MISC. MANGA, *Record Of Lodoss War: The Lady Of Pharis

This prequel to original Record Of Lodoss War: The Grey Witch manga, and the original OVA and anime TV series was conceived by the creator, Ryo Mizuno, and brought to life by artist Akihiro Yamada. It was first released in the 90s after The Grey Witch, and then later released in English in the early 2000s by CPM Manga, first in comic book format, then as a trade paperback, followed by an extended first volume, and finally as a second volume which featured the rest of the printed material, making both complete volumes very rare buys for American otaku.

Set decades before the time known as The War of Kings, an wicked Duke seeking power unleashes a creature known as the Demon Lord who appears as a young naked woman. The Demon Lord then sends her legions of monsters to ravage all over the fantasy island of Lodoss. A mercenary called Beld and his wizard partner Wort come across the sexy warrior priestess Flaus(also the title character!)who employs them to help protect her region. A holy knight named Fahn joins them in order to clear his name when an doppelganger working for the demons stole some relics that are used to protect his kingdom. They are later joined by a surviving dwarf king, and elf girl, and a masked sorceress. Their crusade leads them to help the elves purge their forest of demons. This leads into the War Against Evil which went on for three years, and shaped the kingdoms of Lodoss.

The Lady of Pharis brings a darker tone to the Lodoss storyline, and Yamada's artwork takes a less than familiar look to the anime/manga's history. It appears more like traditional fantasy illustrations instead of the standard "big eyes and speed lines". More in the set of a dark fantasy like Berserk or Bastard. The manga isn't as readily available if you wanted to find the entire series in both completed volumes, but might want to sample one of the single issues which are considerably cheaper.