Naruto And One piece were the two biggest anime to take off in the 2000s, and for good reason, but another anime that drew notable attention at the time was the cult series Master! The series premiered near the end of Toonami’s original run, and as the block began to fall away in prominence, it quickly became one of their biggest programs yet. Naruto And One piece.
Master! It doesn’t get a lot when talking about anime from the 2000s, and this growth downplays how good an anime it was. Between the great writing and animation that make an otherwise simplistic premise feel as powerful and engaging as possible, Master! Was one of the best anime running in the 2000s and can be seen as just as good as Naruto And One pieceIf not better. It has fallen well into obscurity over the years, but it’s still an anime that anyone looking for a good Beautiful Anime should check out.
Zatch Bell is the criminally underrated masterpiece you didn’t know you needed
Why You Should Watch Zatch Bell!
A big part of that Master! Can be seen as an underrated masterpiece stems, of course, from its stellar action. Befitting its nature as a story about demons and magic, Every battle in Master! Has an incredible variety of magical abilities for the charactersWith even a definitive nomenclature to add an extra layer of rules to the magic that is rarely directly acknowledged, but still made easy enough to figure out. The action is always equally creative and developed, and because of that, it’s always fun to watch.
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Further emphasizing the great action is the art and animation that often accompanies it. While Master! didn’t always have the best visuals, as usual with many long-running anime from the 2000s, when it was time for the staff to fully put their talents to an episode, Master! Would have a lot of great line work and animation to make the bombastic spells and overall action stand out as much as possible. when Master! Looking good, it was one of the best-looking anime around, and that still hasn’t changed 20 years after the fact.
Zatch Bell’s fresh plot and characters helped it stand out at a time when Shawn was bigger than ever
Master! Has one of the best casts in anime and manga
The biggest selling points of Master!However, were its characters and overall plot. Although the plot of characters fighting each other in a world-spanning conflict for a big prize of some sort is quite normal, thanks to how much the story commits to changing the countries that people travel to and the nationalities of both heroes and villains, Master!The plot is always executed in a way that gets the most out of its somewhat normal premise. These aspects always keep the plot from feeling too boring, and every new development is great to see.
The letters of Master! are also a big part of why the series is so good. In addition to always having great character designs for the humans and demons, Master! Always succeeds in making his characters work in serious and comedic scenariosEspecially with how masterfully both tend to come off in largely serious battles without ever feeling too out of place. The balance of comedy and drama always makes the characters shine, and it perfectly encapsulates what the writing is about Master! is so good.
Master! Has always been great at selling the emotional weight of his story, and sure enough, it’s still great to watch because of it
What sells best Master!s characters is the real heart around their writing. Master!The magic system is based on the strength of the heart and the bond between the humans and demons, and because of this, Master!His characters are always written to be emotional and dynamic characters that add a much stronger emotional core to the story, something that is especially true of the relationship between Zatch and Kiyomaro. Master! has always been great at selling the emotional weight of its story, and sure enough, it’s still great to watch because of it.
Zatch Bell was an incredible show…which makes his untimely end all the more tragic
How Zach Bell came to an end
With its great action, excellent plotting and strong writing that effortlessly balances comedy and heart, Master! Was easily one of the best anime to come out of the 2000s, which makes the way it ended both in English and Japanese all the more tragic. Despite a largely good run in Japan, Master!The anime was canceled in 2006 after three seasonsWhich not only left the final arc untapped, but forced the penultimate Faudo arc to change its story halfway into a far inferior version of the manga.
Things were even worse for English fans of the series. Not only did the anime suddenly stop running on Toonami during season 2 to air exclusively in Canada, but when Shogakukan, Viz Media’s parent company, lost the rights to Master! After series creator Makoto Raiku filed a lawsuit over some lost illustrations, the season 3 dub was canceled after only four episodes. The manga also never finished in English because of the same process, so English fans of Master! Have no legal means to end the seriesMaking it even harder for people to experience such a standout series.
Will Zach master! Ever get the respect it deserves?
Like Zach Bell! Could find a place in modern day
The way Master!The history of the game is unfortunate, but things can still turn around. The latest releases of the manga by Kraken Comics, in addition to the latest sequel series, Master! 2have been major successes in Japan and other parts of the world, with Master! 2 Selling over 900 thousand copies worldwide at the time of writing. The recent success of the US Master! Manga could lead to a new English publisher licensing it for releasesAnd while this is purely hypothetical, it would still be great to see.
It’s also a chance for the anime to come back. Birgdin Board Corp., Makoto Raiku’s publishing company, has opened it up to be licensed by a new studio, meaning Master!s anime Could be rebooted by a new anime studio and gain a foothold in modern anime culture Through streaming and a hopefully more consistent adaptation. Something like that would do wonders to help Master! Get a lot more respect, and in doing so, more people would understand why it’s an anime that stands its ground with Naruto, One pieceAnd many other great 2000s anime.
Sources: CBR, @MangaMoguraRe on X, @BirgdinBoard on X.