The Asterisk War
The Asterisk War: The Academy City on the Water is a Japanese light novel series written by Yū Miyazaki, and illustrated by Okiura. Media Factory has published ten volumes since September 25, 2012, under their MF Bunko J imprint. The series was later serialized from January 2013 in Media Factory's seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive where it was adapted into a manga. The artwork for the manga has been done by Ningen, three volumes have been collected into tankōbon. Eventually, an anime television series adaptation by A-1 Pictures was made which began airing on October 3, 2015. The anime aired for two seasons at twelve episodes each from October 3, 2015, to June 18, 2016. Other media adaptations include a video game called The Asterisk War: Houka Kenran which was released in Japan on January 28, 2016.
The anime has been licensed by Aniplex of America in North America, Madman Entertainment in Australasia and MVM Films in the United Kingdom. The light novels and manga were licensed and localized by Yen Press beginning summer 2016.
Plot
In the 21st century, Earth is in a rapidly declining economic state as megacorporations known as the Integrated Enterprise Foundations, rose to power after the Invertia impact event destroyed most of the planet's cities. The Invertia also resulted in certain humans gaining superpowers, creating a new species of humans called the Genestella. The city of Rikka, also called Asterisk, has six academies where adolescent Genestella participate in tournaments called Festas - specifically the Phoenix Festa, the Gryps Festa, and the Lindwurm Festa - wielding weapons named Lux to do so. Lately, the performance of Seidoukan Academy have been abysmally subpar and incumbent student council president and second-ranked student, Claudia Enfield, is determined to find a solution.Meanwhile, teenager Ayato Amagiri transfers into Seidoukan Academy's high school in order to find his purpose in life and investigate the disappearance of his sister, Haruka, a former student of Seidoukan. During his first day at the academy, Ayato is forced to fight Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld, the fifth-ranked student and the Crown Princess of the country of Lieseltania, after discovering her half-dressed when returning her handkerchief to her. Claudia voids their duel and enrolls Ayato in Seidoukan, where he discovers Haruka's data has been erased from the system. Over time, Ayato grows close to Julis, and after rescuing Julis from a plot to cripple her and prevent her from participating in the Phoenix Festa, he declares his purpose in life is to be her protector and battle partner. In addition, he reunites with childhood friend Saya Sasamiya, the daughter of a respected scientist and Lux manufacturer, and befriends Kirin Toudou, a middle school student and Seidoukan's first-ranked student who later becomes Saya's partner. Eventually, Ayato wins against Kirin and is named the new Seidoukan first-ranked. After Ayato participates in the Phoenix Festa with Julis to solve Seidoukan's performance crisis, they continue to participate in various Festas and also face threats from outside the academy.
Characters
Seidoukan Academy
;Ayato Amagiri;Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld
;Claudia Enfield
;Saya Sasamiya
;Kirin Toudou
;Eishirou Yabuki
;Lester MacPhail
;Silas Norman
;Randy Hooke
;Kyouko Yatsuzaki
St. Gallardworth Academy
;Ernest Fairclough;Laetitia Blanchard
;Elliot Forster
Jie Long Seventh Institute
;Xinglou Fan;Shenyun Li
;Shenhua Li
;Hufeng Zhao
;Song Ran
;Luo Kunzhan
Allekant Académie
;Ernesta Kühne;Camilla Pareto
;Shuma Sakon
;AR-D
;RM-C
;Hilda Jane Rowlands
Le Wolfe Black Institute
;Dirk Eberwein;Korona Kashimaru
;Irene Urzaiz
;Priscilla Urzaiz
;Ophelia Landlufen
;Moritz Nessler
;Gerd Schiele
Queenvale Academy for Young Ladies
;Sylvia Lyyneheym;Yuzuhi Renjouji
Media
Light novels
The series is written by Yū Miyazaki and illustrated by Okiura. It is published by Media Factory. The first volume was released in September 2012, and as of April 2018, fourteen volumes have been released. Yen Press licensed the novels for publication in North America. The first English volume was released on August 30, 2016. Volumes 1 through 5 were translated into English by Melissa Tanaka and the following volumes are translated by Haydn Trowell.''Wings of Queenvale''
Yuu Miyazaki has also worked on a spinoff, focusing on Minato Wakamiya, the main protagonist, Chloe Flockhart, Minato's best friend, Sophia Fairclough, the younger sister of Ernest Fairclough, Nina Achenwall, a Strega whose powers are invoked through the mental image of a deck of cards, and Yuzuhi Renjouji, a childhood friend of Ayato Amagiri who trained in the Yatsuka Dojo of the Amagiri Shinmei Style, all students of Queenvale Academy for Young Ladies.Manga
A manga adaptation by Ningen was published from 2013 to 2016 and has been compiled into five volumes. It was released in English by Yen Press. The English translation is by Melissa Tanaka. A manga adaptation of the spinoff Wings of Queenvale novels by Shou Akane premiered in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in August 2014, and ended on September 2016. The spinoff manga adaptation was collected in four volumes.Anime
Directed by Manabu Ono and Kenji Seto, an anime adaptation of the series was broadcast from October 3 to December 19, 2015, with a second season following from April 2 through June 18, 2016.Four pieces of theme music are used for the two seasons: two opening themes and two ending themes. The opening themes, "Brand-new world" and "The Asterisk War", are both performed by Shiena Nishizawa. The first ending theme, titled "Waiting for the rain", is performed by Maaya Sakamoto, while the second ending theme is "Ai no Uta " performed by Haruka Chisuga.
Aniplex of America licensed the series for an English-language release in North and South America and simulcasted the series on Crunchyroll's streaming services. Aniplex released the series on DVD and Blu-ray in four compilations, each containing 6 episodes, from September 20, 2016 to April 25, 2017.