Excalibur

Excalibur (Japanese: エクスカリバー Hepburn: Ekusukaribā) is a Japanese fantasy manga series written by SIX and published by Akita Shoten in their Weekly Shōnen Champion magazine since February 2013. The rights to the English translation of the manga are held by Viz Media. Set in a world heavily based on Arthurian Legend, the series follows protagonist Gawain was he faces several challenges and attempts to prove himself as a worthy heir to his father, King Arthur.

An anime based on the manga produced by White Fox was announced and eventually premiered on July 18, 2016.

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.

Premise
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 protagonist of the series is Gawain, who is a poor teenager with a keen mind that longs for a greater life. After an encounter with a mysterious old man, Gawain is informed that he is likely the child of King Arthur, ruler of Camelot, and he immediately seeks him out. Arthur, whose wife is unable to have children, decides to take Gawain in as his heir due to not having any other choice. Gawain is also trained by the Knights of the Round Table, Arthur's elite group of soldiers who act as a kind of found family for the boy. However, things are complicated when another boy known as Mordred arrives, also claiming to be Arthur's son, which immediately sparks a rivalry between himself and Gawain. Now Gawain must prove himself worthy as heir while competing with Mordred and battling numerous enemies, whether they be rival kings or powerful magical entities.

Publication
Excalibur began as a web comic published by Japanese American manga author SIX (whose real name is unknown), published to his Twitter account and drawn with pencils some time around 2012. The web comic set up the eventual main storyline of the manga, following Gawain in medias res, was inspired by the fact SIX had been reading up on Arthurian legend. SIX was a native English speaker and grew up most of his life in America, so he had heard of King Arthur and enjoyed the myth. However, as SIX continued to research more and more about the characters and myths, he developed more and more ideas for a potential storyline for the comic, which made him decide to scrap all of his original plans and try to get the comic officially published. He was promptly rejected by every manga publisher he pitched it to due to the fact he had only ever published one shots before, which left them not trusting him with a long-running series. SIX was ready to publish the manga online as a rebooted web comic, only to get an email from Weekly Shōnen Champion, who informed him that his rejection letter had actually been sent by mistake and that his manga had been picked up.

As he began working on the series, he based the characters on how he personally saw them based on his interpretations of the work. Because of this, he intentionally altered things from the myth, such as making Gawain Arthur's son rather than his nephew, as he believed that they had more of a paternal bond. He also plotted out most of the important character's backstories and decided on the "big moments" of the manga early on, but left the rest up to his whims, wanting to add an air of chaos and unpredictability to it, though he did write notes of how some stories should go. According to SIX, the most challenging thing about the manga art-wise was deciding on Mordred's design, as he couldn't figure out one that showed off his personality well. At one point, Mordred had bright purple hair, a stark contrast to his current black and white hair, which was rejected for being "too cute". He also decided upon the character's dynamics early, comparing them to how a family would operate, stating things like how Gawain and Mordred are the sons of the family that always fight, Arthur is the strict father, Lancelot is the beloved uncle, so on and so forth.

Manga
Main article: List of Excalibur Chapters

Originally, the manga was a web comic published to SIX's Twitter account for fun, the first page of which was posted around 2012. The web comic was pitched and picked up by Weekly Shōnen Champion near the end of 2012, publishing its first chapter two months later on February.

Spin-Offs
A comedic spin-off drawn in a super deformed style and written by manga author Enji Fukuya was published around the same time as the first season of the anime known as Excalibur Academy Knight Club (エクスカリバー学園の騎士部, Ekusukaribā gakuen no kishi-bu) in Akita Shoten's Bessatsu Shōnen Champion magazine. The series heavily reimagines the world of Excalibur and follows student versions of the protagonists attending a modern day-style school together.

Anime
Main article: List of Excalibur Episodes

Around three years after the initial publication of the manga in July of 2016, an anime adaption was released, airing on various JNN associated channels and being animated by White Fox, most known for their work on the series Akame ga Kill!, Re:Zero, and more. Rights to localize the anime where eventually purchased by Funimation, with an English dub of the anime being released almost immediately after the first season wrapped up.

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

Mid-way through the third season, it was announced that White Fox 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.

Reception
The series has recieved overwhelming praise for its characters, which have been complimented on their character designs, personalities, and intricate backstories, and has also become beloved for its story. It was ranked number six on a list of "20 manga you should be reading today" by Comic Book Resources as well as coming in third on a similar list by Game Rant, "top 10 fantasy manga from recent years". The fandom for the series exploded with the release of the anime, with various cosplays, fan arts, and more coming out based on it. However, the series has been criticized for its lack of female characters, as most of the primary protagonists of the series are male, as well as the fact that it takes a while for some important plot points to be revealed, which could get frustrating. Overall though, the series is very much beloved among its fans and the series has become a best seller for Weekly Shōnen Champion, with the volume 16 tankōbon even managing to briefly become the most sold tankōbon out of all of Akita Shoten's manga that year.