Mahou Senshi Louie

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 Soldier is actually entertaining, fun, and never got stale. While Record told a Dungeons and Dragons tale in utter humorless and super serious vibe, Rune Soldier is closer to what a DnD session feels like and after finishing it, I was pleasantly satisfied despite the ending not being that good by itself.

Story:
Rune Soldier is a slapstick, mostly episodic tale about a musclebound wizard named Louie and his companions trying their luck around the magical realm, getting into skirmishes with magical beings, scoundrels, or just dealing with the most mundane everyday problems. It does have a final arc that is kinda serious, but i was thankful it didn't bend so much as to betray the reason why I loved it. As a fantasy anime, the setting was fairly bland and the creatures are cardboard cutouts of pop culture. I also found the magic system barely there and quite unexplored, despite the main character being a magician. Somehow, this works because the show is a comedy and one of its running gag is that Louie uses his fists far more than his wand. Likewise, the show has characterization despite its episodic structure and one of the most lighthearted fantasy anime around. In my book, that is a plus amidst the hundreds isekais that are complicating things exponentially.

Characters:
This is where the show shines the best. The four-man band's dynamics was just fun to watch, with their banters and comradery bouncing in and out and evolving per episode. Louie rose up to be one of my favorite fantasy protagonists and his build as a Muscle Wizard is up there as one of the gag characters that players of Dungeons and Dragons would create in a bonkers campaign. He may be a dumbass but has hints of wisdom in terms of practicality and is not relegated to a generic do-gooder because his flaws just further enhance how different he is from the usual MC. Despite my like for Louie however, Merril was just my favorite the cast, a mouse-type rogue with an explosive, yet non-annoying personality and has the best synergy with the others. Genie, the boisterous female Guts is there, with good storyline but somehow plain characterization. The last of the four is the cleric Melissa who started generic however grew up the most by the end of the show and her catchphrase just grew up with me. Despite four of them mostly together, there is spirtually a fifth member in Louie's friend Ila who was just useful as she is one of the sexiest nerds ever. The support characters are likewise nice to have with despite their irrelevancy to the main plot, which doesn't really matter much because the main cast's dynamics was strong enough to carry the show to the end. It was so strong that when the show ended, I really missed them.

Sound:
Both the opening and ending evokes the Japanese pop and rock of the age and I just loved listening to them alongside the eyecatching animations while they play. Voice acting was marvelous, especially with Merril's voice which gave her such an enormous charm. The background ost was functional in general though I give props to the powerchord powerup theme which just plays whenever Louie does something heroic, something dumb as hell, or a mix of both. It is the narm, baby.

Art:
Artwise, it stands out personally because it is just 90s art which I absolutely love. The design of the girls just pop out, Louie is burly and striking, though i gotta say the animation does dip at times. That said, the animation was mostly fine and probably most of its budget was spent on the first episode and the last where the sakugas were scattered generously. When action kicks in though, there were nice shots. Being a relic of the past, its superdeform actually aged well and never went to extremes unlike its contemporaries. Ila and Merril just look fine as hell and are top tier babes in the anime world.

Overall:
In general, Rune Soldier never overstayed its welcome, the gags mostly stick, the humor works for a fan of slapstick like me, and a fine concoction of fantasy and comedy that is just timeless due to its 90s+2000s aesthetics. Its story is barebones but didn't matter really because this show is among the most lightest ones out there and the enjoyment comes from just seeing the fun adventures and character interactions that didn't fail to entertain me. For a Dungeons and Dragons fan who may feel dismayed by Record of Lodoss War, this is essentially the show with the 'real' spirit of the game. Rune Soldier is the mozzarella pizza that remains delicious hot or cold and is an absolute classic. Whatever my mood is, I'll gladly consume it.

It is episodic by nature, so binging it makes no difference aside from its last three episodes. Watch to detoxify after those horribly complicated shows.

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 definitely still very lovable, there is definitely significant character development over the course of this anime.

Comedy: Some of the jokes have become overdone since this anime was created however despite this the anime still has plenty of genuine laugh out loud moments and original comedy.

Romance: There is a little romance that develops (or becomes apparent) between certain characters over the course of the anime but romance in general is not a focal part of this anime.

Action: There is plenty of action in this anime yet its not what you would call an action-packed anime (as some episodes feature little to no action at all).

Episodes: Most of the episodes revolve around their own mini story however in the bigger picture of things, the episodes are all relevant to one another and all link up together to form a bigger overriding story line and ending.

Fan service: This anime has a little fan service however nothing outrageous or which may make you feel uncomfortable.

Overall enjoyment: Very high! This anime is not a masterpiece however it is still an excellent anime and if rated on enjoyment alone, it would definitely get a 10/10 rating from me ^_^v .

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 then go back to hating each other the next. That being said I was interested in learning more about this show and was surprised to find out it is connected to the Lodoss War OVA by taking place in the same world.

This show did it's job of getting me interested in the light novels and manga but overall an unsatisfying watch.