Bago Book Review: The Heroic Legend of Arslan Manga Series

<p><em>The Heroic Legend of Arslan<&sol;em> holds such a great amount of story telling that it hardly seems to be a manga but rather a retelling of an ancient story of feuds in a fictional middle-eastern world&period; Originally&comma; this story was presented as a novel by Dr&period; Tanaka in the late 1980s&comma; and the manga adaption does a wonderful job of conveying the elements of novels throughout the drawn chapters&period; Readers will quickly see the care that went into crafting the story&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Ecbatana is a capital city known for beauty&comma; riches and splendor in the country of Pars&comma; which is ruled by the undefeated King Andragoras&period; The young prince&comma; Arslan&comma; has not seen the likes of war until he is 14 years old&period; Despite of all his schooling&comma; the prince lacks the talent to become a great and powerful king like his father&period; Arslan loses his home&comma; the palace in Ecbatana&comma; and the city itself when invaders rush in and wage war&period; Not knowing what is happening in his beloved city&comma; the prince runs away with a couple close aides to eventually gather a small group of his own&period; They all work with each other using their individual talents and try to reclaim the country and thrown for their young leader&comma; Arslan&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;129156" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-129156" style&equals;"width&colon; 321px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;" wp-image-129156" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;08&sol;25181816&sol;heroic-legend-of-arslan-manga-review-pic-11&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"321" height&equals;"482" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-129156" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Heroic Legend of Arslan Manga &sol; Kodansha<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Politics play a major role within the storyline&period; Not only are the royal families fighting against each over for the claim of the Pars throne&comma; but the religious groups are becoming involved&comma; forcing the situation to become extremely dangerous for anyone opposing the ideas of Yaldabaoth&period; Anyone who does not agree with this faith is executed&comma; and often tortured first&comma; on the spot&period; Even converts are not taken seriously by the leaders of this religion&period; The reality of surviving in such a world is painfully clear&period; Many innocent people lose their lives either being brave or by being in the way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A downside to this manga series is that the characters don&&num;8217&semi;t actually grow as individuals&period; They seem to grow as units and gradually work better together over time&comma; yet they each still hold onto their own flaws&period; Arslan is the only one who seems to alter as time goes on&period; He starts out as a young inexperienced prince and ends up a leader of a group&comma; who is prepared to die to reclaim the kingdom&period; Over time&comma; he learns the importance of his actions as a leader and future king&comma; although he still retains his innocent ideals&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;129160" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-129160" style&equals;"width&colon; 325px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;" wp-image-129160" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2017&sol;08&sol;25194826&sol;heroic-legend-of-arslan-manga-review-pic-3&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"325" height&equals;"496" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-129160" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">The Heroic Legend of Arslan Manga &sol; Kodansha<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>This manga pays close attention to the social classes within a kingdom from the slaves&comma; to the military and royals&period; No class is left unaffected by the wars and invasion&period; Even small towns on the outskirts of areas are significantly attended to in the story&period; A major group that is of concern to Arslan is the salves&period; Outright freeing slaves after overcoming their owner&comma; the prince believes he is doing good&period; Quickly&comma; the issue of how the former slaves should survive once being freed is brought about during an uprising&period; They learn of their master&&num;8217&semi;s death and are quick to grab weapons to kill the prince&&num;8217&semi;s group&period; Their fear of losing the life they have known&comma; &lpar;despite it being enslaved&rpar; is what leads to their violence&period; Narsus&comma; one of the princes&&num;8217&semi; sworn aides&comma; explains that those slaves were brainwashed and given shelter&comma; clothes and food&comma; no matter how meager the living they were used to&period; The future court painter not only teaches Arslan but the reader as well sees the consequence of freeing slaves without a means to teach them to support themselves in life&period; Most fantasy and historical stories discuss the evils of slavery&comma; yet rarely do they speak of the reality of surviving after freedom has been granted&period; Including such a deep topic in a manga&comma; even a manga adaption&comma; is fantastic&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>A few things are not addressed fully and are left a bit open ended&period; One such topic is magic in the kingdom of Pars and it&&num;8217&semi;s neighboring countries&period; Magic in this fantasy is often referred to as a work of evil&period; Yet&comma; the explanation for this has yet to be given in the series&period; Magic is wielded by those in the shadows and they use it for the purpose of killing&period; This alone may give the people of Pars reason to fear magic wielders&period; However&comma; this short explanation leaves the readers wanting more&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>The Heroic Legend of Arslan<&sol;em> manga is slightly flawed&comma; but it conveys a reality of waring countries in a fantasy world in such a manner that the story appears life-like&period; It is not for the faint of heart since the gore is blatantly shown&comma; and the content material is harsh&period; For those looking for a novel-like story progression with a deep political and war ridden world&comma; than this is the manga for them&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This manga is written by Dr&period; Yoshiki Tanaka and Hiromu Arakawa and drawn by Arakawa-san&period; It is published by <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;kodanshacomics&period;com&sol;series&sol;heroic-legend-of-arslan&sol;"><strong>Kodansha<&sol;strong> <&sol;a>and available for digital viewing through<a href&equals;"http&colon;&sol;&sol;www&period;crunchyroll&period;com&sol;"><strong> Crunchyroll<&sol;strong><&sol;a>&period; This manga series is also available in physical copies through book retailers&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;