The Asterisk War
The Asterisk War: The Academy City on the Water is a Japanese light novel series written by Yū Miyazaki, and illustrated by Okiura. Media Factory has published the series in seventeen volumes from September 25, 2012, to June 24, 2022, under their MF Bunko J imprint. Three spin-off volumes, Wings of Queenvale, were also released. The series was later serialized from January 2013 in Media Factory's seinen manga magazine Monthly Comic Alive where it was adapted into a manga. The artwork for the manga was done by Ningen, and three volumes have been collected into tankōbon. Eventually, an anime television series adaptation by A-1 Pictures was made which began airing on October 3, 2015. The anime aired for two seasons at twelve episodes each from October 3, 2015, to June 18, 2016. Other media adaptations include a video game called The Asterisk War: Houka Kenran which was released in Japan on January 28, 2016.
The anime has been licensed by Aniplex of America in North America, Crunchyroll Store Australia in Australasia, MVM Films in the United Kingdom and Medialink in Southeast Asia. The light novels and manga were licensed and localized by Yen Press from August 2016.
Plot
In the 21st century, Earth is in a rapidly declining economic state as megacorporations known as the Integrated Enterprise Foundations, rose to power after the Invertia impact event destroyed most of the planet's cities and resulted in humans gaining superpowers to become the Genestella. The city of Rikka, also called Asterisk, has six academies where the Genestella participate in tournaments called Festa. Battle performances at Seidoukan Academy, the city's fifth top-ranking academy, are falling significantly and the academy's incumbent student council president, Claudia Enfield, is determined to find a solution to the problem. Kirin Toudou is the academy's top fighter, but Claudia, as well as Lieseltanian princess Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld, are close behind.Meanwhile, Ayato Amagiri investigates the disappearance of his sister, Haruka, a former student at Seidoukan. During his first day at the academy, Ayato is forced to fight Julis after discovering her half-dressed when returning her handkerchief to her. Claudia voids their duel and enrolls Ayato in Seidoukan. After rescuing Julis from a plot to cripple the Phoenix Festa, he sets out to become her protector and close friend. Eventually, Ayato wins against Kirin and is named the new top student at the academy. After Ayato participates in the Phoenix Festa with Julis to solve Seidoukan's performance crisis, they continue to participate in various Festas and also fight threats outside of the academy.
Characters
Seidoukan Academy
;Ayato Amagiri;Julis-Alexia von Riessfeld
;Claudia Enfield
;Saya Sasamiya
;Kirin Toudou
;Eishirou Yabuki
;Lester MacPhail
;Silas Norman
;Randy Hooke
;Kyouko Yatsuzaki
St. Gallardworth Academy
;Ernest Fairclough;Laetitia Blanchard
;Elliot Forster
Jie Long Seventh Institute
;Xinglou Fan;Shenyun Li
;Shenhua Li
;Hufeng Zhao
;Ran Song
;Kunzhan Luo
Allekant Académie
;Ernesta Kühne;Camilla Pareto
;Shuma Sakon
;AR-D
;RM-C
;Hilda Jane Rowlands
Le Wolfe Black Institute
;Dirk Eberwein;Korona Kashimaru
;Irene Urzaiz
;Priscilla Urzaiz
;Ophelia Landlufen
;Moritz Nessler
;Gerd Schiele
Queenvale Academy for Young Ladies
;Sylvia Lyyneheym;Yuzuhi Renjouji
Media
Light novels
The series is written by Yū Miyazaki and illustrated by Okiura. It is published by Media Factory. The first volume was released in September 2012, and its final volume, volume 17, was released on June 24, 2022. Yen Press licensed the novels for publication in North America. The first English volume was released on August 30, 2016, and the last one on September 12, 2023. The first five volumes were translated into English by Melissa Tanaka and the rest by Haydn Trowell.''Wings of Queenvale''
Yuu Miyazaki has also worked on a spinoff, focusing on Minato Wakamiya, the main protagonist, Chloe Flockhart, Minato's best friend, Sophia Fairclough, the younger sister of Ernest Fairclough, Nina Achenwall, a Strega whose powers are invoked through the mental image of a deck of cards, and Yuzuhi Renjouji, a childhood friend of Ayato Amagiri who trained in the Yatsuka Dojo of the Amagiri Shinmei Style, all students of Queenvale Academy for Young Ladies.Manga
A manga adaptation by Ningen was published from 2013 to 2016 and has been compiled into five volumes. It was released in English by Yen Press. The English translation is by Melissa Tanaka. A manga adaptation of the spinoff Wings of Queenvale novels by Shou Akane premiered in Kodansha's Bessatsu Shōnen Magazine in August 2014, and ended in September 2016. The spinoff manga adaptation was collected in four volumes.Anime
Directed by Manabu Ono and Kenji Seto, an anime adaptation of the series was broadcast from October 3 to December 19, 2015, with a second season following from April 2 through June 18, 2016.Four pieces of theme music are used for the two seasons: two opening themes and two ending themes. The opening themes, "Brand-new world" and "The Asterisk War", are both performed by Shiena Nishizawa. The first ending theme, titled "Waiting for the rain", is performed by Maaya Sakamoto, while the second ending theme is "Ai no Uta (Words of Love)" performed by Haruka Chisuga.
All theme songs and musical scores were written and produced by Rasmus Faber
Aniplex of America licensed the series for an English-language release in North and South America and simulcasted the series on Crunchyroll's streaming services. Aniplex released the series on DVD and Blu-ray in four compilations, each containing 6 episodes, from September 20, 2016, to April 25, 2017.