REVIEW: ‘The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War’ Mixes Goofy Characters With Political Intrigue

Lavian Winslet is an instructor with the elite North Ambrian military unit, The Northern Jaegers. But as her country is set on a collision course with its far larger neighbor, the Erobonia Empire, she will have to determine how far she is willing to go to serve and protect her people in The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War from Tatsunoko Productions.

We often hear things described as far more than the sum of their parts. When the singular elements of a story come together to craft a tale where each of these pieces amplifies the others to become something far greater than expected. Sadly, with The Legend of Heroes, the opposite is true. Rather than strong elements coming together to build something greater, this series’ separate pieces feel like they actively pull the story’s core apart rather than bring it together.

The series’ opening episodes do a good job of introducing viewers to North Ambria, its world situation, and its core cast. Given that The Legend of Heroes takes place in a long-established video game world, from the outset, there is a feeling that the world is far more extensive than what the show brings with it. This is not to say that viewers will feel lost, just that there is a fleshed-out feeling that gives the impression that they see a moment in a larger world. As I had only the briefest experience with the franchise, I was initially worried about potentially getting lost. However, the show does a great job of delivering what it needs to and never making viewers feel like they need to worry about the rest.

Once the groundwork for the show is laid out, Lavian, along with her teammates Iseria, Martin, and Talion, is assigned a recon mission to explore the Erobonian Empire, with the particular goal of learning about its mysterious hero known only as the Ashen Knight. This search for information largely devolves into a sightseeing tour where the show spends ample time letting the viewer get to know Lavian and her comrades. While these episodes are fun and deliver some good character beats, their place in the show ultimately hinders the series as a whole.

Once the group returns to North Ambria, the larger political plot kicks into gear. However, with all the time taken on Lavian’s sightseeing trip, the show is a bit crunched for time when the politicking kicks in. Also, there is a huge tonal change between The Legend of Heroes‘ plot’s two core elements, and I can easily see viewers that will love one side of this story but not the other. Setting aside these problems, I think the bulk of the series’ political story does come together fairly well, given the time it has left to explore the various factions and goals.

These personalities, places, and moments are delivered with solid animation and character designs. While they serve to get the job done and never detract from the moment they present to the viewer, they never excel. The combat moments are handled with a similar level of skill, and they are competently done but leave no lasting impression once the series has moved on to the next moment.

But while the politics of North Ambria’s world are often intriguing, the final episode is saddled with some out of nowhere reveals about the hidden players that have been manipulating the scenario all along. The bizarre and outlandish nature of the final villain and their confusing final challenge for Lavian felt completely out of place among the more grounded narrative the rest of the series lived in.

The Legend of Heroes ultimately never fully succeeds as its stories feel like a poor fit for each other. Rather than informing each half with the other, they feel like they simply deny each other time that could’ve been used better, fleshing out one coherent tale.

The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel – Northern War is streaming on Crunchyroll.