The War of the Rohirrim is not the first animated feature to bear The Lord of the Rings name, but it is the first to don the chainmail of anime. An art style originating from Japan, this film melds the typically Eastern medium with the Western source material of J.R.R Tolkien’s iconic novels to forge a story set 183 years before Peter Jackson’s cinematic adaptations. This allows the film to create its own distinctions, generating an immersive, if overly familiar, experience.
Long before Bilbo Baggins’ discovery of the One Ring, the Kingdom of Rohan was led by the monarch Helm Hammerhand (Brian Cox), whose headstrong daughter Hera (Gaia Wise) serves as this story’s protagonist. A princess of Rohan, she cares little for politics or leadership, instead preferring to navigate the wilderness and befriend the creatures of Middle Earth. But when her father accidentally kills Freca, a disloyal subject,over a marriage proposal for Hera, Freca’s son Wulf (Luke Pasquino) swears revenge. Years …