Record of Lodoss War - episodes 8 to 13

Apparently these episodes are set several years after episode seven. Not that you'd notice. Well, I didn't.
Ashram has taken over Marmo and apparently wants to launch an attack for domination of all the lands. But his high priest wants to claim power for himself! And then Karla sits around in the background wondering how she can scheme to make things go the way she sees fit.

Too much is implied in these episodes. The gap of some years gives the characters some leeway, but the relationship between Pirotess and Ashram is not really that powerful when it's summarised in one word as it is here. Similarly, Deedlit and Parn aren't so far developed as to be more than "just friends".
The plot doesn't really grow so much as it seems to just happen, which is sad. The characters are very rarely together, destroying the whole idea of a travelling party. There are two new characters introduced, Shiris and Orson, and they're quite interesting. Their design is attractive and seems to fit in Mizuno's Louie the Rune Soldier ideal. They're kind of amoral, but devoted to each other, and the idea of the traditional "berserker" is also explored here. Because they're entirely new characters, they are fresh as "age" has not wearied them - in this case the invisible gap.

Record of Lodoss War is the sort of thing that you'd watch again after you realise that some years have passed between episodes. But not now, as the TV series is said to be set after the seventh episode. In that respect, forgetting the (clearly more forgettable) second half is useful as there are anachronisms that come from having been written eight years after.
I'm kind of thinking I've missed something; but it seems that the writers confused "a lot of things happening" with "epic scale". It's not the same.