Set in the western part of the great continent Rumeliana, Mahmut is a young war orphan and the youngest Pasha in the Türkiye stratocracy who desires to ensure that war never occurs. Unfortunately, after an assassination of a politician, Türkiye is under the looming threat of the militaristic Balt-Rhein Empire.
This animated political/ war drama takes a different approach to the usually symmetrical war-history animated storyline. It follows the Youngest Pasha in Turkiye Stratocracy who desires an end to all wars and hopes to use his position in the Divan to prevent the occurrence of wars. What made this show so remarkably different is not unconnected with the approach towards presenting the protagonist; Who in the first 3 episodes was shown to be an idealistic war hater who would do anything to prevent wars, and as the show unravelled, we realised the idea of ending all wars increasingly faded from his thoughts, and instead he had to wage war to ensure lives were not lost on a grander scale.
The plot or premise of the show is not exceptional, its even commonplace, it's something you would usually find in an anime,but the telling of the story was quite different and exceptional, it was brilliant and totally different. We loved that the protagonist immediately got a dose of reality when he made amateurish mistakes a Pasha shouldn't make and eventually getting kicked off the Divan. From that point onwards, the show became one big character development pot, as Mahmut set out on a journey to discover himself, what it takes to be a Pasha, the world outside of Turkiye and Balt-Rhein Empire, building of friendships and alliances on his way to making a grand return to the Divan. It was beautifully well crafted and presented in the most astonishing of fashions ever.
What perhaps had the adult audience really going on this show was the absence of near eradication of the Hero complex, plus the complete removal of plot armour that characterise most anime shows. In this show, the audience was made to realise quickly it would take more than one man, no matter how highly placed he is, to prevent an impending war.
Part of the show's success is also down to the fact that it basically combined elements from two very successful anime shows in the last 5 years; Magi and Kingdom. Adopting a setting similar and near in proximity to that of Magi meant that it would offer exotic eye catching characterization and different cultures. It also adopted the quest of Sindbad to make friends as he sought to create a better country; which Mahmut did, when he went out to form alliances and friendship to help the Turkiye Stratocracy. It's decision to also adopt some of Kingdom's more netter qualities was also brilliant, by limiting the combat scenes to a mere minimum while focusing much attention on the battle strategy, dialogues and character building. We totally enjoyed the work done on this one.
The narrative technique was even more astonishing than expected. In most anime shows, the narrative is usually more focused on the protagonist, however here it was evenly split, as a whole lot of attention was paid to the strategy of the Balt-Rhein Empire under the command of Virgilio Louis, a tactical Genius in his own rights.
Admittedly what we are most impressed with about the show is the wealth of characters, cultures and adaptations of tactical warfare to each and every culture and terrain. Of much importance is the exhibition of the foregoing during the formative periods of the grand alliance comprising of states of West Rumeliana to form alliances between Turkiye to face against the Balt-Rhein Empire and their frightening expansionist movement. With the creation of the Tripartite Military Alliance with Greater Türkiye, Republic of Venedik, and Urado Kingdom, and the cooperation of the Cuore Alliance, the Anti-Imperial Alliance battles against the Balt-Rhein Empire in the Great Rumeliana War.; being the point towards which the show had been building.
It's a good show, the characters are great, the cultural diversity is brilliant, tactical warfare at its height. It's ingenious, it's creative and it's a brilliantly managed show; ending at the perfect time to create just enough suspense for a massive 2nd season.
Everyone must just see this show. It's what good stuffs are made of. We love this and we hope you all would too.
Kotono Kato and Kodansha have done amazing work on paper.
Noboru Takagi and Kazuhiro Furuhashi have done a brilliant job of bringing this one to the TV with aplomb! Brilliant job!
FCA'S AppR :7.8/10
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