Record of Lodoss War: Chronicles of the Heroic Knight - episodes 10 to 17

Now that ten years have passed, things are significantly different in Lodoss.

The quest for the Soul Crystal Ball has begun, and with it a new party of heroes has formed. The dearth of Parn, Deedlit and Kashue hits at first, but one soon becomes comfortable with the entirely new cast of characters.

The most interesting of these new characters is without doubt Ryna, the pink haired thief. In the OP and all of the promo materials her hair is pure white, which is either a stern warning of things to come or a conscious change when it was realised that pink is much more attractive.
In fantasy lands, thieves have honour, and so too does Ryna - in addition to sex appeal! Which means that she winks at men a lot. Her motivation is revenge, which is always a good pursuit, and her relationship with mercenary Garrack is nothing short of intriguing.
It's also something unfamiliar to see a Dwarfish Priest. Perhaps they exist, but they're more of an underground mining species in my mind. But at least he worships a cool god - Myrii, god of war!

Fortunately, Parn and Deedlit are not gone altogether and come back when the series would have flagged had they not. Parn has risen notably in the world, leading a free army of people who fight for what they (apparently meaning Parn) feel is right. The questions of tyranny raised in these scenes around Alania are quite interesting, particularly because of the source of the speculation.
The most questionable aspect of the entire series is that Parn and Deedlit have been travelling together for sixteen years and have still not thought of romance further than holding hands for support.

Where this 'ten years after' approach suffers the most initially is the Welcome to Lodoss Island! segment, which change from topical skits to an ongoing narrative. Spark and Neese are the heroes (along with Dragon-kun), delivering cookies to Mama Dragon while preventing "The Dark Elf with a sweet tooth" from stealing them. It's funny, but not as spontaneous. Again, the situation improves with the return of Parn and Deed, then becomes truly hilarious with the inclusion of Ashram of all characters, who can pun with the best of them. Memorably, he promises to conquer Lodoss with his "delectable sweets". I can only hope to see his plan come to fruition.

On the production side, it's disappointing that all of the Dark Elves are identical. Sakamoto Maaya makes a welcome appearance as Half Elf Leaf and it shames me to say it, but Hayami Sho's way of saying "Pirotess" is incredibly sexy.

Lodoss is big on story, and is branching off further and further, but it's not overly complicated. Well worth it, so far.