Arslan Senki | Review
Plot as provided by MAL:
In the prosperous kingdom of Pars lies the Royal Capital of Ecbatana, a city of splendor and wonder, ruled by the undefeated and fearsome King Andragoras. Arslan is the young and curious prince of Pars who, despite his best efforts, doesn’t seem to have what it takes to be a proper king like his father.
I’m always skeptical of anime with a mostly male main cast, and in fact this was one such anime that I was going to turn down before I saw one of the major female characters who existed within the story. Suffice to say I was drawn in by her, um, strong female appeal. Yeah, female appeal, that’s what it was. Scantly clad women aside, what I found was a story that had action, adventure, and some slight elements of fantasy mixed in. A mature series that caught me by surprise, since I thought at first this would just be the growing up story of a young prince into a strong leader. Which it is, but it goes about it a completely different way then what I was expecting.
After a single episode of a look back at what the prince, Arslan, was like as a child, where he has a fateful meeting with a captured enemy soldier, we are thrust along side the prince into his very first battle. In what should be a normal battle, like any other, turns to a massacre as the enemy uses clever tactics, trickery, and just a little bit of black magic to completely decimate Arslan’s company and forcing his father, Andragoras III, to retreat for the first time in his life. Arslan is pretty distraught needless to say, seeing not only his personal guard killed but a high ranking generalhe once trusted show that he is in fact a traitor. Luckily for Arslan he has a protector unlike any other, a man known as the knight in black; Daryun. The guy has unbelievable skill with a spear, and on horseback is like an unstoppable train of carnage.
The prince is saved, but he and Daryun soon learn that Arslan’s father has been captured along with the capital, and Vahriz, Daryun’s uncle and Andragoras’ right-hand man, has been slain in battle. Things are looking grim, and by now it should be apparent that this is no happy go lucky story of a princes’ journey to becoming a man. No this series has dark turns around every corner, which isn’t too surprising given the history of the country that Andragoras was king of. Something that a man named Narsus foresaw, tried to get Andragoras to change his ways, and left the royal court when Andragoras refused. This man is the next person, along with his personal assistant Elam, who joins Arslan’s company. Warning, Narsus has a penchant for making horrible art.
Along his journey to reclaim the capital, the prince encounters a traveling bard and womanizer named Gieve, a sexy priestess who hears spirits named Farangis, a young woman from a clan of warriors who is saved by Narsus named Alfreed, and last but not least an enemy soldier who was originally sent to infiltrate Arslan’s army named Jaswant. Together these individuals comprise Arslan’s close company, and help him build an army that is sizable enough and strong enough to retake the capital; eventually. I say eventually because that never happens in this season of the anime, the capital remains in the enemy‘s hands. Speaking of whom, General Silvermask. Yes I know, he sounds like some villain from an 80’s cartoon, but I assure you this guy is no laughing matter. As strong as Daryun, has the backing of some black magic, and has a serious hate for Andragoras for a very good reason.
Throughout the series Arslan happens to encounter that prisoner from his childhood again, Etoile, who as it turns out, is in fact a pretty girl who dresses up like a boy to be in the army. General Silvermask’s army that is, thankfully she’s not a total religious kook like some of her company, and even gives Arslan a chance to learn more about her religion. Of course she doesn’t know she’s doing this at the time, but it all works out for the better in the end. While she’s not completely happy with it, she does eventually wind up in Arslan’s company. If there was anything obvious in this series, it would be that she is his future wife/ love interest. I can just see it now. Arslan the kind king, and his wife, the fiery queen. They really do look cute together.
This series teaches us a few things throughout its story, two of which I’d like to point out. One, slavery is bad, mmm’k? If you enslave your prisoners of war, they will eventually rebel and cause some major problems down the road. So don’t do it. Two, religions be whack yo. Going to war is bad enough, but when you mix in religion you get shitty crusaders who think some invisible being called god is giving them the right to pillage, rape, and kill anyone who is not of the same religion. Thankfully Arslan sees this, and makes a decision to fix it. Of course he doesn’t just say “free the slaves” and “banish religion”, no, he takes his time to think about how the hell he’s going to make everyone happy on some level or another. This was smart, and I liked it. Now there were some unrealistic portions of the story, like Daryun’s strength or the black magic, but for the most part the story is more real world based than not. In fact it felt like it could be based on a persian epic, and in fact is, one that is known as Amir Arsalan. I guess you could say Japan was growing tired of seeing anime adaptations of The Three Kingdoms.
Genres: Action, Adventure, Fantasy.
Animation: A cooperatively constructed anime, crafted by studio Liden Films and Sanzigen. While Liden handled the main animation style, Sanzigen was in charge of the CGI which mostly was around in the huge battles. You may recognize Liden for their work on Yamada-kun and the Seven Witches, Miss Monochrome: The Animation, and Terra Formars. Sanzigen is a little less known however, but they did have a hand in works like Arpeggio of Blue Steel, Black Rock Shooter, and even more joint work with Liden on Miss Monochrome: The Animation.
Voice Acting: Productions like this always have such nice voice acting, and this was no different. Everyone slipped into their roles beautifully, and made a good anime all that more enjoyable.
Favorite Character: Now you see, if you expected me to say Farangis, well you’d be right. Etoile came a close second, but her choice of religion was still a little hard to accept seeing how full of zealots it is. Farangis on the other hand is from a more spiritual religion. She’s got beauty, an ice cold attitude, and astounding skills with the bow. She is also a woman who can hold her liquor, capable of drinking alongside Kubard, a general in Arslan’s army who survived the battle at the beginning. She also has the patience of a saint, putting up with Gieve’s constant hounding for her. One of the only female character I never needed to worry about, which was nice, considering all the rape.
Arslan Senki gets an 7.8 out of 10
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