Monster Rancher

Was this show ever the black sheep. The third to what I like to call the "Monster Wars" Monster Rancher was a very underappreciated anime that either went unlooked as it was syndicated at the time or Fox Kids just wouldn't give it the time of day due to its Digimon hype.

Th story is pretty simple. Taking the basis from Captain N (another video game inspired/marketng show) Hyperactive Genki recevies a beta game he won from a video game tournament. But upon trying it out, he is literly sucked into it and finds there a real world inside. And its in danger thanks to a evil monster name (wait for it) Moo. The only hope being a young girl (Holly) and her childhood monster Suazo as they quest to find the Phiniox, the only monster who can stop him. Genki joins them ,of course, and along the way they run into other monsters they come across that join their cause.

The animation is pretty standard anime and nothing to write home about. But the storyline more then makes up for it. The one thing I loved about this show was it energy (which ironicly enough was what Genki's name stood for) and the fact that everything was straight forward and more over character driven rather then rely on too much on a gimmick. The battles this motly grew of rebels get into are very fun to watch and you really can't help but root for their uphill fight to overthrow Moo and his evil army.

I'll admit it stumbles in it second season (plus the ending was kinda lame) but it had a good run none the less. It just a shame we didn't get to see it's third season due to lack of intrest and it being taking off the U.S airwaves for good. But in my eyes, this is one of he best anime I've had the pleasure of viewing. Those who been on their Pokemon and Digimon high horses while this was in run and didn't know of its presence. Check it out on one of the few video or dvd out there and see what you've been missing. As the song goes "Monsters Rule!"