The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Vol. 1 by Hiromu Arakawa

When Arslan reaches the age of 14, he rides into battle with his father against the Lusitanians, and I will stop there or else I would spoil it. He is the son of the war-hardened King Andragoras, who has never lost a battle. The story is about a prince named Arslan. There are times where it feels like the characters are just throwing up exposition, but the action, the art, and the sincere characters really pull you through. I heard Arakawa was working on this with a writer by the name of Yoshiki Tanaka, so I was super excited to read this. My friend Chloe, who is also a big fan of Arakawa’s, gifted me The Heroic Legend of Arslan (volumes 1 and 2) for Christmas. She’s one of my biggest inspirations in my comics-making career.īut I haven’t read much of her work outside of Fullmetal Alchemist and bits and pieces of a volume of A Hero’s Tale. A manga adaptation began serializing in 2013, and a TV anime adaptation premiered in the spring of 2015.I love Hiromu Arakawa’s work. The series has enjoyed undiminished popularity over the 30 years since its first title appeared. This is the first volume of a 16-volume historical fantasy tracing Arslan’s dauntless efforts to reclaim both the kingdom and his own parents lost to an invading army. “I am the legitimate king of Pars!” he declares, identifying himself as Hilmes, the son of Andragoras’s brother, from whom Andragoras seized the throne by assassination 16 years before. He takes off his mask to reveal a visage grotesquely scarred by burns. Meanwhile King Andragoras III is being tortured deep in an enemy dungeon when Kharlan’s overlord, the mysterious man known as Silvermask for the metallic face-covering he wears, appears before him. The treasonous Kharlan leads a unit of Lusitanian forces in pursuit of Arslan, but they are outwitted by the crown prince’s protectors and annihilated. The young Arslan narrowly escapes with his life and, with the support of intrepid commander Daryun, master tactician Narsus, the peerless fighter Gieve and others, vows to take back his kingdom. The kingdom falls, and both the king and his beautiful queen, Tahamine, are taken hostage by the victors. But the king’s overconfidence, along with the betrayal of his vassal Kharlan and the enemy’s cunning battle plan, lead to the previously undefeated Pars forces being decimated in a single day. At 14, his son Arslan, the crown prince, is seeing his first battle. So when the Lusitanian army invades, King Andragoras III never doubts victory will be his again. Known for its abundant resources, the Kingdom of Pars has been subject to numerous attacks by surrounding states, but it has always successfully repelled them.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan, Vol. 1 by Hiromu Arakawa