Queen's Blade


Queen's Blade is a series of visual combat books published by Hobby Japan inspired by the licensed works from Firelight Game Company's Lost Worlds. First published in 2005, it features erotic and 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 once every four years to determine a Queen.
Since its original release, the series has evolved into a media franchise, spanning four manga adaptations, three anime adaptations, three light novels, and a video game adaptation. Figures of the characters made by various manufacturers, such as Kaiyodo with their Revoltech series, have also been produced along with several memorabilia.
A sequel series, Queen's Blade Rebellion, was launched in 2009.

Story

In the Continent, a tournament called the Queen's Blade is held once every four years to determine the most beautiful and powerful Queen. Held in Gainos, 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 of the esteemed Vance Family and next in line for the throne, as she travels to Gainos, 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, Kazuhiro Takamura, and Eiwa.

Media

Gamebooks

At Anime Expo 2010, Hobby Japan announced that English translations of the gamebooks will be released in North America. There exist English versions for the characters Alleyne, Melona, Nanael and Tomoe.

Anime

An anime adaptation of Queen's Blade, entitled Queen's Blade: Exiled Warrior, 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 DVD and Blu-ray volumes were released by Media Factory between June 25, 2009 and November 25, 2009, each DVD/BD volume containing one of six OVAs. A second season, Queen's Blade: Successors to the Throne, 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, each containing six OVAs which continue from the first six.
An OVA series, called Queen's Blade: Beautiful Fighters, was announced on the May issue of Monthly Hobby Japan. A prelude to events of Queen's Blade Rebellion, the series takes place after the events of the Queen's Blade tournament 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.
In North America, the first and second anime adaptations are licensed by Media Blasters under the respective titles Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin and Queen's Blade 2: The Evil Eye. The first season was released between May 18 and October 26, 2010 as three DVD volumes, each containing four episodes, while the second season was released between May 24, 2011 and July 19, 2011 as two half-series volumes. Blu-ray box sets of the two seasons were later released on February 15, 2011 and September 27, 2011, respectively. Sentai Filmworks has licensed the Beautiful Fighters OVAs and will release them on digital and home video formats. On May 11, 2017, the channel Toku announced that the first season would be broadcast on its channel beginning June 5, 2017 through August 21, 2017.
The opening theme for the first season is "Get the Door" by Rie Ohashi, while the ending theme is "Memories and Promises" 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" 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" by All 19 Beautiful Warriors, consisting of the entire female voice cast of the series.

Manga

An anthology comic of Queen's Blade was published by Hobby Japan with four volumes released between April 25, 2007 and February 25, 2008. A manga adaptation centered on Leina illustrated by Kabao Kikkawa was serialized in the October 2008 issue of Media Factory's seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive. Three volumes were released between February 2, 2009 and January 23, 2010 under Media Factory's Alive Comics imprint.
Another manga adaptation of Queen's Blade illustrated by Iku Nanazuki called Queen's Blade: 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 volumes were released by Kadokawa Shoten between June 26, 2008 and June 26, 2010.
A third manga adaptation, called Queen's Blade Struggle, 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 volume was released by ASCII Media Works on March 27, 2009, with four volumes currently available as of February 27, 2012 under their Dengeki Comics imprint.

Light novels

A light novel adaptation of Queen's Blade, called Queen's Blade: Sword of Unicorn, is written by Eiji Okita with illustrations by Eiwa. The first volume was released on April 27, 2007 by Hobby Japan under their HJ Bunko imprint, and released five volumes until November 1, 2008. A bonus novel called Fierce Battle! Queen's Blade was published on March 1, 2008, with illustrations provided by Hirotaka Akaga.
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.

Video game

A role-playing game called Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos 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. A sequel, , was released as part of the Queen's Gate series of works.

Other

The original game book series was followed by a sequel series titled Queen's Blade Rebellion, featuring all-new characters as well as reinterpretations of previous characters, and a supplement called Queen's Gate, featuring licensed characters from other games and series.
A spin-off series of Original video animations, titled Queen's Blade Grimoire, was launched in 2016. The anime is set in a parallel universe inspired by fairy tales.
A reboot, titled Queen's Blade Unlimited'', was announced in 2017.