Medabots

About

Medabots is a manga, video game and anime series created by Rin Homura. The manga, released in 1997, was produced by Kodansha, while the original anime series was produced by the studio Bee Train in 1999. The story of Medabots revolves around kids and adults battling robots against each other, often for parts or the robot’s medal. The main character, Ikki Tenryu, and his Medabot, Metabee, aim to become the number one "Robattlers" in the world. Despite the very typical shonen tropes that are at play, there is an overarching plot that takes place over 50 episodes.

History

Originally released on November 28th, 1997, the manga was the first medium of the Medabots franchise and was produced by Kodansha. The anime series consisted of 52 episodes and ran from September 1st, 2001, to November 2nd, 2002. A third season was produced by a different animation company and released between September 13th, 2003, to May 8th, 2004.

Outside of the manga and anime series, the Medabots franchise has also had several video games release both in Japan and worldwide across four decades, with the earliest game, Medarot, being released on November 28th, 1997, and the most recent game, Medarot S: Unlimited Nova, being released on January 23rd, 2020.

Reception

Medabots has continued to be a popular series even decades removed from its original run date. According to MyAnimeList,^[1] the series maintains a 7.07 ranking with 26,729 user reviews. Medabots is frequently praised by fans for being different from other shows like it due to the fact that the Medabots themselves each had unique personalities, adding to the humor and complexity of the show.

Online Presence

Over the years since its debut, the Medabots franchise has had a notable presence online. One of the most commonly seen references to the series online revolves around its comedy in the shows, which came from the way Medabots behave like people, such as enjoying their own time during the day or disobeying direct orders to suit their own interests (example shown below).

The Medabots subreddit, /r/Medabot,^[2] has been an active community on the platform for over eight years, boasting 2,720 subscribers since its creation. The community regularly posts about the various aspects of Medabots, such as physical toys, anime references and discussion about the video game series.

Related Memes

The majority of memes relating to Medabots come in the form of either direct references to the show or reactions using stills and GIFs from the source material. These reaction images are typically either used on their own or with edited text on top to enhance the meaning (examples seen below).

Search Interest

External References