The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim – An Anime Tolkien Spectacular
Written by Dr. Zoe Crombie
Unless you’re a die-hard Tolkien fan – which, to be fair, many of us are – you’re likely to associate the epic novel The Lord of the Rings with Peter Jackson’s record-breaking live action trilogy released in the early 2000s. But these weren’t the first versions of these texts put to the screen – in fact, the first to do so weren’t live action at all. The adaptation that arguably started it all was Ralph Bakshi’s film version that took inspiration from the first two volumes of the novel, rendering complex battles with novel rotoscoping techniques and bringing the story to a wider audience than ever.
Continuing this oft forgotten lineage of animated Tolkien adaptations is The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim, an anime take on Middle Earth that takes inspiration from the appendices of the original novel to depict the story of the legendary King of Rohan, Helm Hammerhand. Combining the visual style of Jackson’s trilogy with the flair and fantasy that can only come from two-dimensional animation, director Kenji Kamiyama successfully bridges the gap between classic fantasy and anime epic.
Elaborating on Bakshi’s vision of animated Tolkien with a film that ups the ante and delivers on some spectacular visuals, The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim is a holiday season must see for fans of anime, Tolkien, or both.
Catch LOTR: THE WAR OF THE ROHIRRIM between the 27th December & 9th January
