Redakai: Conquer the Kairu is an entertainment and gaming property created by Spin Master and Takara Japan. It featured an animated TV show produced by Marathon Media and Spin Master, in association with Canal J, Gulli, and YTV, with the participation of Le Centre National de La Cinematographie, Telefilm Canada, The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, The Ontario Film and Television Tax Credits, and The Government of Quebec: Film and Television Tax Credit, Geston SODEC (despite not being produced in Quebec) and directed and designed by Stephane Berry (Totally Spies!, Martin Mystery), which aired on Cartoon Network on July 16, 2011. The Redakai Trading Card Game was released in August 2011, featuring clear, plastic cards.
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Trading Card Game
The game of Redakai has two sets of rules, a set of "Basic rules" which plays much like a simple card game where the top card of a deck is flipped face-up to compare powers and another set of rules that utilize the full text on the cards. The cards are made of plastic instead of paper and use a system where several parts of the cards are clear to allow portions of the cards behind them to be revealed, much like the Wizards of the Coast game Hecatomb. The cards also use images created with lenticular printing.
There are three types of cards: Characters, Monsters, and Attacks. Each player starts the game with three Characters. A player plays monsters on their own characters to change their abilities and defenses and play attacks on top of their opponent's characters in order to damage them. When the three yellow "health bars" on a character are filled in red, that character is knocked out. One must "KO" all three opposing characters to win the game. The game's power source, "Kairu", is how the cards are played in the full game.
The card game was released to hobby stores in June 2011 and saw a general release in August of that same year.
Television Series
The 52 episode Redakai: Conquer the Kairu animated series produced by Marathon Media and Spin Master, in association with Canal J, Gulli, and YTV, with the participation of Le Centre National de La Cinematographie, Telefilm Canada, The Canadian Film or Video Production Tax Credit, The Ontario Film and Television Tax Credits, and The Government of Quebec: Film and Television Tax Credit, Geston SODEC (despite not being produced in Quebec) and directed and designed by Stephane Berry debuted on Cartoon Network on July 16. The series focuses on a 15-year-old student of ancient martial arts, named Ky, who embarks on a quest to find the Kairu, a primordial alien energy source. Aided by his friends Maya and Boomer, Ky travels the world searching for the Kairu, while attempting to make sure that his extraterrestrial teenage adversaries don’t find it first.
Comic Book Series
Three issues of Redakai: Conquer the Kairu were created by Spin Master and released digitally on Comixology in 2012. The books were written by Shannon Eric Denton and Rob M. Worley with art by J.B. Bastos. They introduced a new character named Ekayon.