First of all, I have to start with a little ranting and raving. Why? Because I'm an avid Arslan fan, and because I'm over-opinionated.

Arslan Senki OVAs 5-6 are, to be quite honest, a horrible disappointment. Gone were the great voices and actual acting (applies to the English version only), gone were the art that I loved (Darun... What happened to poor Darun? He now looks like Izamu in Macross Plus OVA), and, even worst, gone is the actual MOOD of Arslan. No more political storylines, no more smart and ambiguous villains. Gone the question of legitimacy, the values of the heart against the right of birth, gone the cunning strategies, gone the social criticism of Guibu.

So what's left?

Not even a new song. Same old ending song, Ryoute Ippai which, although it is my favorite, I was looking forward to see replaced by another beautiful tune.

Below average Arslan art (don't get me wrong, it's still better than most anime art I've seen), barely recognizable characters, Darun having taken 100 pounds, Narcasse becoming respectable, Hirumes having lost all his brain cells, turning into the predictable cackling evil Overlord, Arslan looking like he's taken 4 years in 6 months... And all without growing an inch. And what's with Farangis's neon green eyes? She's not a cat!

Below average Arslan storyline. Why bother with an involved storyline when you can use the old tired "sacred sword will choose the next King" way out? Arslan as King Arthur, taking the sword out of the stone by his merit. Pathetic. Magic took over on brains in this series.

Below average character continuity. Yes I'm sure Andragoras, after 6 months rotting in a cell with barely no food could overpower Guiscard. I'm also sure that Lusitanians would let Andragoras get away once he pushed Guiscard off the cart. And Hirumes, my favorite character, forgetting all about Irina and going, nay, leaping, off the deep end. Not to mention what happened to Irina and Merlein? You don't know? Well neither do I, and I've watched the anime!

Below average editing. Now what's with the little pop-up windows-type editing? It looks awful! And the green goop that swirls for a whole two minutes on the screen? They could make the anime two minutes shorter and spare us that pain!

The only character who benefited from all that was Alfreed. She got prettier. But then you couldn't go much worse than what she used to be. And please, can the Azrael endings, and the Azrael = Guibu symbols, it's getting old. I can tell when an OVA will end by watching what the falcon does. That's become just too predictable.

But, as you all know, Arslan is Arslan, and even Arslan at its worst is better than most animes out there. Don't kill me, it's only my opinion. And believe me, writing this review saddened me as much as it did you reading it, this being my ultimate favorite anime.

Rating:

* Compared to other Arslan efforts: D

* Compared to other animes: B

Should you buy it?

If you're a fan of Arslan only. Although I'd prefer just pretending it never existed. And if you buy it, take heed to what I will say, do not, I will repeat, do not, buy it dubbed. Don't get me wrong, I love the dub, I own the dubs for OVA 1-4, but it's not the same dub anymore.