Heroic Legend of Arslan

Episode 24

It's episode 24 of The Heroic Legend of Arslan, the battle that should decide everything. At the very least, this episode makes it clear that Arslan has won his kingdom back. This victory is not without consequences though, and there's still a lot more character work to do that I'm not sure this series can handle with just one episode remaining. This week, Arslan very directly calls Hermes out on the stuff I've discussed in the past several reviews. Hermes may be from the "proper bloodline" (the one that is supposedly doomed according to Andragoras's prophecy), but he is not fit to rule Pars. He is too willing to sacrifice his people for his own selfish goals, contrasted with the selflessness and compassion of Arslan. Kingship should be based on merit, not purely on who is related to the current monarch. (It's almost like this is the reason most societies have given up on monarchy as a system!) Hermes fights valiantly against Arslan and Daryun—possibly defeating the latter—but his goose is cooked one way or another. Pars has fallen to Arslan, and Hermes has lost the mandate of heaven. Still, he needs to die or be imprisoned in some foolproof way to completely remove him as a threat, and that hasn't happened yet.

Other than that, there's not much to say about this episode that I haven't been saying about the show throughout its whole run. If anything, climactic episodes like this one just bring a show's issues further out in the open. For example, this episode justifies persistent complaints about the animation quality. It's easy to dismiss animation as a cosmetic issue, stuff for sakuga fans to obsess over that doesn't affect the quality of the story, which is the reason most audiences follow a show. Still, film is a visual medium, and animation quality can have a powerful effect on the impact of an anime. The Heroic Legend of Arslan "decisive battle" is a perfect example of this.

There are two key moments when Arslan's animation struggles to convey the scale or gravity of a battle. One is a turning point in the episode where Étoile seriously (perhaps mortally) wounds Elam. In the moment where they reveal the extent of his wound (profusely bleeding out of his stomach), the character designs go way off model, and they continue to do this in every shot that is not a closeup. (Off-model is fine when characters are small in the background, and your eye is meant to be drawn toward something else in the frame. It's not good when you're still staring at the focus character with a weird alien face.) As a viewer, I was too distracted by the weird designs for Elam's wound to upset me that much. That's a really important moment, and the animation mistakes drain all its impact.

The second moment comes when the Parsians re-invade Ecbatana. We see countless Lusitanian women and children racing away from the battle, and we know we are supposed to be shocked and worried for them by their blood-curdling screams. This also becomes important foreshadowing for their tower-jumping suicides at the end of the episode, after Pars has successfully re-conquered the city. Again, the seriousness of this is ruined by the animation, when their running away is animated so slow that it looks like a leisurely jog. This would work if everything else about the scene was also in slow motion, lingering on the emotions of an impactful event. That's not the case here, since we just saw other characters running around and fighting at normal speed. So it just looks comical, like the show doesn't know how to convey people running for cover. It turns a moment where the characters' terror should be palpable into a joke. It's tonal clash and whiplash.

The sweep of the plot was at least enough to make this episode more engrossing than others. Even though far less happens than the title "Decisive Battle" would indicate—Arslan retakes Ecbatana, but his battle with Hermes is far from unresolved, we still have no idea what the deal is with those shadow powers, and we've been set up for yet another confrontation between Arslan and Étoile—it's enough to move us into a hopefully powerful final installment. The characters all seem important and contribute meaningfully to the plot, even ones who are normally shafted, like Farangis. I finally understand her motivation in a way I never could before this week. The episode is also easy to watch, at least if you're still invested in the story at all. It's just too easy to notice all the ways it could have been done better.

So The Heroic Legend of Arslan has one more episode to try and impress. I'm not sure I have high hopes, especially since it still has so many threads hanging. Who are the shadow mage people helping Hermes, what is the root and nature of their powers, why are they helping him, and how can Arslan and co. hope to defeat them? The rest could easily fall into place within 24 minutes, but I'm less sure about that big head-scratcher. Maybe the episode will be longer than usual. Maybe the staff are saving all their budget for it and will find a way to cram in everything and make it beautiful. Or maybe it will drop the ball like so many episodes before it. I'm not sure, but here's to them giving it everything they've got. This story deserves better.

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.