When Tomy re-introduced Zoids in late 1999, they didn't just run the kits through the molds again in new color schemes...oh no. This time, they brought Zoids back with modern media support in the form of a brand new animated series!

As I have said before, there has always been a back story for Zoids in Japan. Unfortunately, that backstory was limited exclusively to Japan. Yes, the European Zoids got their own history that was quite different than the Japanese version...much like the Micronauts comics were different than the Microman story in Japan, I guess. Here in the US, Zoids never got the full story treatment, but were remanded to the "make up your own adventure" sector. Which was fine with me at the time. For years, I never knew any better, and my Zoids served alongside my Hot Wheels cars and 1/72 scale aircraft models fighting all kinds of bizarre battles that only a demented American youth bent on world conquest could dream up. But I digress...

For the new release of Zoids, Tomy decided to follow through with their backstory and give it new dimension with a comics series and animated show. The first Zoids anime takes place several years after the "original" Helic/Zenebas (later Helic/Guylos) conflict written about on the backs of Zoids packages and in the myriad Zoid Fan books of the 80s (aka, Battle Story). The stories seem solid and flow quite well...very similar to other fine anime series that have come before.

The first series has two parts, centering on the adventures of Ban, his Organoid Zeeg, and the mysterious girl Feene. Part one takes place when Ban is around 14 or so. Part two, called "Zoids Guardian Force" takes place a few years later...Ban is about 18, and the Helic/Guylos conflict has taken a new turn. Many characters from the first series return for the second series to face all-new action and intrigue. This is my favorite among the Zoids anime, because the story has a grand, sweeping feel to it. Both of these two parts were combined and run under the Chaotic Century banner here in the US (the first episode had the title "Classic Zoids", but they wisely dropped the "Classic" from the title for subsequent episodes), with some minor adjustments to some of the character names. However, they were run AFTER Zoids New Century Zero had made its run, but I'm getting ahead of myself...

The second major Zoids anime is Zoids Shinseiki/0, or Zoids New Century Zero. ZNCO centers around the adventures of Bit Cloud and the Blitz Team as they battle other Zoid teams on their way to compete in the Royal Cup tournament. ZNCO was the first dubbed Zoids series picked up by Cartoon Network. Why it was run first, despite that fact that it occurs long after (hundreds, perhaps thousands of years after) the events of Chaotic Century, I dunno. My guess is Hasbro felt it was more marketable than Chaotic Century. Regardless, it threw me for a loop when I started geting questions about it, and I hadn't seen anything but the CC/GF series. While I don't like it as much as I do CC, it's still a lot of fun to watch, and funny as hell at times.

The third Zoids anime is Fuzors, and it sucks. It supposedly takes place many years after the events of New Century Zero. I tried to like it, I really did, but it was just so sucktastic I couldn't bring myself to give two shites about it. Watching it was akin to running a styptic pen deep into a puncture wound in my eyeball. And that's all I'll say about that.

The fourth Zoids anime is Genesis, and...I have yet to see it. Word I hear among the fans who have seen the fansubbed version say it's pretty cool. It's set many MANY years after the events of Fuzors, after a natural disaster has made a major change to life on planet Zi.

Initial reception here in the States to Zoids anime was red hot. That cooled pretty rapidly once Fuzors hit and quietly puttered to a conclusion. I have no clue whether we will end up getting Genesis, but I'd guess it's just a matter of time before it's dubbed and Hasbro tries to make a go at it domestically again.

Character Profiles & Other Stuff

Below you'll find links to my character profiles for the Zoids animes Chaotic Century, Guardian Force, and New Century Zero. I'm not going to guarantee that everything on these pages is 100% correct, but I try to be as accurate as possible. So, if you think there is something I've misinterpreted, or know of a real blatant error on my part, please feel free to let me know.

Zoids Chaotic Century Character Profiles

Zoids Guardian Force Character Profiles

Zoids New Century Zero (dubbed version) Character Profiles

Please visit our partner site for developing a strong database on the US dubbed versions of the various Zoids anime series. Scope out Anime Admirers. Lots more good info here!