News
Bakugan: Battle Planet Anime's U.S./Canada TV Premieres Scheduled
posted on by Karen Ressler
Spin Master's official website for the Bakugan franchise announced details on its new Bakugan Battle Planet television animation series on Monday. The first two episodes have debuted online. The two eleven-minute episodes are compiled in one video.
The anime will make its television premiere in the United States on Cartoon Network on December 23 at 7:00 p.m. EST. According to the TV Passport website, the show will premiere on Canada's Teletoon at 12:00 p.m. on December 31, followed by new episodes in the same timeslot on January 1 and 2.
The characters include:
Kazuya Ichikawa (Monster Strike the Animation) is directing and U.S. studio Man of Action (Monsuno) is writing the story. TMS Entertainment is providing the animation.
Spin Master describes the new series:
When Bakugan began emerging from the earth's crust in a mysterious worldwide "awakening," Dan and his friends find themselves at the epicenter of a new age. Dan and Company quickly learn that they must grow into more than just suburban kids looking for quick fame in the post-Bakugan era. They must learn how to work with their Bakugan and deploy them in battle in order to survive the seemingly endless forces out to control, enslave or just plain destroy the mysterious race of alien creatures. Dan and his friends will evolve into bona fide heroes by protecting their Bakugan, the Earth and ultimately the incredible secrethidden beneath our feet: Our planet has merged with another, living planet... Vestroia!
The website also unveiled details on the accompanying new Bakugan toy line, which is slated to launch on January 1. Spin Master also launched an iOS and Android app for Bakugan information and episodes, though it has not yet posted the first episode.
Canadian toy and media company Spin Master, in collaboration with TMS Entertainment and Corus Entertainment's Nelvana subsidiary, formally announced their relaunch of the Bakugan franchise on October 9. In addition to the series, Spin Master noted that it will have "additional short form content" available online.
Cartoon Network Enterprises is leading the franchise's licensing program in all territories except Asia. Takara Tomy will launch the toy line in Japan, and TMS Entertainment will manage distribution of the toys, series, and the licensing program. The toy line will launch in North America and "other select markets" in the first quarter of 2019, and will launch globally in the second quarter of 2019.
The Bakugan franchise is based on Spin Master and Sega Toys' combination of metal cards and marble-like magnetic toys that automatically transform into figures during gameplay. The franchise has been a bestseller in North America, and it won honors at Toy Fair's annual Toy of the Year Awards in 2009.
America's Cartoon Network began showing the first Bakugan Battle Brawlers anime series in February of 2008. Three sequel television series—Bakugan Battle Brawlers: New Vestroia, Bakugan Gundalian Invaders, and Bakugan: Mechtanium Surge—followed, the last of which premiered in Canada and the United States in 2011. Baku Tech! Bakugan Gachi, a spinoff series adapting a manga by SHINGO, premiered in Japan in 2013.
Sources: Bakugan Battle Planet anime's website, Cartoon Network, TV Passport
Thanks to I Miss Bionix for the news tip.
