Arslan Senki

In the medieval kingdom of Pars, young Prince Arslan confronts the hostility of his father and the disinterest of his mother, and yearns to learn more about the world. Despite being surrounded by poverty and slavery, Arslan persists in seeing the possibility of a nobler world. Everything changes when the neighboring nation of Lusitania invades Pars, and Arslan is forced to grow up in an instant.

Arslan Senki follows Prince Arslan to war, where he struggles to save his nation and family with the help of a small but devoted circle of advisers. Along the way the young prince finds secrets around every corner and faces enemies who hate him because of what he is, but also finds friends where he least expects them. The story of nations at war, Arslan Senki is also the story of one boy's quest to stay himself in the most trying of circumstances.

Arslan Main

Yamaguchi, Kappei Japanese

Daryun Main

Inoue, Kazuhiko Japanese

Narsus Main

Shiozawa, Kaneto Japanese

Gieve Main

Yao, Kazuki Japanese

Falangies Main

Katsuki, Masako Japanese

Silver Mask Main

Ikeda, Shuuichi Japanese

Etoile Supporting

Mitsuishi, Kotono Japanese

Elam Supporting

Sasaki, Nozomu Japanese

Andragoras III Supporting

Ootsuka, Akio Japanese

Alfreed Supporting

Watanabe, Kumiko Japanese

Kawasaki, Tomoko Producer

Ikeguchi, Kazuhiko Producer

Amino, Tetsurou Director

Hamatsu, Mamoru Director

Reviews

Jul 15, 2015

ichiban_alex

Recommended

Like many, my interest in this version of Arslan Senki was spurred by the Arakawa anime adaptation, which is 14 episodes in at the time of this writing. Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of viewing this version earlier, whether in my childhood or otherwise.

The five main characters, Arslan, Daryun, Narsus, Gieve, and Farangies, are written well enough in this OVA and have presence. However, the secondary members of Arslan’s band, especially Alfreed and Etoile, are not; Their time on screen proves to be dull and pointless. Silvermask is a pleasant surprise, starting as a fairly generic villain shaking his fist of vengeance at ... the protagonist. In time, he grows to be genuinely engaging, and his character and story are actually the most interesting. Shuuichi Ikeda was just the right amount of over-the-top in this performance and it is perfection. Unfortunately, Silvermask’s story has no resolution, and that is genuinely disappointing.

The plot and writing are sloppy, and Silvermask’s story is not the only plot thread to be unresolved. In fact, most of the plot threads that the OVA works so hard to weave together are ultimately abandoned. Regardless of the shortage of source material, these points as well as the anticlimactic ending should be taken into account when writing critically about the anime.

Artwise, the style is distinctive and pleasing, sporting a bit of greek flair. The character designs are harmonious and cool to say the least, many being infinitely better than the Arakawa version. Farangies, Arslan, and Daryun’s 1991 designs deserve a special mention. The cultural aesthetic of Arslan Senki is fairly strong, though a lot of the kingdoms shown did not look different enough from each other; In a story about warring countries, this can make for confusion.

Though the style is nice, the animation itself mixed bag. It is oftentimes incredibly impressive, though it can be inconsistent and generally lacking. There are times when the low framerate is painfully apparent, and many classic budget cutting tricks are used. Examples include: no backgrounds/white glow, reuse of shots, unnecessary silhouetting, and restriction of color (for instance, coloring night scenes in monochrome gray).

Regarding sound, only one or two pieces of music in the soundtrack are remarkable. It has a pronounced late eighties/early nineties sound to it, which not a bad thing by any means but it is worth noting and does date the OVA. The voice acting is decent: not anything ground-breaking, but it gets the job done.

Overall, this incarnation of Arslan Senki is inferior to its more cohesive remake, but it is still extremely enjoyable. Though flawed, I am quite fond of it and it is undoubtedly worth a watch.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by ichiban_alex (6)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Feb 23, 2025

EonRed

Mixed Feelings

Arslan Senki is an anime with a lot of wasted potential, and its quality slowly declined. On the technical side there aren't too many flaws. The music was good and adequate. As for the visuals, it's fine for a 90's anime. If I had to point out something, it would be that the animation in the last two chapters is inconsistent with the others (in general the animation in chapters 1, 2, 3-4 and 5-6 are different from each other, but in the last two it is more noticeable).

There are major flaws in the narrative and writing. First of all, many scene changes were abrupt, ... both in the transitions and in the tones and atmospheres. This is not the only problem with the pace, as in addition to being too fast, it is inconsistent. The first episode presents the characters and the world well, it has an adequate pace and a good distribution of time for each conflict and situation. On the other hand, in the following chapters new elements are incorporated, new characters are added, and the series becomes a mess with the time dedicated to the events and the characters. In particular, the last two episodes are even chaotic due to everything that is shown. However, the main flaws are how the story is told to us, because at the plot level, the events are well constructed and related.

Aside from the fact that the pacing is a mess and the medieval fantasy elements are fairly typical, the world building is well done. It is noticeable that the OVAs do not show the whole world with its fantasy elements, but this is not necessarily a flaw, as they simply adapt a part of the novel. However, if I had to point out a questionable aspect of the story, there is a certain element that is introduced suddenly, and is shown to be something very transcendental, but ends in a disappointing way. Other than that, the fantasy elements are fine. The magic is not invasive, although it led to small plot conveniences, but not in a serious way.

As for the characters, there are too many, and that's normal for a war story. The problem is that several are superfluous and don't contribute much. Added to that is that, as I said before, the series doesn't have a good pace, and the time in which each one appears on screen is not well managed. On the other hand, they all have a well-defined personality and are fairly well-developed. As for development, it's quite little, but it's clear that the OVAs cover a small part of Arslan's entire story, so asking for more development and depth from the characters it’s unnecessary.

Overall, Arslan Senki is an OVA that is not easy to watch, but it is not terrible. The worst thing would definitely be the pacing, which affects the characters and the plot and lowers the quality of the anime too much. As for the best, although there is no aspect that stands out in a special way, the world building and music are quite competent. I recommend this anime to people who like classic fantasy and war stories.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by EonRed (6)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Aug 3, 2013

Smigsby

Not Recommended

My friend and I started watching this show because we're both huge Legend of Galactic Heroes fans, and the novelist that created that show also created this one. Legend of Galactic Heroes is probably one of the best anime shows of all time; it's a show of amazing ambition and scope that manages to blend in personal struggles, memorable characters, and a galaxy-spanning war without ever becoming unengaging to the audience.

Unfortunately, Heroic Legend of Arslan doesn't live up to that pedigree. Well, whatever, Yoshiyuki Tomino had Garzey's Wing, I guess Yoshiki Tanaka has Arslan.

The biggest problems I had with the series were the story, characters, ... and animation. I'm probably going to reference LoGH a lot to prove my points.

STORY: The story hooked me right away with the first episode. It seemed like it had the makings of a classic story - a kingdom falls, a prince vows to get the kingdom back, he gets some allies, some plot twists happen, he raises an army, and gets back the kingdom in the end.

The problem is that the characters themselves seemed to lack emotion and seemed dispassionate about actually getting Pars back. In addition, I never really got a good handle on how the war between the prince's group and the usurpers was actually going. In Legend of Galactic Heroes, they usually took a few seconds during each battle to illustrate in some way which side was winning and their spatial locations. In Arslan, I had problems following who was where and why.

Also, Arslan continues something that I hate, hate, hate about anime series: no ending. Basically, he starts almost at square one again, invalidating all the effort he took in the previous five episodes!

CHARACTERS: The second biggest problem with Arslan are the characters. I mentioned it above, but Arslan seems mostly indifferent to the prospect of actually getting back Pars. Sure, he mentions it, but it doesn't feel like he has any sort of spark or drive. With Lohengramm in LoGH, you got the sense that he was full of (and would eventually be consumed by) his ambition.

The other characters in his group were kind of a flatline for me too: none of them except for that black armor knight seemed interested in Pars either. They seemed to be mostly along for the ride and didn't seem like they were actually friends or life-and-death companions.

The only character that seemed to have any passion was the Silver Mask villain. It was funny actually, I thought his beef with Pars was pretty legit, and I was kind of rooting for *him* to succeed. Who cares if he used black magic, at least he had some sort of drive!

ANIMATION: Arslan's animation is inconsistent from episode-to-episode. Character designs seem to change, the quality of the animation seems to change, and it's very noticeable. Not having a consistent animation style is off-putting, and it takes you out of the story.

OVERALL: I'm giving this a 4. I really wanted to like this show, but all the elements that worked in Legend of Galactic Heroes simply don't work here. Whether it was being confused by character motivation or not being terribly interested in the characters, Arslan had problems that made it a below average viewing experience.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

What did you think of this review?

Nice 0

Love it 0

Funny 0

Confusing 0

Informative 0

Well-written 0

Creative 0

More reviews by Smigsby (3)

Show all

Read more

Show less

Open

Gift

Report

Arslan Senki Watch Order Guide

by IridescentJaune

8 Entries · 7 Restacks

Really short anime series to watch (less than 12ep)

by lainnvx

50 Entries · 48 Restacks

Anime that have a Reboot/Remake

by Ssnowyy

50 Entries · 81 Restacks

	Poll: The Heroic Legend of Arslan Episode 6 Discussion thisiodfkln - Apr 29, 2011	20 replies	by almightybismarck »» Sep 27, 2024 4:00 AM
	Poll: The Heroic Legend of Arslan Episode 5 Discussion thisiodfkln - Apr 28, 2011	10 replies	by almightybismarck »» Sep 26, 2024 7:42 PM
	Poll: The Heroic Legend of Arslan Episode 4 Discussion thisiodfkln - Apr 26, 2011	9 replies	by almightybismarck »» Sep 9, 2024 9:09 AM
	Poll: The Heroic Legend of Arslan Episode 3 Discussion thisiodfkln - Apr 23, 2011	10 replies	by almightybismarck »» Sep 5, 2024 8:18 AM
	Poll: The Heroic Legend of Arslan Episode 2 Discussion thisiodfkln - Apr 16, 2011	11 replies	by almightybismarck »» Sep 1, 2024 1:46 AM

Top 10 Best Medieval Anime of All Time

It's time to get medieval in this article! If you're a fan of European style medieval anime then this is a must read. Anyone who loves knights, nobility, peasantry, and grand battles should watch these shows.

by msoyka

335,588 views

RecommendationCollectionMagical