Sandbox on improving the frankly updated Zatch Bell, hoping to give it a modern touch. Remember that this is a sandbox for getting things together and not a live page.
The Heroes: Main Group (Kiyo and Zatch) | Major Allies (Brago and Sherry) | Minor Allies
Thousand-Year-Old Mamodo: Thousand-Year-Old Mamodo (Zofis and Koko)
Faudo: Faudo (Zeno and Dufort)
Minor Characters: Minor Characters | Other Antagonists
Kiyo Takamine (Kiyomaro Takamine) and Zatch Bell (Gash Bell)
Kiyo Takamine (Left) and Zatch Bell (Right)
Citizenship: Japanese (Kiyo)
Hometown: Mochinoki Town
Occupation: Student (Kiyo), King (Zatch)
Power: Lightning
Other Abilities: Zatch: Baou, Mantle || Kiyo: Answer Talker
Voiced By: Kiyo: Takahiro Sakurai (JP), Jason Spisak (EN), Adolfo Moreno (SP) || Zatch: Ikue Otani (JP), Debi Derryberry (EN), Sara Vivas (SP)
- "You see, you shouldn’t ever tell anyone you’re better than they are. Because those you belittle are the very ones who will defeat you!"—Kiyo
The main duo of the series.
On Kiyo's fourteenth birthday, a naked child crashes through his window, riding an eagle with a tuna on his back (no, we're serious). Zatch Bell is an amnesiac child with a red spell book, and one of one hundred contenders in a tournament to decide the king of the demon world for the next thousand years.
Despite Zatch's small stature and shy nature, he has the heart of a hero and is empathetic towards every living person and thing. He wields the Power of Lightning, weaponized via shooting it out of his mouth. Notably, Zatch goes unconscious when he fires, initially making it very hard to aim despite its destructive power.
The main human protagonist. Kiyo is a brilliant boy, although arrogant and antisocial. When Zatch drops into his life, everything he knows changes, and his life gets a lot more exciting...
Beware of potential spoilers!
Note: English names of characters, terminologies, and spell nomenclature are used where applicable. Japanese versions will be used sparingly, particularly in parentheses, to acknowledge distinctions.
Tropes Applicable to Both
- Adapted Out:
- Because Kiyo never dies fighting Riou in the anime, he never comes back with the Answer Talker.
- The true secrets and history behind "Baou" are never covered in depth in the anime.
- Determinator: The two manage to eek out victories through sheer willpower. The only time that didn't work was against the badass wall known as Bari, which came as a shocker to them and maybe the audience.
- Giving up is about the only thing he can't do. The few battles he's ever lost were ones where he was physically unable to continue. Even when faced against the seeming invincibility of Clear Note, he refused to give up. This determination inspired the defeated Mamodo to lend him their power to finish Clear Note.
- Kiyo's own determination is matched only by Zatch in this department. After all, he's a human letting himself be kicked and blasted around by superhumanly strong Mamodo if it means staying true and letting Zatch become king. Even his own death isn't enough to stop him.
- Game Face: The picture above merely provides one of many times Kiyo and Zatch have some sharp-looking glares during combat. Bari in particular can't help but notice.
- Golden Super Mode:
- In the manga, right before they cast the Shin spell, Kiyo and Zatch turn golden.
- In the anime, Zatch's spellbook instead turns golden, powered by their collective resolve, allowing them to overpower Zeno and later obliterate Faudo whole.
- Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red Oni Zatch is the excitable, Kindhearted Simpleton to Blue Oni Kiyo's analytical and sensical nature.
Tropes for Zatch
- A Child Shall Lead Them: He's very young, but as the winner of the tournament, he's crowned king. The epilogue chapter shows him trying to get into the swing of leadership with the help of Earth, his legislator.
- All Your Powers Combined: Against Clear's final form, his book turns golden and all the defeated demons show up to lend their support, and in several cases, their spells. Saying it's awesome is an understatement.
- Amnesiac Hero: Even his name is a mystery to him at first.
- Awesome Moment of Crowning: After surviving the hellish fight against Clear Note and settling matters with Brago, Zatch wins the tournament. Once he's sent home, he crowned as the next king. He's announced as such wearing rather epic regalia.
- Badass Adorable: Most demons are, but Zatch is especially cute and, after gaining some experience, exceptionally badass.
- Berserk Button: In general, Zatch despises mamodos who gleefully abuse their power and influence on others, especially those looking to take advantage of being king.
- Beware the Nice Ones: When in the proper mood, he's a force of nature.
- Big Eater: Like most mamodo, he's more than capable of eating an animal whole, bones and all. Cooking is optional.
- Breath Weapon: Most of his spells are projected from his mouth.
- Cain and Abel: The Abel to Zeon's Cain.
- Clothes Make the Superman: While Zatch is fairly powerful on his own, he learns the secrets of his regenerating, shielding mantle late in the story.
- Curtains Match the Window: Blonde hair and gold eyes.
- Death Glare: Enough to stun the badass Bari.
- Dynamic Entry: How he's introduced to the series: Hang-gliding straight into Kiyo's bedroom window.
- Easily Impressed: Blowing his mind is a piece of cake. In one of the first episodes, Kiyo is able to captivate him with a toy make of a noodle box and chopsticks.
- Elemental Eye Colours: He has gold eyes and electric powers.
- The Good King: It's his goal to become one by winning the tournament.
- Go Through Me: Zatch takes a lot of hits to protect Kiyo. The one time Kiyo explicitly tells Zatch not to do this, Kiyo dies.
- Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: In noticeable contrast to his white-haired twin brother.
- Invincible Hero: A surprising subversion. He actually loses several times. First to Zeon (before he met Kiyo), then to Brago, then Bari, and finally Riou. It was thanks to various circumstances that the book didn't end up being burnt. And even then, the victories he does get aren't easy and Kiyo and he don't come out unscathed, heck a few time they're nearly beaten to the brink of death. They've also a number of technical losses, such as the fight against Shinichi and Eshros: Shinichi ends up with Kiyomaro's book after the clash of Guranbaison and Zakeru, but accepts his 'win' as his personal growth, casts aside Eshros, and returns their book to let them send him home.
- Keet: He's a fun-loving and exciteable child.
- Kid Hero: He's no more than 8 years old.
- Kindhearted Simpleton: He's an Easily Impressed, young, and naive Stock Shounen Hero, but everyone loves him for it.
- Kryptonite Factor: Due of the intensity of Zatch's spells, he usually passes out when performing them, making it hard to aim. Because of this Kiyo needs to be sure that Zatch is focused on his target before performing the spell. He normally does this by pointing at his target right before casting the spell.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: His brother stole his memories to make sure he suffered in the human world, constantly attacked without knowing why.
- Limit Break: Baou Zakerga tends to be the finishing move and it is quite powerful, especially in its true form. He got it from his father, King Bell.
- Magic Pants: As it turns out, his mantle actually is magic, giving it the ability to stretch to any size while also capable of self-repair. A gift from his father, the King. Zeon got it too.
- Magnetic Hero: And we don't just mean Jikerdor. Zatch's grim determination and steadfast idealism have somehow allowed him to band together (or at the least earn the favor of) various Mamodo well aware that they may have to fight each other one day, for sake of ensuring worse Mamodo don't win.
- Naked First Impression: With Kiyo.
- Naked on Arrival: Right into Kiyo's bedroom.
- Naked People Are Funny: In the manga and original version of the anime, his exhibitionist tendencies tend to be Played for Laughs.
- Oblivious to Love: Really gets him into trouble with Penny, who thinks he's trying to insult her.
- Obsessed with Food: A minor running gag in the series is Zatch mistaking names for food (e.g. Mafia=Muffin and Hallburg Castle=Hamburger Castle).
- Our Dragons Are Different: His strongest attack spell, "Baou Zakeruga", which condenses into a huge electrical dragon.
- Power Glows: His physical enhancement spell, "Rauzaruk".
- The Power of Hate: Baou Zakeruga's true power was only unlocked through Zatch's seething hatred towards Riou, for killing Kiyo.
- Also deconstructed Big Time. While Baou's true power was unlocked by Zatch's hate, it also begins to consume him and threatens his life. Indeed, this is why King Bell gave it to Zatch in the first place. His usage of Baou in the previous war turned it angry and monstrous. Zeno, who was born with the King's former rage, would be destroyed by the spell and gave it to the more kind-hearted Zatch. Indeed, Baou feeds on hate and consumes spells born from it. Zatch ends uo purifying Baou and having it rediscover its power to end hate in the first place. This is shown when it defeats Zeno's ultimate spell, which was born from his and Dufort's hatred, by consuming it, and thus taking away their hate.
- Sensor Character: Gains the ability to sense other demons after the training with Dufort.
- Shock and Awe: His primary element.
- Super Mode: Rauzaruk, the sixth spell, enhances Zatch's strength and speed exponentially for thirty seconds.At the cost of not being able to use any other spells. Thankfully Kiyo figured this out pretty quickly. The Golden Book in the final chapters, which allowed Gash/Zatch to use souped-up spells of past mamodo who were already defeated.
- Super-Strength: True of all demons, but most obvious with Zatch, who stopped Pamoon's strongest spell with his body alone.
- Took a Level in Badass: Grows far more formidable over the course of the series. Even Brago takes note during their final battle.
- Trademark Favorite Food: Yellowtail tuna.
- Unskilled, but Strong: Zatch only seems to know the basic of hand-to-hand, instead relying on dumb luck, balls-to-the-walls aggression, and just throwing his power around — in addition to his spells. Zeno even points this out in their fight, mocking he doesn't know to throw a "real" punch. Nevertheless, Zatch makes it all the way to the King's Festival in spite of that. Training with Dufort fixes this largely.
- Verbal Tic: 'Unu!' in the Japanese version. This was apparently a way of royalty speaking, started after finding out who his real family was
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Seriously, where the hell did that eagle come from?
Tropes for Kiyo
- Academic Athlete: Near the end of the series, he's athletic enough to break school records and is still the smartest around.
- Awesomeness by Analysis: With an IQ of 180, this is his own special skill. Later on, when he gains the Answer Talker, this is only amplified.
- Back from the Dead: He is in fact dead for a short period, only has his heart restarted by an emotionally broken Zatch pounding on his chest, and even that isn't enough. It also takes a lot of Saifogeos and a long dip in restorative Faudo juice before he wakes up, and his allies take a lot of damage by then.
- Big Damn Heroes: At the end of the Faudo saga, when he finally comes back.
- Brilliant, but Lazy: At the beginning of the series, he chooses not to go to school, in part due to bullying and in part because he's so smart it's a triviality. He is a serious student when he goes back though it is interpreted as lazy by one of his teachers.
- Butt-Monkey: On a lot of occasions.
- Came Back Strong: When he came back form the dead, he unlocked the Answer Talker, a strange psychic ability that allows one to answer every question. This made him much more dangerous to deal with.
- Death Glare: On par with Zatch's. Possibly the true reason they make such good partners.
- Demon Head: A Running Gag is, when Kiyo gets absolutely done with someone's shit, his head takes on the appearance of a red oni. Taken to epic levels in the final fight with Rodeaux — he was able to unnerve Zeno with that one!
- Heroic Sacrifice: Performed in the battle against Riou/Leo.
- Informed Flaw: His Jerkass / Insufferable Genius tendencies early on tend to be quite informed since his classmates were equally rude to him. And according to his father, once middle school came around and kids realised how much smarter than them Kiyo is, they shunned him.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: He's arrogant and short-tempered, but a good guy deep down.
- Loner-Turned-Friend: To just about everyone in his school. Once he comes out of his shell, he's surprisingly good at making friends.
- Nightmare Face: Gains a disturbing demonic face with fangs and horns whenever he's really enraged.
- Oblivious to Love: Both Suzume and Megumi have feelings for him. Kiyo has no clue, one of the only areas where his intelligence fails him.
- Only Sane Man: Often when faced with the antics of the rest of the group.
- Reed Richards Is Useless: Subverted, once he gains the Answer Talker power and has some downtime to ponder it, his first ideas are how he can help the rest of the world with it.
- Spared by the Adaptation: Never dies in the anime's take on the Faudo arc.
- Took a Level in Kindness: Starts out as an ill-tempered Jerkass to soon become a Jerk with a Heart of Gold. More obvious after character development. By the end of the series, he's a Nice Guy who only gets mean if angry or frustrated.
- Younger Than He Looks: He don't look like a middle school student.
