Kaijudo

The main cast from left to right: Ray, Gabe, and Allie

Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters (the name of the first season) and Kaijudo: Clash of the Duel Masters (the name of the second season) is an Animesque Western Animation based on the Duel Masters franchise.

The show's history is as follows: thousands of years ago, numerous creatures roamed the earth, each hailing from one of five Civilizations: Fire, Water, Nature, Darkness, and Light. The various myths of this world were given form due to the aforementioned creatures, from dragons and sea-serpents to even UFOs.

At first, these creatures lived side-by-side with humans and everything was peaceful. Until eventually, certain creatures began to feel that man was growing too powerful too fast and started pulling for them to be enslaved. Thus began the Creature Wars which lasted for centuries. Said wars would understandably mar the present day outlook on the humans side toward creatures.

Seeing the inevitability of the wars tearing the world apart, five shaman warriors joined together. Each representing one of the five Civilizations, they preformed what is called Kaijudo, which means "Way of the Creature". They proceeded to strip the power from the five Creature Rulers and used it to create a parallel dimension know as the Kaiju Realm that is protected from earth by a barrier called the Veil, where creatures reside in to this day.

And, just like that, the Creature Wars ended, and life began to evolve into what it is today.

These five shaman warriors took the near powerless bodies of the Creature Rulers and, putting them into a deep sleep, hid them deep underground. Henceforth, The Order of the Kaijudo Duel Masters began. Their charge was to make sure the Creature Rulers stayed in hibernation and also to guard the Veil, making sure nothing came out and keeping the earth and its people ignorant that such things as "monsters" ever existed.

Fast forward to the present day. The Veil is weakening and creatures are coming through. The current generation of Duel Masters are kept busy sending the wayward beasts back home and sealing the rifts they came through, all the while not aware of what this could possibly foretell...

Our hero is fourteen year-old Raiden 'Ray' Pierce-Okamoto, who, along with his mom and grandpa, has just moved into a new apartment. Somewhat introspective and often bullied for his mixed heritage, he often longs for something more, as if he knows there's another whole world out there. This leads him to be on the "dreamy" side.

On his way home from school with his best friends, Allison 'Allie' Underhill and Gabriel 'Gabe' Wallace, his encounter with some bullies leads him to summon forth a Rumbling Terrasuar like the one he sketched the previous night from out of nowhere just by calling its name that he didn't even know. One thing leads to another, and the group ends up meeting a mysterious young man named Hector Chavez who then proceeds to rescue them by taking them on a short trip to the dangerous Kaiju Realm. This, of course, leads to the kids being shocked and upset when they get out. Chavez decides that the best way to explain would be to invite the kids to where he works, The Temple of the Kaijudo Duel Masters, of which he is one of those Masters.

This in turn leads Ray to his destiny (Gabe and Allie as well, even if they don't realize it yet) and it leads us to this show.

Kaijudo: Rise of The Duel Masters is said to be a Continuity Reboot, with nothing in common with the Japanese Animé or the original dub of the first series. Well, except for many of the creatures, some of which have a "same creature different look" kinda feel and some are borrowed from the newer Japanese cards. Although a tie-in series to the new card game, this is one of those series that doesn't advertise the cards themselves or its Card Game directly like the Pokémon Animé or Huntik: Secrets and Seekers. These shows have a tendency to be very story and character driven, as is evident in this case by simply watching the first three episodes.

The aforementioned tie-in Trading Card Game was released under the same name -- Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters.

Tropes used in Kaijudo include:
  • The Ace: As the names of the first three episodes imply, Ray turns out to be a natural for Kaijudo. He himself feels like he belongs with the art. Not only does he catch on to the ways of said art, like quickly picking up perfect gateway summoning stances and perfect creature control, he also summons Tatsurion the Unchained, a powerful hybrid creature, after only a two second glance at his tablet. Certain creatures seem to take a shining to him as well. This may have something to do with his Disappeared Dad and his Mom and Grandpa seem to know more about his Kaijudo affinity than they let on.
  • Achievements in Ignorance: Ray, being a talented sketch artist for his age, managed to draw a "tablet" depicting a Rumbling Terrasuar perfectly, even though he'd never seen one before. In a pinch with the bullies, he even correctly "made up" the creature's name, summoning it and scaring the bullies (and him and his friends) away.
  • Animesque: Interestingly, the art director, David Coleman, said, among other things, that the main characters were designed with shapes in mind. Triangles for Ray since he's proactive, squares for Gabe since it's balanced like how he prefers things, and circles for Allie with occasional sharp corners to show her general soft and pacifistic nature, unless you get her really mad. Their main creatures, Bob, Gargle, and Squeaky respectively follow the same patterns.
  • Another Dimension: The Kaiju Realm.
  • Badass: Master Chavez, most definitely. And the hybrid known as Bob. Everything's Better with Bob indeed!
  • Badass Longcoat: Master Nadia.
  • Big Bad: The Choten.
  • Black and Nerdy: Gabe. In fact, he and Ray met each other at a gamer's convention that he won. His twin younger brothers are among those who tease him for his nerdy status.
  • Blond Guys Are Evil: The bully, Carny. And also The Choten.
  • Blue Eyes: Gabe. They're very dark.
  • Brown Eyes: Ray.
  • Continuity Reboot: For the dub of the original show and the Western franchise as a whole.
  • Cosmopolitan Council: The Order of the Kaijudo Duel Masters.
  • Disappeared Dad: Ray's dad.
  • The Dragon: Alakshmi.
  • Easy Amnesia: Master Nadia's Cyber Viruses, which she uses to control who knows what knowledge. Like erasing memories of the Kaijudo world from people who are no longer potential acolytes...
  • Elemental Powers: The five masters of the Kaijudo Order each specializes in creatures from one of the five Civilizations:
  • Everything's Better with Bob: Bob, in this case, being the nickname of Tatsurion the Unchained that Ray gives him. He hates it at first, but grows fond enough of Ray to allow him to call him Bob before long.
  • Five-Man Band: The Order of the Kaijudo Duel Masters sorta fills this out:
    • The Hero: Master Nigel, even though he's a rigid Jerkass, he's still the leader.
    • The Lancer: Master Chavez, he is most opposite Nigel in his way of thinking, and is the most supportive of Ray and his friends.
    • The Smart Guy: Both Masters Nadia and Jaha fill this role; the former in historical knowledge and the like and the latter in an intelligence sense (i.e. spying).
    • The Big Guy: Master Kimora. He's second after Chavez in his support the gang's ideals. Also The Blacksmith Master Toji.
    • The Chick: Joseph, a.k.a. Fingers if he wasn't The Mole working for The Choten.
  • Good Is Not Nice: Master Nigel. He's a good guy who uses Light Civilization creatures, but a royal Jerkass nonetheless.
  • Green Eyes: Allie.
  • Hair of Gold: Ray's mother and Allie (who's more of a strawberry-blonde).
  • Halfbreed: Ray. Half-white, half-Japanese. Carny doesn't let him forget it either. Also, Tatsurion the Unchained a.k.a. Bob, is a hybrid creature, born of both the Fire and Nature Civilizations.
  • Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: Even though Fingers failed to steal the creature tablets, the creatures he set free for the diversion that weren't re-imprisoned are just more creatures The Choten can add to his arsenal.
  • Jerkass: The bully Carny. Allie accuses him of being a racist, which he doesn't argue against. He's probably against Ray's parents' Mixed Marriage.
  • Kick the Dog: Although keeping the Kaijudo world hidden is understandable, Master Nadia's attempt at erasing the group's memories still feels like this.
  • Laser-Guided Karma: The bullies, Carny, Driggs, and the other one who never spoke, gets their minds wiped of Ray summoning the Terrasuar by Nadia, after Gabe points out the unfairness of him, Allie, and Ray getting mind wiped and not the bullies.
  • Missing Mom: Allie. Her and Ray growing up with only one parent is how they became such good friends.
  • Mon Machine: The Duel Gaultlets, which are used by the Duel Masters, to channel mana to summon a Creature or do spell casting.
  • Monochrome Casting: Averted. The cast, both heroes and villains, are ethnically diverse. It was also brought up as a plot point regarding half-Japanese/half-white main character Ray and a racist bully.
  • Multicolored Hair: Probably to reflect his shonen hero-like status, Ray's bangs are red at their ends. According to a picture, his dad doesn't have them, so Ray's are probably dyed.
  • Politically-Incorrect Villain: Carny mocks Ray for being half-Japanese and mocks him for only half living up to Asian stereotypes, claiming Ray's only half good at math and half a ninja.
  • Reasonable Authority Figure: Out of the five masters, Master Chavez is the kindest and most understanding of the bunch. Although he is pretty sted-fast about things like "no touching the creatures", he is the one most on Ray, Allie, and Gabe's side, and seems to be open to their ideals and how they can positively affect their art of Kaijudo, in direct contrast to Master Nigel, who claims the kids' way "is not the Kaijudo way". Master Kimora is this to a lesser extent and Master Jaha is basically neutral.
  • Rose-Haired Girl: Master Nadia.
  • Smug Snake: Fingers
  • Spoiled Sweet: Allie. She fits in in many cliques and could join most clubs she'd want, but she still chooses to hang with Ray and Gabe, "the lepers".
  • Tall Dark and Bishojo: Alakshmi
  • The Mole: Fingers.
  • Those Two Girls: The two Alpha Bitches who don't understand why Allie would want to hang with the "losers" Ray and Gabe. Heck, they're actually credited as Mean Girls.
  • Token Trio: Ray (half-white/half-Japanese boy), Gabe (African-American boy), and Allie (white girl).
  • White-Haired Pretty Girl: Alakshmi.
  • X Meets Y: Kaijudo: Rise of the Duel Masters seems like Digimon and Huntik: Secrets & Seekers‍'‍s biracial lovechild.
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