LOL Heroes, Shana III

Wordy-words time: I just finished watching Legend of the Legendary Heroes (not to be confused with the galactic ones) and wow was that a great series.  Otherwise known as LOL Heroes the series was one of many different things, to the extent that it's hard to categorize.  Broadly speaking it's a political series in a fantasy world with occasional war and or fighting.

Depiction of politics probably is the most central aspect to the series: the story - at least sequentially - begins with the bastard child of nobleman seizing power and seeking to reform his country (such as many politicians with good intent set out to do), however as in real politics things don't go quite so smoothly or so honestly.  I could say more about the political side of the story, but it would really really spoil the impact of the story to anyone who is unfamiliar with it - needless to say a lot happens.

Ferris serves as a comic foil for much of the series.

As an aside to the political story, the Usurper-King appoints an old friend (Ryner Lute) and a swordswoman (Ferris Eris, token bishoujo) to seek out magical artifacts (or hero relics as the story calls them) which are of military benefit to his kingdom.  This side of the story is much more fantasy based, with magical powers and abilities frequently being used.  Ryner is more or less the reluctant protagonist of the series (see also: Rincewind in Discworld) who possessing extraordinary magical powers is considered the best person for the job.  The magical powers come with a price however, as certain conditions will cause Ryner to go berserk and destroy everything - something Ryner himself is aware of and seeks to avoid.  It's a nice plot device that neatly avoids powerlevel herpaderp.


My mind is buzzing but I'm running out of steam here.  Needless to say, great series and one which is seriously so worth checking out.  If I were to make any complaints, it would be that the artwork mish-mashes a variety of European styles from the last 2000 years... which feels a bit weird (especially when you see character wearing modern-ish clothes) but that's a pretty minor complaint.
Series 2 when D:


Also today I finished Shana III.  I must say that was a pretty satisfactory ending to the series, it did a nice job of finishing things without falling prey to seeming predictable.  On the whole it was enjoyable series, not one I would watch again but it was certainly entertaining to follow it each week.

No more Sydonay or Hecate ;_;

The biggest shortcoming of the series was that it had far too many periphery characters who could have easily been omitted, I'd rather the episodes focused more on say Shana herself or the central members of Bal Masque, who were always the most interesting characters to follow in the series.