El-Hazard

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El-Hazard is a 1990s fantasy OAV series that is sometimes regarded as one of the keystones of the isekai genre, although El-Hazard is far more creative and interesting than the vast, vast library of drek associated with said genre. It revolves around a group of three Japanese high school students, and their history teacher, who are somehow transported from their high school to the magical world of El-Hazard. Whilst two of the students and the teacher want to get home and ally themselves with the Kingdom of Roshtaria in order to try and get home, the third throws his lot in with a hostile race of insectoids called the Bugrom and tries to take over El-Hazard.

This series is /tg/-relevant mainly because it's one of several popular late 80s-early 2000s anime to get licensed by Guardians of Order, either as setting splatbooks for Big Eyes, Small Mouth or fully marketed as "The Roleplaying Game" of their respective series. In fact, this was the very last licensed setting RPG that Guardians of Order did - not the last anime-licensed splatbook they did; Hellsing, Trigun, Slayers and Revolutionary Girl Utena all got splatbooks before GoO went bankrupt in 2006, but the very last to be marketed as its own independent RPG by placing a full copy of the Tri-System inside of it; for all the others, you needed the BESM or BESM D20 corebook to pull them off.

The Story

El-Hazard is divided into two continuities; the Original/OAV Continuity, and the TV Continuity. It began as a pair of directly linked OAVs; The Magnificent World and its direct sequel, The Magnificent World 2. These were then followed The Alternative World - an anime TV series intended as a direct sequel to The Magnificent World 2, but which was cancelled at episode 13 of its intended 26 episode run. The Wanderers is a 26 episode anime and represents the sole entry in the TV Continuity, being basically the Tenchi Universe to the Magnicent World's Tenchi Muyo.

Both the Magnificent World and the Wanderers begin the same way, with our four leads being transported from their high school on Earth to the world of El-Hazard.

The Characters

The Earthlings

Makoto Mizuhara is our lead character, a popular, multi-talented and all-around nice guy who had no idea his "old buddy" Katsuhiko hated him. In the OAVs, he is the spitting image of Princess Rune Venus' sister and forced to imitate her so she can assemble an alliance against the Bugrom. His special power is technopathy; the ability to mentally commune with and control all of the high-tech gadgets littering El-Hazard.

Katsuhiko Jinnai is our primary antagonist; a scheming, malicious little turd who bribed his way to the role of student president and was terrified of being replaced by Makoto when he was found out. His secial power is the ability to communicate with the Bugrom, which he uses to become their leader and direct them in a crusade of conquest against El-Hazard.

Nanami Jinnai is Katsuhiko's exasperated, money-loving sister. She has different special powers depending on the continuity; in the OAV, she can see through illusions, whilst in the anime, she can communicate with the Bugrom like her brother.

Masamichi Fujisawa is the history teacher, and a nice guy, despite his addiction to booze and nicotine. To his horror, his special power is that his physical abilities increase exponentially the longer he goes without drinking or smoking.

People of El-Hazard

Kingdom of Roshtaria:

• Princess Rune Venus is the ruler of the kingdom of Roshtaria, and the first ally our heroes meet upon arriving in El-Hazard. In "The Wanderers", she is younger and becomes Makoto's love interest instead of Ifurita.
• Princess Fatora Venus is Rune's OAV-exclusive sister, who spends most of the original OAV series as a prisoner of the Shadow Tribe. . Whereas Rune is wise, compassionate (though practical; she does toss Makoto into her dungeon until he agrees to impersonate Fatora, after all) and loved, Fatora is... well, she's a grade-A bitch. Selfish, spoiled, arrogant and cruel, Fatora lives down to every negative stereotype of princess characters. She's also an insatiable lesbian slut, who can't see an attractive woman without trying to coax (read: bully, trick or force) her into her bed. Your guess is as good as ours as to which trait led to her being removed from the TV series.
• Londs is Princess Rune Venus' right hand man and personal servant.
• Dr. Schtalubaugh is the elderly Dean of Roshtaria's Royal Academy, which makes him the resident sage that Makoto and the others go to in regards various ancient relics and lore.
• Ura is an Armor Cat, a species of sapient talking cats that malleable bodies, allowing them to wrap themselves around a humanoid partner and become a super-tough suit of living armor. In the OAVs, he's Fatora's neglected pet who decides he'd rather be Makoto's partner, whereas in the Wanderers, he's a wild animal that Makoto befriends.
• Alielle Relryle is Fatora's personal maidservant and lover, so thoroughly evoted to her mistress that she not only doesn't bat an eye when Fatora goes skirt-chasing, but will actively help her in her "courtships". She does appear in the Wanderers, where the whole "horny lesbian pervert" schtick is toned down.

The Muldoon Priestesses are a trio of elementalists whose aid Makoto seeks out at the start of the series. They consist of the fire-wielding hotblooded youth Shayla-Shayla, the cool and aloof wind-wielding Afura Mann, and the middle-aged and ridiculously thirsty water-wielding Miz Mishtal, who falls head over heels in love with Fujisawa after he saves her (admittedly from her bath attendant, but it was an honest mistake). In the OAV, they share a single temple, but in the Wanderers, each maintains her own individual temple with an appropriate theme.

Ifurita is a magitek biomechanical gynoid known as a "Demon Goddess", and varies hugely between the two continuities. Both versions are extremely powerful mages with the ability to mimic any spell or magitek device they have seen used against them, which causes Jinnai to activate them as a doomsday weapon with which to conquer the world. In the OAV, Ifurita is a tragic and regal figure who becomes Makoto's one true love, and is actually the one who caused them to come to El-Hazard in a time-loop scenario. In the Wanderers, she is instead characterized as a hyperactive, bumbling ditz of a girl, more akin to Mihoshi from Tenchi Muyo.

The Bugrom are a race of sapient, bipedal insects who are at war with Roshtaria and the other empires of El-Hazard. They're not doing very well, until Jinnai shows up to lead them. In the Wanderers continuity, they are the primary bad guys, but in the OAV, they kind of get forgotten about in favor of the Shadow Tribe. Even there, there's not much told about them; we know they obey Queen Diva, who looks more like a beautiful woman than a giant bug, but we don't know if they're a collection of different races, a single race with marked variety in subraces, individually sapient, eusocial, or anything like that. All we know is that they're stronger than regular humans.

The Phantom Tribe are a race of powerful illusionists who can be distinguished by their dark blue skin. Accidentally stranded on El-Hazard the last time that the Eye of God was activated, they were persecuted by the native humans, and have vowed revenge. They're the central antagonists of the first OAV.

The World

In contrast to the "CRPG Sprung To Life" motif of its modern descendants, the world of El-Hazard is a fully functional and vibrant world in its own right, a Science Fantasy setting where "fantasy Arabia" aesthetics, high science and sorcery all come together in a singular whole.