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Ep 3- the pacing so far is just right, not too fast and not too slow. It looks like the other main characters in Arslan's crew will be showing up in the next couple episodes.

Yttrbio wrote:

Wow, exposition through awkward dialogue is bad enough.

Eh, the dialogue is pretty typical for these types of shows. You usually get lines like "you cowardly traitor!", "for the honor of (insert kingdom)!" I agree about the constant narration of the events though, it's a little heavy-handed.

the best show this season.

You know. . . I get that the Lusitanians are supposed to be the bad guys and we're supposed to root for Arslan growing and retaking the throne or whatever, but they totally earned that victory, I can't feel bad about it.

Aylinn wrote:

As for the battle itself, the trap struck me as highly improbable. With the technology they have, digging something like that would take a lot of time and I don’t think the work would be worth the effort.

My impression was that they used a natural ravine; the strategy was A) position Lusitanian forces to take advantage of geography when Pars's forces attacked, and B) spoiler[rely on the traitorous general to make sure accurate reports on the geography never reached the king's ears.]

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Also, I don’t like the king, he behaves as if he had PMS and is an idiot, but I suppose that he inherited the throne rather than got it because of his talents, so I have no problem with it.

At the point where you see him now, he's been king since before Arslan was born, and during that time has beaten back several attempted invasions by various neighboring countries (though technically, the one referred to in episode three was spoiler[pretty much all Narsas's doing].) He hasn't been an incompetent king to this point, but the repeated victories have made him overconfident, and he's started taking victory for granted.

The character designs are still a real problem; everyone looks too similar to FMA characters and it's distracting.

And what is with an "old man" looking like a boy-band member in his mid twenties?

The franchise is showing its age; by modern's standards the story is just not that fresh anymore. But even worse, the execution is lacking and doesn't show a lot of promise. Yona of the Dawn had an uninspiring start but got good rather quickly, to the point where it became one of the best shows in its season. I'm not so sure the same thing will happen to The Heroic Legend of Arslan.

Episode 4:

Sooo it ended this week with spoiler[Arslan gaining another ally when Narsus declares his loyalty to him. Good stuff overall and I love how Narsus taunting lead to a trap. That was just priceless lol.]

Good episode overall. The more spoiler[allies] that Arslan gets, the easier his goals will be accomplished in the future.

vanfanel wrote:

My impression was that they used a natural ravine; the strategy was A) position Lusitanian forces to take advantage of geography when Pars's forces attacked, and B) spoiler[rely on the traitorous general to make sure accurate reports on the geography never reached the king's ears.]

I don’t think it was a natural ravine, because Pars was attacked and the battle took place on their territory, so people from Pars would know about it. That’s true one of the generals gave inaccurate information, but scouts can be send to check how big the enemy’s army is or what kind of military units the enemy has, etc. The geography can be checked, but it is done if you don’t know it.

As for the King, it seemed that he might have been victorious up to that point, because he had a big army and competent people. He didn’t seem like an excellent strategist or tactician. I agree that he probably become overconfident.

I have not seen episode 3 and 4 yet, so I don't know if the show dvelved into it.

Probably the best episode so far. Narsus finally shows up. I thought the humor in this episode was a little awkward at first but then I got used to it. Also, I'm dying to know what Narsus' paintings look like.

Episode 5:

Well that was fairly interesting. spoiler[I like that Gieve guy already for his personality and skills. And not only that, we also get a bit of brutality in the form of torture this episode. It illustrates the pride of some soldiers though as they are willing to die to a friend rather than to the enemy.]

Anyways, with this buildup, I expect the war story for this show to get even darker soon.

I kinda thought the Queen might reward Gleve in a more personal way...

Anyway, it's kind of strange set up. The Lusitans are anti-slavery but are real bastards whereas the Parsians are slave owners, but are supposed to be the good guys, kinda? Okay.

Have you ever tried to get a huge crowd of people to effectively communicate words through simultaneous shouting? The crusaders must have spent ten times as much time practicing that than they did on weapons training.

I would have shot the Inquisitor first.

I still can't get over how totally out of sync with the tone of the series the OP music is.

Looks like the upcoming episodes will start assembling the rest of the main characters. Anyway, another good episode. Gieve is one slick customer.

Blood- wrote:

The Lusitans are anti-slavery but are real bastards whereas the Parsians are slave owners, but are supposed to be the good guys, kinda? Okay.

It kinda works for me. Just from a story perspective, it has that whole gray morality thing where no one side is clearly morally "superior" to the other so no side is clearly good or bad.

Gina Szanbot wrote:

I still can't get over how totally out of sync with the tone of the series the OP music is.

Totally agree. I think it's pretty rockin', but also hilariously out of place for this kind of show.

Blood- wrote:

Anyway, it's kind of strange set up. The Lusitans are anti-slavery but are real bastards whereas the Parsians are slave owners, but are supposed to be the good guys, kinda? Okay.

I'd view it as Arslan and his pals being the good guys, and their challenge is not only to save their nation, but change it for the better in the process. It was driven home really well, I thought, how Pars' use of slavery spoiler[has created a vulnerability that enemies can exploit. So slavery's not only cruel to the individual, but weakens the nation as a whole.] I've heard it claimed that one reason Rome didn't progress even farther than it did technologically was because they had slaves to do all the heavy lifting.

Finally some realism of what "all men equal"-BS civilization is actually about with episode 5, though authors keep the false mantra.

spoiler[Chanting over the walls in foreign or poorly spoken national language to slaves that speak various languages] is questionable in terms of its believability plot turn.

CoreSignal wrote:

@MaxSouth, I'm a little disappointed about your language. I wasn't expecting something that impolite.

"Impolite" is term that could be applied to if I was impolite to members, not to things like this project. So I am a little disappointed about your language about this.

CoreSignal wrote:

Two points: (1) How can something be both axiomatic and BS? That's a contradictory statement. You already mentioned magic. There is nothing axiomatic about magic. Magic can be whatever the creator wants it to be. spoiler alert for Arslan spoiler[a wizard shows up later]. I think you're going to dislike this show even more.

It is not "both" at all; axiom is preconception that you take as granted for a story to exist in the first place. For example, one axiom could be is that magic exist in the setting (like in fantasy anime). And/or that there is alternative history with fake kingdoms (like in this anime). Everything beyond such axioms should be bound to common sense, reason, logic, consistency -- however you want call it.

Besides, I never wrote I dislike the show; most shows I like I critique harshly.

CoreSignal wrote:

(2) Internal, logical consistency is not the same as historical accuracy. Your arguments have been conflating the former and the latter. Arslan and Daryun do not transform into mechs or fly through the air.That is consistent with the setting of the show and Arslan has been internally consistent so far. The moisture from the extreme fog should cause the soil to become soft, making it difficult for cavalry horses to gallop at full speed. That is historical/real-world accuracy. Once again, complaints about 100% historical/real-world accuracy do not apply in a non-historical show.

I never wrote that logical consistency and historical accuracy is the same. I only backed up obvious logical consistency reasons with examples from history, which are absolutely ancillary and meant only for people who had no idea how such things as hawk landing on arm would/did work in real life. (And, to be clear, I never wrote anything about moisture or gallop.)

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