Monsuno premieres this Saturday on YTV
Remember Monsuno, the US-Japan co-production that I highlighted a few years ago as a way to bring anime back to North American television? Well, a few months after its February 2012 Nicktoons US premiere (which led me to expect the show would either be picked up by Teletoon, or Nick Canada, not YTV) the show is now heading up North, according to YTV.com’s schedule that is. The series is set to premiere Saturday May 5 at 1:30PM EST in the block of programming I’ve unofficially dubbed the “Super Anime Lineup” featuring the likes of Beyblade Metal Masters, Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds, and Power Rangers Super Samurai.
Like I mentioned before, Monsuno is a co-production by the U.S. toy company Jakk’s Pacific and the Japanese Dentsu ad agency. The first episode, “Clash” sees Chase Suno (yes, that is the main character’s name) find Locke, his first Monsuno monster, as him and his friends look for the missing Professor Suno while being chased the military S.T.O.R.M. group. The show’s actually pretty good for a blatant cash grab, but it’s unfortunately harmed by some poor voice acting from a good Los Angeles cast. I’m going to attribute the show’s good qualities to Man of Action, who were integral to the show’s initial production.
The gimmick for the series are these spinning cores that launch miniature monsters when they clash. Probably the most puzzling thing is that the most advanced form of gameplay for the series actually tosses out the gimmick, and only uses trading cards. One has to wonder what purpose the spinning cores really have to the game if they can be tossed aside? Well, like I said – blatant cash grab.
The most bizarre thing about Monsuno is actually its opening theme. It was performed by The Far East Movement, yes that Far East Movement, and the song isn’t exactly what one would expect from a kids anime series:
I suppose the best thing about Monsuno airing in Canada is that it opens the door to other series. Dentsu Entertainment (the Dentsu division handling Monsuno) also will be handling Little Battlers eXperience outside of Japan, and previously handled the Deltora Quest anime. Both of those series have/will be dubbed in Calgary at Blue Water so they’d count for Cancon. That said, I’d expect the door to have already been closed on Deltora Quest, but at least LBX stands a chance to reunite the litte robot battling dreams Medabots once had.
What’s interesting is how YTV is handling Monsuno. The show wasn’t featured in the network’s May highlights for the press, nor their advertiser Hot Sheet. I guess they already know this market well enough to not need to convince new advertisers. Though, it should be mentioned that YTV did use the Anime Master portion of their forum for a new thread announcing the series. Their description of the series is as follows:
The series revolves around re-awakened Monster DNA, called Monsuno, that finds its way into the hands of adventure-seeking teenagers Chase, Jinja, and Bren. Accompanied by their Monsuno, Lock, Charger, and Quickforce, they are searching for Chase’s father Jeredy Suno, the creator of the Monsuno. They are also on the run from an agency called “S.T.O.R.M.” (Strategic Tactical Operatives for Recovery of Monsuno) who’s plans are still in question.
Given this development I have to wonder what the fate of Redakai will be. The series was pulled from YTV ages ago, and while it has received new episode orders I’m not certain YTV will be willing to pick those episodes up given the show was never given an encore slot, nor did the original episode order actually fully air.
Thanks to Mohji for pointing this out!
I Miss Bionix 
AWESOME! at least this is some progress being made for us the anime fan base. SO YTV is finally making an effort to balance out some of the shows. Great all they need now is to pick up Avatar: Legend of Korra and YTV will be heading in the right direction. =)
I’m actually really surprised that Korra hasn’t appeared on Nick Canada or YTV yet.
It’s incredibly depressing how the only anime shows YTV cares about are the kiddie-toy-commercial ones…
Redakai, Monsuno…honestly the two just kind of blend together for me.
I want Naruto!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!