Oh El-Hazard! I will never forget the first time that I watched this. It was in the spring of 1996. I was a sophomore in high school. My friends started getting into this really bizarre stuff called anime. There was one show in particular that they were always talking about. That show was, you guessed it, El-Hazard.
I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into when I first popped it into my VCR. But from the second the intro started and the lovely narrator first spoke "It is a place that dwells in the memories of those who still dream of its ancient glory" (words that will always dwell within me) I knew that I was in for something special.
To get to the point, El-Hazard has it all. It's got stellar artwork, lively and interesting characters, comedy (oh my, does it ever have comedy!), an epic (if somewhat common) story, magic, great action, demon goddesses, wonderful music, and a fascinating and beautiful world.
The characters in this show are some of my absolute favorites in all of anime. Masamichi Fujisawa - the alcoholic, chain-smoking history teacher - is my personal favorite, but others like Miz, Shayla, Ifurita, and Makoto are all fantastic as well.
I don't want to say too much more because I might be tempted to delve into spoiler territory. Suffice it to say that this show was virtually single-handedly responsible for setting me on a decades long journey of anime fandom. I highly recommend this to anyone who has a love for anime and/or fantasy.
Oh, and one more thing that can't be overlooked is the quality of the dub. As hard as it might be to believe, especially considering that this came out in the mid-90's, the dub is in my humble opinion far superior to the sub.
Easy 9/10
I had absolutely no idea what I was getting into when I first popped it into my VCR. But from the second the intro started and the lovely narrator first spoke "It is a place that dwells in the memories of those who still dream of its ancient glory" (words that will always dwell within me) I knew that I was in for something special.
To get to the point, El-Hazard has it all. It's got stellar artwork, lively and interesting characters, comedy (oh my, does it ever have comedy!), an epic (if somewhat common) story, magic, great action, demon goddesses, wonderful music, and a fascinating and beautiful world.
The characters in this show are some of my absolute favorites in all of anime. Masamichi Fujisawa - the alcoholic, chain-smoking history teacher - is my personal favorite, but others like Miz, Shayla, Ifurita, and Makoto are all fantastic as well.
I don't want to say too much more because I might be tempted to delve into spoiler territory. Suffice it to say that this show was virtually single-handedly responsible for setting me on a decades long journey of anime fandom. I highly recommend this to anyone who has a love for anime and/or fantasy.
Oh, and one more thing that can't be overlooked is the quality of the dub. As hard as it might be to believe, especially considering that this came out in the mid-90's, the dub is in my humble opinion far superior to the sub.
Easy 9/10