Exchanging names when meeting people helps avoid awkward situations in the future.
What They Say:
The siege of the Keep of Saint Emmanuel begins in earnest and Parsian generals, who once fought on the same side, now find themselves facing each other across the battlefield.
The Review:
Content: (please note that content portions of a review may contain spoilers)
Could it be? Is this battle finally beginning? It’s been a long time coming, but it would appear that we’re finally getting the conclusive war that’s been built up to all throughout this series. Much of the pacing across its run has seemed wasteful, but at least with three episodes allocated to this most important event, there should be sufficient time to wrap things up nicely. How much this adaptation has diverged from the manga and the original novel series that adapts I have no idea, but one could assume that it wouldn’t be anywhere near the endgame if faithfully following either, as both are still running and the original has been for decades. For that reason I feel somewhat thankful that, despite all its flaws, at least this adaptation is choosing the option that seems more favorable at the moment, to close out the story as it would make sense to, rather than leaving off with things half-finished in the hopes of future seasons continuing onward.
The fact that we had so much setup means we can get right into the action as soon as this episode begins, and it really doesn’t let up for a moment. Most scenes depict either soldiers striking against one another to kill, dramatic clashes of ideologies, or Arslan and Narsus watching their strategy play out and amending it with appropriate tactics as needed. Much attention is given to Sam, formerly a trusted man of Pars, leading an army against his old comrades. You’ll never know an enemy better than if you were once friends, and for this reason Sam has a distinguished advantage, cutting off a unit attempting to sneak through the aqueducts. While Hermes himself has not yet entered battle (we’ve got two more episodes, after all), the subject of his merit as a ruler is debated fiercely between the two sides, neither entirely right nor wrong in their points but each forced to choose one extreme over the other for any resolution to be reached. As the series has dealt a lot with Arslan building up a sizable force to have a real chance of taking down everything Hermes could throw at him, the battle is on a much larger scale than those of the original Arslan party, more akin to the battle that the complete Pars fought at the beginning of the series, but naturally special attention must be given to the main characters as they get some of their most climactic opportunities to shine. The two who have often impressed the most are Narsus and Daryun, for almost entirely opposite reasons, and this episode provides fine material for both. Narsus pulls another effective bait-and-switch while Daryun finishes what was started with Kharlan so long ago. Speaking of long ago, the first episode comes back into play once more as Etoile and Arslan finally meet with their identities revealed at the worst possible time.
With the return to very large-scale battles, CG becomes especially prevalent again. For scenes of many soldiers at once this isn’t an issue, and thankfully most close-ups are hand-drawn. However, there are a few notable scenes in which the fighters look like unnatural video game models from a few generations back, flailing their limbs about awkwardly. Even the hand-drawn close-ups tend to be lacking in quality, though those with important are quite nicely animated.
In Summary:
The big battle is finally here, and it’s a lot of what could be expected. People shout back and forth about the merits of their leaders, Narsus fools the enemy yet again, Daryun has a bitter grudge-holder to swiftly take out, and Etoile finally learns the truth. It’s flawed but appropriately climactic.
Grade: B-
Streamed By: FUNimation
Review Equipment:
Roku 3, Sceptre X425BV-FHD 42″ Class LCD HDTV.
