How was the 2015 Arslan anime made?
A Sunday-evening slot, a 3D studio behind a 2D-looking war, and six novels in thirty-three episodes.
The second screen Arslan was announced on November 2, 2014, and built directly on Arakawa’s manga designs. It was produced by Liden Films and Sanzigen, a 3D-animation house working in a hand-drawn register, directed by Noriyuki Abe, and placed in MBS’s Sunday 5 p.m. “Nichigo” slot, the same family-audience berth that had carried Fullmetal Alchemist.
THE TWO SEASONS
2015–2016Season 1 · April 5 – September 27, 2015
Twenty-five episodes: the fall of Pars, the gathering of the companions, and the road to Peshawar.
Dust Storm Dance · July 3 – August 21, 2016
The eight-episode second season, Arslan Senki: Fūjin Ranbu, pushes the story through the novels’ middle, six of the sixteen books covered in total.
The bundled OVAs
Two original animation DVDs were bundled with limited editions of the manga, one with volume 5 in May 2016, small side stories for the collectors the series courts.
Where it stops
Like the 1990s version before it, the TV anime ends mid-story. The remaining ten novels exist, so far, only in print and in Arakawa’s ongoing manga.