The Medabots anime series was adapted from the original 1997 video game, with its robotic combat elements inspired by Plawres Sanshiro. Produced by Bee Train, the fifty-two episode series originally aired on TV Tokyo from July 2, 1999, until June 30, 2000. A thirty-nine episode sequel to the anime series that was produced by Production I.G, Medarot Damashii aired from September 19, 2003 through March 7, 2004. Both the series are licensed by Nelvana. The Nelvana English dubbed version of Medabots aired on the Fox Kids network from September 1, 2001 through November 2, 2002 and was one of the channel's highest rated new series at the time. Medarot Damashii followed a year later, airing from September 13, 2003 until March 7, 2004.
Contents
In 2007, Shout! Factory announced that they will be releasing the first two seasons of Medabots to Region 1 DVD, containing the English dub only. The Japanese version has received a VHS and DVD release of the first series, while Medabots Souls has only received a VHS release. On January 29, 2010, a Region 2 boxset release known as MEDAROT DVD BOX 1 was released containing the first thirty episodes, with a second boxset on February 19 finishing with the last twenty-two episodes. Two boxsets for Medabots Souls were released on December 30, 2010. This was Souls very first DVD release.
Season 1
Season one has 26 episodes that were aired over a period of eight months on Fox Kids. Some episodes from the original Japanese airing were missing, although they were included in season two.
Season 2
The second season of Medabots consisted of 26 episodes which aired over a period of five months. The first 13 episodes, which were omitted in the first season, were included in season two out of chronological order. The series then resume from the final episode of season one.
Medabot Spirit
For Medabot Spirit, the series changed companies from Bee Train to Production I.G. In addition to this change, Mr. Referee, Koji, Sumilidon, Karen, Neutranurse, Rokusho, Rintaro, Henry, and the Rubberobo gang in its entirety do not appear in season three.
Region 1 (North America)
Medabots was first released in North America by ADV Films as 12 separate volumes covering all first 52 episodes on DVD and VHS. Later, Shout! Factory released a DVD boxset covering the first 26 episodes called 'Medabots: The Complete First Season'.