Arslan Senki (TV)

The year is 320. Under the rule of the belligerent King Andragoras III, the Kingdom of Pars is at war with the neighboring empire, Lusitania. Though different from his father in many aspects, Arslan, the young prince, sets out to prove his valor on the battlefield for the very first time. However, when the king is betrayed by one of his most trusted officials, the Parsian army is decimated and the capital city of Ecbatana is sieged. With the army in shambles and the Lusitanians out for his head, Arslan is forced to go on the run. With a respected general by his side, Daryun, Arslan soon sets off on a journey in search of allies that will help him take back his home.

However, the enemies that the prince faces are far from limited to just those occupying his kingdom. Armies of other kingdoms stand ready to conquer Ecbatana. Moreover, the mastermind behind Lusitania's victory, an enigmatic man hiding behind a silver mask, poses a dangerous threat to Arslan and his company as he possesses a secret that could jeopardize Arslan's right to succession.

With the odds stacked against him, Arslan must find the strength and courage to overcome these obstacles, and allies who will help him fight in the journey that will help prepare him for the day he becomes king.

[Written by MAL Rewrite]

Arslan Main

Kobayashi, Yuusuke Japanese

Daryun Main

Hosoya, Yoshimasa Japanese

Narsus Main

Namikawa, Daisuke Japanese

Gieve Main

KENN Japanese

Falangies Main

Sakamoto, Maaya Japanese

Silver Mask Main

Kaji, Yuuki Japanese

Elam Main

Hanae, Natsuki Japanese

Etoile Supporting

Uchiyama, Yumi Japanese

Andragoras III Supporting

Sugou, Takayuki Japanese

Alfreed Supporting

Numakura, Manami Japanese

Cook, Justin Producer

Maeda, Toshihiro Producer

Satomi, Tetsurou Producer

Kurosu, Reo Producer

Reviews

Jun 17, 2024

whiteflame55

Recommended

This season is, overall, a pretty good time. The score is excellent, the animation really good with only a few odd CGI choices, the characters varied and entertaining, and the plot, if nothing else, is interesting enough to keep me invested.

All that being said, it does seem like the show trips over itself a bit in the details.

For example, one of the elements it introduces and uses with some regularity is a set of sorcerers. They use magic, they're clearly fantastical, and they appear on the battlefield from time to time to get major characters out of harm's way. It's a bit of a deus ... ex machina that feels very much like the author has his hands in the plot, which is something I rarely appreciate in my stories.

That's pretty granular, though, so I'll go bigger. Arslan himself plays a pivotal role in the plot, and while he's certainly surrounded by interesting characters, he himself feels a little flat at times. He's an idealist who sticks to his ideals, and while that's kind of refreshing when compared to the much gloomier renditions of this type of character, it also means that we don't see much from him beyond getting challenged on his ideals, doubling down on them, and moving on. Maybe it's not fair for me to compare them, but Canute from Vinland Saga is a far more investing character for how he has to wrestle with the ways his ideals clash with the realities of his role, and how he has to twist, bend and break some of them to pursue his goals. Arslan isn't king yet, but I was hoping to see more than we got here, and I chalk that up mainly to everyone around him feeling pretty invincible and, partially as a result, his battles feeling like foregone conclusions. Arslan's idealism would be all the more striking it if was tempered with some tragedy.

Still, I think the show manages better than I would have expected, especially given that it doesn't answer pretty much any of its central mysteries. I've looked into it enough to know that the source material does answer them in complex and often confusing ways, so maybe adapting those answers was just never in the cards. Honestly, there's so much going on behind the scenes that seems far more interesting than what's playing out on screen in these battles.

But I don't mean to be too negative, as I would still recommend this show. The dynamics between its characters, the breadcrumbs the show feeds you about those mysteries, the sweeping battles and even some of the individual fights really make this show work, even if it's missing the depth I was craving for much of its run.

Reviewer’s Rating: 7

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Sep 16, 2024

SgtSalamander

Mixed Feelings

{SPOILERS} *NOTE: This review is also meant to cover the 8-episode arc, Fuujin Ranbu*

The Heroic Legend of Arslan is a good mid-range anime that does some things very well and definitively fails to deliver on others. It successfully packages enthralling court politics and entertaining military strategy in a full wreathing of lackluster characters, plot holes, and bad 3D. To begin with one of the more enjoyable aspects, the story is the main driver of this show without question. It was indeed the story that kept me watching at all. The Heroic Legend of Arslan attempts to weave a grandiose legend ... of betrayal, heroism, zealotry, and pretenders to the throne. In a lot of ways it felt like they were going for a kind of Iliad vibe, given the emphasis on heroic aristocracy. But of course there were some big problems in the story, namely that it became hard to suspend one's disbelief that the actions of certain factions were so cartoonishly evil, or in many other instances so naive and misguided. However, these mostly stem from the imperfections of characters, so we'll get to that when we get to it. To put a cap on story, however, a distinctly personal note is needed here that reflects more on me than the show. I found myself sympathizing with the 'bad guys' in The Heroic Legend of Arslan, and was often underwhelmed by the two-dimensional main characters. For example, Silver Mask has better motivations and is a superior claimant to the throne, but I also identify with the unfairly written Lusitanians, because they are pretty plainly coded as European Christians, so in the world the story takes place I would most likely be a Temple Knight. But like I said, that last point is all me.

The art was amazing in its vision, and good enough in its execution. That is to say, the architecture, armor, landscapes, character design, and even the various flags and banners were all expertly designed and strinkingly beautiful. However, the major drawback comes in the animation itself, a great many characters failing to express enough emotion in their day to day lives, and of course the gratuitous use of jarringly bad 3D, which often detracted from the otherwise well choreographed battle scenes.

Next, I really enjoyed the sound. The musical score was epic and rousing, bringing a lot of color to any given moment. The sounds of life, like crunching footsteps or clanging weapons, were omnipresent and made the world itself feel full and definitively lived in.

The characters were a definite weak point of the show, because as cool and generally entertaining as they were, they were still flat and very poor vessels to handle the epic tale they are meant to shoulder. Even worse, this problem is most evident the closer one gets to Arslan's inner circle, and indeed Arslan himself. Save for Daryun, who is redeemed only by fulfilling a character trope that is easy to fill, the people we see the most are the most devoid of color. The further out one gets, the more engaging the characters become, even extremely minor ones like Barcacion or that cultist mask guy that remains unnamed! The characters are also liable to begin acting in erratic, uncharacteristic ways that are meant first and foremost to serve the writers and the story they're weaving, oftentimes throwing preestablished character attitudes and predispositions to the wind in order to see them through. I see these things as major failings in The Heroic Legend of Arslan, and the main reasons that it gets the rating it does from me. At the end of the day I enjoyed this anime well enough to finish it, but not enough to rewatch it. If they were to come out with a third season, I would watch it, but barring a total stylistic departure nothing could really alter this score. At the end of the day, if you're a particularly big fan of low fantasy adventuring army anime, or even if you're just looking to get a middle of the road anime under your belt, give The Heroic Legend of Arslan a shot. I believe that there is enough variance of taste in the anime community that there are people who would enjoy this more than me, and see it as something truly special.

Reviewer’s Rating: 6

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Mar 14, 2023

ThatAnimeSnobRE

Not Recommended

When this anime was announced, many expected the best show of the millennia. The reason was the story being written by the author of Legend of the Galactic Heroes and the artwork being done by the mangaka of Full Metal Alchemist. Both titles are exceptional and are even in my top 10. Unfortunately, Arslan is not even top 1000 material. Compared to its predecessors:
- It lacks the semi-realistic character designs of LOGH
- Its cast lacks the charisma and individual importance of FMA characters
- It looks bland compared to the ethereal artstyle of the 90s version of Arslan

Another way to view it is like the 2 ... Star Wars trilogies. The 70s trilogy was a space opera masked as a fairy tale, thus keeping expectations low and succeeding in the longrun. The 00s trilogy on the other hand was a fairy tale desperately pretending to be a space opera and self-imploded in the longrun by promising way too much. It’s the same thing with Arslan; it’s not as good as it wants you to think it is. It’s a silly fighting shonen that tries to present itself as a serious historical epic and fails miserably at it.

The general premise and overall plot are fine; it’s always cool to see a prince trying to gather an army and protect his kingdom from various enemy factions. It reminded me of a simpler Romance of the Three Kingdoms. The problem lies in how it was written in a very dry way since it was inspired by the famous contemporaries of that time (Conan the Barbarian, Erlic of Meliborne, Guin Saga) and as such it is a hard sale when it comes to a more modern audience. The storyboard planners didn’t adjust an anachronistic plot so it won’t be boring to Zoomers watch it.

As a result Arslan the protagonist comes off as the most boring character. Everybody around him is ten times more capable and interesting than he is. I understand that the show is the coming of age of a naïve prince, slowly becoming a capable king thanks to his interaction with all sorts of mentors. It still doesn’t make him an interesting lead. He’s completely worthless and passive to the most part, and even looks like a girl. Why does he even have so many loyal subjects? Ok, fine, he is the lawful heir to the throne, but in those chaotic times the moment you were showing weakness you were executed and the throne was taken by the strongest man available. The story is not plausible from the get-go because of that simple fact. In a more realistic scenario Arslan would be a puppet at the hands of his subjects, if not a decorative head on some pike.

Compare that lead to LOGH and FMA. You can never complain about the protagonists in those shows. They were capable, charismatic, and the story doesn’t begin with them being greenhorns. We saw how they improved in flashbacks and whatever happens in present time is the peak of their power. That’s what makes them compelling. To make an analogy, it’s as if you are watching Romance of the Three Kingdoms from the perspective of the Han emperor, a completely worthless ruler that was being manipulated by everyone. He sucks compared to every general and advisor around him, and that’s exactly what Arslan is in his own story.

Speaking of everybody else besides him, they are a fine bunch of cool guys and gals, each one usually specializing in some sort of skill. It’s ok as long as you see them as no more than rule of cool, but falls flat if you bring in a bit more realism. They are closer to the Avengers than masters of ancient warfare. It’s not like Romance of the Three Kingdoms had that much realism either; it’s just that it can be very immersion breaking when you are supposed to be watching historical events that happened in ancient Persia and everybody is breathing fire. I didn’t have this problem with LOGH, since that was taking place in the far future and most head scratching moments had to do with technology and physics that could be excused simply as futuristic science. In FMA it was a setting where everyone could use magic. Arslan has no such excuse. People fly and breathe fire in what is supposed to be our world.

Do you know what else LOGH and FMA didn’t have that Arslan does and can be very immersion breaking? CGI crowds! I can tolerate plastic looking cars or spaceships but not hundreds of Lego toys pretending to be fighting each other. It made everything fake looking and cheap; I didn’t care about anyone dying because of it.

I can go on bitching about a dozen other things, but you get the gist by now; it’s not a good show. It’s poorly animated, the protagonist is terrible, the plot is childish, and as a whole it was promoting itself as legendary when it’s just a throwaway mediocrity. Once again modern sucks and retro wins.

Reviewer’s Rating: 4

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