Heroic Legend of Arslan

Episode 23

This is a battle episode for The Heroic Legend of Arslan, which can only mean one thing: terrible animation. It's been a struggle for the show week after week, but the endless sameface soldiers and repetitive movements that battle scenes call for really showcase the worst of the show's technical failures. This installment goes below and beyond, with some embarrassing repeated faces and blocky movements. One Lusitanian gets shot and dies without any change in his facial expression! Can't we have some standards?

This is all the more noticeable because, just like other battle episodes, this one's thin on non-fighting plot. The series hinges on tactics going right or wrong as Narsus and Hermes carry out their plotting. The main strategy here is that Narsus has set up a fake camp where the Lusitanian army believes Arslan and his advisors are located. They're actually in a much more secluded location that will take more cunning to discover than any of Hermes's top guys have. That's especially true of the bullheaded Xandes, who comes charging right out of the keep before he's ordered to, resulting in the huge Lusitanian army making itself vulnerable. Despite their superior numbers, they're slaughtered by the Parsians.

It's the people who aren't part of Hermes's really crappy plan who actually stand a chance. At this point, that's just Étoile on the Lusitanian side. Because she recognizes Elam while he's on the lookout, she leads her troops to Arslan's actual camp. Of course, before she can do anything, she's stunned to find her mysterious white-haired stranger there—and learn that he's the Prince Arslan she's so desperate to defeat. I wonder how this will play out in the next episode. Étoile admires him, they have a history together, and she's already made a sort of exception for him among "heathens" in her mind. However, she didn't know he was the prince at the time. I doubt either of those pieces of information will completely override the other for her, which is why I can't wait to see how it all shakes out next week.

The other difference between Étoile and Hermes's ilk is that she has a genuine, sympathetic, "pure" motivation for war. She's an ordinary girl who believes in the cause for ordinary-people reasons, like religion and opposition to slavery. She also doesn't trust Hermes, which is smart, since we know he's lying about his support for Lusitania and its culture. It's amazing how boldly he'll pretend to care about their religious struggle in front of the masses while disdaining it behind doors—even Guiscard is on to him. Again, why do the Lusitanian brass let him do this? Why do they trust him? This episode also brings up another question: why do Sām and other Parsian patriots align with him? They have to see how fake and selfish he is, even if he is the "rightful" heir to the throne. Even if he's not as pigheaded as Andragoras, Hermes would be a worse king in many other respects. He's already demonstrated that clearly.

Hermes is willing to sacrifice countless Parsian lives in his bid to rule the country, including respected military leaders like Shapur. He did that during the invasion, and he's continuing to do it in battle. Even if he wins, the people will never trust him, bound to regard both him and his advisors as traitors. Kharlan might have died early enough to be excused for not knowing this, but Sām and others have no excuse. It's good that Kubard has at least clued in enough to start fighting for the right side.

The shadow mage who works for Hermes (presumably) really came out of nowhere in this episode. I guess I should have expected he wouldn't be dead, and his presence sure explains why Daryun is finding people still alive who fell off cliffs. Still, that's a long absence with not much time left for the series to do much with his presence. I'm really curious about what's going on there, but I'm not sure if we will get to find out.

That's the problem with The Heroic Legend of Arslan in its closing moments. Sure, it's obvious how they're going to tie the plot together, have Arslan win the war, and make him king. Two episodes is more than enough time to resolve that. What's frustrating is the story has so much more to do with its colorful cast of characters. Only a handful are anywhere close to "developed," but they all have tantalizing hints hanging around about where they could go. If the series had prioritized better, it might have made them interesting and made me care more about this story. Because all the exciting, sweeping battles—poorly-animated or not—aren't enough to keep me interested if I don't care about the people involved. The Heroic Legend of Arslan hasn't given me enough reason to care with most of the cast. I can excuse some bad animation, but not that. That's the real tragedy of this 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.