The Legend of the Legendary Heroes is a Japanese light novel series by Takaya Kagami, with illustrations by Saori Toyota, which was published by Fujimi Shobo in Dragon Magazine from February 20, 2002 to October 20, 2006, and has 11 volumes. Its sequel, The Legend of the Great Legendary Heroes began publishing on October 20, 2007, and has been collected into 18 volumes. The series also has 2 spin-off series, The Legend of Legendary Heroes Anyway, a collection of short stories which ran from December 20, 2002 to June 20, 2007 and was compiled into 11 volumes, and The Legend of the Black Fallen Hero, which ran from December 20, 2007 to August 20, 2013 and was published in 8 volumes. The series has also spun off into other media including a Drama CD, a manga adaptation which is collected into 9 bound volumes and a PSPvideo game which was released on February 18, 2010. A 24 episode anime adaptation was produced by Zexcs which premiered on July 1, 2010 and is licensed by Kadokawa in Japan and Funimation Entertainment in North America.
Story
Ryner Lute is a lazy student of the Roland Empire Royal Magician's Academy. One day, the Roland Empire goes to war against their neighboring country Estabul, and Ryner loses his classmates in the war. After the war, Ryner sets out on a journey to search the relics of a "Legendary Hero" at King Sion Astal's command and finds out that a deadly curse is spreading throughout the continent.
Media
Light novels
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes
The Legend of the Great Legendary Heroes
The Legend of the Legendary Heroes Anyway
The Legend of the Black Fallen Hero
Manga
Web radio
The web radio show, The Legendary Radio of the Legendary Heroes, was hosted on Onsen Internet Radio Station and Animate TV, and starred Jun Fukuyama, Ayahi Takagaki, and Daisuke Ono acting as their fictional counterpart Ryner Lute, Ferris Eris, and Sion Astal respectively. The first episode aired on May 21, 2010 and last one on December 24, 2010, spanning 32 episodes and sub-divided into 8 chapters. Each chapter is accompanied by a theme and usually, with one or more special guests who are usually either another voice actor from the cast, the anime director or the author of the original series, Kagami Takaya. Summary of each radio show episode can be found on Presepe.
Video game
Legendary Saga, a PSP game based on the first 3 novels was released on February 18, 2010 in Japan.
Anime
In January 2010, it was announced an anime adaption of the series. The series was adapted into a 24-episode run by studio Zexcs, directed by Itsuro Kawasaki, with the music composed by Miyu Nakamura, and animation character designs by Noriko Shimazawa. The anime started broadcast on TV Tokyo on July 1, 2010, followed by TV Osaka, TV Aichi and AT-X. The first Blu-ray and DVD of the anime was released on October 22, 2010. For episodes 1 to 12, the opening and ending theme singles are "Lament: Joy Soon" performed by Aira Yuhki, produced by Lantis and released on July 21, 2010 with catalog number LACM-4732, and "Truth Of My Destiny" performed by Ceui, produced by Lantis and released on August 11, 2010 with catalog number LACM-4734, respectively. "Lament: Joy Soon" peak ranked 64th on Oriconsingles charts, and was an Oricon "Pick" on their 2010 Anime Theme Songs/Summer editorial. "Truth Of My Destiny" peak ranked 75th on Oricon singles charts. For episodes 13 to 24, the opening and ending theme singles, are "Last Inferno" performed by Ceui and released on October 27, 2010, and or "Hikari no Firumento" performed by Takagaki Ayahi and released on November 17, 2010, respectively. In English, the series is licensed by Funimation in North America and had a simulcast release. Funimation has also dubbed this series and it can be found on many media; such as Netflix and Hulu.
Reception
As of January 28, 2011, the light novels have sold over 4,300,000 copies.
