Medabots – The Complete First Season (Shout! Factory DVD)
Picture:
B- Sound: B- Extras: D Episodes: C-
If Pokemon and Transformers had a baby I guess it would be a Medabot. The series that has been released a million
times over in volumized sets is now available a single comprehensive First Season and this reviewer is
guessing there is more season sets on the way; but after viewing Season One this reviewer’s excitement
is quickly waning. On top of everything
else this release of Medabots does not even seem to be the COMPLETE First Season, Shout! Factory apparently having left out
three episodes; this reviewer guesses Shout! Factory has forgotten what
‘complete’ means. It would have been
better to just call is ‘Season One’ and leave out the ‘complete.’
Anyhow,
Medabots is a Japanese anime series that is very Pokemon-like, but with robots
instead of creatures. The series star is a boy named Ikki and his Medabot named
Metabee. Ikki starts the series being
poor (or maybe his parents just don’t like him) and his parents will not buy
him an expensive Medabot; with some luck and a little money, however, Ikki
manages to get himself an outdated Medabot.
The only problem is Medabots need medals (a Medabot soul) to be
activated; with luck on his side again Ikki’s dog finds a medal in the river
and it is all systems go for his Medabot.
Oddly enough Ikki’s Medabot has a bit of an attitude problem, which is
odd to him because Medabots are meant to be loyal. Later in the series it is discovered why this
odd attitude is occurring (I won’t ruin it for you). So with his Medabot by his side Ikki goes to
battle challenges and the rest is history.
The
series to this reviewer is a lesser anime and an even lesser form of the
Pokemon series; only with robots instead.
If all the facts are reviewed, kid with the odds against him, an unruly
new possession, and battling other people; this series is for all intents and
purposes a bad version of Pokemon. A
definite miss according to this reviewer, but then again it was one of the top
rated series on FOX for a while; but beyond that what do kids know, really.
The DVD
set comes in a 4 disc box set that is simple and to the point. The DVD
set is presented in a somewhat stretched out-looking 1.33 X 1 full
screen. The animation’s picture quality is simply ok, but not impressive
and could be much clearer; looking to be bad anime with lack of depth. The Dolby Digital 2.0 sound is adequate at
best and seems distant at times; the humans’ high pitched voices that have been
obviously dubbed in stand out much more than the anything else and get quite
annoying. The extras are absent and will surely disappoint fans all
around.
Skip this
series and just revert back to some old school Pokemon cartoons.
- Michael P Dougherty II
