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Animanga/Anime| Information
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Animanga/Other| Information
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'', known in
Japan as '''''Konjiki no Gash Bell!!''''' (
Anime ) and '''''Konjiki no Gash!!''''' (
Manga ) (金色のガッシュベル!! ''Konjiki no Gasshu Beru!!'' literally translates to "Golden Gash Bell!!"), is a
Shōnen Manga series by
Makoto Raiku , which has been adapted as an
Anime TV series by
Toei Animation . Many of the ''Zatch Bell!'' graphic novels have short comics inside titled ''Zatch & Suzy'' (''Gash and Suzume'' in the Japanese versions).
One hundred demons (called "mamodos" in the English-language dub) go to Earth every 1,000 years to battle to be the king of the demon world. Each demon needs a human partner in order to use his or her spell book, and if his or her spell book is destroyed, the demon has to return to the demon world.
The main character,
Kiyo Takamine (Kiyomaro Takamine in the Japanese version), is a 14-year old boy in junior high school. His father, Seitaro Takamine, discovers an unconscious demon named
Zatch Bell (Gash Bell in the Japanese version) while in an
English forest. His father sends the demon to be Kiyo's mentor. Unlike the other demons, Zatch lost his memory of the demon world. Kiyo and Zatch are now caught up in the battle to be the king of the demons.
The anime had aired on
Fuji Television on Sundays in
Japan and originally lead to the 2003 remake of ''
Astro Boy ''. ''Konjiki no Gash Bell'' concluded on
March 26 ,
2006 with its 150th, and final, episode. It has been replaced in that time slot in Japan by
Digimon Savers , the fifth
Digimon anime series. Gash had held that time slot for three years, after four consequtive
Digimon series over four years. The manga currently runs in
Shogakukan 's
Shonen Sunday in Japan.
The series is licensed by
ShoPro Entertainment and premiered on
Cartoon Network 's
Toonami programming block in
North America on
March 5 ,
2005 under the new name of "''Zatch Bell!''". Cartoon Network has only purchased 52 episodes of the show.
The manga was also licensed by
VIZ Media for distribution in North America and two volumes were released in August 2005. A volume will be released every two months. The manga was also licensed in English in
Singapore by
Chuang Yi . The names in the English manga in North America and Singapore reflect the changed names in the English anime. The manga is also licensed by
Kana in France.
The series is reminiscient of the ''
Pokémon '', ''
Digimon '', and ''
Medabots '' franchises, as each of the series focus on battles between trainers/partners and their respective creatures. ''Zatch Bell'' tends to go deeper into the relationship between some of the demons and their partners. Many of those demons and their partners have their own unique visions and goals, and struggle to achieve them throughout the series.
(Kiyomaro),
Ponygon (Umagon), Sherry, Brago,
Folgore , and
Kanchomé (Canchome)]]
- Gash Bell (ガッシュ・ベル ''Gasshu Beru'') / Zatch Bell - Kiyo's mamodo. He has electric based spells that correspond with his emotions. When he was found, he had no memory of where he was from or who he was, except for his name.
- Kiyomaro Takamine (高嶺清麿 ''Takamine Kiyomaro'') / Kiyo Takamine - A brainy junior high school student who is Zatch’s bookkeeper and friend. At first, the two do not get along due to Kiyo's snobbishness. Early on, Kiyo had few friends and was disliked in his school. After his father sent Zatch, things began to change.
- Suzume Mizuno (水野鈴芽 ''Mizuno Suzume'') / Suzy Mizuno - A ditzy girl who has a crush on Kiyo. She draws faces on fruit to express how she is feeling and often uses oranges. She gets jealous when she hears that Kiyo is hanging out with other girls, namely Megumi Oumi or Shion Hibiki.
- Vulcan 300 (バルカン300 ''Barukan Sanbyaku'') - Zatch's best friend. He is said to be a robot that can launch up to 300 air missiles. He was created in five minutes with a hyper body made of a snack box ("cardboardium") and chopsticks. He was made by Kiyo as a way to occupy Zatch, and he shows up several times in the series. He apparently had to be remade several times due to his poor construction.
- Sherry Bellmont (シェリー・ベルモンド ''Sherī Berumondo'') - A girl with a painful childhood who is trying to find a way to stop a demon named Zofis from controlling her best friend, Koko. Her mamodo is Brago. She is not a particularly friendly person because of her callousness.
- Brago (ブラゴ "Burago") - Sherry's mamodo, who uses gravitational spells and isn't exactly thrilled with having to have a human partner, much less a female, to read his spells. He may not admit it, but he needs Sherry if he's going to win the Mamodo battle.
- Parco Folgore (パルコ・フォルゴレ ''Paruko Forugore'') - An Italian superstar who has a demon named Kanchomé. In the Japanese version, his "trademark song" is the infamous "Chichi wo Moge" (which translates into English as "Groping Breasts"). The American dub changes the song to the more innocent "Hey, Hey, Let's Dance All Day". In the Japanese version, he's a perverted monkey who gropes every girl he comes across, but he's toned down in the American version. He also likes to call himself "The invincible Folgore" and he even has a song for it.
- Kanchomé (キャンチョメ ''Kyanchome'') - Folgore's mamodo, who seems weaker than Gash, but only because his spells are more based around deception and transformation of form. He is extremely loyal to Parco and sings Parco's songs all day.
- Tio (ティオ ''Tio'') / Tia - A tomboy female Mamodo that used to bully Zatch, yet is now his ally. At first, she did not believe that mamodos could team up, but that all changed due to Zatch. She is very outgoing and a bit pushy because of her stressing partner. Her spells are mainly defensive (shields), with sword-based ones later on. She apparently has a crush on Zatch, who is oblivious to her actions. Tia went as far as to give the lunch she made for Zatch to Kiyo as an attempt to hide her feelings.
- Megumi Oumi (大海 恵 ''Ōumi Megumi'') - A Japanese teen idol who befriends both Zatch and Kiyo (some would say more than friends on the latter). Her Mamodo is Tia, the tomboyish female mamodo. There is currently no background info on her, but she is always busy due to tours and concerts. Tia is really upset at the fact that she has limited vacation time. She can make Kiyo blush many times in one day. She also seems to be skilled in Judo and has also taught her mamodo how to defend herself physically.
- Umagon (ウマゴン) / Ponygon - A little orphan Mamodo that appears to be a kind of miniature horse. This demon could use fire based spells, if he could find a human partner to read his spell book. First befriended by Zatch in England in the manga (in the anime, he first shows up in Japan), he is consistently obsessed with eventually finding his bookkeeper and taking part in the demon battle as well. He seems good-natured and befriends everyone easily, except for Kiyo. His real name is "Schneider", but because no one can understand his language, they end up calling him Ponygon. In the Japanese version, this stems from Uma ("Horse") and Gon (as in Monster). In the American dub, Kiyo merely says "Since you look like a pony and I want you gone...", leading to Ponygon.
The original
Subtitle s are on the left & VIZ Media's subtitles are on the right.
- " class="copylinks" target="_blank">{Link without Title} : This episode is an hour long dub-only recap of previous episodes.
;Openings:
# カサブタ / Kasabuta / "Scab" by Hidenori Chiwata (Episodes: 1-50)
# 君にこの声が届きますように / Kimi ni Kono Koe ga Todokimasu you ni / "Seeming to Reach for Your Voice" by Takeyoshi Tanimoto (Episodes: 51-100)
# 見えない翼 / Minenai Tsubasa / "Unseeable Wings" by Takeyoshi Tanimoto(Episodes:101-150)
;Endings:
# "PERSONAL" by Aya Ueto (Episodes: 1-30)
# "STARS-you don't have to worry about tomorrow-" by: KING (Episodes: 31-58)
# つよがり / Tsuyogari / "A Bluff" by Eri Kitamura (Episodes: 59-75)
# "Idea" by Tsukiko Amano (76-100)
# 今日より明日は / Kyou yori Ashita wa / "Tomorrow is from Today" by Echiura (Episodes: 101-125)
# ★遊FEVER 2005★ / "★Aso FEVER 2005★" by Shinohara Tomoe (Episodes: 126-149)
# カサブタ / Kasabuta / "Scab" by Hidenori Chiwata (Episode: 150)
;Opening:
: "Zatch Bell! Theme" by
VIZ Media
;Ending:
: "Zatch Bell! Theme (Instrumental)" by
VIZ Media
