Heroic Age Manga

[Tarja Rabito]

A25-episode anime television series adaptation produced by Liden Films and Sanzigen was broadcast on MBS from April to September 2015, followed by an 8-episode series, titled The Heroic Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance, broadcast from July to August 2016. The anime series is licensed in North America by Funimation.

The manga adaptation of Yoshiki Tanaka's The Heroic Legend of Arslan by Hiromu Arakawa was announced by Kodansha's shōnen manga magazine Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in May 2013;[3] the series started in the magazine on July 9 of the same year.[4] In March 2023, it was announced that the series entered its "final decisive battle."[5] Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on April 9, 2014.[6] As of January 9, 2024, twenty volumes have been released.[7][8]

In North America, the manga was digitally published in English by Crunchyroll Manga from 2014 until 2018, when the company announced that it would no longer publish manga from Kodansha.[9][10] Kodansha USA began publishing the manga in print and digital format on August 19, 2014.[11][2]

An 8-episode second season, titled The Heroic Legend of Arslan: Dust Storm Dance (アルスラーン戦記 風塵乱舞, Arusurān Senki Fūjin Ranbu), aired from July 3 to August 21, 2016.[21][22][23] Another OAD was bundled with the manga's sixth limited edition volume, which was released on November 9, 2016.[24]

Alongside How Are You?, The Heroic Legend of Arslan ranked 17th on Takarajimasha's Kono Manga ga Sugoi! list of best manga of 2015 for male readers.[29] The manga ranked eighth on "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2015" by the Honya Club online bookstore.[30] The series was nominated for the 42nd Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category in 2018.[31] The series ranked 35th on Da Vinci magazine's 17th annual "Book of the Year" 2017 list and ranked 45th on the magazine's 19th 2019 list.[32][33]

By June 2018, The Heroic Legend of Arslan manga had 5.5 million copies in circulation.[34] The third volume of the series received an initial print run of 370,000 copies in circulation from the period between April 2014 and March 2015.[35] The seventh volume of the series had an initial print run of 358,000 copies in circulation from April 2017 to March 2018.[36] The eleventh volume of the series had an initial print run of 265,000 copies in circulation between April 2019 and March 2020.[37]

Theron Martin of Anime News Network ranked the anime series as B. Martin called The Heroic Legend of Arslan "a cross between Yona of the Dawn and Guin Saga", and said that the series is "often most interesting when focusing on anyone but Arslan himself". Martin concluded: "The Heroic Legend of Arslan is an ambitious series, inviting plenty of discussion about slavery and religion and politics in general. While its first half has its flaws, if you are looking for an epic fantasy story largely free of romantic distractions, then you could definitely do a lot worse".[39]

The anime took the art style from the second manga adaptation when telling the story of the novels. The anime character designs belong to Shingo Ogiso as well.The story itself was quickly taken directly from the novels as the only source as the anime caught up with the manga.

Arslan Senki is a Japanese novel series written by Yoshiki Tanaka. There are sixteen novels written between 1986 and 2017. A manga adaptation by Chisato Nakamura started running in 1990 and finished running in 1996. It had an original ending as it caught up with the novels. Because of its popularity, a second manga adaptation illustrated by Hiromu Arakawa debuted in 2013. An anime adaptation was made in 2015.

Whereas in the manga, all the events I remember that were added are just (Note: this list should be quite decent. Unlike the previous 2 ones, here I made a big effort to gather all the differences I remember having noticed when I read the manga):

Daryun is a stern but loyal man. He has utmost loyalty to King Andragoras and to his son Arslan, and is willing to risk his life to either of them. As a veteran warrior, he is calm, serious and skilled.

He seems to be extremely skilled in using any kinds of weapon: bow, sword, spear and so on. Following the novel, in manga, he also uses ji (fangtian ji). In addition, is a gifted horseman. Besides, he has a sharp mind, as Kharlan regarded Daryun as a threat to his plan.

"House of the Dragon," now well into its second season, has officially restored Westeros' place on the Iron Throne of television. All the insistence that "Game of Thrones" season 8 permanently tarnished interest in the franchise now look foolish, as this prequel about fire and blood has racked up acclaim. (Read /Film's review of "House of the Dragon" season 2 here.)

"The Heroic Legend of Arslan" began as a Japanese fantasy novel series authored by Yoshiki Tanaka. Tanaka had previously penned the space opera "Legend of The Galactic Heroes" and so, for his next project, turned to sword and sorcery. The "Arslan" novels have never been officially translated into English, but Hiromu Arakawa, creator of "Fullmetal Alchemist," adapted them into manga in 2013, which has made it out of Japan.

The art is similarly bound to real history. Parsian soldiers are draped in plate armor and turban helmets, while the Lusitanians wear the chainmail of the Knights Templar. (To make the crusader imagery extra obvious, the Lusitanian symbol is a two-barred cross.)

Both of these stories draw on real history, but the inspiration for "A Song of Ice and Fire" is medieval England, miles and centuries away from the Persian Empire. Martin's novels are set in forests, stone castles, and tundras; "Arslan" unfolds in deserts and mountains. While the aesthetics differ, the core stories are similar.

Think on Martin's famous question about "The Lord of the Rings," that whether part of Aragorn's simplistically described "wise rule" included orc genocide to prevent any resurgence of Mordor's war machine. What he confronts in his writing is the logistical difficulties of ruling; it's impossible to be a hero to everyone in political court. When Daenerys Targaryen takes the slavery-based cities of Essos, she learns that freeing enslaved people requires more than the good start of killing their masters.

In Martin's world, good men aren't always good rulers, especially during crises of succession. Martin lets his readers judge what makes a quality leader; as "House of the Dragon" co-creator Ryan Condal has noted, the biggest theme of the show and its larger franchise is that the best system of governance is one that's decided by choice, not birthights.

Arakawa is the reason I began reading "The Heroic Legend of Arslan." "Fullmetal Alchemist" is the first manga I read (and also not a bad pick for "Game of Thrones" fans). While "Arslan" is not her original work, she does bring her own touch in presenting it. Arslan himself looks like a silver-haired Edward Elric with bigger and more innocent eyes.

Arakawa's "Arslan" uses many detailed wide shots of huge formations or charging crowds; once they collide, she makes the messiness of battle feel ordered. She often favors thin rectangular panels, using them to emphasize the full sweep of a sword slamming down a man's head (vertical panel) or through his neck (horizontal panel). Her art style has always hewed on the cartoony side, which made the regular moments of gruesome violence in "Fullmetal Alchemist" all the quesier. That contrast is even more apparent in "Arslan," where every fight features soldiers having their limbs and heads severed with swords.

One of the most popular manga in recent years, My Hero Academia, is finally near its end after almost a decade-long run. The final saga of the series, detailing one last major battle between the heroes and the villains, has been going on for years now, and that slow pace has attracted no small amount of criticism, with some of it absolutely warranted. Despite all these things, though, the direction that the manga has taken for its finale has me proud of being a fan of Kohei Horikoshi and the series as a whole.

I first heard about My Hero Academia from my wife, who strongly encouraged me to check out this superhero manga she'd been reading. At the time, I was a bit burnt out on superhero content, but I eventually gave it a try and was quickly hooked. Deku is a protagonist unlike any other in shonen manga: he's thoughtful and strategic, rather than the idiot hero-type that remains ever-popular. Deku has relatable fears and concerns, and his dream of being a hero is an honorable one that instantly makes him worthy of respect. Deku's nerding out behavior is also incredibly relatable, and something that few shonen manga allow their main characters to engage in.

There are lots of things I love about My Hero Academia, like the abundance of epic action sequences, or the cool and unique abilities that characters put on display. However, the heart of the manga's story is and has always been its characters. From those who were lovable off the bat, like Deku and All Might, to those who really took their time growing, like Bakugo, the series handles its massive cast with care, performing the difficult task of juggling all these characters and the amount of focus they get. While it's not perfect, no one ever said it had to be.

Each of these characters also had their own story arcs and things they were trying to accomplish. Although everyone is ultimately fighting for the same greater goal, they have different objectives and means of getting there. One of the things that really sets My Hero Academia apart is the fact that Deku isn't on his journey by himself, or even with just a few close friends; in a lot of ways, the series is as much about Class 1-A as a whole as it is about Deku. As the series itself says later on, this is the story of how we all became great heroes. It emphasizes that Deku isn't doing this all alone.

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