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128-536: Zatch Bell! , known in Japan as Konjiki no Gash!! ( Japanese : 金色のガッシュ!! , Hepburn : Konjiki no Gasshu!! , "Golden Gash!!") , is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Makoto Raiku . It was serialized in Shogakukan 's shōnen manga magazine Weekly Shōnen Sunday between January 2001 and December 2007, with its chapters collected in thirty-three tankōbon volumes. The series follows

256-655: A collectible card game , titled Zatch Bell!: The Card Battle , were released by Bandai in the United States and Japan. Zatch Bell! won the Shogakukan Manga Award for best shōnen title of the year in 2003. It ranked 33rd of the top 100 manga series on TV Asahi 's Manga Sōsenkyo poll in 2021, in which 150,000 people responded. By June 2008, the manga had over 22 million copies in circulation; by March 2017, it had 23.8 million copies in circulation, including digital versions . By August 2024,

384-637: A benefit from the in-group to the out-group) means "[I/we] explained [it] to [him/her/them]". Such beneficiary auxiliary verbs thus serve a function comparable to that of pronouns and prepositions in Indo-European languages to indicate the actor and the recipient of an action. Japanese "pronouns" also function differently from most modern Indo-European pronouns (and more like nouns) in that they can take modifiers as any other noun may. For instance, one does not say in English: The amazed he ran down

512-421: A climatic open conflict with Zeno. The anime observes changes from much of the manga. These include additional subplots and characters not featured in the original story. Certain scenes and key events are also altered or chronologically rearranged. For instance, Zatch and Kiyo first learn about Zeno from another Mamodo they encounter rather than directly from Tia as in the manga, although she and Megumi corroborate

640-415: A common practice for Japanese publishing companies. Of all the documents Raiku received, at least five drawings failed to turn up. Raiku accused Shogakukan of mishandling his artwork and, in 2007, filed a lawsuit seeking damages over the missing documents. He reached a settlement for ¥ 2.55 million ( US$ 24,671.17) later that year. The house in which Raiku authored the series was unique in that it doubled as

768-512: A conceited Mamodo scientist, Dr. M2, from the future who invades Earth with an army of oversized robots resembling a toy that Kiyo made for Zatch in the main series. Discotek Media licensed both films for distribution in North America. They were released on Blu-ray and DVD with the original Japanese audio and English subtitles on March 27 and May 21, 2018, respectively. A number of video games have been created featuring characters of

896-414: A distinct language of its own that has absorbed various aspects from neighboring languages. Japanese has five vowels, and vowel length is phonemic, with each having both a short and a long version. Elongated vowels are usually denoted with a line over the vowel (a macron ) in rōmaji , a repeated vowel character in hiragana , or a chōonpu succeeding the vowel in katakana . /u/ ( listen )

1024-549: A giant electrical dragon. He later gains varieties of "Bao Zakeruga" such as Bao Kurou Disugurugu ( バオウクロウディスグルグ , Baou Kurou Disugurugu ) which conjures a giant claw Jiou Renzu Zakeruga ( ジオウレンズザケルガ , Jiou Renzu Zakeruga ) which conjures a serpentine "Bao Zakeruga" which attacks by shooting its scales, and Shin Beruwan Bao Zakeruga ( シンベルワンバオウザケルガ , Shin Beruwan Baou Zakeruga ) ,

1152-419: A glide /j/ and either the first part of a geminate consonant ( っ / ッ , represented as Q) or a moraic nasal in the coda ( ん / ン , represented as N). The nasal is sensitive to its phonetic environment and assimilates to the following phoneme, with pronunciations including [ɴ, m, n, ɲ, ŋ, ɰ̃] . Onset-glide clusters only occur at the start of syllables but clusters across syllables are allowed as long as

1280-470: A human companion to read the words aloud in order to cast them in the form of spells. To participate in the action, the Mamodo does not simply choose a human to help cast their spells. Rather, they must first search for the matching human who can read from the book, whereupon he or she is that Mamodo's bookowner and partner. The Mamodo tournament involves eliminating opponents by burning their spellbook. This

1408-484: A listener depending on the listener's relative social position and the degree of familiarity between the speaker and the listener. When used in different social relationships, the same word may have positive (intimate or respectful) or negative (distant or disrespectful) connotations. Japanese often use titles of the person referred to where pronouns would be used in English. For example, when speaking to one's teacher, it

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1536-403: A makeshift studio. Inside was a large collection of autographs from various manga artists displayed at the foyer, which was the first thing one would see upon entering the building. His studio also featured a high ceiling to prevent him from becoming claustrophobic , and he would spend an entire day there to meet a deadline. Raiku's collection of figurines would be displayed on the wall whenever he

1664-561: A manifestation of electricity in the form of a giant Lernaean Hydra . Zatch also gains a wide range of versatile spells to assist in situations. Rashield ( ラシルド , Rashirudo ) erects a giant shield that reflect attacks back to the source while also adding electricity to the reflected attack, Jikerdor ( ジケルド , Jikerudo ) creates a ball of electricity that magnetizes anything following immediate contact, Rauzaruk ( ラウザルク , Rauzaruku ) amplifies Zatch's physical attributes, Zagurzem ( ザグルゼム , Zaguru Zemu ) to guide and increase

1792-468: A normal Mamodo so he may never discover the power of Bao. Kiyo's high intelligence and quick decision makes making him an excellent tactician which allowed Zatch to defeat Mamodos much stronger than him. During the battle within Faudo, Kiyo gained an ability called Answer Talker ( アンサートーカー , Ansa Toka ) from being killed and subsequently brought back to life. This ability grants Kiyo the ability to know

1920-408: A sentence need not be stated and pronouns may be omitted if they can be inferred from context. In the example above, hana ga nagai would mean "[their] noses are long", while nagai by itself would mean "[they] are long." A single verb can be a complete sentence: Yatta! ( やった! ) "[I / we / they / etc] did [it]!". In addition, since adjectives can form the predicate in a Japanese sentence (below),

2048-428: A single adjective can be a complete sentence: Urayamashii! ( 羨ましい! ) "[I'm] jealous [about it]!". While the language has some words that are typically translated as pronouns, these are not used as frequently as pronouns in some Indo-European languages, and function differently. In some cases, Japanese relies on special verb forms and auxiliary verbs to indicate the direction of benefit of an action: "down" to indicate

2176-444: A special bonus chapter in each volume called Zatch Café , which stars characters from that volume's cover. After successful sales and demand from fans, the kanzenban edition was released in physical format in 2019. In February 2022, Raiku announced a sequel to the manga, titled Konjiki no Gash!! 2 ( 金色のガッシュ!! 2 , Konjiki no Gasshu!! 2 ) , which began its digital publication on various digital book services on March 14 of

2304-474: A spell may be generated with greater fervor, the magnitude of which is governed by Heart Energy. A demonstration of this is when Zatch's strongest attack, Bao Zakeruga , dwarfs Faudo. The Mamodo of focus is Zatch Bell , who was discovered unconscious at a forest in England by Professor Seitaro Takamine . Seitaro sends Zatch over to his son Kiyo Takamine , an intelligent 14-year-old living with his mother in

2432-458: A strong sense of justice, but is clueless about most of the world around him and often gets in trouble when not being supervised by someone. Kiyo makes Zatch a toy named Volcun 300 which he refers to as a friend. Zatch's favorite food is Yellowtail , which he prefers to eat whole. When Zatch arrived to the Human world, he lived in a forest until the day Zeno attacked Zatch and removed his memory of

2560-680: Is compressed rather than protruded , or simply unrounded. Some Japanese consonants have several allophones , which may give the impression of a larger inventory of sounds. However, some of these allophones have since become phonemic. For example, in the Japanese language up to and including the first half of the 20th century, the phonemic sequence /ti/ was palatalized and realized phonetically as [tɕi] , approximately chi ( listen ) ; however, now [ti] and [tɕi] are distinct, as evidenced by words like tī [tiː] "Western-style tea" and chii [tɕii] "social status". The "r" of

2688-421: Is topic–comment . Sentence-final particles are used to add emotional or emphatic impact, or form questions. Nouns have no grammatical number or gender , and there are no articles . Verbs are conjugated , primarily for tense and voice , but not person . Japanese adjectives are also conjugated. Japanese has a complex system of honorifics , with verb forms and vocabulary to indicate the relative status of

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2816-461: Is Zatch and his brother Zeno Bell for their lightning-based powers. The human and their Mamodo usually start out with one spell, but may during the tournament unlock more spells as the emotional and relational bond between each other flourishes. The spellbook responds to the reader's Heart Power, a form of stamina attained from such bond. Because sending out a spell expends Heart Power, it must thus be replenished for spells to work properly. Additionally,

2944-557: Is a Mamodo and is one of the one-hundred Mamodo candidates in the Mamodo Battles where the remaining Mamodo who has their book intact shall become the king of the Mamodo world and thus forcing Kiyo and Zatch to fend off attacks by other Mamodos. As the series progresses, Kiyo and Zatch befriend a Mamodo named Kolulu who reveals that the Mamodo King forced her into the tournament. Zatch upon hearing her story strives to become

3072-408: Is achieved by striking the book with a spell or subjecting it to open flame, as when Kanchomé torches several spellbooks with a matchstick. Once the spellbook ignites, it cannot be extinguished, and when it has fully incinerated, the Mamodo that possessed it loses all claim to the position as king and immediately returns to the Mamodo world. The sole Mamodo to survive without their book destroyed becomes

3200-448: Is also seen in o-medetō "congratulations", from medetaku ). Late Middle Japanese has the first loanwords from European languages – now-common words borrowed into Japanese in this period include pan ("bread") and tabako ("tobacco", now "cigarette"), both from Portuguese . Modern Japanese is considered to begin with the Edo period (which spanned from 1603 to 1867). Since Old Japanese,

3328-527: Is also used in a limited fashion (such as for imported acronyms) in Japanese writing. The numeral system uses mostly Arabic numerals , but also traditional Chinese numerals . Proto-Japonic , the common ancestor of the Japanese and Ryukyuan languages , is thought to have been brought to Japan by settlers coming from the Korean peninsula sometime in the early- to mid-4th century BC (the Yayoi period ), replacing

3456-440: Is appropriate to use sensei ( 先生 , "teacher"), but inappropriate to use anata . This is because anata is used to refer to people of equal or lower status, and one's teacher has higher status. Japanese nouns have no grammatical number, gender or article aspect. The noun hon ( 本 ) may refer to a single book or several books; hito ( 人 ) can mean "person" or "people", and ki ( 木 ) can be "tree" or "trees". Where number

3584-701: Is associated with comedy (see Kansai dialect ). Dialects of Tōhoku and North Kantō are associated with typical farmers. The Ryūkyūan languages, spoken in Okinawa and the Amami Islands (administratively part of Kagoshima ), are distinct enough to be considered a separate branch of the Japonic family; not only is each language unintelligible to Japanese speakers, but most are unintelligible to those who speak other Ryūkyūan languages. However, in contrast to linguists, many ordinary Japanese people tend to consider

3712-466: Is better documentation of Late Middle Japanese phonology than for previous forms (for instance, the Arte da Lingoa de Iapam ). Among other sound changes, the sequence /au/ merges to /ɔː/ , in contrast with /oː/ ; /p/ is reintroduced from Chinese; and /we/ merges with /je/ . Some forms rather more familiar to Modern Japanese speakers begin to appear – the continuative ending - te begins to reduce onto

3840-509: Is correlated with the sex of the speaker and the social situation in which they are spoken: men and women alike in a formal situation generally refer to themselves as watashi ( 私 , literally "private") or watakushi (also 私 , hyper-polite form), while men in rougher or intimate conversation are much more likely to use the word ore ( 俺 "oneself", "myself") or boku . Similarly, different words such as anata , kimi , and omae ( お前 , more formally 御前 "the one before me") may refer to

3968-417: Is important, it can be indicated by providing a quantity (often with a counter word ) or (rarely) by adding a suffix, or sometimes by duplication (e.g. 人人 , hitobito , usually written with an iteration mark as 人々 ). Words for people are usually understood as singular. Thus Tanaka-san usually means Mx Tanaka . Words that refer to people and animals can be made to indicate a group of individuals through

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4096-755: Is less common. In terms of mutual intelligibility , a survey in 1967 found that the four most unintelligible dialects (excluding Ryūkyūan languages and Tōhoku dialects ) to students from Greater Tokyo were the Kiso dialect (in the deep mountains of Nagano Prefecture ), the Himi dialect (in Toyama Prefecture ), the Kagoshima dialect and the Maniwa dialect (in Okayama Prefecture ). The survey

4224-420: Is often called a topic-prominent language , which means it has a strong tendency to indicate the topic separately from the subject, and that the two do not always coincide. The sentence Zō wa hana ga nagai ( 象は鼻が長い ) literally means, "As for elephant(s), (the) nose(s) (is/are) long". The topic is zō "elephant", and the subject is hana "nose". Japanese grammar tends toward brevity; the subject or object of

4352-498: Is preserved in words such as matsuge ("eyelash", lit. "hair of the eye"); modern mieru ("to be visible") and kikoeru ("to be audible") retain a mediopassive suffix - yu(ru) ( kikoyu → kikoyuru (the attributive form, which slowly replaced the plain form starting in the late Heian period) → kikoeru (all verbs with the shimo-nidan conjugation pattern underwent this same shift in Early Modern Japanese )); and

4480-418: Is spread over three seasons, referred to as "levels", with distinct arcs. The first season takes place in the early stage of the Mamodo tournament and centers primarily on Zatch and Kiyo's character development. The second season follows Zatch and his allies battling Zofis and emphasizes Sherry's quest to rescue Koko from Zofis' throes. The third and final season revolves around Faudo which leads Zatch up to

4608-665: Is the principal language of the Japonic language family spoken by the Japanese people . It has around 123 million speakers, primarily in Japan , the only country where it is the national language , and within the Japanese diaspora worldwide. The Japonic family also includes the Ryukyuan languages and the variously classified Hachijō language . There have been many attempts to group the Japonic languages with other families such as

4736-459: Is the spell Zaker ( ザケル , Zakeru ) , which causes him to fire lightning from his mouth. During the course of the series, more powerful variations of Zaker are used in the order of Zakeruga ( ザケルガ ) , Ganreizu Zaker ( ガンレイスザケル , Ganreizu Zakeru ) , Teozaker ( テオザケル , Teozakeru ) and Ekuseresu Zakeruga ( エクセレスザケルガ , Ekuseresu Zakeruga ) . Zatch's most powerful spell is Bao Zakeruga ( バオウザケルガ , Baou Zakeruga ) which conjures

4864-402: Is the version of Japanese discussed in this article. Formerly, standard Japanese in writing ( 文語 , bungo , "literary language") was different from colloquial language ( 口語 , kōgo ) . The two systems have different rules of grammar and some variance in vocabulary. Bungo was the main method of writing Japanese until about 1900; since then kōgo gradually extended its influence and

4992-471: Is used for the present and the future. For verbs that represent an ongoing process, the -te iru form indicates a continuous (or progressive) aspect , similar to the suffix ing in English. For others that represent a change of state, the -te iru form indicates a perfect aspect. For example, kite iru means "They have come (and are still here)", but tabete iru means "They are eating". Questions (both with an interrogative pronoun and yes/no questions) have

5120-405: Is why some linguists do not classify Japanese "pronouns" as pronouns, but rather as referential nouns, much like Spanish usted (contracted from vuestra merced , "your ( majestic plural ) grace") or Portuguese você (from vossa mercê ). Japanese personal pronouns are generally used only in situations requiring special emphasis as to who is doing what to whom. The choice of words used as pronouns

5248-563: The Ainu , Austronesian , Koreanic , and the now-discredited Altaic , but none of these proposals have gained any widespread acceptance. Little is known of the language's prehistory, or when it first appeared in Japan. Chinese documents from the 3rd century AD recorded a few Japanese words, but substantial Old Japanese texts did not appear until the 8th century. From the Heian period (794–1185), extensive waves of Sino-Japanese vocabulary entered

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5376-462: The Japonic language family, which also includes the Ryukyuan languages spoken in the Ryukyu Islands . As these closely related languages are commonly treated as dialects of the same language, Japanese is sometimes called a language isolate . According to Martine Irma Robbeets , Japanese has been subject to more attempts to show its relation to other languages than any other language in

5504-596: The Konjiki no Gash!! 2 manga had over 900,000 copies in circulation. Jason Thompson from Anime News Network describes the series as " Zatch Bell! was one of hundreds of manga competing to be Number Two in the newly established genre of "heroes who fight using cute-but-violent monster/animal/pet companions." But Zatch is an extreme case because it's SO cute and SO violent, both at the same time, mixing squash-and-stretch body distortions, heta-uma ugliness, smiling faces and gushing blood". Mania.com 's Jarred Pine's review of

5632-514: The Philippines , and various Pacific islands, locals in those countries learned Japanese as the language of the empire. As a result, many elderly people in these countries can still speak Japanese. Japanese emigrant communities (the largest of which are to be found in Brazil , with 1.4 million to 1.5 million Japanese immigrants and descendants, according to Brazilian IBGE data, more than

5760-738: The United States (notably in Hawaii , where 16.7% of the population has Japanese ancestry, and California ), and the Philippines (particularly in Davao Region and the Province of Laguna ). Japanese has no official status in Japan, but is the de facto national language of the country. There is a form of the language considered standard : hyōjungo ( 標準語 ) , meaning "standard Japanese", or kyōtsūgo ( 共通語 ) , "common language", or even "Tokyo dialect" at times. The meanings of

5888-601: The Zatch Bell! series, with all but one being action or fighting games . Three games were imported and localized in North America. Zatch Bell! Electric Arena , initially released on December 12, 2003, for the Game Boy Advance , was the very first video game for the series. The second game titled Zatch Bell! Mamodo Battles , which debuted on March 25, 2004, for the PlayStation 2 and GameCube , became

6016-407: The best-selling manga series . In 2003, the series won the 48th Shogakukan Manga Award for the shōnen category. The manga has received generally positive reviews from critics. It was praised for its unique characters, humor, and overall concept. The television adaptation has a more mixed reception, with criticism largely focused on the visuals, graphical violence, and voice acting. A sequel to

6144-806: The de facto standard Japanese had been the Kansai dialect , especially that of Kyoto . However, during the Edo period, Edo (now Tokyo) developed into the largest city in Japan, and the Edo-area dialect became standard Japanese. Since the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853, the flow of loanwords from European languages has increased significantly. The period since 1945 has seen many words borrowed from other languages—such as German, Portuguese and English. Many English loan words especially relate to technology—for example, pasokon (short for "personal computer"), intānetto ("internet"), and kamera ("camera"). Due to

6272-527: The 1.2 million of the United States ) sometimes employ Japanese as their primary language. Approximately 12% of Hawaii residents speak Japanese, with an estimated 12.6% of the population of Japanese ancestry in 2008. Japanese emigrants can also be found in Peru , Argentina , Australia (especially in the eastern states), Canada (especially in Vancouver , where 1.4% of the population has Japanese ancestry),

6400-513: The 104th and last English-dubbed episode on December 6, 2008. Thirteen DVDs, collecting the first fifty-two episodes, were released by Viz Media between November 8, 2005, and December 4, 2007. New Video Group released a DVD box set, Zatch Bell!: The Complete Seasons 1 & 2 , on December 3, 2013, which included the first hundred episodes of the English dub. All 104 episodes of the English dub began streaming on Crunchyroll in 2015. In June 2017, Starz announced that it would be offering episodes of

6528-486: The Japanese language is of particular interest, ranging between an apical central tap and a lateral approximant . The "g" is also notable; unless it starts a sentence, it may be pronounced [ ŋ ] , in the Kanto prestige dialect and in other eastern dialects. The phonotactics of Japanese are relatively simple. The syllable structure is (C)(G)V(C), that is, a core vowel surrounded by an optional onset consonant,

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6656-614: The Mamodo King in order to bring peace to the Mamodo World. During the course of the story, Kiyo and Zatch befriend a super star named Parco Folgore and his Mamodo Kanchomé , an idol singer named Megumi Oumi and her Mamodo partner Tia , a Chinese girl named Li-en and her Mamodo Wonrei , a genius magician named Dr. Riddles and his Mamodo Kido , and later, a German man named Kafk Sunbeam and his Mamodo Ponygon . An evil Mamodo named Zofis antagonists Kiyo and his friends prompting them to defeat him and prevent him from being

6784-426: The Mamodo King. After Zofis' defeat, a group of Mamodos plan to awaken the giant Mamodo Faudo and use its power to win the Mamodo battles. Kiyo and his friends realize the threat Faudo could bring to the world and infiltrates Faudo's body in order to stop its resurrection. As they progress inside Faudo, Kiyo is killed in battle but is resuscitated into a catatonic state by Zatch. Zatch and friends move on and meet

6912-476: The Mamodo battle scenes a lot of fun. He added "The book really started off on the wrong foot with me with the introduction of Kiyo, one of the most irritating and arrogant lead characters in a shōnen manga. His attitude is not a result of any sort of disposition or a hard life, he’s just a know-it-all that looks down on others. Luckily, Zatch’s quirky and upbeat personality helps balance the scales and quickly goes to work on fixing Kiyo’s bad attitude". In 2005,

7040-404: The Mamodo world as a means of displacing him from the battle for king. The film also explores Zatch's home world in finer detail and how a human partner is selected for each Mamodo, with Wiseman deemed incompatible for one. The second film, Zatch Bell! Movie 2: Attack of Mechavulcan , premiered in Japanese theaters on August 6, 2005, before coming out on DVD on January 2, 2006. This movie tells of

7168-401: The Mamodo world, Kiyo is rewarded a wish in exchange for all his painful memories of everything that had transpired and then given any fortune he desires, but he rejects the gift not wanting to forget Zatch. Three weeks after the tournament, the Mamodo send a letter to their human counterparts, with Zatch's letter stating that all is well in the Mamodo world. The anime adaptation of Zatch Bell!

7296-407: The Mamodo world. In the aftermath, Zatch manages to pull through the tournament unscathed even though all of his allies fall and are brought back to the Mamodo world, leaving himself and Brago as the only remaining candidates on Earth. After Kiyo's graduation, the two ilk engage in a final showdown. Zatch ultimately prevails over Brago, thereby ending the tournament as the victor. As Zatch departs for

7424-440: The Mamodo world. Kiyo's father finds him and sends him to Kiyo. During the progress of the series, it is revealed Zatch is empowered with the power of Bao , a powerful dragon created by Zatch's father during the last Mamodo battle. Due to the danger of Bao and Zatch's father's declining health, he transferred Bao into Zatch in order to prevent it from escaping and wreaking havoc in the Mamodo world. He soon sent Zatch to live as

7552-474: The Mechavulcan) . The pair appear in all of the Zatch Bell! series video games where the pair are played as a single character. In the first Weekly Shōnen Sunday popularity polls of the series, Zatch ranked first and Kiyo ranked second. In the second and third Zatch Bell! character popularity contest, Zatch and Kiyo ranked first and third respectively. IGN 's review of the first two Tankōbon of

7680-736: The Old Japanese sections are written in Man'yōgana , which uses kanji for their phonetic as well as semantic values. Based on the Man'yōgana system, Old Japanese can be reconstructed as having 88 distinct morae . Texts written with Man'yōgana use two different sets of kanji for each of the morae now pronounced き (ki), ひ (hi), み (mi), け (ke), へ (he), め (me), こ (ko), そ (so), と (to), の (no), も (mo), よ (yo) and ろ (ro). (The Kojiki has 88, but all later texts have 87. The distinction between mo 1 and mo 2 apparently

7808-488: The Ryūkyūan languages as dialects of Japanese. The imperial court also seems to have spoken an unusual variant of the Japanese of the time, most likely the spoken form of Classical Japanese , a writing style that was prevalent during the Heian period , but began to decline during the late Meiji period . The Ryūkyūan languages are classified by UNESCO as 'endangered', as young people mostly use Japanese and cannot understand

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7936-456: The United States on Cartoon Network 's Saturday night programming block Toonami on March 5, 2005. The series was also broadcast on the network's daily programming block Miguzi starting on April 3, 2006. Seventy-seven episodes were broadcast on Cartoon Network until January 20, 2007. The series also premiered on YTV 's programming block Bionix in Canada on September 9, 2005, and finished with

8064-543: The addition of a collective suffix (a noun suffix that indicates a group), such as -tachi , but this is not a true plural: the meaning is closer to the English phrase "and company". A group described as Tanaka-san-tachi may include people not named Tanaka. Some Japanese nouns are effectively plural, such as hitobito "people" and wareware "we/us", while the word tomodachi "friend" is considered singular, although plural in form. Verbs are conjugated to show tenses, of which there are two: past and present (or non-past) which

8192-471: The animation. Common Sense Media describes the story as "isn't just about violence". They also say that there are always challenges, adversities, and questions of identity that the characters face especially Zatch and Kiyo. They compliment how the characters often think aloud when talking about their painful experiences or flashbacks. They applaud on how each of the characters problems in the series are not far off on what kids deal with today. They criticized how

8320-413: The answer to any question. Using the ability of Answer Talker in battle allows Kiyo to completely understand an opponent's attack, how to evade it, and how to effectively counterattack. Most of Zatch's spells causes Zatch to lose consciousness when cast. To get around this, Kiyo devised a method of reciting spells by training Zatch to look in the direction Kiyo points to. Zatch's primary offense at first

8448-533: The battles uses visuals, languages, sound effects, and dramatic effects that often get drawn out and sometimes become hard to watch. Overall, they said with the graphic violence and the internal struggles that the different characters face throughout the series some parents may not find Zatch Bell! appropriate for their children under ten years old. Bandai's The Card Battle game had sold over 300 million units by May 2004. Japanese language Japanese ( 日本語 , Nihongo , [ɲihoŋɡo] )

8576-595: The category "best English voice actor" in the SPJA Industry Award for his role as Kiyo. Dave Wittenberg was also nominated "Best Male Actor in a Comedy" for his portrayal of Parco Folgore. Philece Sampler was also accredited for her performance as the minor character Lori . Anime News Network ' s Zac Bertschy review of the anime adaptation described it as "...mind-numbingly over-the-top, so enthusiastically bizarre, that it's difficult to not get sucked into its strange little world" but criticized how it

8704-426: The demise of Zatch's main allies and any remaining Mamodo unresolved. Instead, the series closes with an epilogue showing Zatch and Brago preparing to battle each other as the last two Mamodo on Earth, with the winner not revealed. Following the ending of his previous series in Shogakukan 's Shōnen Sunday Super magazine, Raiku revisited old drafts he created for new ideas for his next series. One of his first ideas

8832-572: The design of a normal high school student and a noble knight who combats evil. The knight however was changed into a cuter character. In the Zatch Bell! character popularity polls, Kiyo and Zatch are voted one of the most popular characters ranking in the top three. Plush dolls based on Zatch's appearance have also been made. After Raiku's Newtown Heroes series in the Shōnen Sunday Super ended, Raiku looked at his old drafts he created in

8960-578: The effect of changing Japanese into a mora-timed language. Late Middle Japanese covers the years from 1185 to 1600, and is normally divided into two sections, roughly equivalent to the Kamakura period and the Muromachi period , respectively. The later forms of Late Middle Japanese are the first to be described by non-native sources, in this case the Jesuit and Franciscan missionaries; and thus there

9088-490: The fact that Raiku's name means "lightning" in Japanese. He also mentioned that he created Folgore with the words "Invincible Italian Man" as a base. Raiku went on a research trip in England while writing volumes five and six, which both take place in said country. Zatch Bell! would be Raiku's last manga project published by Shogakukan. Once the series finished in December 2007, the company gave back his original artwork,

9216-428: The fictional city of Mochinoki, Japan, in hopes of uncovering Zatch's past that he has no memory of. Kiyo becomes Zatch's preordained partner for the tournament. Over time, Zatch and Kiyo come across other Mamodo, especially Brago and his partner Sherry Belmont, who explain the ongoing Mamodo tournament. Zatch and Kiyo also discover that some Mamodo do not wish to fight or do so for the wrong reasons; namely Kolulu , who

9344-481: The first console game installment based on the series. Lastly, Zatch Bell! Mamodo Fury was released on December 2, 2004, for PlayStation 2 and is the only North American release for the GameCube. A video card game based on the series' CCG is the only installment not featuring in-combat form of gameplay. Eighting , Banpresto , and Bandai oversaw the development and publication of the Zatch Bell! games; since

9472-427: The first volume said that "The characters can look lopsided and out of proportions at times, with Kiyo experiencing Popeye arms on occasion. When the artwork gets more serious, it looks quite good, even though the added effect lines tend to make some panels feel a bit overdramatic, especially when Zatch is crying. The action work can feel quite explosive, with all the lightning bolts and flying icicles and all, which makes

9600-455: The flow of loanwords from European languages increased significantly, and words from English roots have proliferated. Japanese is an agglutinative , mora -timed language with relatively simple phonotactics , a pure vowel system, phonemic vowel and consonant length, and a lexically significant pitch-accent . Word order is normally subject–object–verb with particles marking the grammatical function of words, and sentence structure

9728-609: The genitive particle ga remains in intentionally archaic speech. Early Middle Japanese is the Japanese of the Heian period , from 794 to 1185. It formed the basis for the literary standard of Classical Japanese , which remained in common use until the early 20th century. During this time, Japanese underwent numerous phonological developments, in many cases instigated by an influx of Chinese loanwords . These included phonemic length distinction for both consonants and vowels , palatal consonants (e.g. kya ) and labial consonant clusters (e.g. kwa ), and closed syllables . This had

9856-410: The house for his project, and a fifth whenever necessary. Raiku sold the property in 2016. Written and illustrated by Makoto Raiku , Zatch Bell! was serialized in Shogakukan 's Weekly Shōnen Sunday magazine from January 10, 2001, to December 26, 2007. The manga ran for a total of 323 chapters, collected in thirty-three tankōbon volumes, between May 18, 2001, and June 18, 2008. The series

9984-430: The language, affecting the phonology of Early Middle Japanese . Late Middle Japanese (1185–1600) saw extensive grammatical changes and the first appearance of European loanwords . The basis of the standard dialect moved from the Kansai region to the Edo region (modern Tokyo ) in the Early Modern Japanese period (early 17th century–mid 19th century). Following the end of Japan's self-imposed isolation in 1853,

10112-458: The languages of the original Jōmon inhabitants, including the ancestor of the modern Ainu language . Because writing had yet to be introduced from China, there is no direct evidence, and anything that can be discerned about this period must be based on internal reconstruction from Old Japanese , or comparison with the Ryukyuan languages and Japanese dialects . The Chinese writing system

10240-449: The languages. Okinawan Japanese is a variant of Standard Japanese influenced by the Ryūkyūan languages, and is the primary dialect spoken among young people in the Ryukyu Islands . Modern Japanese has become prevalent nationwide (including the Ryūkyū islands) due to education , mass media , and an increase in mobility within Japan, as well as economic integration. Japanese is a member of

10368-427: The large quantity of English loanwords, modern Japanese has developed a distinction between [tɕi] and [ti] , and [dʑi] and [di] , with the latter in each pair only found in loanwords. Although Japanese is spoken almost exclusively in Japan, it has also been spoken outside of the country. Before and during World War II , through Japanese annexation of Taiwan and Korea , as well as partial occupation of China ,

10496-401: The lead scriptwriters. It began airing on Fuji Television on April 6, 2003, and ran for 50 episodes per season, concluding after three seasons on March 26, 2006. The episodes were collected and distributed by Pony Canyon into three DVD series, labeled as "levels", consisting of seventeen DVDs each, totaling fifty-one sets: the first level was released from November 19, 2003, to April 20, 2005;

10624-438: The manga were published until 2009. The anime series ran in the United States on Cartoon Network 's Toonami and Miguzi programming blocks from 2005 to 2007 for seventy-seven episodes, and in Canada on YTV 's Bionix programming block from 2005 to 2008; in all, 104 episodes were dubbed in English. By March 2017, the Zatch Bell! manga had over 23.8 million copies in circulation, including digital versions , making it one of

10752-459: The merging of Bandai and Namco in 2004, GameCube versions are published under Namco Bandai Games . A smartphone RPG game, titled Konjiki no Gash Bell!! Towa no Kizuna no Nakama-tachi ( 金色のガッシュベル!! 永遠の絆の仲間たち , "Zatch Bell! Friends are an Eternal Bond") , developed by Neowiz, is set to be released in 2023, with a closed beta test taking place in mid-September. The game is set to be released on January 17, 2024. A toy line made by Mattel and

10880-416: The monarchy by engaging in an elimination tournament in which the winner would be eligible for the throne. These tournaments are held on Earth; the manga series chronicles the interim during the early 2000s. Although the competition is free-for-all, the Mamodo may collaborate with other combatants. As the Mamodo descend to Earth, they are each given a spellbook that has sealed away their powers and requires

11008-518: The new Mamodo king, and all collateral damages are remedied. Spells given off by the Mamodo produce a variety of effects. These range from direct attacks to defenses, but other spells trigger a Mamodo's special ability that can temporarily enhance their finesse; as with Zatch's Rauzaruk ; or impair enemies; such as the paralyzing efficacy of Purio's Poreido ; among other effects. Spells in each book are typically different for each Mamodo, but there are others that produce identical spells—an example of this

11136-401: The one controlling Faudo, Zeno who reveals he is Zatch's twin brother. Kiyo awakens and with Zatch battles and defeats Zeno and sends Faudo back to the Mamodo World. Later a powerful Mamodo named Clear Note reveals his intention to destroy the Mamodo world if crowned the Mamodo King. Kiyo and Zatch, with the help of friends, manage to defeat Clear Note leaving only Zatch and Brago battle as

11264-425: The only strict rule of word order is that the verb must be placed at the end of a sentence (possibly followed by sentence-end particles). This is because Japanese sentence elements are marked with particles that identify their grammatical functions. The basic sentence structure is topic–comment . For example, Kochira wa Tanaka-san desu ( こちらは田中さんです ). kochira ("this") is the topic of the sentence, indicated by

11392-461: The original manga, titled Konjiki no Gash!! 2 , began digital distribution in March 2022. By August 2024, Konjiki no Gash!! 2 had over 900,000 copies in circulation. Mamodo are a species of mystical creatures with supernatural powers inhabiting the fantastical Mamodo world that exists in a parallel domain and is ruled by a king. Every 1,000 years, one hundred young Mamodo are selected to succeed

11520-470: The out-group gives a benefit to the in-group, and "up" to indicate the in-group gives a benefit to the out-group. Here, the in-group includes the speaker and the out-group does not, and their boundary depends on context. For example, oshiete moratta ( 教えてもらった ) (literally, "explaining got" with a benefit from the out-group to the in-group) means "[he/she/they] explained [it] to [me/us]". Similarly, oshiete ageta ( 教えてあげた ) (literally, "explaining gave" with

11648-415: The particle wa . The verb desu is a copula , commonly translated as "to be" or "it is" (though there are other verbs that can be translated as "to be"), though technically it holds no meaning and is used to give a sentence 'politeness'. As a phrase, Tanaka-san desu is the comment. This sentence literally translates to "As for this person, (it) is Mx Tanaka." Thus Japanese, like many other Asian languages,

11776-410: The past for an idea for his next series. One of his ideals was a mercenary who uses a giant sword to defeat enemies. After playing with that idea for three months, Raiku decided to abandon it and go with another idea. His next idea was a story where a middle school student, the prototype of Kiyo, finds an old toy and with the help of a noble knight, combats evil. After taking this up with his editor, he

11904-405: The point where he skips school on a regular basis. However, his entire lifestyle changes when Zatch Bell arrives in his life. Due to Zatch's influence, Kiyo becomes more outgoing and eventually becomes popular in his class. Kiyo still has a bad temper and is easily irritated, often venting his frustrations on Zatch or his ditzy classmate Suzy Mizuno . Zatch is an overly cheerful boy who possesses

12032-426: The powers of Zatch's electrical spells, and Maazu Jikerdon ( マアズジケルドン , Maazu Jikerudon ) generates a huge ball of electricity capable of deflecting attacks and attracting the enemy into its epicenter where they are electrocuted. Kiyo's father sends amnesic Zatch to live with him where he discovers that reading a spell from Zatch's book causes lightning to come out of Zatch's mouth. Kiyo soon learns that Zatch

12160-481: The proposed larger Altaic family, or to various Southeast Asian languages , especially Austronesian . None of these proposals have gained wide acceptance (and the Altaic family itself is now considered controversial). As it stands, only the link to Ryukyuan has wide support. Other theories view the Japanese language as an early creole language formed through inputs from at least two distinct language groups, or as

12288-631: The remaining Mamodos. Zatch eventually engages and defeats Brago and is then crowned King of the Mamodo World. Zatch returns to the Mamodo world and restores the defeated Mamodos. Some time passes and Zatch sends Kiyo a letter telling him the peace of the Mamodo world. Kiyo and Zatch are the protagonists in the two spun off animated films Gekijou Ban Konjiki no Gash Bell!! 101 Banme no Mamono ( 劇場版 金色のガッシュベル!! ｢101番目の魔物｣ , lit. Movie Golden Gash Bell!! Unlisted demon #101) and Gekijou Ban Konjiki no Gash Bell!! Mecabarukan no raishuu ( 劇場版 金色のガッシュベル!! ｢メカバルカンの来襲｣ , lit. Movie Golden Gash Bell!! Attack of

12416-487: The repackaging of the manga in a new bunkoban format under Kodansha . Sixteen volumes were published between March 8, 2011, and June 7, 2012. In July 2018, a digital sixteen-volume kanzenban edition of Zatch Bell! was released through Birgdin Board Corp., Raiku's own publishing company . The re-releases feature newly drawn cover art, color pages from the original Weekly Shōnen Sunday serialization, and

12544-430: The sacred power of Bao from their father King Dauwan Bell , and had removed Zatch's memories out of spite, but he soon comes around and apologizes upon seeing the error of his own ways. The last and perhaps most powerful Mamodo encountered is Clear Note , who intends to commit omnicide against the Mamodo race. Zatch and Kiyo call upon the spells of all the Mamodo they previously met to quash Clear Note and return him to

12672-459: The same structure as affirmative sentences, but with intonation rising at the end. In the formal register, the question particle -ka is added. For example, ii desu ( いいです ) "It is OK" becomes ii desu-ka ( いいですか。 ) "Is it OK?". In a more informal tone sometimes the particle -no ( の ) is added instead to show a personal interest of the speaker: Dōshite konai-no? "Why aren't (you) coming?". Some simple queries are formed simply by mentioning

12800-422: The same year. The first volume was released on September 16, 2022. As of August 23, 2024, four volumes have been released. A 150-episode anime television adaptation, titled in Japan as Konjiki no Gash Bell!! ( 金色のガッシュベル!! , Konjiki no Gasshu Beru!! , "Golden Gash Bell!!") , was produced by Toei Animation , and directed by Tetsuharu Nakamura and Yukio Kaizawa, with Akatsuki Yamatoya and Hiroshi Hashimoto as

12928-482: The second level was released from May 18, 2005, to June 21, 2006; the third level was released from July 5, 2006, to March 7, 2007. ShoPro Entertainment (then VIZ LLC's sister company, later merged to form Viz Media ) acquired the license to the anime series, under the title Zatch Bell! in 2004, and announced its home video release in August 2005. The English dubbed of the series (produced at Studiopolis ) premiered in

13056-494: The series for its video on demand service starting on July 1, 2017. Toei Animation produced two animated films based on the TV series, both which serve as spin-offs . The first film, Zatch Bell!: 101st Devil , was released to Japanese theaters on August 7, 2004, and to DVD on December 15, 2004. Here, a vengeful Mamodo named Wiseman seeks to illicitly enter the tournament by stealing a coveted white spell book, then baiting Zatch into

13184-510: The series ranked 20th on Animage ' s anime popularity poll, and 64th in the top 100 anime shows in a web poll conducted by TV Asahi. Although the show's English dub fared poorly in reviews, it became notable for its voiceover cast. Debi Derryberry , the voice for Zatch, was nominated twice for "Best Actress in a Comedy" at the American Anime Awards for her role as the titular character, while Jason Spisak placed fifth in

13312-434: The series stated that Kiyo was not a likable character due to his abrasive attitude. IGN however described Zatch as "...a funny, quirky character that's easy to like and easy to get annoyed with fairly quickly". Mania.com's Jarred Pine review of the first volume also commented on Kiyo's irritating and arrogant persona. In the SPJA Industry Award, Jason Spisak was nominated fifth in the category "best English voice actor" for

13440-423: The sighting later on. Ponygon also appears earlier in the anime's timeline than in the manga's. Discrepancies in the plot are more pronounced during the third season. In particular, Kiyo's death does not occur, and Zeno never repents even when he returns to the Mamodo world. Because of the changes, some Mamodo who lose out in the manga survive up to this point. The anime skips the events involving Clear Note and leaves

13568-439: The speaker, the listener, and persons mentioned. The Japanese writing system combines Chinese characters , known as kanji ( 漢字 , ' Han characters') , with two unique syllabaries (or moraic scripts) derived by the Japanese from the more complex Chinese characters: hiragana ( ひらがな or 平仮名 , 'simple characters') and katakana ( カタカナ or 片仮名 , 'partial characters'). Latin script ( rōmaji ローマ字 )

13696-817: The state as at the time the constitution was written, many of the elders participating in the process had been educated in Japanese during the South Seas Mandate over the island shown by the 1958 census of the Trust Territory of the Pacific that found that 89% of Palauans born between 1914 and 1933 could speak and read Japanese, but as of the 2005 Palau census there were no residents of Angaur that spoke Japanese at home. Japanese dialects typically differ in terms of pitch accent , inflectional morphology , vocabulary , and particle usage. Some even differ in vowel and consonant inventories, although this

13824-481: The street. (grammatically incorrect insertion of a pronoun) But one can grammatically say essentially the same thing in Japanese: 驚いた彼は道を走っていった。 Transliteration: Odoroita kare wa michi o hashitte itta. (grammatically correct) This is partly because these words evolved from regular nouns, such as kimi "you" ( 君 "lord"), anata "you" ( あなた "that side, yonder"), and boku "I" ( 僕 "servant"). This

13952-411: The title character Zatch Bell, a mystical being called a Mamodo, who is partnered with a 14-year-old schoolboy Kiyo Takamine for a once-a-millennium tournament on Earth that determines the right to rule the Mamodo world as king. During their adventure, Zatch and Kiyo encounter and battle various Mamodo and their human partners, and meet allies who aid Zatch in his quest to become a kind king. Zatch Bell!

14080-579: The topic with an interrogative intonation to call for the hearer's attention: Kore wa? "(What about) this?"; O-namae wa? ( お名前は？ ) "(What's your) name?". Negatives are formed by inflecting the verb. For example, Pan o taberu ( パンを食べる。 ) "I will eat bread" or "I eat bread" becomes Pan o tabenai ( パンを食べない。 ) "I will not eat bread" or "I do not eat bread". Plain negative forms are i -adjectives (see below) and inflect as such, e.g. Pan o tabenakatta ( パンを食べなかった。 ) "I did not eat bread". Kiyo Takamine and Zatch Bell Kiyo and Zatch were based on

14208-419: The two consonants are the moraic nasal followed by a homorganic consonant. Japanese also includes a pitch accent , which is not represented in moraic writing; for example [haꜜ.ɕi] ("chopsticks") and [ha.ɕiꜜ] ("bridge") are both spelled はし ( hashi ) , and are only differentiated by the tone contour. Japanese word order is classified as subject–object–verb . Unlike many Indo-European languages ,

14336-447: The two do not find each other until later in the series), and Wonrei with teen Hongkonger girl Li-en . Throughout the course of the tournament, Zatch, Kiyo, and their allies band together to combat several potent Mamodo with hostile intent. The first major adversary they face is Zofis , who commands a cadre of reanimated Mamodo that were sealed in stone tablets during the previous tournament one thousand years ago. Zofis has also bent

14464-577: The two methods were both used in writing until the 1940s. Bungo still has some relevance for historians, literary scholars, and lawyers (many Japanese laws that survived World War II are still written in bungo , although there are ongoing efforts to modernize their language). Kōgo is the dominant method of both speaking and writing Japanese today, although bungo grammar and vocabulary are occasionally used in modern Japanese for effect. The 1982 state constitution of Angaur , Palau , names Japanese along with Palauan and English as an official language of

14592-480: The two terms (''hyōjungo'' and ''kyōtsūgo'') are almost the same. Hyōjungo or kyōtsūgo is a conception that forms the counterpart of dialect. This normative language was born after the Meiji Restoration ( 明治維新 , meiji ishin , 1868) from the language spoken in the higher-class areas of Tokyo (see Yamanote ). Hyōjungo is taught in schools and used on television and in official communications. It

14720-407: The verb (e.g. yonde for earlier yomite ), the -k- in the final mora of adjectives drops out ( shiroi for earlier shiroki ); and some forms exist where modern standard Japanese has retained the earlier form (e.g. hayaku > hayau > hayɔɔ , where modern Japanese just has hayaku , though the alternative form is preserved in the standard greeting o-hayō gozaimasu "good morning"; this ending

14848-440: The will of his own partner, Sherry's childhood friend Koko , into committing heinous acts such as burning down her own village. Another enemy to emerge is Rioh , who wields a Mamodo warfare titan named Faudo that imperils the globe. Kiyo is nearly killed in a harrowing mission to thwart Rioh and avert Faudo. However, Rioh is then overpowered by Zeno Bell , Zatch's twin brother. Zeno is deeply envious of his sibling for procuring

14976-548: The world. Since Japanese first gained the consideration of linguists in the late 19th century, attempts have been made to show its genealogical relation to languages or language families such as Ainu , Korean , Chinese , Tibeto-Burman , Uralic , Altaic (or Ural-Altaic ), Austroasiatic , Austronesian and Dravidian . At the fringe, some linguists have even suggested a link to Indo-European languages , including Greek , or to Sumerian . Main modern theories try to link Japanese either to northern Asian languages, like Korean or

15104-405: Was a mercenary who uses a giant sword to defeat enemies. He played with this idea for three months before deciding to abandon it and go for another idea. His next idea involved a middle school student who finds an old toy and, with the help of a noble knight, combats evil. While pitching this idea with his agent, he was advised to use a cuter character as a fighter, and so the titular character Zatch

15232-529: Was advised to use a cuter character to fight resulting in Zatch's creation. After Raiku worked on the idea for month, it was published. The reason Zatch uses lightning spells is because his name had the word "Rai", which means "lightning" in Japanese. Kiyo Takamine is a genius 14-year-old junior high school student with an IQ of over 180. His intelligence makes him a target for teasing and harassment causing him to develop an introverted and apathetic demeanor to

15360-539: Was based on 12- to 20-second-long recordings of 135 to 244 phonemes , which 42 students listened to and translated word-for-word. The listeners were all Keio University students who grew up in the Kanto region . There are some language islands in mountain villages or isolated islands such as Hachijō-jima island , whose dialects are descended from Eastern Old Japanese . Dialects of the Kansai region are spoken or known by many Japanese, and Osaka dialect in particular

15488-412: Was created. After Raiku worked on the idea for a few months, it was published. Raiku said that he intended to create a "passionate story about a heartwarming friendship," and that he used the concept as a central theme while adding the Mamodo, book, and spell concepts. He cited a western magical story he read as a source of inspiration for creating Zatch's red spell book . Zatch's lightning spells allude to

15616-410: Was forced to fight due to the nature of her spells. Seeing this, Zatch pledges to become a "kind king" and stop the battle from ever happening again. Zatch and Kiyo also find friendlier Mamodo and build up alliances with them and their human partners. Chief among them are Kanchomé with Italian movie star Parco Folgore, Tia with pop idol Megumi Oumi, Ponygon with German engineer Kafk Sunbeam (although

15744-735: Was imported to Japan from Baekje around the start of the fifth century, alongside Buddhism. The earliest texts were written in Classical Chinese , although some of these were likely intended to be read as Japanese using the kanbun method, and show influences of Japanese grammar such as Japanese word order. The earliest text, the Kojiki , dates to the early eighth century, and was written entirely in Chinese characters, which are used to represent, at different times, Chinese, kanbun , and Old Japanese. As in other texts from this period,

15872-462: Was later adapted into an anime television series produced by Toei Animation . The series aired for 150 episodes on Fuji TV and other FNS stations from April 2003 to March 2006. In addition to an array of licensed merchandise, the franchise also spawned a series of video games and two animated theatrical films. Viz Media licensed both the manga and anime series for English-language localization in North America in 2005; only twenty-five volumes of

16000-544: Was licensed for the English-language release by Viz Media , which also provided the alternate title. The first two volumes of the series were released on August 2, 2005. Viz Media discontinued the series after twenty-five volumes, with the last released on June 9, 2009. The manga was also published in English by Chuang Yi in Singapore. In March 2011, Raiku released a one-shot chapter of Zatch Bell! to promote

16128-425: Was like a "battle your way to the top while learning important lessons about teamwork and courage" anime. He commented how the "sheer exuberance and energy" saves the show from being a bland anime and how it would be the perfect show for kids. IGN 's review of the series was mostly negative. IGN's Jason Van Horn criticized the animation, plot, and dubbed voice acting. IGN's JKB stated the books are more interesting than

16256-474: Was lost immediately following its composition.) This set of morae shrank to 67 in Early Middle Japanese , though some were added through Chinese influence. Man'yōgana also has a symbol for /je/ , which merges with /e/ before the end of the period. Several fossilizations of Old Japanese grammatical elements remain in the modern language – the genitive particle tsu (superseded by modern no )

16384-496: Was present in the house. Raiku admitted that most of his work actually took place at a nearby restaurant where he also did most of his storyboarding . He added that there was less distraction, since he was just surrounded by people rather than games or even the Internet. Storyboarding for a regular chapter of Zatch Bell! took about two days for Raiku to make. When the editor approved the storyboard, Raiku summoned four assistants to

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