It’s time to prove that leadership makes a king more than blood. What They Say:
Having formed an alliance with Rajendra, Arslan and company face their first hurdle in their military campaign to win Rajendra the throne of Sindhura. On their way to Sindhura’s capital of Uraiyur, they must first get past the Fortress of Gujarat.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
This episode is not unlike the last. Another Sindhuran shows up, proves to be an enemy of Arslan that anyone else would put to death, and is of course pardoned by the infinitely forgiving young leader. That’s all well and good, but it doesn’t offer much that we haven’t seen many times throughout the series, so it feels repetitive and unproductive to spend precious time making so little progress. Fortunately, there’s more to the episode than what technically happens in the plot.
What really matters is what’s going on in the characters’ heads. Arslan has had such a traumatic run through his series that you might expect a fragile, peace-loving child like him to break down and be incapable of accomplishing anything. Given that, his actions are in fact quite impressive, and while it could be considered naïve to allow all these potential enemies to go on living freely, the fact that he’s able to make the bold decisions and lead his army as he has been should be given much more positive recognition. His team has certainly found their share of victories and triumph, to say nothing of their camaraderie, since the series began, but overall it might be said that Arslan’s hand is consistently becoming less favorable. Hints have been coming for a long time, but it’s not until now that all of the main characters, Arslan included, acknowledge that he is unlikely to be royalty at all, even without taking into account Andragoras robbing Hermes of his rightful place on the throne.
Knowing one part of the puzzle and strongly suspecting the other, Arslan can’t help but have a bit of an identity crisis, and again it’s actually more impressive that he’s able to keep it to late-night pondering sessions while staring at the sky while still remaining dedicated to doing his job well by day. As this becomes more prevalent and weighs more heavily, the entire group may have to have an open discussion regarding it, but for now the important takeaway is that at least all those in the major deciding positions don’t care whether or not Arslan is truly royalty, because he has proven himself as a worthy leader enough that that isn’t even a factor. Arslan has had a lot of privilege, even being put in the position of the crown prince despite there not only being another successor more rightfully promised the throne but also not being actual royalty at all. But even without the most humble beginnings, the important theme of this series has to be that the eventual kingship Arslan is not given but earned and this is a good start.
While I appreciate this critical point being brought up with continually greater clarity, I will note that it could’ve been integrated into the “main plot” of the episode more cohesively. Essentially the only link is that Jaswant’s words mentioning his lack of a real father he knows reminds Arslan of his own situation and at least inspires some of his pondering, if not his very decision to let free someone who makes his animosity especially clear. There likely could’ve been a story that more directly tied into the issue, but something of that sort may be saved for a later time and begin the examination of Arslan’s background as a major plot point in earnest. At least we have something.
In Summary:
Much of this installment is not unlike a lot of the series in general: slower than it needs to be and not offering much new material. Fortunately it ends on much more interesting notes, in particular noting Arslan’s origins and how they clash with his identity as it was initially established.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Roku 3, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.
0 comments:
Post a Comment