#gash and kyomaru

[ben-talks-art]

Very good video about Zatch Bell!

I honestly wanna pat myself on the back a little with some bragging rights because, while most people felt Zatch Bell looked dumb at first and only later after giving it a serious try realized how good it was, I actually loved it from day one just from seeing the first episode of the anime.

Looking back, this probably played a big part on my love towards stories about leads realizing their own faults and growing from it cause this is what the early arcs of this series was about, both Zatch and Kyo coming to terms that they had a lot of growing up to do and taking the first steps into starting this process, with Kyo learning to be less of a jerk to people and Zatch learning that there are many more problems related to him that he must deal with than he imagined.

To this day this manga remains one of my favorite pieces of storytelling. I love the art, the action, the characters, the messages, the humor, the creativity, to me, this is just a perfect piece that appeals to most of my tastes.

I put it up there with Percy Jackson, Spider-Man, Fullmetal Alchemist, Arcane, or Chainsawman where whenever I need to think about something that I don't just love, but really, really love and use it as reference whenever I consume other pieces of storytelling.

Whenever I need to ask myself "What's a story where I really liked the cast of characters? Or the themes it tried to tackle? Or the way they handled their villains?" and so on, Zatch Bell is one of the first names that come to my mind.

Freaking love this series!

[troycattribunny]

The thing with Kyo, is that Gash is ultimately his younger brother. In one of my favorite filler episodes of all time Gash laminated his feelings about Kyomarus mother, which is a contrast when we find out about Gash's abuse at the hands of his adoptive mother. In the second movie we're shown a flashback of Gash's mother and its distant, it's hazy, it's sad.

Actually I'd call Kyo Gash's father.

soooo a year or so ago when i reread gash bell i capped every instance of kiyomaro's oni face with the intention of posting it... and then i never did cause i ended up with over 20 and felt like posting them all in a row would be mean and i was too lazy to make a single image collage. but i think tumblr changed their multi image posting format? so now its not annoying as fuck. still under a read more though

[cpirits]

(( @skaterboi-poser​ said: [ "We meet again." (Kiyomaro) from Eita (skaterboi-poser) ]

UNPROMPTED ASKS // accepting

〜 多くの魂 ——— Really? This guy again? Kiyomaro sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with one hand, while his other held Gash’s Spellbook. Heaving a sigh, he grabbed Gash by his top before the Mamodo could run over to say hi. “Was there something you wanted?”

[nobodytheelf]

Im reading gash bell rn 

-Lisbeth 

[ben-talks-art]

Why I like Zatch and Kyo

"How much do you think I've changed... How much do you think he's helped me? That's why it's my turn!"

Zatch Bell is one of the first mangas I've ever read. I used to love the anime even though the premise and the character designs were so strange and weird.

The idea is that there are a bunch of humans who need to fight with other humans in a pokemon, digimon, or Medabots-like style where they have a partner by their side that does all the battling while the human gives emotional support. Except here, the "pokemon" are replaced with little kids...

This is a very odd concept since the reason these types of stories usually have a human partner up with some sort of monster or robot is so that you don't feel that bad while watching them beating the hell out of each other... So having kids (very, very little kids no less) doing the fighting makes you go "Isn't that, like... Really violent?"

Little did I know as I kept watching the show that this was exactly the point of the story.

Something I really respect about Zatch Bell is that, unlike many series where characters just feel like pain sponges, wounds in here actually matter... Both physical and emotional.

Basically, every major conflict in the manga starts with the two leads, Zatch and Kyo, taking on the burden of someone's pain and trying their best to help them out.

The manga itself starts with these two taking on each other's pain. Kyo was a kid who was growing distant from his friends so Zatch tried to devise plans to help others see his good points so Kyo can make friends. Meanwhile, Zatch is struggling with memory loss so Kyo is working his big brain to solve the mystery of who Zatch is and where he came from, and as they keep trying to help each other they both start to bond and realize they need one another more than they realize.

As Kyo spends more time with Zatch he learns how to trust his emotions more, and as Zatch spends more time with Kyo he starts to mature and use his head more.

The more they try to help someone, the better people they each turn into, and they each act as a guide to the other on how to best help others.

Zatch Bell is a series where you really get the sense that friendship truly matters.

Any time a new character is introduced we quickly are told what their struggles in life were and what kind of emotional damage they are dealing with.

Something I tend to obsess with whenever I think about a series is how it deals with the victim's pain. There are times when someone's pain is just a tool to further the plot, or just an excuse to get the main character angry and motivated, or just to show how evil the bad guy of the arc is, and when that's dealt with, the victim is just forgotten and ignored.

But here, everyone's pain always feels like they matter. There is hardly an arc where Zatch and Kyo don't end up crying out after hearing someone's backstory and feeling frustrated for being unable to help. You feel like they are bonding with these people, you feel like they are understanding how much they are suffering, and you feel their desire to help them out.

In fact, the thing that triggers the big goal that motivates the two characters throughout the rest of the series is seeing a girl forced to fight into the tournament as well and seeing how much that was torturing her.

Again, these are all kids around the age of 6 to 12, and they are all battling with each other using these big demonic spells that tend to leave them bathed in their own blood by the time the fight stops, and one of the big plot points is that when they lose a fight they basically have to leave the show until the end.

When characters are suffering you feel that pain as well.

I like Zatch and Kyo because they're characters that best showcase the power of sympathy. Any time you see them fighting, or getting injured, or doing their best to come up with a plan to take down an enemy you always sense that they have someone's pain or possible pain motivating them.

My all-time favorite moment is when one of the villains is threatening to use a weapon called "Faudo" to destroy the island of Japan, and when they face against said villain and he starts his "bad guy" monologue all the heroes are thinking about is keeping all these innocents live safe.

It's so simple but so effective how this shows these two always put the pain of others before their own.

This is one of those series that makes you realize the importance of establishing connections between characters. It's not just about having one invincible main lead that deals with everything on his own, it's about showing why it's important to stand up and fight by showing the people they care about and why they care about them.

All those cliche lines like "friendship is power", "my friends are my power", "I fight for my friends", "there is something I must protect", and all that stuff, they all feel earned here.

I love Zatch and Kyo because they're the kind of heroes that really show the importance and power of caring about others!

Favorite character list>>