The Heroic Legend of Arslan


The Heroic Legend of Arslan is a Japanese fantasy novel series written by Yoshiki Tanaka. It was first published in 1986 and ended in 2017 with sixteen novels and one side-story in the official guidebook Arslan Senki Dokuhon. Set in ancient Persia, it is loosely based on the Persian epic of Amir Arsalan.
It was adapted into a manga, which caught up with the novel and then received an original ending, and ran from November 1991 to September 1996. It also received a six-part, unfinished anime OVA adaptation. In 2013, a second manga adaptation started serializing at Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine, with illustrations by Hiromu Arakawa. In 2015, it was adapted into an anime television series, which covered Tanaka's first 4 novels, and was based on Arakawa's manga art style and character designs. A second season, based on novels 5 and 6, aired in 2016.
The anime caught up with the second manga after only 3 volumes had been published, meaning the majority of Season 1 and all of Season 2 adapted the original novels before the manga did. Ever since Season 1 Episode 11, the anime's director Noriyuki Abe, together with script writer and series composer Makoto Uezu, started making their own adaptation of Tanaka's novels, and so deviated from the second manga's later, more faithful adaptation.

Synopsis

Setting

The story is set in a legendary vision of an indistinct amalgam of over a thousand years of ancient Persia and nearby other countries. While the world in which it takes place is one where magic obviously exists, said magic is of an extremely limited nature. Until the middle of the anime, the only magical happenings involve a few spells and a giant, humanoid monster. There are many evil monsters such as ghouls and winged monkeys, appear in the second half of the novel series. Especially the first half of the series is, at the core, a war story taking place between human nations. In addition, there are underlying themes exploring the repercussions of slavery on a society, having an absolute monarch who treats the poor as cattle, and religious obsession.

Plot

The story follows the exploits of Arslan, the crown prince of the fictional kingdom of Pars, and it is divided into two parts. In the first part, Pars is taken over by the neighboring nation of Lusitania after Arslan's father, King Andragoras III, falls victim to a treacherous plot led by some of his most trusted retainers. After barely escaping with his life, Arslan rejoins his loyal servant, Daryun. Backed up by only a few more companions, including the philosopher and tactician Narsus and his young servant Elam, also Farangis, an aloof, cold priestess, and Gieve, a travelling musician and con-man, Arslan stands against overwhelming odds to assemble an army strong enough to liberate his nation from the Lusitanian army which is led by the elusive warrior known as "Silvermask", who is later revealed to be another contender to Pars' throne. In the second part, Arslan, now king of Pars, divides himself between defending his country against several external threats, including Silvermask, who is still at large, seeking to claim the throne for himself, and addressing the needs and hopes of his subjects.

Inspirations

The protagonist's name appears to have been taken from the popular Persian epic of Amir Arsalan. Other than this anachronism, Arslan and his Parsian enemies and allies primarily share many parallels with Cyrus the Great and other historical figures of 6th century BCE Persia, whereas the conflicts with the Lusitanian forces – despite mostly French names and a certain religious zealotry implying a connection to the Crusades – appear to be based on the East Roman–Persian Wars, specifically those of the 6th century CE. Furthermore, several names of prominent Parsian characters appear to be taken from known important figures throughout Persian history as well as the historically unsubstantiated legendary parts of the historiographic Persian epic Shahnameh. Additionally, supernatural elements mostly based on ancient Near East mythology increasingly play a role as the series goes on.

Media

Novels

The original novel, Arslan Senki, was written by Dr. Yoshiki Tanaka. Though he is primarily a novelist, Tanaka's works have been adapted into manga and anime forms before. His novel Ginga eiyu densetsu became Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Sohryuden became . There are sixteen novels in the Arslan Senki storyline. These novels were illustrated by manga artist and character-designer Yoshitaka Amano.

Manga

The popularity of the Arslan Senki novels was so great that it became natural for it to make a transition to manga form. The thirteen-volume manga was written by Tanaka and illustrated by Chisato Nakamura. The manga was published by Kadokawa Shoten.
A second manga adaptation of Arslan Senki started serialization in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in July 2013, illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa, best known for the manga titles Fullmetal Alchemist and Silver Spoon. This adaptation is simul-published by Crunchyroll, while Kodansha Comics is publishing the manga in North America since 2014.

OVA series

The popularity of the novels led to the creation of a series of OVAs with character designs adapted by Sachiko Kamimura. The first two OVA episodes were released as "movies" in 1991-1992, which is why each one is an hour long, rather than the traditional half-hour and were produced by Kadokawa Shoten and Sony Music Entertainment Japan. A second OVA series of four episodes that followed up the first OVAs was released in 1993-1995.
Both OVAs were licensed by Central Park Media and were released on DVD and VHS. The English dub for Part 1 was produced by Manga UK, while Part 2 was dubbed by Central Park Media themselves. This caused a lot of inconsistencies in both dubs. Because of the aforementioned issues regarding translations and names, as well as possible issues with funding the project, it took an extremely long time for the Arslan anime to make its way to the United States. The first episode was released in 1999, and the last in 2003.

Anime series

An anime television series based on the Hiromu Arakawa's manga adaptation was announced on November 2, 2014. The TV series is directed by Noriyuki Abe, with Makoto Uezu acting as scriptwriter. The series aired from April to September 2015 on MBS and other Japan News Network stations in Nichigo timeslot at 5:00pm. An OAD was bundled with the manga's fifth limited edition volume, which released on May 9, 2016.
An 8-episode second season, titled The Heroic Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance, aired from July 3, 2016 to August 21, 2016. Another OAD was bundled with the manga's sixth limited edition volume, which released on November 9, 2016.

Video games

The first video game based on The Heroic Legend of Arslan was released in 1993 for Sega Mega-CD. A strategy RPG in the vein of similar titles of the era such as the Fire Emblem series, it serves as a companion to the OVA series.
A Musou crossover game was released on October 1, 2015, on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan. Koei Tecmo announced on July 30, 2015, that they would release the game in the west. Arslan: The Warriors of Legend, which was released on February 9, 2016. The game is based on the anime adaptation of the Hiromu Arakawa manga and follows the arc of the show's first season.