Zatch Bell!
From Freepedia
Zatch Bell!, known in Japan as Konjiki no Gash Bell!! (金色のガッシュベル!! Konjiki no Gasshu Beru!!), is a shōnen manga series by Makoto Raiku, which has been adapted as an anime TV series by Toei Animation.
The anime airs on Fuji TV in Japan. The series was later licensed by ShoPro Entertainment and premiered on Cartoon Network's Toonami programming block in North America on March 5, 2005 under the new name of "Zatch Bell!". Some fans believe that the name change is due to the negative connotations of "gash" in English, where it is a word for a terrible wound or an off-color term for female genitals.
As of October 2005, Cartoon Network has only purchased 52 episodes of the show. In Japan, the series celebrated its 100th episode[1] on March 27 2005, with no end yet in sight.
The manga currently runs in Shogakukan's Shonen Sunday in Japan. The manga was also licensed by VIZ Media and was released in North America in August 2005 with two volumes. There will be a volume released every two months.
金色のガッシュベル!! translates to "Golden Gash Bell" in English. It comes on Sundays in Japan on the Fuji Television Network.
The main character, Kiyo Takamine (Kiyomaro Takamine in the Japanese versions), is a 14-year old boy in junior high school. His father, Seitaro Takamine, discovers an unconscious mamodo (mamono or demon child in the Japanese versions) child named Zatch (Gash in the Japanese versions) while in a rainforest in England. His father sends the mamodo to be Kiyo's mentor. One hundred mamodo go to Earth every 1,000 years to battle to be the king of the mamodo world. Each mamodo needs a human partner in order to use his or her spell book, and if his or her spell book is destroyed, the mamodo gets to returned to the mamodo world. Zatch forgets everything about the mamodo world, due to a loss of memory, learning who he was the hard way. Kiyo and Zatch have to defend themselves from other mamodos who want to be the king of the mamodos.
The series is reminiscient of the Pokémon and Yu-Gi-Oh! franchises, as each of the series focus on battles between trainers/cardholders/partners and their respective creatures. Zatch Bell!, tends to go deeper into the relationship between some of the mamodos and their partners. Many of those mamodos and their partners have their own unique visions and goals while struggling to achieve them throughout the series.
Many of the Zatch Bell! graphic novels have short comics inside titled Zatch & Suzy.
Contents |
Characters
see main article on Zatch Bell! Character List
- Kiyomaro Takamine (高嶺清麿 Takamine Kiyomaro) / Kiyo Takamine - The brainy junior high school student who is friends with Zatch.
- Parco Folgore - An Italian superstar who has a mamodo named Kanchomé. In the Japanese version, his "trademark song" is the infamous "Chichi wo Moge". (which translates into English as Squeeze the Breast); the American dub changes the song to the more innocent "Hey, Hey, Let's Dance All Day".
- Suzume Mizuno (水野鈴芽 Mizuno Suzume) / Suzy Mizuno - A ditzy girl who is smitten with Kiyo.
- Megumi Ooumi (大海恵 Ōumi Megumi) - A Japanese teen idol who befriends both Zatch and Kiyo (some would say more than friends on the latter). Her mamodo is Tia.
- Sherry Bellmont- A girl who had a bad childhood who is trying to figure out how to stop a Mamono named Zofis from controlling her best friend Koko. Her mamodo is Brago.
- Gash Bell / Zatch Bell - Kiyo's mamodo, who has electric-based powers.
- Kanchomé - Folgore's mamodo, who seems weaker than Zatch, but only because his spells are more based around deception and transformation of form.
- Tio / Tia - A tomboy female mamodo that used to bully Zatch, yet is now an ally with him. Her spells start off shield based, but are revealed to have a second attribute later on. She is also in love with Zatch, although he is totally oblivious to her feelings.
- Brago - Sherry's mamodo, who uses gravitational spells and isn't exactly thrilled with having to have a human partner, much less a female, to use those spells.
- Umagon / Ponygon - A little orphan mamodo that appears one day that acts like a dog, looks like a horse and bleats like a sheep. First befriended by Zatch in England in the manga (in the anime, he first shows up in Japan), he is consistantly obsessed with eventually finding his bookkeeper and taking part in the mamodo battle as well. He seems well natured and befriends everyone easily, except for Kiyo. His real name is "Schneider", but because no one can understand his language, they end up calling him Ponygon because Kiyo says, "He looks like a pony and I want him gone, so Ponygon!". (in the Japanese version, Kiyomaro combines uma, which is Japanese for horse, and dragon, since its a mystical creature to come up with Umagon; in the American dub, Kiyo merely says Since you look like a pony and I want you gone..., leading to Ponygon)
Fandom-specific terminology
Mamono vs. Mamodo
One of the biggest differences between the English and Japanese versions of the series is the terminology they use to classify Zatch and his kind. In the Japanese version of the anime/manga, Gash and his friends are mamono, which loosely translates to "demon". It must be noted that in the Japanese culture, the term "demon" is generally not regarded in the same Biblical sense as it may be in a more Westernized culture.
In the English version of the series, Zatch and company are known as "mamodos"</b>, or imps which is a term that is specific to the show, and holds no real meaning outside of the series. Some argue that <b>mamodo</b> is easier to pronounce than <b>mamono</b> with the English tongue.
It is also arguable that the American publishers used <b>"mamodo"</b> rather than the previous because they would rather not associate the show with demons because of previous conflicts with religion and media. Other accounts in which religion and anime have conflicted include the Pokémon craze, and more recently Yu-Gi-Oh!, the latter accused of being cult-related.
see mamodo for more information.
Hon no Mochinushi, Bookkeepers, and Readers
<b>Hon no Mochinushi</b> is the official term that the Japanese versions of the manga/anime use to denote Kiyomaro and the other partners of the demons. The words loosely translate to either "master of the book" or "owner of the book".
<b>Bookkeeper is the term most fansubs of the series (before it was licensed) used to classify the partners of the demons.
Readers is the term that the English version of the anime seems to be using to denote the bookkeepers; Kolulu called Lori the "reader of the book" in episode eight.
Episodes of Zatch Bell
Season 1
- 1: The Lightning Boy from Another World
- 2: A Freezing Spell
- 3: The Second Spell
- 4: The Great Mamodo Battle
- 5: The Dark Mamodo
- 6: The Mystery Of The Missing Red Book
- 7: Botanical Madness
- 8: A Kind Mamodo, Kolulu
- 9: The Third Spell
- 10: The Elite Mamodo
- 11: The Invincible Folgore
- 12: Sherry's Rhapsody of Life
- 13: The Rematch: Zatch and Hyde Meet Again
- 14: The Tomboy and the Pop Star
- 15: A New Pledge Between Zatch and Tia
- 16: The Invulnerable Robnos
- 17: Kiyo's Curry Camping Trip
- 18: London Calling
- 19: The Dark Lord of the Cursed Castle
- 20: Flowers of Evil
- 21: Another Zatch
- 22: The Dancing Mamodo
- 23: Go For It, Ponygon
- 24: Apollo, the Free Traveler
- 25: Apollo, the Free Traveler, Part 2
- Special: Zatch and Kiyo's Odyssey [*]
- 26: A Day With Zatch
- 27: Danny Boy
- 28: Tia and Megumi's Excellent Adventure
- 29: Amusement Park Battle
- 30: Zatch and Tia: A Fierce Combination
- 31: The Cute Transfer Student
- 32: Shion's Secret
- 33: The Joining of the Three
- 34: The Story of the Demonic Mirror. Red Tears By The Setting Sun
- 35: The Story of the Demonic Mirror. The Blazing Heat Of The Final Battle
- 36: Showdown! Zatch vs. Naomi
- 37: Power Of Love! A Pure Loving Lady From Hong Kong
- 38: Iron Fist Of Love! Gou Bauren!
- 39: Certain Death! The Invisible Hunter!
- 40: Kanchomé Becomes an Elder Brother
- 41: Sudden Change! Kanchomé the Invincible!
- 42: The Cold-Hearted Enemies, Zeno and Dufort
- 43: The Hero of Justice: Praying Mantis Joe
- 44: The Challenge from Bali
- 45: Endless Fight to the Death: Zatch vs. Bali
- 46: MeruMeruMee!! Ponygon, Critical Danger?!?
- 47: SnowField Rumble! A Regal Presence
- 48: The Approaching Evil! The Mystery of the Tablet
- 49: The Riddle Professer and The Majestic Twelve
- 50: The 6th Spell, Raozaruk
- 51: The masked demon, Lord
- 52: My Dear, Zatch! I am Patie!
*More Coming Soon!*
[*]: This episode is an hour long dub-only recap of previous episodes.
External links
English
- English Zatch Bell! website
- TV Tome Some more Zatch Bell information and facts.
Japanese
- Shonen Sunday Gash Bell website
- Toei Gash Bell website
- Fuji TV Gash Bell website
- Gash Bell Movie website
