Rave Master
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Rave Master, known in Japan as RAVE (レイヴ) or Groove Adventure Rave, is an anime and manga series by Hiro Mashima. The manga, first published in Japan by Kodansha, consists of 24 issues. The anime consists of 51 episodes, which were broadcasted on TBS from October 13, 2001 to September 28, 2002. The show premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States under the title Rave Master on June 5, 2004.
TOKYOPOP publishes the anime and manga in English in the United States. Rave Master first aired on the Toonami programming block of Cartoon Network in North America, but was temporary transfered to Miguzi's Saturday evening slot until it resulted its part on Toonami.
The story begins in the year 0000 when a force known as the "Dark Bring" (Shadow Stone in the English anime) threatened the world. The current Rave Master sliced it in half with his sword, but did not know that he had not completely destroyed the Dark Bring, even though a huge explosion known as the "Overdrive" destroyed one-tenth of the world. The Holy Bring or Rave' was separated and flew to the four corners of the world.
After 50 years, Haru Glory, a teenager living on the peaceful Garage Island, is passing his time fishing. He discovers a weird creature with a small white body, small dot-like eyes, and a huge drill-like nose. He names it Shabutaro at first until he bumps into Shiba, the Rave Master who attempted the destroy the Dark Bring 50 years ago, who saw the creature and called it "Plue". Shiba explains that Plue was actually his companion and also a Rave warrior.
Soon, a member of Demon Card ("Shadow Guard" in the English anime), an organization that is attempting use Dark Bring to take over the world, finds Shiba and demands that he hand over the Rave. Shiba refuses and tries to retaliate by using the Rave's power. It fails and Shiba is shot. Shiba gives Haru the Rave and tells him to run away. Haru refuses and with Rave in his hand he punches the Demon Card member, causing an explosion. Shiba is shocked and decides Haru is actually the Rave Master's successor. Haru decides to search for the other pieces of Rave to defeat the Dark Bring which has scattered from the original stone for the past 50 years. Haru confronts many other warriors with Dark Bring and destroys them, collecting Rave Stones at the same time.
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Decaforce
In Rave Master, The Ten Powers (The Decaforce in the English anime, alternatively translated as the Ten Commandments or "TCM" for short), is a huge sword originally owned by Shiba, the first generation Rave Master; it was given to Haru Glory when he was chosen by the Rave to become the 2nd Generation Rave Master. The Ten Powers was made with a special slot to hold the Rave or the "Holy Bring/stone". It was broken once by Shuda and reforged by a master blacksmith, its original maker actually; Galen Musica; in Punk Street. The Ten Powers is said to have ten forms including its original state when attached with the Rave.
- Eisenmeteor - An ordinary steel sword and the normal form it is usually found in. It has the ability to diffuse magic and is useful in fights due to its weight and size.
- Explosion - A sword with no proper cutting edge but creates a powerful explosion on contact with the enemy. Haru's first sword gained from Rave and his most commonly used.
- Sifilion/Silfarion, the sonic sword - This sword causes the Rave Master to become extremely light, granting great speed and the ability to create blades of air for long ranged attacks. The Sifilion can also be used with the Explosion to create a special attacked named "Bombing Dive" which fires explosive blades at the enemy. To make up for its advantages, the Sifilion is relatively weak as a melee weapon and is no more than a normal sword for attacking.
- Runesave, the sealing sword - This sword cannot cut anything physical but can cut and seal things without a tangible form like lightning, fire and smoke. It is used by Haru to seal Elie's Ethelion.
- Blue Crimson, the twin sword - the Ten Powers splits into two blades with one having the properties of fire and the other having the properties of ice.
- Melforce, the vacuum sword - The sword of air, this form allows the user to fire powerful bursts of air at the enemy to blow them away and paralyzes them. Originally used by King and adapted by Haru, it is frequently used for long range attacks.
- Gravity Core - The heaviest of the 10 forms, the gravity core pulls the gravity in the surrounding area down which allows the user to remain stable and fight under unusual circumstances, such as underwater.
- Million Suns - A sword whose blade is composed purely of Light, the holy light generally blinds Haru's opponents and dispells darkness. Used by Haru to defeat Pumpkin Doryu and diable the power of his DarkBring.
- Sacrifar - The most powerful of all the forms up til now, the sacrifar provides the user with great power but in exchange the user will be consumed by the sword and eventually lose himself.
So far only nine of the ten forms have been revealed and more information will be released later when available.
Cast
Heroes
- Haru Glory: The current Rave Master.
- Elie: A girl with no memories, she first met Haru at the dog races where she was betting on Plue. She ends up joining them after Haru saves her. She fought with Tonfa-stle guns that have a explosive effect. But Ellie soon learn her true name is Experiment #3173, and that she was modeled after Resha Valentine, the genius girl who supposedly gave her life using the power of Etherion in her create the Rave and the Ravestones. (The Rave's names are dirivitives of Resha's name; the first and last letters of her name.) Elie had possed Etherion, though she can't control it, so it was sealed by Haru to prevent it from destroying the world. Later they find out that ELIE 3173 are the coordinates of a place where she can gain her memory.
- Hedara Musica (Harmolio Musica in Japan): The leader of a band of infamous thieves known as the Silver-Rhythm gang. Musica is a Silver Claimer, able to manipulate anything silver into any form he wants it to be. He became Haru's good and strongest friend, helping him in his search for the Rave Stones, while searching for the Silver Ray.
- Plue: The strange creature that Haru discovered, Plue is the Rave Bearer, and is able to sense the presence of the other Rave Stones. He's quite fond of sweets - especially lollipops. But he hates pudding.
- Griffon Kato: Called Griff by his friends, he mostly praises Plue. The reason was some months before he met Haru, Plue ended up on Griff's island home. It was under attack by the Puddingheads. Plue defeated the villians in what seemed a noble scarifice. But if it happened or not, Griff declared himself as Plue's follower as a result.
- Gale Glory: Haru's father, he and King set up the Shadow Guard to protect the people. But Gale left when he was not fond of the direction the organization was going. He tried to stop King, but it ended horrible with King's family slaughtered. Gale felt the fury of his former friend's rage when his face was scarred and his wife killed before his eyes before the Ultimate Shadow Stone was placed inside his body. He later reappeared and helped his son defeat King, and eventually sacrificed his life to save Haru for the tower's collapse.
- Jade
- Shiba: The previous and first RaveMaster
- Knights of the blue Sky:The knights who protect the rave stones
Demon Card (Shadow Guard)
In the Japanese version, the group was to be call the "Demon Guard", but a misspelling of the banner renamed them "Demon Card". The most powerful members use the Dark Bring (Shadow Stones in the English anime).
- King/Gale Raregrove: A old friend of Gale Glory, the two set up Demon Card. But soon after Glory left, Raregroove fell under the Dark Brings' power and turned the Demon Card into a terrorist group. It was only when his family was indirectly killed by Glory's intent to stop him that King swore the ultimate revenge: Killing Glory's wife and placing into his ex-friend's body the item that would become the ultimate Dark Bring, the End of the World ('End of Earth') which would cause another Overdrive. King would later bring Gale out to the open so that Enclaim would complete the Dark Bring. King wielded a parody of the Ten Powers sword as his own weapon, a Dark Bring called "Decalogue" and used two of his other four Dark Brings, Black Zenith and Gate to fight the Glorys. But when Haru obtained the Rave of Combat and destroyed the villian's weapon, King sacrificed his own humanity by surrendering his very being to another of his Dark Bring, Monster Prison, which fused unto his chest as his new source of life. But despite his defeat, King's true intention was to do what he never was able to do before: destroy the organization he created by using his last DarkBring, Warp Gate, to teleport the unstable new ultimate Dark Bring into the base. With that done, he destoryed Monster-Prison to kill himself, and made his final peace with Gale before succumbing to death.
- Oracion Six (The Top 6 generals in the Shadow Guard):
- Shuda (Shūda): Former member of the Oracion Six, fought Haru and lost his hand.
- Reina: A Silver Claimer like Musica; her Dark Bring is called White Kiss and it grants her the power of creation. Reina often uses it to form silver for her attacks. She also searchs for the Silver Ray. (Note: Her name comes from the spanish word "reina", which means "queen", because she was always by King's side.)
- Jegan: He owns a wild dragon named Julia, whose intimate love he once vied for some time earlier. Because of it, he bears a wicked grudge against Let, and vise-versa, because he too had special feeling for Julia before she became a wild dragon. He is a member of the Dragon Race, and the younger brother of the Imperial General Jeid. He uses the Dark Bring Yggdrasil.
- Berial: A demon lord, he uses the Dark Bring The Earth. A four-eyed demonic bat named Boi Boi often sits on his shoulder
- Iulius: He fights with the ice Dark Bring Amure D'Etoile. He has an unhealthy obsession with his "beauty".
- Haja: also known as Haja the Infinite, he is considered to be the second strongest High Mage in the world.
Doryu Ghost Squad (Rave Sqaud)
When the Demon Card disbanded, several smaller groups emerged to take the top spot in the underworld. One of the three most prominent was the Doryu Ghost Squad. They become Haru's new nemesis while on his way to Symphony.
- Lucia Raregrove: The "Blond Demon", Shadow Master. The son of King who was originally thought to have been dead. But in reality, was keep in a high-security prison until he escape. He possess Sinclare, the most powerful of the Dark Bring.
- Pumpkin Doryu: The founder of the Ghost Sqaud and holder of its top position. He holds one of the five True Dark Brings, pieces of Sinclaire itself with powers greater than the ordinary DB. His Dark Bring Vampire gives him complete control over the forces of gravity and repulsion which lets him, at the most extreme, pull physical matter into darkness (which he did to Musica).
- Billy: A frankenstien-ish member of the Doryu Ghost Squad. He wields a Dark Bring called Giant which allows him to enlarge his arms at will.
- Lilith: A presumably young woman with a slight resemblence to Medusa. Her Dark Bring North Wind enables her to manipulate, as well as become physically one with, the wind. It also allows her to breath in and move freely through large bodies of water.
- Mummy: A corrupt scientist with an affinity for werewolves, he created a breed of bipedal wolves with three eyes and machine guns imbued into their right arms. Mummy also turned the defeated Musica into a powerful lycanthropic creature and sent the beast against the Rave warriors, but Haru returned Musica to his normal state. Mummy also possessed a reversal dark bring, Bone Knight (a dark bring that throws away the wielder's soul to transform them, similar to King's Monster Prison).
Others
- Sieghart: A Defender of time. Helps Haru in his quest, but before was out to kill Elie.
- Let: A member of the Dragon Race, he was one of the Tower of Din's five palace guards. But he resigned to due his moral code after facing Haru and is a member of his group.
- Cattleya Glory: Haru's sister. She is reluctant to let Haru leave Garage Island. She is the self-proclaimed "Queen of "Karaoke".
- Sakura Glory: Haru's mother and Gale's wife, she was killed by King as part of his revenge against her husband.
- Galein Musica: Musica's grandfather and the blacksmith who created the Decaforce Sword.
Voice actors
Selected voice actors and seiyu for Rave Master include:
- Steven Blum - English voice actor for Shiba(young)
- Crispin Freeman - Enlish voice actor for Shuda and Seig Hart
- Tom Kenny - English voice actor of Griffon Kato
- Tessho Genda - Japanese voice of King/Gale Rareglove
- Ayako Kawasumi - Japanese voice of Elie
- Masami Kikuchi - Japanese voice actor of Sieg Hart
- Shotaro Morikubo - Japanese voice actor of Musica
- Tomokazu Seki - Japanese voice actor of Haru
- Toshihiko Seki - Japanese voice of Shuda
External links
- Seekthestones.com (http://www.seekthestones.com/) - A website by TOKYOPOP about a contest related to Rave Master.
- RavExtreme (http://www.geocities.com/haruluvelie) - A fan site with a dictionary of Rave Master terms and characters.ja:RAVE (漫画)