combined, kept all evil (for the most part) out of the lands boundaries. He separated the gems and hid them in the seven most dangerous places in the land so no person could collect them and make the belt whole again. Thus the land is under his evil reign and everyone is living poorly and being treated as slaves.Many years later (around 16), a boy named Lief is told about the belt by his parents and journeys with a family friend/bodyguard named Barda and a wild girl he quickly encounters named Jasmine, to collect all seven gems and put them in the belt so they could save the land of Deltora and set everyone free from the hand of the shadow lord.Not too difficult of a plot. The books and anime vary little in this regard. However after this, they start to diverge in quality.I will start with the good: The art style. While the animation isn't great, the art style and colors are very unique and sets it apart from other shows. You might not like it, but I did. It fits in very well with the tone of the show (which is a lot different then the books).Second: Soundtrack. While it isn't the best of all time, it fits and has a couple of standout moments, especially in the english dub (I watched the dub until the last 13 episodes, which were filler and only subbed). The openings and ending are also good, ranging from good to spectacular ("In this life"). The english dubbed has an instrumental op, and it is also decent.Third: The Story. Very well told and paced even though it isn't the most original plot.Now the bad: Animation. It was a very small budgeted project and the animation is very lazily done. The fight scenes (save a couple at the end of the canon series) were boring and comical to watch how badly done they were. The seven guardians were also all CGI, which I didn't mind that much, as it gives them their own feel, but they weren't done well either.Second: The voice acting. I don't know how to tell the japanese voices, but the english ones were at best monotonous, and at worst, cringe-worthy (Jasmines voice in particular made me want to choke her a few times). The rest range from ehhh to okay. The only standout is one of the villains, sorceress Thaegan (pronounced Taygen). She is very good.Third: Characters: The characters are very different from the books. Lief went from being a smart clever protagonist to being a cliche anime character who can't think properly when a female is involved and makes stupid mistakes, and then repeats them. Barda went from a father figure who is caring and dependable to a man who as flat as a board and barely helps and just lectures. And Jasmine went from a powerful girl who is self-reliant and stubborn to a stubborn girl who tries but fails to be self-reliant and complains all the time. She verbally fights with Lief for half the show. The shadow lord went from being a scary and intimidating villain, to being just a forgettable antagonist who barely does a thing. Thaegan was a lot better than he was (fun fact: all appearances but her first episode were not canon, but they were fun nonetheless).(Fourth: The tone. This is biased but the show makes it lighthearted and more accessible to kids, which isn't a bad thing, but the books got dark many times and I feel that the books were better).All of that aside, I really enjoyed this show. It might be a guilty pleasure, but this brought me nostalgia from my younger years and it is a shame I didn't know about this show earlier. The story, while not super unique, is very well told and it is a treat to follow the trio around collecting the gems. I would not recommend you watch it unless you read the books. But the books were great! So read the books and then watch the anime to see for yourself.Score:8=I liked it and it had some great elements, but I wouldn't rewatch it.