Excalibur

Excalibur (Japanese: エクスカリバー Hepburn: Ekusukaribā) is a Japanese fantasy manga series published by Shogakukan in their Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine since February 14, 2013. The series is set in a fictional fantasy world and is heavily based on the legend of King Arthur. An English translation of the manga was published by Viz Media since May 9, 2015.

An anime based on the manga produced by MAPPA was announced and eventually premiered on July 18, 2016. A second season premiered on September 20, 2017, followed by a third on August 24, 2018, and a fourth on November 16, 2019. The fifth season originally predicted to air in September of 2020, but it eventually aired on January 5 of 2021, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A sixth and final season aired on May 9, 2022.

There were also two films made that were based on the series. The first was Excalibur: Once and Future, released on December 20, 2018, with the second, Excalibur: Malice Awoken, being released on July 16, 2020.

Plot
Main article: List of Excalibur Characters

The series is set in a fictional fantasy world and mostly set in the fictional nation of Britonia (ブリトニア, Buritonia) in the country of Camelot, which is based on the kingdom from Arthurian legend. The series follows a young man named Gawain, who comes from a poor family that he struggles to support. After discovering that he may be the son of King Arthur, ruler of Camelot and wielder of the magic sword Excalibur, he travels to Arthur's castle and confronts him, hoping to gain a way of supporting his family. However, in exchange for Arthur supporting Gawain's family, Gawain must join Arthur's Knights of the Round Table and agree to be his heir, as Arthur has none. While training to be Arthur's heir, Gawain gets to know his fellow knights better and battles against many enemies of both Camelot and Arthur, while also competing with his supposed half-brother Mordred to become the rightful heir of Camelot.

Manga
Main article: List of Excalibur Chapters

Excalibur, like many other mangas, started off as a one-shot, then referred to by the slightly longer title Excalibur: The Story of Camelot (エクスカリバー：キャメロットの物語), which was published by Shogakukan and was later picked up for a full series. As of today, the manga has been collected into around 40 tankōban volumes, collected since July 15. An English translation of the manga was also released by Viz Media on May 9, 2015.

Anime
Main article: List of Excalibur Episodes

Will be added soon.

Film
Main articles: Excalibur: Once and Future and Excalibur: Malice Awoken 

Mid-way through the third season, it was announced that MAPPA had been working on a film since the end of season two and that it would premiere in December. On December 20, the film, Excalibur: Once and Future (エクスカリバー:ONCE&FUTURE, Ekusukaribā: ONCE & FUTURE) was released to the public. Sometime later, on July 16, 2020, a second film called Excalibur: Malice Awoken (エクスカリバー：キャメロットの下にある悪, Ekusukaribā: Kyamerotto no shita ni aru aku, "Excalibur: Evil Beneath Camelot) was released.

Both films were also dubbed by Funimation, with the dub of Once and Future being released on February 13, 2019, and the Malice Awoken dub being released on October 2, 2020. Both the Japanese and English dubs feature the series' original cast reprising their roles for the films.

Video Games
Main article: Excalibur: Cleave

On July 16, 2019, it was announced a video game was in the works and was being developed by Arc System Works, who are known for their work on the BlazBlue series. The game was released on January 5, 2020, by Bandai Namco under the name Excalibur: Cleave (styalized as Excalibur: CLEAVE) for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and Microsoft Windows. The game featured most of the characters introduced in the anime up until that point. Three DLCs for the game were released. One a few months after the game's release and the other two released alongside the seasons that followed the game's initial release.