Elemental Gelade


Elemental Gelade is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mayumi Azuma. The fantasy adventure and a tale of a group of five who are on a journey to Edel Garden, the birthplace of mystical beings called Edel Raids who are described as "living weapons".
The manga series has been adapted into an anime television series produced by Xebec, two light novels, two video games for the PlayStation 2 and Game Boy Advance and four drama CDs. The anime ended after 26 episodes. The manga ended in 2009.
Prior to the original broadcast of the anime on TV Tokyo on April 5, 2005, both the manga and anime were licensed by Tokyopop and Geneon Entertainment, respectively for North American distribution. The announcement was made even after ADV announced they acquired licensing rights for both manga and anime a year before. Discotek Media rescued the series for a SDBD release on December 18, 2018.

Plot

The tale of Elemental Gelade is set in the world of Guardia where beings called Edel Raids co-exist with humans. Edel Raids have the ability to fuse with a human and become a living weapon. The story focuses on the adventures of a young sky pirate named Coud Van Giruet, an Edel Raid named Reverie Metherlance or Ren as she prefers to be called, and three guardians of an Edel Raid protection organization called Arc Aile named Cisqua, Rowen, and Kuea. Reverie Metherlance is set on journeying to the legendary land of gold called Edel Garden, but it turns out that she is a powerful and rare Edel Raid called the shichikouhouji which leads to many villains attempting to kidnap her for themselves.

Principal characters

;Kou / Coud Van Giruet
;Gelade Techniques
;Ren / Reverie Metherlence
;Cisqua
;Rowen
;Gelade Techniques
;Kuea / Kullweet Envatilia
;Viro
;Rasati
;Lilia

''Flag of Bluesky''

Plot

The Kingdom of the Sun, Fuajarl was ruthlessly invaded by the Garden of Eden. They came seeking the King's Edel Raid, rumored to be one of the Seven Glittering Jewels.
Sensing their intent, the King hid his daughter with his Edel Raid and fought against the invasion but was defeated in battle. The desert kingdom is now blanketed in a sheet of white snow after the battle.
Escaping capture, the Crown Princess Acheaburca Fuajarl XIV reacted with Jeen, the King's Edel Raid, and along with Puffe, the Kingdom's only mechanic, fled Fuajarl in an ancient tank. They are on a journey to restore the Kingdom and exact vengeance on the Garden of Eden.
However just like the first elemental gelade, it is uncertain why Edel Garden is a warring nation for a place that has the name of a beautiful Eden or Utopia.

Primary Characters

;Princess Acheaburca Fuajarl XIV
;Jelio "Jeen" Velsown
;Puffe Lunder
;Merfond Liberdec

Secondary Characters

;King Varna Shinga Fuajarl
;Idola

Terminology

Manga

Written and illustrated by Mayumi Azuma, the Elemental Gelade manga was first serialized in Mag Garden magazine Monthly Comic Blade from February 28, 2002 to December 28, 2009. The individual chapters were collected and published into 18 tankōbon volumes by Mag Garden between October 10, 2002 and March 10, 2010. In the summer of 2003, A.D. Vision announced that they acquired the manga's right to the North American audience. Ultimately, however, twelve volumes were released from July 3, 2006 to September 7, 2010 by Tokyopop until it went bankruptcy. In 2012, it was relicensed by Digital Manga Publishing and all 18 volumes were published in digital format between June 5, 2012 and May 20, 2013.
A spin-off series called Erementar Gerad Flag of Bluesky, also by Mayumi Azuma, was first serialized in the Japanese bi-monthly manga magazine Comic Blade Masamune on June 15, 2003, but then migrated to the monthly magazine Comic Blade Avarus on September 15, 2007. In March 2015, the series was put on indefinite hiatus due to Azuma's glaucoma. The first tankōbon volume was released on July 9, 2004 and latest and eighth was released on October 15, 2013. It has been released in North America in digital form by DMP since May 16, 2013. The latter volume published by DMP was the sixth volume on April 29, 2014. Flag of Bluesky takes place two years after the original story and stars a new heroine named Acheaburca Fuajarl XIV, a princess of the Fuajarl Kingdom.

Anime

The anime adaptation of Elemental Gelade was first aired in Japan on TV Tokyo, starting from April 5, 2005. Xebec produced the animated television series which spawned 26 episodes directed by Shigeru Ueda and music by Yuki Kajiura. The production of the anime adaptation was estimated to cost $400,000. Since the anime was produced before the original story had ended, a new opposing organization called Chaos Choir and their members was created. Existing characters such as Viro were adjusted to fit the new storyline.
In April 2005, Geneon Entertainment announced they were the North American licensor at the MIP TV trade show in France, although ADV Films originally announced that they were the licensor as part of a co-production deal with Mag Garden at Anime Expo in July 2004. Geneon released six DVD volumes bi-monthly from June 2006 to April 2007 containing four to five episodes each. On July 3, 2008, Geneon Entertainment and Funimation announced an agreement to distribute select titles in North America after Geneon ceased distribution of their own titles in October 2007. While Geneon Entertainment will still retain the license, Funimation will assume exclusive rights to the manufacturing, marketing, sales and distribution of select titles. Elemental Gelade was one of several titles involved in the deal.
As of October 2007, Geneon no longer is involved in the US anime industry, so North American distribution rights of the anime have been rescued from Geneon by Funimation.
On October 23, 2018, Discotek Media, known for licensing and rescuing various anime from many generations, rescued this series for a 1-disc SDBD release on December 18, 2018.
ImaginAsian TV, an American television network, broadcast the series along with several other titles from Geneon Entertainment as part of their animation block "Anime EnerG". It was first aired in Japanese with English subtitles beginning January 30, 2007 and later aired with English dubs.

Music

;Opening Theme
;Ending Theme
;Insert Theme
Three drama CDs was released by Frontier Works every eleven months for three years starting on October 24, 2003. It featured different voice actors than the anime adaptation. Three maxi singles of the opening and ending themes, two original soundtracks, and one drama CD featuring voice actors from the anime adaptation was released by Victor Entertainment between April 21, 2005 and September 22, 2005.

Video games

Three video games based on Elemental Gelade was released only in Japan midway through the anime season for mobile phones, PlayStation 2, and Game Boy Advance. Prior to the PS2 release, Taito released a 2D fighting game for mobile phones in May 2005. The PS2 version of the game called Erementar Gerad: Matoe, Suifu no Ken was released on June 30, 2005. Matoe, Suifu no Ken is a 3D cel-shaded fighting game featuring seven characters/groups and two unlockable characters in four modes of play. It was re-released on June 8, 2006 as part of the Taito Best lineup.
The GBA game called Elemental Gelade: Tozasareshi Uta is a 2D turn-based role-playing video game released on July 7, 2005 developed by Jupiter and published by Tomy Corporation. Playing as Kou, Ren, Cisqua, Rowen, and Kuea, you journey from town to town and fight enemies through an original story and meet new original characters.

Reception

On the week of March 8–14, 2010, both the 18th of Elemental Gelade and the sixth volume of Flag of Bluesky were featured on Oricon's weekly chart of the best-selling manga–on the 15th and 30th spot for selling 38,996 and 24,649 copies respectively.
In Jason Thompson's online appendix to , he regards the plot as being stereotypically shōnen.
Xenoblade Chronicles 2, a game developed by Monolith Soft and published by Nintendo shares strikingly similar story and character elements to Element Gelade, e.g. "Drivers" and "Blades" instead of "Pledgers" and"Eldel Raids" or "Elysium" instead of "Eldel Garden".

Footnotes and references