Bakugan: Battle Planet
A reboot of the Bakugan franchise with new brawlers and adventures.
Bakugan: Battle Planet is an anime television series that serves as a reboot of the 2007–2008 series Bakugan Battle Brawlers. Produced by Nelvana, Spin Master Entertainment, and TMS Entertainment, and edited by Man of Action Entertainment, it premiered in North America in December 2018 on Teletoon in Canada and Cartoon Network in the United States, with a Japanese debut in April 2019. The series launched a franchise revival that spanned multiple seasons and a subsequent reboot in 2023.
Quick Facts
- Creator
- Spin Master, Sega Toys
- Director
- Kazuya Ichikawa (S1–S2), Hideki Okamoto (S3–S5)
- Country
- Japan, Canada
- Language
- Japanese, English
- Seasons
- 5
- Editor
- Man of Action
- Runtime
- 22–23 minutes
- Company
- Nelvana
- Spin Master Entertainment
- TMS Entertainment
Facts from the source article.
Plot
The story centers on a group of preteens: Dan Kouzo, Shun Kazami, Wynton Styles, Lia Venegas, and their dog Lightning. They call themselves the "Awesome Ones," later the "Awesome Brawlers," and post videos on ViewTube. They discover biomechanical creatures called Bakugan that battle each other. After befriending these creatures, they start battling one another and protect their neighborhood from criminals who misuse Bakugan. Their enemies include Philomena Dusk and a mysterious rival named Magnus, who is determined to defeat Dan and become the top brawler. The group meets Philomena's brother, billionaire Benton Dusk, who finds an underground realm he names "The Maze," where Bakugan become stronger. A Bakugan hunter called Strata captures several Bakugan, but one named Phaedrus escapes and alerts the Awesome Ones. They enter the Maze to rescue the captured Bakugan but end up lost deeper inside. There, they face an evil Bakugan named Tiko. Drago and the others discover a powerful object called the Core Cell and try to keep it from Tiko. When the V Virus injures Drago, he and Dan retreat into the Core Cell, and Tiko follows. Inside, Drago heals and undergoes a Bakugan Evolution, becoming Hyper Drago, and defeats Tiko. The Awesome Ones escape the Maze. Later, they learn that Magnus works with Philomena and other former rivals as part of AAAnimus' publicity team, The Exit. The Awesome Ones gradually learn to evolve their Bakugan without the Core Cell and defeat The Exit, who are then fired. AAAnimus finds more Core Cells in the Maze and extracts one, using it to control the Awesome Ones' main Bakugan. Benton devises a plan: they infiltrate AAAnimus headquarters, Benton shuts down their network, and the Awesome Ones defeat Philomena. Benton announces his intention to make all Core Cells open-source, launching the group on a global adventure. But Tiko survived his earlier defeat and is plotting something new.
Characters
Dan Kouzo, voiced by Rie Takahashi in Japanese and Jonah Wineberg in English, is optimistic, forthcoming, and intense, sometimes overconfident, and goes on his knees when he loses a battle. Wynton Styles, voiced by Jun Fukushima in Japanese and Deven Mack in English, is highly intelligent for his age, able to make his own devices such as a Core Cell Tracker. Lia Venegas, voiced by Chinatsu Akasaki in Japanese and Margarita Valderrama in English, is a caring and eccentric brawler who often carries a camera to document Bakugan discoveries, partly because her mother is a news reporter; she is confident but never arrogant. Shun Kazami, voiced by Yumi Uchiyama in Japanese and Ticoon Kim (season 1) and Jaimee Joe Gonzaga (seasons 2–5) in English, is reserved, calm, and thoughtful, considering potential consequences such as whether giving the Core Cell's energy worldwide is wise. Lightning, voiced by Aki Kanada in Japanese and Will Bowes in English, has white fur with brown parts, including brown ears, patches, eyes, a heart-like symbol on his side, and a small brown tail. Benton Dusk, voiced by Shin-ichiro Miki in Japanese and Will Bowes in English, is an enigmatic billionaire. Magnus Black, voiced by Shohei Kajikawa in Japanese and Julius Cho in English, has a dark personality, is normally quiet, and gets angry easily if annoyed by constant talking; he dislikes being around others due to shame in his past. China Riot, voiced by Mei Shibata in Japanese and Josette Jorge in English, is vicious and witty in battle, but outside battle she is cheeky, arrogant, spoiled, bossy, and lazy. Tiko is voiced by Junichi Yanagita in Japanese and Rob Tinkler in English. Colonel Tripp also appears.
Development
The Bakugan franchise was first hinted at returning in late 2015 during a Spin Master investor presentation. Few details emerged until November 2017, when the company announced a new series planned for a 2018/2019 release. Shortly after, Spin Master trademarked the name "Bakugan Battle Planet." In January 2018, Corus Entertainment confirmed that its Nelvana division would once again partner with TMS Entertainment to produce the animated series. Spin Master also filed patent infringement lawsuits against Alpha Group, GuangZhou Lingdong Creative Culture Technology, and Mattel, claiming their Screechers Wild, Monster Hunter, and Mecard toylines violated Bakugan patents. Co-CEO Ronnen Harary stated the brand would be relaunched globally in 2019. In March 2018, Harary explained that the new series would use an eleven-minute episode format at Cartoon Network's request, as the network believed the original 22-minute episodes would not appeal to today's children; more comedic elements were also added. A promotional image surfaced in June 2018 through another investor document. Spin Master officially announced Bakugan Battle Planet on October 9, 2018, confirming Cartoon Network would broadcast it in the US, Europe, MENA territories, Latin America, Australia, and New Zealand, while Teletoon would air it in Canada. Cartoon Network Enterprises became the licensing agent outside Asia, TMS handled Asian distribution, and Takara Tomy managed the toyline. On October 16, 2019, a second season called Bakugan: Armored Alliance was announced, premiering in 2020.
Media
Bakugan: Battle Planet came together as a joint effort between Canadian firms Nelvana Enterprises and Spin Master Entertainment, with Japanese studio TMS Entertainment handling the animation and Studio Hibari lending a hand. Kazuya Ichikawa took on directing duties, while Kazuhiko Inukai and Man of Action Studios served as story editors. Most episode scripts came out of Japan, though American writers chipped in from time to time. The first season ran 100 episodes, each eleven minutes long, and was also packaged into 50 twenty-two-minute segments. In the United States, the show first aired on Cartoon Network on December 23, 2018, with the initial 20 episodes popping up on the channel’s video-on-demand services a few days earlier. A five-day linear premiere event followed, and the series settled into its regular time slot on January 12, 2019. Canada saw its debut on Teletoon on December 31, 2018, using the same five-day stunt before moving to its regular slot on January 12, 2019; reruns started on sister channel YTV on the 11th. The United Kingdom got its first look on Cartoon Network on March 23, 2019, with a free-to-air run on Pop beginning September 2. Australia’s pay-TV premiere happened on Cartoon Network on April 6, 2019, and a terrestrial broadcast on 9Go! kicked off on July 14. Japan’s launch came on April 1, 2019, via TV Tokyo and other TX Network stations. HiHi Jets performed both the opening theme “Jounetsu Jamboree” and the ending theme “Be my story,” while Yasuharu Takanashi composed a completely different score for the Japanese version. Spin Master also put out a series of animated web-shorts called Bakugan: Beyond the Brawl on YouTube, which showed the Bakugan creatures in funny situations. A new tabletop game, co-designed by Justin Gary, mixed the classic transforming Bakugan marbles with a full trading card game and hit stores in Canada and the United States in January 2019. The Bakugan Battle Hub app, offering character profiles, videos, and a stripped-down version of the tabletop game, launched for iOS and Android in December 2018.
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