Audience reviews
11 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
BDAndrews
Are you an RPG enthusiast who played the original Wizardry: Proving Grounds of the Mad Overlord game? Then you must watch this. It may not be a masterpiece, but it was made for you. You will recognize the character archetypes, the monsters, the spells, the grim atmosphere, the floor skipping elevator, how greed both motivates and betrays the player, this is all represented in a very faithful way.
Everything else is just generic even if competently done, so if you're not familiar with the source material you can safely skip it. The plot is purposely minimalistic and generic, and so are the main characters, perfectly matching the game. The animation, art style, soundtrack and sound effects are serviceable. So if you don't care about old-school dungeon crawlers like the original Wizardry ga…
Read at the sourceKranst
Loosely based on a classic video game of the same name, Wizardry is a typical Dungeons and Dragons story that, while unexceptional, would garner enjoyment from its target audience. The premise is easy to understand for anyone remotely familiar with your standard fantasy adventure, and the brief runtime allows for low commitment. The production quality and character designs are also decent. However, as one should expect, the short duration and lack of narrative depth make for lukewarm character development, worldbuilding, and stakes. Those who have an interest in the history or genre should give it a chance. Otherwise, it would be best to move on.
Read at the sourcemetalhead33
As another reviewer wrote: don't let the ratings dissuade you, this is a pretty solid anime.
Loosely based on a 1981 video game with the same name (I'm a big fan of old video games), this anime doesn't pretend to be anything more than what it is: a dungeon-crawling story about a party that decides to brave ancient ruins for treasure, fighting monsters, and also somehow saving the world in the process.
Is it a genre-defining, groundbreaking anime that will make you re-think your whole life? No. Does it have to be? Also no. You could rightfully accuse this anime of being "forgettable" or "mediocre", but all the things it does, it does well, and it does in a style.
It has some added sense of realism (e.g. delayed reactions to pain), it depicts magic quite well, is rather faithful to the so…
Read at the sourceTalkUltraman
I randomly discovered this through a YouTube suggestion, after looking into videos about high-fantasy anime movies or ovas from the mid-90s to earlier. I think the story is short and simple mostly due to the fact it feels based on someone's campaign in D&D like Record of Lodoss creator, rather than being an adaptation of a PC game franchise. Honestly, before doing more research on Wizardry as I watched it, I never even knew the series ever existed. However, what I came to enjoy about this adaptation was mostly its visuals, and how the subs contained footnotes to explain the games. Like the fansub group really knew the franchise, and thought to explain some of its rules or terminology. So, it's a fun watch for people who enjoy the PC games, tabletop rpgs, and high fantasy. Nevertheless, I'd…
Read at the sourceBadAnimeReview
I just stumbled upon this after “Odin: Photon Sailor Starlight”, and I’m happy I did. I’ve never played any of the games they’re based on, but I’m told that this is rather faithful.
Story (6/10): for a short 40 minute OVA movie, it was pretty entertaining. It was well paced and the writing was good. It’s not the most fantastic, thought provoking tale ever told, but it’s fun.
Art (7/10): you can tell who’s what in this OVA just by looking at them. The colors are dull to fit the tone, but I think it’s a bit over used. 90% of this story takes place in a giant temple that’s about 1,000 years old and run down by monsters, so it looking dark and dreary makes sense, but does the entire town need to be? Also, in the scene where they meet the big bad, they don’t look so good when the open the doo…
Read at the sourcerooster_
At the time of this OVA's release, the Wizardry series of dungeon-crawling fantasy video games was immensely popular in Japan. The genre continues to be bigger there than in the West, with many indie and mid-budget releases taking direct inspiration from the franchise. Wizardry was hugely influential to fantasy RPGs as a whole, and many of the tropes related to magic spells, character classes, and monster types can trace their origins to it.
All of this is to say that the Wizardry OVA is a strikingly faithful adaptation of the Wizardry video game experience, and of the dungeon-crawling experience as a whole. A team of adventurers with clearly-defined combat roles tackle the increasingly-dangerous floors of a subterranean dungeon, with the ultimate goal of reaching the bottom floor, where…
Read at the sourcematthigh
Let's keep this simple: This is nothing more than a generic Dungeons and Dragons story. Straight up, and nothing more. If that's what you are after, you've found it.
This one-shot OVA story is based on a much longer game series. But really, that was twenty-plus years ago -- most of the people looking at anime these days weren't even BORN at the time. I am not familiar with the source material in the least, so I have absolutely no idea on how faithful it is. And, I think it really doesn't matter. But I *do* know Dungeons and Dragons, and anyone who has a passing familiarity with D&D (and similar games) knows exactly what this is: your generic "dungeon crawler". You have the most generic mix of fantasy characters (the elf, the dwarf, the human, etc), the generic mix of classes, going throu…
Read at the sourceSilyon
Imagine my surprise when I saw that there was, for some reason, an anime based on one of the first ever computer role-playing games. Now that wouldn't be all that unusual if the game in question was made in Japan, but Wizardry is an American property originally developed by two college students. I never thought the series would be popular enough in Japan of all places to receive an anime adaptation of any sort, but after looking into it a little bit it seems that even to this day there are still some spin-offs released in Japan.
But enough about the game, we're on MyAnimeList and I should talk about the anime not a game that my grandpa would've played.
Where to even begin? There is not much to say about Wizardry. As far as anime go it's quite innocent and doesn't having anything that woul…
Read at the sourcektulu007
Wizardry was an old series of RPGs. The first one was released in 1981 as a simple dungeon crawler created by students. From there it exploded and kept going for two decades with the last game, Wizardry 8, coming out in '01. Unless you want to count all the spin-offs, which have kept going with an online MMO being the most recent. Its servers shut down after a year or two though. About halfway into the franchise's life cycle there was an OVA. It was brought to us by TMS Entertainment. You may remember them from Kyougoku Natsuhiko: Kousetsu Hyaku Monogatari, Glass no Kamen & Magic Knight Rayearth. So, how did they handle this classic RPG franchise? I'm guessing based on my track record of them that it was kind of middling. After all, the best series I've looked at was the slice of life dram…
Read at the sourceSidewinder51
Rated a 7 (Good)
Seen via english sub
Ever play a role playing game with dungeons? like l.o.t.r.o. or elder scrolls? This movie takes that experience and puts it into a if that were real this is how it could be played out. That idea alone of taking a lot of people's fantasy for the r.p.g. area make me happy and others too i would imagine. Sure, one could fight a monster or two or hundreds but this setup was a rarity/unique. Granted how people knew how this dungeon worked without informing the viewer was a little sloppy for an intro. Then again, the main cast was not 'rookies' in their words. All that aside, the flow went well straight to the nice ending.
p.s. word of advice... depending how you see the movie via an English subtitle pay attention to what spells are cast/effects. Descripti…
Read at the sourceVoivodian
Don't let the rating put you off this one. Its not as pretty or grand as many other sword and sorcery animes of the period but it is a very solid and enjoyable watch nonetheless. Definitely worth its hour long runtime.
The story is very generic but also very faithful to the dungeon crawler game it is based on. Many similar ova adaptations of rpg games ditched this aspect to break free of video/table top game constraints. But by staying faithful, the spells and character classes benefit from a added depth and charm. Similarly, the pacing follows a rpg style encounter, party member, exploration routine. This works well for a hour long action ova and I can't see anyone messing something simple like this up. My only complaint is that the supposed big bad is stopped before he ever comes out, d…
Read at the source