Writer Yoshiki Tanaka who wrote Arslan Senki in 1986, based it loosely upon the 19th-century Persian folktale of Amir Arsalan-i Namdar.
Based on a Japanese fantasy novel series written by Yoshiki Tanaka. It was published from 1986 to 2017, with sixteen novels and one side-story in the official guidebook Arslan Senki Dokuhon. The story and setting is inspired by the history and mythology of ancient Persia.
Yoshiki Tanaka's The Heroic Legend of Arslan was adapted into a manga in November 1991. The manga caught up with the novel and received an original ending in September 1996. The manga received a six-part (unfinished) OVA.
The first two OVA episodes were released as "movies", which is why each one is an hour long, rather than the traditional half-hour, and were produced by Kadokawa Shoten and Sony Music Entertainment Japan. A second OVA series that followed up the first OVAs was released in 1995. Both OVAs were licensed by Central Park Media and were released on DVD and VHS.