Monster Farm: Enbanseki no Himitsu

The term “Pokemon clone” gets thrown around a lot with late 90s and early 00s anime. Digimon has perhaps the most defense against that claim, with plenty diehard fans campaigning for it not only being so different than Pokemon it has an identity entirely of its own but it’s even better than it. Monster Rancher however seemingly receives the most criticism for being a “clone” of Pokemon.

Virtual pets were a big phenomenon of the 90s like Tamagotchi, you can even tack on stuffed animals like Furrbies and Beanie Babies, and Pokemon was merely a subject of this growing trend. Other shows and video games ... arrived quickly thereafter like Digimon and Monster Rancher but unfortunately were both, among others, were met with children comparing them to Pokemon and its similarities, not so much their differences. I mentioned before Digimon was able to standout among the rest as at least being a “better” anime by having a different evolution premise, one where the digital monsters could transform to and from their more advanced and stronger selves as well as also having a less than episodic chain of episodes that told a more linear story with arguably more intense (not necessarily dark) themes than Pokemon typically attempted. I also mentioned that Monster Rancher took a brunt of criticism for being too same-y to Pokemon and from the outside looking in the concept had very little going for it whereas the essentially all of its positives (traveling monster companies, the art of collecting said monsters, the ultimate journey etc.) were done far better by its contemporaries.

I don’t support this somewhat popular claim. I think it’s safe to argue that Monster Rancher was likely the show sitting in third place in terms of overall quality and staying power. Pokemon and Digimon are still going stronger in the anime industry whereas Monster Rancher is more so remembered for being a mark of the 90s trend. I think nostalgia plays a part into me even seeking out this show, but I’d argue nostalgia didn’t play a big role at all in even determining my final score. I would argue this show out of the three has the better plot and has my favorite art style too. It may not have as unique of a concept as Pokemon, but the idea of someone finding monsters through taking CDs, whether they be movies, games, or music, and inserting them into your PlayStation console to unearth a new monster to add to your farm was lowkey innovative and something that surprisingly didn’t catch on as well as it could have. I personally haven’t played the video games but from play throughs I’ve watched seem fun enough and something I would have enjoyed plenty as a kid.

When people say “Pokemon clone” they never focus on the differences or lack thereof, typically pointing out a lack of such thing if anything, but even using the term writes off all of the merit it has going for it. If we are just looking at the show, there are virtually no commonalities. Try watching both shows and notice how less similarities there are the further you go through this show. It’s as if there can actually be a show about humans with monster buddies that go on a journey and not be Pokemon. Allow me to further harp on this by going over my synopsis and review.

In one of the earliest examples of an isekai that involves a gamer dropping into a video game world, Genki is a professional Monster Rancher player from Japan who gets warped into the video game itself, inside its own universe, while not subject to that games button mechanics — everything feels real and is a living and breathing world with its own, similar set of laws and physics. This isn’t the same fun-filled video game franchise as Genki knew, it’s a wicked land overrun with demonic creatures and critters who are either being governed or doing the governing themselves under the leadership of the evil Muu. You have your rag-tag group of misfit warriors who gradually assemble as Genki’s journey continues and the stops along the way are met with strife and lay witness to unfortunate stakes.

At one point, a tragic death occurs to that episode’s introduced side character. When a monster “dies” they are turned into a stoned disc clasped in an uprooted entanglement where they are forever sealed away. When I saw this, I nearly geared up, and knew this show was going to make me feel a different way than what I was expecting from critics like YouTuber Billiam who said they couldn’t even finish the show. Now, that monster can be reborn new but the circumstances of nearly impossible and hard to sneak due to the tyrannical ruling the citizens of the land are under. This is as close to Pokémon’s “gotta catch’em all” moniker as it gets, and that’s not even what Genki is trying to do. He’s simply trying to safe the monster world and free himself and return home.

Each of the characters are lovable in their own ways and although each of their designs are more simple than the next, they are distinctly Monster Rancher enough to not be confused with a Pokemon. Looking at the monsters of the main cast and going off of their Japanese names now, Suezo is the icon of the show. Not as memorable or likable of a design as a pikachu, Seuzo represents the design philosophy of the franchise: simple enough to find likable and ideal enough to portray a monster. Suezo, being more or less a walking eyeball with a mouth and rounded yellow eyelid with a protruding tail-like limb, is a wisecracking, impatient, and loud-mouthed member of the crew who provides plenty of comic relief and is enough of a character as a whole for me to like the show and care for the rest of the cast in their journey. Other characters like Ham and Golem are lovable in their own rights but not the most compelling design wise. The former being a literal tall, bipedal rabbit and the latter being, well, a Golem. Rygar and Mochi are both enough to fit that design philosophy I brought up.

Pokemon and Digimon both had monsters that you would look at their designs first and then decide from their appearances and move sets how cool they were. This isn’t really the case for Monster Rancher who admittly have the least appealing designs with no real evolutions, using fusions as the mechanic, and most species of monster being unique through their colors. Example being Suezo being yellow normally but other types being those with a red eye and black skin. Collectively: It’s mostly their personalities and their interactions together that’ll win you over and something that the video games unfortunately lack, at least from my understanding. So if the anime isn’t attributing to your knowledge of the monster personalities, since the designs mostly don’t have much personality to them already, then you’re missing a portion of their canon nature. But that’s neither here nor there and more so a comment on the cross between media and what translates other easily or not.

The animation itself is also pretty good. A show like this, for its time could have been given less to work with but it’s arguably better than most shows out at this point, particularly those shows that extended past multiple seasons in the year. I would not go as far as saying the show looks as good as Pokemon or Digimon did back in the day, but the action and drama always translated well between the cells and met Pokemon and Digimon in its consistency.

The music was fine. Just fine. I watched this show dubbed so I wouldn’t know if this show’s “monster rap” exists subbed if at all, but the “unlock your disc” rap track is certainly where the line is no longer blurred in Monster Rancher attempting to capture the same success as the Pokemon anime and their respective “Pokemon Rap” that so many people can still recite to this day. The beat is basic, the production makes it sound like it’s more of a rock track than it is a hip hop one, and the rapper sounds off flow at some moments just so they can fit in different monster names and info about them. Nothing about it is worth reciting except to mock the repeated phrase “unlock your disc,” as if it were being said by someone with a shit-eating grin as they push up their glasses. Sound overall though is pretty good. It’s average but pretty competent. The background music was varied and proportionate to the settings and situations.

If you were one of those who wrote this show off and just thought of it as a “Pokemon clone” or just a boring kids show, you’ll be pleasantly surprised in all the REAL situations the characters have to endure and the cycle of life, death, morality, and other such difficulties we may go through. There are some genuinely cliffhangers and plot twists that you’ll come across both this and its just as good sequel season. Muu is scary as all hell and looks like he could be from Devilman or an 80s-90s OVA like Urotsukidouji. Despite its lower score on MAL, consider giving this one a shot if you’re bored, have Hulu or even YouTube (there’s a couple playlists with every episode last time I checked, as of this writing) and want to watch something that’s somewhat longer than your average seasonal show while still under 100 total episodes, has that oh-so gorgeous 90s aesthetic, and, sure, is close to feeling like Pokemon without actually being Pokemon.

Monster Rancher is the story of a boy named Genki who gets pulled into a magical world where monsters are real and now he must help a girl named Holly save this world from an evil monster named Moo by resurrecting a legendary monster called the Phoenix. Sounds a lot like some other fantasy adventure anime I've seen; heroes must go on a quest to find the thing to beat the bad guy with so they can save the world.

Story 6/10
Monster Rancher is a monster-of-the-week kind of show where each episode Genki and the others must fight a different monster Moo has sent to ... destroy them with (since Moo himself is obviously too busy to fight them personally).

This brings up my biggest complaint with this anime is that it's a shounen anime (even though that isn't listed as one of its' genres) which means there's a lot focus on the fighting, but usually in shounen the fight scenes are the best part yet here the fight scenes are just boring. Either the villains are so weak that get defeated too easily or the heroes win with luck or convenience. For example, the heroes might be losing a fight, but then Genki makes some speech about courage or friendship and then they win.

Also, please don't tell me this anime is more about the comedy than the action as there may be a few jokes in each episode, but they aren't funny enough and there isn't enough of them for me to think of this as a comedy.

Characters 4/10
All of the characters have very little personality and I can actually describe each of their personalities with one word: Genki is positive, Holly is nurturing, Tiger is tough, Golem is gentle, Hare is smart, and Mochi is cute (however, that thing Mochi does how he ends each of his sentences by saying "chi" isn't cute, it's annoying). Some of the characters do have a back story like Tiger wants to defeat Moo because Moo took his brother, but they don't show enough emotion or show the pain there in because of their loss which makes it harder for me to empathize with them or care about their problems. The only character that does go through some development is Pixie, who is one of the show's best characters, but she's a minor character that's only in a few episodes.

Moo is also a horrible villain because what makes a great villain is that they're evil because they love being evil, but Moo just seems evil because the plot demands that he be evil. Also, villains are suppose to be threatening and while Moo is really powerful, he doesn't project terror and malevolence; probably because his evil speeches are boring to listen to and his face is frozen, seriously he has no facial expressions and his mouth doesn't even move when he talks (I guess that was to make him look more monstrous).

However, there are three characters from Season 2 that I really want to point out named Mon Mew, Gobi, and Poison. They're villains and what I love about them is they're such idiots. Throughout Season 2 they try to destroy Genki and the others, but fail each time much like Team Rocket from Pokemon. There's even one episode where the episode's entire focus is on them and that's my favorite episode; if they were the main villains from the beginning I would've given this anime a higher rating.

Overall 5/10
Just watch Pokemon or Digimon.

Before I go further in this review, I do want to give a heads up that my thoughts of Monster Rancher (Monster Farm) cover both TV anime within the series. This being said, on with the review.

Monster Rancher largely exists to promote the video game series that it's based on and is pretty by-the-numbers as far as plotting and characters go. It actually consists of two separate TV anime that were aired for it in Japan and aired in America in an edited format to appeal to younger audiences with Western sensitivities. While largely having the same cast of characters between both seasons, both seasons ... are quite different in mood and premise with grade-schooler Genki Sakura whisked into the video game of the series to aid teenage Holly and several other monsters with stopping evil monster threats.

The first series features the main group trying to locate the Phoenix, a mythical monster with the power to oppose the threat of the villainous Moo. This series has a more serious mood depicted as monsters are shown to die at varying points of the series when dealing with Moo and his minions, and Moo is depicted as a menacing and merciless enemy threat when Genki and his allies have to contend with his forces.

The second series plays out more as a tourney-style monster battle competition a la Pocket Monsters as Genki and his friends have to compete in monster-battling tournaments to win championships toward winning a prize that contains the magic stone that was used by Holly in the previous series to try locating the Phoenix. This series is noticeably more lighter in mood compared to the first one as no monsters or humans are shown to die throughout its run and there is a bit more emphasis on humor and competition compared to the more serious stakes of the first series.

While I do get that both Monster Rancher anime were made in mind for younger audiences for their target audience, it doesn't necessarily make it a memorable anime in the same vain that anime fans would get from their viewing of more popular titles aimed for children like Pokemon, Digimon, and even Dragon Ball Z. Unlike those three titles, Monster Rancher doesn't have anything in particular that strongly sticks out with it to attract a wide audience. The characters are largely two-dimensional character types, the plot developments being pretty one-note with events, little to offer in the way of world building, and way too much dependency on Power of Friendship plot devices for the heroic characters to get by in battles. In essence, the two Monster Rancher anime largely try to ride on the video game franchise's name recognition to try drawing an audience while doing little to add any substance to it to make it more engaging.

If you are looking for any anime series for your children to be drawn to that are based on popular video games, I'd strongly recommend keeping away from the Monster Rancher anime and just have them stick with anything like Pokemon and Digimon that have more to offer in engaging their interest.