Peng
Multi-cour anime are interesting. For the cynic, they are attempts to milk as much
cash a franchise possibly has to offer. For the fan, they simply mean more anime to enjoy. Perhaps
more objectively, they are a way of covering larger amounts of content, with intermissions to allow
production teams to revaluate, reassess and improve upon their approach.
I’d like to think that _Arslan Senki: Fuujin Ranbu_ fits the latter description. And yet, at a mere 8
episodes, I find the sequel of the 25 episode long _Arslan Senki_ to be incredibly underwhelming. I
find it so lacking, in fact, that I question its existence and what purpose it served for the
franchise as a whole.
~~~img420(http://i.imgur.com/96tKVg2.png)~~~
#Ever get that feeling of déjà vu?
***
Things pick up right where _Fuujin Ranbu_’s predecessor left off. Kind of. If you recall, the first
season finished off with Arslan’s forces successfully capturing the Keep of Saint Emmanuel and
marching towards the Parsian capital. In other words, shit was about to go down.
Except it never does. The second cour begins with Arslan’s army doubling back to Peshawar to repel yet
another foreign invasion. Meanwhile, Silver Mask, Guiscard and Andragoras are all doing their own
thing.
~~~img420(http://i.imgur.com/tMnv6fC.png)~~~
~~~_[My honour!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIXNOQ8ej9c)_~~~
This opening sequence of events is indicative of the cour’s biggest problem: nothing happens.
Virtually no progress is made throughout the entire season.
Okay that’s a little unfair. Things do happen – pretty important plot developments at that too.
Except, all these developments occur outside the scope of Arslan and his party. That is to say, they
all concern less important characters. As such, what we’re left with is Arslan and co. dawdling around
aimlessly while the show tries to move all the pieces around him in preparation for the next,
hopefully more climatic phase.
It’s filler. And it certainly feels like filler.
#Welcome to Copacabana beach
***
Arslan and his troupe are the central figures of the story. They certainly have the most screen time
too. And yet this season they, quite literally, go on vacation while the rest of the cast plays catch
up. They find themselves embroiled in a boring and predictable subplot that adds nothing to the show.
Nothing is gained in terms of plot devices to influence their journey in any meaningful way. Nothing
new is achieved. To make things worse, we get more of the same drab, flat humour. Hell, we don’t even
learn anything new regarding Arslan’s true parentage.
None of the core group is really changed by the experience either. They simply continue to fulfil
their same old archetypal roles. Daryun continues to be a raid boss, Narsus continues to be an
insurmountable tactical genius, Alfreed continues to be uncomfortably horny for Narsus, and Farangis
continues to be a stoic pair of tits.
The point is, the season doesn’t build upon any of the central cast’s character tropes that were
established the previous cour. Even Arslan remains the insufferably kind hearted but determined kid he
was at the end of last season. Sure, he has a slight shift in attitude during the finale, but this was
a long time coming and didn’t exactly require eight episodes of lounging around to get to.
~~~img420(http://i.imgur.com/tgdCWVL.png)~~~
~~~_The season in a nutshell_~~~
The other major players sort of get some development. You can’t really call it development in the case
of Guiscard and Andragoras, who simply reaffirm their caricatures as conniving douchebags. There is
some long overdue exploration of Silvermask’s past, which reveals a couple of new dimensions to his
character. He’s still overly simplistic and a pain to be around whenever he opens his mouth, but at
least it’s something.
Which is sad, given it was the only thing the cour had to offer. Once again, very little that happens
is of any consequence and so it’s really difficult to remain invested in the show. At least the
boredom only lasts eight episodes. And by the season’s end, we’re literally back to square one, albeit
with a couple additional elements.
#If Berserk 2016 and Mekaku City Actors Episode 9 had a lovechild
***
So _Fuujin Ranbu_ doesn’t improve on the first season as far as narrative goes, mainly because it
doesn’t have one. But does it improve technically? After all, with only eight episodes, you’d think
there’d be more budget allocated to each individual episode.
Nope. It suffers from all the technical difficulties that plagued the first cour. In fact, it’s
possibly even worse.
It’s the same shit. Masses of identical CGI soldiers, said CGI soldiers clumsily swinging swords at
each other, poor quality art, a drab and uninspiring colour palette that even a more tropical setting
can’t save, not to mention the absurdly athletic horses. Thankfully we didn’t have any horses jumping
on war elephants. They’ve moved on to houses instead.
~~~img290(http://i.imgur.com/0wk14hJ.png) img290(http://i.imgur.com/37p2ST0.png)~~~
~~~_Reuniting long lost twin brothers since 2015_~~~
Musically, it’s mostly the same tracks from the previous season. I’d argue it’s worse, given the
baller Lapis Lazuli OP from last season is replaced by another Eir Aoi song that just lacks the same
punch. Kalafina keeps doing Kalafina stuff as far as the ED is concerned.
On a side note, I’m really not a fan of Hiromu Arakawa’s FMA-esque character designs here. I find them
unfitting for the setting and tone, and they simply make it harder for me to take the show seriously
as a war epic. The character designs from the 90s OVAs are a lot classier, mature and more
aesthetically pleasing in my opinion.
~~~img420(http://i.imgur.com/mTDtFRO.png)~~~
#[What is my purpose?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7HmltUWXgs)
***
_Arslan Senki: Fuujin Ranbu_ makes very little progress. What little progress it does make happens to
concern only the side cast, leaving the primary characters neglected and twiddling their thumbs. It
fails to improve on the first season. It fails to make any serious plot progression, it fails to
develop its characters in any meaningful way and it fails to entertain. You can chalk it up to the
source material, but ultimately, as its own independent entity, this season fails at mostly everything
really.
_Fuujin Ranbu_ is filler. Filler to set things up for the next assumed instalment, which I am unsure
will ever arrive. And it’s filler that could definitely be done without. The few important plot
developments surely didn’t need eight episodes to cover. And for every plot point that mattered, we
had to endure a countless number that didn’t.
I had little faith in this rendition of the _Arslan Senki_ story prior to _Fuujin Ranbu_’s release.
Now I have even less, if any.
