Reign: The Conqueror

Reign the Conqueror was one of the few shows on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block I never had a chance of seeing in its entirety over a decade ago. Being a loose take on portraying the life of famous Macedonian conqueror Alexander the Great, Reign adds in supernatural elements, steampunk and influential philosophers of the time period to explore the struggles of Alexander coming to grips with his destiny to conquer the known world. The anime features Alexander gathering allies, conquering various parts of Europe and Asia and trying to make sense of the supposed destiny he has had since birth where he would leadthe world to its destruction with his attempts to conquer all known lands. The major elements that make this series stick out for quality are its excellent integration of metaphysical themes and ancient philosophical figures that were renowned around Alexander's time that influence his conquests throughout the course of the series. Alexander is blessed with a high degree of luck and charisma in his conquests that gets explained as being influenced by the fate bestowed upon him by an ancient artifact capable of algorithmic manipulation of reality that he seeks out in later episodes of the series to find meaning to his supposed destiny. This makes his existence threatening to several cults influenced by differing philosophical schools of thought who attempt to assassinate Alexander throughout the course of the series and influential Greek philosophers like Aristotle and Diogenes serve to either guide or hinder Alexander's quest to conquer countries and come to terms with the supposed destiny he has. The assumptions of Alexander's destiny made by many throughout the course of the series are not what one would assume on the surface, which is hinted to at points earlier in the series and the title's finale. On top of the show's creators shown to have done well in their research of Greek philosophy and supernatural lore for their spin on Alexander's life, they also make their own unique takes to major feats that Alexander accomplishes such as his taming of the wild horse Bucephalus, his encounter with Diogenes and his cutting of the Gordian Knot. These nice touches make the exploits of Alexander's character for this adaptation of the series all the more pleasing to see unfold. When it comes to other characters in this series though, the series is a mixed bag in their focus on them. Some characters get enough focus to have defined personalities and developments that show what beliefs or loyalties they have that lead them to either be loyal or opposed to Alexander's pursuits. Others that have major roles in the series are either quite underdeveloped or shallow in their characters that make them difficult to connect with. The series also appears to have been left open-ended as Alexander is still alive and well following his journey in the title's finale, yet is still intent on pressing forward with his quest to conquer the known world. However, I think this might have been intentional by the show's creators since the series was more about Alexander trying to come to terms with himself instead of an actual focus of his entire life. The presentation for this series certainly sticks out from standard anime fare. The character and setting designs for Reign the Conqueror were done by Korean-American animator Peter Chung, whom some folks may recognize as the animated talent behind the American animated cult hit Aeon Flux. On the plus side, many character designs are drawn to be quite lifelike with realistic details for muscle tone and facial features, settings that are faithful to their intended historical settings with occasional elements of steampunk tossed in for technologies employed, subdued color tones that make for a nice touch to the dark mood this series gives off and decent use of CG animation for some of the complex animations seen in the series such as a glimpse of the universe seen when Alexander enters the barrel hut of Diogenes, armies marching and the elaborate "world of destruction" seen in the finale of the series. On the bad end, many of the major characters in this series (mostly the men) sport very revealing attire like tight thongs, shirts that expose midriff and formal attire that look like women's bathing suits that give the series somewhat of a homo-erotic feel and are obviously not faithful to Alexander's time period. Plus outside of the CG animation, the hand-drawn animation to this is mostly subpar with animation shortcuts and tricks employed to give off a sense of fluid animation that doesn't look convincing in many instances. The soundtrack to the series sports tense and dark insert tracks that do their part to compliment the serious mood of this series, though don't particularly stick out. The original opening song for Reign ("Anata no Kiss wo Oshiemasho ~You Were Mine~") sports an upbeat, optimistic mood and lyrics that go against the intended mood this series wishes to give off. Yet in a occasional case where changes done by an American distributor are done for the better with a series, Tokyopop created a new opening song for their English dub of the series ("Worthy of your Soul") that sports a melancholic mood and lyrics that both better accompany the feel of Reign. Overall, I'm actually fairly surprised with this series. I was expecting a dud thanks to much of the negative reception that this series received from anime fans. But I think this reception was exaggerated thanks to Reign's attempts to be different from the norm. Granted, the homo-erotic attire of the characters will turn away some fans and there are a number of characters I felt could have been better developed. But the series does do well at integrating supernatural lore and unique spins on major elements of Alexander's conquests of the known world. It's not perfect, but I think the reputation of this series as a supposed dud is greatly exaggerated.

If you're like me and stumbled across some weird Alexander the Great anime from the late 90's with a bizarre art style and no reviews above a 7, you'd feel an instantaneous need to watch it for yourself, if only so that you could mystify your friends with your ability to find weird shows with ridiculous premises. As someone who has gone through this and come out the other side with a smile on my face, I feel a need to rectify this and give this show the recognition it deserves. If you're looking for something historically accurate, you've come to the wrong place. Alexander Senkiroughly follows Alexander the Great's ascension to the throne and his conquests throughout the ancient world whilst being hunted by various wizard cult members. The strange dichotomy between obvious fiction and romanticised reality gives the whole experience a sense of surreality, emphasised by the unconventional art style. The art gives the world a unique sense of identity, in that it combines strange, technology-drenched architecture in hypercolour with angular, almost jagged faces. Whilst I can understand that it may throw some people off, I feel it is key to the quality of the show and is thus almost unparalleled (if only because no-one is game enough to have such a potentially controversial artstyle). The music choice is reflective of the art design, in that it combines upbeat, heroic tunes with offbeat synthesised ones. Watching the sub, the choice of voice actors seemed suitable. I did however dive into the dub for one episode, where the voice acting ranged from uninspired to downright infuriating (looking at you, Zoroastrians). So if you're tossing up the two, I would recommend the sub. Speaking of criticisms, there are some bits of repeated animation, but these are usually some of the better animated sections and it isn't too egregious. I really enjoyed this show. Whilst it isn't for everyone, it certainly doesn't deserve the 5.78 average it had at the time of writing. Take a chance and give it a go - it might surprise you.

Alexander Senki enjoys a kind of artistic freedom that no longer exists in the anime industry - where lolis and cliché tropes of tsun-yan-whatever-dere and pastiche art style and comedy attempts are actively shoved into every production. It brings forth the magnificent art of Peter Chung, using slender and sculptural bodies, that mix the German expressionist style of Egon Schiele with the sensual style of fashion designers of the 60’s, like Antonio Lopez and Gregory Weir-Quiton. The costumes, always giving emphasis to the erogenous areas, combined with thick eyelashes, voluptuous lips, and exposed, always hard, nipples, are a mark of his character design that youmay know from his previous animation work Æon Flux. The use of extravagant make up and androgynous figurines also looks very inspired by 60’s and 70’s avant-garde dance and theater troupes, like The Living Theater, John Vaccaro’s Play House of the Ridiculous and The Cockettes, that were direct inspiration for the Glam Rock visuals of David Bowie and others. As for colors, background and vehicle design, those you could easily see on the pages of Metal Hurlant, as Chung himself proclaims his influence by Moebius, Enki Bilal and French comics artists. Had Chung also directed the anime, I’m sure Alexander’s relation with characters like his mother Olympias, Hephastion, Cassandra and Darius III, would have been way more interesting. He’d probably have used the character of Bagoas as well, and made Cassandra’s gender-bending (the real historical character is Cassander, a man) part of the story. For the historical part, it adds a lot of fantastical and mystical elements, not just god’s prophecies but secret cults and sects plotting in the background. Still, it’s very delightful seeing all those important real names of History like Aristotle, Diogenes, Ptolemy, Plato and Pythagoras and their relations. Alexander Senki doesn’t pretend to be a documentary; it’s a fantastical dramatization, but on its way, it tells the real epic of Alexander and his conquest. This is not an anime for the average anime fan, though, but for fans of art and history.

Alexander Senki is a deceptively complex narrative that draws its ideas from sources of the ancient world. Serving as an obliquely futuristic take on the legend of Alexander the Great, the main idea is that the conflict between passion and reason leads humanity to question the nature of what we call 'civilization'. The series contains stylistic depictions of numerous famous names from the time of classical Greece. It also depicts the archetypal feud between Plato and Socrates, a battle of essence versus existence. Alexander is fated to bring the death of the world, but Socrates says 'Is there not death without rebirth?' Historical purists may beturned away from the cyberpunk aesthetics, but it serves a purpose of making an unfamiliar setting more palpable to a late night anime audience. Personally, I was rather giddy at the portrayal of Diogenes the mad hermit as a Yoda-like figure (English Dub). Which is to say honestly one of the few high points of the English dub.