With so many princesses leaving home and becoming mercenaries, it's no wonder the bad guys are the only ones with efficiently run kingdoms! These paired heroines are archetypes that've been done before, but then they've been done before because they work well. The overeating sword master with little self-control (Jira) and the apprentice sorceress-warrior (Efe) are always a fun mix, and this video is no exception. While A.D. Vision's mention of them as "Sword & Sorcery's answer to the Dirty Pair" is probably a stretch, these two do share the same kind of relationship dynamics. It's just too bad they weren't drawn better.
The animation in GUDE CREST is unremarkable: that of a fairly good TV show or a mediocre OVA. The characters are good-looking but not very original. No need to clear poster space for anyone here. Combat and magic effects are fun, and Efe's out-of-body trick is cute, but don't expect any eye-candy. Instead of intricately-animated fight scenes with lots of speed or cool moves, we get jerky slow-motion sequences. As fans we may be getting spoiled, but we've seen what really good animation can be like and it's only natural that our expectations should increase accordingly.
The story isn't too bad, but again, it's fairly old hat and predictable. It's not as funny as SLAYERS and nowhere near as dramatic as RECORD OF LODOSS WAR. All the usual ingredients are here: mercenaries with hearts of gold, kidnapped children, old enemies, duty, prophecy, betrayal, and an evil goddess who's slightly off her rocker. Nothing too surprising, but there's a lot of background detail for such a straightforward plot (The "cataclysmic war of the gods" intro was almost a LODOSS clone!). Lots of material for more episodes...
One interesting note is the lack of an English-dubbed version. Only the subtitled tape is available, and no mention of a dub is mentioned by A.D.V. Films. This isn't exactly a 'must own' so that's not such a big deal. While I wouldn't call this show a waste of thirty dollars, there are better "sword and sorcery" tapes out there.

GUDE CREST: The Emblem of Gude Original version Copyright ｩ1994 Hikawa Reiko/Tairiku Shobo/M.T.V. All Rights Reserved English Subtitled version ｩ1997 A.D.V. Films Subtitled VHSGD/001S $29.95 Released in North America by A.D.V. Films Approx. 50 minutes VHS