And it’s actually pretty good!
It’s not perfect or amazing, but it’s a good reboot. I don’t know if I can say that it’s better than the first series, which is near and dear to my heart, but it’s what I would call a good reimagining: it takes a story and changes the set-up, such as the setting and they dynamics so that it feels fresher and more unique, but keeps the heart of the original and whatever made it work alive. In this case, it keeps some of the ideas and the feelings of the first Bakugan series, but reimagines it as a more modern, light-hearted series about friendship, social media, and just having fun, while also building up a sense of mystery. Plus, compared to the original Bakugan series and the insane twists turns its canon took, this one feels pretty down-to-Earth not unlike Yokai Watch or early Pokemon, and a lot less… anime than OG Bakugan did.
It’s no Digimon Tamers, I will admit, and there are few things that bug me. Namely, the animation tends to jump from being smoother and brighter than OG Bakguan, to more stiff and cheaper, particularly when they bust out the anime expressoins. The Bakugan are now fully-rendered in CG, which may remind some hardcore Brawlers (I-is that what we call Bakugan fans? Did we ever call ourselves that?) of the days of Mechtanium Surge; some of the changes made to the attributes colour schemes look more flat than others. For example, I can’t help but wonder why they’d change Haos palette from white-and-gold to white-and-teal; for Bakugan with light powers, it looks really flat and unimpressive. The music is another thing that got the short end of the stick; I will not lie, this theme song is just… bad. The original was pretty, cheesy too, but this just feels phoned in. Then again, it’s pretty hard to top Psychic Lover.
Despite this I’m still pleasantly suprised by the series, and there’s a lot to talk about it even after that little rant. Heck, I still have things to say about the stuff I just covered! In fact, as both a lover of Japanese and Canadian animation, as well as collectible monsters– especially Bakugan–I am strongly tempted give this reboot a full-review when I get the chance!
But until then, please check out Bakugan: Battle Planet if you get the time. Maybe you’ll see what I’m talking about!
(Also, um, Ms. Kravitz is kinda’ cute. Just saying.)
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