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Forum - View topicREVIEW: The Heroic Legend of Arslan BD+DVD
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P€|\||§_|\/|ast@
 Posts: 3498 Location: IN your nightmares |
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Regarding the classic OAV that was the original adaptation of the manga I recall many times I've wanted to or considered watching it. But to this day I still have yet to see it. I think I like the character design work of the remake, or more accurately, the TV series adaptation better.
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yuna49
 Posts: 3804 |
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Arslan becomes a stronger character as the show progresses, but even so he is often still just "there." The people surrounding our young prince are generally much more interesting than he is. And he does seem clueless about sexuality, even though he is probably about sixteen or seventeen when the sequel concludes. I imagine that was simply the result of trying to appeal to a broad family audience since the show aired at 5 pm on Sundays. Arslan Senki is hardly the only show in its genre to feature an adolescent protagonist who doesn't seem interested in sex. Nakajima Youko in Junni Kokuki ("Twelve Kingdoms") is another example.
That said I liked Arslan Senki though the second season wasn't as compelling as the first. |
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jr240483
 Posts: 4381 Location: New York City,New York,USA |
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though considering that the newer version of the manga (which is being done by FMA's author) is much different than the OVA and the 90's version of the manga, its a surprise that long time fans arent screaming bloody murder on how different it is. regardless its definitely entertaining to say the least. and while its inferior to scrapped princess and twelve kingdoms in the fantasy anime genre, its by far superior than moribito which had really slow pacing. personally this series should have gotten the Adult Swim broadcast instead. the only thing moribito have that is better than arslan senki is that moribito have a better english dub version. dont get me wrong, this dub version is fine at best, though it sounded like at times a struggle to say the names and phrases of Middle Easten decedent which i was expecting for the sub. and while that is my only gripe, for others their gripe about the dub is the coincidental casting. since this series is based off of the remake manga that is being done by FMA's author, the rumorville online and on Funi's youtube website have been flying on whether or not he had a hand in at least choosing the dub cast. i mean seriously. both arslan and silvermask are being voiced by the same dub VA that made Ed and Al ,let alone the 2003 version of FMA a household name. is it coincidence? or did the author did had a hand at it? only the man upstairs will know for sure. |
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Key
Moderator
 Posts: 18212 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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First, you're not talking about the same time frames, so "instead" isn't an option. Second, you'll get no agreement from me about Moribito. It was much more methodical storytelling, too, but I rarely felt impatient with it. Moribito also had a story that was carried by the MC (rather than the characters around the MC carrying it), vastly better fight scenes, better technical and artistic merits across the board, and more intelligent writing. Really, I can't think of any aspect except possibly background art and CG animation of massed troops where Arslan is even on the same level, much less the better title.
It was a deliberate decision on the English ADR director's part, according to one of the included commentaries. |
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Takamachi Ryoko
 Posts: 332 Location: 東京, 日本 |
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I enjoyed the anime for what it's worth. It has a lot of flaws but it also had its moments. Still, it could have been more interesting if Arslan and the gang weren't t one-dimensional characters, Arslan grew as a character more later but I feel that he's still like a goody two shoes archetype, Daryun's no nonsense badass, Narcus is a Gary Stu. Watching them winning all the time makes me think they are the Shu Kingdom from Three Kingdoms in anime form. The art is fine but I couldn't help but hating Arslan's design, it looks too girly for my taste, most notably the part when the camel licks his face in the first ending song.
I find it weird because I actually rooted for Hermes more since he was a more interesting character. |
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DangerMouse
Posts: 3984 |
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I really like this show and hope they'll make more, the second season finale definitely set up the next part just like the first season one did. I would not be surprised or disappointed at all if it got a Toonami airing. I think it would do very well and the dub would definitely be up to the task, I really liked the cast.
Yeah, probably a combination of both author/target choice and narrative focus not really caring about being about romance at all (aside from Gieve and Farangis' back and forths to some extent, though that equally if not more so is also for comedy purposes lol) and even then it's only a tiny part of the show, but still they haven't made him entirely oblivious and kept some options open for him since his friendship with spoiler[Etoile] could easily grow in that direction given some of their late interactions (even if they are not necessarily based particularly around her being a girl so far), there was just enough starting threads on it in the first season finale and a bit in season 2, not that it's a focus or anything. Agreed, the first season was better, I could definitely feel the rushed nature of the second season, despite the complaints that have cropped up like in this review that season one was somehow too slow. I loved seeing the build up in-between events from all angles (though I suppose it is true that there were still a couple of instances where it may have been a bit too methodical in covering everything, bringing the pacing back down to "even" and maybe taking the edge off a bit from a "hype build"), and that screen time helped make Hermes a much better character on the other side and why some characters that sided with him did so. It also allowed some more of the character flaws to slip out and also allowed time for certain aspects of plans to fail and the need for a bit of quick thinking or at least slightly longer walkthroughs of strategies (not just Narsus') and elaborated upon how Narsus came to a few of his, whereas later on it's true we did start getting more "action-adventure typical" here's a couple of good but quick lines to try and address his thought process after his plan worked rather than more set up.
I actually think that one drawing is really the one instance in the entire series where I distinctly recall that occurs and it was probably on purpose for that one drawing. The rest of the time I think he looks quite "Arakawa-style." I do completely agree that that one image definitely stands out though as making him look particularly girly. I liked the sides mostly equally though I do agree at the moment Hermes is definitely more interesting for obvious reasons. Also helped by the fact that Vic is fantastic Hermes as well, IMO. I really liked where his character was going as they dug more into him starting in the second half of the first season. As for some of the cast being too simple, I actually think for a while there the show was doing a pretty job of fleshing them out and making them have to do things that were stretching out their characters, but I do think the second half of season one didn't have quite enough setbacks so it did weaken that part of the show and add some flaws to the series and take a way a little too much of their character flaws (particularly Narsus' plans) with some things going too easily. But I do think the characters have enough to them that they could re-acquire their extra dimensions relatively quickly in another longer season if future events were given time to breath again, depending upon if Yoshiki Tanaka's story has events that would allow them to stretch out the characters again. |
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John Thacker
Posts: 1006 |
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Surely this is because both manga are themselves adaptations based on the classic novels by Yoshiki Tanaka, the same author as Legend of the Galactic Heroes and Sohryuden. While fans may prefer one adaptation over the other, they're both different from the original novels. Thus it's just as reasonable for long-term fans to prefer the more recent manga and TV series if they feel that it's a better adaptation of the original source. It's like complaining that "long term fans of the Hobbit" have to dislike Peter Jackson's work because it's so different from Ralph Baskhi's movie.
Kind of hard for me to trust that your alleged rumors when you can't even get right that Hiromu Arakawa is a woman, to be honest. |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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People have been complaining about Arakawa's manga and the anime, they just usually get shouted down by fans of Arakawa who apparently can do no wrong and anything she touches is gold. And for that matter, fans I don't think anyone would argue that the new manga and the TV series are better adaptations. The anime is the interpretation of Arakawa's manga (and so the anime had to continue with the tone and the differences in story and characterization even after it needed to switch to the novels as source material), and frankly if anything this manga is proof that Arakawa, great mangaka that she may be as FMA and Silver Spoon prove, really has no business writing a) an adaptation, and b) a historical epic, especially not one that is reasonably complex. Or maybe it's just that Arslan is just not a good fit for her. She doesn't seem to get the novel at all, so she's transforming it into something that she understands and can handle - it's ridiculous what she's doing with the adaptation, knowing what she's capable of otherwise. And then the anime came and dialed it up to eleven... Many people call Arslan the weak point of the anime, and I wish those people would be more familiar with the novel version of Arslan, who is not at all the sweet innocent creampuff he is in the new manga and the TV series. In the novel the leadership qualities in Arslan are obvious and it's easy to see why his followers join him; in Arakawa's version people seem to follow him because he's nice and cute and Must Be Protected (the novel characters would never even consider following this Arslan, probably not even Daryun). It's the same with the other characters, certain aspects of their personalities are downplayed to a fault, while their positive traits are exaggerated and idealized. It feels infantilized, as if the manga and then the anime have reduced the story to Saturday morning cartoon levels. |
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penguintruth
 Posts: 8461 Location: Penguinopolis |
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Honestly, Arslan himself is pretty bland in both anime, the OVA and the TV series. He's surrounded with very interesting characters, though, Daryun, Gieve, Narsus, etc. I think I probably prefer the TV series based on Arakawa's manga, since it doesn't feel like they're skipping through the story like a highlight reel.
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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Nobody said the OVA is perfect. But it's not trying to be a complete retelling of the story, and by its nature as an OVA it has a much shorter time frame to operate with, so I'm a lot more forgiving with it than Arakawa and the TV anime. (And the TV anime still managed to screw up the pacing - this is what happens when you make an anime based on a manga with only 2-3 volumes out.) And frankly I prefer adaptations which don't add original material that makes zero sense or tamper needlessly with the characterization of several characters (the entire first chapter of the manga/episode of the TV anime is incompatible with Arslan's and Estelle's character on a very basic level, and also was it really necessary to make Farangis look like that? when in the novel she dresses like a man?), or indeed adaptations which don't randomly change the personality of the main character to make him "more relatable". What, if they had asked Arakawa to adapt LoGH would she have changed Reinhard into Edward Elric#2, or Yang into a ball of fluff, just because that way they are "more relatable" and "more likeable"? Also, the OVA characters are least beautiful, well the first two episodes anyway (then the funding issues started). The manga and anime characters look like every other Arakawa character out there. The OVA character designs are based on the novel illustrations by Yoshitaka Amano. I suppose this is subjective, but compare OVA Farangis to Arakawa's Farangis and see the difference. |
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Key
Moderator
Posts: 18212 Location: Indianapolis, IN (formerly Mimiho Valley) |
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While I'll give you that the OVA character designs are pretty, I'm guessing that you're just not a fan of the Arakawa aesthetic if you think the TV series designs aren't also. |
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SHD
Posts: 1752 |
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I'm not a "fan" of Arakawa's style in general, no, but I don't mind it either. It worked well in FMA and it also works well in Silver Spoon. But Arslan would have required a different touch, something more lavish or graceful. I mean look at Farangis in the OVA: she's graceful, elegant, mysterious as she should be. Then look at her Arakawa version where she's blocky, kind of stout, has boobs the size of her head, and wears some flimsy fanservicey bikini (never mind she looks like every dark haired Arakawa female ever). Hell, I would've even forgiven the bikini if at least she was graceful and beautiful like she is in the late (non-Amano) novel illustrations Arakawa was basing her designs on, but nope. For an adaptation with existing character descriptions and whatnot Arakawa's personal touch is just too strong, and adds to the whole issue of Arakawa making the manga too much into her own image. |
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