Yes, That Anime "Alexander' Cartoon is Back!

[Tre]

November 14, 2002
Tokyopop announced the February release of the anime series Reign: The Conqueror, which puts a twenty-first century, science fiction spin on the life of Alexander the Great. Produced by Studio Madhouse in 1999 under the title Alexander Senki (Alexander's War Chronicles), this 13-episode anime series features character design by Peter Chung, the Korean-born artist best known in the U.S. for his work on MTV's popular Aeon Flux cartoon. The first DVD in the series, which contains the first four episodes, will hit retail on February 25 with a retail price of $29.99. Tokyopop is planning a major ad campaign for the series, which will include radio promotion on key stations in the top 40 markets in the country along with 2-page ad spreads in Electonic Gaming Monthly, the Official Playstation Magazine, Animerica, Anime Invasion, and Sci-Fi Magazine. Tokyopop's Alexander anime should also benefit from the fact that the Macedonian world conqueror is about as hot a property as you can find in Hollywood today, with two major studio biographies of Alexander currently in production. Rumor has it that Tokyopop's anime series will also receive major TV exposure in the U.S., something that ICv2 will confirm as soon as the details are set. The science fiction spin on the life of Alexander comes from the anime series' source material, a novel by Doomed Megalopolis creator Hiroshi Aramata. In spite of the fantasy and sci-fi trappings, the series actually does an excellent job of chronicling Alexander's eventful life and all the key battles that made him "ruler of the civilized world," which to our parochial, western point of view, extended from Greece to India at that time. Reports from Japan as well as Tokyopop's heavy commitment to promotion on this title both indicate that Reign: The Conqueror is an exceptional anime series.

[marcus]

Hmmmmmmmm

[Linda]

Excellent!

[ruthaki]

Have any of you read "Alexander At the World's End" by Tom Holt? I thought it was a marvelous spoof, well written and entertaining. But I thought you had to know the 'real' story to get the true satire and humour from it.

[Tre]

For those interested in viewing the original site (it looks pretty dreadful to me) it's
http://www.ani-alexander.comI think Heph has a fox headed codpiece.

[Linda]

Well, of course heph would :)Ruth, I have't read the Tom Holt book, but I will try to find it.I gave up with the Paul Doherty Alexander book. Marcus was right - it is rubbish. Whether or not it is historically accurate (and it isn't), the cliches rose up and strangled me - vindictive dwarf, camp servant-boy, feisty red-headed slave...ech. And it was dull. If you needed to be warned, be so...

[marcus]

I loved "Alexander at the World's End" - it was just the right sort of humour for me. Holt has written a couple of other Ancient Greek comic novels, both of which I enjoyed. I do agree that you get the most out of the book if you know the full story, but it is well enough written that you can enjoy it anyway (I think). I read one of Holt's fantasy novels and really enjoyed that, too. I gave it to my sister, whom I have always thought shared my tastes in humour... and she hated it, so I never tried to get her to read "Alexander..." - each to his own :-)All the bestMarcusPS: As for the fox-head codpiece, isn't that what *any* self-respecting Macedonian would have worn?

[ruthaki]

Fox-headed cod piece? Hmmm. Sexy!
What is the title of this book by Paul D. which I should avoid?
As for Tom Holt, I took a peak at the other couple of historic Greek books he's written and they looked excellent. Must try and give them a read soon. I laughed all the way through "Alexander at the World's End"
As for Alexander cartoons?! That's almost sacriligeous isn't it? Though he is a character in Greek shadow puppet plays.

[marcus]

Hi Ruth,There are 4 Doherty books so far:A Murder in Macedon
A Murder in Thebes
The House of the Dead
The Godless ManThe first two were published under the nom de plume of Anna Apostolou, but her grasp of Greek History is as suspect as Doherty's .All the bestMarcusPS: There was one sentence in Holt's book, when describing the Athenian embassy to Philip, which almost made me choke with laughter. Of course, I can't remember what it said, now, but it was hilarious.

[Tre]

Greetings!Doherty has 4 Alexander books out - two under an alias (this author has plenty) - A Murder in Macedon and A Murder in Thebes under the pen name Anna Apostolou and two under Doherty - House of Death (the best of the lot) and The Godless Man (the latest). The author has changed the main character with the newer set of books to a physician. Purely for amusement purposes, House of Death was decent, but of course, not terribly historical. James Lee Burke Doherty isn't. For the record at least the author did some research on ancient medicine. Doesn't know anything about modern day medicine mind you (i.e. the insistence Alexander suffered from panic attacks) and should have spent more time on Alexander history but hey, this is mystery fiction nothing more. I am particularly amused because there's always a 'historical' afterword which is funny in light of the fact the books are not terribly well-researched (but Doherty does quote ancient sources a lot lately-these are not the only mystery historicals this author has done, but these are the only ones I've read). These do get slightly better with each novel.Read them as mystery fiction, not as a proper historical novel and you might be moderately entertained. If you want to read a good novel about ancient Greece, the only book I'd recommend of late is Pressfield's Gates of Fire. Regards,Tre

[marcus]

Hi Tre,I agree that The House of Death is the best of the lot.What intrigued me was the fact that, at the headings of his chapters, at least in the latest book, Doherty quotes from Curtius Book 1 - which, as we know, is not extant. That was the funniest bit of all.But I do agree that, as murder mysteries, they are quite fun. I don't generally read that genre (apart from Steven Saylor, who is in my opinion a genius), but I have all Doherty's Alexander books and I enjoyed reading them.And, apart from Steven Saylor and Colleen McCullough's 'Masters of Rome' series, I agree about "Gates of Fire" - an outstanding book. Shame he fouled up completely with "Tides of War", which was an extremely confused mishmash!All the bestMarcus

[Linda]

Ah, well, so I tried and failed with the best one - I don't think I will try the others then. My main beef is that it was boring - I had no interest in the main physician character; he was "modern" - didn't approve of slavery etc. But the thing that made me throw it across the floor was when Doherty made this physician hero Alexander's orginal Patroclus, but he (the Physician) couldn't stand all the "walking around hand-in-hand", and so he told Alexander he would find his Patroclus some day.. Fantasy Island..

[ruthaki]

Thanks so much for the info about the books. I'll definitely look for the "Gates of Fire". I heard about the "House of Death", thought it would be an interesting point of view but I get annoyed reading books on this subject that haven't been thoroughly researched. OK, we are writing historical fiction, but at least try to get the facts straight! (It's okay to give your interpretation of characters, but try to be accurate with that too!)