I woke up from my nap today after a dream about Naruto, of all things. Luckily, the details escape me, but I left my sleep with a burning question: "Why, the fudge, am I watching this bullcrack?"
Back in 2001, I was a snot-nosed thirteen year old child who was obsessed with television and pioneering the latest advances in biological science, English literature, and United States history. I faithfully woke up on Saturday mornings to watch FoxKids and KidsWB!, and I was thankfully treated to "children's shows" of a quality that puts anything out nowadays to shame.
So, I've decided to conjure up my old memories and re-embrace the nostalgia of my youth, renewd anew; lets talk about Monster Rancher.
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For those of you who were too young to know this series, the closest show I can imagine it being simmilar to is One Piece. Seriously; it's been called a Pokemon clone, but it's was not only better than Pokemon, it virtually pioneered almost all the themes we at Arlong Park have grown to treasure in our sacred pirate epic. There's also science fiction elements hybridized with fantasy, relegious overtones, medieval combat and slapstick comedy (though much of this was edited out of the dub). To say the least, Monster Rancher is like combining the best elements of Pokemon, Fullmetal Alchemist, One Piece, Dragonball, Inu-Yasha, and Yu-Gi-Oh together with some elements from .hack//sign, Fist of the North Star and Utawarerumono.
In summary, the story starts out in modern Japan (Tokyo), circa 2000 (the turn of the century), where the main character, a fiery ten-year old gaming prodigy named Genki (apparently Japanese for "energy", though it looks to me to be "great spirit") wins a national contest with a Pokemon Stadium like battling game. The gaming company, in addition to giving him a title simmilar to "King of Games" (hah, where have I heard that); they also ask him to preview a new game, simmilar to a fusion between Pokemon, Final Fantasy, and Dragon Quest.
Genki gets some mocchi (apparently) from his mother, sits down, and launches the game. In it, he sees an older girl named Holly and her cycloptic friend Suezo running from "baddies", who I think were Blue Slimes. Holly and Suezo have stolen a "Mystery Disk", which is like a CD but it holds the information to a "monster", and when used on a shrine in conjunction with a special "magic stone" (one of a kind and gifted only to Holly), the data can take physical form. It should be noted that ONLY MONSTERS come out of Mystery Disks.
Anyway, Holly enters a nearby shrine; Genki watches earnestly. As she activates the Mystery Disk, Genki's screen grows brightly; when the solar flare fades, he finds himself immersed in the game world! After beating up the baddies, he and Holly work together to stop the tyranny of a mysterious entity named Moo who is conquering her world, hopefully by finding The Phoenix, a legendary monster who battled Moo in a prehistoric time and is capable of killing him.
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I love this show and I remember a great deal about it, but I'm not incline to share entirely until some people yield some interest in talking about it. :)