El-Hazard: The Magnificent World



"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.

"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."
 * Accidental Pervert: Makoto.
 * Action Girl: Ifurita, Afura, Shayla and Miz.
 * The Alcoholic: Fujisawa.
 * All Men Are Perverts: Parnasse.
 * Alternate Continuity
 * Always Second Best: Why Jinnai hated Makoto at school.
 * Annoying Laugh: Jinnai.
 * Anti-Magic: Of the very specific kind. In the OAV Nanami's ability is to see through the illusions of the Phantom Tribe.
 * Anti-Villain: Ifurita, a Type II.
 * Apocalypse Maiden: Kalia,
 * Arabrish: "El-Hazard" is an idiosyncratic transliteration of the Arabic al-azzahr ("die" -- the kind you roll, not the verb form of "death"; colloquially, it can mean "chance" or "fortune"). "El-" is a variation on al-, the Arabic definite article, but it's actually redundant -- az- is already a form of the definite article and the actual noun is zahr.  (The English word "hazard", by the way, is this word, picked up in the Holy Land and brought back to Europe by Provençal crusaders and then carried along through Middle Dutch, Old French and Middle English, and slowly mutating to mean "danger" rather than "random chance".)  "El-Hazard" is probably intended to draw on both meanings to denote a land where one encounters fortune or opportunity amidst danger.
 * Artificial Human
 * Ascended Extra: Rune in The Wanderers, Fatora in the sequels of the OVA.
 * A Twinkle in the Sky: Happen to Alielle and Fatora in the final episode of The Alternative World.
 * Ax Crazy: Kalia.
 * Bait and Switch Credits
 * Battle Aura: Technological in origin.
 * Beat Them At Their Own Game: Ifurita's powers allow her to do this easily, as she does with Shayla-Shayla.
 * Because Destiny Says So: Time loop variety.
 * Beergasm: Fujisawa.
 * Belated Happy Ending:
 * Berserk Button: Don't touch Kalia.
 * Best for Last: It takes awhile, but Makoto learns he has a power that easily tops the others.
 * Big Bad Ensemble: In the first OVA.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Don't let Kalia's cute and clueless act fool you.
 * Bishonen
 * Blessed with Suck: Fujisawa's opinion of the condition required for his power to work:.
 * Bottle Fairy: Shayla Shayla.
 * 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.
 * Calling Your Attacks: Including subversion: played for laughs
 * Canon Immigrant
 * Characterization Marches On: Fatora doesn't seem nympho in the OVA 1.
 * Chick Magnet: Makoto.
 * 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.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: Nanami and Shayla-Shayla, both toward Makoto.
 * Cloudcuckoolander: TV!Ifurita is somewhere between this and The Ditz.
 * Contrived Coincidence: Makoto just happens to look exactly like Princess Fatora. Despite being male.
 * Cool and Unusual Punishment: Jinnai with a feather duster on TV!Ifurita in one episode.
 * Cool Old Guy: Dr. Schtalubaugh.
 * Cool Teacher: Mr Fujisawa.
 * Creepy Child: Nahato. Oh boy Nahato.
 * Crossdresser: Makoto.
 * Cute and Psycho: Kalia.
 * 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.
 * Dark-Skinned Redhead: Shayla Shayla.
 * Depending on the Artist: Alielle and OVA Ifurita's hair are blue or purple.
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?
 * Disguised in Drag
 * Distaff Counterpart: Parnasse to Alielle.
 * Damsel in Distress: Rune in the tv series, Fatora in the original OAV.
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Female): Alielle and Fatora sexually harassing many women, particularly Shayla-Shayla, and this is Played for Laughs.
 * Double Standard Rape (Female on Male): In the final episode of The Alternative World, Queen Diva rapes Jinnai to have new Bugrom.
 * Dramatic Wind
 * Dropped a Bridget On Him
 * Dude Looks Like a Lady: Makoto
 * 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.
 * Elemental Powers: The Priestesses of Muldoon.
 * Playing with Fire: Shayla Shayla.
 * Blow You Away: Afura Mann.
 * Making a Splash: Miz Mishtal (and her successor in one of the continuities, Qawool Towles).
 * The End of the World as We Know It
 * Enemy Mine
 * Enfant Terrible: Nahato.
 * Everything's Better with Princesses: Fatora and Rune.
 * Evil Is Hammy: Jinnai, Up to Eleven.
 * Evil Laugh: Jinnai LOVES doing this. Also Queen Diva, and Kalia.
 * Eviler Than Thou: The Phantom Tribe to Jinnai and the Bugrom.
 * Evil Versus Oblivion
 * Eyes Always Shut: Fujisawa.
 * Fiery Redhead: Shayla-Shayla, natch.
 * First Gray Hair: Mis Mishtal goes into hysterics after finding a single gray hair.
 * Flat Character: Londs is the chief servant of the royal house of Roshtaria and this is pretty much all you can said about him.
 * Foil: Afura and Shayla Shayla in the TV series.
 * Forgotten Superweapon
 * Franchise Killer: The Alternative World.
 * Freudian Excuse: TV Jinnai was often alone during his childhood.
 * The Glomp: Alielle
 * Hair Colors
 * Hands Off My Fluffy
 * Handsome Lech: Both Alielle and Fatora.
 * The Hero: Makoto
 * Hey, It's That Voice!:
 * R. Dorothy Wayneright is Nanami; just don't give her a giant gattling gun
 * Queen Diva is a crossdresser, a princess, a jonin and a Major
 * Don Kanonji gets super strength if he's sober.
 * Gomamon sounds so evil as Jinnai.
 * High Heel Face Turn: Ifurita.
 * 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.
 * Hot Springs Episode
 * Identical Stranger: Makoto and Fatora. And they don't have the same gender.
 * Impossibly Cool Clothes
 * I Need a Freaking Drink: Fujisawa, constantly.
 * Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain: The Bugrom and TV Ifurita.
 * Interspecies Romance: In the TV series, a Bugrom has a crush on Nanami.
 * 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:

"Alielle: Red hair!"
 * Jerkass: Jinnai and Fatora, though the latter has some rare Jerk with a Heart of Gold moments, and in The Wanderers, even Jinnai had a big Pet the Dog moment at the end.
 * Joker Immunity: El Hazard without Jinnai and the Bugroms would be boring so they escape all the time.
 * Karma Houdini: Nahato.
 * Lack of Empathy: Galus and Nahato.
 * Large Ham: Both Fujisawa-sensei and Jinnai, especially in the English dub.
 * Last-Name Basis: Jinnai (except for his sister Nanami), Mr Fujisawa and Dr.Schtalubaugh.
 * Laughably Evil: The main reason why Jinnai has so many fans.
 * Lighter and Softer: El-Hazard: The Wanderers, save for the last three episodes.
 * Lost Technology
 * Lovable Sex Maniac : Alielle, Fatora and Parnasse.
 * 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,.
 * 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.
 * Magic From Technology
 * The Man Behind the Monsters: Jinnai
 * Manipulative Bastard: Jinnai and.
 * Masters of Illusion: The Phantom Tribe.
 * Meaningful Name: Miz Mishtal, a priestess of water.
 * Mega Manning: Ifurita can copy any attack or ability used against her once.
 * Minion with an F In Evil: TV Ifurita.
 * The Mole:.
 * 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
 * Nailed to the Wagon
 * 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.)
 * New Super Power
 * Nice Guy: Makoto
 * Nice Job Guiding Us Hero
 * 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.
 * Nymphomaniac Lesbians Want Red Heads: Alliele to Shayla-Shayla

"Fujisawa: Oh shit! Someone else is out of alcohol!"
 * Also Fatora in the sequels. She even managed to kiss Shayla Shayla, pretending to be Makoto.
 * Only One Name: Every Demon God, Phantom Tribe and Bugrom. Also Dr.Schtalubaugh and Londs.
 * Ordinary High School Student
 * Eerie Pale-Skinned Brunette: TV Ifurita
 * Also, there's Jinnai.
 * Personality Powers: The Priestesses with their Elemental Powers fit this well. Shayla-Shayla is Hot-Blooded, Afura Mann is The Smart Guy (evidently), and Mizu Mishtal's personality tends to be rather fickle and adaptable.
 * Person of Mass Destruction (Ifurita. The priestesses could be if they really put their minds to it.)
 * Pet the Dog: In Wanderers, Jinnai has one at the end where he helps save El Hazard and shows he really cares for Ifurita.
 * Pillar of Light
 * Punch Clock Villain: Ifurita is just with Jinnai because he released her.
 * Pre-Explosion Glow
 * Repetitive Name: Shayla Shayla.
 * 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.
 * The Resenter: Jinnai so much.
 * Rich Bitch: Fatora
 * 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.
 * Robosexual: Makoto, ultimately.
 * Robot Girl: Ifurita.
 * Schizo-Tech
 * Schoolgirl Lesbians: Alielle and Princess Fatora.
 * The Scream: A Running Gag throughout the OAV.


 * Screw the Rules, I Have Money: Jinnai bribes his way to victory in the student elections by promising certain clubs extra funds in the budget.
 * Media Franchise
 * Shallow Love Interest: Male example -- the Amazing Vanishing Love Interest Guy, who gets Brother Chucked not long after his introduction.
 * Sharp-Dressed Man: For someone who's pretty much never seen out of his school uniform, Jinnai keeps it pretty neat.
 * Unkempt Beauty: Makoto, on the other hand...
 * Shotacon: Galus, apparently.
 * Shout-Out: In the English version Jinnai nicknames his personal squad of Bugrom Chico, Harpo, Zeppo, and Groucho...
 * ...And Margaret (After the Marx Brother's foil, Margaret Dumont).
 * Ura, upon doing his job as a living armor, exclaims "It's a job...", much like the dinosaurs-as-living-appliances would in The Flintstones
 * Skinny Dipping: Alielle and Fatora did that in the second OVA.
 * Smug Snake: Jinnai and.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Miz's successor is Qawool... or Qawoor... or Qawoorl...or Kaoru...
 * Spoiled Brat: Fatora.
 * 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 Makoto's 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.
 * Stealth Clothes
 * Stock Footage: The priestess' attacks.
 * Super Strength: Fujisawa's power in El-Hazard.
 * Swirling Dust
 * Take Over the World: Jinnai and the Queen Diva's motivation.
 * Talking Animal: The armour cats, or at least Ura. We see Rune Venus's cat on at least one occasion but it never speaks.
 * Team Pet: Ura
 * Team Shot
 * Technopath: Makoto.
 * Theme Naming: In the North American dub, Jinnai's personal squad of Bugrom are named for the Marx Brothers and Margaret Dumont.
 * Time Travel
 * Token Yuri Girls: Alielle and Fatora.
 * Transfer Student Uniforms
 * Trapped in Another World
 * True Sight: Nanami's special ability is to see through illusions.
 * Tsundere: Shayla-Shayla.
 * Tunnel of Foreshadowing: During Makoto's transition to El-Hazard.
 * The Unwanted Harem
 * Unknown Rival: Makoto is largely ignorant of Jinnai's hatred for him, and actually thinks they are, or were, on friendly terms.
 * Unlucky Childhood Friend: Nanami.
 * Unstoppable Rage: Kalia.
 * Villain Decay: Jinnai loses a lot of his competence after the original OVA.
 * Villain Exit Stage Left: Jinnai all the time.
 * Villainous Rescue:
 * Wave Motion Gun
 * Weapon of Mass Destruction: The Eye of God.
 * Wet Sari Scene: What Makoto sees upon first meeting Rune Venus in the TV series.
 * Wise Beyond Their Years: Nahato.
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: Where the hell are the Phantom Tribe after the original OVA?
 * Where Are They Now? Epilogue: A series of pastel 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.
 * World of Action Girls
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Qawool
 * 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.