Bruce Von Stiers

Right on the heels of the first Medabots release by ADV Films comes another one. This one contains episodes 6 through 9 of the popular Japanese show. The collection is called Medabots, Robobattle! It comes on a DVD disc and has a few extras thrown in.

The idea behind the show is that there are robots that kids collect called Medabots. These Medabots do things for their masters. And they fight with other Medabots. When there is a Robobattle, there are two opponents. The winner can claim a body part from the other Medabot. The thing that drives a Medabot is a six sided medal. It acts like a computer chip to control the Medabot.

In the sixth episode, The Gimme Ghost, we once again meet the Phantom Renegade. This is a guy behind a mask who steals Medabot medals. He reminds me of The Mask in his saucy humor and conceitedness. He plays a major part at the tail end of this episode.

A rich boy named Koji has his medal stolen by the Gimme Ghost in the woods. Ikki and his friends decide to go investigate this crime. Once they find out what is going on, Ikki plans to get the medal back. Helping out are Karin, Erica and a few others. Even Henry, who works at the convenience store, comes along to help. But he disappears just as the Phantom Renegades shows up. Coincidence?

The ghost got its name by calling out to people walking in the woods to give him their medals. The gang finds out what is really going on and through the inadvertent help of the Phantom Renegade, gets everybody’s medals back.

The seventh episode features a kid named Spike. He had been part of the Screws gang. But somehow he got kicked out. Now Spike is trying to Robobattle others to stake his claim as a great battler. Ikki tries to help him but gets grief for his troubles. He soon discovers why Spike’s medabot can’t win. Trying to help out gets even tougher.

Spike decides to take on a group of toddlers in Robobattle. Little does he know that they are a gang of little hellions know as the Anklebiters. This is kind of funny as Anklebiters is slang for little children in Australia. (I found that out as my son was preparing for a trip to Australia this summer). When it’s all said and done, Spike gets a lesson in humility and everybody moves on.

The eighth and ninth episodes are Part 1 and Part 2 of For Better, For Worse. In these episodes, Ikki dreams of being an international Robobattle star. But the first step is to win the city championship. In order to get ready for the city matches, Ikki needs to tune up his metabot, Metabee. But the bot won’t have anything to do with it. In a big misunderstanding Metabee goes off on his own. He fights and loses.

The second part continues the story as the fights go on. Koji is on his way to be the champ. But there is something else going on. There is a gang of criminals calling themselves the Rubber Robo Gang. They are up to no good. Ikki and his friends will have to stop the Rubber Robo Gang and get Koji onto the championship level.

There are a few real funny pieces in the show. Mr. Referee keeps showing up to referee the Robobattles. He is such a klutz that he gets injured each time. And Metabee is one wisecracking Medabot. His attitude and sarcastic wit remind me of the robot in the Buck Rogers TV show.

Like I said in my review of the first Metabots collection, the storyline is really basic. The violence is not too great as this is geared towards younger viewers. The animation is not too bad, being on a level of Monster Rancher or one of the other animated series.

Metabots was produced by Tomoko Gushima, along with Toko Matsushita. The director was Tensai Okarmura. Toper Taylor, Clive A. Smith and a few others were in charge of the English Language production.

As with the first collection, this one provides you with character descriptions. It also gives you descriptions of all the Metabots that are featured in the show. These are really the only extras on the DVD with the exception of the language and dubbing choices, along with a few trailers for other ADV Films titles.

Medabots: Medabots, Robobattle! is a nice continuation of the Medabots show. As thing move forward, there will probably be more episodes of the series turned into collections. For some of you, this collection won’t hold enough interest to warrant a look. But if you want some anime that is low on violence, then this collection might be right for you.

Look for Medabots: Metabots, Robobattle on the shelves at your local retail store. If you can’t get it there, order it online from ADV Films. There are two web sites for the Metabots. They are www.medabots.com and www.advfilms.com.