By Jason Nimer
If you are into the TCG scene (trading card game, for those who don't know),
you've probably run across the Duel Masters franchise. The game has been around
for quite some time, though it has never attained the success enjoyed by other
TGCs, such as Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh or even Magic: The Gathering. A new animated
series based on the Duel Masters game, called Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters,
looks to change all that when it premieres June 2 on The Hub cable network. The
Gamer's Temple got a chance to check out the first episode this weekend, and
despite a single obvious misstep it stands a chance of gaining a wide audience,
further bolstering the long running TCG.
The first episode of Kaijudo bears a striking resemblance to every single
other cartoon based on a card game or video game series. Seriously. Swap out
Pokemon, it's the same show. Swap out Yu-Gi-Oh, Dinosaur King, Beyblade, Bakugan,
any of them, and it's the same show. This one follows Ray, Allie and Gabe, a
trio that can interact with monsters great and small from another dimension. The
three teens (tweens?) utilize these creatures in fighting off generic evil power
#2,754, and the series begins. Like I said, the setup is identical to all other
shows of this type. The forefathers of this genre must have been on to
something, though, as the generic setup works as well here as it has in past
programs.
My main criticism with Kaijudo is the animation style. Remember those shows
Code Lyoko or Winx? Kaijudo's animation shares the same issue: It's a
non-Japanese copy of what foreign companies think anime is supposed to look
like. Most viewers won't pick up on this, but it can be extremely annoying to
anyone with any kind of background in actual anime. Thankfully, this practice
isn't as widespread as, say, the Cartoon Network "look." You know the one;
square jaws, slender bodies, etc. Every program on that channel has begun to
look the same. Kaijudo benefits from Winx or Code Lyoko being just a memory to
most, so the cheap, odd-looking animation style won't bother anyone, myself and
a few others excluded.
Kaijudo: The Rise of the Duel Masters has promise. The Duel Masters TCG has
been around forever and still has tons of fans, and adapting the game into a
fairly decent show can only serve to raise the franchise's standing. As The Hub
takes off as a channel, mostly because of the excellent new G.I. Joe: Renegades
and to a lesser extent, the new Transformers series, it will be interesting to
see if this show will draw a comparable audience. It may come off to some as a
half-anime that is a paint-by-numbers similar to lots of other shows, but
viewers can do a lot worse than Kaijudo.
Final Rating:
Check out our interview with Phil LaMarr and David Sobolov here.
