An epic fantasy in which a boy fights for the throne.

I’ve always liked these kinds of fantasy epics. The problem though is that they take forever and never finish. And Arslan Senki seems to be aiming directly for this path.

It feels like there’s a lot of wasted time. For example, every time there’s a fight, we spend half an episode switching through every single character in the battle kicking some ass. Or every time there’s a clever plan, we spend a while beforehand discussing the plan, a while showing the plan execution, and a while explaining what happened. The show babies the audience like they’re idiots. And while that probably is the case, they probably could have still easily told the same story in half the amount of time. It would have been much better for it.

But I do appreciate the story, particularly with all the plots and betrayals and twists, as well as most of the characters. They do draw quite heavily from fantasy archetypes— many aspects of the setting are pretty standard, and we have the typical characters as well, like the womanizing rogue, the peerless warrior, the clever tactician, etc.

Best ship is Narsus’ Waifu A x Narsus’ Waifu B. Although I suspect Arslan x Cross-dressing Invader was going to start getting good right after season two ended.

Also… why did this end right before an obvious climax…? With a second season that was only eight episodes…?

• Storytelling – C – Much too slow pacing.
• Voice – D – Honestly doesn’t feel like it offers much new. Although that’s probably more compared to all the fantasy books I’ve read than to anime.
• Characters – B – One of the show’s stronger points.
• Attention Grab – C – Again, too slow.
• Production – C – I’m not the best judge of these things, but I was not impressed.
• Overall – C+

Recommendations – Guin Saga, Akatsuki no Yona, Legend of Legendary Heroes