Where's the Phoenix?
Written: May 19 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Interesting characters
Cons: Story arc does not advance from show to show
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| atara's Full Review: Monster Rancher |
So, a kid is playing a video game and gets sucked into the game.
Now, why does that sound familiar? Wasn't it Kidd Video that had almost the same premise?
Anyway, he ends up in the video game and is plunged into a quest to save Monster Land. The kid, Genki, and his friends must find the Phoenix in order to defeat the evil Moo. Along the way, Genki makes new friends, has adventures, and all that.
The animation style is anime, a style that is slowly becoming more and more popular in America. It's clean, smooth, and easy to watch. The show is a Japanese import, just like Pokemon and Digimon. Monster Rancher has been mercilessly compared to the other "monster" shows from Japan, but if you've watched the shows for any length of time you can see they have very fundamental differences.
The set of characters is a motley lot. Genki is a fiery-tempered, energetic little kid. Holly, another human, is more reserved and thoughtful. She doesn't go charging in willy nilly like Genki is apt to do. The monsters in the group are: Suezo (a walking eyeball), Golem (a huge rock man), Tiger (a horned wolf), Hare (a hare), and Moochi (a duck... thing). The characters' personalities seem to be deliberately incompatible in order to set up conflicts - not a bad thing, mind you. Sometimes, the inter-group dynamics are the most interesting part of the show.
While the individual shows are usually entertaining, I am all about payoff. It's all fine and good to watch Genki and Co. stumble into one confrontation after another, making friends and enemies as they go. But as far as I can tell, they are making no progress towards finding the Phoenix's disk. At the start of each show, Holly holds up her magical pendant to see which way they should start walking. It points in a direction and the group takes off, running into some problem about five steps later. They resolve the problem/situation. Show ends. Progress made? Nil.
If the group doesn't begin to show some tangible evidence of getting closer to their goal soon, my will to watch the show is going to disappear. Find the Phoenix already!
Recommended:
No
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Epinions.com ID:
atara
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Reviews written: 26
Trusted by: 13 members
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