Ranked #3245

Monster Farm: Enbanseki no Himitsu

I just finished watching all of Monster Rancher. I will have to treat eps 1-48 as "season 1" and 49-73 as "season 2." This review I will break down into two parts, the scores you see above is overall scores for both seasons.

Season 1
The story was awesome. It was filled with characters that were fleshed out nicely, the overall plot was great with bits of light comedy and dark/tragic moments. The sound and art were pretty decent but nothing too much to shout about. It left me felling pretty good about the whole show.

So for the scores I'd give it: 8, 6, 6, 8, 7, 7

Season 2
This season was a let down. They changed the story from having an epic adventure to battling in Monster Rancher tournaments. One can understand the need for the battling but it sucks compared to the first 48 episodes. The story was pretty weak, art and sound didn't change much, the characters were weakened in my opinion, it wasn't as enjoyable and at times I struggled to finish watching episodes in the middle. The ending was also rushed and felt cheap. Not to mention that they left a huge plot hole open.

Scores: 5/6, 6, 6, 6, 6, 5/6

I'd recommend episodes 1-48 highly. There characters were great and even though it seems kiddy-ish it really wasn't. There were plenty of dark and depressing moments as well as ones that touched the heart. 49-73 only watch if you have to in order to complete the series. It gives a happier ending but it cheapens the show a lot. read more

This is in a nutshell a simpler Digimon variant.

ANIMATION SECTION: 6/10 [Hey, look! More species of Pokemon!]
Cute and clear but nothing great, appealing to the eye animation but without any artistic value. All character figures and objects don’t have much detail on them, the colors are vivid and generally bright, with too much lightning / shadowing antithesis. The monsters are as weird looking as most Digimons are. You know; an animal or object with a weird trinket to make it look bizarre. I must say, some of them look too spooky or ugly, even for kiddie standarts and thus I find them less appealing to the eye that their counterparts. Special effects such as energy beams and explosions are also too simple to the point they become boring to keep watching. The world is also rather empty and full of ruins so you are not made to think it is bursting with life or anything.

SOUND SECTION: 6/10 [Pokemon! Got to catch them all!]
Don’t expect any great voice acting or marvelous music themes. Kiddy voices, funny sounding monsters and cheery music themes are all you get. Enough to keep an 8 year-old focused but quite lame for teenagers and above.

STORY SECTION: 5/10 [Is this the DigiWorld?]
A boy and a girl are transported to a monster land, where they must find a way to return home. Along the way, they befriend and liberate monsters, learn and mature through their adventures and face the evil demon that tyranises this world.

In case you have watched any Digimon seasons, you will know what to expect. Simple adventures, moral messages, coming-of-age talking and other silly themes. So, ok, at some times the series gets more violent or scary than Digimon. And there are some plot twists concerning the origin of the monsters and the identity of the arch-villain that do spice things up. But that happens only at a few points and it is not enough to improve the whole childish concept of the story.

CHARACTER SECTION: 5/10 [Is that Ash and Misty?]
We have your typical immature, hyped boy in red, acompanied by your typical gentle and serious girl, aided by some comic relief monsters. And a generic Big Bad chasing them. And some other one-episode monsters and characters teaching them or chalenging their moral beliefs. And… Well, that’s probably all. Not original, but colorful and kinda developed in the end.

VALUE & ENJOYMENT SECTION: 3/10 [When is the “list of monsters I have to catch” going to end?]
Not original or interesting in the long run. It won’t keep any seasoned viewer glued and newcomers in Anime will most likely turn to “that other show”.

VERDICT: 4.5 / 10
Better leave alone these critters in their Pokeballs… I mean, ancient tablets! read more