Trivia / Medabots

• Acting for Two: Common in the English dub and partly in the original version, as well.
  • Interesting to note that Brass and Samantha share the same dub actress in English, while they also share the same seiyuu in Japanese (adding to it, Masami Suzuki also did a third role in the series besides Brass and Kikuhime, and that was Ikki's mom, Chidori Tenryou).
  • Masami Iwasaki as Sakekaasu (Seaslug) and Prof. Otokoyama (Coach Mountain).
  • Surume (Gilgirl) and Saint Nurse (Neutranurse) are voiced by Noriko Namiki.
• Adaptation First:
  • The franchise started as a series of video games in 1997, which later expanded to a manga series and an anime adaptation in 1999. However, it was the anime that made it first to get released out of Japan in earlier 2000s giving the popularity of similar Mon series such as Pokémon & Digimon.
  • Medabots: An RPG Adventure, one of the few games that got exported, is named Medarot 2 Core in Japan, which is actually the remake of the 2nd game of the series franchise, released in 2001-2002.
• Adaptation Overdosed: Originally started as a videogame series, it eventually spanned different alternate continuity games or spinoffs (Medarot R, Medarot Navi and Shingata: Medarot), a manga serial, an anime adaptation, and a Continuity Reboot sequel (Medarot 7, from Medarot DS). To put it easier: there are at least 5 different Hikaru Agata.
• Approval of God:
  • The game's main scenario writer, Kana Hirano, called the first anime a masterpiece on her personal webpage.
  • In an interview, series artist Rin Horuma mentioned being impressed with how thoughtully the Medabot's movements were portrayed in the anime, singling out Peppercat's portrayal.
• Channel Hop: The Nelvana dub initially aired on Fox Kids, then went to successor ABC Family for the rest of its' run in the US (due to FK going kaput, thanks to Disney, Fox Family, the ex-New World Fox stations and the NFL- see Disaster Dominoes for the whole messy story).
• Cross-Dressing Voices:
  • Junko Takeuchi as Metabee, Michiru Yamazaki as Ikki and Chieko Higuchi as Rintarou can count in the original version of the anime.
  • Ikki also ended up being voiced by women in some of the international dubs, such as Samantha Reynolds (English dub) and Yensi Rivero (LA dub).
• Fan Translation: The original Medarot and Medarot R have received full English translations.
• First Appearance: Rintarou made his debut on Medarotter Rintarou way before getting into the anime and the main series' manga adaptation.
• Franchise Killer:
  • Believe it or not, by the time Medarot 5 (12/2001) was released, the sales of the entire series were already declining by a lot in Japan. The factor that has to be blamed was the short span of time the games had between their releases (almost one per year, and Medarot 5 got it worse since it was released in a span of a few months from Medarot 4).
  • The series was becoming a Franchise Zombie due to the overexposure that the franchise had on the market. Some of the several spinoffs, such as the lesser known Medarot Navi, had very negative reviews. The last game that was released was Shingata: Medarot in 2004. It cost the franchise to be 5 years on limbo until the production staff became interested in making new games.
• No Export for You:
  • The games' franchise as a whole didn't leave Japan until 2003, when the anime series became a hit on the west. Only 3 games got released: Medabots AX and Medabots (Medarot 2 Core) for the Game Boy Advance and Medabots Infinity (Medarot Brave) for Nintendo GameCube. Any games following Medabots Infinity haven’t had the same pleasure to meet a western market again, especially since the franchise revival in 2010.
  • The manga adaptation of Medarot 2 was the only one to be licensed in the US thanks to Viz Media. The other sequels and spinoffs, however, didn’t have the same luck. Although, France saw a release of Medarot and Singapore (through Chuang Yi) had the fortune to have at least the next 2 sequels, as well.
• Out of Order: The anime dub noticeably shuffles around the order of the episodes from the original Japanese. While the dub scripts were often adjusted to try and keep some semblance of continuity (for example, dropping references to the National Medafighter Rankings in episodes that were obviously originally from well before that plot point was introduced), there were a lot of other Plot Holes that remained unaddressed, such as Ikki possessing medaparts prior to the episode in which he would win them, whether Metabee used his seeker missiles or the Medaforce as his finishing move, or Rokusho appearing in episodes after he left on his Journey to Find Oneself.
• The Other Darrin: Noticeable in the international dubs.
  • In the American/Canadian dub, Julie Lemieux replaced Samantha Reynolds as Ikki in Spirits.
  • In the LA dub, Henry had two dub actors as well- Ezequiel Serrano, who was later replaced by Johnny Torres (strangely enough, Serrano was later cast a Zuru in Spirits).
• Remade for the Export: Medarot 2 Core is a remake of the 2nd game of the series that coincided with the anime's release overseas. However, the franchise was already dying in Japan when it got released and saw its final breath in 2004. Although the series was eventually continued since 2010, there is no official word whatsoever for any new game to be exported for the West.
• Screwed by the Lawyers: Imagineer allowed the "Medabots" video game trademark to lapse in Europe in the years following the internationally-released Game Boy Advance and GameCube games. An unrelated developer from Spain claimed the trademark and used it for a mobile game illegally using aspects of the Medabots intellectual property, leading to a lawsuit between the two parties in 2021. During this time, no Medarot video games could be released outside of Japan as "Medabots" though home video releases of the anime could still use the name. The lawsuit eventually ended in September 2023 in Imagineer's favor.
• Sequel First: Due to the similarities used in the anime basis, Medarot 2 Core (and the manga of Medarot 2) was preferred to be exported overseas.
• Sequel Gap: Medarot 5 (2001) and Medarot DS (2010) = 9 years, at least from the main series of games' point of view.
• Un-Canceled: Until earlier 2009, when it was announced that there was a new project for the franchise. This took a hiatus of 5 years.
• What Could Have Been: The game's character and robots designer, Homura Rin, went to work on a doujin called Meda 2043 when the series was on limbo. He developed and designed some visual concepts that would have been used in the games during the time of their production. While some of them never saw the light of the day, other were adapted for technical in-game designs for Medarot DS.
• Working Title: Medarot 3DS for Medarot 7, in earlier 2011.

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