The Heroic Legend of Arslan

The Heroic Legend of Arslan
アルスラーン戦記
(Arslan Senki)
Novel
Written by Yoshiki Tanaka
Illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano (Kadokawa),
Shinobu Tanno (Kobunsha)
Published by Kadokawa Shoten (older edition)
Kobunsha (current edition)
Original run 1986 – ongoing
Volumes 13
Anime film
Directed by Mamoru Hamatsu
Produced by Toshio Suzuki
Written by Tomiya Miyashita, Kaori Takada
Music by Tsuru Norihiro
Studio Animate Film
Licensed by Central Park Media
Released August 17, 1991[1]
Runtime 57 minutes
Manga
Written by Chisato Nakamura
Published by Kadokawa Shoten
Magazine Asuka Fantasy DX
Original run November 1991September 1996
Volumes 13
Anime film
The Heroic Legend of Arslan II
Directed by Mamoru Hamatsu
Written by Megumi Matsuoka
Studio Aubec
Licensed by Central Park Media
Released July 18, 1992[2]
Runtime 60 minutes
Original video animation
The Heroic Legend of Arslan III-VI
Directed by Tetsurō Amino (III – IV)
Mamoru Hamatsu (V - VI)
Written by Megumi Sugihara
Studio Movic, J.C.Staff
Released October 21, 1993
December 22, 1993
August 21, 1995
September 21, 1995
Episodes 4
Anime and Manga Portal

The Heroic Legend of Arslan (アルスラーン戦記 Arusurān Senki?) is the title of a Japanese fantasy novel series. The author, Yoshiki Tanaka, started writing Arslan in 1986 and is still writing it as of 2008, with the current number of books at 13 novels and one side story in the official guidebook Arslan senki tokuhon. It was made into a manga (which went ahead and came up with an ending on its own), two anime films, and a four-part, unfinished anime OVA.[n 1]

Contents

Origin

In the 19th century, Naqib ul-Mamālik (نقیب الممالک), royal story teller of Nasereddin Shah's court, king of Iran, became popular for creating the tale "Amir Arsalān-i Nāmdār", and the Japanese story is set in a fantasy setting resembling historical Persia. Many characters have names originating from the Persian epic of Amir Arsalan.

Plot summary

Neither the novels nor the manga of The Heroic Legend of Arslan have been translated into English; therefore, this summary deals with the anime OAVs. As it directly focuses on the events of the first OAV, the characters names as they are translated there will be used (see "Names" below).

Arslan has two qualities that make it unique among anime fantasy tales. While the world in which it takes place is one where magic obviously exists, said magic is of an extremely limited nature. Until the end of the anime, the only magical happenings involve a few rare occasional spells and a giant, humanoid monster. There are none of the races typically associated with a fantasy realm, such as elves or dwarves. It is, at the core, a war story taking place between human nations. In addition to this, there is an underlying theme of exploring the repercussions of slavery on a society, having an absolute monarch who treats the poor as cattle, and religious obsession.

The story opens with a battle between the armies of Palse and Lusitania. The king of Palse, Andragoras, is quickly proved to have poor judgement and a quick temper, as he demotes one of his most loyal servants, Daryoon, on the word of a man who proves to be a traitor, Kharlan. In this first battle, the Lusitanian army deliberately leads the Palsian forces into a seemingly simple assault. The assault turns into a bloodbath, as the Lusitanians booby-trap the battlefield by soaking the ground in oil. Not only do the Palsian war-horses slip and break their legs, but the enemy forces set the oil on fire, burning many of the soldiers alive.

Daryoon's uncle, Eran Vaphreze, takes it upon himself to lead the king away from the battlefield before Andragoras can be discovered and killed by enemy troops. Before he rides off, he commands Daryoon to dedicate himself to protecting the crown prince, Arislan. While Daryoon rides off to seek out the prince, Vaphreze and Andragoras attempt to escape. They are unsuccessful — Vaphreze is murdered by the leader of the Lusitanian army, an incredibly strong and enigmatic warrior who, because of his unique headgear, is known only as Silvermask. Silvermask declines to kill Andragoras, preferring instead to kidnap him and drag him back to his stronghold in Zahburu Fortress.

Having survived the Lusitanian assault, Arislan and Daryoon seek help for their cause, in the form of the philosopher/swordsman/tactician, Narsus. After a bit of trickery on Daryoon's part, they convince Narsus to help them in their cause. Narsus' young boy servant, Elam, goes with them.

As this goes on, Lusitanian troops march to the capital city of Ekubatana; in order to convince Queen Tahamine to surrender her city. An interrogator of the Lusitanians — a high-ranking cleric named Jon Bodan — tortures captured Palsian soldiers outside its gates, declaring to all who would hear that he will only stop when Ekubatana surrenders. While she refuses, the city is eventually invaded successfully. The Queen is captured, and the city's buildings, sculptures, and sacred writings are all destroyed.

As Arislan travels around, trying his best to avoid being located by the armies and agents of Silvermask, he meets two others who are convinced to join his cause of re-taking and rebuilding Palse. Pharangese, an aloof, cold priestess of Misra, is sent by her holy order to protect and serve the prince — a fact which she considers to be natural, as she is the wisest, most beautiful, and most deadly.

There is also the travelling musician and con-man Gieve who is no mean swordsman himself. Gieve actually makes his first appearance when he, defying both a strong wind and a long distance, successfully shoots one of Jon Bodan's victims, sparing the poor soldier anymore misery and humiliation. For his skills with a bow, Gieve is paid well, and is also offered the chance to serve as the Queen's bodyguard as she attempts to escape the besieged Ekubatana. While making their way out of the castle, Gieve learns that the "Queen" he is escorting is actually a double for Her Majesty, in order to permit the real Queen to escape in a more secretive fashion. When she is captured by be city's attackers he escapes on his own, encounters Pharangese, and declares that he will dedicate himself to following her. She simply tells him to help protect the prince.

The most obvious stumbling block to Arislan's ability to re-take his kingdom is his utter lack of an army. As it is ironically observed at the conclusion of the first episode, with six fighters at his command, they have doubled their forces, and will only need to take on 50,000 enemy soldiers each. The subsequent episodes chronicle Arislan's plans on finding an army to back him up. They also cover wide and sundry sub-plots, Silvermask's identity and motives, how Andragoras came to the Palsian throne, and the introduction of various new characters.

Characters

Arslan is an epic tale, and like all epic tales, it has an overwhelmingly large cast of characters.

Major characters

Minor characters

Relationships

As stated above, Arslan is a war story, and as such, romantic relationships are essentially non-existent. The overwhelming majority of the large cast consists of soldiers of all stripes, most of whom are at least in their 30s, and none of whom has a wife or a girlfriend who is mentioned. They are portrayed as men being married to their careers and to their country. The only exception is Gieve, who, when he goes to collect his reward for sparing Shapool from torture at Jon Bodan's hands, is accused by one of the Queen's handmaidens as being a liar. He apparently told her that he was a wandering prince in order to get into her bed.

What romance there is in the series appears to be entirely one-sided. Arfurido fawns over Narsus, who usually appears highly uncomfortable at the attention. Gieve constantly flirts with Pharangese, who, if she responds at all, is cold and uninterested. And while Princess Irina and Hermes do indeed love one another, their relationship is so convoluted that it is almost impossible for them to ever be happy.

The distinctly male-heavy cast, which also features several bishōnen and biseinen characters, has led to a moderately strong (relative to the size of the fanbase in America) yaoi fanbase. Supporters of this view tend to be fans of Daryoon/Arislan or Daryoon/Narsus.

Fans of het pairings usually support Gieve/Pharangese, or Arfurido/Narsus; it could also be argued that Arislan's interest in Estelle is due to a romantic crush on her. However, it should be noted that the story itself can be enjoyed without placing any emphasis upon romance at all.

Nations and Tribes

Much of the storyline is intimately related to the lay of the land in Arslan. This is because many conversations between characters involve discussions of battle-tactics and the movements of armies. Such discussions are difficult to follow until later in the series, when Narsus draws a map of the continent from memory. The narrator of the series then refers to this map when describing the action in subsequent episodes.

Naming confusion

The fictional world of this story created in the anime, manga, and its novels is heavily based on Persian art, history and culture and those as well of Central Asian art, languages, and religions. This is quite clear in the naming of the characters (the names of most Parsian characters comes from ancient Persian legend, such as 'Shahname'), although there is some controversy over how each character's name should be spelled and pronounced. In the manga, for instance, the title character's name is actually spelled in several different ways, and in turn the anime pronounce characters differently in order to fit his or her speaking style. The main protagonist has been referred to as "Ars'laan", "Arislaan", "Aslaan", and "Arisulan" depending episode, language used and country being broadcast in. Likewise, the character of Daryoon has had his name spelled/pronounced differently from "Darün" to "Dariun".

When the first two episodes of the OAV were released in America by U.S. Manga Corps, all of the character and kingdom names were "translated" into equivalent-sounding names, primarily in Indian languages and subsequently in Persian languages as well. When subsequent episodes were translated and released in America by a different production company, Central Park Media, they came with a footnote stating that the Japanese company who owns the rights to the anime took issue with how the names were translated, and insisted upon a literal translation of the names as they are pronounced in the series. Thus, the official names of the characters sound more like Japanese mispronunciations than they do actual titles—such as Gieve becoming "Guibu". Others, however, have been returned to actual Persian,Indian and Central Asian names, such as Darün and Farangis.

The only exceptions to the naming theme is Narsus/Narcasse and Hirmes. Hirmes may be an alternate name of Hermes, which is the name of a god; although he is Greek in his origins, the Greeks were well-known to the Persians, as the Persian Empire was in conflict with the Greeks during the Greco-Persian Wars, Alexander the Great's conquest, and the Roman-Persian Wars. Narcasse's name is neither Persian, Central Asian nor Indian; the closest equivalent appears in Greek, with the name "Narcissus". Though the name might be equivalent to the Persian Shah Narseh during the Sassanian dynasty whose name has been spelled as Narses, Narseus and Narsus as well.

Actual historical references

The events of The Heroic Legend of Arslan are based on Iranian history, and on an epic poem dating from the mid-19th century, which is itself loosely based on the Shahnama. The anime story displays many other Persian historical, mythical, and religious icons, entities, and events. Listed below are some of the more notable cases:

Novels, Manga, and OAVs

The original novel, Arslan Senki, was written by Dr. Yoshiki Tanaka. Though he is primarily a novelist, Tanaka's works have been 'translated' into manga and anime forms before. His novel Ginga eiyu densetsu became Legend of the Galactic Heroes, and Sohryuden became Legend of the Dragon Kings. There are eleven novels in the Arslan Senki storyline thus far. These novels were illustrated by manga artist and character-designer Yoshitaka Amano (whose other works include the character design for several Final Fantasy games and for Vampire Hunter D).

The popularity of the Arslan Senki novels was so great that it became natural for it to make a transition to manga form. The thirteen-volume manga was written by Tanaka and illustrated by Chisato Nakamura. The additional popularity of these manga led to the creation of a series of OAVs with character designs adapted by Sachiko Kamimura. The first two OAV episodes were released as "movies", which is why each one is an hour long, rather than the traditional half-hour.

Because of the aforementioned issues regarding translations and names, as well as possible issues with funding the project, it took an extremely long time for the Arslan anime to make its way to the United States. While they originally began production in 1990, as of 2006, they have still not completed the story. Even so, the final two chapters of the OAV arc were not made available until years after the first four had been released, in 2002.

A video game has been released in 1993 for Mega CD.

Yoshiki Tanaka's novels have no relation to the 1976 novel called Arslan written by M. J. Engh which is set in the present.

See also

Notes

  1. ^ The anime series was originally released as two films and four OVAs. The films were subesquently combined with the OVAs in more recent releases, and the titles of the releases: one with four episodes (2x1h, 2x30m) and six episodes (6x30m).

References

  1. ^ "アルスラーン戦記" (in Japanese). AllCinema Online. http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=151473. Retrieved December 4, 2010. 
  2. ^ "アルスラーン戦記 II" (in Japanese). AllCinema Online. http://www.allcinema.net/prog/show_c.php?num_c=151729. Retrieved December 4, 2010. 

External links