwhile, Ryner's friend Shion Astal pursues his ambition to become the king of a kinder nation.

Overall Impression:

To begin with I'd like to make it clear that I enjoyed this show. I laughed, I cried, and I genuinely came to care about the characters throughout the course of the series. Now that we've gotten that out of the way I can speak more in detail about the show itself.

First and foremost I rather enjoyed the dub for this show. Since this blog was originally created with the intent of analyzing the differences between Japanese and English language tracks in anime series I thought perhaps it would be most fitting to begin here and work towards a final conclusion. Ian Sinclair truly brings the character of Ryner to life with his portrayal, and even the most simple of lines is delivered with just the right emotional level.

While on that topic, however, it should be mentioned that the emotional tone of the series can at times be rather jarring. What seems to be a rather generic fantasy comedy leads way to some rather dark scenes fairly early on. Legend of the Legendary Heroes does this often, which can come off a little hectic. Characters who appear in humorous scenes at the beginning of an episode may find themselves entrenched in a bloodbath by the end, although the series does take care to set the mood before any large jumps. Perhaps the most awkward of these instances, however, comes near the end of the series. What should be a building climax is surrounded by humor and a oft-forgotten yet slowly building unease.

The main issue this series has, however, is its lack of an ending. The series itself ends with the buildup to what would originally be another arc of the story, and gives the viewer something to look forward to (fans of the show are still desperately awaiting a second season). Unfortunately the source material cannot be found in the United States, meaning that this sendoff leads the audience straight into that ever present brick wall people call the language barrier. What is even more offensive, however, is the simple fact that the questions raised (in what was likely the first act in a series of books) are never answered. Vague hints are dropped here and there as to what it is that is going on near to the end of the series, but it is rather obvious that the answers to these questions are ones that the story is going to take some time trying to resolve. Unfortunately the anime doesn't have that time. What exactly is going on is left entirely without explanation. Terms are thrown around in the last several episodes that are never defined and characters appear and disappear without a single explanation.

What is in the series, however, is worth a look. I only wish foreign audiences would be given the opportunity to seek the answers that Legend of the Legendary Heroes never answers, whether this be through a second series or through foreign-language releases of the novels they were based upon.