Heroic Legend of Arslan

Episode 16

Week after week, I find The Heroic Legend of Arslan is a much easier show to review than it is to watch. I can always find various merits and criticisms to describe in-depth when I'm through with it. The issue is getting through it in the first place. As the show wanders further toward battles and away from the main plot, it becomes less and less interesting. Every potential new storyline falls flat, with once-compelling, original characters also flattening out to become stock supporting cast.

The episode continues last week's plot, as the two armies arrive in time to find Gadevi and his war elephants waiting. Jaswant is the main interesting addition, as the show further develops him and his mentor, Mahendra. They're principled men working for an unprincipled man, making them parallels to Guiscard in Lusitania, although Gadevi is a bad king in a completely different way. I actually thought the story was setting him up to be cruel but effective at first, but it's increasingly made clear that he's not only ruthless, but selfish and pigheaded. Even the ill king knows that Gadevi is no good at this, and demands the brothers work it out in a duel instead of naming an official successor. The outcome of this is just too predictable, especially as Jaswant increasingly realizes how much better Arslan's style of doing things is.

Part of the problem is that we've already seen the Gadevi-Rajendra conflict played out in other parts of the cast. This is the same dynamic as the one between Andragoras's ruling style and Arslan's. At least with Innocentis and Guiscard, we have something new, as Innocentis is just stupid, not mean. It doesn't help that this is used to further prop Arslan up as The Perfect Ruler, with Jaswant immediately remembering how "the Prince and his subjects cared well for one another" after his mentor remarks on Gadevi's cruelty. This was also more effective when it was used to challenge Arslan, to point out that he could use some more of his (adoptive) dad's stubbornness and force, because he was too nice and peaceful. Now, even that tendency is nothing but a strength. I agree that peaceful tactics like diplomacy are preferable, so I don't mind that on a thematic level. However, the way it plays out here results in a dull, static protagonist.

The "Arslan Is Perfect" thing makes me regret that one of our supporting players isn't the protagonist instead. Narsus is mostly just there to spout exposition, and it feels like a waste of his character. He's more than just a master strategist. I miss Narsus the talentless but passionate artist. I miss his general goofy side. Even the strategy thing could go in a better direction: how did he become that good at this in the first place? Then there's his beliefs: how did he come to be such an opponent of slavery that he'd risk his position over it? This could go for any of Arslan's posse—Farangis especially is still quite mysterious and begging for a deeper backstory—but Narsus stands out as the one we see the most who also has the greatest wasted potential.

I have not read the original novels, and only a little of the manga, so it's hard to tell how much of the raw plot problems result from adaptation vs. the source itself. Still, the presentation isn't doing this any favors. Moving away from my usual complaints about animation (though the elephants are not an improvement over the human soldiers in that regard), I'm finding it frustrating how little variation there is in the show's environments at this point. That was one of the best things going for it early on, how lush and convincing the Fantasy Middle East was. Moving now to Sindhura, I'd like to see more to mark it as "Fantasy India" besides just elephants. The interiors in this show look the same across all cultures, with the same anachronistic pseudo-Islamic art style. Every windswept desert is just another windswept desert. Sindhura changes it up with character designs and outfits at least, but even during the battle, Rajendra's team's uniforms looked an awful lot like the Parsian and Lusitanian ones we've seen.

On the plus side, this particular battle had a lot more going for it dramatically than previous ones. Rajendra is a more engaging character than a lot of the military commanders we've focused on in this show, and you can see him mature as a leader across the course of the scene. He realizes how selfish it is to force soldiers into a hopeless war over a selfish desire. It's particularly heartening how he reaches that nadir of despair right before the Parsian army comes rushing to his rescue. Watching Gadevi's gamble with the elephants slowly fall apart was also interesting, as well as a good visual indicator of how risky Gadevi would be as a king. The episode's tension increased dramatically in its second half. This is how you use these scenes—not just as spectacle (which the animation makes moot anyway), but to reveal things about the characters and themes.

Again, it would be meatier stuff if it weren't so similar to other conflicts in the show, and wasn't so obviously set up to prop up Arslan—but there's still a lot of promise to it. "Promise" is the key to this show, but it won't do much for you if you can't deliver on it. Rajendra just won't reach his potential as a character if he only exists to prove how Arslan is better. Neither will anyone else. If The Heroic Legend of Arslan can get over that hurdle, give its protagonist some faults and everyone else more genuine character growth, it could be a much better show.

Rating: B-

Heroic Legend of Arslan is currently streaming on Funimation.

Rose is a music Ph.D. student who loves overanalyzing anime soundtracks. Follow her on her media blog Rose's Turn.