Zatch Bell!

All of this just works. ― Todd Howard

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Zatch Bell!, known in Japan as Konjiki no Gash Bell!!, is a Japanese anime series based on the manga series Konjiki no Gash, written and illustrated by Makoto Raiku. The show was premiered on Fuji TV on April 6, 2003 and aired until March 23, 2006.

Plot Summary

Kiyomaro Takamine, a depressed don't-care-about-the-world guy, was suddenly given a little demon named Gash Bell to take care of. Little does he know that Gash is embroiled into an intense fight to see who the ruler of the demon world. All of the demons have to pick a master on Earth and duke it out with other demons until one survives. Needless to say, Kiyomaro becomes Gash's master, and through their many battles, Kiyomaro learns the importance of friendship and courage.

Why It Rocks

1. Similar to the other series based on Shogakukan's Weekly Shōnen Sunday, this one was stays faithful to the manga.
2. Tons of likable characters, such as partners like Kiyo Takamine/Zatch Bell, Parco Folgore/Kanchomé, Megumi Oumi/Tia, Kafk Sunbeam/Ponygon, Sherry Belmont/Brago, and other characters like Suzy Mizumo, Lori/Kolulu, Li-en/Wonrei, and Dr. Riddles/Kido.
3. Great antagonists, such as Koko/Zofis and Dufort/Zeno Bell.
4. The animation and the character designs itself was decent and it was made by Toei Animation (who probably producing other popular anime series, like Dragon Ball, Sailor Moon, Digimon and One Piece).
5. The voice acting is great from both sub and English dub (the latter was produced at Studiopolis, who later produced other anime series, like Naruto, Bleach, and Jujutsu Kaisen).
6. The idea of having a human and their Mamodo having a battle was a great thing.
7. Some heartwarming moments, such as the book for every Mamodos that were burn, after the battle.
8. Aside from action scenes, they also have some funny moments, such as running, demon faces, Zatch eating yellowtail, Folgore dancing and Ponygon keep biting Kiyo’s hands, which are specify running gags. They even have the creator made his cameo appearance.
9. While they have filler episodes, it was still pretty good to watched.
10. Awesome music, which are mostly use for both Japanese and American.
11. The final battle between Zatch Bell and Brago was incredible, even though it was only shown in the Japanese version.
12. After 14 yerars, they finally have a sequel called Zatch Bell 2.

Bad Qualities

1. The final episode leaves the cliffhanger, where Zatch has never become Mamodo king, But, that only happens in the manga.
2. Also, even though there are some girls that were Mamodos, in which that doesn't make them as the king. They should've have make them queen instead.
3. The English dub, while good, was also unfinished by Viz Media. They only have 104 episodes out of 150.
   • Speaking of which, they also censored everything from the Japanese version, such as blood, sexual themes and swearing words.
4. Some of the characters were either bad or unlikable, such as Naomi, Penny and Byonko.

Trivia

• Viz Media (ShoPro Entertainment at the time) has licensed the rights to the anime, under the name Zatch Bell!.
  • The English-dubbed version (produced at Studiopolis) was premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami block from March 5, 2005 until January 20, 2007, after they stopped airing 77 episodes. However, the remaining episodes continued airing on YTV's Bionix until they stopped airing with 104 episodes in 2008.
• The manga was also published by Viz Media from 2005 to 2009, after the manga itself was already published in Japan by Shogakukan in 2001. But, since the legal fight between Makoto Raiku and Shogakukan resulted in Raiku gaining total control over everything he ever made, this series included. This meant they forced Viz to stop publishing Zatch Bell!, after 25 volumes.
  • The series has since been republished in Japan by Kodansha (who made Raiku’s other series, Animal Land), but there's no word of it being republished anywhere else. In 2022, Raiku had his own company, Birgdin Board Corp., to published his sequel, Zatch Bell 2.