is a Japanese

fantasy novel Fantasy literature is literature set in an imaginary universe, often but not always without any locations, events, or people from the real world. Magic, the supernatural and magical creatures are common in many of these imaginary worlds. Fa ...

series written by

Yoshiki Tanaka is a Japanese novelist. Early life and education He was born in Hondo, Kumamoto Prefecture and took his doctorate degree in Japanese Language and Literature in the Graduate School of Gakushūin University in Tokyo. Work His major works in ...

. It was published from 1986 to 2017, with sixteen novels and one side-story in the official guidebook ''Arslan Senki Dokuhon''. Set in

ancient Persia The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian S ...

, it is loosely based on the Persian epic of ''

Amir Arsalan ''Amir Arsalan-e Namdar'' ( fa, امیر ارسلان نامدار) is a popular Persian epic, which was told to Nasser al-Din Shah Qajar, the Qajar Shah of Persia in the 19th century (though the Persian legend itself is much older), by a storytel ...

''. It was adapted into a film duology and a 4-episode original video animation released from 1991 to 1995. It was also adapted into a manga series by Chisato Nakamura, which ran in Kadokawa Shoten's ''

Monthly Asuka Fantasy DX —or simply ''Asuka Fantasy DX'' or ''Fantasy DX''—was a Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten. It was originally a bimonthly special issue of '' Monthly Asuka'', but was spun off as a separate monthly magazine in June 199 ...

'' from November 1991 to September 1996. In 2013, a second manga adaptation illustrated by

Hiromu Arakawa is a Japanese manga artist. She is best known for the manga series '' Fullmetal Alchemist'' (2001–2010), which became a hit both domestically and internationally, and was adapted into two anime television series. She is also known for '' Silv ...

began in

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

's ''

Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine is a Japanese monthly manga magazine published by Kōdansha. The magazine was started in September 2009 as a spin-off of another Kōdansha magazine, ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine''. Currently running manga series Past series * '' ×××Holic ...

'', which was later adapted into an

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series.

Synopsis

Setting

The story is set in a legendary vision of an indistinct amalgam of over a thousand years of

and nearby other countries. While the world in which it takes place is one where

magic Magic or Magick most commonly refers to: * Magic (supernatural), beliefs and actions employed to influence supernatural beings and forces * Ceremonial magic, encompasses a wide variety of rituals of magic * Magical thinking, the belief that unrela ...

obviously exists, said magic is of an extremely limited nature. Until the middle of the anime, the only magical happenings involve a few

spells Spell(s) or The Spell(s) may refer to: Processes * Spell (paranormal), an incantation * Spell (ritual), a magical ritual * Spelling, the writing of words Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Spell'' (1977 film), an American ...

and a giant, humanoid monster. There are many evil monsters such as ghouls and winged monkeys, appear in the second half of the novel series. Especially the first half of the series is, at the core, a war story taking place between human nations. In addition, there are underlying themes exploring the repercussions of

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

on a society, having an

absolute monarch Absolute monarchy (or Absolutism as a doctrine) is a form of monarchy in which the monarch rules in their own right or power. In an absolute monarchy, the king or queen is by no means limited and has absolute power, though a limited constituti ...

who treats the poor as cattle, and religious obsession.

Plot

The story follows the exploits of Arslan, the crown prince of the kingdom of Pars ("پارس" or "فارس" is equivalent word to Persia and what the land of Persians "پارسیان" was called), and it is divided into two parts. In the first part, Pars is taken over by the neighboring nation of Lusitania after Arslan's father, King Andragoras III, falls victim to a treacherous plot led by some of his most trusted retainers. After barely escaping with his life, Arslan rejoins his loyal servant, Daryun. Backed up by only a few more companions, including the philosopher and tactician Narsus and his young servant Elam, also Farangis, an aloof, cold priestess, and Gieve, a travelling musician and con-man, Arslan stands against overwhelming odds to assemble an army strong enough to liberate his nation from the Lusitanian army which is led by the elusive warrior known as "Silvermask", who is later revealed to be another contender to Pars' throne. In the second part, Arslan, now king of Pars, divides himself between defending his country against several external threats, including Silvermask, who is still at large, seeking to claim the throne for himself, and addressing the needs and hopes of his subjects.

Inspirations

The protagonist's name appears to have been taken from the popular Persian epic ''

''. Arslan and his Parsian enemies and allies primarily share many parallels with

Cyrus the Great Cyrus II of Persia (; peo, 𐎤𐎢𐎽𐎢𐏁 ), commonly known as Cyrus the Great, was the founder of the Achaemenid Empire, the first Persian empire. Schmitt Achaemenid dynasty (i. The clan and dynasty) Under his rule, the empire embraced ...

and other historical figures of 6th century BCE

Persia Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

(albeit with several liberties taken), whereas the conflicts with the Lusitanian forces (which bear the Byzantium

Orthodox cross The Russian Orthodox Cross (or just the Orthodox Cross by some Russian Orthodox traditions) is a variation of the Christian cross since the 16th century in Russia, although it bears some similarity to a cross with a bottom crossbeam slanted the ...

, also used by the

Varangians The Varangians (; non, Væringjar; gkm, Βάραγγοι, ''Várangoi'';Varangian
" Online Etymo ...

Kievan Rus' Kievan Rusʹ, also known as Kyivan Rusʹ ( orv, , Rusĭ, or , , ; Old Norse: ''Garðaríki''), was a state in Eastern and Northern Europe from the late 9th to the mid-13th century.John Channon & Robert Hudson, ''Penguin Historical Atlas of ...

) – despite mostly French names and a certain religious zealotry implying a connection to the (

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

)

Crusades The Crusades were a series of religious wars initiated, supported, and sometimes directed by the Latin Church in the medieval period. The best known of these Crusades are those to the Holy Land in the period between 1095 and 1291 that were in ...

(again, with liberties taken) – appear to be based on the East Roman–Persian Wars, specifically those of the 6th century CE. Furthermore, several names of prominent Parsian characters appear to be taken from known important figures throughout

Persian history The history of Iran is intertwined with the history of a larger region known as Greater Iran, comprising the area from Anatolia in the west to the borders of Ancient India and the Syr Darya in the east, and from the Caucasus and the Eurasian Step ...

as well as the historically unsubstantiated legendary parts of the historiographic Persian epic ''

Shahnameh The ''Shahnameh'' or ''Shahnama'' ( fa, شاهنامه, Šāhnāme, lit=The Book of Kings, ) is a long epic poem written by the Persian poet Ferdowsi between c. 977 and 1010 CE and is the national epic of Greater Iran. Consisting of some 50,00 ...

''. Additionally, supernatural elements mostly based on

ancient Near East mythology The religions of the ancient Near East were mostly polytheistic, with some examples of monolatry (for example, Yahwism and Atenism). Some scholars believe that the similarities between these religions indicate that the religions are related, a be ...

increasingly play a role as the series goes on.

Media

Novels

The original novel, ''Arslan Senki'', was written by Dr. Yoshiki Tanaka. There are sixteen novels in the ''Arslan Senki'' storyline. The Kadokawa edition (which includes first ten novels only) is illustrated by manga artist and character-designer

Yoshitaka Amano is a Japanese visual artist, character designer, illustrator, a scenic designer for theatre and film, and a costume designer. He first came into prominence in the late 1960s working on the anime adaptation of ''Speed Racer''. Amano later became ...

(whose other works include the character design for several ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese video game, Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square (video game company), Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and ...

'' games and for ''

Vampire Hunter D is a series of novels written by Japanese author Hideyuki Kikuchi and illustrated by Yoshitaka Amano since 1983. As of April 2022, 40 novels have been published in the main series, with some novels comprising as many as four volumes. They ha ...

''), while the Kobunsha edituion is illustrated by

Shinobu Tanno Shinobu Tanno (丹野忍 ''Tanno Shinobu'', born 1973) is a Japanese illustrator, born in Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. Tanno graduated in 1997 from Ritsumeikan University. Self-taught, Tanno has illustrated in a number of fields, from CD cover desi ...

Manga

The novels were adapted into a manga illustrated by Chisato Nakamura. The manga was published by Kadokawa Shoten in the ''

Asuka Fantasy DX —or simply ''Asuka Fantasy DX'' or ''Fantasy DX''—was a Japanese shōjo manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten. It was originally a bimonthly special issue of ''Monthly Asuka'', but was spun off as a separate monthly magazine in June 1994 ...

'' shōjo magazine from 1991 to 1996 and compiled into thirteen volumes, adapting the first seven novels. A second manga adaptation of ''Arslan Senki'' started serialization in Kodansha's ''

'' in July 2013, illustrated by

, best known for the manga titles ''

Fullmetal Alchemist is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa. It was serialized in Square Enix's shōnen manga, ''shōnen'' manga anthology magazine ''Gangan Comics#Monthly Shōnen Gangan, Monthly Shōnen Gangan'' between July 20 ...

'' and ''

Silver Spoon The English language expression silver spoon is synonymous with wealth, especially inherited wealth; someone born into a wealthy family is said to have "been born with a silver spoon in their mouth". As an adjective, "silver spoon" describes s ...

''. This adaptation is simul-published by

Crunchyroll Crunchyroll is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service owned by Sony through a joint venture between Sony Pictures and Sony Music Entertainment Japan's Aniplex. The service primarily distributes films and tel ...

, while

Kodansha Comics Kodansha USA Publishing, LLC is a publishing company based in New York, USA, and a subsidiary of Japan's largest publishing company Kodansha. Established in July 2008, Kodansha USA publishes books relating to Japan, Japanese culture, and manga, ...

is publishing the manga in North America since 2014.

Films and OVA series

The popularity of the novels led to the creation of two films and subsequently a series of OVAs with character designs adapted by Sachiko Kamimura. The films were released in 1991–1992, which is why each one is hour long, rather than the traditional half-hour, and were produced by Kadokawa Shoten and

Sony Music Entertainment Japan , often abbreviated as SMEJ or simply SME, and also known as Sony Music Japan for short (stylized as ''SonyMusic''), is a Japanese music arm for Sony. Founded in 1968 as CBS/Sony, SMEJ is directly owned by Sony Group Corporation and is opera ...

. An OVA series of four episodes that followed up the first OVAs was released in 1993–1995. Both the films and OVA series were licensed by

Central Park Media Central Park Media, often abbreviated as CPM, was an American multimedia entertainment company based in New York City, New York and was headquartered in the 250 West 57th Street building in Midtown Manhattan (on the corner of Central Park, hence ...

and were released on DVD and VHS. The English dub for Part 1 was produced by

Manga UK Crunchyroll Ltd., trading as Crunchyroll UK and Ireland, is a producer, licensee, and distributor of anime in the United Kingdom and Ireland. Founded in 1987 as Island World Communications, the company operated as Manga Entertainment Ltd. until ...

(who had also licensed the anime in the same region), while Part 2 was dubbed by Central Park Media themselves. This caused a lot of inconsistencies in both dubs. 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 final 2 episodes of the ''Arslan'' anime to make its way to the United States.

Anime

Due to the continued popularity of the novels, an anime was created by

Liden Films is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise headquartered in Kamiogi, Suginami, Tokyo, and has animation studios in Kyoto and Osaka. Establishment Liden Films was founded on February 22, 2012 and, shortly after, joined joint-holding ...

and

Sanzigen is a Japanese animation studio specializing in CGI animation. The studio was founded in 2003, later becoming formally incorporated in 2006 by former employees of Gonzo, and has contributed to various anime series and films. Its name is derived f ...

, based on the manga adaptation by Hiromu Arakawa. The anime consists of 2 season, released between 2015 and 2016. The first season consists of 26 episodes and started airing on the 5th of April 2015, running until the end of September of the same year. The second season consists of 8 episodes and aired between the 3rd of July 2016 and the 21st of August of the same year. The first season covers volume 1-4 of the novels, while the second season covers volumes 5 and 6 of the novels.

Video games

The first video game based on ''The Heroic Legend of Arslan'' was released in 1993 for

Sega Mega-CD The Sega CD, released as the in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. It was released on December 12, 1991, in Japan, ...

. A strategy RPG in the vein of similar titles of the era such as the ''

Fire Emblem is a fantasy tactical role-playing game franchise developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Nintendo. First produced and published for the Famicom in 1990, the series currently consists of sixteen core entries and five spinoffs. Game ...

'' series, it serves as a companion to the OVA series. '' Arslan: The Warriors of Legend'', a

hack and slash Hack and slash, also known as hack and slay (H&S or HnS) or slash 'em up, refers to a type of gameplay that emphasizes combat with melee-based weapons (such as swords or blades). They may also feature projectile-based weapons as well (such as ...

video game developed by

Omega Force (stylised as ''ω-Force'') is a Japanese video game developer and a division of Koei Tecmo, founded in 1996 by Akihiro Suzuki and Kenichi Ogasawara, and is best known for the ''Dynasty Warriors'' video games. History Omega Force was founded ...

and published by

Koei Tecmo is a Japanese video game, amusement and anime holding company created in 2009 by the merger of Koei and Tecmo. Koei Tecmo Holdings owns several companies, the biggest one of those being its flagship game developer and publisher Koei Tecmo Game ...

in 2015, serves as a companion to the anime TV series. ''The Heroic Legend of Arslan: Warrior's Qualification'', a game for smartphones distributed by Sakura Soft. The game was launched on April 27, 2017 and terminated on August 16, 2018. It was based on the manga adaptation by Hiromu Arakawa.

References

External links

*{{Anime News Network, novels, 26108, Arslan Senki *{{Anime News Network, ova, 758 {{The Heroic Legend of Arslan {{Navboxes, list1= {{Production I.G OVAs {{Pierrot films {{Daume {{J.C.Staff OVAs {{DEFAULTSORT:Heroic Legend of Arslan, The 1986 Japanese novels 1991 anime films 1992 anime films 1993 anime OVAs Book series introduced in 1986 Central Park Media High fantasy anime and manga Historical fantasy anime and manga Japanese fantasy novels J.C.Staff Kadokawa Shoten manga Novels by Yoshiki Tanaka Novels about religion Persian mythology in popular culture Shōjo manga Sword and sorcery anime and manga War in anime and manga