We're willing to bet that a significant number of fans have a hard time imagining The Lord of the Rings as an anime. After all, Tolkien's book and Jackson's films seem to embody all the important nuances of the cultural code of the West, and anime of the East, and it all doesn't fit together. However, contemporary artists have long been actively experimenting with almost impossible combinations of opposites. That's why 2024 gave us the Lord of the Rings anime.
But in addition, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is the return of the majestic world of Tolkien's works to the big screens, which is worthy of attention in itself. And even though the anime raises serious questions about its quality, it still conveys the spirit of high fantasy successfully.
| Title | The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim |
| Genre | anime, action, adventure, drama |
| Director | Kenji Kamiyama |
| The roles were voiced by | Bryan Cox, Miranda Otto, Michael Wildman, Lorraine Ashbourne, Luke Pasqualino, Gaya Weiss and others |
| Studios | New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Animation, Sola Entertainment, WingNut Films, Warner Bros. Pictures |
| Timing | 2 hours 14 minutes |
| Year | 2024 |
| Website | IMDb |
The anime is set 183 years before the start of Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy. It focuses on King Helm of Rogan, Helm the Hammer, and his freedom-loving daughter Hera. Helm is greatly respected by his subjects, but the people of the Dunladians have their own ambitions and views on the government. A special role in them is played by Wulf, the son of King Freka of the Danes. When Helm kills Freka with just one punch, Wolfe vows revenge and destroys everything that is important to Helm. And not even Wolfe's once close friendship with the Hero can prevent his plans for bloody revenge.
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Still from the anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim[/caption]
The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim immerses you in the unique atmosphere of one of the most famous book and movie series in the world from the very first seconds. The familiar music, vivid landscapes, and even the nuances of editing and details such as the appearance of text on the screen work to create this atmosphere. The anime format did not prevent the spirit of The Lord of the Rings from reaching the audience. And this is despite the fact that the choice of the format itself is more of a forced measure than a direct creative decision.
The fact is that it would have been much more difficult, time-consuming, and resource-intensive to make a feature-length movie based on The Lord of the Rings with live actors. New Line Cinema risked losing the rights to film adaptations of J.R.R. Tolkien's works before it could release anything. That's why the anime format came in handy.
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Still from the anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim[/caption]
However, don't assume that the company's haste makes The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim looks cheap. Every landscape in the anime is worth saving to a gallery or setting as wallpaper on your own devices. The artists and animators were inspired by Peter Jackson's trilogy and its indescribable beauty. And they definitely managed to recreate the magic of The Lord of the Rings in the format of oriental animation.
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Still from the anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim[/caption]
At the same time, the authors did not forget about the sources of the anime genre. That is why the character animation was created by hand. In fact, the process was even more interesting: the actors recorded the characters' movements, created models in Unreal Engine based on them, and then the artists redrew everything on their own. The anime director Kenji Kamiyama deliberately refused to rotoscope and directly transfer the actors' movements to the final work to preserve the spirit of classic anime.
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Still from the anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim[/caption]
However, the result was controversial. On the one hand, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim does look like a classic full-length animation, something from the 1990s - and that's more of a compliment. On the other hand, the movements of the characters sometimes seem too unnatural, sometimes they are full of strange swaying. Such moments ruin the pleasant viewing experience, especially when strange animations are combined with really beautiful backgrounds, which only emphasizes the shortcomings of the former.
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Still from the anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim[/caption]
If we evaluate The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirim" as a fictional story, it is definitely not bad, but no more. It focuses on a local conflict, which still turned out to be quite pathetic, but it lacks scope and interesting details. You know from the very beginning how everything will end, and each character in the anime is more of a stereotype and template than an interesting personality. Because of all this, watching may seem a bit boring. And even after watching it, there is almost nothing to say about the script.
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Still from the anime The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim[/caption]
However, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim didn't seem to claim any discoveries or crazy recognition. It's a simple and concise story in a familiar setting that is adored by millions of people, maybe even billions. The last time we went to the cinema to see The Lord of the Rings was in 2014, during the premiere of The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies. Therefore, simply returning to almost native places is already a small victory. Everything else becomes less important against this background.