The Heroic Legend of Arslan vol. 12

Another volume, another threat to Arslan’s quest to restore his kingdom.  This time it’s coming from the Not-Mongols — I mean, the Kingdom of Turan who has an army of riders capable of swiftly conquering any army they come across.  They’re not so good at siege warfare, however, which is what they find themselves stuck doing when they arrive inland and try to take down Peshawar Castle.  Will Arslan’s loyalists manage to hold out until the main army returns?  It’s a pretty safe bet since the main arc of this series is nothing if not predictable.  Still, it gives mangaka Hiromu Arakawa more chances to give us some cool battle scenes and to mix up the cast a bit as Kubard finds himself falling in with Arslan’s crowd.  While it’s always good to see more of the likeably confident marzaban, it’s also fun to see him meet his match in Farangis.  Who really doesn’t have time for men who try to win her affection, even when in Kubard’s case they’re trying by not trying.

This business makes up the back two thirds of the volume and, judged on its own merits, would make for a very “business as usual” volume of this series.  It’s the business in the first third that really stoked my imagination, as we finally see what Arslan’s dad Andragoras is capable of.  After being chained to a wall for most of the past eleven volumes, he finally makes his move and earns a measure of freedom by being ruthless and resourceful in equal measure.  While pulling off a plan like that was enough to impress me, the really interesting stuff comes when his former wife Tahemany agrees to negotiate with her former husband on behalf of the Lusitanians.

That the negotiations don’t go well is another unsurprising development.  However, it’s the way in which they go badly that’s interesting as Tahemany becomes really emotional — for the first time ever– over a particular issue that her husband is willing to be patient about just to see her break.  I was not expecting Andragoras himself to join the ranks of “Characters That Are More Interesting Than the Title Character” with this volume, yet that’s what happens here.  Now I really want to see more of him in action in vol. 13 after the power moves he pulls here.