Reign: The Conqueror
| Reign: The Conqueror | |
| Tokyopop North American DVD cover | |
| アレクサンダー戦記 (Arekusandā Senki) | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Action, Adventure, Science fantasy, Supernatural, Historical fiction | 
| Light novel | |
| Written by | Hiroshi Aramata | 
| Published by | Kadokawa Haruki Office | 
| Demographic | Male | 
| Original run | 1996 – 1997 | 
| Volumes | 3 | 
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Yoshinori Kanemori | 
| Produced by | 
 | 
| Written by | Sadayuki Murai | 
| Music by | Ken Ishii | 
| Studio | Madhouse | 
| Original network | Wowow | 
| English network | |
| Original run | September 15, 1999 – December 8, 1999 | 
| Episodes | 13 | 
| Anime film | |
| Directed by | 
 | 
| Produced by | 
 | 
| Written by | Sadayuki Murai | 
| Music by | Ken Ishii | 
| Studio | Madhouse | 
| Released | October 7, 2000 | 
| Runtime | 75 minutes | 
Alexander Senki (Japanese: アレクサンダー戦記, Hepburn: Arekusandā Senki; lit. 'Alexander War Chronicle'), released in North America as Reign: The Conqueror, in Europe as Alexander the Great, and in South America simply as Alexander, is an anime television series that aired from September to December 1999. The series is a reimagining of the life of Alexander the Great based on the novel series Emperor's Fantasy – Alexander's War Chronicles by Hiroshi Aramata. It was produced by an international staff that drew various resources from the worldwide animation community. Character designs for the anime were conceived by Peter Chung (better known for creating Æon Flux), while it was directed by Yoshinori Kanemori and written by Sadayuki Murai. Despite being produced by Madhouse in Japan, most of the production work was actually outsourced to various South Korean animation studios. For the original Japanese release, the opening theme song is "Let's Count Your Kisses ~You Were Mine~" (あなたのキスを数えましょう 〜You were mine〜, Anata no Kisu wo Kazoe Mashō ~Yū wā main~) performed by Yuki Koyanagi, with composition and arrangement by Hideya Nakazaki and lyrics written by Koi Takayanagi. For the American release, the opening theme song is "Worthy of Your Soul" performed by Rachael Pollack.
In the original attempt at American distribution, an English dub for the first four episodes was produced under the direction of veteran voice director Jack Fletcher. However, when the anime was later acquired by Tokyopop in preparation for a broadcast on Adult Swim under the title Reign: The Conqueror in February 2003, a new dub was created. Tokyopop retained the rights to the first four episodes of the series containing Fletcher's dub, and used them for its American release instead of redubbing them. The company then used its own dub for the remaining episodes that were not dubbed under Fletcher. Only John DeMita would return to reprise his role in the series under the alias Will Barrett, and would also take over the role of Alexander from Andrew Philpot. At some point several years after licensing it around 2002, Tokyopop let its rights to the series expire and it has remained without a licensor in North America since.
There is also a compilation film edition of Reign: The Conqueror, known as Alexander: The Movie in North America, which consists almost entirely of recut footage from the series, with the only new content being short opening and closing scenes. The movie covers the first ten episodes of the anime, ending with Alexander's victory over Darius and the Persian army.