is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Mayumi Azuma. The fantasy adventure is 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, one for the PlayStation 2 and another for the 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 had been 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 (the first word of which is pronounced EL-Dell) 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 Metherlence 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

:, Naozumi Takahashi (drama CD)

:Age:

: 15

: 17 (Elemental Gelade: Flag of Blue Sky)

:Coud Van Giruet, better known as Cou, is a young member of the Red Lynx sky pirates. He finds Reverie Metherlence in a coffin that was picked up as loot in a raid. He reacts and becomes her Pleasure, someone who bonds with a Edel Raid and he promises her that he will be the one to escort her to Edel Garden. He soon realizes he has deep feelings for Ren and does his best to fight on his own, not wanting to needlessly waste her energy. Although being a sky pirate, he is a kind person who hates to see the weak getting bullied and is one of the only few people who consider Edel Raids as people instead of weapons. And, despite being a sky pirate, he has absolutely no skill at driving and/or flying ANY vehicle. However, he improved quite a bit by the time the anime ended.

;Gelade Techniques

:Euros Loop/Euro Lumin

:Notus Chord/Ardos Sword

:Reject Out/Wind Armour

:Zephyrus Art

;Ren / Reverie Metherlence

:, Houko Kuwashima (drama CD)

:Age:

: 14-15

: 17 (Elemental Gelade: Flag of Blue Sky)

:Reverie Metherlence, better known as Ren, is an Edel Raid and direct descendant of the Metherlence bloodline. She is also one of the Seven Glittering Jewels (or Shichiko-hoji), an Edel Raid line said to be the strongest. She recharges her powers by sleeping, which happens fairly often. In the beginning, she stated that she had hated Coud because he was human, but after he does his best to protect her from an invasion, she reacts with him and begins to think better of him. As the story progresses, she realizes that she has developed feelings for Kou. Her elemental gelade is on her hair above her forehead. Her elemental power is wind, which she best uses both defensively and offensively. Her weapon form is a giant sword on Kou's right arm; the appearance of the sword differs between the anime and manga.

;Cisqua

:, Ikue Otani (drama CD)

:Age:

: 16

: 18 (Elemental Gelade: Flag of Blue Sky)

:Cisqua is the energetic and upbeat leader of one of Arc Aile's Edel Raid Complete Protection Association squads consisting of Rowen and Kuea. She is honest and passionate about her work, but only because of her desire to be promoted and her love for money. Cisqua is modeled from a character the creator drew in middle and high school and B.B. Hood from the Darkstalkers series.

:Cisqua is not an Edel Raid Pledger, but she is well versed in martial arts and gunmanship. Despite having a small frame, she's physically strong and capable on taking down well trained Pledgers such as the Edel Raid Hunter, Wolx Hound. Underneath her robes and hat, she keeps an arsenal of firearms, missiles, knives, and other weapons she uses to fulfill her missions. Cisqua's gun can be adjusted to become a launcher, shotgun, or machine gun. Her sister is Merfond.

;Rowen

:, Shoutarou Morikubo (drama CD)

:Age:

: 21

: 23 (Elemental Gelade: Flag of Blue Sky)

:Rowen is a guardian of Arc Aile, and is occasionally tasked to assist with his senior in rank, Cisqua. He is a young blond-haired man that tends to dislike conflict. In contrast to the impulsive and somewhat outrageous Cisqua, Rowen is logical, polite, and considerate of others.

:Rowen is very intelligent and seems to be well skilled in multiple areas, making it seem as if he was perfect. Whether it is cooking or fighting he seems to excel at it. However Rowen claims to not be entirely perfect and have weaknesses as well. He is an excellent cook which is an ability that the other members appreciate. Rowen is also the only member who is consistently doing jobs to meet ends with the party's expenses.

;Gelade Techniques

:Vice Lit

:Steel Vengeance

:Three of Hearts

:Curva Proclesis

;Kuea / Kullweet Envatilia

:, Akemi Okamura (drama CD)

:Age:

: 17

: 19 (Elemental Gelade: Flag of Blue Sky)

:Kuea, whose real name is Kullweet Envatilia, is a first class Edel Raid from Arc Aile and is Rowen's partner. Her garnet red elemental gelade are on the back of both her hands which she covers with arm length gloves. Out of the five main characters, Kuea wears the most revealing clothes, however the creator modeled her character from an old male character she once drew in the past. The individual chapters were collected and published into 18 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. In 2012, it was relicensed by Digital Manga Publishing (DMP) and all 18 volumes were published in digital format between June 5, 2012, and May 20, 2013.

A spin-off series called , 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 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.

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

  • "Forever..."
  • Lyrics: Aa
  • Composition: takumi
  • Arrangement: Hideyuki "Daichi" Suzuki
  • Artist: savage genius

;Ending Theme

  • Lyrics & Composition: Michihiro Kuroda
  • Arrangement: Kazuyoshi Baba
  • Artist: Michihiro Kuroda
  • Episodes: 1–25

;Insert Theme

  • "everlasting song"
  • Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement: Yuki Kajiura
  • Artist: FictionJunction ASUKA
  • Episodes: 26
  • "Ameagari"
  • Artist: Savage Genius
  • Episode: 15

Audio CDs

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 were released only in Japan midway through the anime season for mobile phones, PlayStation 2, and Game Boy Advance. 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 Manga: The Complete Guide, 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 Elemental Gelade, e.g. "Drivers" and "Blades" instead of "Pledgers" and "Eldel Raids" or "Elysium" instead of "Eldel Garden".

Footnotes and references

  • Erementar Gerad Official Anime Site
  • Erementar Gerad TV Tokyo Site
  • PlayStation 2 game site
  • Game Boy Advance game site
  • Tokyopop's Elemental Gelade Site