 | | ▪ | RELEASED BY: | | VIZ MEDIA | | | ▪ | AUTHOR / ART: | | MAKOTO RAIKU | | | ▪ | FORMAT: | | JAPANESE / B&W | | | ▪ | PAGES: | | 200 | | | ▪ | RATING: | | T | | | ▪ | RELEASE DATE: | | 04/08/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEW DATE: | | 07/25/2008 | | | ▪ | REVIEWED BY: | | SCOTT CAMPBELL |
For his 14th birthday, Kiyo received a strange little boy named Zatch Bell as a bizarre gift from his father. Kiyo soon discovers that there’s more to Zatch than his dad ever realized – Zatch is a mamodo child with magical powers that are unleashed by reading spells from a mysterious red book. To top it all off, there are 99 other kids out there just like Zatch, who must fight one another to become the king of the mamodo world. Kiyo goes along for the ride with his new found friend in hopes of achieving this ultimate victory. In volume eighteen, Kiyo just can't seem to shake the sneaking suspicion that he's being watched...because he is! Enter Koral Q, a robotic rival for the throne who claims to know all about Zatch's spells and their effects. Will Koral Q's reservoir of data on the mamodo world prove to be Zatch and Kiyo's undoing? With a little team work and some spunk, Kiyo and Zatch hope to come out on top yet again! Zatch Bell comes across as being made for only a younger audience at first glance because of its similarities to other manga like Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh; but just like these manga, Zatch Bell has the potential to be fun for people of all ages. The most important factor of what makes this possible is that Zatch Bell calls upon a wide variety of genres and compiles them into one story. This manga is funny, serious, has story depth, can be totally off the wall, and has a huge span of characters to keep it new and interesting as you read from chapter to chapter. Being so wide in its repertoire of things to offer, surely more people will be able to find something about Zatch Bell that they like! The amount of characters and the little quirks they all seem to have will keep the reader involved because having that many characters to follow gives a lot to think about. The relationships between characters, especially the people and their mamodos, are very funny, if not also heartfelt. A mamodo and his/her person is much like the relationship between a coach and his/her trainer. They both want to succeed and each do their part to make sure they have a chance at winning. There are some good lessons in there about friendship, teamwork, and working together for a common goal while still having fun. Not that everything is unicorns and rainbows the whole time through for our cast, but they usually turn out pretty okay by the end of any engagement! The art is really very interesting and unique. The characters, both human and otherwise, have a very stylized aappearance completely different from what most people will have seen when reading a Japanese manga. While the big eyes and cool hair is all there, the faces often are almost perfectly round, and a larger than usual amount of curved shapes are used throughout. The facial expressions and action poses/portions are both hilarious and often jump right off the page. The artist obviously has a real eye for dynamics and intensity, as he gives these little mamodos quite an explosive array of movements and general craziness. Yes, the action, explosions, magical beams of this and that, and so forth are all very much there and kicking – Zatch Bell is sure to keep even the most rambunctious mind interested and attentive. On a more tangible level, the text is easy to read being an appropriate size and the dialogue flows along nicely in its energetic little way.
IN SUMMARY:
Zatch Bell is an entertaining array of action, story, and innovative characters. It fits into a genre much like that of Pokemon or Yu-Gi-Oh, so fans of those series should certainly check out Zatch Bell!
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