Audience reviews
9 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
EonRed
Arslan Senki is an anime with a lot of wasted potential, and its quality slowly declined. On the technical side there aren't too many flaws. The music was good and adequate. As for the visuals, it's fine for a 90's anime. If I had to point out something, it would be that the animation in the last two chapters is inconsistent with the others (in general the animation in chapters 1, 2, 3-4 and 5-6 are different from each other, but in the last two it is more noticeable).
There are major flaws in the narrative and writing. First of all, many scene changes were abrupt, both in the transitions and in the tones and atmospheres. This is not the only problem with the pace, as in addition to being too fast, it is inconsistent. The first episode presents the characters and the world well, it has an…
Read at the sourceichiban_alex
Like many, my interest in this version of Arslan Senki was spurred by the Arakawa anime adaptation, which is 14 episodes in at the time of this writing. Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of viewing this version earlier, whether in my childhood or otherwise.
The five main characters, Arslan, Daryun, Narsus, Gieve, and Farangies, are written well enough in this OVA and have presence. However, the secondary members of Arslan’s band, especially Alfreed and Etoile, are not; Their time on screen proves to be dull and pointless. Silvermask is a pleasant surprise, starting as a fairly generic villain shaking his fist of vengeance at the protagonist. In time, he grows to be genuinely engaging, and his character and story are actually the most interesting. Shuuichi Ikeda was just the right…
Read at the sourcebrianez
For me this anime’s strongest points were its artistic sense, story, and likeable main characters. The drawbacks were a few inconsistencies (because the episodes were made so far apart), the plot could have been tighter, and the animation wasn’t all that pretty sometimes. However, in my opinion the imagination, captivating story, and unique style far outweighed the negative aspects.
IN SHORT: If you like a nice old fashioned adventure- epic, with fantasy, a mystical art style, and a mostly character centered plot, then you will probably enjoy Arslan Senki. The designs and art are unique, and the story is interesting and captivating.Give this one a shot! It won’t take you long, it’s only a six episode OVA.
AESTHETICS
Positive: The animation is not that great, and animation and budget are…
Read at the sourceFlowOfTime
I enjoyed Arslan Senki, but it definitely had a few oddities. Firstly, it seemed to have extreme time lapses - so much so that I felt like character development really suffered. That's not to say that the characters aren't likeable or fleshed out; they are, but some of the main cast are largely ignored.
Take Firen Gaysis for example; she appears out of nowhere to protect the crown prince. After she joins him her story is pretty much non-existent. Her role in the story is basically limited to chiming in every time Geeives says something, which is a shame.
Imagine how awesome it would have been if she, a warrior of the Goddess fought the religious fanatics directly? The blood-shed and suicides could lead her to question the divinity of the Gods -- giving her character more than just one di…
Read at the sourceSmigsby
My friend and I started watching this show because we're both huge Legend of Galactic Heroes fans, and the novelist that created that show also created this one. Legend of Galactic Heroes is probably one of the best anime shows of all time; it's a show of amazing ambition and scope that manages to blend in personal struggles, memorable characters, and a galaxy-spanning war without ever becoming unengaging to the audience.
Unfortunately, Heroic Legend of Arslan doesn't live up to that pedigree. Well, whatever, Yoshiyuki Tomino had Garzey's Wing, I guess Yoshiki Tanaka has Arslan.
The biggest problems I had with the series were the story, characters, and animation. I'm probably going to reference LoGH a lot to prove my points.
STORY: The story hooked me right away with the first episode.…
Read at the sourcegwern
When I finished, I was left feeling bereft: since in no wise is it a complete story, but just the 6 episodes. The first 2 were terrible enough I almost deleted the whole batch, but the characters began to grow on me. It still shows its age (looks ugly, even for a 1995 production) and is fairly stereotypical war fantasy (_Berserk_ looks like it does the general approach better), but wasn't a waste of time.
Read at the sourceToeroe
The unbeaten army of Pars finds itself lured into a trap during a battle. The troops get slaughtered, the king captured and their capitol is taken later on. The crown prince, Arslan, escapes with his loyal fighter, Darün/Daryoon (I watched G_P's release "Darün", but here he is listed as "Daryoon").
From there Arslan allies a handful loyal companions around him and marches to castle Peshawar at the border to plan his strike on the capitol to retake and free his parents, the King and Queen. With a few side-stories going on, this anime never got me bored and always got me hooked for one more episode, although I was running late for work.
The art and sound sure are not near up-to-date, but to be honest, I don't care. In the end you have to judge something by the standards of that time. Other…
Read at the sourceWallenwhatsit
This anime is one of the very first I've seen back in the days, and to this day is probably what got me into the genre.
Great story if your into fantasy and some sword play, I only wished the series was a little longer and more fleshed out but I loved in none the less.
The originial english voice actors at the beginning are quite good, no idea why they changed the VA's towards the end... I think it was a long time between releases.. but still, watch it in japanese and you should be fine if you hate inconsistencies there.
Shame for them to do that otherwise i'd give it a perfect score.
Definately reccomended to the old skool anime-goers.
Read at the sourceKansaiClub
I ended up giving this anime an overall rating of a 7 for the same reason why people give similarly well-written and entertaining, albeit outdated anime, such high ratings, for the pure enjoyment it brought to audiences who watched it when it first come out. Had I rated this "series" in the early-90's I would have easily given it a 9. Without going into details of the plot synopsis (just read the MAL summary) or character development (read the other guy's review), this anime is worth watching if you like story lines revolving around epic fantasy battles and knight-errantry, and don't mind watching an anime purely for the quality of its story. The artwork is horridly out-dated and sometimes seemingly lazily drawn. While the English dubbers for this series were outstandingly professional and…
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