''Monster Rancher'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese

anime is a Traditional animation, hand-drawn and computer animation, computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, , in Japan and in Ja ...

television series based on

Tecmo was a Japanese video game company founded in 1967. It had its headquarters in the Kudankita district of Tokyo. Its subsidiary, Tecmo Inc, was located in Torrance, California. Prior to 1986, Tecmo was formerly known as Tehkan. Tecmo is known for ...

's ''

Monster Rancher ''Monster Rancher'', known in Japan as , is a Japanese media franchise and series of life simulation role-playing video games created by Tecmo (now Koei Tecmo). The series consists of fifteen games across numerous different video game platform ...

'' video game franchise. It originally aired on

CBC CBC may refer to: Media * Cadena Baja California or Grupo Cadena, a radio and television broadcaster in Mexico * Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's radio and television public broadcaster ** CBC Television ** CBC Radio One ** CBC Music ** ...

in Japan for two seasons from April 1999 to September 2000. In North America, the series was first licensed by BKN, Inc. and broadcast with an English dub on the

Bohbot Kids Network Bohbot Kids Network (more commonly referred to and on-screen as BKN, originally known as Amazin' Adventures until 1997) was a children's programming block operated by Bohbot Entertainment (later BKN, Inc.) that aired on syndicated television sta ...

, the Sci-Fi Channel, the

Fox Family Channel American cable and satellite television network Freeform was originally launched as the CBN Satellite Service on April 29, 1977, and has gone through four different owners and six different name changes during its history. This article details th ...

, and

Fox Kids Fox Kids (originally known as Fox Children's Network and later as the Fox Kids Network; stylized in all caps) was an American children's programming block and branding for a slate of international children's television channels. Originally a j ...

in the United States and YTV in Canada. It was later licensed by

Discotek Media Discotek Media is an American entertainment company based in Altamonte Springs, Florida, focused on distribution and licensing Japanese anime, films, and television series. History Formed in 2005, Discotek primarily focuses on licensing retr ...

in 2013.

Plot

The series follows Genki Sakura, who plays the ''Monster Rancher'' video games. In the first season, after winning a tournament hosted by the game's creators, Genki wins a CD that unlocks a special monster in the game. However, upon inserting the disk into his game console, he is transported to a world of monsters that, like in the game, are given life by scanning special stone disks within temples. There, he meets a girl named Holly and her monster friend Suezo, who are searching for a stone disk containing the legendary Phoenix, who will save the land from the tyranny of the evil Moo. Upon attempting to use Genki's disk to release the Phoenix, they summon a different monster, who Genki names Mocchi. In order to free the land from Moo's rule, Genki, Holly, Mocchi, and Suezo set off in search of the Phoenix guided by Holly's Magic Stone; this leads them to meet Golem, Tiger, and Hare, who join them on their journey. It is revealed that Moo is Holly's missing father, who merged with an evil spirit after being banished from his village. Determined to separate him from Moo, the group continues their search for the Phoenix, defeating Moo's strongest minions, the Big Bad Four—Pixie, Gali, Grey Wolf, and Naga—while helping and befriending monsters by unlocking Mystery Disks in hopes of finding the Phoenix. One of the monsters, Monol, tells them of a previous war between Moo and the Phoenix, part of a larger war between humans and monsters, who exploited monsters as workers and companions in a futuristic society. The war destroyed much of the world and weakened Moo and the Phoenix, sending them into a dormant state and separating their bodies from their souls. Moo's body is found and merges with Holly's father. Soon after, the Phoenix's body is found and it is revealed that the five monsters—Mocchi, Suezo, Golem, Tiger, and Hare—are fragments of its soul. They say farewell to Genki before merging with the Phoenix's body to revive it and fight Moo; as they fight, Moo realizes that good and evil are inherently inseparable and that they, as representatives of good and evil, are doomed to perpetually fight. They seemingly die and Genki is transported back to the real world in the resulting explosion, comforted by visions of his friends as he returns home. In the second season, Genki returns to the Monster World to revive his friends, who were turned into disks and separated after the fight with Moo, and competes in a series of tournaments against General Durahan's army in search of Holly's father. In the third season, they fight against Durahan, who has been possessed by Moo's soul. In the Japanese version, in the credits of the final episode, it is revealed that Genki and Mocchi are able to travel between the ''Monster Rancher'' world and Earth.

Episodes

Season 1: ''The Secret of the Stone Disk''

Season 2: ''The Legendary Path''

Broadcast and release

In Japan, under the title ''Monster Farm'', the series was broadcast on TBS for two seasons; the first 48-episode season, , aired from April 17, 1999, to March 25, 2000; the second 25-episode season, , aired from April 1 to September 30, 2000. The series was brought to the United States by

BKN Bohbot Entertainment was an American advertising and marketing company specializing in the children's market founded in 1985, and had traded under various different names over the years. The company produced and distributed programming under thei ...

, with an English dub produced by

Ocean Studios Ocean Productions, Inc., is a Canadian media production and voice acting company based in Vancouver, British Columbia, that is part of the Ocean Group of businesses. Ocean Group is involved in intellectual property acquisition and development, ...

. It was also broadcast in the United States on the Sci-Fi Channel and

and in Canada on YTV. In the United Kingdom, the series aired on children's Saturday morning show ''

Live & Kicking ''Live & Kicking'' was a British children's television series that originally aired on BBC1 from 2 October 1993 to 15 September 2001. It was the replacement for '' Going Live!'', and took many of its features from it, such as phone-ins, games, ...

'', with episodes also airing on

CBBC CBBC is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast children's television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is also the brand used for all BBC content for children aged 6 to 12. Its sister c ...

(on

BBC Two BBC Two is a British free-to-air Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's second flagship channel, and it covers a wide range of subject matte ...

) until April 9, 2001. Repeats of the series continued throughout the year and early February 25, 2002.

ADV Films A.D. Vision Holdings, Inc. (known simply as ADV and also referred to as ADV Films) was an American multimedia entertainment distributor headquartered in Houston, Texas, and founded in 1992 by video game fan John Ledford and anime fans Matt Gr ...

licensed the home video rights to the series and released its first twelve episodes on four DVDs. In 2005, BKN International A.G. licensed the DVD rights for 73 episodes of ''Monster Rancher'' to Digiview Productions; however, only one DVD was released. In 2012, the series was available for streaming on

Hulu Hulu (, ) is an American Subscription business model, subscription streaming media service owned by Disney Streaming, a subsidiary of the Disney Entertainment segment of the Walt Disney Company. It was launched on October 29, 2007, initially as ...

licensed the series in 2013, and released it on three English-dubbed DVD box sets in 2014, and a single box set with the original Japanese audio subtitled and uncut on July 28, 2015. Discotek Media later released the series on a

Blu-ray Disc Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a Digital media, digital optical disc data storage format designed to supersede the DVD format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released worldwide on June 20, 2006, capable of storing several hours of ...

set on May 29, 2018.

Notes

References

External links

* *
List of episodes at tv.com

Monster Rancher - Official Order
at

TheTVDB TheTVDB.com is a community-driven database of television shows. All content and images on the site have been contributed by the site's users; the site uses moderated editing to maintain its own standards. Purpose The stated aim to be the most co ...

{{TMS Entertainment Monster Rancher 1999 anime television series debuts ADV Films Anime television series based on video games TMS Entertainment TBS Television (Japan) original programming Works based on Tecmo Koei video games de:Monster Rancher