In light of the unresolved ending to The Heroic Legend of Arslan's popular first season, Dust Storm Dance splits itself into two simultaneous threads. The first is following Prince Arslan's ragtag band as they continue to gather forces for the recapturing of his homeland Pars, and mostly revolves around their stay in a prosperous seaside town riddled with corruption. It's somewhat disappointing that this takes up the majority of the runtime, as it does little to advance the story we've been waiting on since the first half of the first season, but it does give us direct insight into how Arslan would oversee an unruly nation-state under his command were he to reclaim the throne, which is a good reassurance to both us and his party. The rest of the time jumps between all the other major players as the tectonic plates of power begin to shift. And they've begun to hint at a much more rapid change of structure than the ending of the first season could even hint at.
It seems like Arslan's master tactician Narsus has only gotten more and more omnipotent since the first season, and under his gaze the recapture of the seaside city Gilan goes literally without a hitch. The use of Narsus' old school friend Shagard, who has clearly fallen from the youthful ideals they once held together, is a bit contrived, obvious, and does little to pose a moral question rather than to further advertise Narsus' strengths and moral standing. Arslan's involvement in the whole affair is also lessened, with him mostly being relegated to the idealistic core of the group. By contrast the previously unimportant Alfreed stands out from the rest of the band as her clan members subjugate themselves beneath Arslan in preparation for the coming battle. Overall the sections of Arslan's group are much more monotonous and less well thought-out than they have previously been.
Thankfully the rest of the storylines have been allowed to stand out by comparison, giving us a deeper look at the brothers atop Pars' occupying force the Lusitanian, the ever-vengeful Lusitanian general Silver Mask, and even the imprisoned Pars King Andragoras, who the show all but left for dead after his defeat at the start of the story. There are backstories and machinations abound, and we finally see them not as forces instrumental in the progression of the war but as people who are worthy of instigating such change. There is double-crossing and exploitation of religion left and right, as well as a healthy dose of coincidence to keep it all fresh and grounded, and even to a certain extent unpredictable.
As a bridge between the first season and whatever finale is soon to come, it is clear that Arslan's party needed to take a backseat, to keep themselves occupied with the work of building up their forces while staying appealing enough to us, but the season might have been even better if their story had been confined to a single episode or two before yielding over to the other cast for the real meat. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Tanaka Yoshiki's writing was all but absent for the former, as it seems uncharacteristically simple for the man behind Legend of the Galactic Heroes. Either way, it remains an enjoyable-enough installment in the franchise, and it leaves us wanting for the next part, perhaps even more than the original did.