History YMMV / ZatchBell

* TheScrappy: Of the four main villains, Clear Note is by far the least liked, owing to his [[DiabolusExNihilo lack of connection to the main characters]], his [[UncannyValley extremely offbeat appearance]], and his rather generic StrawNihilist motives (even [[GenericDoomsdayVillain likening himself to an atomic bomb]] at one point). Many fans felt he more or less existed to be the FinalBoss because... somebody has to.

* UncannyValley: The art style makes most of the cast have very strange and often surreal designs. DependingOnTheArtist, even relatively normal-looking characters like Kiyo or Folgore can look downright unsettling.

* {{Narm}}: The Machine That Sends Faudo Back to the Demon World. For whatever reason, this title gets said in full nearly every time it's referred to during the Faudo arc. It begins to feel a bit silly when every character refers to it as such every time it's mentioned, particularly with how long the name is.

** Eido and Hyde. By the point they stopped appearing in the series like the filler villains they were, they had been undergoing some serious CharacterDevelopment and had pulled a draw against Kiyomaro and Zatch that is utterly shocking in hindsight. It genuinely seemed that they would do HeelFaceTurn in the future and maybe serve a TheLancer or TheBigGuy in the main cast, or at least as occasional allies. (In fact, to prove how important they seemed to be, the Spanish dub assigned them two of the biggest VA in the entire cast, including one that rarely voices anything other than protagonists and big time villains.) As they were never seen again, save for a cameo at Megumi's concert in the following episode, one has to wonder why the anime staff spent so much in building them as characters only to do nothing with them. Part of this, however, has to do with them being {{Canon Foreigner}}s ; They never existed in the original manga at all, and as a result including them in any other major story arcs would have meant tons of rewrites if not entire deviations from the story. While Hyde (and Eido presumably) was eventually made canon by way of adding him to the collage of demons in the end of the manga, it pretty much meant that he got his book burned without ever meeting any of the main cast.

*** However, Dufort mentions that Kiyo doesn't know how to properly use it, the ability only appearing in times of crisis and leaves him with mental fatigue. It's likely that Kiyo pushed himself too much with the ability and the dream was some sort of stress-induced backlash, hence why Kiyo was unable to use Answer-Talker until he trained with Dufort to wield it properly.

* MagnificentBastard: [[BloodKnight Zeno Bell]] is the [[EvilTwin twin brother of Zatch]] who, [[FreudianExcuse thanks to unfortunate circumstances]], comes to resent Zatch and desires both the Mamodo World crown and to make his sibling's life miserable. Learning the existence of the ancient Mamodo weapon Faudo, Zeno strays to the shadows and uses a doll-like emissary to manipulate both Zatch's group of friends as well as Leo and the Faudo {{cult}} against one another. Upon Faudo's awakening, after Leo weakens the heroes, Zeno sneaks into the control room, sends Leo away, and takes over control of Faudo in one fell swoop. Earning the loyalty of the other cult members, Zeno still uses the power of Godafu as a contingency in the event one tries to betray him and shows flexibility as a fighter. Even so, Zeno is ruthless enough to make people submit to his ways through fear and pain. Upon the realization Zatch lived a horrible life himself and that their father hid the whole story from him, Zeno immediately [[HeelFaceTurn changes his ways]] and, in his final moments in the Human World, provides the twin he now loves everything he needs for the tournament.
* MoralEventHorizon: There appear to be several things that are [[ThisIsUnforgivable unwritten taboos]] in the Fight, most notably a.) destroying a book that's already burning, and b.) attempting to kill your opponent rather than simply send them back. Each of the three [[BigBad main villains]] does one or the other at some point.

** [[HavingABlast Zofis]] was easily the vilest of all the evil demon children. A total {{sadist}} and an egotist, Zofis horribly MindRaped both humans and fellow mamodo, both for practical reasons and [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], and enjoyed nothing more than the suffering of others. [[EvilSorcerer Zofis]] also kept an army of 100-year-old demons in line by creating the illusion of turning them back into stone tablets, thus being able to control them using their fear. Zofis despised Brago and dreaded his power so much that he attempted to take his life rather than simply burn his spellbook and send him back to the Demon World. Most notably, Zofis warped the heart and mind of Sherry's best friend Koko and made her do anything he wanted her to do, specifically if it hurt Sherry in any way; Koko nearly even jumped to a fiery, burning death because of him. Zofis's final threat was to not erase Koko's memory of her time as his partner so that she'd always suffer from the guilt and stay broken as a result.

** [[HavingABlast Zofis]] was easily the vilest of all the evil demon children. A total {{sadist}} and an egotist, Zofis horribly MindRaped both humans and fellow mamodo, both for practical reasons and [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], and enjoyed nothing more than the suffering of others. Zofis also kept an army of 100-year-old demons in line by creating the illusion of turning them back into stone tablets, thus being able to control them using their fear. Zofis despised Brago and dreaded his power so much that he attempted to take his life rather than simply burn his spellbook and send him back to the Demon World. Most notably, Zofis warped the heart and mind of Sherry's best friend Koko and made her do anything he wanted her to do, specifically if it hurt Sherry in any way; Koko nearly even jumped to a fiery, burning death because of him. Zofis's final threat was to not erase Koko's memory of her time as his partner so that she'd always suffer from the guilt and stay broken as a result.

** [[HavingABlast Zofis]], the first BigBad, was easily the vilest of all the evil demon children. A total {{sadist}} and an egotist, Zofis horribly MindRaped both humans and fellow mamodo, both for practical reasons and [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], and enjoyed nothing more than the suffering of others. Zofis also kept an army of 100-year-old demons in line by creating the illusion of turning them back into stone tablets, thus being able to control them using their fear. Zofis despised Brago and dreaded his power so much that he attempted to take his life rather than simply burn his spellbook and send him back to the Demon World. Most notably, Zofis warped the heart and mind of Sherry's best friend Koko and made her do anything he wanted her to do, specifically if it hurt Sherry in any way; Koko nearly even jumped to a fiery, burning death because of him. Zofis's final threat was to not erase Koko's memory of her time as his partner so that she'd always suffer from the guilt and stay broken as a result.

* CompleteMonster: [[StuffBlowingUp Zofis]], the first BigBad, was easily the most vile of all the evil demon children. A total {{sadist}} and an egotist, he horribly MindRaped both humans and fellow demon, both for practical reasons and [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], and enjoyed nothing more than the suffering of others. He also kept an army of 1000-year-old demons in line by creating the illusion of turning them back into stone tablets, thus being able to control them using their fear. He despised Brago and dreaded his power so much that he attempted to take his life rather than simply burn his spellbook and send him back to the Demon World. Most notably, he warped the heart and mind of Sherry's best friend Koko and made her do anything he wanted her to do, specifically if it hurt Sherry in any way (Koko nearly even jumped to a fiery, burning death because of him). His final threat was to not erase Koko's memory of her time as his partner so that she'd always suffer from the guilt.

** Eido and Hyde. By the point they stopped appearing in the series like the filler villains they were, they had been undergoing some serious CharacterDevelopment and had pulled a draw against Kiyomaro and Zatch that is utterly shocking in hindsight. It genuinely seemed that they would do HeelFaceTurn in the future and maybe serve a TheLancer or TheBigGuy in the main cast, or at least as occasional allies. (In fact, to prove how important they seemed to be, the Spanish dub assigned them two of the biggest VA in the entire cast, including one that rarely voices anything other than protagonists and big time villains.) As they were never seen again, save for a cameo at Megumi's concert in the following episode, one has to wonder why the anime staff spent so much in building them as characters only to do nothing with them. Part of this, however, has to do with them being CanonForeigners ; They never existed in the original manga at all, and as a result including them in any other major story arcs would have meant tons of rewrites if not entire deviations from the story. While Hyde (and Eido presumably) was eventually made canon by way of adding him to the collage of demons in the end of the manga, it pretty much meant that he got his book burned without ever meeting any of the main cast.

* {{Macekre}}: For the most part avoided except for one infamous element; [[FandomNickname the radioactive guns.]] [[note]]The localization did a good job balancing the violence in the shows to appease the censors. The one pesky element they could not work around were all the guns, so instead of making them invisible like in ''Anime/YuGiOh'', the localization team gave them a light green glow.[[/note]]

* CrazyAwesome: The entire series and almost every attack in it, particularly Kanchome's. Almost every single minor character has some kind of crazy attack, too.
** [[spoiler: And a good example of this? Sunbeam spent ten months in Africa. Immediately after he comes back...[[http://www.mangareader.net/266-34305-12/zatch-bell/chapter-305.html well...rock and roll!]] ]]

** Baransha and Garza. They are introduced giving the protagonists one of the roughest fights in the series, where they come close to beating Kiyo and Zatch and only lose because of Kiyo coming up with a plan to bait them out that ends with the two escaping. Despite their formidable abilities and their pragmatism, they get beaten by another random set of enemies later and never get to fight the heroes again.

** Eido and Hyde. By the point they stopped appearing in the series like the filler villains they were, they had been undergoing some serious CharacterDevelopment and had pulled a draw against Kiyomaro and Zatch that is utterly shocking in hindsight. It genuinely seemed that they would do HeelFaceTurn in the future and maybe serve a TheLancer or TheBigGuy in the main cast, or at least as occasional allies. (In fact, to prove how important they seemed to be, the Spanish dub assigned them two of the biggest VA in the entire cast, including one that rarely voices anything other than protagonists and big time villains.) As they were never seen again, save for a cameo at Megumi's concert in the following episode, one has to wonder why the anime staff spent so much in building them as characters only to do nothing with them.

** The introduction of Zatch's trademark spell was done pretty well in the English dub. Since "Don't mess with me" (''fu'''zakeru''' na'') doesn't exactly translate well as a pun, the dub instead has Kiyo mishear Zatch/Gash's name as Zacker (rhyming with slacker), and he reacts to Zatch's letter by telling him to stop messing around with him and refers to him as "'''Zacker''' or whatever your name is"-- triggering the ''Zakeru'' (which rhymes with pack air) spell.

** The introduction of Zatch's trademark spell was done pretty well in the English dub. Since "Don't mess with me" (''fu'''zakeru''' na'') doesn't exactly translate well as a pun, the dub instead has Kiyo mishear Zatch/Gash's name as Zacker (rhyming with slacker), and he reacts to Zatch's letter by telling him to stop messing around with him and refers to him as "'''Zacker or''' whatever your name is"-- triggering the ''Zakeru'' (which rhymes with pack air) spell.

** The introduction of Zatch's trademark spell was done pretty well in the English dub. Since "Don't mess with me" (''fu'''zakeru''' na'') doesn't exactly translate well as a pun, the dub instead has Kiyo mishear Zatch/Gash's name as Zack, and he reacts to Zatch's letter by telling him to stop messing around with him and refers to him as "'''Zack or''' whatever your name is"-- triggering the ''Zakeru'' spell.

* IKnewIt: Zatch and [[spoiler:Zeno]] being [[spoiler:twins]].

** Zatch's name, as the word gash refers to a deep cut and is unpleasant to those with a weak stomach. Keeping his name as Gash in the English translation would've scared off a number of people, not to mention that it would be unfitting for such a benevolent character.

* IKnewIt: Zatch and [[spoiler: Zeno]] being [[spoiler:twins]].

** The "monster" characters being called Mamodo is this. In the original version, they're demons - in the sense that they're mystical creatures. Changing it to Mamodo preserved the idea that they're a type of magical being from another world, as well as helped with matching lip movements.

** The introduction of Zatch's trademark spell was done pretty well in the English dub. Since "Don't mess with me" (''fu'''zakeru''' na'') doesn't exactly translate well as a pun, the dub instead has Kiyo mishear Zatch/Gash's name as Zack, and he reacts to Zatch's letter by telling him to stop messing around with him and refers to him as "'''Zack or''' whatever your name is"-- triggering the ''Zakeru'' spell.

* {{HSQ}}: Once Zatch starts shooting building-sized lightning dragons out of his mouth, all bets are off. Of particular note is the fight against Clear, as he utterly brutalizes the protagonists [[spoiler: and is then stabbed ''through the chest'' by Ashuron’s horn.]]

* EarWorm: Chi! Chi chi chi, oppai! BOING! BOING! [[labelnote: Explanation]]Parco Forgole’s song about...well, groping women.[[/labelnote]]

** Zatch/Gash has horns on his head when Kiyomaro is forced to wash him after a battle. Other Demon have horns, yet it is never brought again.

** Zatch/Gash has horns on his head when Kiyomaro is forced to wash him after a battle. Other Mamonos have horns, yet it is never brought up ever again.

* CompleteMonster: [[StuffBlowingUp Zofis]], the first BigBad, was easily the most vile of all the evil demon children. A total {{sadist}} and an egotist, he horribly MindRaped both humans and fellow mamodo, both for practical reasons and [[ForTheEvulz for fun]], and enjoyed nothing more than the suffering of others. He also kept an army of 1000-year-old demons in line by creating the illusion of turning them back into stone tablets, thus being able to control them using their fear. He despised Brago and dreaded his power so much that he attempted to take his life rather than simply burn his spellbook and send him back to the Demon World. Most notably, he warped the heart and mind of Sherry's best friend Koko and made her do anything he wanted her to do, specifically if it hurt Sherry in any way (Koko nearly even jumped to a fiery, burning death because of him). His final threat was to not erase Koko's memory of her time as his partner so that she'd always suffer from the guilt.

* GoodBadTranslation: The MadScientist in the Mamodo Mirror filler arc was named Professor Fusaichi Ichiro in the original version, and was usually referred to as simply "Professor", or "Hakase." The US dubbers apparently mistook "Hakase" for the character's name, so he's called Dr. Hakase in the dub. So essentially, he's named "Doctor Professor."
* GrowingTheBeard: In the case of the anime, it takes a ''long'' while for the series to really take off and become something epic...until episodes 44 and 45, which features a ''brutal'' battle that Kiyo and Zatch flat-out ''lose.'' Shortly afterwards we're introduced to the stone tablets of 1000 year old mamodo in episode 48, and it just keeps going from there!

* MoralEventHorizon: There appear to be several things that are [[ThisIsUnforgivable unwritten taboos]] in the Mamodo Fight, most notably a.) destroying a book that's already burning, and b.) attempting to kill your opponent rather than simply send them back. Each of the three [[BigBad main villains]] does one or the other at some point.

** Shion Hibiki and Nyarurato. Similar to the above, they had the potential for more exposure and development were they to play any part in stories later on in the series, but since their story arc was filler, neither of them reappeared after the arc was done. While in Nya's case it's justifiable seeing as his book got burned, Shion could have easily remained in Kiyo's class as a recurring supporting character (also giving Kiyo a classmate confidante who's familiar with Mamodo and the battle to become king, something he didn't have before), but the arc's ending has her transferring out of the school and leaving town for reasons that didn't seem entirely convincing. There's a reason there are quite a few FanFiction that [[FixFic keeps one or both of them around to be featured throughout the remainder of the story.]]