Reign: The Conqueror

Reign: The Conqueror
Tokyopop North American DVD cover
アレクサンダー戦記
(Arekusandā Senki)
GenreAction, Adventure, Science fantasy, Supernatural, Historical fiction
Light novel
Written byHiroshi Aramata
Published byKadokawa Haruki Office
DemographicMale
Original run19961997
Volumes3
Anime television series
Directed byYoshinori Kanemori
Produced by
  • Hae-Jong Park
  • Yosuke Ozawa
  • Yoshiteru Takeda
  • Yoshihisa Nakayama
Written bySadayuki Murai
Music byKen Ishii
StudioMadhouse
Original networkWowow
English network
Original run September 15, 1999 December 8, 1999
Episodes13
Anime film
Directed by
Produced by
Written bySadayuki Murai
Music byKen Ishii
StudioMadhouse
ReleasedOctober 7, 2000
Runtime75 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.