L to R: Raine, Nero, and Abel. They fight Evil Rulers!
This is a story that takes place in the Land of Laizen. In this Land, people are ruled by a government of Four people, known as the Evil Rulers. Being forced to live under the guidelines and rules of these Evil Rulers, the people are apparently oppressed, and cannot live an easygoing lifestyle. However, one town has decided to rise up, and stop this oppression...
— Plot summary from the official website
Quest of Laizen (or "Quest") is a YouTube-hosted Fanime series by Anthony W.H., started in the fall of 2011. Chosen by fate, Nero, Raine, and her brother, Nero's best friend Abel set out to defeat the Evil Rulers and save Laizen from apparent oppression.
It was uploaded to Youtube and Nico Nico, where it was met with mixed reactions of horror and amusement. To quote the author "The quality itself is not striving to be good or enticing, but is relying on its cheap production values to create a feel of 'this is so terrible, it's actually pretty entertaining!'"
The series ran for thirteen episodes. It can be watched on the series channel
, the official website, or on English Nico Nico for commenting enjoyment.
Tropes that Quest Of Laizen provides an example of:
- Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: leading to some of this show's hilarious dialogue. "Quick guys! Let us form a strat-uh-GEE"
- Anime Theme Song: The intro being from Ground Control to Psychoelectric Girl.
- Art Shift: In episode two, with the *ahem* improved character portraits.
- Best Served Cold: Evil Ruler of Grass vows his revenge in episode 3 after the Evil Ruler of Fire burns his forest. Guess what happens in episode 5...
- BFS: the Ancient Sword taken "from the history museum"
- Big Bad: Evil Ruler of Shadow is described as the head of the evil rulers, is clearly the most powerful of them, and after his defeat, the only one remaining, Evil Ruler of Grass, pulls a Heel–Face Turn, and all that there's left to defeat is the Giant Space Flea from Nowhere.
- Captain Ersatz: Nero's physical appearance is basically Emil Castagnier.
- Evil Ruler of Shadow's true appearance looks strikingly like Vegeta from Dragon Ball.
- Cassandra Truth: Nero tries to tell his friends how he went to fight the Evil Ruler of Fire, and his encounter with MGML, but they basically just brush him off.
- Catchphrase: Count the number of times Nero refers to Abel as his "best friend".
- Cerebus Syndrome: Started a bit at episode 5 when Evil Ruler of Fire died, and more so in episode 8 when Evil Ruler of Water died.
- Chekhov's Gun: The story about Sea World in the first episode was seemingly unimportant, until it was brought back up in episode 8 in a rather bizarre way.
- The Chosen One: Nero, through an arbitrary lottery which Raine entered him in behind his back.
- Cliffhanger: Episode 5 ends on one with Nero and Abel down, and the fate of Boogana and Raine unknown.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: The Evil Rulers' eye colors match their elemental alignment.
- Dark and Troubled Past: The reason that Nero does not want to go on the quest. Though how tragic it really is? Not so much.
- Department of Redundancy Department: Often, especially this gem from the first ep: "This is the land of Laizen. Here in this land an evil group of rulers known as the Dark Rulers rule over the land."
- Distaff Counterpart: Raine's ex-girlfriend, Natsu, is basically a female Nero.
- Dull Surprise: None of the characters ever seem all that interested in anything that's happening.
- The Dragon: Evil Ruler of Fire is posthumously revealed to have been the second-ranking Evil Ruler, and is clearly the most powerful of them, bar Evil Ruler of Shadow.
- Dragon Their Feet: Evil Ruler of Grass is faced after Big Bad Evil Ruler of Shadow.
- Early-Bird Cameo: Najika Tsuki and Yukari Bueno are both visible in a flashback in episode 12.
- Endless Corridor: Found under the cabin on Laizen Mountain.
- Enemy Mine: Nero and Evil Ruler of Water get separated from the others, leading Nero to say "Our temporary truce is enacted".
- Eye Beams: Apparently, Abel's power for his covered eye. Seems to take a lot out of him, though.
- Fauxlosophic Narration: Episode 8 had a good minute of this from some of the Evil Rulers. Episode 13 has a long stretch of it as well.
- Freudian Trio: Nero refuses to fight if he doesn't know the reason why. Raine pushes him to fight the evil rulers. Abel just wants to be there for his best friend and sister.
- Fusion Dance: Magical Girl Masked Lightning fuses with Slimy and uses the powers of the other three (deceased) Evil Rulers to achieve her ultimate form.
- Gainax Ending: The finale. A giant computer jargon-spouting robot appears and wipes out Laizen, claiming it's all an error because something about timelines and must be destroyed. Then all the principal characters indulge in Fauxlosophic Narration about the nature of life and existence or something. Then Nero restores the world by asserting it exists, before defeating the final boss. Then all of the principal characters, including the Evil Rulers, all of whom are somehow alive congratulate Nero. Yay?
- Well, it's supposed to be confusing, since it's a tribute to the ridiculous Evangelion ending.
- Giant Space Flea from Nowhere: The final enemy counts as one of these.
- Gratuitous Japanese: "Get out of here you Baka-Idiot!"
- Hannibal Lecture: Evil Ruler of Water gives one to Nero in Ep. 4.
- Heterosexual Life-Partners: Abel and Nero. They are BEST FRIENDS after all.
- Mind Screw: Much of episode 8 is this. Also the end of Episode 10. The finale definitely falls under this as well.
- Mood Whiplash: The show is often too funny/bad to be anything approaching serious, but in episode 6 there is a moment at the end that is particularly dramatic, and well as almost the entirety of episode 8.
- Mysterious Protector: Magical Girl Masked Lightning.
- The Reveal: the true appearance of Evil Ruler of Fire is shown as he dies in episode 5, though his actual identity is never revealed.
- the identity of Evil Ruler of Water, being The Kid mentioned in episode 1.
- the identity of Magical Girl Masked Lightning, being Raine
- the identity of Evil Ruler of Grass being Raine and Abel's pet snake, Slimy.
- Trap Door: One that amusingly comes out of nowhere, taking even the Evil Ruler of Water by surprise.
- Unexplained Recovery: Evil Ruler of Fire, Evil Ruler of Water, and Evil Ruler of Shadow are revealed to be inexplicably alive at the end of the final episode.
- The Unintelligible: The three Demon Gods. One of them sounds like the adults from Peanuts, while another clucks like a chicken.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Despite being foreshadowed as a backup threat in case the Evil Rulers are defeated, the three Demon Gods sort of disappear from the story and are never brought up again.
- You Killed My Father: Raine and Abel lost their parents to Evil Ruler of Shadow, hence the former's desire for revenge.
