is a 2013

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

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 ...

ese anime series based on a toy line by

Spin Master Spin Master is a Canadian multinational toy and entertainment company that markets consumer products for children. Its brands include '' Bakugan'', Gund, Etch A Sketch, Meccano/ Erector, Air Hogs, ''PAW Patrol'', Aquadoodle, Tech Deck, Hatch ...

, produced by

Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions is a Japanese production company, a subsidiary of the Japanese publishing group Hitotsubashi Group. Prior to 2008, it was known as . Notable filmography * ''A Penguin's Troubles'' * '' Departures'' * ''Doraemon'' * '' Pokemon'' * '' Pokémo ...

, Spin MasterShoPro & Spin Master's Tenkai Knights to Run on Cartoon Network
/ref> and

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 ...

and animated by

Bones A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...

.Anime Studio Bones' "Tenkai Knight" Project Listed
/ref> It was directed by

Mitsuru Hongo is a Japanese anime director of television and film. Hongo originally worked at Ajiado as an animator but moved to Shin-Ei Animation where he directed '' Crayon Shin-chan''. He left in 1996 and went on to direct ''Immortal Grand Prix'', ''Outla ...

, with Jin Kanada and

Hiroshi Ōnogi is a Japanese screenwriter and novelist focusing on anime productions. Ōnogi attended Keio University in the same years as ''Macross'' character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto and creator Shōji Kawamori, both of whom he would first collaborate w ...

handling series scripts,

Toshihiro Kawamoto is a Japanese animator. He is co-founder and director of the anime studio Bones. He was character designer and animation director of '' Cowboy Bebop''. Biography Early period Upon graduating from high school, Kawamoto was first employed in the m ...

and Shigeru Fujita designing the characters, Takayuki Yanase and Fujirō designing the 3DCG characters and MONACA composing the music. The series officially aired on

Cartoon Network Cartoon Network (often abbreviated as CN) is an American cable television channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. It is a part of The Cartoon Network, Inc., a division that also has the broadcasting and production activities of Boomerang, Car ...

in the United States on August 24, 2013 and in Canada on

Teletoon Teletoon (stylized as TELETOON) is a Canadian English-language specialty channel owned by Teletoon Canada, Inc., a subsidiary of Corus Entertainment. Its name is a portmanteau of "television" and " cartoon". The channel primarily broadcasts ...

on September 28, 2013. After a year, it premiered on

and its affiliate stations on April 5, 2014. In North America, the toys have been on sale since December 2013.

Story

Eons ago, a cube–like peaceful

planet A planet is a large, rounded astronomical body that is neither a star nor its remnant. The best available theory of planet formation is the nebular hypothesis, which posits that an interstellar cloud collapses out of a nebula to create a you ...

named Quarton is populated by shape–shifting living bricks called Tenkai. Quarton was ravaged by a war between two opposite factions: the Corekai Soldiers, led by the valiant and fearless Commander Beagle ("Beag"); and the Corrupted Army, led by the ruthless Lord Vilius, who desired to obtain the source of Tenkai energy for his own purposes. However, the only ones who were strong enough to defeat him were the 4 Legendary Tenkai Knights of Quarton: Bravenwolf, Tributon, Valorn, and Lydendor. Facing defeat, Vilius unleashed the mighty Tenkai Dragon, who was later defeated by the 4 Knights where its fragments scattered across the planet. These heroes were never seen again. One year later, Lord Vilius and the infamous Corrupted Army have returned, more powerful than ever before. Now on planet Earth in the year 2034 within Benham City, four young teenage boys, named Guren Nash, Ceylan Jones, Toxsa Dalton, and Chooki Mason, find an interdimensional portal to Quarton where they are chosen by Boreas of the Guardians to become the new generation of Tenkai Knights and prevent Lord Vilius and his Corrupted Army empire from taking control of both worlds. During the course of the series, the 4 boys learn about teamwork, friendship, and many other life lessons as they face of against Vilius, his 2 henchmen Slyger and Granox, and soon, Dromus (AKA Gen) and Venetta (AKA Beni).

Characters

Media

Animation

The series first aired in the United States on the

cable TV Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with broadc ...

channel

on August 24, 2013, at 7:30 am, and in Canada on

on September 28, 2013. The English dub is produced by

Studiopolis Studiopolis, Inc. is an American post-production studio located in Studio City, Los Angeles. It specializes in voiceover recording and dubbing for cartoon, anime, and video game projects. They were formerly known as Screenmusic Studios and then ...

. To coincide with the launch of the property, Spin Master and Kickstart Entertainment produced a 10-episode prequel web-series entitled ''Tenkai Knights Origins''. The series features music by John Majkut and was released onto

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

as well as the brand's official website between September and December 2013. They also aired as interstitals on Cartoon Network and Teletoon. In Japan, the television series was delayed until April, airing on the

network beginning April 5, 2014. However, the Saturday 9:00-9:30 slot was a local sales slot, so only

TV Aichi JOCI-DTV, branded as , is a television station in Nagoya, Japan operated by the Aichi Television Broadcasting Company, Ltd. (TVA; ja, テレビ愛知株式会社, Terebi Aichi kabushiki gaisha) and is an affiliate of the TX Network. Broadcasti ...

and

TV Osaka is a television station affiliated with the TX Network in Osaka, Japan. The mascot character is "Takoru-kun" (たこるくん). History Television Osaka, Inc. was founded in 1981 as part of the reorganization of Tokyo Channel 12 Ltd (now TV To ...

were simultaneously networked with the production station TV Tokyo, while the other three TV Tokyo affiliate stations broadcast it on Saturday mornings at 7:00 (one week later). A second season of the series was announced to be in development but was cancelled prior to entering production.

Toys

The Tenkai Knights toy line is produced by Spin Master under the ''Ionix'' brand of construction bricks, along with a new

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

line. Spin Master refers to Ionix as the next generation of construction, with "Bricks that shapeshift." Their line of products include bricks that look very similar to traditional construction bricks, but actually shapeshift and unfold into unique mini-figures. Spin Master distributes the toys in the United States and Canada while

Happinet is an entertainment company. History In February 1968, Hiroshi Kawai left Bandai to establish his own toy business. Kawai founded on June 7, 1969. In September 1972, it changed its name to . Tōshō merged with two other companies, and , to ...

handles the distribution rights of the toys in Japan.

Print

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 ...

adaptation of the anime series by

Ryo Takamisaki is a Japanese mangaka, manga artist from Tsuchiura, Ibaraki Prefecture who is known for his work on the manga series ''MegaMan NT Warrior''. He is a graduate of and Nagoya University. His hobbies are motorsports and watching martial arts. He ...

was serialized in CoroCoro Ichiban! beginning with its June 2014 issue, published April 21, 2014. The manga concluded with the March 2015 issue and was later compiled into two

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 ...

Shogakukan is a Japanese publisher of dictionaries, literature, comics (manga), non-fiction, DVDs, and other media in Japan. Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but are together called the Hit ...

, the last of which, released on March 27, 2015, featured an additional 20 pages of material. The series was not released in English, though a French edition was published by

Kazé Kazé is a French publishing company that specializes in anime and manga. Its head office is in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Founded in 1994, the company debuted by publishing '' Record of Lodoss War'' on VHS. It is currently run by Sony thr ...

in a four-volume 48-page color comic book format.

Penguin Random House Penguin Random House LLC is an Anglo-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, from the merger of Penguin Group and Random House. On April 2, 2020, Bertels ...

published four

novelization A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent of ...

s written by

Brandon T. Snider Brandon T. Snider (born February 28) is a New York City based writer and actor who has written for and appeared on Comedy Central's ''Inside Amy Schumer''. He's also been featured on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', ''Law & Order: Special Victi ...

, as well as two choose your own adventure books by Ray Santos in 2014 and 2015. iStoryTime released an interactive book on

iOS iOS (formerly iPhone OS) is a mobile operating system created and developed by Apple Inc. exclusively for its hardware. It is the operating system that powers many of the company's mobile devices, including the iPhone; the term also includes ...

in January 2014.

Home video

Phase 4 Films Phase 4 Films was a Canadian film distribution company based in Toronto. It had two branches in the United States: Los Angeles, California and Fort Mill, South Carolina. Its subsidiary kaboom! Entertainment markets children's entertainment. Histo ...

distributed a single home video release of the series in Canada and the United States, titled ''Tenkai Knights: Rise of the Knights''. It presents the first several episodes of the show edited together into a movie and was released on

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

as well as digital platforms on February 4, 2014. A

manufacture on demand Build-on-demand or manufacturing on demand (MOD) refers to a manufacturing process where goods are produced only when or as they are required. This allows scalability and adjustable assemblies depending on the current needs of the part requestor or ...

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of sto ...

version followed on May 4, 2016. In Japan, Happinet and

Victor Entertainment , also known as in Japan, is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Ent ...

released the entire series over four DVD box sets between August 2, 2014, and May 2, 2015. The first 18 episodes were also released through six DVDs for the rental market.

Music

Four pieces of theme music are used for the episodes: one opening theme and three closing themes. The opening theme is "Get the Glory" by Ayako Nakanomori. The first ending theme is by

Rurika Yokoyama is a Japanese talent and a member of the Japanese idol group Idoling!!!. She is represented by the Production Ogi talent agency. She attends Meiji Gakuin University. She was a member of the idol group "Doll's Vox" in 2005 with AKB48's Yuko Oshim ...

, while the second ending is by

Cyntia Cyntia was a Japanese heavy metal band formed in 2011. They are believed to have been the first act from the Girls Metal Band Boom to have signed to a major record label when they joined Victor Entertainment in 2013. Drummer and co-founder Kano ...

. The third ending, , is sung by Pile. For the English version, John Majkut composed its opening theme with an instrumental version of the same track used for the credits. The series' background score is composed by Majkut and

MONACA Monaca ( ) is a borough in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, United States along the Ohio River, northwest of Pittsburgh. The population was 5,615 as of the 2020 census. First incorporated as Phillipsburg as the home of the New Philadelphia Societ ...

of ''

Star Driver ''Star Driver'' also known as is a Japanese anime television series created and animated by Bones. It was broadcast for twenty-five episodes on MBS and TBS from October 2010 to April 2011. The anime was licensed in North America by Aniplex o ...

'' fame. Happinet released an 82-song soundtrack on CD on March 25, 2015, in Japan.

Video games

On January 30, 2014,

Namco Bandai Games is a Japanese multinational video game publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in Irvine, California and ...

announced a video game entitled for

Nintendo 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 ...

, released in Japan on September 25, 2014, and in North America on October 7, 2014. It is one of the worst rated 3DS games, with a score of 26 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

, with the 3rd lowest score for any 3DS game on Metacritic. On February 27, 2014, Spin Master and Game Pill launched the

free-to-play Free-to-play (F2P or FtP) video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content without paying or do not require paying to continue playing. Free-to-play is distinct from traditional commercial software, which ...

''Tenkai Knights: Battle for Quarton'' game for

devices. The game was also available through

web browsers A web browser is application software for accessing websites. When a User (computing), user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its Computer file, files from a web server and then displays the page on the user' ...

via the

Unity Unity may refer to: Buildings * Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building * Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper * Unity Buildings, Liverpool, UK; two buildings in England * Unity Chapel, Wyoming, Wisconsin, US; a h ...

plug-in. Other browser titles include ''Bravenwolf's Run'', ''Race to Redemption'' and ''Tenkai Boost''.

References

External links

* * * * {{Bones (studio) 2013 anime television series debuts 2013 Canadian television series debuts 2014 anime television series debuts Anime with original screenplays Bones (studio) Canadian children's animated action television series Canadian children's animated science fantasy television series Japanese children's animated action television series Japanese children's animated science fantasy television series Anime and manga about parallel universes Shogakukan franchises Shōnen manga Television series set in the future Television series set in the 2030s Television series about shapeshifting TV Tokyo original programming 2010s Canadian animated television series