The Heroic Legend of Arslan (manga)

The Heroic Legend of Arslan (アルスラーン戦記) is a Japanese manga series by Hiromu Arakawa, based on the original novel series of the same name written by Yoshiki Tanaka. It has been serialized in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine since July 2013. The manga is licensed for English release in North America by Kodansha USA.

A 25-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.

Manga
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; the series started in the magazine on July 9 of the same year. In March 2023, it was announced that the series entered its "final decisive battle." Kodansha has collected its chapters into individual tankōbon volumes. The first volume was released on April 9, 2014. As of January 9, 2024, twenty volumes have been released.

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. Kodansha USA began publishing the manga in print and digital format on August 19, 2014.

Anime
An anime television series was announced in November 2014. The series is directed by Noriyuki Abe, with scripts by Makoto Uezu. The series aired from April 5 to September 27, 2015, on MBS's Nichi-5 timeslot and other Japan News Network stations. The series' first opening theme is "Boku no Kotoba Dewanai Kore wa Boku-tachi no Kotoba" (僕の言葉ではない これは僕達の言葉), performed by Uverworld, while the first ending theme is "Lapis Lazuli" (ラピスラズリ), performed by Eir Aoi. The second opening theme is "Uzu to Uzu" (渦と渦), performed by Nico Touches the Walls, while the second ending theme is "One Light", performed by Kalafina. An original animation DVD (OAD) was bundled with the manga's fifth limited edition volume, released on May 9, 2016.

In North America, Funimation announced the license to the series in April 2015, and began a broadcast dub in June of the same year.

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), aired from July 3 to August 21, 2016. Another OAD was bundled with the manga's sixth limited edition volume, which was released on November 9, 2016.

Video games
A Musou crossover game developed by Koei Tecmo, titled Arslan: The Warriors of Legend (アルスラーン戦記×無双), was released on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on October 1, 2015. The game was released in North America on February 9, 2016, and in Europe on February 12 of that same year.

A smartphone game, Arslan Senki: Senshi no Shikaku (アルスラーン戦記 戦士の資格), distributed by Sakura Soft, was launched on April 27, 2017, and ended service on August 16, 2018.

Manga
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. The manga ranked eighth on "Nationwide Bookstore Employees' Recommended Comics of 2015" by the Honya Club online bookstore. The series was nominated for the 42nd Kodansha Manga Award in the shōnen category in 2018. 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.

Sales
By June 2018, The Heroic Legend of Arslan manga had 5.5 million copies in circulation. 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. The seventh volume of the series had an initial print run of 358,000 copies in circulation from April 2017 to March 2018. The eleventh volume of the series had an initial print run of 265,000 copies in circulation between April 2019 and March 2020.

Critical reception
Kate O'Neil of The Fandom Post ranked the first volume of the manga as B+, and wrote: "Arslan has an appropriately dark start for a story about war. The action is strong, vicious and bloody. The stakes in the war are high, with death all around the young prince and his loyal retainer. It’s a solid start to what will hopefully turn out to be an excellent tale. While the leads haven’t grabbed me yet there’s plenty of time to develop them further". Rebecca SIlverman of Anime News Network gave the first volume a B and wrote: "If you enjoy an epic fantasy with plenty of historical detail and battle scenes and don't mind waiting for the story to really get going, The Heroic Legend of Arslans first volume is worth reading".

Anime
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".