Bruce Von Stiers

There are four episodes in the new volume of Medabots. This volume is called Time To Robobattle! The episodes are Mystery Medabot, Phantom Renegade Unmasked, Ban All Medabots and Meet Your Meda-Maker. These four constitute episodes 10 through 13 of the anime series.

Some of the extras that are included in this DVD volume are Character Descriptions, ADV Films Previews and Scene Selections. The previews are trailers for animated films like Soul Hunter, Sailor Moo, Wild Arms, Dai Guard and Orphen. Medabots A – Z are descriptions of the various medabots that are featured in the episodes. Unfortunately, there are no language options on this DVD disc.

In the first episode, Mystery Medabot, Ikki and Erika try to save a dog from getting drowned. The come across a mysterious medabot. He ends up saving the dog instead of Ikki and Erika.

Then the Rubberobo Gang is up to some funny business in renovating people’s homes. They are forcing people into allowing them to remodel homes so that they look like parts of an amusement park.

The second episode is Phantom Renegade Unmasked. The guy who steals alls of the rare medals is at it again. But someone is hot on the trail of the Phantom Renegade. Seamus MacRaker is a reporter for one of those scandal sheets you find at the checkout counter at the grocery store. MacRaker will stop at nothing to unmask the Phantom Renegade.

MacRaker goes around accumulating, and sometimes inventing, evidence. He even accuses Ikki of being the Phantom Renegade. Ikki is able to prove he’s not the Phantom Renegade, but at what cost?

Ban All Medabots is the third episode. Fanny B. Pimply is the head of the PTO. After an unfortunate incident, she is hell bent on getting the Medabots out of the school. She recruits other PTO members and a bunch of parents to help her out. The PTO ends up confiscating all the medabots around the school.

The Rubberobo Gang ends up causing a Robobattle that gets to the heart of the matter. It seems that these guys should have been who Pimply aimed her fury at, no the medabots at the school.

The last episode is Meet Your Meda-Maker. The Rubberobo gang is out to steal all the rare medals. They are even worse than the Phantom Renegade. They have a mysterious leader who won’t show himself.

Ikki and his friends get to meet Dr. Aki, the original creator of the Medabot. He will help the gang put a stop to the antics of the Rubberobo gang. He also happens to be the uncle of Karin, the object of Ikki’s affection.

There are a lot of different amusing characters in the episodes. Koji wants to be more than a friend to Karin and tries to get in Ikki’s way. Mr. Referee does all the refereeing for the Robobattles and always offers some comic relief.

Medabots is not the world’s greatest anime program. It does have its moments, however. The animation is really good for the style it comes from .The humor may go over the heads of some of the younger viewers, but then again, maybe not. Mr. Referee is hilarious because of the fixes he gets himself into. And the Rubberobo gang is not so much menacing as they are goofy.

Time To Robobattle will be a nice addition to a young viewer’s DVD anime collection.

Look for more information about Medabots on the ADV Films web site. It can be found at www.advfilms.com