Zatch Bell – A battle shonen that gets things right

Hey guys what is up welcome back to my blog I’m so thankful that you guys took the time out of your day to read my blog post. Hope you all are safe and healthy. I was really excited to read this one because I realized that the anime of Zatch Bell was one of the first anime I had ever watched and the nostalgia was immense but don’t worry that doesn’t mean Zatch Bell will be overhyped, it’s a battle shonen plain and simple. MINOR SPOILERS AHEAD.

Kiyomaro Takamine is a genius 14-year-old junior high school student in Japan. One day, Kiyomaro’s distant father Professor Seitaro Takamine discovers an unconscious child named Zatch Bell with a strange book in a forest in England and sends him over to Kiyo in hopes of deciphering the book, written in a language that he cannot understand and determining Zatch’s past which he has no memory of and to cause development in Kiyomaro himself who is brash and arrogant. Kiyomaro discovers that Zatch is a Mamado, a demon and that the book helps Zatch cast lighting spells. Kiyomaro and Zatch encounter other demons over time and learn of the battle to determine King of the Demon World which involves 100 demon children being sent to Earth every 1000 years to team up with human partners. Events cause Zatch to develop the goal of being a King King and Kiyomaro swears to make Zatch the King, embarking on a journey filled with battles and hardships.

Zatch Bell has a cast that is filled with characters, the 100 demons and 100 human partners alone would make 200 characters that are supposed to be there. Of course, we do not see each and every character but we do see a lot of them, and talking about even one of them will ruin the fun of the series because Zatch Bell is a series that manages to deal with its characters and their respective arcs really well though in a short amount of time. Takemine Kiyomaro the genius MC who is rude and brash is not the most likable character at the start of the series however Zatch gives him the development he needs to grow from a loner to a proper man. Zatch Bell is an interesting character because there are similarities in the start between him and Kiyomaro in that they are both lonely however Zatch gains an ideal and a goal to strive towards and seeing him get serious about the battle to determine King as well as retain his playful nature is a delightful journey.

The manga is really funny from the start and manages to retain that humor for the most part of the series, though the humor brought about by a particular character made me deeply uncomfortable (you’ll know when you see it). The manga is a battle shonen that has good action with creative spells used by the demons and makes use of Kiyomaro being a genius to develop good battle tactics that don’t just reply on a battle of wills despite being a shonen. The manga manages to give you some pretty good emotions throughout with every fight and while some people may call it cringey, I would like to call it being a shonen at its core. The manga is also really great with its character designs since we get to see how different races live in the demon world too and each character is given a good design. The lore of the demon world is also decent in my opinion since it serves to increase the scale of the story to immense limits and explain certain things that would otherwise be considered for lack a better word, “too convenient” and in my opinion, could have been utilized better.

The manga isn’t good because of the battles themselves though, the manga is good because at the very center of the demons fighting is also a clash of ideologies, Zatch has the goal to become a king King however there are many other demons who have the desire to be other types of kings such as a ‘protecting King’ while none of the ideologies are wrong except a very certain few the clash is what is ultimately at the center of the battles and Zatch Bell manages to show that quite well in my opinion.

With 323 chapters, Zatch Bell is a manga that while seeming like another boring battle shonen is interesting because it shows the clash of ideologies. With an amazing finale that is built up by good characters, hype battles, and emotional moments, Zatch Bell cannot be lower than an 8/10 because it manages to get things right and not seem generic but rather be interesting and make you feel like a child once more.

So that is it for this post guys hope you got some value from this.  Thank you guys for reading to the end hit me up on Instagram and Twitter with your thoughts and if you have any ideas on what I should write about. Stay safe. Thank you again and I’ll see you all next week.