Genres: adventure, comedy, fantasy Themes: magicians, parody, treasure hunting Objectionable content: Significant Number of episodes: 24 Vintage: 2001-04-03 to 2001-09-18
Plot Summary:
Louie, a brawny student at the mages’ guild, is reluctantly accepted by three girls (Merrill (thief), Genie (fighter), and Melissa (priestess)) as a companion for their adventuring party. As the foursome explore ruins, battle dark creatures, and make new friends, they also uncover a sinister plot within the kingdom.
This is certainly is a fun series, and I found it highly enjoyable since I still have a fondness for D&D type fantasy stuff.
It has a lot of comedy in it, which is a big plus for me, but also the animation artwork is actually quite attractive. Though as far as actual story content goes, I would probably list this more as fluff series, since, though it does have an actual plot, it’s not really present throughout most of the series.
I do however love the soundtrack for this, especially the OP song, “Twinkle Trick” by Ayano Okuda.
I just finished episode 14 of Rune soldier. I am enjoying the comedy of this series very much. Its not flashy, its not epic, but it is fun. Louie makes this series worth watching. He’s a trip.
Slick
I really didn’t like the show, Louie is okay but the three girls need to die, it is just one of those “beat up the guy because he isn’t a girl” show, like Ranma 1/2 only without the humor and sex changes.
This is what I get for being busy and not having a LCD HDTV. Rune Soldier is Out of Print on DVD… and will be cycled out soon out of Anime Network for an unknown period. Gonna have to try to watch the this series like crazy today and tomorrow.
More thoughts on this later this week when I finish it, but near mid-point of the series I have to say I’m enjoying this one quite a lot. Some of the comedic antics are just hilarious, and the fantasy elements add a nice layer to series.
Jason Douglas flat out owns this performance as Louie - great, great stuff.
He really does an awesome job with this!
This series almost made my top 5 list, but it just couldn’t hang with the others to me.
It is definitely in my top 10 though.
Speaking of which, this is on my backlog.
I think I really need to re-watch this some time soon.
Heh - the show, Louie and the dub - the combination of these elements… I haven’t laughed this much watching an anime (that I haven’t seen) in some time.
Saw this series on TAN and really enjoyed it myself. Loved a sorcerer who was more likely to punch his opponent then use magic on them. The whole cast was just a fun bunch to watch.
This was a fun show. I loved watching it. Sad this is going out of print but glad to see some love. Might have to pull out my dvds and watch this again for first time in a while. A bit goofy but in a fun way.
it looks like someone is selling this for 24.99, if anyone is interested.
and if i can im buying it in the next few days. sounds like this one is something i would like!!!
I’ve been burned the majority of times I’ve bought from various Amazon sellers. I’ve got bootlegs three times, but at least in two of the cases, when I called the sellers out, they gave me a refund. I’m a little leery about Amazon Marketplace, unless it’s someone I’ve dealt with before.
This show was definitely a classic. One of the few shows that I’ve watched in Japanese first (sadly) and then gone back and rewatched dubbed. Considering that this show isn’t by one of the better-known Sentai directors, I’m still surprised how awesomely hilarious the dub is. Even though I liked the bulk of the cast in Those Who Hunt Elves more, I consider Rune Soldier to be a superior show. I wish Jason Douglas were still voicing for Sentai.
Sentai seems to have a virtual monopoly on all the medieval-fantasy comedic anime: Shadow Skill, Orphen, Rune Soldier, Those Who Hunt Elves, Guin Saga…
I wish Sentai would re-issue Rune Soldier as I never did get a physical copy. By the time I saw the show dubbed, it was already OOP
Jason Douglas still voice acts, I heard him in a few of Funimation’s stuff, Soul Eater being one of them. And knowing my luck, he mostly is a random guy in Golgo 13, I know I heard Orphen’s VA in that one as a random guy. Oh, and Ikki’s VA from Saint Seiya was in there, too. I think Jason just hasn’t come back for a role yet.
This is one of those series I missed out on the singles release which meant I missed out on the Puzzle cards that formed a larger picture when put together (never seen a full picture posted) , info inserts and I think they were stickers or might have been Temporary Tattoos. Never been quite clear on that. I did get the first thinpak set which was one of the few ADV from around that time that had any extra’s even though they were only clean opening and ending from what I remember. The second thinpak was the same disc I believe.
Rune Soldier is Out of Print on DVD… and will be cycled out soon out of Anime Network for an unknown period. 
