Monster Farm: Enbanseki no himitsu

Cartoon done well even if the idea is not very original.

Digimon and Pokemon have been taught too well which keys to tap to appeal to young audiences.

In the early 21st century there was a whole genre dedicated to kids who would catch monsters and then make them fight each other.

I think the best characters were Lilim and General Durahan, two villains who were the best episode of the series in their departure.

Hm. This was one of my favourite shows. I honestly don't remember too much about it. I just remember that it had a HORRIBLE time slot, so I'd be up at 5:30 in the morning watching it...that's how much I liked it.

Genki is sucked into a video game where he meets a girl named Holly on a righteous quest to free the Pheonix and defeat the evil Moo (man...what a bad name). Along the way, they are joined by monsters who found it in their best interest to join this quest. I believe the monsters were Hare, Tiger of the Winds (I remember the episode where they met him...that was awesome), Suezo, Golem and Mochi.

The thing that really drew me to this show was the in-depth delving into the characters' minds. Don't get me wrong, I was all into Pokemon and Digimon too, but MR was by far my favourite. Like I said, it was the characters. Digimon and Pokemon are more about the fights, whereas MR was more about the characters. I think it was HIGHLY under-appreciated.

8/10 stars.

Most property based animated series basically just serve as half hour commercials for toys. "Monster Rancher," while it does serve that purpose, rises above what you'd expect given that. Unlike "Pokemon," which is insipid, and "Digimon," which is derivative of the latter, "Monster Rancher" rests its strengths in strong, character development scripts.

Except for a few stereotypes like "Star Wars" familial elements and the brooding, loner type with attitude, the majority of episodes have, thus far, been fine essays reaching into the minds of characters we would normally not care about. Whereas one would expect a character to be chosen from the video game to use as a plot device, the plot device is instead the motivation for the character, rather than motivation being revealed as an afterthought to spur on the plot.

So far, there's only one season of episodes. But, if there are more, and if the same attention to character detail is maintained, this series should prove to be quite enjoyable, despite a few minor stereotypes.

Great show because the characters have attitude, personality and aren't corny.

The Animation was great.

The monsters are developed well and you sympathize with many of them. This show has a conclusion unlike pokemon.

When people review Monster Rancher, Digimon, and Pokemon, they nearly always compare the three. It's kind of hard not to, so I will too.

But first, just about MR. This is the opposite of a normal cartoon. Instead of a bunch of action and whatnot, most of each episode centers on the characters and their feelings, emotions, motivations and interactions. No character is what he seems, and the creators do an incredible job of making the characters seem not just _deep_ but like bottomless wells of personality and history.

Now the comparisons: except for the inclusion of monsters, Monster Rancher is not like Digimon or Pokemon in any way. The animation is better than both other 'mons (in my order, Pokemon's animation is horrible, Digimon's is pretty good, and Monster Rancher's is great). As for story, I don't watch Pokemon enough to know completely, but I've seen a few episodes and it seems like a run-of-the-mill children's cartoon. Digimon is great because it actually has a continuous story and characters that I give a c**p about. Monster Rancher, though, goes beyond even Digimon in regards to characterization, which makes the show such a joy to watch.