King Arthur (TV series)

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table
円卓の騎士物語 燃えろアーサー (Entaku no Kishi Monogatari Moero Āsā)
TV anime
Studio	Toei Animation
Network	Fuji TV
Original run	September 9, 1979 – March 3, 1980
Episodes	30
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King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table (円卓の騎士物語 燃えろアーサー, Entaku no Kishi Monogatari Moero Āsā^?, lit. Story of the Knights of the Round Table: Blazing Arthur) is a Japanese anime series based on the Arthurian legend. Produced by Toei Animation, it consisted of 30 half-hour episodes released between September 9, 1979 and March 3, 1980. The series achieved more widespread popularity in its non-English translations.

Plot

When Prince Arthur was a baby and his father King Uther ruled Camelot, Lavik, another king who wishes to conquer Camelot, attacked the castle. Arthur is saved by Merlin who sent him to another knight to keep Arthur in a safe place. For many years this knight brought Arthur up as his own son.

At the age of 15 Arthur attended to a tournament with his stepfather. There he could pull the sword Excalibur from a stone. This action proved that Arthur is the legitimate king of England. Finally Arthur's stepfather revealed him his royal lineage.

Since then King Arthur and some subjects began to fight against the wicked King Lavik, who is helped by a witch called Medessa.

Similarities and differences between the series and the legend

King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table retold the story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. It featured Arthurian characters such as Lancelot, Guinevere, Tristan, Percival, Merlin, Uther, and Igraine, and other familiar items like Camelot and Excalibur.

On the other hand the series are not faithfully adjusted to the original narration of the legend. For example new characters and stories are added and the plot became softer.

In the early 1980s a French dubbed version was released through Jacques Censtrier Productions. Titled "Le Roi Arthur", only the first 4 episodes were released onto VHS. All of the characters names remained the same, however the opening and closing theme songs were still aired and played in their original Japanese music scores.

Japanese cast

• Akira Kamiya as Arthur
• Toshio Furukawa as Pellinore
• Keiko Han as Guinevere
• Hideyuki Tanaka as Kay
• Makio Inoue as Tristan
• Satomi Majima as Fiine
• Michie Kita as Galahad
• Tessho Genda as Lancelot
• Takashi Tanaka as Rubik/Lavik
• Yoshio Nagahori as Percival
• Kenji Utsumi as Gastar
• Ichiro Nagai as Ector
• Hidekatsu Shibata as Yuuzel
• Yasuo Hisamatsu as Merlin

Music

Isao Sasaki and Koorogi '73 sang the opening theme Kibou yo sore wa; while Ou no Naka no Ou, the ending theme, is performed by Mitsuko Horie and Koorogi '73.

Sequel

The series was followed by King Arthur: Prince on White Horse in 1980.

Manga adaptation

The series was adapted into several comicizations (the principle of basing a manga on a previously exiting TV series, instead of the more widespread reverse procedure) published in Telebi Magazine (テレビマガジン), Terebi Land (テレビランド) and Bouken-Oh (冒険王). The Bouken-Oh (冒険王) adaptation was created by Satomi Mikuriya (御厨さと美) and "Mic Mac Production"^[1]

External links

• King Arthur at Toei Animation's English website
• King Arthur (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• King Arthur at the Internet Movie Database

References

1. ^ A page from the Bouken-Oh comicization (Japanese).