Monster Rancher (anime)

The Anime of the Game of the game of the same name. The plot of the series followed the adventures of Genki, a very hyperactive boy who wins a beta disk of "Monster Fight" (which has the same properties of the real MR game) in a video game tournament. No sooner does Genki start it, than he is transported inside the game, finding a real world of monsters inside. It is currently in turmoil due to an evil monster named Moo, who turns monsters evil and rules the land with an iron fist.

Genki joins up with a girl named Holly and her monster Suezo, who are on a quest to find and unlock the monster, Phoenix, which is the only known creature that can stop Moo. Genki gains his own monster, Mocchi, at the start of the series. Soon, the group are joined by Golem, Tiger, and Hare, in their uphill battle against Moo and his forces.

The Post Script Season third season, which featured Durahan (who was an Elite Mook in the second season) as the main big bad, takes place a year later and has the group trying to save Holly's father's soul, which is trapped in a dark mystery disk along with Moo after his defeat. However, most of the MacGuffins the crew had before are now prizes in a tournament, forcing the crew to enter it to accomplish their goal. All the while, they continue to dodge attacks from Durahan and his baddies.

The show managed to run for three seasons, two of which aired stateside on syndication, Fox Kids and ABC Family respectively. The third never aired in the U.S., but was dubbed, and is available online to watch. The show was also quite different from the other mon shows at the time (Pokémon, Digimon) in that the human protagonists were not afraid to battle alongside the monsters. While not as famous as its fellow mon series, the anime managed to at least gain a cult following. Many even regard it as a hidden gem among anime for its focus on character development and well done story pacing.

Has a Character Sheet here.

"Tiger: "We don't need his help. I can handle all the fighting by myself." Suezo: "One blizzard, hold the ice.""
 * The Abridged Series: Right here.
 * Achilles in His Tent: In "Underground Adventure", Hare convinces the others it'd be faster to go through a cave than cross over the mountains. When they get lost, Tiger accuses him of intentionally leading them astray, and Hare promptly quits and storms off. The others get ambushed by Joker, and are saved when he returns. (However, Hare almost leaves again after finding the group, mistaking their reactions to the illusion as them having a great time without him, and only realizes the truth upon seeing Joker.)
 * Action Girl: Holly somewhat. She actually participates in a few battles in the series though most of the time hangs back and lets the others fight. Also.
 * Advanced Ancient Acropolis: The gang finds one kept orderly by Hengers and a Techno-Dragon.
 * Adventurer Archaeologist: Colt.
 * All Just a Dream: Subverted, as Genki thinks this at the beginning of the eighth episode, but it turns out that it being a dream was itself a dream.
 * Aloof Big Brother: Tiger played at being one of these with Grey Wolf in a misguided attempt to get him to toughen up. Instead Grey Wolf become resentful.
 * Amusement Park of Doom: Heroic example; the Searchers use an amusement park to their advantage against the baddies.
 * Anyone Can Die
 * Apocalypse How: Class 1, perhaps 2. Humanity once had an extremely advanced civilization . The monsters were first household pets, then anything that would make life easier, then warriors to fight what became known as the Last War which lasted centuries. Cue the war going too far,   Enough humans were left to rebuild civilization, but far less advanced than it had been before.
 * The Atoner: Allan.
 * Back for the Finale: Pixie, Big Blue, Monol, and the Pirate Dragons return for the final battle. Many other named characters are present fighting Moo elsewhere.
 * Badass Abnormal: Genki
 * Badass Normal: Averted. While Genki may seem to be Badass Normal he is far closer to Badass Abnormal and is often seen focusing energy in order to attack, as well as transferring it to others and putting it into his attacks. Later on it is shown he and, in the last two episodes.
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Golem is normally the kind and quiet Gentle Giant, but piss him off and he will punch you so hard it kills even some of the toughest monsters in one blow.
 * Big Dam Plot: Used in "The Courageous Seven".
 * Big Friendly Dog: Baku in episode 39. Justified, considering that Genki looks like his former owner.
 * Big No: Holly upon learning the truth about her father.
 * Bindle Stick: Hare carries one; its contents weren't revealed until his Backstory finally came out late in the third season.
 * Bittersweet Ending: The third season was a Post Script Season, so if one goes on just by the originally planned second season finale, then this show's ending is even more bittersweet than that of Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann.
 * To elaborate:.
 * After all of that, the third season's quick Status Quo Is God followed by a Tournament Arc left those who actually got to see it... underwhelmed.
 * Bland-Name Product: Mecto?
 * Body Double: Attempted during "Magic Stone Mayhem" with.
 * Bodyguard Crush: Heavily implied with Big Blue towards Pixie.
 * Bowdlerise: Several things were edited out of the dub; for instance, Hare defeating Tiger of the Wind using Fartillery was removed, and the fact he bought the others drinks along with dinner was left out (along with a drunk Tiger getting very buddy-buddy with Hare).
 * Blood was edited out, along with moments deemed 'too violent'.
 * During Captain Horn's introduction, he tries to kiss Holly. Holly blocks with Suezo, causing an accidental lip lock and Love Bubbles. Again, this didn't make it into the dub.
 * When Joker snares most of the heroes in illusions, Suezo's hallucination is never shown (he sees a bunch of female monsters). His reaction to the illusion breaking was also poorly edited.
 * The second season was a bit better about this, letting Tiger bodyslam Lilim, for instance.
 * For all the editing the dub did, it kept much of the Darker and Edgier stuff in, such as.
 * Moo chopping off Pixie's wings was edited out, along with any onscreen instance of him shocking her.
 * In the third season, a shot of Poison's lower back is edited out.
 * Breather Episode: "Holly's Happy Birthday" was entirely about the gang celebrating Holly's fifteenth birthday, without any battles. It was also very heartwarming.
 * Brought Down to Normal: Mocchi and Tiger end up losing most of their powers in the third season due to being turned into Mystery Disks. Thus have to relearn most of them. Tiger gets particularly frustrated about this, having taken so much pride in his fighting ability before -- and Suezo and Hare's teasing doesn't help.

"Pixie: Disappear. *turns Captain Clay into a Lost Disc*"
 * Butt Monkey: Suezo.
 * Cain and Abel: Tiger and Gray Wolf.
 * Canon Immigrant: Several ideas from this show were adapted into later games, such as the Phoenix being highly important, and Moo being a Big Bad.
 * Can't Catch Up: Suezo struggled with this; even Mocchi was able to quickly surpass him. This was mainly due to Suezo having serious difficulty with the mental powers his species tends to be better known for. Even after his Day in The Limelight episode where he managed to learn Teleport, he still couldn't catch up and had his skills mostly Played for Laughs.
 * Cessation of Existence: Becoming a Lost Disc and Monsters fusing together are portrayed as this.
 * Chekhov's Skill: Mocchi's Cherry Blossom Blizzard failed to hit Pixie in episode 10 when she countered with a flame shield. When he tried the attack in episode 11 and it succeeded, it was so powerful it knocked her into some ruins.
 * Cherry Blossoms: Mocchi's signature attack is the Cherry Blossom Blizzard, and they become a symbol of the young monster.
 * The Chessmaster: Lilim and Durahan.
 * The Chew Toy: Not one episode goes by in which Suezo isn't harmed in some way in a humorous manner (typically after being thrown into the air and somehow forgotten).
 * Combat Pragmatist: Grey Wolf. In his fight with Tiger, he decided they'd use their claws to break the tie. Tiger agreed, but Grey Wolf then whipped his eyes with his tail, blinding him.
 * Continuity Cameo: Colt, the assistant from 2, appears as an explorer in one episode.
 * Cross Counter: Done between Mocchi and Most to end their fight in season 3. As Most was a more experienced fighter he kept standing, while Mocchi went down.
 * Dark Magical Girl: Pixie.
 * Darker and Edgier: The first and second seasons were more serious than the third.
 * Death Is Cheap: Monsters never die; they are simply turned into "Lost Disks" for the Phoenix to revive later as good guys.
 * Somewhat subverted as disks can be destroyed or erode over time. This was actually addressed in Golem's introduction episode.
 * Though that wasn't made clear to the end. As cheap a death as it is, business was serious during the first two seasons. This is because they weren't sure if the Phoenix truly existed, and if it did that they could even find it.
 * To say nothing of the implied human deaths, such as those in
 * Defeat Means Friendship: A very frequent theme.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen: Pixie.
 * Deus Exit Machina: A few episodes see one or two of the Searchers get separated from the others; this happens to Genki the most often.
 * Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: The end of episode 46 has the Searchers trying this to keep Moo from finding the Phoenix.
 * Damsel in Distress: Holly for two episodes. It's played very well, though.
 * Doomed Hometown: Holly's, which prompts her search for the Phoenix.
 * Earn Your Happy Ending: Even if it's bittersweet, the Searchers had to earn it.
 * Emergency Transformation: Near the end of the second season,.
 * Establishing Series Moment: In episode 1, Genki has just met Mocchi when the latter is threatened by the Black Dino Squad. What's Genki do when their leader threatens to make the young monster a slave? Kick the Black Dino in the face.
 * Expository Theme Tune: The English dub. "Monsters rule!"
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: The Seed Sisters care for each other, at least.
 * Evil Counterpart: Big Blue to Golem, Gray Wolf to Tiger, and the Evil Hares to Hare..
 * Eviler Than Thou: Lilim to Captain Weed, prompting a Villainous Rescue as Lilim goes to kill the heroes.
 * Expy: Muu/Moo for Godzilla. 100ft tall dragon thing, and even keeps that "metaphor for the nuclear bomb" thing.
 * Eye Scream: In his fight with Tiger, Grey Wolf whips his eyes with his tail, blinding him. In the uncut version there's blood.
 * Faking the Dead: Played for Drama in "Tiger Meets His Match", when the Searchers see what they think is 's Lost Disk. It turns out to be.
 * Fartillery: Hare's Gas attack, which is much more potent than in the game, knocking out an entire stadium of people.
 * Fastball Special: Golem frequently threw Suezo into the air so he could get a better view of their surroundings, but didn't always catch him on the way down. The more traditional version also appeared a few times.
 * Follow the Leader: The US dub of Monster Rancher began with a rap song, purely of American invention. It probably would never had been added if not for the incredible catchiness of the "Pokérap" at the end of Pokémon.
 * Foreshadowing: Throughout the first two seasons, it's heavily implied that  -- and Holly comes to the same conclusion during the penultimate episode "Tears".
 * It is played straight in the sense that.
 * Freeze Frame: Used during several battles. The Pastel Chalked version also ends a few episodes.
 * Genki Girl: Poison in the third season has traits of this. She gets angry a lot more easily than Pixie and Lilim.
 * Gentle Giant: Golem.
 * Glass Cannon: Tiger, like in the games--very powerful, but taken out fairly quickly.
 * Good Old Fisticuffs: Hare's fighting style.
 * Hair-Raising Hare: The Evil Hares.
 * Heel Face Turn: and in the post script season.
 * Tiger and Hare could both qualify, seeing as both had been thieves or con-artists.
 * Heroic BSOD: Golem has one during his introduction in "Guardian of the Disks" after going berserk on the Jells.
 * Hare has one during "Tiger Meets His Match" when confronted with . Unstoppable Rage follows.
 * Heroic Sacrifice: Near the end of the second season, . This was immediately followed up by the season finale with.
 * Hey, It's That Voice!: Double D apparently took a page out of Eddy's handbook. Oh, and he's a Killer Rabbit.
 * Scott McNeil voices a good amount of the characters; notably Suezo, Grey Wolf, and Naga.
 * Hey, what does the scouter say about Tiger's power level?
 * Also, why can't Holly just walk through enemies?
 * Golem Maximize!
 * Pixie is Noin.
 * Genkei just got scarier once you realize he's Dilandau.
 * Mochi is Kagura and an older generation Pinkie Pie.
 * History Repeats: The Phoenix and Moo are destined to eternal battle. Moo realizes this and.
 * Hit Flash: Used a couple times, moreso in the dub.
 * Human Ladder: In one episode, the group piles up so Suezo can get a better view of the area.
 * Humanity Is Infectious: One Henger grew to think for himself outside of his programming, and was cast out of his city for it. In the end he decides to stay behind and help his fellow robots understand free will and compassion.
 * I Fight for the Strongest Side:  excuse for betraying Durahan.
 * If I Do Not Return: Genki tasks Mocchi with finding the Phoenix if he doesn't make it back in "Pixie's Defeat".
 * If You Kill Him You Will Be Just Like Him: The reason Holly tries to save Naga. He ends up letting go of the edge on purpose.
 * Implacable Mon: Some of the baddies who went after the Searchers were these.
 * Moo himself was one.
 * Insistent Terminology: The villains are always referred to as "Baddies", and the heroic characters are called "Goodies" to match this.
 * Just a Kid: Genki and Mocchi both have to deal with this reaction, but prove themselves over time, Genki by fighting right alongside the others and Mocchi by learning new attacks and showing how he can hold his own.
 * Keep Circulating the Tapes: Only the first season has been released on VHS, and all the DVDs are out of print.
 * Keet: Genki.
 * Kill It with Fire: Undine accidentally burns herself to death.
 * Killed Off for Real: . Even in the third season, she never reappeared.
 * Kiss of Death: A rarely-seen move of Suezo's; it was cut from the dub except for one instance where it missed.
 * Knight of Cerebus: General Durahan's arrival signaled the end of lighthearted episodes. He's also a literal knight.
 * Large Ham: Durahan.
 * Let's Get Dangerous: Hare's Pride often led to him making plans while arrogantly certain they would work, only to watch them fail dramatically and being forced to improvise. On the whole, he was much, much better at improvising.
 * Lighter and Softer: The third season comes off as this with the quick reunion of the Searchers and focus shifting to the Tournament Arc, the fact that neither goodies nor baddies die, and Durahan's Villain Decay. Perhaps Lampshaded with the heroes' confidence, as it's outright stated several times that they think  if things get out of control.
 * Load-Bearing Boss: Gali.
 * Lost in Translation: Like the games, 'Muu' in Japanese means emptiness or darkness. In English we got 'Moo', like the sound a cow makes.
 * Mocchi's name is a pun on a Japanese snack food, mochi, with no real equivalent in English. Genki's inspired for the name in the anime by the food his mom gives him. In the dub, they were called 'sweet cakes', with Genki naming Mocchi 'Mocchi' anyway.
 * Luke, I Am Your Father: Holly's father turns out to be
 * Made a Slave: Pixie does this to those who cross her.
 * Meaningful Name: Genki means energy, and he has lots of it!
 * The Mole: In the episode "Undine's Lake," Golem befriends a beautiful water nymph named Undine, who offers the gang fresh fish and shelter. Later on, it turns out she's working for the main villains and she tries to kill Genki and co. Luckily she undergoes a Heel Face Turn, though Redemption Equals Death,
 * Mons: Along with Pokémon and Digimon, it was one of the first shows in the genre to be imported to the US.
 * Monster of the Week
 * Mood Whiplash: "Tiger Meets His Match": after a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, Tiger abruptly shrugs off Mocchi's hug and reveals why he was being so nice and cooperative earlier: . The others are less than pleased.
 * Mr. Vice Guy: Hare.
 * Tiger, too, with his pride and anger.
 * Ms. Fanservice: All of the various Pixies.
 * Never Say "Die": Justified as Monsters turn into Lost Discs, though the result is the same as death in Seasons 1 and 2. Sometimes it's used to creepy effect, though:


 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: The third season has the gang participating in a tournament and Mocchi is up against a Suezo named Poritoka. Mocchi brutally gets his butt handed to him for a significant portion of the fight and can barely maintain consciousness after it's over.
 * No, Mr. Bond, I Expect You to Dine: Gali feeds the heroes food and water. The meal isn't rigged, but he uses the distraction to sucker-punch them.
 * No Sell: Moo was resistant to pretty much everything.
 * Not So Different: Tiger of the Wind and Hare started off as a thief/con artist respectfully, and both were very Prideful and stubborn, resulting in their constantly butting heads and arguing.
 * Obfuscating Stupidity: This is partially what allows Hare to get the drop on Tiger in episode 6.
 * Off-Model: Episode 10, particularly involving Pixie.
 * Ominous Floating Castle: Moo's. it's also used as a means of transport.
 * The Other Darrin: Golem's voice actor changed midway through season 2.
 * People Jars:.
 * Perky Female Minion: Poison, in stark contrast to the more serious Pixie and Lilim.
 * Phosphor Essence: Monsters and Genki glow when they are charged with power.
 * Pirates: Captain Horn and his crew.
 * Plot Coupon That Does Something: The Magic Stone may be an Ur Example; it finds Mystery Discs, points the way to the Phoenix and Moo's body, and.
 * Pokémon-Speak: Averted; Mocchi does repeat his own name and variations thereof frequently, but it's more of a very heavy Verbal Tic.
 * Post Script Season: The third season was produced after it was Uncanceled. And after the shock of the second season's ending, the third season was... a jarring shift, to say the least.
 * Power Glows: Even villains can get this.
 * The Power of Friendship: The characters' courage, along with friendship, can be used to make themselves stronger. In the last episode of the second season, Genki summoned the courage of every heroic character on the planet to use in a Combined Energy Attack.
 * The Power of Hate: When Moo goaded the heroes into hating him to make him stronger, the power of their hatred drove him insane.
 * Pragmatic Villainy: Moo captured Holly to use the Magic Stone to locate his original body, figuring he could destroy the heroes with it. They rescued her, but by that time he had gotten what he needed to know. Rather than let them find out where he was going or try and stop him in his humanoid form, he simply left them behind so they had no idea where he was.
 * Proud Warrior Race Guy: The three Centaur Warriors.
 * Pupils Of Mine Until They Turned To Evil: The Tainted Cat brothers of "Battle in the Meadow" used to be Kato's apprentices.
 * Quirky Miniboss Squad: The Big Bad Four.
 * Redemption Demotion: Averted.  is just as strong-if not stronger-good than when she was evil.
 * Redemption Equals Death: Happened to Undine.
 * Ridiculously Cute Critter: Mocchi. And Mum Mew, at least when she's not angry.
 * River of Insanity: The Searchers attempt riding a raft across one in "Suezo's Secret Weapon". Guess what happens.
 * Rollerblade Good: Though he been shown to fight without them, Genki is a very good rumbler once he gets his rollerblades on.
 * Sacrificial Lamb: Allan's Worm was the first friendly character to die.
 * Scars Are Forever: Tiger of the Wind has a distinctive scar across his face, which he retained.
 * Schizo-Tech: The 'ancient' ruins' technology is a lot more advanced than in the present day..
 * Screwed by the Network: The first season was rerun into the ground, and the second season was only aired in full once, with two episodes swiftly being removed from rotation afterward: "Tiger's Battle with Destiny" and "Battle with the Big Bad Four": the final confrontations with Gray Wolf and Naga. The third season never aired in the US.
 * Shown Their Work: Across three seasons, every species of monster from both games was seen aside from the Doodle and living Disk.
 * Similar Squad: Holly's village had a Suezo, a Tiger, and a Hare, though of different breeds.
 * Smug Snake: Lilim is certainly clever, but as soon as her plans start to unravel...
 * Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Subverted early on when the group's first major enemies were Pixie (strongest of the Big Bad Four) and Moo himself. Pixie got convinced into a Heel Face Turn, Moo just ripped them apart and left until the finale.
 * It's never explicitly stated who the strongest of the Big Bad Four is. The American version of Monster Rancher censored out a lot of the more violent and action-packed scenes. This had the side effect of making Pixie look much more powerful as the group nearly lost to her, pulling off a win at the last second with a single cherry blossom blizzard by Mocchi. In the uncensored version, the gang won a much more decisive victory with Genki head-butting Pixie to knock the wind out of her, Mocchi unleashing his special attack to knock Pixie into the ruins, and Tiger finally body-slamming into her to end the fight. Nonetheless, the sorting algorithm is still subverted because by Season 3, the heroes fight against Durahan, who's far less powerful than Moo.
 * It could be played straight as far as the Big Bad Four goes, since the heroes didn't have their most powerful attacks when fighting Pixie and were only able to knock her out. For the fight with Gali, Mocchi learned the Mocchi Cannon and outright destroyed him. he didn't get a chance to use it on Grey Wolf, but that battle was personal and harder than if they'd all attacked him. For Naga, Suezo's Teleport and the Mocchi Cannon were used, but it didn't kill him. The Mocchi Cannon didn't kill Durahan, either.
 * Squishy Wizard: Pixie, moreso in the dub where it took only one hit to bring her down after she'd been zapping everyone for a good portion of the fight.
 * The Starscream: Durahan to Moo,.
 * Stern Chase: Seen in "Melcarba", with the titular monster tirelessly pursuing the heroes.
 * Super Soldier:.
 * Tail Slap: Suezo's primary attack. Grey Wolf also used this, whipping Tiger in the eyes.
 * Take My Hand: Holly to Naga. It didn't work.
 * Taking the Bullet: Holly pushed Tiger out of the way of a Black Worm's poison dart, but was poisoned herself.
 * Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: The Seed Sisters wear lipstick to differentiate themselves from other Weeds.
 * Tomato in the Mirror:
 * Took a Level In Badass: Mocchi, Suezo, and Holly.
 * This Is Your Brain on Evil: Moo feeds on hatred. Too much drives him insane.
 * Grey Wolf's hatred and resentment sort of did, too...
 * Too Clever by Half: Hare.
 * Tournament Arc: The third season.
 * True Companions: The Searchers.
 * Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty: Grey Wolf doesn't care if he does this as long as he wins.
 * Verbal Tic: Mocchi, who ended almost all of his sentences with "-chi".
 * Villain Forgot to Level Grind: Happened with End Bringer, who curbstomped the heroes in the first battle with them and literally lost the second time due to their increasing courage levels.
 * Villain World: For much of the first two series.
 * Villainous Rescue: Pulled off in "Magic Stone Mayhem":.
 * Vitriolic Best Buds: Hare constantly goads and teases Tiger, while Tiger is disdainful and quick to insult Hare's intelligence. Yet when it comes to the clutch, they can pull off a pretty awesome Back-to-Back Badasses.
 * Illustrated best by the second season episode "Tiger Meets His Match", where Hare lapses into a brief Heroic BSOD when he thinks Tiger, followed by an Unstoppable Rage.
 * Vocal Evolution: Genki's voice deepened in the second season, going along with his emotional maturity.
 * It got even deeper in the third season, (as Genki in the dub was played by an actual child actor who went through puberty between the second and third seasons), almost to the point where it doesn't suit his childish appearance anymore.
 * The Voiceless: Alan's Worm and Baku.
 * War Is Hell: Lots of monsters, and a few humans, good and bad, die in this show (with the humans this is mostly off-screen). With friendly characters it tends to affect everyone, even Genki, greatly.
 * Weakened by the Light: Moo is this at first, due to his body being imperfect. During the final episodes when he regains his strength, he flies out of the clouds and into the sunlight, unharmed.
 * What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway?: Quite a few here and there.
 * Whole-Episode Flashback: The early episode 'After the Rain' fleshes out Holly and Suezo's Backstory.
 * Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Golem hates water.
 * Justified since he's made of rocks and will sink like a stone in any large body of water. He also fears the potential erosion.
 * Year Inside, Hour Outside: Genki was inside the Monster Rancher world for about a year, but only three hours had passed in his world.