Arthurian Medievalism has been circulating through the masses since its creation. In pop culture today, there are many references to the notorious tale of King Arthur; his life and legacy. Japanese cartoons, or more famously known as anime, have adopted the famous tale as well. One such anime, Entaku no Kishi Monogatari Moero Asa, or its westernized title, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table was a television series that aired from September of 1979 to March of 1980 primarily in Japan. It has a more lighthearted tone than the original legend. This was by design. However, it still has many key elements of the classic Arthurian tale.
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| (3) The cover of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table |
Arthur's Origin Story
The premise of the show is similar to what we know about King Arthur's childhood, but there are some important differences between the two stories. In the show, Arthur's dad, King Uther is attacked by an opposing king and Arthur is saved by Merlin (1). In the original story, King Uther kills Arthur's mother's original husband and marries her out of false pity. This is obviously much darker than the anime's premise, but Merlin takes a young Arthur away in both stories. The show has Merlin take Arthur to live with a knight and be raised by him without knowing his birthright as the future king of Camelot (1). This is also true in the original story. Arthur always grows up not knowing his bloodline. The show follows Arthur into his teen years where he pulls the sword, Excalibur from the stone during a tournament and is revealed to be the true king of Camelot (1). While Arthur does pull a sword from stone in the original text, that sword is actually a completely different sword from Excalibur. Excalibur is gifted to him later in the story by the Lady of the Lake. While there are some differences between the two tales, the outline of Arthur's origin story remains the same.
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| (4) Arthur pulling the sword from the stone |
Medessa
There is an evil witch in the anime named Medessa who helps King Lavik, one of the show's villains, attack Camelot while it is ruled by both King Uther and eventually King Arthur. Her character might be inspired by Morgan Le Fay from the original text. Morgan Le Fay is Arthur's half-sister who he sleeps with, not knowing she is his sister, and eventually produces Mordred, his son and future murderer. Morgan Le Fay also works numerous times in the original stories to thwart King Arthur in her rage at what his father did to her parents. In the show, none of this is mentioned. Medessa is an evil witch who works to fight against Camelot, but her relation to Arthur and the accompanying backstory is not explicitly stated (1). The similarity in malicious antics between Medessa and Morgan Le Fay is the most clear similarity between the two. Also, Morgan Le Fay is sometimes known to have magical powers, so the fact that Medessa is a witch aids in their comparison. It is not clear whether the creators of the anime meant to make this connection, but it is fair to assume given their similarities.
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| (5) Arthur and company |
The Holy Shield
In order to defeat Medessa and King Lavik, Arthur is tasked to go find the Holy Shield (1). This might be a reference to the story of the Holy Grail from the original text. The Holy Grail is thought to be the cup that Jesus drank out of during the Last Supper (2). In the Arthurian story, one of King Arthur's knights, sometimes it is Percival, is able to find the Holy Grail in a long quest. The Grail is meant to be difficult to locate and only the best knights have a chance at finding it. The show differs from this in that they made it a shield instead of a grail, thus eliminating the Jesus element. They also have Arthur go in search of the Holy Shield instead of one of his knights which does not occur in the original legend (1). This was probably because Arthur is the main character in the show, so they wanted the main character to be the one who finds the Grail and uses it to defeat Medessa and King Lavik. Regardless, the differences here are clear.
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| (6) Arthur leading the charge into battle |
The story of King Arthur has been told a million times. It has been incorporated into numerous areas of pop culture, anime being no exception. While King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table changes some of the details of the Arthurian legend and lightens up some of the more gruesome aspects, it is still a good representation of how Arthurian Medievalism has woven itself into storytelling and culture today. For more anime that have Arthurian elements, click here.
Works Cited
1. Masayuki, Akehi and Tomoharu, Katsumata, directors. Toei Animation and Fuji TV, 1979.
2. Mark, J. "Grail Legend." World History Encyclopedia, 2019, https://www.worldhistory.org/Grail_Legend/. Accessed 3 Oct. 2023.
3. Toei Animation. Arthur anime. 2007. Japan.
4. Toei Animation. King Arthur. Japan.
5. Toei Animation. Re Artu. Japan.
6. Toei Animation. La spada di King Arthur. Japan.
Hi Sydney! One of the things I love about the Arthurian legend is how far it has extended into popular culture. Now that I have a baseline understanding of the story, I am beginning to see it everywhere. I had never considered it might show up in anime, so I'm glad you chose to do your blog on it. It's interesting to see which elements they chose to keep versus which they chose to change, and to consider why they might have done so. It's clear that they have tried to lighten some of the darker elements of the story, which I could appreciate especially if this is meant for younger audiences. I also find it interesting that they seem to have eliminated the story's ties to Christianity, by changing the Holy Grail from a cup to a shield. Thanks for your post!
ReplyDeleteHey Syndey! It is crazy that there is an anime that retells the story of King Arthur! That is so cool. You did a great job of analyzing some of the differences in the anime retelling. I think it's interesting that they switch up the religious element. I wonder if they simply found it easier to make that change. I would definitely be interested to watch and see all of the small changes they decide to make in adapting the story. Very interesting artifact you found! Great post!
ReplyDeleteHi Sydney! I honestly was surprised to learn there was an anime depicting the story of King Arthur. It's wild to think that a culture so different from medieval England has also been touched by these stories and just how deeply rooted they are. It's interesting to read about the way they switch things up due to their own culture and interpretation and it's not a shock that they left out the darker parts of the story as anime during that time period was much less dark
ReplyDeleteI really loved this! Seeing that Arthurian legend being present in something like anime is amazing. I love seeing that these stories have had such an impact all over the world. I also love to see what they have changed from the original tales. The cup becoming a shield is really interesting to me and I would love to see all the different changes that were made. Great job!
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