is a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese/

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

ese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, 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 Japane ...

adaptation of ''

The Return of the Condor Heroes ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'', also called ''The Giant Eagle and Its Companion'', is a wuxia novel by Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the second part of the ''Condor Trilogy'' and was preceded by ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes'' and followe ...

'', a ''

wuxia ( ), which literally means "martial heroes", is a genre of Chinese fiction concerning the adventures of martial artists in ancient China. Although is traditionally a form of historical fiction, its popularity has caused it to be adapted f ...

'' novel by

Louis Cha Louis Cha Leung-yung (; 10 March 1924 – 30 October 2018), better known by his pen name Jin Yong (), pronounced "Gum Yoong" in Cantonese, was a Chinese wuxia ("martial arts and chivalry") novelist and essayist who co-founded the Hong Kong dail ...

Plot

''The Legend of Condor Hero'' is set in the 13th century at the time of the Mongol invasion of China. Nearly a decade after the end of ''

The Legend of the Condor Heroes ''The Legend of the Condor Heroes'' is a wuxia novel by Chinese writer Jin Yong (Louis Cha). It is the first part of the ''Condor Trilogy'' and is followed by ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'' and ''The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber''. It w ...

'', the Mongols have now conquered the Jin Dynasty and are now setting their sights towards the Southern

Song Dynasty The Song dynasty (; ; 960–1279) was an imperial dynasty of China that began in 960 and lasted until 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song following his usurpation of the throne of the Later Zhou. The Song conquered the rest ...

. The citizens of Southern Song, many of them great martial artists of the Central Plains, band together to defend their country from the onset of the Mongol horde. The story culminates in the historic

Battle of Xiangyang The Battle of Xiangyang () was a protracted series of battles between the Yuan dynasty and the Southern Song dynasty from 1267 to 1273. The battle was a significant victory for the Yuan dynasty and ended a 30-year defensive campaign waged by th ...

, which was a critical battle that led to the fall of China to the Mongols. The story revolves around the young martial arts fighter

Yang Guo Yang Guo, courtesy name Gaizhi, is the fictional protagonist of the wuxia novel ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'' by Jin Yong. Birth and heritage Yang Guo traces his lineage to Yang Zaixing, a Song general who participated in the Jin–Song W ...

(''Youka''), who falls in love with his martial arts master,

Xiaolongnü Xiaolongnü () is the fictional female protagonist of the wuxia novel ''The Return of the Condor Heroes'' by Jin Yong. In the novel, her physical appearances is described as follows: "skin as white as snow, beautiful and elegant beyond conventio ...

(''Shouryuujo''), and the trials and tribulations he goes through while searching for his love in war-torn China.

List of episodes

There are 78 episodes released of ''The Legend of Condor Hero''. Season I is composed of two parts—episodes 1–12 and episodes 13–26. Season II takes after the end of Season I, starting from episode 27 to 52. Season III broadcast began in Taiwan and Canada in 2008. The Japanese version was only made for the first series. In all three series, Taiseng released the respective DVDs months before respective television broadcasts.

Theme songs

* Opening theme song (Japanese version): ''Yuu'' performed by NoR * Opening theme song (Chinese version): ''True Love is Bitter'' performed by

Andy Lau Andy Lau Tak-wah (; born 27 September 1961) is a Hong Kong actor, singer-songwriter and film producer. He has been one of Hong Kong's most commercially successful film actors since the mid-1980s, performing in more than 160 films while maint ...

* Ending theme song: ''Blása'' performed by Yae

Production

After

Nippon Animation is a Japanese animation studio. The company is headquartered in Tokyo, with chief offices in the Ginza district of Chūō and production facilities in Tama City. Nippon Animation is known for producing numerous anime series based on works of ...

had obtained the rights of the series, it produced the animation version with association with Jade Animation (

TVB Television Broadcasts Limited (TVB) is a television broadcasting company based in Hong Kong SAR. The Company operates five free-to-air terrestrial television channels in Hong Kong, with TVB Jade as its main Cantonese language service, and TVB ...

's animation studio), and decided to split the series into 3 parts.

Video releases

Taiseng Entertainment released the first season for English-speaking audiences. Since the show was much more popular in Chinese-speaking nations than in Japan, the second season was not produced in Japanese like the first season, but in Cantonese and Mandarin. VCD video of the series was released by

Warner Bros. Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Di ...

in Hong Kong.

External links

*
''The Legend of Condor Hero'' reviews
on spcnet.tv *

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20060703094535/http://tvcity.tvb.com/special/condor_hero/main/index.html ''The Legend of Condor Hero'' page on TVB website {{DEFAULTSORT:Legend Of Condor Hero, The 2001 anime television series debuts Animated romance television series Historical anime and manga Japanese romance television series Martial arts anime and manga Animated television series about orphans Television series set in the Mongol Empire Television series set in the Southern Song Television shows based on The Return of the Condor Heroes Wuxia television series