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.

This is so a rip off of Digimon! I remember when I was younger, I liked it but seriously… now that I have watched so many anime shows and found out just how badly ripped off the other shows are, I feel a little like crying. Now please don’t take this the wrong way, it is a good show to a point but it takes so long to get to where it’s getting good that most people would probably conk out of it. It’s good for what it is, a children’s show, nothing more and nothing less.

We start out with the main character, Genki ... who is pretty much Ash Ketchum in school. He is overactive, over annoying, and most of all, over stereotypical of these types of shows. He gets sucked into the video game (like Digimon) and has to help collect monster discs (like Pokemon) to unlock the power that is inside (like Yugioh). He fights monsters (like all three) and makes friends with the monsters he meets (like Digimon and Pokemon). They end up getting lost on their travels (Like Pokemon), sometimes wondering aimlessly around the world (like Digimon) and… WHAT THE FUCK? Did the creators have no imagination for this series or is this plot so generic that we can’t make a decent show like this without ripping off another?

The storyline of Alan, in the episode ‘Eternal Worm’ (Ep 4), was actually rather sweet at the end and made me feel something briefly for the show. It was one of the most intense sad scenes in this show. Another character that I actually really like and feel emotion to is the wolf-like tiger called ‘Tiger of the Wind’. I guess I’m just a sucker for anything like a wolf. He seems very spiritual and has wonderful philosophy. His story line is sad and yet seems the most logical of the group.

When Genki does end up making his own character, all he seems to make is something that looks like a pink little thing and actually called itself Mochi when it first appeared, becomes called Sweet Cake by him in the first episode. Then after, they call him Mochi like they should have done in the first place!

So… is the bad guy a cow or something? Because calling the bad guy Moo really doesn’t make him sound any scarier then the little pink squash ball Mochi. Seriously, are we supposed to get milk from this thing? And if so, then I want none of that milk!

So, I’m sort of going to spoil something for you since this is two seasons lumped together (Because Fox kids is a dick like that), Genki does get back home (Shocker… really? *Sarcastic*) and they use the same stupid little storyline as Digimon where only a couple hours passed when he was in the Monster world for months to about years. But it comes at the end of the first season. So my question is, why did they decide to have a second season where he goes back? They could have left it wonderfully when Genki got back and gave us that heart felt ending to the whole series. Something tells me that they just used it to sell more items and that’s exactly what it feels like. And that’s not the only problem because this one ends with a big hole in the plot. It doesn’t let it end like the first season.

The artwork is alright, pretty standard for the time period it came out in. Some of the monsters feel like they were stolen from other anime series. Faces don’t seem to keep their shape, sometimes showing big cheeks once in a while and then no cheeks at all. Bodies don’t stay the same sometimes as all, making it a little mediocre.

The opening English song is really stupid and is like a rap mixed up of Yugioh, Digimon, and Pokemon. They also seem to have something similar to the poke-rap. Then we have the English script… now I have not been able to see the Japanese version but please tell me they do not use this stupid line ‘…then he can turn all the baddies into goodies…’ Please tell me they aren’t so stupid as to do that? Genki is one annoying boy, to the point of me shouting ‘SHUT THE FUCK UP!’ He also calls out ‘IN THE ZONE!’ which feels like they were trying to just make a saying. It sounds as annoying as Naruto’s ‘BELIEVE IT!’ saying. Alan’s voice sounds better then almost all of the characters and that says a hell of a lot. He isn’t the best but he’s the better of them.

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.