The Heroic Legend of Arslan [Spoilers]

I'm bored. I'm so bored I decided to ramble about The Heroic Legend of Arslan for no reason. I don't know how long or short this will be and I definitely didn't plan anything ahead (planning is for losers). To preface this rambling I've watched 5 episodes of the modern anime and have watch about 25 minutes of the first OVA from 1991. I only watched 25 minutes because they roughly cover the same amount of story as the 5 episodes I watched. I have not watched any of the films or read the manga and original novels.

The story for any who do not know (and don't care about spoilers) follows Prince Arslan and his sworn protector Daryun who is considered one of the greatest fighters in Pars. Already from the start the anime and OVA start at different points. The OVA starts at the battle of Atropatene whereas the anime starts 3 years earlier. Obviously character designs and situations within the anime change and since it is a big gap in time, the designs for pretty much everyone look completely different.


Focusing on the differences of certain scenes now, first is Arslan's participation in the battle of Atropatene. In the OVA Arslan doesn't kill anyone unlike his 2015 counterpart who stabs someone (even if it was probably not on purpose). OVA Arslan just ducks as two spearmen impale each other by accident. Out of the two, Arslan from the anime is the better fighter though that doesn't say much. The biggest reason the anime version is better is because Arslan actually fights with Kharlan, who has sold out the Pars army to the enemy. Meanwhile Arslan from the OVA doesn't even meet Kharlan on the battlefield. He just ends up fighting a random soldier...and losing. At least anime Arslan won against his random enemy.

Speaking of Kharlan, once again I must say I like the anime version better. Both versions give the same reasoning as to why they betrayed the Pars army but they give two different tones and convey different feelings. Both Kharlans say they did not betray the country itself and are actually trying to change Pars for the better by defeating the king, King Andragoras III. While the OVA version comes off as just another villain, anime Kharlan comes off as someone who truly believes he is doing what is best for the country (at least for right now). He tries to reason with Daryun and even recruit Daryun to his side which fails seeing that Daryun has sworn to protect Arslan who Kharlan was trying to kill. But even then he doesn't come off as a stereotypical villain. He knows Arslan did nothing wrong as feels sorry for him but to reach his goal he knows he must kill him which leads his fight with not only Arslan but Daryun as well.

The fight between Kharlan and Daryun are different between the versions as well. Since Kharlan doesn't search for Arslan in the OVA the fight between him and Daryun take place in a different area. OVA Kharlan tries to flee as soon as possible and only fights Daryun when he has nowhere to go unlike anime Kharlan who stands his ground with Daryun until he realizes he'll lose, only then does he flee. Kharlan fleeing is different in itself since in the OVA Daryun gets swarmed by enemy soldiers and is forced to flee. In the anime only Kharlan flees giving this fight to different outcomes between the versions.

There are many changes that don't really change anything important, Kharlan still betrays King Andragoras III, Daryun still saves Arslan, they meet Narsus and Gieve still sleeps with one of Queen Tahamine's ladies in waiting. Gieve by the way is cool in both versions. I may not have explained who Gieve is at all here but trust me, he is cool. I leave you with Queen Tahamine. Whats that? I stopped this topic so suddenly? Well I told you I'm just rambling. This topic has no reason to exist outside of me being bored. Get over it.