Audience reviews
11 · Sample from the first available page, separate from the total number of ratings.
spacenewtype
Sitting in between the likes of Digimon and Pokemon, Monster Farm/Rancher has always been the a member of the after school monster trilogy.
It's really an okay show - the premise is pretty familiar, the characters don't really change too much over the course, and there are probably more episodes than were needed. I wish more care had been devoted to expanding the story more naturally - instead you usually get an info dump episode every once in a while, and the ending was pretty ham-fisted and convenient.
I'd love to have had it a little more like Digimon where the characters had personal problems and fears to work though over the course of the show, but the ones with the most baggage - Holly, Rygar, & Pixie never get to really explore it and grow. I also wish more attention was given to…
Read at the sourceBrotherMeSoftly
The term “Pokemon clone” gets thrown around a lot with late 90s and early 00s anime. Digimon has perhaps the most defense against that claim, with plenty diehard fans campaigning for it not only being so different than Pokemon it has an identity entirely of its own but it’s even better than it. Monster Rancher however seemingly receives the most criticism for being a “clone” of Pokemon.
Virtual pets were a big phenomenon of the 90s like Tamagotchi, you can even tack on stuffed animals like Furrbies and Beanie Babies, and Pokemon was merely a subject of this growing trend. Other shows and video games arrived quickly thereafter like Digimon and Monster Rancher but unfortunately were both, among others, were met with children comparing them to Pokemon and its similarities, not so much their…
Read at the sourceggultra2764
Before I go further in this review, I do want to give a heads up that my thoughts of Monster Rancher (Monster Farm) cover both TV anime within the series. This being said, on with the review.
Monster Rancher largely exists to promote the video game series that it's based on and is pretty by-the-numbers as far as plotting and characters go. It actually consists of two separate TV anime that were aired for it in Japan and aired in America in an edited format to appeal to younger audiences with Western sensitivities. While largely having the same cast of characters between both seasons, both seasons are quite different in mood and premise with grade-schooler Genki Sakura whisked into the video game of the series to aid teenage Holly and several other monsters with stopping evil monster threa…
Read at the sourceVehemor
I saw some loose episodes maybe 15 years ago on TV and then forgot about it, then, sudenly a few weeks ago someone reminded me of it and decided to give it a go.
Monster Farm: Enbanseki no Himitsu was not what I remembered. I remember enjoying it, sitting willing to watch it, but seeing it a few years later made me change my mind.
Story: 5/10
It's bland. It's too cute. Tries to be deep at times but fails misserably. There are some good moments, there are a bunch of unexplored and itneresting events (War of the Ancients). But when everything comes together, it's no more than a mediocre story.
Art: 4/10
Decent at last. Some monsters are quite interesting. But landscapes, humans are mediocre. There's nothing remotely special or memorable.
Sound: 2/10
Oh-my-god. I have seen quite a few an…
Read at the sourcemiddleground4471
Monster Rancher is the story of a boy named Genki who gets pulled into a magical world where monsters are real and now he must help a girl named Holly save this world from an evil monster named Moo by resurrecting a legendary monster called the Phoenix. Sounds a lot like some other fantasy adventure anime I've seen; heroes must go on a quest to find the thing to beat the bad guy with so they can save the world.
Story 6/10
Monster Rancher is a monster-of-the-week kind of show where each episode Genki and the others must fight a different monster Moo has sent to destroy them with (since Moo himself is obviously too busy to fight them personally).
This brings up my biggest complaint with this anime is that it's a shounen anime (even though that isn't listed as one of its' genres) which me…
Read at the sourceAnim3Punk
A Review of Monster Farm (Seasons 1 & 2)
Story (6.5/10): The story is not that original and has been done in other TV shows (like Digimon). The story follows Genki Sakura, who is a very good player of the Monster Rancher video game. He wins the game's tournament, wins a CD, uses the CD, and is then transported into Monster Rancher video game. Afterwards he finds companions (both monsters and human) to help him on his journey to get a more powerful monster to overthrow a tyrant named Moo. Expect filler episodes. The story is unique in terms of the different monsters and scary moments but that's about it. The plot twists that makes shows good are lacking in this one since they only last a few episodes. Overall, the story is pretty generic.
Characters (6/10): In terms of character design, t…
Read at the sourceMrPenguinRox
This review will be for the entire Monster Rancher, or as it is more commonly known as Monster Farm, series. This means that I will be covering the entirety of the series including Episodes 49 through 72. That being said I will digress and actually begin my review of a show that opened my eyes to what anime was (minus Digimon, Pokemon, Medabots, etc.) in my little impressionable mind.
As I sat watching Pokemon for the quadrillionth time on a Saturday eating a bowl of cereal, my eyes fixated on a commercial for what appeared to be a game where you could obtain monsters from CDs slated in your Playstation home console! I rushed to the store to pick up the game, which at that age was "Mommy can I buy this?" when we went out shopping. I looked at the instruction manual and saw that a Televisi…
Read at the sourceHybridMedia
(covers both seasons)
Monster Rancher……Yes, I know the Japanese version of that is Monster Farm but today we are doing the English version that aired on the now-defunct (and fortunately) Fox Kids. Now it is based on a series of life simulation RPG videogames created by Tecmo (the company that brought you Ninja Gaiden & Dead or Alive) having over 14 games across different videogame platforms.
In the anime adaptation, it revolves around Genki, a 12-year-old middle school boy who really loves to play videogames and one day, he discover the Monster Rancher game and as he plays it, he is zapped into their universe where he meets the rest of the team: Holly, a 14-year-old girl on the quest along with their monster team, Mochi, Suezo, Golem, Tiger and Hare (No, I’m not calling them Tiger and B…
Read at the sourceangelsreview
This is so a rip off of Digimon! I remember when I was younger, I liked it but seriously… now that I have watched so many anime shows and found out just how badly ripped off the other shows are, I feel a little like crying. Now please don’t take this the wrong way, it is a good show to a point but it takes so long to get to where it’s getting good that most people would probably conk out of it. It’s good for what it is, a children’s show, nothing more and nothing less.
We start out with the main character, Genki who is pretty much Ash Ketchum in school. He is overactive, over annoying, and most of all, over stereotypical of these types of shows. He gets sucked into the video game (like Digimon) and has to help collect monster discs (like Pokemon) to unlock the power that is inside (like…
Read at the sourceLegionIscariot
It’s the story of a boy who was transported (through his video game) to a faraway land to a world where monsters rule.
He played the game like an ace, now he’s in this place to save the monsters from the evil Moo.
A pendant shows the way to a “Mystery Disk”. They’ll take it to the Shrine.
But will it be that fabled Mystery Disk and release the Phoenix inside?
So it’s the typical story of boy meets girl. They go on an adventure to collect something (Pokémon, Inuyasha, Dragon ball,…).
They meet up with friends (monsters). The objective is to unlock “Mystery Disks” that contain deceased monsters. The goal is to find the Phoenix which is the only one who can defeat Moo. Moo is not a cow btw, or at least I don’t think he’s a cow…
A pretty fun anime, with a rocking opening theme song.
Read at the sourceLil34
I just finished watching all of Monster Rancher. I will have to treat eps 1-48 as "season 1" and 49-73 as "season 2." This review I will break down into two parts, the scores you see above is overall scores for both seasons.
Season 1
The story was awesome. It was filled with characters that were fleshed out nicely, the overall plot was great with bits of light comedy and dark/tragic moments. The sound and art were pretty decent but nothing too much to shout about. It left me felling pretty good about the whole show.
So for the scores I'd give it: 8, 6, 6, 8, 7, 7
Season 2
This season was a let down. They changed the story from having an epic adventure to battling in Monster Rancher tournaments. One can understand the need for the battling but it sucks compared to the first 48 episodes.…
Read at the source