Audience reviews
14 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
Fenrinn
I just wanted to start by saying that if you're looking for a light-hearted fantasy anime with low stakes this show could be worth a watch.
Plot summary: Hot headed protagonist that joins an adventuring party of women who dislike him at the start but are eventually won over (platonically) by his kindness and dedication to his friends. Louie is a mage that isn't really good at being a mage or a fighter and generally solves problems by punching them.
The world was interesting, the comedy hit or miss, and the animation was alright. It felt like Slayers but without direction. The show maintains continuity between episodes but doesn't have a connected plot or grow the characters until the final three episodes. It sucks that an episode will end with the gang learning to accept each other the…
Read at the sourceCaeruleus_CCXVI
4.75/10 ~ The Lodoss War never asked for
For all that do not know, this takes place in the same universe as Record of Lodoss War and Crystania. However past a few minor references such as one of the main charecters is a follower of Myrii and they mention the ancient magical society that Karla is from, they also have a similar power system and the fact that elves are super cute and have extremely long ears... That's it, that's all that is similar.
Rune Soldier is mostly a episodic slap stick comedy set abstractly in the middle of a DnD world, if I never told you it was in the world of Lodoss, you probably never would have ever noticed. I'm not sure why they call Louie the "Rune Soldier"... he uses actually zero runes in the show, I'm assuming its a translation error. Instead of having de…
Read at the sourceundamoth
Fantasy anime are like cheese in pizza; its existence is just ubiquitous, has been there ever since, essential, and is just utter shite without them. Every season, they come like in waves, trying to find their way to the palates of the avid viewer, drowning us with whatever they offer despite the reality that they are essentially similar. They may come in different flavors and tumble, fumble and turn things around but I like my pizza's cheese like my fantasy anime, flowing with cheese, mate.
Rune Soldier is a fantasy comedy anime with two dozen episodes and artstyle that is strongly 90s despite being made in early 2000s. Upon reading its background, I was surprised that it shares the same world and minds behind the abominably boring Record of Lodoss War. Why? Because unlike Record, Rune S…
Read at the sourceTokis06
Story in a nutshell: 3 female treasure hunting adventurers who are looking for a female wizard to join their troupe (consisting of a warrior, a thief and a priestess) are made to take on Louie (a male wizard more brawn than brains) after events conspire to force them to do so.
Rune Soldier ("Mahou Senshi Louie") is an anime full of genuine laugh out loud moments. It is a comedy fantasy anime set in a world filled with quaint towns with taverns, wizard schools, demons, fairies, buried treasure, armies and adventurers etc. And while getting on its years now, this anime's quality still shines through.
Artwork: The artwork is dated in its style now but is still of a high quality and the anime has plenty of scenes with particularly great animation.
Characters: Somewhat generic but definit…
Read at the sourcebearvarine
I watched the whole series. It falls mostly in the realm of a magical fantasy that takes place in a stone age civilization. There are several female main characters, but it is definitely not a harem-style anime. It took me several episodes to really begin liking it, but by the 4th or 5th episode I was hooked. Overall it is pretty good. I wanted there to be more romance in it among the characters, but there wasn't too much of that.
Read at the sourceChronologist
I'll admit, Rune Soldier has a very special place in my heart, and I'm definitely biased towards it. I hope this review will explain why.
Story-wise, Rune Soldier follows somewhat standard form. A group of female adventurers (Melissa the priestess, Genie the fighter, and Merril the theif) need a Mage to fill out their party so they can properly explore ruins and do all that fun adventuring stuff. The problem is, the only Mage willing to join their party this side of anywhere is Louie, a blue-haired, barrel-chested smart-mouth who prefers fighting hand-to-hand than casting spells (mostly because he's pretty terrible at magic). Unfortunately, Melissa's deity informs her that Louie is to be her Champion, and thus the group is saddled with him regardless.
The world of Rune Soldier is vibran…
Read at the sourceangelsreview
Now, many people may wonder why some of this may feel a little familiar if they have seen Record of Lodoss War. It’s because the show was based in the same world as Lodoss, but on a different continent. I have a feeling they used that to pretty much get away with not specifying anything that actually happened on Lodoss, even though they have basically the same design concepts. I bring up the fact that Celecia, a cute yellow haired elf girl they meet in the second journey looks really close to Deedlit, the elf girl in the Record of Lodoss War. I do have a question on why Celecia is even in the show, she is only shown twice it seems and she never really does much except being a spiritual helper… just like Deedlit… um… But… getting back on subject.
This isn’t a like Lodoss, in that he is rat…
Read at the sourceAdieu
Western fantasy-style anime DONE RIGHT.
aka a prettier Slayers or a more mature, less bleach-ey, more mature Fairy Tail. Nothing much else to say, just that if you like the genre, watch it!!
Read at the sourceoneeyedwilly25
I write this review for you a changed man. Every now and then, certain forms of art come across our lives and changes the way we view not only ourselves, but the world and our understanding of how it works. Rune Soldier IS that work of art, and I laud it for its ground breaking intricacies and the scope of it's message.
Story: 10
On the surface, this may seem to the uneducated viewer as something less than exemplary. To the sophisticate, or those with taste, they would notice the latent gifts for script that the writers have blessed us with. The anime (a term i do NOT use lightly, I assure you) is short, sweet, and completely above the means in which it was given.
Art: 9
Art is objective, greatness is not. This is greatness.
Sound: 10
Dvorak, Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Rune Soldier. On…
Read at the sourcechinaboat
I thought the first half of the series was quite enjoyable. In the tradition of "George of the Jungle", "Beverly Hills Ninja" etc, it's the story of a guy who's strong on heart but weak on execution. The twist of having the standard adventure types of warrior, thief and holyperson portrayed by competent women works well and the series never descends into a harem comedy although it hovers close every once in awhile. The situations are strong and the humor fast paced. Unfortunately after the about the 11th episode it falls apart rather quickly - like the creative team wanted to move on to other things and just kinda wrote some stuff to fulfill the 24 episode obligation. The stories are pretty cliche - the humor is weak - it becomes disappointing. The first ten or so episodes are definitely w…
Read at the sourceformosan
I would rate this a 7.5 if I could. It has a message, it has entertainment value, and it isn't as ecchi as one might think from a casual glance.
The female characters are surprisingly deep and I found that I knew real-life women who could be compared to each of them. On the one hand, one can watch this show as merely being a bit of fan service, counterbalanced by a male buffoon, thus making a compromise show suitable for viewing in mixed male-female company. I take the show more seriously; I think the writers are making a point about how an old-fashioned masculine man can get along with aggressive, independent female co-workers who are *not* romantically attracted to him in the slightest. I think it's trying to make a point about modern gender roles. I could be reading way too much into i…
Read at the sourceHiGHFLYiN9
When I think of Rune Soldier, I almost immediately think of Slayers: sword bearing warriors, magical items, monsters, sorcery, etc. It's definitely a comedy, and nearly impossible to take a situation seriously until the very end. There were quite a few times I laughed out loud while watching this. The series is 24 episodes long, and it felt like an appropriate length. There weren't really any dry episodes or filler that was noticeable either. The last three episodes were more or less dedicated to the ending, and although there were events leading up to this it almost felt like an abrupt twist to finish things up, but in the end I was pleased with the way things were handled so I can't complain. If you dig comedic anime and the old school RPG setting then I'd highly recommend this.
Read at the sourceten6cha
Maybe back in the day it was something to go gya gya over (according to the person who rated it a 10) but to me it was cliche after cliche. Some of the scenes are cute, but there's nothing new or surprising in the story. The episodes are very skippable, I'd compare it to saiyuki where there is really nothing to tie all the series together except for the same characters that keep appearing in them with a couple attempts at humour. So, you can skip a bunch of the episodes as I did and still not miss a thing. I guess, most of the part that you could call a "plot" appeared in the last couple episodes of the series and even that was soooooooo predictable that you can just skip through it. So, I recommend that you watch this if you are really bored, or in the mood for watching something really p…
Read at the sourceBloodyRavens
This anime is definately 10's across the board. It is one of the funniest anime shows I have had the pleasure of watching. This show never gets old, no matter how many times I watch it.
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