Review of The Heroic Legend of Arslan

Arslan Senki or otherwise known in English as The Heroic Legend of Arslan, is a story about the crown prince of Pars, Arslan, as he embarks on a journey to retake the fallen kingdom of Pars from the Lusitanians with the help of his loyal sevants. It's an adaption of Hiromu Arakawa's manga adaption of Yoshiki Tanaka's novel by the same name and who is also celebrated for the war-epic Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Story: As I've stated above, it's a story of a crown prince who embarks on a journey to retake the fallen kingdom of Pars. This kind of story, a prince who retakesa kingdom, has been very much told from time to time. If I were to compare it, it's like Fire Emblem. But one should not look at it as a whole since the most important is the journey itself on HOW he retakes the fallen kingdom.

It's a coming-of-age story, drama,war and tactics. With the use of its colors, one also expects that it is also grounded in reality. But take heed my friend, I was blown away when "magic" appeared out of nowhere. This is the kind of anime where magic should not even be needed to further the story.

Art:
To be honest, for me, the art was a beauty when it's focused on a character's face or a particular character. ( one to two characters ) The art falls deeply when it is not focused on a character or when there are too many characters to draw.

In my opinion, budget has something to do with this. Sometimes the art was great, then becomes average, then it becomes lacking. If it had a greater budget, especially since it's historical one should expect luxurious clothes, palaces, castles and locations, my eyes would've cried in sheer joy.

Animation:
The animation is good when there are one to one fights ( amazing when daryun vs hermes ) but falls flat sometimes in horses and in massive scales of armies because the CGI was so below-average.

Lighting:
I need to separate this, because in Arslan Senki, when it's daytime there is light. But when there are some scenes that happen in hidden places, like sewers, one must expect that in undergrounds it is dark so the staffs should do something about the lighting, but in Arslan Senki, when it is dark, it is literally dark. Dark in a sense that, soldiers fighting in the sewers can barely be seen anymore. I am not joking.

Sound:

Pretty good in my honest opinion.

Character:
The characters are enjoyable but they lack back-story and developments ( Arslan is excluded ). In this war-drama I expected those characters that didn't have experiences in war before be shocked but it's never dived upon ( Arslan included ).

( I don't know how I would take this matter in my hands, because in those times, warring kingdoms and all, it must have been "normal" for them to see people die. But to see people die getting sliced and stabbed to death, do they also take that as "normal"? )

Enjoyment:
I'm a sucker for historical,war, strategies and throne-rivalries, so I enjoyed the heck out of Arslan Senki. It's the only anime I watched in the spring season.

If you like playing Fire Emblem, then you would surely like this.

Overall:

In all its glory, Arslan Senki is enjoyable. Enough to satisfy you. But it is without flaws.

Flaws:

-Magic
-Character Developments
-Animation
-CGI
-Lighting
-Budget
-Unbelievable scenes ( Horse on top of a raging elephant, surrounded with archers and not even getting a scratch )

As of now, I'm waiting for the announcement of a 2nd season because it sure felt like there is one.