The promotional image for Dinosaur King: Mesozoic Meltdown
Dinosaur King (古代王者恐竜キング Dキッズ・アドベンチャー Kodai Ōja Kyōryū Kingu Dī Kizzu Adobenchā, jap. Ancient Ruler Dinosaur King DKidz Adventure) is the anime series based in the Dinosaur King arcade game.
Plot summary
Original Series
Max Taylor, son of the paleontologist Spike Taylor falls out of bed early one morning and witnessing a meteor fall from the sky sets out with his friends, Rex Owen and Zoe Drake into the forest where the meteor crashed. There they find the lightning, wind and grass element stones. Chomp, a Triceratops, is accidentally activated when Max rubs its card on the lightning stone. The D-Team meet their new enemies, the Alpha Gang, when they come to catch it and are defeated with Terry, their Tyranosaurus. After this, Max and Chomp come good friends, Rex and Zoe find their own dinosaurs (respectively Ace, the Carnotaurus and Paris, the Parasaurulophus), and the D-Team beside Dr. Taylor and his assistent Reese Drake have now the mission of saving the world and the dinosaurs from the Alpha Gang.[1] [2]
Mezosoic Meltdown
Dinosaur King: Mezosoic Meltdown (古代王者恐竜キング Dキッズ・アドベンチャー翼龍伝説, Kodai Ōja Kyōryū Kingu Dī Kizzu Adobenchā: Yokuryū Densetsu, jap. Ancient Ruler Dinosaur King DKidz Adventure: Pterosaur Legend) is the second season of the anime. Some moments after Rex, his parents and the Alpha Gang go to the future, they return and tell about the attack they suffered by aliens with a tecnology more advanced than their. While the kids' parents are talking they're kidnapped by Gavro, one of the aliens, the Spectral Space Pirates. The D-Team then joins forces with the Alpha Gang and go to the future to put a stop in the Pirates plot to obtain the seven Cosmos Stones and to rescue their parents.
Episodes
- Main article: List of Dinosaur King Episodes
The series has 79 episodes split in the original series and the Mezosoic Meltdown.
Characters
- Main article: List of Characters
Production
The anime is a kodomo or kodoshōnen, an anime there is aimed and targeted mostly towards young children and primary elementary-school aged kids and uses traditional and CG animation. It was produced by Sunrise and began airing on TV Asahi on February 4, 2007. It is released on DVD in Japan.
4Kids Entertainment has licensed the anime and it was distributed on DVD by Shout! Factory in the US with the DVDs showing only the North American edited TV version and no uncut DVDs. It was launched on September 8, 2007 on 4Kids TV. In September 2008, it began airing on The CW4Kids, and is already shown on Canada's YTV since September 8, 2008. As of November 2008, it was set to air in Mexico, South Africa, Ireland, the Netherlands, and Eastern Europe with the dubs adapted from 4Kids. The last English episode, 47, aired on The CW4Kids on March 28, 2009. Even though the original series had 49 episodes, it is unknown if the last two episodes would be shown, or be exclusively released on DVD. Even Italy will receive the adaptation from 4Kids and set it for young children in Italy aged 6–11. The anime aired on UK network CITV every weekday starting from March 2, 2009. The English script follows the Japanese script closely, although occasionally a joke will have its meaning changed due to profanity and other inappropriate material (which are appropriate for the young target audience in Japan). While the D-Team's country of origin is not explicitly specified, 4Kids has left in elements that identify it as being Japan, as in the original. The second season, Mezosoic Meltdown, had 30 episodes and aired between February 3, 2008 and August 31, 2008 in Japan.[3]
Differences with the Arcade and DS
The Anime does not implement the Rock-Paper-Scissors scheme, but instead uses real-time battle mechanics. Therefore, each Dinosaur can use a move at anytime they wish, but those that are "controlled" by foreign users (Humans and Spectral Pirates, etc.) uses a move whenever their "master" swipes a card.
Some Dinosaurs don't appear in the Anime at all. Their Move Cards also vary in their effects in battle. Cyclone, for example, is used as an attack move in the Anime instead of a status effect.
Some of the characters are missing (Alpha Droid types, Goma) or have less intelligence than their counterparts in the games. Of course, the Anime does not follow the story given by the games, therefore creating a new canon with premade characters.
The Dinosaurs seen in the Anime don't use the sounds used in the Arcade (Most possibly for realism).