Arslan Senki: Fuujin Ranbu – 03
Love is blind….but so is Justice.
Well after that bit of a bombshell last week, we got a little slower paced episode this time. Most of what has to deal with Arslan himself was rather what we were probably expecting. Andragoras brings divide within what is left of the Parsian forces by making his officers have to chose between their king and their crown prince. I find it interesting that the more that Andragoras tries to press to keep his kingdom under his thumb, the more divide and animosity he instead inspires. It would be different if he were one that could give hope and strength to his people at the same time as being authoritarian, yet he’s actually too selfish and pigheaded to do that.
“How dare you actually have the audacity to do something productive?!”
In an interesting side note, we don’t actually get to see Tahamenay at all, and in fact, Arslan is never able to even greet her before he’s given the boot. You’d almost write if off as the writers forgetting about her character and that perhaps the queen has no place in her husband’s court. However, they purposefully bring up her absence and show her looking almost forlornly out the window. Narsus puts a question of why she wasn’t not there, and if it was of her own volition, or–did the king forbid her?
This once again makes me ask if they child that she was crying out for in the last episode was Arslan? If so, was her “cold” behavior toward him in an effort to protect him because of some kind of deal she has with Andragoras? Is her husband jealous of the love she has for her son? And if so, is it one of the reasons he’s been sent out on such an impossible task?
And so our prince has been effectively “exiled”, and his most loyal followers, his bodyguard and his advisor have been expressly forbidden from following him. This is smart, as both Daryun and Narsus are aces in the hole in their particular field and whoever has them in their pockets has almost uncanny chances of winning whatever battle that they put their hands and minds to. Andragoras isn’t that stupid to let those two aces out of his sight, especially since you have to blind, deaf, and dead in order to not realize where those two’s loyalties lie. And alas, their loyalty is of course so strong that it is greater than that of their loyalty to Pars and to its throne. As it is for the rest of Arslan’s entourage, most of the not giving a darn about any sort of royal edicts. Their fealty is to Arslan and Arslan alone, and by the goddess, they are not about the abandon him now.
The Snow-White Arslan and the 7 Warriors
You knew this was going to happened the moment the king came back on the scene, that there would end up being some sort of split between father and son. Usually it’s the headstrong, inexperienced and unwise son that is the initiator of such a divide, yet here, while Arslan has displayed all three of these traits in different amounts over the series, we see he ultimately has the patience and forgiveness of a saint where his tyrannical “father” is concerned. His determination to always put the positive spin on any situation, even this one, takes a rather bittersweet turn here as he has to consciously do it in order to not give into the hatred that is kindling within his heart.
Going off into “exile”
If something happens that causes that hate to become inflamed, Arslan might just go the way of his cousin, another man whose life was ruined by Andragoras’ selfishness and jealousy.
_________________________
Love Across the Stars
The other half of this episode dealt with Hermes and his long overdue backstory. We see him burning to death in the Pars palace and his uncle looking upon his cries for help with cold derision.
I find it interesting how it is at this point, where the young Prince Hermes is at his lowest point, was when the Shadowman (yes, I’ve dubbed him that until he gets an actual name) and his black arts cronies supposedly heard his call and came to his assistance.
Evil both causes and is attracted to tragedy
Being a young boy who has just lost his parents and everything he knew, been traumatized and mutilated by fire, and was now an exile of the very land he was supposed to rule, Hermes was ripe for manipulation by those who would want to use him as a means to an end. We see from the flashback that the majority of the darker side we’ve seen from Hermes is a result of the hatred and anger that has been festering over all these years. Before this, we see that Hermes was a pretty nice kid, one used to being a royal sure, and without the extreme purity of heart that Arslan possesses, but also someone with honor, justice, and a moral code. I know it’s obvious and I’ve probably made this comparison before, but he really gives me callbacks to the character of Prince Zuko from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Chance reunion
We see that while the Shadowman is continually feeding Hermes hatred and anger while the kid in in hiding at the nearby kingdom of Maryam (if you don’t remember they were the neighboring kingdom next to Pars that got taken over by the Lusitanians on their way to Pars. The Battle of Atropatene was because Pars was coming over to help Maryam, who were their allies.), but like many a young man, he finds his world turned upside down by the love of a woman.
Fated meeting
We meet Princess Irina, a young blind girl, hated by her people as her blindness is seen as a bad omen, is exactly the kind, innocent soul that you’d expect. Irina is basically to Hermes, what Komugi was to Meruem or Rin to Sesshomaru or Padme to Anakin, she is the female representation of all that is good and innocent and loving in the world that provides a guiding light to our dark, brooding male, showing him there is more to life than whatever dark and violent path that he has chosen.
Royal Love
Irina is a charming young girl and one who Hermes finds is able to distract him from the anger and fury that his built up inside him. It isn’t long before a curious friendship develops into young love. But an invasion by the Lusitanians and betrayal from inside the kingdom interrupts their young courtship, and Hermes (with a little push by the Shadowman) leaves to pursue his revenge. Meeting years later, we see that he still cannot face her as he feels that he’s not yet worthy of her. Interestingly, his desire for revenge is not his only raison d’etre, he wants to retake Pars for the sake of his pride and in order to provide a life worthy of the woman that he loves. Many a man has built and destroyed civilizations for the love of a woman. What will Hermes do? Will Irina’s love be able to turn him from his destructive path now that she is on the scene? And what about the Shadowman and his group? What is their endgame?
Well, we’ll just have to wait and see. I think the addition of Irina, while not given much character to the princess herself, it does give us a lot more development to Hermes himself along with a reason for us to care about what happens to him. I also like that we got to finally get a backstory to him and once again remind us that this situation is a lot more complex than we thought. And the same man that ruined Hermes life is trying to also destroy that of his cousin. Arslan is on his way to the shoreline, and his company has been whittled down to his most trusted 7. Now he just has to find 49,993 more!
And not to forget him, we got to meet Alfreed’s older brother this episode as well! Let’s see how he’ll play into this as well. I have a feeling that all of these parties will eventually meet up pretty soon.
About IreneSharda
A Chicagoan biochemist, teacher, and an aspiring virologist, with a love for science only rivaled by my love for movies, animation, and anime. Both a lover of action/adventure and romance, I'm a girl who walks the entire spectrum. Mecha, Sci-Fi, Psychological Thriller, Romantic Period Piece, if it's has a good story, I'm there.
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Anime News: Knights of Sidonia’s Creator, Director Discuss Possible 3rd Season
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OH OH OH, that’s something I would be glad to see happen. 😀
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Well, I’m interested. Let’s see if they go ahead with it.
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So the bitter, coarse and vengeful prince still yet has a soft spot in his supposedly hardened heart. Clearly Irina is the series’ attempt of humanizing our masked fallen noble. A nice try but a little late since image of him remains stained thanks to his prior conduct last season. Therefore, indeed overdue on his backstory. Silver Mask is still guilty of endangering his people despite his claims of being the rightful successor and I still remember him strangling Tahamine’s impersonator to death bare handed during his raid on the capital with the Lustanians after indicating he didn’t need her.
Still, the surprise reunion shows Hermes has an exposed and apparently critical weakness. Aside from the shame of not facing Irina for not yet making good on his promise, it was wise shutting her down right there. Had he made a mistake confirming her suspicions on his identity and someone antagonistic was around, she would’ve been used against him.
On a side note, the guard defending Irina’s caravan is a Zot member, one from Alfreed’s clan (Take another look at him, seeing the similar red markings Alfreed has. And the subtitles did indicate where he originated from). If he was aware of what Hermes did to the rest of the clan, things would’ve gotten ugly.
I’ve had a low opinion of Andragoras before but his conduct this time sinks it even lower. His talk with Kishward clarifies he’s intimidated by Arslan’s progress. However, because of his actions that resulted in Daryun and Narsus’ defection, the best soldiers to have around, the rest of the people may begin to question who is better suited to rule. At least the young Crown Prince has more loyal followers.
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So, I know there’s a lot of things going on about this show. That’s why I exist to point out some of the less important but still entertaining things :3 .I found it very funny that Silver Mask got his ‘mask’ from a high ranking Maryam noble’s armour set (which, I would have liked to see more of since sensible armour is always nice to look at), in fact he personally killed that very noble himself. Maybe it symbolises Irina’s place in his goal of becoming king of Pars but anyhow it was amusing.
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The endcards so far:
-#1 Arakawa Hiromu (Fullmetal Alchemist, Arslan manga)
-#2 Tanaka Yoshiki (Arslan novel author)
-#3 Suetsugu Yuki (Chihayafuru)
-#4 Suzuhito Yasuda (Danmachi, Durarara!, Yozakura Quartet)
Quite the number of famous/semi famous mangaka/illustrators there.