Loosely based on the classic 14th century Chinese novel Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the series revolves around an all-out turf war in the Kantō region of Japan where fighters known as Tōshi (闘士, meaning "fighting soldier") from seven schools battle for supremacy.

The story centers on Hakufu Sonsaku, a fighter who transfers to Nanyo Academy, one of the seven schools involved in the turf war.

The manga was licensed in North America and the United Kingdom by Tokyopop, with adaptation from Keith Giffen under the title Battle Vixens; and in Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment.

The third and fourth anime series, Great Guardians and Xtreme Xecutor, would deviate from the manga's plot and feature original storylines and new characters.

A sequel manga titled Shin Ikki Tousen began serialization in Shōnen Gahōsha's Young King OURs magazine in November 2015.

The fighters of each school bear the sacred jewels called magatama, which contains the essence of warriors from the Three Kingdoms era of Ancient China 1800 years ago, as well as their fates.

Hakufu Sonsaku, the descendant of legendary conqueror Sun Ce, is a highly skilled fighter with a strong sense of personality who goes to Nanyo Academy where her cousin Koukin Shuuyu attends under her mother's request.

In October 2015, Shōnen Gahōsha announced that the sequel Shin Ikki Tousen would be serialized in Young King OURs magazine starting in its January 2016 issue released on November 30, 2015.

Six DVD volumes were released by Media Factory between July 25 and November 22, 2007,[16][17] each volume containing an original video animation titled Dragon Destiny: Great Battle at the Red Cliffs Hot Springs (Dragon Destiny 赤壁温泉大決戦, Doragon Desutinī: Sekiheki Onsen Dai Kessen), featuring the female cast in a hot spring setting.

[18] The anime is licensed in North America by Media Blasters,[5] who released the series on three DVD volumes between November 24, 2009 and April 20, 2010.

Unlike the first season, the English dub for Dragon Destiny was recorded at Headline Studios in Irvington, New York.

However, due to the series' violent and sexual scenes, the Office of Film and Literature Classification banned Ikki Tousen: Dragon Destiny in New Zealand.

The series focuses on an original storyline featuring new characters; such as Shokyo, Hakufu's younger sister and the Japanese counterpart of Xiao Qiao, and "another" Genpou Saji as an antagonist.

[22] The series was originally planned to be released in two half-series sets on August 30, 2011 and October 25, 2011, respectively, prior to its rescheduled date.

At Anime Expo 2012, Funimation announced that they had also acquired the licensing rights to Xtreme Xecutor alongside Great Guardians.

[28][29][30] As with the third season, the English dub was produced by both New Generation Pictures and DuArt Film and Video in California and New York, respectively.

[35] The series is produced by Arms, directed by Rion Kujo, from scripts written by Masaya Honda, with character designs by Rin-Sin and Tsutomu Miyazawa, while featuring music composed by Yasuharu Takanashi.

The game's international release was completed by 2008 but formally cancelled by the distributor in May 2009, with the M rating being listed as the most damaging factor.

Eloquent Fist omits the presence of Ukitsu, and new finishing maneuvers and altered movesets have either been buffed, or have been nerfed.

The game adds a "Super Arts" bar, tag-team battles and combos, and the addition of the alternate striker system.

The characters Sonsaku, Kan'u and Ryofu made a DLC playable guest appearance in Senran Kagura: Estival Versus.