Where Does The Heroic Legend of Arslan Anime End in The Light Novel?

If you fell in love with The Heroic Legend of Arslan anime, you fell in love with a series that is actually much older than you think. It is based off a set of novels published in the 80’s, got adapted into two separate manga series, the most popular version of which being by the Fullmetal Alchemist author.

Alternative Titles:

  • Arslan Senki
  • アルスラーン戦記

Year Anime Premiered: 1991; 2015
Animation Studio: Animate Film, Aubec; Sanzigen, LindenFilms
Number of Seasons: 6 OVAs; 2 + 2 OVAs
Source Material Country of Origin: Japan
Source Material Available: Light Novel, Manga
Is It Officially Licensed Past Where The Anime Ends?: Light Novel: No, Manga: Yes
Is It Fan Translated Past Where The Anime Ends?: Light Novel: No, Manga: Yes
Entry Last Updated: May 31st, 2024

Where To Start The Heroic Legend of Arslan Light Novel After The Anime?

If you watched The Heroic Legend of Arslan anime and want to continue the story in the light novels, you can start at:

  • If you finished the 1991 The Heroic Legend of Arslan OVAs – You can start the light novels at Novel 6
  • If you finished the 2015 The Heroic Legend of Arslan Season 1 anime – You can start the light novels at Novel 6
  • If you finished the 2015 The Heroic Legend of Arslan Season 2 anime – You can start the light novels at Novel 6

While Season 2 technically adapted most of Novel 6, it leaves out a major storyline, The Snake King, that becomes wildly more important later. You will want to just read Novel 6 if you intend on continuing with the story so that it will continue making sense.

The OVAs for the 2015 anime are fun and explore some of the canon in the world, but are not adapting anything in particular.

Is The Heroic Legend of Arslan Light Novel Over?

The Heroic Legend of Arslan light novel is complete. It ended in 2017 with Novel 16.

Where To Start The Heroic Legend of Arslan Manga After The Anime?

The Heroic Legend of Arslan has two manga series. The first version, the 1991 version by Chisato Nakamura, is concluded and didn’t surpass the anime. However, the 2013 version by Hiromu Arakawa is still ongoing and is still telling the story.

  • If you finished the 2015 The Heroic Legend of Arslan Season 1 anime – You can start the manga at Volume 12, Chapter 71
  • If you finished the 2015 The Heroic Legend of Arslan Season 2 anime – You can start the manga at Volume 18, Chapter 107

The anime adapts some of that chapter, but not all of it. It is important to know that the 2015 anime started by adapting the story as the manga told it, but ran out of source material at a certain point and switched to the novel. There are some small differences between the manga story and novel story, but nothing that truly alters the overall story they are telling.

Is The Heroic Legend of Arslan Manga Over?

The Hiromu Arakawa version of The Heroic Legend of Arslan manga is still ongoing. Since launching in 2014, it releases about two volumes per year.

What to Expect From The Heroic Legend of Arslan Source Material Compared to The Anime?

The Heroic Legend of Arslan has never had much luck getting good anime adaptations.

The 1991 OVA adapt the first five novels in a highly abridged way. While you definitely get more details in Season 1 of the 2015 The Heroic Legend of Arslan anime, the 2015 anime, overall, does leave things out. One particularly egregious example is the Snake King plot line from the novel/manga that was left out of the anime, which becomes more important later in the novel/manga story. However, that is near the end of Season 2, and the anime also left out a lot before that as well, but nothing that is as important to the plot.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan manga is far more detailed with the story compared to the anime, which means that if you do jump into it after the anime, they may make references to things you didn’t see in the anime and you may see slightly different character relationships. Furthermore, both the anime and manga re-arrange some things from the novels

If you enjoyed Arslan, you would definitely have a better, more complete story experience reading the manga (or novels if you can find them) from the beginning. The 2015 anime is pretty good, but far from a perfect adaptation of the story.

Will There Be A The Heroic Legend of Arslan Season 3?

There has been no official announcement of a The Heroic Legend of Arslan Season 3 anime.

The Heroic Legend of Arslan has a bit of a poor history with anime adaptations. It is one of those series that is potentially doomed to be remade until they get it right. As such, I don’t think they will be continuing the anime.

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4 thoughts on “Where Does The Heroic Legend of Arslan Anime End in The Light Novel?”

  1. Can you clarify about the novels and the manga? The “Novel 7” link you have leads to the Manga version on Amazon. I cant find the Light Novels in English.
    Additionally, as of this writing there are 20 Manga in English, another 2 still pending translation, and another three chapters not yet in tankōbon format (chapters 137, 138, & 139).
    Can you say where the Manga is in relation to the Light Novel and how close to completion it is?
    Thank you.

    1. That was my mistake, the novels have not been officially (or fully unofficially) translated anywhere.

      Anyway, I’ve updated this to my newer format and did some double-checking, and looked into the manga for you. As of Chapter 139, I’d say it’s maybe 3/4th through Novel 6. Season 2 of the anime cut a major storyline from the story, meaning the events of the manga are pretty different from the anime by that point. Season 1 was more faithful, though.

      1. Thank you!
        Very much wish I could finish this story, but if the Manga is only up to Novel 6 out of 16, then I suppose it’ll be quite a while before I can read it all the way through.
        Hopefully the novels receive a translation at some point, but that will also be quite a while I’m sure.

        1. The novels are translated up about halfway through Novel 5, but I think the people/person who was doing it is no longer doing so.

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