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.

A Review of Monster Farm (Seasons 1 & 2)

Story (6.5/10): The story is not that original and has been done in other TV shows (like Digimon). The story follows Genki Sakura, who is a very good player of the Monster Rancher video game. He wins the game's tournament, wins a CD, uses the CD, and is then transported into Monster Rancher video game. Afterwards he finds companions (both monsters and human) to help him on his journey to get a more powerful monster to overthrow a tyrant named Moo. Expect filler episodes. The story is unique in terms of the different monsters and scary moments ... but that's about it. The plot twists that makes shows good are lacking in this one since they only last a few episodes. Overall, the story is pretty generic.

Characters (6/10): In terms of character design, the protagonist looks a lot like Ash Ketchum from Pokemon. His attitude is that of a teen so don't expect that much maturity on his adventures. His monster companions are sort of cool, especially Golem and Tiger. If anything, the only reason I watched the show was because of Tiger. Tiger's design exudes coolness. There was one notable tearjerker episode involving him but that's about it. After that, his appearances were less emotional and more akin to an attack dog. The main villain named Moo (who I initially thought was a cow when I heard his name) was a very cool dragon who needed a LOT more screen time. I mean, we only see him a few times throughout the entire show.

Art/Animation (6/10): The art/animation is early (1999). So it's not in any way modern or special.

Sound/Music (5/10): The sounds are generic. The music was also generic (cheery songs in happy scenes, sad songs in darker scenes,...etc.). The only exception would be the opening theme song. It was enjoyable but not outstanding.

Dub or Sub?: Dub. I saw the English dub of this show back when it was on Fox Kids. The dub was decent, some characters voices were weird but overall the dub was acceptable.

Enjoyment (7/10): In my youth, I enjoyed it. The first season was good enough (for my standards at the time) but then the show seemed to die off when the second season appeared.
Who Would Enjoy it?: Kids, no one above a kid should watch this, unless you're really, really, really bored.

Summary/Overall (6/10): The show wasn't bad but it wasn't good either. The show's creators could have done a better job of this show. The show seemed a bit lackluster by the end of its run.

Similar Shows: Pokemon, Digimon

Review #2

(covers both seasons)

Monster Rancher……Yes, I know the Japanese version of that is Monster Farm but today we are doing the English version that aired on the now-defunct (and fortunately) Fox Kids. Now it is based on a series of life simulation RPG videogames created by Tecmo (the company that brought you Ninja Gaiden & Dead or Alive) having over 14 games across different videogame platforms.


In the anime adaptation, it revolves around Genki, a 12-year-old middle school boy who really loves to play videogames and one day, he discover the Monster Rancher game and as he plays it, he is zapped into their universe ... where he meets the rest of the team: Holly, a 14-year-old girl on the quest along with their monster team, Mochi, Suezo, Golem, Tiger and Hare (No, I’m not calling them Tiger and Bunny) to find the ancient Monster Phoenix, and it is the only powerful monster that’s able to stop the dastardly……..MOO!



Yes, his name is Moo. What happened to Mistress BAA? Overlord BARK? Princess SQUEE? Hell, where is Grand Master MEOW?




Now, you’re wondering that this anime reminds you of something. You know, that type of anime that involves battle monsters and traveling in unknown strange lands especially when the travelers are very young and it’s also based on card game/videogame franchise. I know what this anime reminds of……..it’s like…..DEATH NOTE!!!



OK, I’m just kidding. But the difference between Pokémon, Yu-Gi-Oh, and Digimon & Death Note is Death Note doesn’t have those noticeable COPYCATS and generic ones at that (unless somebody can correct me)!! WHY anyone would needed another one of this type of anime? I get that it’s something for kids to watch and even though this came out when I was a kid, I never knew about its existence but I guess that were trying to cash in on the Pokémon/Digimon/Yu-Gi-Oh craze and I don’t think it worked that well considering Monster Rancher only lasts about 72 episodes and the other ones just go on forever even if we had enough.



Well, the story is generic, there’s no doubt about it. Now the characters: Genki is fucking annoying……there, I said it. Basically he is the stereotype of this type of anime where he’s very determined, optimistic, and hopeful and likes to yell something at the top of his lungs. Man, do I want to strangle this kid and tell him to SHUT THE FUCK UP, YOU DAMN MORON!! Most of the dialogue is so annoying in this show and for example, the antagonists in the show? They are referred as “baddies”. Yes, They say that on this show and you know what, whether I think of that word, I’m thinking of somebody playing a drinking game to this show and you got to take a shot whenever someone say “baddies”. I guess that no one survived. Most of the monsters with the exception of Tiger are very forgettable, mainly because he bothered me the least and Holly…..yeah, she was important, too…….kinda. The name MOO as a villain is still stupid and I mean really fucking stupid.



I’m ashamed to say who did the animation of this, considering they made one of my favorite movies (not just anime movies, but overall movie of all time). The studio is TMS (Tōkyō Movie Shinsha) and what they made before this was Akira of course, Little Nemo (yeah, that movie was animated by a Japanese animation studio. Go figure. I didn’t know that at first.) Anyway, the animation level here is about average for a now-vintage kid show but speed lines do occur sometimes and it makes it seem like they are slipping in that department and character designs are a bit average.



The music……me screaming at the top of my lungs would sound better than this played-out Wal-Mart style Pokémon rap they played and also that damn side song that goes “Get a disk, take a risk, spin it fast, through the past”. I could’ve ended it with, “I rather get shot in the ass.”



Now, on to the English dub and surprisingly to me, this wasn’t made by 4Kids. No, really, 4Kids are not responsible for this dub, for once. It was made by a dubbing company in Canada called The Ocean Group and yet the anime & western animation they dub or just voiced before and after this were better made. Here are a few examples: Black Lagoon, The Girl Who Leap through Time, Escaflowne, Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, Death Note and Inuyasha….freaking Inuyasha!! Yes, Inyuasha isn’t that great IMO but I rather watch that than this. Most of the voice work in here do sound so very kiddy-like, it hurts and it gets very irritating by the minute hearing those voices, especially since I recognize some voices that came from Ed, Edd, N Eddy.



FINAL VERDICT: I could easily say that this show makes me want to curse kid-aimed anime, such as this, Beyblade and Scan 2Go, but even as a kid, I wouldn’t be as interested in shows like that and in the present day, I still won’t have an interest in it. But as much as I want to trash the show, I can’t but one of the reasons why is that the show can get genuinely decent for most of the time, especially in the emotional moments in the show gives it a plus in my book but still that gets shadowed by the idiocy of the writing, the marketing and the shallowness that basically carried this show. Now even though for you have any kids or younger relatives that might be interested in this and it reminds them of those other shows I mentioned before, just tell them those shows are better than this.


As for the second season............I just gonna say what was the point of that? Because there really wasn't unless they wanted more exposure but that failed.