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| Overall | Art | Animation | Character Design | Music | Series Story | Episode Story | Reviewer | |
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| Buy | 8 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 9 |
 Ggultra2764
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[series:3385#1552] |
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Altair: A Record of Battles is set within the fictional empire known as the Turkiye Stratocracy where a young lord named Mahmut thwarts a couple schemes attempting to instigate war between kingdoms, yet learns the militaristic Balt-Rhein Empire is planning a large-scale expansion of their territory throughout the continent. Traveling the land, Mahmut travels to several lands to learn more of their political situations and try to persuade them into forming an alliance to halt the Balt-Rhein Empire's rapid expansion. Altair appeared to be inspired by real life historical empires with the world building it offers up, as the Balt-Rhein Empire seems comparable to Western Europe's Holy Roman Empire and the Turkiye Stratocracy being comparable to the Ottoman Empire. This is perhaps reflected in the customs, social ranks, and attires from characters within these empires as they closely reflect what is found within their real-life counterparts. This lends Altair a solid amount of world building to build upon in exploring the political and economic issues surrounding the populace of these lands, as well as what the effects of the Balt-Rhein's expansion have on them. Plus unlike most war-focused anime that focus on the battles being fought, Altair is more focused on the political dealings and strategical planning that take place behind the scenes before battles play out. This is an ongoing element to Mahmut's journeying as he better understands the political situations going on within the lands he visits, works to mend any hostilities, negotiate alliances, and fend off Balt-Rhein influence expanding within the lands he visits. The series also does a great job at exploring the developments of Mahmut's character as he finds himself caught up in the war. While a talented fighter and tactician, his idealism and lack of experience effect him in properly understanding the complicated politics between kingdoms that those within his position are expected to understand and work to handle. His traveling leads his character to gain a greater understanding of the problems facing the neighboring nations and understanding that fighting is an inevitability within the world of geopolitical affairs, which leads to a gradual change in how he plans out his negotiations and strategies with potential allies and foes alike. All the praises aside, the series may not be for everyone considering its heavy dabbling into the political affairs and strategical planning that go into battles over the action and drama that unfold with characters in battle. Plus in spite of its solid storytelling, the series does have an open ending as the battle between Turkiye and Balt-Rhein is still ongoing by the end of the series, which is sadly due to its manga source material still being ongoing as of the time I prepared this review. Still if you are looking for a war-focused anime that is more focused on political maneuvering and strategical planning, Altair is a hidden gem from 2017 that might be worth your interest to track down. Last updated Sunday, June 02 2019. Created Sunday, June 02 2019. | ||||||||
| Unevaluated |
 Stretch
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[series:3385#628] | ||||||
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(One episode watched): I think that, as is so often the case, what we have here is another unusual premise with great potential--which will never be exploited. The setting of this show is obviously an Ottoman Empire-like alternate reality in which one good, honest, ethical young man tries to influence what the nation will do while the majority demands hasty, foolhardy action. But while there's a goldmine of historical trivia that could have been used to make the setting truly exotic and alluring, here it is skin deep. A little dancing and the costumes the characters wear are about all the culture we get. Just as bad, the morals of the story are skin deep as well; just good guys versus bad ones, namely the minions of the evil, nefarious Balt-Rhein Empire. When the expression on a character's face tells you everything you need to know about their morality, don't expect a particularly clever story. And protagonist Mahmut Pasha is skin-deep too; apparently his mother was killed in the last war, so he wants to prevent another one--there, you now know about as much about him as I do. The very cool (not) eagle that he carries on his shoulder, 'Iskender', has almost as much personality as he does. The trick he used to uncover a conspiracy was very hasty and weak, and it's hard to suspend disbelief and believe that he has solved everything at a stroke. Would the bit of evidence he found really be taken seriously? I doubt it. The tactic he used to subdue a group of assassins was clearly supposed to thrill us but it was so extremely unlikely that I could only laugh at it. A major crisis in relations between two countries both appearing and being resolved in the space of 23 minutes doesn't bode well for sophistication and a deep story. Is there simply not enough space in one episode to tell a detailed story skillfully? At the end of episode one, I see no sign that much will ever come of this outwardly exotic setting, and it looks like each episode will have a hastily resolved plot that is as shallow as this one was. Last updated Thursday, July 27 2017. Created Thursday, July 27 2017. | ||||||||
