Chrome Shelled Regios

Chrome Shelled Regios (鋼殻のレギオス) is a Japanese light novel series by Shūsuke Amagi, with illustrations by Miyū. A short story light novel series is serialized in Dragon Magazine. A manga adaptation drawn by Miyū is serialized in the shōnen manga magazine Dragon Age Pure. A second manga adaptation drawn by Nodoka Kiyose is serialized in the shōnen manga magazine Monthly Dragon Age. A third manga adaptation drawn by Watari is serialized in Beans Ace magazine. A four-panel comic strip adaptation drawn by Masumi Futaba started serialization in Monthly Dragon Age on November 8, 2008. A science fiction light novel series titled Legend of Regios is set in the past world of Chrome Shelled Regios series, and published by Fujimi Shobo under its Style-F label. The anime adaptation started airing in January 2009 and is produced by Zexcs.

Story
In a post-apocalyptic polluted earth overrun with mutated beasts called Filth Monsters, humanity is forced to live in large mobile cities called Regios and learn to use weapons called DITE and harness the power of Kei to defend themselves. In the Academy City of Zuellni, Layfon Alseif is hoping to start a new life and forget his past. However, his past has caught the attention of Karian Loss, the Student Council President and Nina Antalk, a Military Arts student and Captain of the 17th Platoon, who instantly recognizes his abilities and decides he’s the perfect candidate to join her group.

Terminology

 * Regios
 * Large Mobile cities created by humans to live after Earth atmosphere became too polluted to live. Each city is named after the Electronic Fairy that controls the Regios. Most Regios avoid Filth Monster as much as possible but with the exception of Grendan, which does the opposite as it constantly finds monsters. There are two different kinds of cities; Academy Cities & General Cities. Academy cities like Myath and Zuellni are places where students from different areas come to learn & study. General cities are the main cities where most of the population lives. Due to a treaty, only Regios of the same type are allowed to have a match with each other.


 * Proto-City Lance Shelled Grendan: The most powerful city in the world due to its regular encounters with Filth Monsters of all levels and was the birthplace of the Military Arts, which most other cities practice today. The Twelve Heaven's Blades are found here under the command of the Grendan Royal Family.


 * Academy City Zuellni: A University City governed by its students. This is where the manga/light novel/anime takes place. Its Electronic Fairy takes the shape of a pale blue, young girl.


 * Academy City Gandoweria: A former city that was overrun by Pollutant Beasts not long after their victory over Zuellni two years ago. Its Electronic Fairy takes the form of an goat-like creature and is currently running amok as a Haikizoku.


 * Sheniebel: The city Nina Antalk grew up in, currently the only city with the Fairy Copy System which is capable of making new Electronic Fairies. Like Grendan, Sheniebel also has a royal family, which Nina Antalk is the heiress of, as seen in the manga of Chrome Shelled Regios.


 * Academy City Myath: An academy city like Zuellni, its electronic fairy takes the form of a red bird. In the anime, the military capabilities of this city are shown to be poor, perhaps even worse than that of Zuellni, as when attacked by a mature filth monster no resistance from the residents of the city is put up.


 * Transport City Yoltem: The original home city of Mayshen Torinden, Mifi Rotten and Gerlni Naruki, according to the manga. All roaming buses eventually return to Yoltem and most travelers will encounter it during their travels. Only its Electronic Fairy knows the current location of every regios.


 * Electronic Fairy
 * Special Artificial creatures that control the Regios. Created by scientists as a two-way solution of having an AI performing the many functions of a Regios while having a mind of a human for maintaining and controlling the Regios, they are the most important asset of every city. Without them, the city would die. On the other hand, the Electronic Fairy will also die if it does not have Selenium, a special ore that has many Regios fight each other for their city's survivability. An electronic fairy whose city has been ruined turns into a Haikizoku, a being which is capable of greatly enhancing a Kei users power.


 * Filth Monsters
 * Monsters roaming the polluted earth outside the Regios. Their main food sources are the pollutants they breath into the atmosphere, humans and themselves if the former cannot be obtained. They have many forms and sizes:


 * Larva: The first state of the Filth Monsters. Ravenous feeders, they will eat any living thing they find. They are overwhelming in number, although easily dispatched by a skilled Kei user and expert Military Artist.


 * Queen: A Filth monster that lays eggs that hatch into Larva. This is the second form if Filth monsters.


 * Mature: A Filth Monster who has moved past its ability to procreate, the longer they live the more powerful they become. In their Mature state, Filth Monsters are able to fly. This is the third form of filth monsters.


 * DITE
 * Dites are the weapons used by Kei users. Dites are small transformable devices when unused that turn into a weapon which the user activates it by saying "Restoration". Many types of weapons can transform from Dites including crushing swords, spears, rifles, staves, katanas, and many more. Some Dites are capable to switch to many different types of weapons. The color of the Dite is not random; different colors give different properties to the weapon. For example, Nina Antalk's iron whips uses black dite, which has good density with a decreasing conductive rate.  Green and white dite is used for speed-based weapons, which was suggested for Layfon Alself to use.


 * The Heaven's Blade: The most powerful Dites wielded by the "Heaven's Blade Receivers" all serving under the Royal Family of Grendan. There are twelve in existence.


 * Kei
 * Source of power for Martial Artists. Kei users are special since they have an organ within their bodies that produces this energy and Kei users can use it in many ways. There are different types of Kei each with its own qualities. In the Anime it is said that the "Heaven's Blade Receivers" have "monstrous" Kei that makes even the strongest Kei users look weak.


 * External Type Kei: Used for attack. This Kei is used in the form of a blast to affect surrounding materials.


 * Internal Type Kei: Used for defense and regeneration. This Kei is used to strengthen parts of the body during battle or to speed up regeneration.


 * Psychokinetic Kei: Users of this Kei (who are also call Nen-I users) are able to communicate telepathically as well as move objects around telekinetically. The downside of this Kei is that those who are able to use it cannot use External Type Kei or Internal Type Kei due to the fact that their psychokinesis is a fusion of internal and external kei. A person must be born with a special physical constitution to use this kei, while the other two can be utilized by anyone with training and a certain level of kei.

Novels
There are currently 14 light novel volumes released in Japan, with 5 volumes already translated and published in Chinese and 8 in Korean.

Anime
The anime adaptation started airing in January 2009 and is produced by Zexcs. The anime itself is a reinterpretation of the manga, featuring the same characters with an expanded group of characters. At the season finale, many of the plots within the story remain unresolved, suggesting a possible continuation of the series, but there has yet to be confirmation of a second season. At Anime Central 2010, North American anime distributor Funimation Entertainment announced that they have acquired the anime series.

Opening Song: "Brave your truth" by Daisy × Daisy

Closing Songs:
 * "Yasashii Uso (ヤサシイウソ)" by Chrome Shelled
 * "Yasahii Uso w/z Felli Loss 「ヤサシイウソ w/z フェリ・ロス」" by Chrome Shelled feat. Felli Loss (eps 4,9,11)
 * "Yasahii Uso w/z Nina Antalk 「ヤサシイウソ w/z ニーナ・アントーク」" by Chrome Shelled feat. Nina Antalk (eps 5,7,10)
 * "Yasahii Uso w/z Leerin Marfes 「ヤサシイウソ w/z リーリン・マーフェス」" by Chrome Shelled feat. Leerin Marfes (eps 6,12)
 * "Ai no Zuellni (愛のツェルニ)" by Chrome Shelled (eps 13-15,17-22,24)
 * "Ai no Zuellni w/z Mayshen Torinden" (愛のツェルニ w/z メイシェン・トリンデン) by Chrome Shelled feat. Mayshen Torinden (ep 16)
 * "Ai no Zuellni w/z Leerin Marfes" (愛のツェルニ w/z リーリン・マーフェス) by Chrome Shelled feat. Leerin Marfes (ep 23)

Reception
The light novels have sold over 4,500,000 copies.