A classic anime based on Dungeons and Dragons? I had to see it, whether it was good or not. As it turns out, it wasn't the best, but I didn't regret watching it either. If I could go back and do it again, I most certainly would.
The characters were all pretty well done. Even though the hero was a bit bland, he still had just enough charisma to keep the show from falling down. Deedlit the elf was naturally very likeable and the supporting cast was quite solid. I think that it wouldn't have hurt for us to get to know a little bit more about our characters. For instance, I found out from the Comics section of the DVD that Woodchuck had been in jail for 20 years for a minor offense. Either they didn't mention that in the anime or I missed it; I think it would have helped if he'd talked about it more and perhaps showed some bitterness over it.
One thing I didn't get was the large gap between the skills of the party members. Parn, the hero, and Etoh, the cleric, seemed especially weak compared to the rest. The wizard Slayn was powerful enough, but he seemed weaker than he actually was because every other time he opened his mouth it was to say "There is powerful magic at work here..." which made it seem like he himself was incapable of any sort of powerful magic. It would have been nice to see Woodchuck to some more thief-related skills, like sneaking or disarming traps, instead of just throwing daggers around and being a loudmouth.
The thing that stayed with me most throughout the series was the Lodoss Law: bad guys do a much better job of elimintating each other than the good guys do. It seriously felt like every time a bad guy was taken down, it was another bad guy doing the job. Okay, then the good guys did manage to do a bit of damage, but in the end it was the bad guys who seemed to do most of the work.
Some of the supporting cast could have used a bit more attention, especially the two mercenaries they meet. The writers made a big deal out of introducing these characters to us, and then they tag along for the rest of the show but they pretty much just happen to be there when fights break out.
Unless I'm mistaken, the only good elf we ever see if Deedlit and the only dwarf we ever see is Ghim (I hope by the way that his last name isn't Lee, or someone's getting sued.) It's pretty obvious that there are other good elves and dwarves, but we never get to see them.
If I could change one thing, I would make the main characters have more control over the plot. The whole story takes place against the war over Lodoss in which our heroes play just a small part, and a lot of the time the various kings, leaders, and armies have much more sway over events than our heroes do. I don't want to see our guys just being ordinary soldiers in the lines; I want to see them doing special missions that no-one else could pull off! Oh, and the supporting heroes also need to get into the action more. It seemed like Slayn, Etoh, Wood and Ghim spent a lot of time away from the action doing other stuff.
A lot is left unsaid for the next series, but unfortunately it seems that it wasn't quite as good as this one. That's a shame, especially considering how much later it was made, so the animation should be all rights be even better, not worse. And judging from the sequel, the new main characters (why couldn't they just stick with the heroes we already know and love?) seem to fall into the trap the old ones avoided: they all have wacky hair colors.
Yes, the animation in Record of Lodoss War could have been better at times. Deedlit's mouth tended to be too small, Parn's eyes were usually too big. Things like that. The animation could have been smoother, and we could definitely have used more colors in a lot of the scenes. The dragons tended to just be pictures being moved around without actually being animated (watch it to see what I mean.) But the animation was generally quite good and didn't take too much away from the plot, especially considering that it was made over ten years ago.
So, in conclusion, Record of Lodoss War was actually pretty good and worth watching once. A lot of things could be improved, but if you know about them ahead of time what you get should be more enjoyable. So if you're into fantasy stories and like anime, watch it!