Forum - View topicEP. REVIEW: Heroic Legend of Arslan
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Stark700
 Posts: 11762 Location: Earth |
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I think this is a great start for the show including the first episode with the way it was presented. There's some problem with the CGI sometimes but I think it can easily be adapted.
Music is definitely great (ED theme song is one of my favorites). Some great stuff in general and lives up to the hype so far. |
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Kuroko the Best Stalker
 Posts: 39 Location: In your wet dreams, baby ❤ |
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One of my most anticipated shows this season. Promising start so far and I have high expectations. OP is good but the ED is better. Great artwork on that.
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ichii_1
 Posts: 151 |
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It's an anime adaptation of a manga adaption of the original novel
So of course they'll be differences, but I like the style and the animation looks solid. The fighting scenes were great in ep. 2 way better than kingdom. Daryun is a boss
I hate the bratty blond kid already 
Uverworld opening is GOOD 
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Yttrbio
 Posts: 3670 |
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I do wish that every other line wasn't a death flag, or a defeat flag, or an unambiguous telegraph of what was coming next. Maybe if this was literally the first story ever told, it wouldn't be so obnoxious.
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Videogamep
 Posts: 564 Location: CA |
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I don't think it was even trying to hide those things. The series description essentially gives away most of that stuff anyway. |
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IKKIsama
 Posts: 90 Location: France |
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Probably my favorite new show of the season. And Daryun is badass !
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CoreSignal
 Posts: 727 Location: California, USA |
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Really looking forward to the future episodes. Arslan has great potential to be an excellent show. I've said it before, but the source material for this show is very strong, so I'm pretty confident we'll get a well-written, epic fantasy show. Also, I thought it was pretty cool that Yoshiki Tanaka himself gave a (written) shout-out at the end of the next episode preview.
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3994 |
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Fantastic start, I hope they keep it up
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Hameyadea
 Posts: 3679 |
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Episodes #1-2:
One of the most striking things about Arslan Senki, as noted in Rose Bridges's Review, is just how much of the art style and character design looks like the style of the artist on which this version of Arslan is based upon, Arakawa Hiromu's Fullmetal Alchemist. The main lead, Arslan, in appearance and personality, is almost an Ancient History of the Near East doppelgänger of Edward Elric, and that doesn't necessarily makes it a bad thing. Arslan itself is almost the personification of the idealistic shōnen traits of a prince: well mannered, understanding the society and its people, wishing for them to be well-fed, not to consider the notion of self-sacrifice, wanting to avoid unnecessary wars & conflicts. He is as rosy as they come. And as naïve, as he soon finds out. When his father, the somewhat estranged from his family and intimidating (both in appearance, presence, and personality) King of Pars Andragoras III returns from yet another successful battle against the barbaric Lusitanians, he brings with him some POWs (read: slaves). Among them is a young boy who, by canniness, manages to break free from his outdoor cell and takes for hostage a member of royalty who went out to meet the Lusitanians POWs - Arslan The chase sequence between the Lusitanian Boy & Arslan and the City Guards takes a considerable chunk of Episode #1's time. Is which, the Boy and Arslan discuss quickly their points of view and history, with Arslan saying that all citizens are well-treated and fed, as long as they follow the rule. The Boy doesn't want to hear that while they are overlook a group of slaves working away under the order of the Pars slave driver/foreman, and retorts by saying that in Lusitania, their God is almighty and forgiving, and thus any who does believe in him are branded as heathens who should be killed. This time it's Arslan's turn to point out the fallacy in the Boy's claim. Thus setting the basics of the conflict - a hierarchical rule which stands on the shoulders of slaves, or worshiping a God and its teaching whose message is Love & Equality to All?* * Except those who doesn't worship said God. In that case it's alright to kill them. The rest of the cast is clearly based on Arakawa's designs, with the King Andragoras III, the Queen Tahamine , the Cavalry General Daryun and more looking as is they were inspired by FMA's character design, if not directly taken from there. Some people might find it odd, confusing or disappointing, but as one who liked FMA's designs, I'm OK with that. The show's animation, at least the tradition, 2D one, as a good variety of depths - from the bright colors of the Royal Palace in the capital Ecbatana, to the dirtier-looking backstreets and alleyways of the capital, to the ominous darkness of Episode #2's night battle scene. The shift in lighting during the clash in Episode #2 between the Pars army and the Lusitanian army within the fog creates the feeling of uneasiness and nervousness. A feeling clearly shared by Arslan. The show does falter, however, when it uses its 3D GC. It isn't that the CG by itself is bad - on the contrary, I think it's nearly of par with Sidonia no Kishi's CG - but the transition between using 2D and 3D GC isn't smooth, and the difference between them is too obvious for its own good. Arslan Senki has, thus far, managed to demonstrate an interesting story, good character design, cleaver use of animation & lighting, and impressive battles. And although there were a few slip-ups, overall the show had a good buildup of momentum. My time wasn't wasted.
EDIT: I really should QA my posts better... Damn typos. Last edited by Hameyadea on Tue Apr 14, 2015 10:58 am; edited 3 times in total |
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CoreSignal
Posts: 727 Location: California, USA |
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This is a very good point that I think might've been a little overlooked in the 1st episode. The slave/Boy has a pretty twisted idea of love & equality, lol. |
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Godaistudios
Posts: 2075 Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment) |
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While we all get that the characters do resemble the ones from FMA, the repeated mentions of it really distract from the review. I'd actually prefer to read reviews of the series we are watching, not comparisons of how the characters resemble those from another show. It's almost as if you are inflating the size of your review instead of commenting on the show we ware watching.
Just a little constructive criticism, I'd prefer to focus on the content of Arslan itself. |
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Zac
ANN Executive Editor
 Posts: 7912 Location: Anime News Network Technodrome |
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I checked, and the section talking about how the characters resemble FMA takes up 78 words out of 1021. If she were just "inflating the size of the review" maybe she'd have talked about it for longer than less than one tenth of the review's total wordcount. |
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Godaistudios
Posts: 2075 Location: Albuquerque, NM (the land of entrapment) |
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Although I meant that as hyperbole, perhaps it wasn't the best choice of words to use. That it was used as bumpers at the beginning and the end of the review came more as a distraction for me - all the moreso since it was already mentioned in the spring preview as it was. You could posit that there are those who skip the spring preview and are only reading the reviews, but even in that case, I'd rather see the mention once and then move on. Having it come up early and then later at the end feels like it's point needed to be stressed by Rose, making the issue more important than it needs to be. Comparing character to character leaves an odd feeling, a bad taste in my mouth if you will. I'd rather not think I'm watching Kimblee, or Izumi's husband, but the characters that are presented in the show I'm watching instead. FWIW, I got a wordcount of 93 based on the context. |
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Nyaomix
 Posts: 127 |
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Definitely not a fan of arakawa`s art. Loved the old OVA style, and it is distracting to think of characters as so clearly from another show. Also Kishward is just drawn super evil.
The ending music is fine for me, but the opening is way out of place. Uverworld`s song is fine but doesn`t fit the theme in the slightest. Second episode didn`t have as strong of a message, but it is how the story goes. Once we are past the backstory of Arslan in pars the themes should pick up pretty well. That point being episode 3. |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3994 |
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Yeah, I think they did a good job setting that up. |
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