Excalibur

Excalibur (Japanese: エクスカリバー Hepburn: Ekusukaribā) is a Japanese fantasy manga series written and illustrated by SIX and published by Shogakukan in their Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine from February 2013 to April 2021, collected into a total of 40 tankōbon volumes. The rights to the English translation of the manga are held by Viz Media, who also hold distribution rights in most of the west. Set in a world heavily based on Arthurian Legend, the series follows protagonist Gawain as he faces several challenges and attempts to prove himself as a worthy heir to his father, King Arthur.

Animation studio Eight Bit eventually developed the manga into a four season long anime, running from April of 2016 to February 2023. The studio also created a total of four theatrical films based on the series, the first titled Once and Future premiering in June 2018. The second and third were the two-part film Crusader War, the first half being released in October 2020 and the second in August 2021. The fourth and final film was released in June 2024, titled The Fair Unknown. Six OVAs were also produced for the series, all of which were also created by Eight Bit. All of these pieces of media have been translated and dubbed by Funimation, having been streamed on Funimation's own website as well as Crunchyroll and Hulu.

The series is widely praised by critics and audiences for its art, storytelling, action scenes, characters, and more, developing a dedicated fanbase of viewers and readers.

Premise
The series is a fantasy story heavily inspired by Arthurian Legend and set in the land of Albion (アルビオン Arubion), which is heavily inspired by Medieval Britain. In this land, the Kingdom of Camelot is one of the most powerful factions in the world, headed by the famous King Arthur. Gawain, a poor peasant boy, decides to journey to Camelot under the belief that Arthur is his father. Due to having no heir, Gawain is accepted as Arthur's son and begins training with the legendary Knights of the Round Table, though things are complicated when another boy named Mordred arrives and also claims to be Arthur's son. The two supposed half-brothers now must compete with each other to prove which of them is more worthy of being the heir to Camelot, with Gawain learning the code of chivalry, battling a number of foes, and trying to learn what it truly means to be a knight errant.

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 Sunday, 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
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 Sunday near the end of 2012, publishing its first chapter two months later on February 2013, running for eight years before ending in April of 2021 with a total of 40 tankōbon volumes. An English translation for the series was created and published by Viz Media, releasing an English translation of the first volume in June of 2015.

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 Shogakukan's Monthly Shōnen Sunday magazine. The series heavily reimagines the world of Excalibur and follows student versions of the protagonists attending a modern day-style school together. The series began on February 2014 and ended on October 2019. The series was translated by Viz Media just like the main series.

Also in Monthly Shōnen Sunday, a three chapter crossover with the series Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic was published from April to June 2014, with each chapter being around forty pages long. All three of these chapters were later collected into a single volume, titled Excalibur × Magi and translated by Viz Media for North American audiences in 2015.

Anime
Three years after the series' initial release, an anime adaption created by Eight Bit, best known for their work on That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime. The series is directed by Tatsuya Yoshihara, with Kazuyuki Fudeyasu handling series composition, Ryouma Ebata designing characters, and Kenji Kawai composing the music of the series.

The first season ran from April 5, 2016, to January 25, 2017, for a total of 24 episodes. For the first 12 episodes, the opening theme is "Scot Free" by American band PVRIS, while the ending is "Turning Point" by composer Yoko Kanno. From episode 13 onwards, the opening is "Hearts and Minds" by L'Arc-en-Ciel and the ending is "A Prince's Promise" by Radwimps, both of which were original songs made for the anime. The second season was announced shortly after the first's conclusion and eventually premiered on July 2, 2018, running until March 28, 2019, also having 24 episodes. For the first 12 episodes, the opening is "God" by punk pop singer-songwriter Seiko Oomori, and the ending is "Still Going Strong" by Supercell. In episode 13, these songs were replaced by "Rising Star" by The Peggies as the opening and "You're A Good Man" by Ling Tosite Sigure.

A third season was announced immediately after the end of the second, which premiered on February 6, 2021, and ran until October 24, 2021. For the first 12 episodes, the opening is "It Gets Better" by Bump of Chicken and the ending is "Never Going To Stop" by Flow. From episode 13 onwards, the opening is "The Prince" by LiSA and the ending is "Become The Sun" by Aimer. The fourth and final season of the show was announced shortly before it's premier on June 4, 2022, running until February 20, 2023. The opening theme for the first 12 episodes is "I Live Forever" by Eve, and the ending is "So Long" by American group Cigarettes After Sex. From episode 13 onwards, the opening is "Get Me Started" by Takanori Nishikawa, and the ending is "Heaven Calls" by Hiroyuki Sawano.

A total of six special OVA episodes were produced based on the series. The first two, titled The Rise of Lancelot (ランスロットの立ち上がり, Ransurotto no Tachiagari) and Gawain's Rashomon (ガウェインの羅生門, Gauein no Rashōmon), were released between seasons on February 3 and May 16, 2018, respectively. The third, titled Guinevere Diary (グィネヴィア日記, Guinevuia Nikki), was released on May 20, 2018, as a bonus episode for the first season's DVD release. Similarly, the fourth, titled Excalibur of Oz (オズのエクスカリバー, Ozu no Ekusukaribā) was released September 14, 2019, as a bonus episode of ths second season's DVD. The last two OVAs were a two-partner, titled Le Morte d'Arthur (styalized in all caps), which were released together as a television special on March 18, 2023, and serve as a "look back" on the series.

Half-way through the first season, Funimation announced that they had acquired the rights to produce an English dub for the anime, which they released only a week after the ending of the show's first season, streaming it on their website. The streaming websites Crunchyroll and Hulu also bought the rights to stream the series.

Films
, Excalibur: Crusader War, and Excalibur: The Fair Unknown

An anime film based on the series was announced shortly after the end of the first season of the series. The film, titled Excalibur: The Movie - Once and Future premiered in Japanese theaters on June 18, 2018. The film was directed by Yasuhito Kikuchi and written by Makoto Uezu, with the staff of Eight Bit returning to reprise their roles, both voice actors and animators. Crunchyroll streamed the film live to western audiences on its premier with English subtitles accompanying it as a special event.

Eight Bit later announced they were working with the series' original author SIX to make a two-part film based on his works. In an interview for Crunchyroll after the end of the anime's second season, SIX announced the title of the films, Excalibur: Crusader War Parts I and II. The first half of the film was released in Japan on October 16, 2020, while the second half was released August 4, 2021, the second half being released at the same time as the anime's third season. Both films were directed by Shōjo Kawamori and written by SIX. Both halves of the film saw temporary theatrical releases in the United States thanks to Crunchyroll.

The final film based on the series was Excalibur: The Fair Unknown, written by original series author SIX and directed by Risako Yoshida. The film premiered on June 10, 2024, and serves as an epilogue to the series, following Gawain's son Gingalain.

All of these films were licensed by Funimation and dubbed in English by them, with the original cast of the anime's dub reprising their roles for the films.

Video games
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 and three DLCs were released for it, the first a few months later on May 8, 2020, while the second and third released on December 22, 2022, and June 29, 2023, both coming out a few months after the third and fourth seasons.

A mobile game based on the series was announced to be in development and would eventually release on June 15, 2021. The game is titled Excalibur: War for Albion and is a turn based RPG with a gacha system that allows players to unlock characters for their party line-ups. The game was developed and published by Bandai Namco.

Other media
Two ongoing light novel series were produced based on the series. The first, titled Excalibur: Dinadan the Coward (エクスカリバー 臆病者のディナダン, Ekusukaribā: Okubyōmono no Dinadan), released from July 2015 to December 2017 and was a prequel following Dinadan, while the second, Excalibur: Little Boy Lost (エクスカリバー 迷子になった小さな男の子, Ekusukaribā: Maigo ni Natta Chīsana Otokonoko), ran from August 2016 to October 2019 and followed Mordred.

There were also a total of three comedic Drama CDs released from April to September of 2017. They are titled Nectar of the Gods (神々の蜜, Kamigami no Mitsu), The Humiliating Celebration (屈辱的なお祝い, Kutsujoku-Tekina Oiwai), and I Won't Wear That!! (それは着ないよ！！, Sore wa Kinai Yo!!), and all three were later bundled together and released as Excalibur: Three Incredible Stories (エクスカリバー 3つの素晴らしい物語, Ekusukaribā: 3Ttsu no Subarashī Monogatari) on February 2018. A thirty-minute long special Drama CD was also released and given to Japanese fans who preordered the Excalibur: Cleave game. The special is titled Strange World (奇妙な世界, Kimyōna Sekai) and follows the characters stuck in the modern world. This CD was later translated and uploaded to the internet by Crunchyroll under the name Excalibur: Strangers in a Strange Land, featuring the cast of the anime's dub reprising their roles.

Reception
Excalibur has been widely praised by audiences for its characters, art, story, and action scenes. The manga for the series was put 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 character designs in particular have been praised, with one critic claiming that "everyone looks so unique. You could easily point at them in a crowd and tell what they were from". The artwork is also enjoyed by western audiences for having a less traditional anime style, which they claim makes it stand out among other stories, although it a common complaint is that SIX struggles with drawing characters from high and low angles. The series has also been criticized for having a lack of female characters and for the fact many important plot points in the series take a long time to be revealed.

Many cosplays and fan art for the series has been created from both western and Japanese audiences to show their appreciation for the series and its characters. In 2019, series protagonist Gawain was featured in the Crunchyroll Anime Awards under the category "Best Boy", losing to Deku from My Hero Academia. Overall, the series is heavily enjoyed by audiences, with volume 16 of the series even becoming Weekly Shōnen Sunday's best selling manga for that year.