Rave Master

It all begins in the year 0015 when a force known as the "mother" Dark Bring, Sinclaire, threatened the world. Sinclaire had the power to create more dark brings, which were evil stones that bestowed incredible powers on the bearer. The Kingdom of Leagroove used these dark brings to conquer neighbouring nations, until only one nation stood in its way, the Kingdom of Symphonia. In an attempt to stop the Kingdom of Leagroove, Holy Bring, or RAVE as it came to be known as later, was created to defeat the Dark Brings. Rave could only be wielded by the Rave Master, who was Shiba at the time.

Shiba, the first Rave Master, attempted to destroy Sinclaire with his sword, the Ten Forms. The resulting explosion, known as "Overdrive", destroyed one-tenth of the known world. However, in truth, it destroyed much less than that because most of the world had yet to be explored.

The "Holy Bring" or "RAVE", was named after its creator, Resha Valentine, using the first and last letters of her first and last name. Resha Valentine created Rave using the incredible power within her, known as Etherion. Rave was used to power the ultimate form of The Ten Commandments, but it was shattered in the Overdrive, breaking Rave into five pieces. Shiba was able to hold onto the piece that was required to power the sword, but the remaining pieces were scattered across the world. In the end, Shiba was unable to destroy Sinclaire, but it too was broken into five pieces by the Overdrive.

Fifty years later, Haru Glory, a teenager living on the peaceful Garage Island discovers a strange creature with a small white body, and a huge drill-like nose while fishing. He names it "Shabutaro" at first until he encounters a wizened old man called Shiba, who corrects Haru by calling the creature "Plue". As it turns out, this Shiba was the first Rave Master and he explains that Plue is actually his long lost companion and also the Rave Bearer.

Soon, Feber, a member of Demon Card, an organization that is attempting use the Dark Bring to take over the world, finds Shiba and demands that he hand over the Rave. Shiba refuses and tries to retaliate by using the Rave's power. It fails and Shiba is quickly injured by Feber's giant arm cannon. Shiba hands Haru the Rave and tells him to run away. Haru refuses and tries to help Shiba. With Rave clutched in his fist, he punches Feber. To everyone's surprise, Haru manages to unleash the Rave's power with this punch, defeating Feber with an explosion. Seeing this, Shiba realizes that Haru has been chosen by the Rave to become the second generation Rave Master. Thus begins Haru's search for the other pieces of Rave and his quest to defeat the Demon Card.

Characters

Reception

In the Manga reviewers guide, published by Del-Rey in 2007, they gave the Rave Master manga a positive review of 3 out of 4 stars. It states that Rave Master had a relatively shaky start, in terms of storyline and art. However, it states that about part way through the first major story arc, the series began to improve and set itself apart from other manga series. Like most reviewers, they stated that Rave Master had a collection of likeable characters.

Media

Manga

Rave Master was serialized in Weekly Shonen Magazine in 1998 and ran for 296 chapters until its conclusion in 2005. It was published in thirty-five collected volumes by Kodansha, with the first volume released in November 1998 and the final volume released exactly seven years later in November 2005. Rave Master is licensed for an English release in North America by Tokyopop. The series is also licensed for regional language releases in French by Glenat, in Spanish by Norma Editorial, and in Italian by Editions Star Comics. Egmont Manga & Anime licensed Rave Master for a German release, including serializing it in their monthly anthology Manga Power. Rave Master was also one of the first manga series released in Spanish in North America by Public Square Books.

Anime

The series was adapted into a fifty-one episode anime series, entitled Rave: the Groove Adventure, by Studio Deen. The anime premiered on TBS on October 13, 2001 and ran until September 28, 2002. The anime series is based on the first twelve volumes of the manga series. Tokyopop licensed the series for release and broadcast in North America. As with the manga, Tokyopop released the series under the name Rave Master. Their English dubbed version premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on June 5, 2004 as part of the Toonami programming block.

Video games

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There are six video games based on Rave Master.

Nintendo GameCube

• Rave Master

Game Boy Advance

• Groove Adventure Rave
• Rave Master: Special Attack Force! (Groove Adventure Rave: Hikari to Yami no Daikessen 2)

Sony PlayStation

• Groove Adventure Rave
• Groove Adventure Rave: Mikan no Hiseki
• Groove Adventure Rave: Plue no Daibouken

References

1. ^ Rave Manga Licensed by Tokyopop. Anime News Network (2002-07-17). Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
2. ^ Rave Master (manga). Anime News Network. Retrieved on 2008-05-05.
3. ^ Manga in Spanish from Public Square Books. Anime News Network (2006-01-04). Retrieved on 2008-03-09.

External links

• Official Shonen Magazine Rave Master manga website (Japanese)
• Official Tokyopop Rave Master manga website
• Official TBS Rave Master anime website (Japanese)
• Official Tokyopop Rave Master anime website
• Rave Master (manga) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Rave Master (anime) at Anime News Network's Encyclopedia
• Rave Master at the Internet Movie Database
• Rave Master at TV.com