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.[5] The individual chapters were collected and published into 18 tankōbon volumes by Mag Garden between October 10, 2002, and March 10, 2010.[6][7] In the summer of 2003, A.D. Vision announced that they acquired the manga's right to the North American audience.[3] Ultimately, however, twelve volumes were released from July 3, 2006, to September 7, 2010, by Tokyopop until it went bankrupt.[8][9][10] 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.[11][12]
A spin-off series called Erementar Gerad Flag of Bluesky (蒼空の戦旗), 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.[13] The first tankōbon volume was released on July 9, 2004, and latest and eighth was released on October 15, 2013.[14][15] It has been released in North America in digital form by DMP since May 16, 2013.[16] The latter volume published by DMP was the sixth volume on April 29, 2014.[17] 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.[18] 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.[2] 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.[2] 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
Music
- Opening Theme
- "Forever..."
- Lyrics: Aa
- Composition: takumi
- Arrangement: Hideyuki "Daichi" Suzuki
- Artist: savage genius
- Ending Theme
- "Yakusoku" (約束)
- Lyrics & Composition: Michihiro Kuroda
- Arrangement: Kazuyoshi Baba
- Artist: Michihiro Kuroda
- Episodes: 1–25
- Insert Theme
- "everlasting song"
- Lyrics, Composition, & Arrangement:
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.[22] 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.[23]
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.[18] Prior to the PS2 release, Taito released a 2D fighting game for mobile phones in May 2005.[24] 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.[25] It was re-released on June 8, 2006, as part of the Taito Best lineup.[26]
The GBA game called Elemental Gelade: Tozasareshi Uta is a 2D
