Deltora Quest

Long ago, the blacksmith Adin forged a belt of seven powerful gems, one from each of the seven tribes of Deltora. Wielding the belt's unparalleled power, he repelled the Shadow Lord's attempt to overthrow the kingdom. Adin was crowned king of Deltora, but he never forgot that the enemy remained unbeaten.

Centuries later, memory of the Shadow Lord has become faded and almost forgotten, and the people of Deltora see their monarchy as detached and uncaring. Much to their dismay, the Shadow Lord strikes once more, breaking the Belt of Deltora by scattering the seven gems across the continent. Jarred, a close friend of the young king Endon, assists him and his wife in escaping from the castle as the Shadow Lord takes over, and they part ways to go into hiding.

The Shadow Lord now reigns over Deltora and many years under his tyrannical rule. However, there is a glimmer of hope in Jarred's son Lief, whom he has lovingly raised and trained to find the scattered gemstones and reassemble the Belt of Deltora. Along with his companions Barda and Jasmine, Lief must face devious enemies and dangerous beasts to oust the Shadow Lord and return peace to Deltora.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Jasmine Main

Takagaki, Ayahi Japanese

Lief Main

Sakamaki, Ryosuke Japanese

Barda Main

Yara, Yuusaku Japanese

Kree Main

Itou, Miyako Japanese

Fili Main

Ikeda, Chigusa Japanese

Dain ing

Saiga, Mitsuki Japanese

Doom ing

Morita, Junpei Japanese

Thaegan ing

Fujita, Toshiko Japanese

Glock ing

Tachiki, Fumihiko Japanese

Gorl ing

Genda, Tesshou Japanese

Hongou, Mitsuru Director

Aketagawa, Susumu Sound Director

Tsuchiya, Hiroyuki Episode Director

Okazaki, Yukio Episode Director

Reviews

Mar 29, 2011

Colonelfancy

Recommended

"CLEAN NORADS HERE!!" Ehm, sorry. The adventure genre has gradually become a lost art the last couple of years in anime, but thankfully, titles like Deltora Quest can hopefully breathe life back into it. I've never read the books or even heard of them until I began to dig up information on this show, but this is pretty good and could encourage me to give the novels a gander.
While there is nothing particularly stunning about Deltora Quest plotwise early on (it goes through the motions ala Inuyasha), it's simple formula is pretty well executed and the pacing never seems to drag. Maybe it's because ... I've been watching a lot of drawn-out shonen battles at the time I'm writing this, but seeing heroes solve puzzles and fight a variety of clever enemies with a bit of strategy and guile instead of powering up for 17 minutes and unleashing whatever beam they fire, but this was quite refreshing. Lief, Jasmine, and Barda venture through the very vast kingdom of Deltora, meeting interesting people and exploring dungeons that are straight out of PSX rpgs. The accompanying dialouge explains the nuances of the plot rather basically, but it's acceptable for introducing people who haven't read the books to the history of Deltora itself and the belt. I watched the English dub on The HUB channel, and at first it was corny when the cheesy narrator would chime in during character speech, but I didn't mind. Everything eventually reaches a climax that......well....anyone on MAL ever watch the Michael Jackson movie/video Moonwalker?
I really dig the visuals, and are debatably Deltora Quest's strongest point. Very vivid colors and beautiful hand-drawn character designs spliced with some of the better CGI I've seen utilized in anime in years for a television show makes this a very pretty title to look at. The various caverns, catacombs, forests, and towns offer little in redundancy. From the dreary, fog-laden Forest of Silence to the etherial and mysterious city of Tora, the back drop is very well done. The battles are pretty darn good, but the central trio of Lief, Barda, and Jasmine are just slightly varied melee fighters, so battles with Shadow guards can get a little repetitive. I would've liked more of a magic or ranged fighter earlier in the show to break the monotony, but that's just a minor pet peeve of mine.
Not too much say about the English dub voice acting. I think for most people, it will be tolerated or hated. I found it acceptable, but I'd be lying if I didn't say some voices are grating. At times, Jasmine sounds like a valley girl and Lief's self-righteous heroistic nonsense comes off as whiny. Cole Howard is a good guy and I do him as a young anime voice talent in a market where 40+ year olds like Vic Mignogna has to voice a junior high student, but outside of singing the Sorceress Theagaan song, he does little to impress. Not the worst effort in of dub work, but it is able at times.
Now, while I do like the overall cast, I might go off on a rant here about the characters and I can only hope in the novels that these three display a greater degree of intelligence than their anime counterparts. I know it's standard protocol to add a bit of intrigue and a bump in the road every now and then, but at times these three can be so stupid and gullible, it borders on infuriating. Sometimes it plays into mildly crucial plot points, even adding humor at times, but some instances could've been avoided altogether. They get better over time and I became more forgiving, but the second time they got back around to Tom's Shop, I was livid with how much crying our "heroes" were mustering because they didn't get their way. That aside, most of the ing characters that stick around a little longer, like Doom and Dain are pretty awesome, while representatives of the different tribes are not really around early on. I could do without Nerida, thankfully her presence seemed kept to a minimum. Even the villian, the evil Shadow Lord (as opposed to the jovial and happy Shadow Lord) is shrouded in mystery most of the time and maintains some menace, so I could roll with it, but man, what a reveal. Overall, I thought most of the ing characters just weren't there enough to develop into anything outside of fighters.
IN CLOSING: With a few caveats that nagged me a bit, Deltora Quest is a pretty solid show that kept me entertained, and I wished more TV shows followed a similar pacing. A linear plot that's spliced with very solid adventure is what I look for to get my anime-viewing juices flowing. Since this recently aired here in the U.S., I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a DVD release. I would love to put this on my shelf.

STORY: 7
ART: 9
SOUND: 6
CHARACTERS: 6
ENJOYMENT: 8
OVERALL SCORE: 7 out of 10

PROS: Really cool adventure tale, detailed world, great visual effects, I want a plush Filli toy, a neat freak cult: BEST.... CULT..... EVER
CONS: Bland English dub alters the opening themes, occasionally dimwitted heroes, impressively bad final battle

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Colonelfancy (58)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Sep 20, 2016

Ashender16

Mixed Feelings

5/10 overall
HERES WHY
I LITERALLY AND IM NOT JOKING
PREDICTED THE WHOLE ANIME UP UNTIL THE LAST 2 EPISODES(most predicatable anime I have seen)
The reason I didn't give it a lower score is because there are animes that are for noobies to anime meaning people who have watched allot of other anime shouldnt be mad that they could predict it and yes I was one of those people this anime gave me a headache because its predicatable and not in a good way you can always tell when someones going to do something wrong instead of right. The art was fair because it was around the ... same time as beserk although the CGI just didnt cut it, the fights were boring af, the sounds never caught my attention as you know from my rant above I didn't enjoy it
5 maybe 6/10 at most
AND IM PRETTY MAD MY SHIP DIDNT SAIL GAH!!!

Reviewer’s Rating: 5

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Ashender16 (4)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Mar 18, 2024

CyrahOmega

Not Recommended

Preliminary (7/65 eps)

Deltora quest is easily the worst Anime I’ve ever watched. On its face it seems like it would be phenomenal. The straightforwardness and awky writing is so cringe. No real character development or story to follow. It seems like everything is on the fly. I had forgot the name of this anime it was so bad. The artwork drew me in because it’s the genre I like ie spell casters, warriors, brutes, wizards etc. the familiar was giving popful mail vibes. When I started watching it’s like they immediately went for it. The names of the demons are so ugh..hot and tot bruh? Come on ... it’s like they were even trying.

Reviewer’s Rating: 1

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by CyrahOmega (3)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Foreign Music in Anime

by Ya_B0i

44 Entries · 23 Restacks

Anime that aired in LatAM - Part 2

by AzafuseKingTora

50 Entries · 15 Restacks

2000's: Animes dubbed into Latin Spanish from the 2000's (2007)

by bolakabuto666

28 Entries · 5 Restacks

North American Anime & Manga Releases for June

Here are the North American Anime & Manga releases for June 2014 Week 1: June 3rd - 9th Anime Releases Ah! My Buddha Complete Collection Amnesia Complete Collect...read more

Jun 2, 2014 1:19 PM by Discuss (14 comments)

	Poll: Guts-Valley - May 21, 2022	0 replies	by »» May 21, 2022 10:38 PM
	Poll: FMmatron - Jun 10, 2019	2 replies	by »» May 18, 2022 6:55 PM
	Poll: EratiK - May 22, 2013	4 replies	by »» Apr 30, 2022 11:33 PM
	Poll: Honumael - Oct 25, 2013	2 replies	by »» Apr 30, 2022 11:25 PM
	Poll: EratiK - May 22, 2013	4 replies	by »» Apr 30, 2022 11:13 PM

30 Obscure Anime Adaptations of Western Literature

You may know of a few anime based on Western literature, but there are so many more hidden underneath the surface that it may surprise you.

by Shymander

84,307 views

Top 25 Best Kids Anime For "Kids" of All Ages!

Let's take a quick jog around memory lane and those anime you used to watch and enjoy as kids. Feel the nostalgia and see if your favorites made the list and discover more that other children enjoyed.

by lmearriola

527,589 views

Heart-warming