is a 2014 Japanese-Canadian mecha anime series based on a toy line by
Spin Master
Spin Master Corp. (formerly known as Spin Master Toys) is a Canadian multinational toy and entertainment company. Spin Master employs over 1,600 people globally with offices in Australia, Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong Kong, India, Ital ...
, produced by
Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions
is a Japanese production company, a subsidiary of the Japanese publishing group Hitotsubashi Group. Prior to 2008, it was known as .
Notable filmography
* '' A Penguin's Troubles''
* '' Departures''
* ''Doraemon''
* ''Pokémon''
* '' Pok ...
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.Bones
A bone is a rigid organ that constitutes part of the skeleton in most vertebrate animals. Bones protect the various other organs of the body, produce red and white blood cells, store minerals, provide structure and support for the body, an ...
. It was directed by
Mitsuru Hongo
is a Japanese anime director of television and film.
Hongo originally worked at Ajiado as an animator but moved to Shin-Ei Animation where he directed ''Crayon Shin-chan''. He left in 1996 and went on to direct ''Immortal Grand Prix'', ''Outlaw ...
, with Jin Kanada and
Hiroshi Ōnogi
is a Japanese screenwriter and novelist focusing on anime productions.
Ōnogi attended Keio University in the same years as ''Macross'' character designer Haruhiko Mikimoto and creator Shōji Kawamori, both of whom he would first collaborate wi ...
handling series scripts,
Toshihiro Kawamoto
is a Japanese animator. He is the co-founder and director of the anime studio Bones. He was the character designer and animation director of ''Cowboy Bebop''.
Biography Early period
Upon graduating from high school, Kawamoto was first employed ...
and Shigeru Fujita designing the characters, Takayuki Yanase and Fujirō designing the 3DCG characters and MONACA composing the music. The series officially aired on
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
in the United States on August 24, 2013 and in Canada on
Teletoon
Cartoon Network (formerly Teletoon) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts animated series aimed at children and teenagers. It was launched on October 17 ...
on September 28, 2013. After a year, it premiered on
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.
In North America, the toys have been on sale since December 2013.
Story
Eons ago, a cube–like peaceful
planet
A planet is a large, Hydrostatic equilibrium, rounded Astronomical object, astronomical body that is generally required to be in orbit around a star, stellar remnant, or brown dwarf, and is not one itself. The Solar System has eight planets b ...
named Quarton is populated by the Tenkai, robots who could shape–shift into living bricks. Quarton was ravaged by a war between two opposite factions: the Corekai Soldiers, led by the valiant and fearless Commander Beagle ("Beag"); and the Corrupted Army, led by the ruthless Lord Vilius, who desired to obtain the source of Tenkai energy for his own purposes. However, the only ones who were strong enough to defeat him were the 4 Legendary Tenkai Knights of Quarton: Bravenwolf, Tributon, Valorn, and Lydendor. Facing defeat, Vilius unleashed the mighty Tenkai Dragon, who was later defeated by the 4 Knights where its fragments scattered across the planet. These heroes were never seen again. One year later, Lord Vilius and the infamous Corrupted Army have returned, more powerful than ever before.
Now on planet Earth in the year 2034 within Benham City, four young teenage boys, named Guren Nash, Ceylan Jones, Toxsa Dalton, and Chooki Mason, find an interdimensional portal to Quarton where they are chosen by Boreas of the Guardians to become the new generation of Tenkai Knights and prevent Lord Vilius and his Corrupted Army empire from taking control of both worlds.
During the course of the series, the 4 boys learn about teamwork, friendship, and many other life lessons as they face of against Vilius, his 2 henchmen Slyger and Granox, and soon, Dromus (AKA Gen) and Venetta (AKA Beni).
Characters
Media
Animation
The series first aired in the United States on the
cable TV
Cable television is a system of delivering television broadcast programming, programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This ...
channel
Cartoon Network
Cartoon Network (CN) is an American cable television television channel, channel and the flagship property of the Cartoon Network, Inc., a sub-division of the Warner Bros. Discovery Networks division of Warner Bros. Discovery. It launched on ...
on August 24, 2013, at 7:30 am, and in Canada on
Teletoon
Cartoon Network (formerly Teletoon) is a Canadian English-language discretionary specialty channel owned by Corus Entertainment. The channel primarily broadcasts animated series aimed at children and teenagers. It was launched on October 17 ...
on September 28, 2013. The English dub is produced by
Studiopolis
Studiopolis, Inc. is an American post-production studio located in Studio City, Los Angeles. It specializes in voiceover recording and dubbing for cartoon, anime, and video game projects. They were formerly known as Screenmusic Studios and then ...
. To coincide with the launch of the property, Spin Master and Kickstart Entertainment produced a 10-episode prequel web-series entitled ''Tenkai Knights Origins''. The series features music by John Majkut and was released onto
YouTube
YouTube is an American social media and online video sharing platform owned by Google. YouTube was founded on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim who were three former employees of PayPal. Headquartered in ...
as well as the brand's official website between September and December 2013. They also aired as interstitals on Cartoon Network and Teletoon.
In Japan, the television series was delayed until April, airing on the
TV Tokyo
JOTX-DTV (channel 7), branded as is a Japanese television station that serves as the flagship of the TX Network.TV Aichi
Aichi Television Broadcasting Company, Ltd. (TVA; ), also referred to as , with the callsigns JOCI-DTV (channel 10) is a Japanese television station
A television station is a set of equipment managed by a business, organisation or other entity ...
and
TV Osaka
JOBH-DTV (channel 7), branded as , is a Japanese television station serving as the affiliate of the TX Network for the Osaka prefecture. Owned-and-operated by , the station's headquarters and studios are in the Chūō-ku, Osaka, Chūō-ku ward of ...
were simultaneously networked with the production station TV Tokyo, while the other three TV Tokyo affiliate stations broadcast it on Saturday mornings at 7:00 (one week later).
A second season of the series was announced to be in development but was cancelled prior to entering production.
Toys
The Tenkai Knights toy line is produced by Spin Master under the ''Ionix'' brand of construction bricks, along with a new
Pokémon
is a Japanese media franchise consisting of List of Pokémon video games, video games, Pokémon (TV series), animated series and List of Pokémon films, films, Pokémon Trading Card Game, a trading card game, and other related media. The fran ...
line. Spin Master refers to Ionix as the next generation of construction, with "Bricks that shapeshift." Their line of products include bricks that look very similar to traditional construction bricks, but actually shapeshift and unfold into unique mini-figures. Spin Master distributes the toys in the United States, Canada and Thailand while
Happinet
is a Japanese entertainment company.
History
In February 1968, Hiroshi Kawai left Bandai to establish his own toy business. Kawai founded on June 7, 1969. In September 1972, it changed its name to .
Tōshō merged with two other companies, ...
handles the distribution rights of the toys in Japan.
Print
A
manga
are comics or graphic novels originating from Japan. Most manga conform to a style developed in Japan in the late 19th century, and the form has a long history in earlier Japanese art. The term is used in Japan to refer to both comics ...
adaptation of the anime series by Ryo Takamisaki was serialized in CoroCoro Ichiban! beginning with its June 2014 issue, published April 21, 2014. The manga concluded with the March 2015 issue and was later compiled into two
tankōbon
A is a standard publishing format for books in Japan, alongside other formats such as ''shinsho'' (17x11 cm paperback books) and ''bunkobon''. Used as a loanword in English, the term specifically refers to a printed collection of a manga that w ...
by
Shogakukan
is a Japanese publisher of comics, magazines, light novels, dictionaries, literature, non-fiction, home media, and other media in Japan.
Shogakukan founded Shueisha, which also founded Hakusensha. These are three separate companies, but ...
, the last of which, released on March 27, 2015, featured an additional 20 pages of material. The series was not released in English, though a French edition was published by
Kazé
Kazé was a French publishing company that specializes in anime and manga. Its head office was in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. Founded in 1994, the company debuted by publishing ''Record of Lodoss War'' on VHS. It was owned by Sony through t ...
in a four-volume 48-page color comic book format.
Penguin Random House
Penguin Random House Limited is a British-American multinational corporation, multinational conglomerate (company), conglomerate publishing company formed on July 1, 2013, with the merger of Penguin Books and Random House. Penguin Books was or ...
published four
novelization
A novelization (or novelisation) is a derivative novel that adapts the story of a work created for another medium, such as a film, TV series, stage play, comic book, or video game. Film novelizations were particularly popular before the advent ...
s written by
Brandon T. Snider
Brandon T. Snider (born February 28) is a New York City based writer and actor who has written for and appeared on Comedy Central's ''Inside Amy Schumer''. He's also been featured on ''Late Night with Conan O'Brien'', '' Law & Order: Special Vic ...
iOS
Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
in January 2014.
Home video
Phase 4 Films
Phase 4 Films was a Canadian film distribution company headquartered in Toronto. It had two branches in the U.S.: Los Angeles, California and Fort Mill, South Carolina. Its subsidiary, Kaboom! Entertainment markets children's entertainment with c ...
distributed a single home video release of the series in Canada and the United States, titled ''Tenkai Knights: Rise of the Knights''. It presents the first several episodes of the show edited together into a movie and was released on
DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
as well as digital platforms on February 4, 2014. A
manufacture on demand
Build-on-demand or manufacturing on demand (MOD) refers to a manufacturing process where goods are produced only when or as they are required. This allows scalability and adjustable assemblies depending on the current needs of the part requestor or ...
Blu-ray
Blu-ray (Blu-ray Disc or BD) is a 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 high-defin ...
version followed on May 4, 2016.
In Japan, Happinet and
Victor Entertainment
is a subsidiary of JVCKenwood that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It is known as JVC Entertainment in countries where Sony Music Entertainment operates the RC ...
released the entire series over four DVD box sets between August 2, 2014, and May 2, 2015. The first 18 episodes were also released through six DVDs for the rental market.
Music
Four pieces of theme music are used for the episodes: one opening theme and three closing themes. The opening theme is "Get the Glory" by Ayako Nakanomori. The first ending theme is by Rurika Yokoyama, while the second ending is by
Cyntia
Cyntia was a Japanese heavy metal band formed in 2011. They are believed to have been the first act from the Girls Metal Band Boom to have signed to a major record label when they joined Victor Entertainment in 2013. Drummer and co-founder Kan ...
. The third ending, , is sung by Pile. For the English version, John Majkut composed its opening theme with an instrumental version of the same track used for the credits. The series' background score is composed by Majkut and MONACA of ''
Star Driver
''Star Driver'', also known as is a Japanese anime television series created and animated by Bones. It was broadcast for twenty-five episodes on MBS and TBS from October 2010 to April 2011. The anime was licensed in North America by Anip ...
'' fame.
Happinet released an 82-song soundtrack on CD on March 25, 2015, in Japan.
Video games
On January 30, 2014,
Namco Bandai Games
is a Japanese multinational corporation, multinational video game video game publisher, publisher, and the video game branch of the wider Bandai Namco Holdings group. Founded in 2006 as it is the successor to Namco's home and arcade video game ...
announced a video game entitled for
Nintendo 3DS
The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
, released in Japan on September 25, 2014, and in North America on October 7, 2014. It is one of the worst rated 3DS games, with a score of 26 on
Metacritic
Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...
, with the 3rd lowest score for any 3DS game on Metacritic.
On February 27, 2014, Spin Master and Game Pill launched the
free-to-play
"Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...
''Tenkai Knights: Battle for Quarton'' game for
iOS
Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...
devices. The game was also available through
web browsers
A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scree ...
via the
Unity
Unity is the state of being as one (either literally or figuratively). It may also refer to:
Buildings
* Unity Building, Oregon, Illinois, US; a historic building
* Unity Building (Chicago), Illinois, US; a skyscraper
* Unity Buildings, Liverpoo ...
plug-in. Other browser titles include ''Bravenwolf's Run'', ''Race to Redemption'' and ''Tenkai Boost''.