Review of The Heroic Legend of Arslan

This season is, overall, a pretty good time. The score is excellent, the animation really good with only a few odd CGI choices, the characters varied and entertaining, and the plot, if nothing else, is interesting enough to keep me invested. All that being said, it does seem like the show trips over itself a bit in the details. For example, one of the elements it introduces and uses with some regularity is a set of sorcerers. They use magic, they're clearly fantastical, and they appear on the battlefield from time to time to get major characters out of harm's way. It's a bit of a deusex machina that feels very much like the author has his hands in the plot, which is something I rarely appreciate in my stories.

That's pretty granular, though, so I'll go bigger. Arslan himself plays a pivotal role in the plot, and while he's certainly surrounded by interesting characters, he himself feels a little flat at times. He's an idealist who sticks to his ideals, and while that's kind of refreshing when compared to the much gloomier renditions of this type of character, it also means that we don't see much from him beyond getting challenged on his ideals, doubling down on them, and moving on. Maybe it's not fair for me to compare them, but Canute from Vinland Saga is a far more investing character for how he has to wrestle with the ways his ideals clash with the realities of his role, and how he has to twist, bend and break some of them to pursue his goals. Arslan isn't king yet, but I was hoping to see more than we got here, and I chalk that up mainly to everyone around him feeling pretty invincible and, partially as a result, his battles feeling like foregone conclusions. Arslan's idealism would be all the more striking it if was tempered with some tragedy.

Still, I think the show manages better than I would have expected, especially given that it doesn't answer pretty much any of its central mysteries. I've looked into it enough to know that the source material does answer them in complex and often confusing ways, so maybe adapting those answers was just never in the cards. Honestly, there's so much going on behind the scenes that seems far more interesting than what's playing out on screen in these battles.

But I don't mean to be too negative, as I would still recommend this show. The dynamics between its characters, the breadcrumbs the show feeds you about those mysteries, the sweeping battles and even some of the individual fights really make this show work, even if it's missing the depth I was craving for much of its run.