It is a place that dwells in the memory of those who still dream of its ancient glory. A world revered for its beauty, mystery and danger, on a planet of endless adventure. Such a land is known as El-Hazard. If your spirit has wings to travel, even across the breadth of a thousand million nights, imagination will guide the way and the gates of El-Hazard will always be open to you.
When he awakens a beautiful woman entombed in a mysterious chamber discovered under his high school, Makoto Mizuhara finds himself (along with several other people) catapulted across dimensions to the world of El-Hazard. Once the site of an unimaginably advanced civilization that destroyed itself in an apocalyptic war, it is now home to a culture that resembles the Arabian Nights, sprinkled here and there with the remnants of ancient ultratechnology.Once there, Makoto and his teacher, Masamichi Fujisawa, find themselves on the front lines of a Bug War between the human lands and the Bugrom, a civilization of immense insects. Makoto's life is complicated by his uncanny resemblance to a missing princess, whom he is drafted to impersonate. Meanwhile, Makoto's friend Nanami Jinnai is dropped in the middle of a desert; his arch-enemy, Nanami's brother Katsuhiko, finds himself among the Bugrom.As Makoto, Mr. Fujisawa and Nanami struggle to help Roshtaria, their new home, defend itself, Jinnai falls into the role of a military messiah to the Bugrom and begins leading them to victory after victory. Only the threat of the Eye of God, an unimaginably powerful weapon controlled by the royal family of Roshtaria, prevents the Bugrom from overrunning the human lands, but when Jinnai finds a disturbingly familiar superweapon of his own, matters begin to come to a head.Meanwhile, the visitors from Earth learn that the transit to El-Hazard has changed them in unexpected ways, even as they discover that there is a secret, third side to the war. Add to that the revelation that there is more to Jinnai's superweapon than just a means of massive destruction. Plots revolve within plots, and victory may become defeat. Throw in a time loop, lovers separated, family reunited, a trio of elemental priestesses, an indiscriminately amorous teenaged lesbian and some broad comedy leavening the drama, and you have the makings for one of the better anime "miniseries".El-Hazard is noteworthy for being one of the first anime whose English dub is considered superior to the original Japanese voice work. In fact, the director and other members of the production team consider the English cast to be the definitive voices of the characters, far superior to their Japanese counterparts. The animation is first-rate, and it has a lush orchestral soundtrack that perfectly evokes the "Arabian Nights" feel of the world.An OVA, El-Hazard was remade/expanded into a TV series called El-Hazard: Wanderers. This series generally followed the same plot outline, but there were significant changes to some of the characters, including a severe tuning-down of the lesbianism (though the hints are there if you look). The OVA version itself had two sequels: El-Hazard: The Magnificent World 2 (short and not bad, though not the equal of the original), and El-Hazard: The Alternative World (which was Cut Short, running to only 13 of its planned 26 episodes).There is also a manga, which is mostly the first OVA with some of the characterization from the first TV show.
Apocalypse Maiden: Kalia, whose reason for being is to wipe out all existence as retribution for those races and tribes who were victimised by the Eye of God.
Belated Happy Ending: The ending shows that Makoto does manage to get back together with Ifurita, but the anime does doesn't show how Makoto manages to do it.
Broken Heel: When Ifurita attacks the palace in episode 4, one of the palace maids trips and falls while fleeing from her.
Brother Chuck: The Amazing Vanishing Love Interest Guy.
Bunny-Ears Lawyer: No matter how petty or crazy he is, one has to give props to OAV Jinnai for being able to quickly marshal a force capable of conquering the world; stoppable only by MacGuffin.
The Chosen One: The Bugrom regard Jinnai as this. Considering he single-handedly turned them into an effective fighting force and damn near took over El-Hazard, this may be justified.
Christmas Cake: Miz Mishtal, and it worries her so much. Subverted towards the ending, when she marries Fujisawa-sensei.
Cut Short: The Alternative World was chopped at 13 of 26 episodes; the last two episodes were horribly rushed messes of trying to resolve a half-dozen subplots at once. And some of them don't even get mentioned, let alone resolved (like the Literal Cliff Hanger that Amazing Vanishing Love Interest Guy was left in before he, well, vanished).
Cute Monster Girl: The Bugrom are basically humanoid beetles that stand, on average, twice the size of a human being. Queen Diva, on the other hand, is a beautiful woman with pink hair, diaphanous wings, cute antennae and small black spots on her forehead that are presumably extra eyes. At the end of The Alternative World, she actually takes Jinnai as her mate.
Note that since they have a hive structure and a queen, the Bugrom we see are probably all female. Not very cute, though.
Elemental Hair: The three great priestesses of Mt. Muldoon: Shayla is easily identifed as the priestess of fire, thanks to her flaming red hair. Miz Mishtal, who presides over water, has lavender hair. And while Afura Mann's a brunette, her blue/sea green attire shows she controls wind.
Hot Amazon: an in-universe example, as Alielle is initially drawn to Shayla's red hair and goes googley eyed when she starts to kick Buggrom ass. Also a literal example since she's the priestess of fire!
Hot Consort: 15-year old Alielle for Fatora. Her parents are actually okay with this, as it means a steady job and an education.
I Thought Everyone Could Do That: Nanami and Phantom Tribe illusions; she often doesn't realize that she isn't seeing what everyone else is. For example, we discover her powers during a scene when a female Phantom Tribe assassin approaches the group disguised as a scantily-clad blonde bombshell; since her true form is a blue-skinned Kiyone Makibi expy, Nanami doesn't notice anything odd about the men's dropped jaws right away. Later on, in Roshtaria:
Nanami: (ecstatic) How cute! A wedding between the Royal House and the Phantom Tribe!
crowd murmurs in confusion
Londs: (chuckling) Lady Nanami, surely you jest? This is Galus, her Royal Highness' fiance.
Nanami: (points at Galus) I surely do not. His skin is blue.
Love Dodecahedron: More or less; Makoto is rare in that he decides who he's interested in rather quickly and that it's pretty damned obvious to the other girls. The sequels tried to Tenchi Muyo! things up a bit, implying a Tenchi Solution (consistent with Rostaria's Ancient Persian-influenced design). Then again, the girl he's interested in isn't actually present in the sequels, which take place before the final scene of the original in which Makoto is reunited with Ifurita; however end credits of the last season expressly indicate he also manages to get together with Nanami and Shayla-Shayla, and the ultimate hot-springs episode clearly shows Qwarool as obsessively determined to stick to him whether she has to share him or not, as long as he doesn't reject her outright.
In The Wanderers, Makoto makes it pretty clear he's interested in Rune Venus early on, and it's not so much about the other girls competing for his affection, but coming to terms with his decision.
Moral Dissonance: The end of the original OAV in regards to the Bugrom. Apparently, mass genocide is perfectly OK!
Don't forget that the Bugrom wanted to conquer El Hazard. It was self-defense.
And it wasn't really genocide. The Bugrom weren't destroyed, just sent to another world (though one wonders what kind of problems they're going to cause for the new world they were sent to....)
Mr. Vice Guy: Alielle is a sweet girl but also a nympho who constantly sexually harasses girls.
Must Have Nicotine (Fujisawa after running out of smokes in OAV episode 7)
Mysterious Past: Kalia in the OVA 2. Arjah in The Alternative World
Name's the Same: OVA Ifurita and TV Series Ifurita are very different characters, in both personality and appearance. Though, in a shout-out, TV Ifurita's personality shifts to one more like her OVA counterpart when she's taken control of by the Eye of God (she gets better, though.)
No Endor Holocaust: The fact that Jinnai ordered to Ifurita the destruction an entire city in the first OVA and that she succeeded isn't important apparently.
Rescue Romance: Parodied with Fujisawa and Miz and played straight with both Shayla Shayla and Makoto and later Makoto and Qawoor in the Alternative World.
Road Sign Reversal: Subverted that while Jinnai sabotages a sign to get the heroes going onto a dangerous path, Mr. Fujisawa knows all along they are taking the tough path, but takes it anyway because he relishes the challenge.
Stable Time Loop: Across dimensions even. Ifurita's actions at the end of the OVA send her to Earth's past, where she hibernates in an underground chamber beneath what will eventually be the site of the school; the discovery of her chamber and her subsequent awakening set off the chain of events which result in her being sent to Earth's past.
"Where Are They Now?" Epilogue: A series of still drawings at the end depict the characters in various situations on Earth. These are probably non-canon art drawings however, as it seems unlikely that many of the characters would actually want to leave El-Hazard and attend high school, etc.
Yes Man: Alielle is normally a sweet young lady and a loyal friend, if an uncontrolled nymphomaniac. Stick her in the same room as Fatora though and she becomes this. And an uncontrolled nymphomaniac.
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