is a Japanese series of visual combat books published by

Hobby Japan is a Japanese publishing company known for publishing and releasing books, magazines, light novels, games, and collectibles. Founded in 1969, the company owns and distributes such publications as the eponymous ''Hobby Japan'' magazine, as well ...

inspired by the licensed works from Firelight Game Company's ''

Lost Worlds The lost world is a subgenre of the fantasy or science fiction genres that involves the discovery of an unknown Earth civilization. It began as a subgenre of the late-Victorian adventure romance and remains popular into the 21st century. The ge ...

''. 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 A media franchise, also known as a multimedia franchise, is a collection of related media in which several derivative works have been produced from an original creative work of fiction, such as a film, a work of literature, a television program ...

, spanning four

manga Manga ( Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is use ...

adaptations, three

anime is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening of ...

adaptations, three

light novels A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language ...

, and a

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

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 , 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 (''

My-HiME is a Japanese anime series, created by Sunrise. Directed by Masakazu Obara and written by Hiroyuki Yoshino, it premiered in Japan on TV Tokyo from September 2004 to March 2005. The series focuses on the lives of HiMEs—girls with the ca ...

''), Kazuhiro Takamura, and Eiwa.

Media

Gamebooks

*Series 1 (Leina and Risty) - Released November 25, 2005. *Series 2 (Irma and Nowa) - Released December 28, 2005. *Series 3 (Tomoe and Echidna) - Released June 9, 2006. *Series 4 (Menace and Elina) - Released September 29, 2006. *Series 5 (Airi and Leina 3D) - Released December 22, 2006. *Series 6 (Nanael and Cattleya) - Released March 16, 2007. *Series 7 (Nyx and Melpha) - Released June 29, 2007. *Series 8 (Melona and Claudette) - Released October 18, 2007. *Series 9 (Ymir) - Released February 15, 2008. **A limited-edition second-player color version of Ymir was distributed exclusively by online hobby shop Post Channel. *Series 10 (Aldra and Alleyne) - Released June 20, 2008. At

Anime Expo Anime Expo, abbreviated AX, is an American anime convention held in Los Angeles, California and organized by the non-profit Society for the Promotion of Japanese Animation (SPJA). The convention is traditionally held annually on the first ...

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

adaptation of ''Queen's Blade'', entitled , was produced by

ARMS Arms or ARMS may refer to: *Arm or arms, the upper limbs of the body Arm, Arms, or ARMS may also refer to: People * Ida A. T. Arms (1856–1931), American missionary-educator, temperance leader Coat of arms or weapons *Armaments or weapons **Fi ...

. 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 is a commercial television station headquartered in Kobe, Hyōgo Prefecture, Japan, and a member of the Japanese Association of Independent Television Stations (JAITS). Office *the head office - Kobe Ekimae Just Square, 1-1, Higashi-Kawasaki ...

, and

Tokyo MX JOMX-DTV, branded as Tokyo MX (officially stylized as TOKYO MX), is an independent television station in Tokyo, Japan, owned by the . It is the only television station that exclusively serves the city. It competes with Nippon TV, TV Asahi, NH ...

. The series aired uncensored on AT-X, while being heavily censored on other channels. Six DVD and

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...

volumes were released by

Media Factory , formerly is a Japanese publisher and brand company of Kadokawa Future Publishing. History It was founded on December 1, 1986, and its headquarters are situated in Shibuya, Tokyo. It is a subsidiary of Recruit Co., Ltd. Media Factory was poss ...

between June 25, 2009 and November 25, 2009, each DVD/BD volume containing one of six OVAs. A second season, , 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 , 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 Media Blasters, sometimes abbreviated as MB, is an American entertainment corporation that was founded by John Sirabella in 1997 and is based in New York City. It is in the business of licensing, translating, and releasing to the North American ...

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.

box sets of the two seasons were later released on February 15, 2011 and September 27, 2011, respectively.

Sentai Filmworks Sentai Filmworks, LLC or just Sentai, is an American entertainment company owned by AMC Networks. Located in Houston, the company specializes in the dubbing and distribution of Japanese animation and Asian cinema. Its post-production arm is ...

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 by

Ayako Kawasumi is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is affectionately referred to by her fellow voice actors and fans as "", "","" and "". She is a skilled pianist as she has played the piano since childhood. She performed "...To You", the opening theme ...

Mamiko Noto > is a Japanese actress and singer. Some of her prominent anime roles include Kotomi Ichinose in ''Clannad'', Rin in ''Inuyasha'', Kotori Monou in '' X'', Aoi Kannazuki in '' Kaitō Tenshi Twin Angel'', Durandal in '' Honkai Impact 3rd'', Haru ...

, and

Aya Hirano is a Japanese actress and singer associated with the voice acting agency Grick. Beginning in the entertainment industry as a child actor in television commercials, she appeared in her first Voice acting in Japan, voice acting role in the anime ...

, the voices for Leina, Tomoe, and Nanael, respectively. The opening theme for the second season is by ENA while the ending theme is "buddy-body" by

Rie Kugimiya is a Japanese voice actress and singer. She is best known for her voice performances in anime, which include Alphonse Elric in the ''Fullmetal Alchemist'' series, Kiana in '' Honkai Impact 3rd'', Kagura in '' Gin Tama'', and Happy in ''Fairy T ...

, Yuko Goto, and Kanae Ito, the voices for Melona, Menace, and Airi, respectively. For the OVA, the ending theme is 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

adaptation centered on Leina illustrated by Kabao Kikkawa was serialized in the October 2008 issue of

's ''

seinen is an editorial category of Japanese comics marketed toward young adult men. In Japanese, the word ''seinen'' literally means "youth", but the term "''seinen'' manga" is also used to describe the target audience of magazines like '' Weekly Ma ...

manga magazine Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is used ...

Monthly Comic Alive is a Japanese seinen manga magazine published by Media Factory. The first issue was released on June 27, 2006. Serialized titles *'' Absolute Duo'' *'' Alice or Alice'' (until 2015, part of the supplement magazine '' Comic Cune'') *''Ano Ko ni ...

''. Three volumes were released between February 2, 2009 and January 23, 2010 under Media Factory's ''Alive Comics'' imprint. Another

adaptation of ''Queen's Blade'' illustrated by Iku Nanazuki called , began serialization in the December 2007 issue of ''

Comp Ace is a Japanese computer game and manga magazine published by Kadokawa Shoten. ''Comp Ace'' began as a special edition version of another one of Kadokawa Shoten's magazines, ''Comptiq''. The first issue was released on March 26, 2005, and was publ ...

''. 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 , formerly , is a Japanese publisher and division of Kadokawa Future Publishing based in Tokyo, Japan. It became an internal division of Kadokawa Corporation on October 1, 2013. Kadokawa publishes manga, light novels, manga anthology magazines s ...

between June 26, 2008 and June 26, 2010. A third manga adaptation, called , 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 ASCII ( ), abbreviated from American Standard Code for Information Interchange, is a character encoding standard for electronic communication. ASCII codes represent text in computers, telecommunications equipment, and other devices. Because ...

on March 27, 2009, with four volumes currently available as of February 27, 2012 under their Dengeki Comics imprint.

Light novels

light novel A light novel (, Hepburn: ''raito noberu'') is a style of young adult novel primarily targeting high school and middle school students. The term "light novel" is a '' wasei-eigo'', or a Japanese term formed from words in the English language ...

adaptation of ''Queen's Blade'', called , 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 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

role-playing game A role-playing game (sometimes spelled roleplaying game, RPG) is a game in which players assume the roles of player character, characters in a fictional Setting (narrative), setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within ...

called was developed by

Bandai Namco Games is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California an ...

for the

PlayStation Portable The PlayStation Portable (PSP) is a handheld game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in PAL regions on September 1, 200 ...

. 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 FIGMA or Finnish Games and Multimedia Association was founded in 1999. It is the Finnish equivalent to Entertainment Software Rating Board The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a self-regulatory organization that assigns age and ...

and a bonus character voice CD. A sequel, '' Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos'', was released as part of the ''Queen's Gate'' series of works.

Other

*''Queen's Blade Fan Disc'': character dress-up software published in 2006. *''Queen's Blade i'': A

mobile phone game A mobile game, or smartphone game, is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet computer, ...

using game rules from the combat picture book series. Service host by DigitalMediaLab and it supports FOMA 703i and 901i series. Carriers include NTT DoCoMo. The service seems to have been discontinued since. *''Queen's Blade'' Collection Card ver.2.0: A currently-produced card series with individual biography cards for each character, plus artwork cards and bubble gum. *Three visual books called were released by Hobby Japan, narrating the backstories of the fighters before the tournament: **, illustrated by Eiwa, released on Abril 28, 2007. **, illustrated by F.S., released on February 15, 2008. **, illustrated by Hirokazu Hisayuki, released on February 28, 2009. *A databook called was released by Hobby Japan on June 27, 2009. Aside from compiled illustrations from other official sources, the databook contains extended profiles on the fighters, a "world guide" detailing many of the Continent's locations and the resolutions of each character's storyarc. The book is licensed under the title ''Queen's Blade: Perfect Visual Collection'' in North America by

Vertical Publishing Vertical is a Japanese language, Japanese novel and manga imprint (trade name), imprint of Kodansha USA Publishing. Founded in 2001 by Hiroki Sakai, in February 2011, the company was bought by Kodansha (46.7%) and Dai Nippon Printing (46.0%). Th ...

. *''Queen's Blade: The Duel'': A collectible card game with Queen's Blade characters, later expanded with a few of the ''Queen's Gate'' and '' Queen's Blade Rebellion'' characters and renamed to ''Duel System TCG''. Released by Megahobby in 2008. *''Queen's Blade: The Conquest'': An RPG

Browser game A browser game or a "flash game" is a video game that is played via the internet using a web browser. They are mostly free-to-play and can be single-player or multiplayer. Some browser games are also available as mobile apps, PC games, or on co ...

featuring the ''Queen's Blade'' characters made by Aiming in 2012, with plans to be expanded with ''Rebellion'' characters. It is free-to-play, though items can be bought to progress faster and reduce cooldown time.

Sequels and spin-offs

The original game book series was followed by a sequel series titled , featuring all-new characters as well as reinterpretations of previous characters, and a supplement called , featuring licensed characters from other games and series. A spin-off series of

Original video animation , abbreviated as OVA and sometimes as OAV (original animation video), are Japanese animated films and series made specially for release in home video formats without prior showings on television or in theaters, though the first part of an OVA ...

s, titled , was launched in 2016. The anime is set in a parallel universe inspired by fairy tales. A

reboot In computing, rebooting is the process by which a running computer system is restarted, either intentionally or unintentionally. Reboots can be either a cold reboot (alternatively known as a hard reboot) in which the power to the system is phys ...

, titled , was announced in 2017.

References

External links

Official site

Official anime website

''Queen's Gate'' official site

''Queen's Gate: Spiral Chaos'' official site

''Queen's Blade: Spiral Chaos'' official site

''Queen's Blade The Duel'' official page

''Queen's Blade The Conquest'' official page
*Arms Corporation page
''Queen's Blade: The Exiled Virgin''
at

* {{Hoods Entertainment Queen's Blade 2007 Japanese novels 2008 Japanese novels 2009 anime television series debuts 2009 Japanese novels 2010 anime OVAs Adventure anime and manga Anime Works AT-X (TV network) original programming Arms Corporation ASCII Media Works manga Dengeki Comics Fantasy anime and manga Gamebooks HJ Bunko Kadokawa Dwango franchises Kadokawa Shoten manga Light novels Media Factory manga Mass media franchises Seinen manga Sentai Filmworks Sword and sorcery anime and manga Yuri (genre) anime and manga