-Story-
'Hero Tales' is as generic as the name would have you believe. Setting a story in medieval China (or a fantasy look-alike) is as common in East Asian media as setting a Western fantasy in medieval Europe. The basic plot isn't any more original, following seven warriors who are each the reincarnation of various warrior deities, with two (conveniently our protagonist and antagonist) being well-known as the most powerful while the other five pick sides. Why are they fighting? THE KARMA OF THE STARS!!! Now, the concept of fate and free will has been with humans as long we've told stories, but it can also be a crutch for the author who can use it as a cheap cop-out. In this case, 'Hero Tales' uses fate and karma as an excuse to drive the plot in the absence of developed character motivations.
The story itself actually isn't bad, but it plays so painfully and unimaginatively close to formula that there's nothing to make it good either. Anything you see here you've seen better elsewhere.
-Art-
Hiromu Arakawa created one of the most famous manga series of all time with 'Fullmetal Alchemist'. That fame creates a bit of a problem when she tries to reuse the character designs in other works- you'll be playing "Spot the FMA character" while watching this show (and judging by 'The Heroic Legend of Arslan' this is a recurring mistake for her). The quality and aesthetic are nothing impressive either, having decent animation but a very generic and simple palette - lots of bright, flat colors. The series doesn't look bad, but it doesn't look good either (noticing a trend here?)
-Sound-
When not even J. Michael Tatum can't make his character sound very interesting, the show most likely has a writing deficiency. English dub voice actors do fine, but the sound is still pretty generic (nobody is given much that's memorable to say, so there's little opportunity to shine or suck). The soundtrack does nothing special either, the OP and ED are very basic.
-Characters-
The cast wouldn't be unique even if their designs weren't copy-pasted from a stupendously better series. Taitou is the untouched archetype of a Shonen protagonist: loud, violent, not terribly bright, and a big eater. The rest stick extremely close to archetype as well: the not-related-by-blood-so-it-technically-wouldn't-be-consanguinity sister, the goofball best friend, the pirate with a good heart, the bad girl with a good heart, the warlord who wants to take over for kicks and giggles- it's all been done before. The only interesting one is the assassin Shimei, who doesn't care who actually wins so long as he gets to watch a good show- however, he's a relatively minor character. The point where I stopped watching 'Hero Tales' for the second time came when a certain character switched sides and joined the villain- because the villain said he was fighting for peace. No explanation of how his evil deeds would actually bring peace, his just stated that was his goal and this character (who knew his evil deeds full well) simply up and joined him with hardly a moment's hesitation. And that's when I left.
-Enjoyment-
It was good for a while as 'turn your brain off' fun, but with the plot taking its sweet time to get anywhere and the cast not being interesting enough to make up for it, it dropped the show. Then a few months later I took a second stab at it, nothing got better, and when the dumb plot twist I just said 'forget it' and haven't bothered with Hero Tales since. I rarely drop a series because I won't start one unless I think there's a good chance I'll like it. I took a gamble on this one and it failed.
-Overall-
'Hero Tales' doesn't actually stink, but for the same reason there's nothing good to note either: it's utterly generic. You can avoid catastrophic failure by sticking to the archetype, but you'll never be remembered for it one way or the other (people like to crap on "School Days", but they're still talking about it long after they've forgotten other more generic romantic dramas). It's not worth watching for something good, or just to see how bad it can get. Skip this lukewarm series, I doubt it's worth your time.
