Hello and welcome to Project Nitsuj. One genre of anime that doesn’t get the attention it deserves is historical anime. I remember back in school, one of my favorite subjects was history and in the 2010s there were some good historical/fantasy animes that were hits but sadly never got sequels. Animes such as Arslan Senki, Akatsuki no Yona, and today’s anime Shoukoku no Altair. Released in 2007 and by Kotono Kato, Shoukoku no Altair never got the recognition it deserved during it’s run which came to an end in 2023. Based loosely off The Ottoman Empire, Shoukoku no Altair follows the story of a young man and his quest for peace. In 2017, MAPPA, who had all eyes on them after their big hit Yuri on Ice would go on to have an eventful year releasing five animes with Shoukoku no Altair being one of them. Next to Kakegurui this was favorite anime to come from the studio in 2017. Let’s give this series the recognition it deserves. This is Shoukoku no Altair.
Opening and Ending Theme
The first opening is “Rasenno Yume” by SID. One thing I’ve learned from listening to SID is that their songs go great with animes, and this song is no exception. It feels like it was tailored-made for this anime. I like the beginning of the song and the sound matches up well with the time period this anime is taking place in. Overall, I thought the song was okay. I didn’t listen to it each episode but like I said, a good fit for the anime.
For the first ending we have “Taiyou no Elegy” by FLOWER. I’m pretty neutral on this song. It didn’t leave that much of an impact on me when I heard it. In fact, I actually forgot this was the ending. However, it’s not a bad song in my opinion.
Episodes 1-4
The anime begins in Torype this world’s version of Turkey (alright, get your turkey jokes out of the way so we can continue the review) where in this world Torype is a powerful empire that is now on the brink of war with another country and our main character Mahmut voiced by Ayumu Murase (Ginro from Dr. Stone) known as the Golden Eagle is doing everything in his power to prevent in all-out war from taking place. He’s just been granted the title of pasha (which is a title equivalent to knighthood in Britain and served a major role in the Ottoman Empire back in the day) and is at a festival with his friend who forces him to dance with this dark-skinned beauty named Shara (please say she’s permanent?) who steals his house key and sneaks into his house (alright my man moves fast). Not wanting to endanger her life traveling home at night, he allows her to stay in his house while he sleeps on the roof (good grief). The next day an emergency meeting is called because the prime minister of the Balt-Rhein Empire has been found dead near the west border of Torype and his body is riddled with Torype arrows (I bet they taste delicious. Okay, I got my turkey joke out of the way, on with the review) and are naturally pissed (he had the best liquor in the whole damn empire). They demand that Torype send one of their generals to their empire to explain what this is all about within 7 days or they’ll declare this assassination as a declaration of war. The politicians of Torype are split in two, some want to go to war (warmongers) while others want to avoid a war at all cost (pacifists). Mahmut believes they were setup by the empire and sure enough he’s right. Upon examining an arrow that was used to kill the prime minister he noticed a distinct difference in their material and goes to notify the other pashas but he’s too late. His good friend and ally Halil has volunteered to go to the empire for delegations where they will most likely kill him (anything to start that war). Mahmut goes with him as his bodyguard where he tells Halil about his discovery but they both know this won’t be enough to sway the delegations in their favor (we need a stool pigeon). Lucky for them, assassins from the empire try to take them out but Mahmut predicted this and set up a trap to catch them (worst assassins ever). With the arrow and stool pigeons as evidence that this was all a ploy by the empire’s own government to start a war, the delegations work in their favor and they avoid war (for the time being).
In episode 2 there’s been an uprising in Hiser which is being led by Ibrahim. They’ve declared themselves an independent state and have established martial law teaming up with the Araba tribe. This is bad because Hiser is the first line of defense against the Balt-Rhein Empire and now that they’re rebelling, Turkey’s kingdom is open to attack. Since the area of the uprising is under Zaganos (one of the warmongers) jurisdiction, he readies his troops to go out and take control of the land by force (why is everybody so bloodthirsty in this anime? I know the Internet hasn’t been invented yet but find something better to do in your free time). Mahmut knows that Ibrahiam isn’t the kind of guy to endanger his people like this so he heads out with Shara to investigate. We then cut to Hiser where we see Ibrahiam and the people are all being held as hostages by the Araba tribe who want to establish their own nation with the empire’s help. The leader of the Arabas says he’ll let everyone go safely once the empire’s forces have arrived. However, what he didn’t expect was Zaganos to arrive sooner than the empire’s forces so now his plans have been all messed up and we’re about to have the possibility of an all-out war between Zaganos’s army, Ibrahim’s soldiers who are being forced to protect the city, and the empire’s forces disguised as tribe men from the Araba tribe coming from the other side of the city (no matter which way to look at it, it’s a clusterfuck of epic proportions). The smart thing to do would be to let Zaganos’s army into the city to show them Hiser is still with Turkey but with his family and the families of others in danger the risk is just too big to take meaning he has to ask his faithful soldiers to die. Mahmut and Shara make it into the city (man security is weak, how is Zaganos having such a hard time getting in?) where Mahmut reveals the plans of the empire to the people of Araba and a soldier from the empire goes after Mahmut who lures him into a one on one fight. Mahmut manages to best him in a sword duel but the soldier threatens to blow a whistle which would signal the others to burn the tent and this forces Mahmut to stand down and take a beating (all while we the audience yell: CALL IN YOUR EAGLE! They solve everything! Just look at Lord of the Rings).
Not much to say about episode 3. We see that our cries for the eagle at the end of episode 2 were only the small detail in the big picture as the eagle was gathering other eagles to lift the tent away from the hostages saving them (good plan). With the hostages safe and the people of Araba realizing they were tricked, they turn on the empire, Ibrahim sends out a messenger, and opens the gates to let Zaganos’s army in and inform them of the situation. Once the dust has settled and everyone is safe Mahmut allows the people of Araba to go freely without harming anyone saying that harming them would only incite neighboring countries (yeah but can we at least kill one of them to send a message?). After this, Mahmut, Ibrahim, and Zaganos are bought before a Divan (a trial of sorts if you will) for their actions. Zaganos for mobilizing troops without permission, Ibrahim for being a part of a rebellion, and Mahmut for acting on his own and interfering in places where he shouldn’t. The three represent themselves (not something I recommend you do in a court of law), explain the reason behind their actions, and then the pashas deliberate if what they did was right or wrong and deserving of punishment. Zaganos and Ibrahim are found innocent but Mahmut is found guilty (makes sense. He acted on personal emotions instead of thinking of the country. He got lucky on this whole situation, because there’s a good chance he could have been wrong about Ibrahim and this would have come back to bite him in the ass. While helping out his friends is a noble gesture, he’s a pasha and a pasha must think about the country instead of his own personal feelings). As punishment, Mahmut loses his title as pasha and is demoted one rank while being put under the watch of Vali. After talking to Vali, Mahmut realizes his mistakes (yes, you’re a noble idiot) and realizes that Turkey is about to go to war. Zaganos gives Mahmut some trinket which holds information about his spy network as a way to thank Mahmut for his actions.
In episode 4 Mahmut decides to go on a journey of knowledge and growth and returns to his homeland where he meets Kara Kanat Suleyman chief of the Kulak clan who are the main operators of Zaganos’s spy network and just like Mahmut is a survivor of that terrible night (although he wasn’t there during that night). Once he heard of what became of his village he returned and fell into depression wandering the land until he came across Zaganos who said he can use his talents in 5 years when he became a pasha. 5 years passed and Zaganos found Suleyman (wow, talk about fulfilling a 5-year promise) where he established the spy network with Suleyman as the leader. In the climax of the episode the empire has sent their rod arm troops after Zaganos’s spy network and so far have killed quite a few of them. They’re now in the village to kill another spy, but Mahmut, Suleyman, and the spy fight them off. Despite Mahmut messing up twice (you’ve gotta learn to trust others and be patient in combat), they manage to beat the rod arm troops but their leader escaped thanks to her two soldiers who set themselves on fire to let her escape. After this Mahmut continues on his journey where his next stop is Phoinike.
Episodes 5-8
Mahmut arrives in Phoinike in episode 5 where he gets told by Kiros a member of Kulak clan that trouble is on the horizon (yeah trouble seems to follow Mahmut everywhere he goes nowadays). Once in the city he gets summoned to meet Konstantinos the Magistros of Phoinike a man who is fully aware of Mahmut’s reputation and seeks his help in dealing with the empire who wants Phoinike to cede a section of their port to the empire’s fleet in 10 days or else (well that’s just rude on their part). He explains that 5 years ago, the empire entered a trade agreement with another kingdom in the city of Tharros and now the surrounding kingdoms are afraid of who the empire will attack. Konstantinos wants the empire to attack Phoinike as it’ll give them a chance to teach the empire a lesson. The kingdom’s senate comes together and puts it to a vote where they decide to go to war with the empire. Konstantinos is confident in their victory because one, they have a great wall which is easy to defend and protects the city, and two, their close allies the Venedik are masters in naval warfare. For the first 15 days the soldiers of Phoinike do a good job protecting the great wall (it’s raining arrows) and the city is still peaceful with high morale but soon they’ll run out of supplies and the Venedik fleets haven’t arrived yet despite being called 9 days ago. Mahmut thinks the empire has bribed the Venedik army to fight with them (he is of course right) and believes they should send someone to Venedik to get the reinforcements themselves. Mahmut offers to go wanting to help out in any way he can but Konstantinos says no. Mahmut decides to take matters into his own hands and Kiros offers to assist him in breaking through the empire’s blockade.
Alright, we get some action in episode 6. As Mahmut and Kiros are preparing to set off with their crew, a few deserters from the empire approach the wall of Phoinike and beg for sanction (blow them to hell). Phoinike grants them sanction and opens the gate believing it’ll give them enough time to reclose the gate once the deserters are in but thanks to a tailwind a ship of the empire manages to make it into the harbor and since Konstantinos was so confident that no one could get past their defenses, he doesn’t have any ships on standby to stop the empire ship from reaching the port (https://youtu.be/qileP4bAzek). Luckily for them, Mahmut and Kiros stop them and manage to capture them as prisoners of war but it turns out their goal wasn’t to reach the port but rather to distract them from their ground forces who snuck in using the cliffs and manage to get inside the city (ohh~ they got you good).
In episode 7 the empire sets fire to the city of Phoinike (I for one find this quite fitting. The senators were too drunk on their ideals and underestimated their opponent. As punishment their city is burning for their own foolishness). Realizing that the city will be done for if they continue to fight, the senate agrees to surrender to the empire (smartest choice they’ve made all day) and raise the white flag. With the city lost Kiros prepares to smuggle Mahmut out of the city and he plans to go with him as he wants to see the world and vows to return one day to reclaim his city. Konstantinos gets killed trying to talk about his ideals to the empire (boy, ain’t nobody got time for that. Die) and Mahmut and Kiros escape the city via boat and head out to sea where they get picked up by the Venedik armada which is good seeing as how Mahmut suffered a serious chest wound and needs medical attention asap. The captain of the armada, Berga, offers them asylum in Venedik and medical treatment but before Mahmut can get medical treatment he wants to know why Venedik turned their backs on Phoinike (because they were too stuck on their ideals. Didn’t we establish this already?). But before he can get answers he passes out from his wound and spends most of the trip resting in bed until they finally arrive in Venedik (which pays homage to Venice City). Once he arrives, Mahmut asks to meet Lucio the doge (the pope) to get answers on why Venedik betrayed Phoinike.
Episode 8 opens up with Lucio answering Mahmut’s question. According to the treaty between Venedik and Phoinike, a fleet would be deployed immediately should Phoinike request assistance from Venedik but the treaty never specified when the fleet would arrive (that is so low yet so funny at the same time because he’s right. This is why paying attention to detail matters). As for the matter of the empire, Venedik shows favoritism to no nation and values peace and prosperity above all else. As long as the empire doesn’t do anything that interferes with their values or obstructs them in any way, Venedik will gladly form a treaty with them (again, he’s got a point. Why kill a fly if it’s not bothering you? Simply open the window and send it on its way). After their talk with Lucio, Mahmut and Kiros decide to explore the city and get an idea of what the people are like. They first decide to find the kulak of Venedik but Abiriga the second in command of Brega’s ship tells them there aren’t any kulak in the city because the city has a system that’s somewhat similar to the kulak’s spy system where sailors share information amongst themselves (meaning the kulak system would be useless in this town). We get to learn about Abiriga’s past such as how he was a slave in Tharros and escaped by jumping into the ocean (not the smartest move on his part). He got saved by Brega where he thanked him by slashing himself with a sword giving him a scar across his face (to be fair, that scar is badass) and Brega seeing the potential in Abiriga paid off the slave traders and made Abiriga his first mate. Now Abiriga hopes to pay back Brega for giving him his freedom (but with his pay it’ll be a while). As they all eat, a ship has an accident and loses all of its cargo. This is bad because that ship contained Abiriga’s spice investment and now that cargo is gone and he has no insurance. Not to mention what he did violates the trade laws because he invested in another company outside of his own (wow, you really screwed yourself over on this one Abiriga). As punishment Abiriga will be exiled with no exception at a public trial set to take place tomorrow. When Mahmut finds out he was set up (wasn’t that obvious?) he decides he wants to help Abiriga and the first step to his plan is gaining money. In order to get money, Mahmut gambles in chess and takes on 20 people at the same time in order to get money. He wins 700 ducats (which I’m going to assume is a lot of money) and uses that to pay off all of Abiriga’s debts meaning Abiriga is now indebted to Mahmut and must now serve him in order to pay him back (just like Brega planned).
Episodes 9-13
We start episode 9 with the sultans of the big nations coming together in Turkey to put to vote on what they want to do about the empire. Will they stand down and allow the empire to run wild (like a forest fire) or will they form a federation and take the fight to the empire (showing that they have balls). To the shock of everyone in the room the votes are tallied up and the majority of the sultans have opposed the war (you cowards). Back with Mahmut and his group they reach Liman a city by the coast still under Turkish rule and hasn’t been touched by the empire as of yet. They try to go to the shrine but it’s been closed off. Abiriga hears people down below so they enter the well and make their way into the temple underground where a lot of angry people with swords are there to greet them (sounds like me whenever I enter a restaurant that supports Trump except replace the swords with guns). Before a fight can break out they get saved by Beyazit the kulak stationed in Liman as well as the younger brother of one of the sultans, Balaban, and with him is a girl named Aishe who is the daughter of the sultan in Balta Sultanlu and the niece of Beyazit. Mahmut learns about the sultans opposing the federation of their nations and goes to talk to Balaban who we find out is gay (Mira: A homosexual in those times being respected. What are the odds? (Nitsuj): Well to be fair every nation at this time had different viewpoints on homosexuality and bisexuality and wasn’t until religious groups got involved that it became frowned upon. Plus, the guy’s a sultan so I highly doubt anybody is going to mouth off to him about his sexuality) and he’s got the same voice as Zoro from One Piece (did the VA get lost going to the set of One Piece again?). Mahmut really doesn’t get much intel out of him and Balaban turns his attention to Beyazit and Aishe who is on the run after a failed coup in her country. He burns the water shrine palace to the ground but Beyazit and the others escape using a whirlpool. Balaban then asks (or forces) Bahamut and the others to stay at his palace where we find out he’s in league with the empire. Mahmut and the others attempt to escape disguised as Balaban’s soldiers but Balaban gathers up all his soldiers and inspects their faces finding Mahmut easily because he only allows beautiful men to be his soldiers. Luckily, Mahmut and the others manage to turn this situation in their favor by extinguishing the flames and knock out Balaban and a few soldiers to escape through the palace’s aqueducts where they come face to face with Rod Orm.
Episode 10 starts off with Mahmut taking on Rod Orm himself where he does a good job. He kills two members and even disarms their leader (literally). However, before he can finish off the leader, Balaban’s soldiers come looking for them and they have to make a run for it. They get rescued by Suleyman who comes to pick them up while Beyazit and Aishe act as a distraction to cover their escape. Once they all meet back up, Suleyman tells Mahmut that he is under direct orders from Zaganos to start a rebellion and overthrow the 4 sultans who opposed the federation of countries (and in case things go south and this fails, Mahmut will be their scapegoat). Of course Mahmut realizes the full scope of Zaganos’s plan but still accepts the mission to bring down the 4 sultans (I’m starting to like you Mahmut). His plan is to have Beyazit and Aishe take over the position of two of the sultans and they try to get in to Mujher the capital city of Buchak but wanted posters of them are up (and they look good). Suleyman and Mahmut sneak in with Mahmut disguised as a woman (well they played that card later than I expected) and discover that Buchak is building a trading outpost between them and the empire which will not only increase their share of jewelry but doom the Torqye Pashalu once it’s completed. The coup has to be staged quickly so Mahmut splits the groups into two teams. Suleyman and Beyazit will stay in Buchak to find a pro-Torqye while Mahmut, Aishe, and the others will go to Kuluch to look for a pro-Torqye as well. Mahmut’s team arrives in Kuluch safely and gets shelter in a villa thanks to Orhan the fiancé of Aishe (I can just tell she wears the pants in this relationship). He manages to arrange a meeting with them and Selim the sultan of Kuluch who wears a mask at all times and is the father of Orhan. The meeting goes about as well as listening to the dub of your favorite anime and finding out the voices don’t match up as Mahmut and the others get locked up by Selim. Later on, he sneaks into their prison and reveals that him betraying the Torqye isn’t something he wants to do but he has no choice. Kuluch is a small nation at the mercy of the other nations and if Selim didn’t join the empire then Balaban or the empire would have crushed Kuluch in no time. While Selim wants to help them, he’s in no position to oppose the other nations but Aishe has a plan, use her and Orhan’s wedding to get the other sultans to come out and round them all up in the wedding hall thus making the coup a success (good idea. Orhan you’re a lucky man. You’re marrying a woman who’s both smart and beautiful. What more could you ask for?). Even if the sultans don’t come, Selim can step down as sultan and transfer all power to his son and that’ll void the alliance Kuluch has with the empire (as long as Orhan and Aishe stay alive it’ll be their win. Let’s get this red wedding started). Back with Suleyman and Beyazit, they get captured by Ismail the son of Uzun the sultan of Buchak and a man who has 45 sons (apparently no one never taught him how to use a condom or keep it in his pants). Rather than turn them in Ismail wants to team up with them saying that the new road would leave Buchak open to invasion however he doesn’t like their odds as the combined power of the other sultans is around 23,500 men (roughly 4 times the men power of Mahmut’s coup and even if they do have the better commanders the odds are just too much to overcome). Beyazit speaks up and shows Ismail their secret weapon, 77 rifles.
Alright, things get interesting in episode 11. Let’s get the disturbing part out of the way first. Aishe has a crush on Beyazit (you and Natsuki from Summer Wars need therapy. The man is old enough to be your father). The other sultans learn about the assassination attempt thanks to pasha Salim and head to Kuluch prepared to destroy it (this really will be a red wedding). This works in Zaganos’s favor as he and the other pashas plan to take over the cities of the sultans while they’re away (keep their attention on something else while we attack them from behind). Once Mahmut and the others find out about this, Selim turns on the group and plans to hand over Aishe, Mahmut, and the others in an effort to save Kuluch from the wrath of the sultans, but Orhan shows his resolve and love for Aishe by killing his own father to protect her and claiming the throne as the new sultan. He has his troops stand down and tells them to follow Mahmut’s orders.
In episode 12 there’s really not much to say. Mahmut takes control and Balaban thinking this’ll be a rabbit hunt goes to face them himself. What happens next is an amazing series of strategies and tactics from Bahamut (that you honestly have to watch) where he’s able to take out a majority of Balaban’s troops (all those beautiful men killed by one’s ignorance) but Balaban refuses to surrender and continues to fight with what he has left. Mahmut lures him into a canyon where they get boxed in and Beyazit and Ismail use the guns to finish him off (you don’t send a rabbit, after a fox) where Balaban dies in the hands of Beyazit who delivers the final shot.
Episode 13 shows us the conclusion of this civil war. Once Mahmut returns to the palace with the head of Balaban (talk about losing all that body weight), Uzun and Fatma (the sultan of Balta and mother of Aishe) retreat trying to pass through the ravines which is a bad move because it’s nighttime and this is unfamiliar territory to them (they’re screwed). Using the sound of the rifles to scare the soldiers, Uzun gets thrown from his carriage and left to die where he gets killed by Ismail (killed by your own son. It’s like something out of a mafia movie). Fatma and her son get better treatment by just getting captured however Aishe says her as well as her younger brother Kemal must die in order for her to become sultan (Seras: This girl is my spirit character). We get a little backstory into Aishe’s family life. After her father fell ill and died, Fatma was named sultan in accordance with his will and the nobles didn’t like being ruled by a woman (it was a very different time period) and instead wanted Cassiam (Fatma’s brother-in-law) to be sultan. Aishe and her family lived every day fearing for their lives until Balaban came and killed Cassiam however he spared the life of the conspirators in order to keep Fatma under his control. They finally reach a decision that Fatma will die by poisoning tomorrow at sundown (a quick and painless death for a woman turned into a puppet). Kemel will be allowed to live and shall become the next sultan of Balta when he turns 15. Until then, Balta and Kemel will be under the control of Aishe and anyone who was conspiring to kill them will be dealt with a swift and deadly fashion. The next day comes where Fatma drinks the poison but doesn’t die because Mahmut decides to spare her. She’ll be moved to the outskirts of town and will be allowed to see Aisha and Kemel from time to time. With this, the civil war is over, the new sultans take the throne, and the union is formed to fight against the empire. Mahmut gets recognized for his part in the civil war and gets promoted to pasha (he’s back bitches). With him back in the seat of pasha he proposes that they do a preemptive strike on the empire before they attack first. Many of the pashas are against this because the civil war costs them the lives of 7000 men and they just don’t have the manpower to strike. Mahmut then proposes using their economic strength to raise an army. Since nobody specializes in strategies that don’t rely on military might and Mahmut has no assigned role, he gets made minister of foreign affairs and gets assigned the mission of making funds for their war with the empire (he’s a good chess player).
And we’ll stop here for now. Join me next week as we take a look at the second half of Altair. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj.