''Medabots'', known in

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

as , is a Japanese

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing a ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

franchise created by Rin Horuma (Horumarin) and currently owned by Imagineer. The main series of RPGs focus on collecting and battling with the titular robots. The bulk of the games releases have been on Nintendo platforms, including the

Game Boy family The Japanese multinational consumer electronics company Nintendo has developed seven home video game consoles and multiple Handheld game console, portable consoles for use with external media, as well as dedicated consoles and other hardware fo ...

Nintendo GameCube The is a home video game console developed and released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, and in PAL territories in 2002. It is the successor to the Nintendo 64 (1996), and predecessor of the Wii ...

, and the DS and

3DS The is a handheld game console produced by Nintendo. It was announced in March 2010 and unveiled at E3 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS. The system features backward compatibility with Nintendo DS video games. As an eighth-generatio ...

handhelds A mobile device (or handheld computer) is a computer small enough to hold and operate in the hand. Mobile devices typically have a flat LCD or OLED screen, a touchscreen interface, and digital or physical buttons. They may also have a physical ...

. The series was adapted into a Japanese

anime is Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japane ...

television series spanning two adaptations. The first was animated by

Bee Train , commonly referred to simply as Bee Train, is a Japanese animation studio founded by Kōichi Mashimo in 1997. Since their involvement with '' Noir'', '' .hack//Sign'', and ''Madlax'' (among other series) they have a strong following in the yuri f ...

while the second, ''Medarot Damashii'', was animated by

Production I.G is a Japanese animation studio and production enterprise, founded on December 15, 1987, by Mitsuhisa Ishikawa and headquartered in Musashino, Tokyo, Japan. The letters I and G derive from the names of the company founders: producer Mitsuhisa Ish ...

. The television series originally aired on

TV Tokyo JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as and known colloquially as , is a television station headquartered in the Sumitomo Fudosan Roppongi Grand Tower in Roppongi, Minato, Tokyo, Japan, owned and operated by the subsidiary of listed certified b ...

from July 2, 1999 to March 30, 2001. Both series were originally licensed and localized into English by

Nelvana Nelvana Enterprises, Inc. (; previously known as Nelvana Limited, sometimes known as Nelvana Animation and simply Nelvana or Nelvana Communications) is a Canadian animation studio and entertainment company owned by Corus Entertainment. Founded ...

and were broadcast on YTV in Canada and

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized as FOX KIDS) was an American children's block programming, programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channel ...

and

ABC Family The American cable television, cable and satellite television network that is now known as Freeform (TV channel), Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through several different owners (and s ...

in the United States from 2001 to 2004. A

manga Manga (Japanese: 漫画 ) are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long prehistory in earlier Japanese art. The term ''manga'' is u ...

series, written by Rin Horuma, was also produced. It was serialized in the

children A child ( : children) is a human being between the stages of birth and puberty, or between the developmental period of infancy and puberty. The legal definition of ''child'' generally refers to a minor, otherwise known as a person younger ...

's magazine ''

Comic BomBom was a monthly Japanese children's manga magazine published by Kodansha. It was first published on October 15, 1981, and ceased publication in 2007. A web version of the magazine has been published on Pixiv Comic since the end of July 2017. Simi ...

'' in Japan and then published into collected volumes by

Kodansha is a Japanese privately-held publishing company headquartered in Bunkyō, Tokyo. Kodansha is the largest Japanese publishing company, and it produces the manga magazines ''Nakayoshi'', ''Afternoon'', ''Evening'', ''Weekly Shōnen Magazine'' an ...

. The manga based on the first game, ''Medarot'', was never translated into English, but the manga based on the sequel, ''Medarot 2'', was licensed for an English language release in North America by

Viz Media VIZ Media LLC is an American manga publisher, anime distributor and entertainment company headquartered in San Francisco, California. It was founded in 1986 as VIZ LLC. In 2005, VIZ LLC and ShoPro Entertainment merged to form the current VIZ M ...

, simply under the title ''Medabots''. ''Medarot 2'', 3, and 4, have also been translated into English for distribution in

Singapore Singapore (), officially the Republic of Singapore, is a sovereign island country and city-state in maritime Southeast Asia. It lies about one degree of latitude () north of the equator, off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, borde ...

Chuang Yi Chuang Yi Publishing Pte Ltd. ( zh, s=创艺出版社) was a publishing company based in Singapore that specialized in producing domestic and imported comics and comics-related merchandise in English and simplified Chinese. Chuang Yi distributed ...

. To date, only ''

Medabots ''Medabots'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese role-playing video game franchise created by Rin Horuma (Horumarin) and currently owned by Imagineer. The main series of RPGs focus on collecting and battling with the titular robots. The bulk of ...

'' (a remake of ''Medarot 2'' for

Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, 2 ...

), '' Medabots AX'', and ''

Medabots Infinity ''Medabots Infinity'' is a 2003 role-playing video game developed by Natsume Co., Ltd. and published by Natsume Inc. The game is based on the Medabots series. It is the sequel to Medabots. Hooking up to the ''Metabee'' and ''Rokusho'' Game Boy ...

'' have been released in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

. There have also been plastic models produced by Kotobukiya. A compilation game ''Medarot Classics Plus'' was released on November 12, 2020. It features the Kabuto and Kuwagata versions of the first eight mainline games.

Plot

''Medabots''

The series centers around Medabots,

artificially intelligent Artificial intelligence (AI) is intelligence—perceiving, synthesizing, and inferring information—demonstrated by machines, as opposed to intelligence displayed by animal cognition, animals and human intelligence, humans. Example tasks in ...

robots, whose purpose is to serve humans in a future time. The series begins with a ten-year-old (nine in the Japanese version) boy named Ikki Tenryō, who wants to become a champion of the World Robattle Tournament. However, Ikki is unable to afford a Medabot, and his parents refuse to buy him one. However, he manages to get enough money to buy an outdated model, and, with a bit of luck, he finds a medal in a river. Ikki quickly inserts it into the Medabot he purchased named Metabee. The only problem is that the medal he found gives Metabee a severe attitude problem (a problem rarely seen in a Medabot), which leads Ikki to think he is defective. However, this theory is proven wrong later in the series, as it is revealed that Metabee actually has a rare medal. The rare medals were kept secret by the Medabot Corporation, as very little was known about them. However, a Medabot with a rare medal would be able to call upon an attack called the "Medaforce". In the manga, the Medaforce is a form of medal mind control, as explained by Dr. Aki in the third graphic novel of Medabots. In the cartoon however, it is shown as a way of increasing the power of the Medabot's special skill into a focused beam attack. Another important aspect is the story of Henry, the store clerk who sold Ikki Metabee. It is revealed that he is, quite obviously, Phantom Renegade. A running gag of the series was Henry almost telling everyone he is The Phantom, with no one ever discovering this fact. Space Medafighter X is introduced, who is another one of Henry's secret identities, the number one medafighter in Japan. Later, during the World Finals, he rarely shows up to the fights, instead sending substitutes and working behind the scenes. This being because he supposedly started The Ten Days of Darkness, which occurred eight years before the events in the series during the World Robattle Cup when Henry fought as Hikaru Agata with the original Metabee (however, the medal was different). The Medabots went on a rampage during the Ten Days of Darkness, which stopped when Henry was forced to kill his Medabot by destroying his medal. At the end of the second season, it is revealed that Victor (a medafighter for Team Kenya and Warbandit's owner) was helping Dr. Meta-evil to get medals during the tournament. During the finals, Metabee and Warbandit continue to fight, even with their partners lost and their bodies damaged. It is during this event that Dr. Meta-evil starts his plan using Metabee and Warbandit's medals; trapping them both in a dream. However, Ikki manages to get Metabee to wake up from the dream, while the other medabots, free now, help Metabee to fight against Dr. Meta-evil. Ikki must also stop the plans of the nefarious "RubberRobo Gang". Later in the series, Medabots are found to be actually thousands of years old; remnants of an ancient civilization who called themselves Medalorians. The Medalorians were obsessed with war, and to become more effective warriors they fastened metal armor to themselves. However, their wars decimated the civilization, and the survivors coded their memories onto hexagonal pieces of metal. These, "Medals", cloned and mass-produced by the Medabot Corporation (a corporation founded by Dr. Aki), are the Medabot equivalent of a brain and soul. The original medals, referred to as rare medals, are kept in storage because of the extreme power they have.

''Medarot Damashii (Medabots Spirits)''

''Medarot Damashii'', a sequel to the original series, follows Ikki and Metabee, as they face a new challenge following the events of the original series. Kam Kamazaki, a twelve-year-old boy, has designed one of the most dangerous medabots in the entire story, called Kilobots (or Death Medarot, in the Japanese version), who use the X-Medal. These Kilobots have no feelings, since the emotion part of the Medabot medal has been removed, and more strength parts have been replaced instead, and can break the rules in order to win a fight. Because they have no personality, the Medaforce is useless against them. In the first episode, Ikki loses a Robattle to Ginkai and his Kilobot when it cheats and reloads. But he soon meets Nae, a Medabot mechanic and Dr. Aki's granddaughter, who gives Ikki new medaparts in order to defeat the kilobot through using a new feature called Action Mode (later Demolition Mode is introduced as well). Throughout the season, Ikki, Erika and their new friend Zuru (who also masks as the Mystery Medafighter) battle several of Kam's friends and their Kilobots. The Mystery Medfighter's ambition is to rid the world of Kilobots, with the help of his medabot Roks. Eventually, Ginkai re-discovers the true spirit of medafighting and ceases being a rogue medafighter and returns to using Medabots. Eventually Kam realizes the error of his ways and stops trying to develop stronger and more dangerous Kilobots, choosing to remain with his Kilobot Blackbettle, who has a personality installed into her medal. The series is often criticized for the removal of several supporting characters such as Henry/Hikaru Agata/Phantom Renegade/Space Medafighter X and Arcbeetle, Rokusho, Koji and Sumilidon, Rintaro and Kantaroth, Karin and Neutranurse, Victor and Warbandit, Mr. Referee, the Rubberrobo Gang and the Chick Salesman, as well as for the fact that many of the new Kilobots and Medabots are simply slightly modified versions of the original series without relation to the original characters: Roks (Rokusho), Exor (Sumilidon), Arcdash (Arcbeetle), Unitrix (Warbandit).

Characters

* Ikki Tenryou (天領イッキ ''Tenryō Ikki''), is a lively and easygoing boy, although a bit timid, he is the main

protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a st ...

of the series. At first Ikki is unable to afford a Medabot. But after finding a medal in a river, he manages to buy a model, which is named Metabee. However, the medal he found appears to be defective, as Metabee is short-tempered and disobedient. In spite of this, a strong bond grows between them after several robattles. Though Ikki is not a full-fledged Medafighter, he gradually matures through the Robattles he engages in. He is voiced by Michiru Yamazaki in the Japanese version, Samantha Reynolds in the English translation of the first series, and

Julie Lemieux Julie Lemieux (born December 4, 1962) is a Canadian voice actress. Career Lemieux has provided the voice for characters such as Sammy Tsukino in '' Sailor Moon'', young Darien Shields in '' Sailor Moon R: The Movie'', and Peruru in '' Sailor Moo ...

in the ''Spirits'' anime. * is the main

antihero An antihero (sometimes spelled as anti-hero) or antiheroine is a main character in a story who may lack conventional heroic qualities and attributes, such as idealism, courage, and morality. Although antiheroes may sometimes perform actions ...

of the series, a Medabot belonging to Ikki Tenryou. Metabee is a

beetle Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 describ ...

type Medabot, specializing in revolver tactics. He possesses a rare medal that allows him to access the Medaforce. Metabee is known to be a rebellious and arrogant Medabot who often causes problems due to his headstrong personality. He is often sarcastic to his owner Ikki, but he shares a close bond with him, and so Ikki trusts him deeply. In the English version he is voiced by

Joseph Motiki Joseph Frederick Motiki (born July 31, 1972) is a Canadian television host, actor, and performer. He is best known for hosting the TVOntario children's block '' The TVOKids Crawlspace'' and the Food Network game show ''Ice Cold Cash''. Early life ...

Media

Video games

Most games in the series come in two versions: Kabuto (lit. ''Rhinoceros Beetle''), in which your starting Medabot's design is based on a

Japanese rhinoceros beetle ''Allomyrina dichotoma'', also known as Japanese rhinoceros beetle, Japanese horned beetle, or , is a species of rhinoceros beetle. Etymology In Japanese, rhinoceros beetles are called . ''Mushi'' is Japanese for insect, and ''kabuto'' is Japane ...

(a "KBT type" Medabot), and Kuwagata, in which it is based on a

stag beetle Stag beetles are a family of about 1,200 species of beetles in the family Lucanidae, currently classified in four subfamilies.Smith, A.B.T. (2006). A review of the family-group names for the superfamily Scarabaeoidea (Coleoptera) with corrections ...

("KWG type"). Differences beyond the starting Medabot also exist, such as which Medabot parts the player is able to collect, and minor story differences. ''Medarot R'', ''Medabots Infinity'', and the ''Parts Collection'' games were only titles to not have been released in two versions.

Main series

The main series entries, except ''Medabots DS'', are all numbered.

Spinoffs and side games

Several spinoffs have been produced, some sticking closer to the RPG formula of the main series while others branch out into other genres. For ''Medarot 1'', ''2'', ''R'', and ''3'', supplementary games entitled ''Parts Collection'' were made. These are shorter games with less complicated stories, focusing mostly on battles. Their main draw is that the player is able to collect robot parts and other items within the ''Parts Collection'' games and transfer them to their respective main series titles.

Manga

Written by Horumarin, the ''Medabots'' manga series was originally serialized in the

's magazine ''

'' from 1997 to 2003. Six series were published. The first series ''Medarot'' was published between 1997 and 1999 and compiled in three ''

tankōbon is the Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or cultur ...

'' volumes. The second series entitled ''Medarot 2'' was published between 1999 and 2000 and compiled in 4 volumes. This series was licensed for an English language release in North America by

under the title ''Medabots''. the third series ''Medarot 3'' was released between 2000 and 2001 and compiled in two volumes. The fourth series ''Medarot 4'' was published in 2001 and compiled in two volumes. The fifth series ''Medarot 5'' was published between 2001 and 2002 and compiled in two volumes. The sixth series ''Medarot G'' was released in 2003 and compiled in two volumes.

Anime

The ''Medabots'' anime series was adapted from ''Medarot 2'', with its robotic combat elements inspired by ''

Plawres Sanshiro is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Jirō Gyū. It was serialized in the Akita Shoten magazine ''Weekly Shōnen Champion'' from 1982 to 1985. An anime television series adaptation was broadcast from 1983 to 1984. Overview ...

''. Produced by

NAS Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones. Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to: Aviation * Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea * National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia ** Nas Air ( ...

and

and animated by

, the fifty-two episode series originally aired on TV Tokyo from July 2, 1999 until June 30, 2000. A thirty-nine episode sequel to the anime series that was animated by

, ''Medarot Damashii'' (Unofficially known in English as ''Medabots Spirits'') aired from July 7, 2000 to March 30, 2001. The Japanese version has received a VHS and DVD release of the first series, while the second series has only received a VHS release. On January 29, 2010, a Region 2 boxset release known as ''Medabot DVD BOX 1'' was released containing the first thirty episodes, with a second boxset on February 19 finishing with the last twenty-two episodes. Two boxsets for ''Damashii'' were released on December 30, 2010. This was the Production I.G series' very first DVD release. Both series were licensed and localized into English by Canadian entertainment company

; the first series was divided into two American seasons. The first U.S. season originally aired on the

Fox Broadcasting Company The Fox Broadcasting Company, commonly known simply as Fox and stylized in all caps as FOX, is an American commercial broadcast television network owned by Fox Corporation and headquartered in New York City, with master control operations an ...

block from September 1, 2001 to April 27, 2002. ''Medabots'' was Fox Kids highest-rated new series at the time. As a result of the sale of

Fox Family Worldwide ABC Family Worldwide is a subsidiary of Walt Disney Television that is responsible for the operations of the U.S. cable network Freeform. The company was originally formed as International Family Entertainment, a spin-off of the Christian Broad ...

(the joint venture with

Saban Entertainment Saban Entertainment, Inc. (along with Saban International; currently operating under the legal name is BVS Entertainment, Inc.) was a worldwide-served independent American-Israeli television production company formed in 1980 by Haim Saban and S ...

that previously operated the Fox Kids program block) to

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

, ''Medabots'' would begin airing on

on March 4, 2002. The second U.S. season first aired on ABC Family from July 1 to November 2, 2002, while ''Damashii'' first aired on the network from September 13, 2003 to May 8, 2004 with later episodes aired as part of the

Jetix Jetix (stylized as JETIX) was a children's entertainment brand owned by The Walt Disney Company. The brand was for a slate of action/adventure-related programming blocks and television channels. Jetix programming mainly originated from the S ...

program block. In Canada, the television series aired on YTV which, along with Nelvana, were owned by

Corus Entertainment Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian mass media company. Formed in 1999 as a spin-off from Shaw Communications, it has prominent holdings in the radio, publishing, and television industries. It is headquartered at Corus Quay in Toronto, Onta ...

. Under the license of Nelvana, the series was released on 12-volume VHS and DVD by

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gre ...

from 2002 to 2003 that ran throughout the first 52 episodes, along with the first three volumes re-released under ADV Kidz in their Essential Anime DVD lineup in 2005. Distribution was transferred to

Shout! Factory Shout! Factory is an American home video and music company founded in 2002 as Retropolis Entertainment. Its video releases include previously released feature films, classic and contemporary television series, animation, live music, and comedy ...

, where they've released the first 26 episodes on a 4-DVD box set, that was released in early 2008. Announced at

Otakon Otakon ( ) is an annual three-day anime convention held during July/August. It stands for Otaku Convention. From 1999 to 2016, it took place at the Baltimore Convention Center in Baltimore, Maryland's Inner Harbor district; in 2017, it moved to ...

2019,

Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retro titles fr ...

released the anime on

SD Blu-ray SD Blu-ray disc is a Blu-ray disc on which the main feature is standard-definition video instead of the high-definition video found on typical Blu-ray discs. This is often due to the highest quality version of the feature content only being avail ...

, starting with the first 26 episodes of the English dub with optional closed captions on December 24, 2019. The company also announced plans to release the Japanese version in the future. On June 11, 2020, Justin Sevakis said

were unable to find the masters for the English version of ''Medabots Spirits'' which has prevented the anime from being released on home video in North America. Discotek Media asked fans to help find the masters. On September 15, 2020, it was announced “acceptable” masters have been recovered and would have a physical release. It was released on May 25, 2021.

References

External links

Official Website

Medabots in anime-paradijs

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

* *
Project Rising Beetle localization campaign
{{Fox Kids 1999 anime television series debuts 2000 anime television series debuts 2001 Japanese television series endings Japanese children's animated action television series Japanese children's animated adventure television series Japanese children's animated science fiction television series ADV Films Anime television series based on video games Bee Train Production Children's manga Discotek Media Fox Broadcasting Company original programming Fox Kids Imagineer games Natsume (company) games Production I.G Television series by Nelvana TV Tokyo original programming Video games about robots Video game franchises introduced in 1997 Viz Media manga