After escaping the horrors of the battlefield, Arslan takes refuge with Daryun in a mountain retreat belonging to the former lord and genius strategist, Narsus and enlists his assistance in his mission to reclaim his lost kingdom. Meanwhile, the royal capital of Ecbatana is under siege by the Lusitanians and the queen finds herself captured by the mysterious masked figure behind the fall of Pars.
Hiromu Arakawa (author: 荒川弘) is a Japanese manga artist, best known for Fullmetal Alchemist (鋼の錬金術師 Hagane no renkinjutsushi). Her real name is Hiromi Arakawa (荒川弘美).
Arakawa was born and raised on a dairy farm in Hokkaidō. She thought of being a manga artist since she was little. After graduating high school, she took oil painting classes while working on her family's farm. During that time, she also created dōjinshi manga with her friends and drew yonkoma for a magazine. After eight years she moved to Tōkyō and started out as assistant writer for Hiroyuki Etō. Her debut as manga artist is in 1999 with STRAY DOG. In 2001 she started working on her famous and award winning series Fullmetal Alchemist, that soon gets a successful anime adaptation. Other works include Silver Spoon (銀の匙 Silver Spoon, Gin no saji Silver Spoon).
This volume covers chapters 5 to 10. The siege of Ecbatana.
We're now slowly entering Yoshiki Tanaka's domain. We are introduced to Narsas, a brilliant strategist but then the focus of the book shifts to the brutality of the Lusitanians and the actual siege.
As always, Yoshiki gives a detailed view of war and it's atrocities.
By the creator of Fullmetal Alchemist, Fantastic world-building
The background Lusitania - believes in the one true god Yaldabaoth, and thinks everyone needs to convert! Pars (gholem keepers, own slaves), capital is Ecbatana, King Androgoras
No one is a good guy, but Arslan has closely held values and morals that guide his decisions, such as rehiring Narsus as a royal painter, so we continue to see Arslan grapple with the cruel and vicious world he landed in. His father King Androtagas abandoned his soldiers, leaving Pars to fall to the orthodox Lusitanians. Good news is, they will free the slaves. Bad news is, King Innocentis wants to take Arslan's mom the prior Pars queen as his own. And he is really, really gross. So gross. Harkonnen gross. ew.
Arlsan is with two skilled warriors Daryun and Narsus journeying back to Ecbatana. They don't know yet that it has fallen. Next installment has Narsus on the cover, and he seems like he will be a very interesting character, let's go!
This one is still on the fence for me. I think the next volume will decide if I go on or not. It's not that it's bad but it is a bit slow. Also it's too much like the news right now. The whole action of this is a religious war and by the end of this volume (which by the way is gory if you're the squeamish type) a good chunk of Pars has been tortured and murdered, including babies which one soldiers delightfully regales his fellows because they're of the wrong religion. Sorry, but I'm seeing far too much of this in the real world. I watched too much going on in Syria then sat down to this volume. So that threw a real pall over my enjoyment of this storyline.
It opens with Daryun and Arslan meeting up with former general, Narsus and his freed slave, Elam (Yes, Pars does use slaves which will be a key point in Pars's falling). Narsus wants nothing to do with the fighting, preferring to be a painter (given the reactions a bad one) but Daryun did something manipulative and crappy to force his hand. Arslan, on the other hand, finds the perfect way to gain Narsus's help, showing character growth. He seems to be doing well with Elam too.
That's the first third of the book. The rest is set in Pars and the titular character fades into the background. We are not spared seeing Pars fall. There is religious zealotry in full force (and like I said seeing too much of that lately in many countries including my own). But into this comes a few other focal characters, Gieve, the traveling bard who is excellent with both bow and sword, and to me the most interesting character so far, an unnamed man in the silver mask who seems to be using the Lusitanian zealots to his own ends and might be the mastermind of it all and at the very end, the queen of Pars who seems to have death following her, the fat dandy of a king of Lusitiana and his brother who makes a brief appearance but you can see his scheming will become more important as we go.
Arakawa's art is very good as always, though Arslan still looks like a breast-less Winry Rockbell to me (or maybe Ed and Winry's son). Tanaka's storyline could be a bit more compelling. I think it's trying to do too much but at the same time somehow moving too slowly. It dwells on its violence and not enough on the characters themselves. Let's see what number three brings. It's one of those that I like but I'm not sure I want to keep buying it (and my library system doesn't have it).
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Strategic-minded characters like Narsus are so cool! But it also makes me wonder if people are just strategic by nature, or is it a skill that is developed, or must it continuously be practiced to become a skill?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Nachdem sein einst glorreiches Heimatland brutal erobert wurde, sinnt der junge Prinz Arslan von Pars auf Vergeltung und will das Königreich seines Vaters zurückgewinnen. Mit Hilfe eines Offiziers, einer Priesterin, eines Gauners, eines Künstlers und eines Dieners begibt er sich auf eine gefährliche Mission: Der mysteriöse Fürst mit der Silbermaske und seine Streitmacht müssen wieder aus dem Land vertrieben werden. Eine mystische Abenteuergeschichte mit persischem Flair - um den Mut und die Freundschaft junger Helden!
Cover:
Das Cover finde ich ganz gut gemacht. Zu sehen ist hier der Charakter des Daryun in seiner Soldatenuniform. Er blickt finster drein und das spiegelt seinen Charakter und vor allem auch die Situation in diesem Manga ganz gut wieder. Mir persönlich gefällt es ganz gut, vor allem, weil es auch einen guten Vorgeschmack auf den Zeichenstil der Reihe gibt.
Eigener Eindruck:
Auf ihrer Flucht haben Prinz Arslan und Daryun Unterschlupf bei dem Freigeist Narsus gefunden. Auf die Nachricht, was geschehen ist, reagiert dieser schockiert, erkennt aber auch, dass man diesem Problem hätte vorbeugen können, wenn der König die Sklaverei in seinem Reich bei Zeiten abgeschafft hätte. Während das Versteck von Prinz Arslan langsam aufzufliegen scheint und sich noch immer die Frage stellt, warum man den Prinzen immer so auf Abstand zu seinen Eltern gehalten hat, beginnt ein Angriff auf die Heimatstadt des Prinzen. Dabei wird der König vorgeführt und zum Narren gehalten, was jedoch durch den Bogenschützen Gieve schnell unterbunden wird, da dieser den König tötet. Während dieser die Königin durch die Kanalisation retten soll, wird die Stadt schließlich überrannt und die Drahtzieher geben sich nach und nach zu erkennen…
Der zweite Teil dieses Mangas ist wieder sehr spannend gestrickt und begeistert durch seine eng verknüpften Elemente, welche alle in allem immer wieder sehr logisch erscheinen. Und doch hätte ich mir an der einen oder anderen Stelle einfach ein paar mehr Details gewünscht, um die Geschichte noch ein bisschen mehr greifen zu können. Trotzdem kommt man aber mit dem Verlauf an sich ganz gut mit und vor allem die detaillierten Zeichnungen sind ein absoluter Augenschmaus. Schön finde ich an diesem Band auch, dass man auch alt bekannte Gesichter wieder sieht. So taucht der Junge aus dem ersten Band als Soldat wieder auf, der einst den Prinzen entführte und so wieder zu seiner Freiheit gekommen ist. Ich wette, dass er auch noch eine tragende Rolle in diesem Manga bekommen wird, wenn nicht sogar ein Verbündeter des Prinzen werden könnte. Auch denke ich, dass es noch einige Geheimnisse um Arslan aufzudecken gilt, denn wenn seine Eltern beide immer so abweisend zu ihm waren, könnte ich mir gut vorstellen, dass er vielleicht gar nicht deren Kind ist beziehungsweise nur ein Elternteil das Richtige ist und er nur angenommen wurde. Das ist natürlich eine ganz spannende Theorie, die ich gern weiter verfolgen würde. Auch bin ich gespannt, wie es mit dem Helden der Geschichte weiter geht, vor allem, da nun die Stadt überrannt wurde und scheinbar alles verloren ist.
Empfehlen möchte ich den Manga allen, die gern spannende Geschichten lesen und sich auch gern von tollen, detaillierten Zeichnungen verzaubern lassen. Hier kommt ihr voll und ganz auf eure Kosten.
Welcome to Volume 2 of "The Heroic Legend of Arslan"!
To my mind, this volume benefited greatly from the introduction of a whole new cast of characters, ranging Narsus, former advisor to King Andragoras III; his assistant, Elam; and the bard, Gieve. If Daryum is to become Arslan's blade, then Narsus is surely to become his strategist, as he can anticipate his enemies' actions and devise clever strategies that would make Yang Wenli blush (if you don't get that reference, then think of Shiroe from Log Horizon). The way Prince Arslan convinces him over to his side is truly hilarious to witness so I encourage you to give it a read!
Volume 2 also depicts the fall of the city of Ecbatana, the capital of the Pars Kingdom. While reading the manga I could not help but think of the last episode of Game of Thrones. Its writers would do well to take note of the kind of madness that can lead people to brutally slaughtering and burning a city's inhabitants (in this particular case, religious fanaticism is to blame).
This series has not disappointed me so far. In fact, as I write this, I've read all first 9 volumes, and it looks like this series could easily climb to 50 volumes if it keeps up the pace.
**I watched part of the anime, but never finished and I wanted to read the manga before I gave it a retry. I liked it, but it was still airing at the time. I don't know if they ever finished making the anime or if the manga was even up to date.**
Character 3
We see more characters and are introduced to quite a few of the Luistanians. I'm interested to see where a lot of these characters go.
Setting 3 Looks to me we learned a little more of the culture of Luistana and we are getting the lay of the land from Narsus.
Plot 3 It's thickening as it goes on, but we really don't have anything too substantial right now. It's basically just going to be Arslan wanting to take the throne.
Dialogue 4
Sometimes, I think it's cool in comics and books where the font is different when a strange character is saying it. It's fun seeing that dickweed Bodin speak because it looks outrageous.
Art 3
I love you Arakawa, but some of these characters look really alike from another series you did(I won't name it but you know) Namely Daryun, Arslan, Gieve(Gieve isn't so bad....), Mysterious kid from 3 years ago....
Enjoyability 5
It's a fun read and I am excited for it to go in-depth with some of the threads that are being tested.
We get the story hinted at last volume by Daryun regarding Narsus’s defeat of the three kingdom alliance. Then Arslan’s party makes their escape from the mountain. After the Parsian defeat on the plains of Atropatene, Lusitania brings the war right to the gates of Ecbatana. Again, Arakawa sensei treats us to some spectacular (but brutal) art throughout the volume, but in particular during the battle sequences. Panel transitions are clear and propel action even when she makes some unusual choices with orientation. The sewer/hidden passage combat with Gieve was thrilling! While this volume, like the last, falls into the same shōnen habit of over-explanation in word balloons, they are laid out well, and we still get pages and pages of uninterrupted, stunning art panels.
The Lusitanians are a blend of Christian and Islamic crusaders. Their equipment and physical features resemble Christian imagery, while their character reflects that of Islamic soldiers who are on religious and political jihad. The Parsians are clearly the Zoroastrian Persian Empire.
I don’t think the author is making a tit-for-tat allegory. Rather, she’s blending together many different elements to create a realistic religious war in a fantasy world.
I think it’s pulled off rather well.
At the same time, due to many misunderstandings about the Crusades, I caution any reader to take all of this with a grain of salt. This isn’t a history book, but a high fantasy series.
I told myself I would not continue the series until I had a good chunk collected, but I decided to read volume 2 anyway! The series continues to blow me away. Plot-wise: Arslan is in need of strong allies. He is also starting to realize that he can no longer slack around, and needs to get serious about training & learning strategy. The capital is under siege. Everything is not what it seems with the enemy. There is so much going on. But, what bugged me this whole volume was WHAT IS THE QUEEN HIDING! This really has me on the edge of my seat. In addition, the art in this volume is chilling and harrowing.
Overall 4.1. Such a well crafted story and I'm only on volume 2.
I was super excited to continue the series after just finishing the first volume last night. I'd first like to acknowledge how amazing Hiromu Arakawa's art style is. It's so cool being able to read another story in her art style, feeling a bit nostalgic too. The plot is getting thicker by the chapter, I'm captivated by the unfolding drama and action. I did enjoy the first volume a bit more but I still really liked the second volume. Of course as the story professes you become more acquainted with the characters and the plot unfolds into something much more enticing. I can't wait to read the next volume!
Hmmm. This is not quite compelling me the way her other works have. The thing about Full Metal Alchemist is that it was both goofy and serious- you got drawn into both the plot and the characters. Silver Spoon was just goofy, but decent enough to be fun. This one is just serious- thing after thing happens without reprieve between events. I understand not wanting this one to be funny at all, it doesn’t need to be, but I would like to see some down-time between major happenings. All the names of people and places get confusing because of it, as a whole lot of information is given to you very quickly. Someone who has more interest in wars and militaries may enjoy this manga more.
Arslan's adventures continue. Sadly, most of the time is taken up by the siege of the capital. Oh well! At least we are introduced to the bard and he's a fun (if mercenary) character.
Sex? No although it is implied that the bard and lady-in-waiting had a one night stand
Swearing/Profanity? No
Violence? HAHAHA, YES! So much! Discussion of torture as well as copious scenes of killing
Magic? No
LGBTQ + characters? Not specified
Could a conservative Christian school library include it?
My interest sagged a bit in the middle, but Hiromu Arakawa's art is top-notch in communicating movement in the fight scenes and seige, as well as wry humor in the character banter, which keeps this from being a grim title. All the pieces are starting to come into place for what promises to be an an absorbing series, both on the epic scale of countries and political intrigue, as well as the coming-of-age of Arslan.
Another exciting installment. I'm amazed at Yoshiki Tanaka's and Hiromu Arakawa's ability to put so much of the horror of war into just a few small panels. This story serves as great commentary on all religious conflicts, especially the Crusades. It does an excellent job of explaining the hypocrisy of forceful militaristic conversions. I can't wait to see where this series goes and what all it chooses to tackle.
Je n'avais pas été hyper emballée par le premier tome... à cause des dessins il me semble. L'intrigue cependant est vraiment très bonne, plein de personnages intrigants (bon y en a un j'ai ma petite idée sur la question, mais je pourrais être surprise), j'ai hâte de voir ce que nous réserve la suite !
Wir begleiten weiter Arslan durch den Krieg, die Intrigen und auf seinem Weg in eine Zukunft die ungewiss scheint.
Dabei bekommen wir in diesem Band einige neue Charaktere präsentiert, die sehr interessant zu sein scheinen. Bisher habe ich nicht wirklich eine Idee wo der Manga hingehen wird, aber das macht das ganze so spannend.
4,5 Sterne von mir! Mir gefällt das historische Setting sehr und der Manga ist auf jeden Fall für alle Fans von Game of Thrones etwas! Leider hatte ich am Anfang ein paar Probleme mit den speziellen Namen, aber das ging mit der Zeit...
Une suite sympathique. L'évolution du héros permet de commencer à affiner les propos de l'auteur. Quelques nouveaux personnages apparaissent et laissent penser que leur présence pimentera un peu l'intrigue dans les prochains tomes!
Once again, another great series that was scanned incorrectly. And as a result, the dual page spreads don't display correctly in landscape mode. Please fix this egregious mistake!
Ehhh, maybe. It feels good overall, keeps you engaged to the end and gets deeper into the characters. Just like the first one, doesn't seem to be anything special, but hints at something bigger. Not sure If I will keep going, maybe.