During the Pokemon Boom in mid to late 90s, there was a 3rd contender tried to carve into the market when Pokemon and Digimon are busy vying for dominance. The series is called Monster Farm or more known as Monster Rancher in the west which made a name for itself during Playstation era. While Monster Rancher only lasted for two console generation and then gradually fade into obscurity, no doubt the series leaves a legacy and some pleasant memories for the fans. During its peak fame, Monster Rancher had an animation series that running over 70 Episodes.
The premise of Monster Rancher lies somewhere in between Digimon and Pokemon where the Kid Protagonist had an isekai adventure to resurrect legendary monster in order to save the world. When i was a kid the Monster Rancher anime left a lasting impression for me even if the series didn't aired completely at the time and thus i decided to go through the series once again. At the end of the journey i settled my score and also find out the reason why the series just simply fade away.
To sum it up, Monster Rancher had really good first two season only to take nose dive at the last third season which cuts of the future prospect for the animation series. For a series aimed at Kids audience, At least for the first two seasons, Monster Rancher had really good character developments for the main casts and touching emotional moments every now and then which is a rarity for its kind. The main character Genki might be just a brat who is trying his chances a bit way too much but his determination and passion for the monsters is what wins the heart of audiences. While Monster Rancher is not particularly flashy compared to Digimon and Pokemon, the caramaderie of the main casts is not easily to be surpassed. In the end the first 48 episodes of Monster Rancher anime could have concluded the series in a high note but the Third season happens.
Then the Final season undone the effort all of the achievements of the first 48 Episodes by trying to emulate Pokemon and becoming a kid friendly copycat instead of trying to do its own things which is why the first season was memorable. The tournament itself is not the issue but the writing quality is rather horrible as it tries to mimic other works as the transition from bittersweet to noblebright just didn't work well. Biggest offender for me is some of the major supporting character from the first season only make an appearance for a single episode and the business ends there.
All in all if you want the best experience for Monster Rancher Anime, the first 48 Episodes will be sufficient 2 of the opening songs are quite good too. Personally i don't think there is an issue if Tecmo wish to make new season for Monster Rancher to reboot the series but profitability probably is the main roadblock for the endeavor.
As for the Monster Rancher game itself, i only played Game Boy Advance version and looking forward to the translated Switch port for Monster Rancher 2 which was renowned to be the best of the title.
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