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The Heroic Legend of Arslan (TV).


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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13239
PostPosted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 12:23 pm Reply with quote
MaxSouth wrote:
In Episode 21 there is a scene where a military lad attacks musician who has helped a tortured captive to die. It is utterly ludicrous since every soldier perfectly understands plight of prisoners in those conditions so it is not believable at all that that lad would be angry at musician.


Human emotions will always trump so called logic. Sure, maybe that dude understands that it was better his brother died, but the fact still remains that Gieve killed his brother. There is no "right" way to react to that, since all people handle loss differently.

MaxSouth wrote:
You have a bad habit of not catching on context. Arslan's "parents" cared to train him with military skills, giving their top man as his trainer. So this anime portraying that they all of sudden "forgot" to teach him even basic facts about the world is ridiculous.


The old guy seemed to be training Arslan more for personal affection than royal decree. Besides, as a country Pars has its head so far up its own ass it doesn't care about anything else. Why learn about other countries when Pars is the only one that matters? You'll see this in real life, too: An unfortunately large number of Americans can't even find Canada on a map.
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MaxSouth



Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 1363
PostPosted: Fri Sep 18, 2015 2:21 pm Reply with quote
The emotion in that lad attacking musician scene would be gratitude, not anger.

As to training, it is doubtful that was old visier's idea. Besides, if no one else would be assigned for this, he would also teach the lad about politics, culture and geography.


Episode 22:

There is scene where invaders have military council and one of men ask something like "we will use 100 000 army against 40 000?", which is not realistic since people knew since ancient times that to win reliably you must have at least 2:1 ratio in your favour in terms of quantity of troops.

In the following scene invaders agree to give 70 000 troops to a local prince to fight against main lad's forces, which is not believable since it would be quite dangerous from both military and political points of view. This is why history has no precedent of local collaborationists helping invaders with more than small tasks.

In another scene main lad's scouts are shown to have dinner in a tavern, and leaving money on the table when they end their meal. This makes no sense since this would only happen if they are regular customers in that particular tavern, not someone new. They would be required to pay upfront.


Episode 23:

The show says that "Sam" is the best in guarding castles, but in reality he was shown to be incompetent in the beginning when he has lost the capital to enemy due to being unable to organize sensible defence.

The spying scout lad all of sudden shows himself openly on the cliff for everyone to see and track him down, which is not believable turn of events -- another amateur seam to move story where authors want it.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 3:52 pm Reply with quote
Episode 24:

I think this episode presented the climatic battle pretty well.
We get action from most of the main characters including that new girl Alfred. Still not a fan of her but she does show some skill.

Also gotta love Farangis' little speech when she was fighting.

The ending was more tragic than I had expected especially with what Etoile had to witness. Then again, war conflicts often result in bloodshed and death so I can't say what happened is entirely surprising.
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Vaisaga



Joined: 07 Oct 2011
Posts: 13239
PostPosted: Sun Sep 20, 2015 4:00 pm Reply with quote
MaxSouth wrote:
The emotion in that lad attacking musician scene would be gratitude, not anger.


Sorry, but that's not how emotions work.

Anyways, pretty cool fight between Daryun and Hermes this episode.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11586
PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 12:07 am Reply with quote
D'oh, isn't that always the way? People come in right as your enemy falls on your knife.

Does Farangis have plot armor or does she have plot armor! That was pretty cool. Very Happy

Has anyone else noticed that evil magician dude only shows up when Daryun is involved? That whole fight I kept waiting for him to make an appearance, and sure enough.

If he can just pop up anywhere, why doesn't he pop up next to Arslan and kill him while he sleeps? For that matter, if he's somehow attached to Daryun, why not get him in his sleep?
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15573
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 3:15 am Reply with quote
Gina Szanboti wrote:
Does Farangis have plot armor or does she have plot armor! That was pretty cool. Very Happy

Made me think of one scene from the movie Shanghai Noon. And also calling such a stunt as unnecessarily stupid, she was not doing anything to avoid being shot, she must have rolled a bunch of saves.

Well we have not really seen any proof before of divine protection, and I do guess that the side with the supposed god have black magic at their disposal. Been thinking for a while that the god's name sounds like a Lovecraftian monster too.

And could no one pick up a sword to stop her from attacking Arslan instead of a buy doing nothing but be a meat shield?
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Shikiari



Joined: 09 Sep 2013
Posts: 462
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 11:54 am Reply with quote
I honestly thought that Farangis walking right into the open was one of the most stupidest things i've seen in a long time. Plot armor or not, those soldiers certainly weren't dressed as Stormtroopers and she'd be pretty dead right now.

I've enjoyed Arslan's attempt to keep things kinda realistic but if it hadn't had that rather cool fight between Daryun and Hermes, the episode would have been a downer just for that one scene.
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MaxSouth



Joined: 11 Oct 2008
Posts: 1363
PostPosted: Mon Sep 21, 2015 2:48 pm Reply with quote
Shikiari:

There is a lot of stupidity in this project, alas; it almost looks like farce.

The marquee scene is not believable at all. First of all, the attackers would not be able to get there (layers of guards are placed around the centre of the military camp), then there would not be any drama stares and pauses, they would be just killed. And the spy-scout lad would not protect main lad barehanded. And no, the enemy would not just have big "secret" passage not properly guarded (let alone that it is not believable that it would exist at all since keeping it secret is basically impossible). With this, by the way, the white-stripe-hair enemy general once again has proved to be clueless failure, despite presented in the show as marvel. The archer lass was shown advancing on a horse with short curved dagger out, which is ridiculous since this is close-combat weapon, useless while on horse.

Also, "misunderstanding" -- such as when main lad seems to kill invader's chief -- plot turn is a soap-opera level artificial drama; it would better if authors would not use this move in the scenario.

I am more sad about this than usually because otherwise this project has smartness in it that most of dumb anime do not have at all (and yes, in many occasions it is a cool project). This anime could have become finely faceted gem, if attention to detail would be better.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2015 4:58 am Reply with quote
Episode 25 (finale):

Well, the finale detailed more of Eotile's interactions with Arslan. it kinda felt anti-climatic but I think it was also refreshing way to finish off the show. We also get some moments from most of the main cast although there's not much action except for Silver Mask.

Glad to see that Eotile is starting to get along a little better with the others though. Also, the birth of that baby symbolizes hope imo.

Good show overall. I think it told a war story well and I hope it will get another season in the future. Rating this very good. Definitely enjoyed it~
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DuskyPredator



Joined: 10 Mar 2009
Posts: 15573
Location: Brisbane, Australia
PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2015 8:28 am Reply with quote
Stark700 wrote:
Also, the birth of that baby symbolizes hope imo.

It also had to be held up Lion King style because.

Episode 25 (finale)

I did enjoy Etoile's part in this, she was a kind of interesting character, especially with how she is paring with Arslan.

A summary of the series, I am disappointed from how I felt at the very beginning. Although it was fairly early on that I started having trouble really getting into this. This is apparently based on a rather old novel, and in all honesty I think it kind of shows its age, the general character types, just feel dated. A series that strongly comes to mind in comparison would be Yona of the Dawn, and these shows so much similarities it is quite strange, but also makes Yona feel stronger. Arslan is a good guy, and we get some good development as he learns, but his full on white morality feels like it is something that does not grow, we are just meant to believe from the beginning that the crown prince is like this. He grows from knowledge but not quite as a personality. Daryun, I liked him better when he was Hak, at least having a bit more personality. The relationship between him and Arslan seems a bit lacking, he is super strong but the basis of his loyalty to Arslan starts with being ordered to, and then suddenly he is totally all for Arlsan's make everyone happy ideals.

I did not dislike all the characters, Elam was actually a pretty cool character, he did feel like he grew with an understandable loyalty to Narsus and then accepting Arslan. And Alfreed was also pretty cool, that was until they decided to focus her character on being Narsus' wife. Narsus was fairly okay, but I think a little overpowered in such a tactics driven series. Farangis was also not bad as really staying a fairly strong woman, defined by her own characteristics. I really am not sure what the point of Gieve was other than making a fairly quirky character, although his gained admiration of Arslan was good. And how many times do we have to get Silver Mask dramatically reveal himself?

Some interesting setting, but the animation was really not that great. There are heaps of plot holes in the series, my favourite being when Jaswant managed to get his horse to not only jump onto an elephant, but a giant one that was able to keep the horse on it, which he then somehow fought off Daryun. The series actually seems to keep forgetting the point of Arslan having something on his hand specifically for the bird to land on as it then decides to land elsewhere on him. Why would Etoile grow her hair out if she wants to appear as a man? And do we really need to be told every episode that this guy is going to be king?

But people really seem to have enjoyed this, and it kind of perplexes me. To me it feels like a bunch of tricks with over the top nice hero, super strong character, throw in sweeping shots with obviously cool music, make some dark parts and medieval politics because people like that, and people will eat it up. I give a rating of Decent, I did not lose my time watching it, but there were a number of actually better made shows.
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Gina Szanboti



Joined: 03 Aug 2008
Posts: 11586
PostPosted: Sun Sep 27, 2015 10:11 pm Reply with quote
When Narsus and D are arguing about their talents, the subs have Narsus spread his arms and say, "I was you an artist!" Could someone tell me what he actually said? Usually when typos show up I can guess, but this one has me baffled. Very Happy
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SereneChaos



Joined: 14 Oct 2011
Posts: 384
Location: Middle of Nowhere, USA
PostPosted: Sun Oct 11, 2015 10:01 pm Reply with quote
Overall, Arslan was enjoyable I guess. It has some major flaws, and the most enjoyable part of some episodes was laughing at the many things that don't make any sense, but still it was enjoyable. The best part about it though is how well it contrasts with Yona of the Dawn. Extensively comparing the two would be a fascinating case study of gender and even shoujo vs shounen within the industry. I feel like someone could write an entire gender studies thesis on these two stories. It's certainly something I'll be thinking about for awhile.

Although I have to ask since this is one of the things that is bothering me the most (and that's saying something in this show): why the hell would someone trying to hide the fact that they're a girl keep their hair long? And why is her hair being long the sign that she's a girl when half the male cast has ponytails?
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Wed Jun 22, 2016 1:35 pm Reply with quote
Apparently, the Summer season (second cour) will only be 8 episodes.
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Shikiari



Joined: 09 Sep 2013
Posts: 462
Location: Wales
PostPosted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 7:24 am Reply with quote
Second Season : Episode 1

Well... they are never going to bring this to a conclusion in 8 episodes, especially since next week is another skirmish with those new invaders back at Peshawar Fortress.

The plot was messy, but interesting. So i guess normal service is resumed on that behalf.
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Stark700



Joined: 30 Jan 2012
Posts: 11762
Location: Earth
PostPosted: Sun Jul 03, 2016 8:00 am Reply with quote
Season 2, episode 1:

Wonderful episode. We got to see all the main characters return to their roles, Silver Mask fighting against Gieve but also making an interesting discovery himself, Temple Knights' involvement, the war and some of the more prominent characters in their roles. More importantly, Arslan has taken the role of a well-established leader now among its people.

Etoile is back too! What a way to start off this season tbh, very impressed. New theme songs are decent too.
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