| Queen's Blade | |
Cover of the first series of the Queen's Blade gamebooks released by Hobby Japan featuring Leina. |
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| クイーンズブレイド (Kuīnzu Bureido) |
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|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Adventure, Fantasy |
| Light novel | |
| Queen's Blade: Sword of Unicorn | |
| Written by | Eiji Okita |
| Illustrated by | Eiwa |
| Published by | Hobby Japan |
| Demographic | Male |
| Imprint | HJ Bunko |
| Original run | May 1, 2007 – November 1, 2008 |
| Volumes | 5 |
| Light novel | |
| Gekitō! Queen's Blade | |
| Written by | Eiji Okita |
| Illustrated by | Hirotaka Akaga |
| Published by | Hobby Japan |
| Demographic | Male |
| Imprint | HJ Bunko |
| Published | March 1, 2008 |
| Manga | |
| Queen's Blade: Hide & Seek | |
| Illustrated by | Iku Nanazuki |
| Published by | Kadokawa Shoten |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Comp Ace |
| Original run | June 26, 2008 – June 26, 2010 |
| Volumes | 5 |
| Manga | |
| Queen's Blade Struggle | |
| Illustrated by | AstroguyII |
| Published by | ASCII Media Works |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Dengeki Black Maoh Dengeki Maoh |
| Original run | March 27, 2009 – ongoing |
| Volumes | 3 |
| Manga | |
| Queen's Blade: Wandering Warrior | |
| Illustrated by | Kabao Kikkawa |
| Published by | Media Factory |
| Demographic | Seinen |
| Magazine | Monthly Comic Alive |
| Original run | February 23, 2009 – January 23, 2010 |
| Volumes | 3 |
| TV anime | |
| Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin | |
| Directed by | Kinji Yoshimoto |
| Produced by | Hiromasa Minami Hirotaka Yoshida Kazuaki Morijiri Masaaki Yokota Shinsaku Tanaka |
| Written by | Kinji Yoshimoto |
| Music by | Masaru Yokoyama |
| Studio | ARMS |
| Licensed by | Media Blasters |
| Network | AT-X, Chiba TV, Sun Television, Tokyo MX |
| Original run | April 2, 2009 – June 18, 2009 |
| Episodes | 12 |
| Light novel | |
| Queen's Blade: Wandering Warrior | |
| Written by | Eiji Okita |
| Illustrated by | Tsutomu Miyazawa |
| Published by | Media Factory |
| Demographic | Male |
| Imprint | MF Bunko J |
| Original run | August 1, 2009 – October 1, 2009 |
| Volumes | 2 |
| TV anime | |
| Queen's Blade 2: The Evil Eye | |
| Directed by | Kinji Yoshimoto |
| Written by | Takao Yoshioka |
| Music by | Masaru Yokoyama |
| Studio | ARMS |
| Licensed by | Media Blasters |
| Network | AT-X, Tokyo MX, Chiba TV, Sun Television |
| Original run | September 24, 2009 – December 10, 2009 |
| Episodes | 12 |
| Game | |
| Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos | |
| Developer | Bandai Namco Games |
| Publisher | Bandai Namco Games |
| Genre | RPG |
| Rating | CERO: D |
| Platform | PlayStation Portable |
| Released | December 17, 2009 |
| Original video animation | |
| Queen's Blade: Beautiful Fighters | |
| Directed by | Kinji Yoshimoto |
| Written by | Hideki Shirone Michiko Ito Takao Yoshioka Toshimitsu Takeuchi |
| Studio | ARMS |
| Released | August 8, 2010 – January 9, 2011 |
| Runtime | 30 minutes (per episode) |
| Episodes | 6 |
Queen's Blade (クイーンズブレイド Kuīnzu Bureido) is a series of visual combat books published by Hobby Japan based on the licensed works from Flying Buffalo's Lost Worlds. First published in 2005, it features sexually suggestive depictions of an exclusively female cast of characters. The overall plot of the game revolves around a tournament called the Queen's Blade, which is held every four years to determine a Queen. Only young women who are considered beautiful in their hometown are allowed to enter.
The series later evolved into a media franchise, spanning four manga adaptations, three anime adaptations, three light novels, and a video game adaptation. The series is later followed by a sequel called Queen's Blade Rebellion (クイーンズブレイド リベリオン Kuīnzu Bureido Riberion), featuring all-new characters as well as remakes of previous characters, and a supplement called Queen's Gate (クイーンズゲイト Kuīnzu Geito), featuring licensed characters from other games and series. Figures of the characters made by various manufacturers, such as Kaiyodo with their Revoltech series, have also been produced along with several memorabilia.
Beginning with the 7th series, it uses all-new game rules compatible with the Lost Worlds books. At Anime Expo 2010, Hobby Japan announced that they will release English translations of the gamebooks in North America in the near future.[1]
Contents |
In the Continent, a tournament called the Queen's Blade is held every four years to determine the most beautiful and powerful Queen. Held in Gynos (ガイノス Gainosu), the Queen's Capital, various fighters from all over the Continent travel to the Capital to defeat Aldra, the current Queen. The overall story of Queen's Blade focuses on Leina, the heiress to Count Vance and next in line for the throne, as she travels to Gynos, encountering many other warriors also competing in the Queen's Blade for their own intentions.
The original gamebooks feature characters designed by many popular artists, including Hirokazu Hisayuki (My-HiME), Kazuhiro Takamura, and Eiwa.
An anime adaptation of Queen's Blade, entitled Queen's Blade: Wandering Warrior (クイーンズブレイド 流浪の戦士 Kuīnzu Bureido Rurō no Senshi), was produced by ARMS. Directed by Kinji Yoshimoto, the anime aired twelve episodes in Japan from April 2 to June 18, 2009 on AT-X, with subsequent broadcasts on Chiba TV, Sun Television, and Tokyo MX. The series aired uncensored on AT-X, while being heavily censored on other channels. Six uncut DVD and Blu-ray Disc volumes were released by Media Factory between June 25, 2009 and November 25, 2009,[21][22] each DVD/BD volume containing one of six OVAs. A second season, Queen's Blade: Successors to the Throne (クイーンズブレイド 玉座を継ぐ者 Kuīnzu Bureido Gyokuza o Tsugumono), aired on AT-X and other channels from September 24 to December 10, 2009. Six DVD/BD volumes were released by Media Factory between December 22, 2009 and May 25, 2010,[23][24] each containing six OVAs which continue from the first six.
In North America, the anime is licensed by Media Blasters under the title Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin,[25] and released three DVD volumes of the first season (each containing four episodes) between May 18 and October 26, 2010.[26][27] A Blu-ray box set of the season was later released on February 15, 2011.[28] The second season was released in North America as Queen's Blade 2: The Evil Eye, and sold two volumes (each containing six episodes) between May 24, 2011 and July 19, 2011.[29][30] A Blu-ray box set was released on September 27, 2011.[31]
An OVA series, called Queen's Blade: Beautiful Fighters (クイーンズブレイド ～美しき闘士たち～ Kuīnzu Bureido ~Utsukushiki Tōshi-tachi~), was announced on the May issue of Monthly Hobby Japan.[32] The series takes place after the events of the Queen's Blade tournament but before the Rebellion series, and chronicles the characters on their separate paths. The episodes were released on six DVD and Blu-ray volumes from August 25, 2010 to March 30, 2011.[33][34]
In July 2011, the Queen's Blade official website announced that two OADs will be bundled with the Queen's Blade Premium Visual Book and Queen's Blade Rebellion Premium Visual Book on DVD on October 29, 2011 and January 28, 2012, respectively. Produced by ARMS under the directorship of Yōsei Morino, the OVAs will take place after Beautiful Fighters, and will introduce characters from the Rebellion series.[35]
The opening theme for the first season is "Get the Door" by Rie Ohashi, while the ending theme is "Memories and Promises" (思い出と約束 Omoide to Yakusoku) by Ayako Kawasumi, Mamiko Noto, and Aya Hirano, the voices for Leina, Tomoe, and Nanael, respectively. The opening theme for the second season is "Empty Sky" (墜ちない空 Ochinai Sora) by ENA while the ending theme is "buddy-body" by Rie Kugimiya, Yuko Goto, and Kanae Ito, the voices for Melona, Menace, and Airi, respectively. For the OVA, the ending theme is "Bitōshi Carnival: Taoreru Toki wa Maemuki ni" (美闘士カーニバル～たおれる時は前向きに～) by All 19 Beautiful Warriors, consisting of the entire female voice cast of the series.
An anthology comic of Queen's Blade was published by Hobby Japan with four volumes released between April 25, 2007 and February 25, 2008.[36][37] A manga adaptation based on the first anime series was serialized in the October 2008 issue of Media Factory's seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive,[38] and released three volumes between February 2, 2009 and January 23, 2010.[39][40]
Another manga adaptation of Queen's Blade illustrated by Iku Nanazuki called Queen's Blade: Hide & Seek (クイーンズブレイド -Hide&Seek-), began serialization in the December 2007 issue of Comp Ace. A spinoff of the original, the series centers on Elina searching for her older sister Leina, and it introduces Frolell, a servant of the Vance family who travels with Elina on her journey to bring Leina back. Five tankōbon were released by Kadokawa Shoten between June 26, 2008 and June 26, 2010.[41][42]
A third manga adaptation, called Queen's Blade Struggle (クイーンズブレイド ストラグル Kuīnzu Bureido Sutoraguru), is illustrated by AstroguyII and began serialization in the December 2007 issue of Dengeki Black Maoh, and continued in Dengeki Maoh after the latter stopped circulation, albeit with new chapters delivered bimonthly. The first tankōbon was released by ASCII Media Works on March 27, 2009 under their Dengeki Comics imprint,[43] with a total of three volumes currently available as of December 18, 2010.[44]
A light novel adaptation of Queen's Blade, called Queen's Blade: Sword of Unicorn (クイーンズブレイド ソード・オブ・ユニコーン Kuīnzu Bureido: Sōdo obu Yunikōn), is illustrated by Eiji Okita with illustrations by Eiwa. The first volume was released on April 27, 2007 by Hobby Japan under their HJ Bunko imprint,[45] and released five volumes until November 1, 2008.[46] A bonus novel called Fierce Battle! Queen's Blade (激闘！クイーンズブレイド Gekitō! Kuīnzu Bureido) was published on March 1, 2008, with illustrations provided by Hirotaka Akaga.[47]
A light novel based on the first anime series, written by Okita and illustrated by Tsumotu Miyazawa, was also published by Hobby Japan, and released two volumes between August 1, 2009 and October 1, 2009.[48][49]
A role-playing game called Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos (クイーンズブレイド スパイラルカオス Kuīnzu Bureido: Supairaru Kaosu) was developed by Bandai Namco Games for the PlayStation Portable. It was released on December 17, 2009, and features all-new characters and an original storyline exclusive to the game in addition to recurring characters from the original series. A limited edition of the game, called the Gekitō Pack, was also released, featuring a Cute figure from Figma and a bonus character voice CD.[50]
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