Arslan Senki

I burst out in laughter when the narrator said "Yashasuiin!". It just sounded so weird coming from him.

It'll be interesting to see what Étoile does now that she's starting to realize that she has met Arslan several times before.

So... is Xandes dead this time? That looked fatal enough to me and he wasn't moving after Daryun's strike but I'm just wondering why that shadow dude took his body. On top of that, that shadow dude wants a prolonged war for some nefarious reason. I wonder what he's aiming for...

I suspect the shadow guy is also the reason falling off a cliff didn't kill Xandes. So there's a good chance he'll be back.

And so, the battle ends with the mass suicide of the maidens...This is a reference to historical realities, yes?

So that was an episode. I sort of expected things to go worse for them but Elam getting hurt and the suicides at the end were something.

Farangis casually strolling and shooting during a storm of arrows was sort of hard to swallow though.

And the mages whisking Hermes away wasn't?

They have whisked Xandes away twice.

I know, but there is no way that that's possible, and yet people are complaining about the one act that is possible albeit extremely improbable?

Suspension of Disbelief. As it says on the page, "You can ask an audience to believe the impossible, but not the improbable." Magic exists in this setting, that's all there is to it, but no one would ever expect anyone to do what Farangis did and come out unscathed here.

edited 21st Sep '15 3:59:01 PM by LSBK

It felt weird to see.

Though they had a throwaway line about protection of the djinn or some shit lol

So I guess the season's over? If so, I wonder if it'll get another one when there's more material to work with.

edited 3rd Oct '15 11:29:23 AM by LSBK

they adapted up to vol 4 of the LN. the first arc ends in Vol 7.

It's not a LN.

I finally decided to watch it, because the mangas are released too slowly for my taste (only the first four volumes out). I don't regret my decision, although I feel like there are differences between the two (I don't remember such a foreshadowing over Silver Mask's ID in the manga).

Reached episode 11, and love it so far. Which is always the case with anything Hiromu Arakawa works on, really. It is very funny to watch white-haired Ed as a nice guy.

It is also funny to see the same theme of slavery being brought in here and in Game of Thrones, who don't have quite the same target audience.

Also, this might be one of the few animes where the fanservice is overwhelmingly directed towards male characters. Almost all of them look hot, and Daryun takes the cake. Arakawa did not lie when she said that she loved to draw muscles.

edited 7th Jun '16 4:10:11 AM by Julep

REVIVAL!

Damn, I missed this show quite a lot. Disappointed that it'll only get 8 episodes though.

Also, "a strange turn of events" doesn't even begin to describe it, Mr. Narrator.

edited 4th Jul '16 5:49:31 AM by HanabiraKage

Only eight episodes, you say? I wonder why it only got that many when compared to last season.

The Gieve/Hermes swordfight was entertaining.

At first, I was surprised by Tahamine's concern for Arslan because I thought she didn't love him that much but then it got me thinking that maybe she was only cold towards him due to how he tried tolive up to Andragoras' expectations. Speaking of that man, he took back control of Ecbatana without much effort, so Arslan and co. don't have anything to worry about anymore...right?

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

Arslan rebuilding the Parsian armies is now pointless!

I guess they want to build up Arslan v Andagoras.

They are right to. Honestly, now I root for anyone but Bodin against Andragoras. Even that little pile of shit Ghiscard would be better than this warmongering asshole.

I assume that this season 2 will be all about Arslan securing Gilan and proving again that he is the only decent human being that can claim to rule any country, if it is only 8 episodes long.

edited 8th Aug '16 1:31:24 PM by Julep

For that time period, Guiscard is a pretty decent ruler. Relying on a blind girl to kill an exceptionally fat man is really dumb, though.

edited 9th Aug '16 1:54:53 AM by flameboy21th

I think this calls for a separate post. The main page says Maryam is the Fantasy Culture Counterpart of the Byzantine Empire. Is there any similarity between them beside Catholicism?

The religious parallel is very strong, what with being another Yahldaboth/Christian country, one that gets along fine with other beliefs instead of sending crusaders, and who got shafted by the most fundamentalist Lusitanians/Catholics under the pretense of a Holy War, which led to the effective disparition of the empire (just like the Byzantine Empire disappeared in 1453).

Irina's forehead jewel also gives her an oriental vibe despite very much being pale-skinned and blond.

I don't think we know much else about Maryam though, but Pars seemed on good terms (at least, considering the humongous douche in charge of Pars) with it. Maybe if we see more of it we will get a more accurate idea of the counterpart.

As far as Fantasy Counterpart Culture goes, is Turan more Hunnic or Mongol? Because it is one of those.

edited 9th Aug '16 11:23:56 AM by Julep

Turan is an actual nation. They are mentioned in the Shahnameh as the land neighbor to the Iranians. Their geographical locations is northeast of Persia. The terms "Tur" and "Turk" (as in "Turkic," the people Huns, Mongols, and Xiongnu descend from) tend to be used interchangeably, although historical evidence does not support this.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turan

TL:DR The Turanian has the name of Persia's neighbor, but has the culture of nomadic empires as a whole.

edited 9th Aug '16 9:12:51 PM by flameboy21th

But there is another country named "Türk" in the setting, of which Turan is distinct as far as we know.

My question was more linked to the fact that, while the clothing styles of Turan fighters reminded me of Khan hordes, they also behave like pillagers, not conquerors (and Genghis was a conqueror). Attila was also more in it for the loot than for the conquest. But yeah, I assume they are a melting pot of all the Central-Asian cultures that were famous for their riding prowess - Huns, Mongols, Scythes...

That was a cool finale, but the whole season felt...transition-ish? It was excellent, but I hope next season will be more than 8 episodes long because it looks like bigger things are coming to Pars (and that next battle doesn't exactly feel like a "final confrontation").