Review: Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters Episode One

Review: Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters Episode One

When it comes to cartoons, I’m never too old to sit down for a few hours and watch some of the classics I grew up with, like Pokemon, Digimon, Dragon Ball Z, and more. Today marks the release of a new cartoon on the Hub Network, titled Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters. Now, when I first heard of it, I immediately thought of Yu-Gi-Oh. I was lucky enough to get an advance viewing of the first episode of the series today, and I was shocked. It’s nothing like it, and not about a card game. Keep reading for more information.

Here is my review of Kaijudo: Rise of The Duel Masters, which shows last night, June 2nd, on the Hub Network.

Our story starts with a character named Ray and his friends as they are attacked. Now, I’ll admit that at first I found myself quite confused, since the series suddenly opens with the main character and his friends being attacked for no discernible reason. I’m not a big fan of starting a series with a scene that gives you no context. Moving on, Ray is a young boy who happens to possess a rare ability; he is able to befriend monsters from parallel dimensions. Little does he know that he is about to embark on a grand adventure, since he doesn’t discover that he has this ability until he finds himself attacked and a beast coming to his rescue. After Ray called in the powerful beast to assist him, he is brought to a secret organization with similar abilities. Overall, the cartoon seems to lead towards the expectation of an eventual big-bad. You don’t learn much about him in this first episode; most of the episode is spent with Ray and his friends trying to learn how to control this newfound power. To me, the first episode did provide some suspense, but it didn’t offer enough of the right stuff to really hook me completely. I do, however, understand that most shows get better as they progress and build their universes. The story is definitely something that kids would enjoy, but as an adult it has a hard time grabbing me.

The cartoon’s animation is similar to what most current cartoons look like. It’s enough to keep kids pulled in and amazed without detracting from the story and the feel of the series. That is definitely a big plus when it comes to creating a cartoon. The artists who work on this definitely try to keep it simple; they don’t need massive amounts of CGI or heavy details to amaze people who enjoy cartoons. Some of us grew up watching Dragon Ball Z, and you can hardly call that a highly detailed or CG’d cartoon. Now, if this was an anime series, I’d definitely find myself expecting more detail, for the most part, but as a kid cartoon, it’s sufficient. The series’ voice acting is very well done. It takes talent to provide the right feel and emotion for each character. A great deal of effort was put into the acting, and you can definitely tell in the presentation. The lips move along with what is being said, and emotions at key points come out at the right time, which pulled me in, and will pull in viewers.

Overall, I’d say this is a top-notch cartoon for your kids to watch. It most likely won’t appeal as much to an older demographic, but will definitely resonate with younger. I’ll keep my eye on it, as a fan of animated work in general, but hopefully the series will provide more answers than questions, contrary to the style of the first episode. The animation reminds me of the cartoons I grew up with, the story is definitely off to a good start, and the acting in the series was very well done. I would definitely want to see more information about the characters and plot so that I can know what’s going on, rather than deal with curve balls, but other than that, Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters will be a great addition to the Hub Network’s line-up.

For more information on Kaijudo: Rise of The Duel Masters you can visit, www.Kaijudo.com.

Review

ProsCons
Good story so far
Graphics remind me of childhood cartoons
Acting is top-notch
Series start may throw you off
Rating
80 out of 100
Avid collector of Funko Pop! items, Pokemon and video games. Raises money for Extra Life since 2012. When I'm not collecting great things or helping kids and others via charity. I'm writing news, previews, reviews, and running giveaways. You can reach me at andrew at maroonersrock dot com as well.

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