Mon Colle Knights is an action-comedy anime that can be considered a parody of various things, itself included. Based on a Collectible Card Game, the show is gag-driven for the most part and deals with two "teams" traveling to an Alternate Universe to gather six magical items that will enable them to connect their world with the Six Gates world. The lead characters, a Mad Scientist (Ichirobei Hiiragi) who recruited his daughter (Rokuna Hiiragi) and her boyfriend (Mondo Ooya) as the "Mon Colle Knights", compete with Count (Ludwig Presto Von Meinstein) Collection and his lackeys, who try to gather the items to rule the world.
By the way, there are a few episodes less upbeat and silly, which begin to pop up a little more towards the end...
After 18 years of being in Saban limbo, Discotek Media has rescue licensed
the whole series and it's streaming on Crunchyroll, but sub only. As of 12/13/21, Discotek Media has found the masters for the entire English dub, and it will be released on home video in May of 2022.
Look for these tropes in Mon Colle Knights:
- A-Cup Angst: Bacchi doesn't like comments on her form.
- Aerith and Bob: Ordinary names like Luke, Lélé and Namiko coexist with names like Rokuna and Mondo.
- Against the Setting Sun: In the Show Within a Show, Sergeant Buncho and his newly acquired friend vow while the sun sets.
- Ambiguously Gay: Prince Eccentro in the dub. However his Japanese counterpart, Count Collection is openly identified as gay.
- Anime Hair: Half the cast in one way or another.
- Assimilation Plot: Reda's goal, with himself as the center of everything.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: A hamster, in this case.
- Balance Between Good and Evil: The original version pretends this is going on at first, but eventually subverts it thoroughly. The dubbed version plays it straight all the way through.
- Beware the Silly Ones: Mondo and Rokuna's teacher Namiko Gokumare, four episodes before the final episode. She's able to take down a group of evil monsters.
- Big Eater: Beginner always eats, and faints when she does too long without something to munch.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: In the original version, each episode starts with a bit of exposition where the Narrator explains to the audience about the world. He is frequently interrupted by the characters who want to take over his job, sometimes they succeed.
- Brooding Boy, Gentle Girl: Zaha and Shiru once Zaha redeems himself and they get back together.
- Black Blood: especially in the penultimate episode, which has white and fleshy colored blood to lessen the impact of the violence.
- By the Power of Grayskull!: "With us, you can do it!"
- Calling Your Attacks: A variation: they are spells. More advanced magicians like Reda and the Elemental Angels can perform them silently.
- Card-Carrying Villain: All the villains, though Reda is the only one that fully embodies it.
- Card Games: Is there a reason for the Magic: The Gathering-looking Mon-Cards? No? Didn't think so.
- The Chessmaster: Reda maneuvers just about every side in the final episode to either do nothing or somehow help him.
- Classical Chimera: One of the many monsters under the control of Prince Eccentro, is a chimera with the head & body of a lion, with a goat & dragon head right beside it and dragon wings. It is shown to be very intelligent and loyal, being tasked by Lark to guard Zaha, which he does even after his death.
- Cloudcuckoolander: Guuko has no concept of bad things, likely since nothing bad ever happens to her.
- Color-Coded Elements: Red for fire, dark blue for wind, cyan for water, green for earth, yellow for holy and purple for demon.
- Combat Commentator: In the few cases of an arena battle, the narrator will manifest within the show.
- Combined Energy Attack: The main four elements (save opposing ones) can be combined together, and holy and demon can mix with all.
- Content Warnings: Discotek's Blu-ray of the Japanese version includes a disclaimer that it was made during a time where certain prejudices were the norm, and that they don't agree with how LGBTQ+ people are portrayed, but decided to leave the show as it was, as doing otherwise would be pretending it never happened.
- Cool House: The Hiiragi's place has that gigantic underground lab that shifts the surrounding urban area every time for takeoff. Then there's Count Collection's Supervillain Lair, which is a Big Fancy Castle complete with hangar and pool.
- Cool Old Guy: Prince Eccentro / Count Collection's mentor Tanaka / Takenaka.note
- Cue the Sun: In the cases of the storm gods, Zaha and Oroboros, the sky darkens and then lights up exactly at their defeat.
- Dance Battler: The Black Tango Cat, who can create massive fire whirlwinds by spinning.
- Dark Is Not Evil: While dark magic may be handy for mind control, using the power is as easy or difficult as with any other element. Demonic monsters like Orthros, Tiamat and eventually Zaha also have no trouble being dark and good.
- Defanged Horrors: plays with this in an episode where Count Collection gets possessed by a vampire with a matching castle; Mondo reacts with utter fear but Rokuna (the same age) isn't fazed at all.
- Dissonant Serenity: Guuko, of course. Like, all the time, even when she and the other bad guys are always losing to the heroes.
- Dub Name Change: Some characters got a variation (Guuko became Gluko) while others got an entirely new name (Salamander became Scorch The Fire Monster).
- Even Evil Has Standards: The dark monsters of the Six Gates world willingly helped the knights and the light monsters in defeating Reda.
- Evil Plan: Reda shows a rather nice one. He kidnaps Rokuna, forces Mondo to give him the Monmon items and deceives him with a rat disguised as a fake Rokuna, has the real Rokuna trapped inside Terror Dragon's neck, provides Mondo with the Sadistic Choice of destroying Terror Dragon and Rokuna with it or getting destroyed by it himself trying to save her, exiles all his allies to a void, then leaves just before Zaha arrives. Zaha and the knights confront the Terror Dragon, of which either outcome is something that helps Reda: Zaha dead, or the Terror Dragon dead and the enemy stalled long enough to start the ritual - all part of his brilliant plan to summon Oroboros to destroy everything so he can create in their place a world filled with formless souls, free of war and suffering.
- Expy: Count Dragula, huh? Subtle. While the vampire's name is not mentioned in the original, it has it's own : Sylanprivania is the area's name. Either could double as Homage.
- Fusion Dance: In almost every episode, Mondo and Rokuna do this to merge with a monster.
- Genre Savvy: Several characters; including Mondo, Rokuna, Count Collection and Reda.
- Golem: The Magma Guard was called the Bronze Golem in the original version. It is an artificial lifeform whose duty it is go guard the sealed Gremlins. To this end, he is violent, but he has a good friend in the Water Elemental. She, however, sided with the Mon Colle Knights. The golem was destroyed, but the elemental assured the knights that he would be restored by the local magic.
- Gratuitous Princess: Despite being the absolute ruler of her kingdom, the Pearl Princess is, well...a princess and not a queen. Likewise, Hanazono No Utahime doesn't really rule anything, yet the movie identifies her as a princess anyway.
- Green Aesop: More than once, the heroes are out to save the forest from wanton destruction.
- Green Thumb: Hanazono No Utahime's power is to allow plantlife to flourish, without her her valley decays.
- Hellish Pupils: played straight and subverted; good monsters can also have evil eyes.
- Here We Go Again!: In the end, Reda and Oroboros are defeated, but all the collected Monmon Items are destroyed. New ones are then scattered once again, leaving the heroes and villains exactly where they started. Though the heroes don't mind.
- Holy Hand Grenade: some holy monsters have some attack that is both shiny and destructive.
- Hope Spot: During the final four episodes, Reda seems to suffer a loss every episode only for him to pull out bigger guns.
- Incorruptible Pure Pureness: The Saint Star Dragon (a.k.a. the Golden Dragon), who appears in the finale. It is prophesied to appear when the six elements join in peace, and draws its power from all of the monsters.
- In Harmony with Nature: Almost every monster is linked to its environment. Those that aren't tend to need sealing.
- Laughably Evil: Count Collection and his minions, who only can gain anything if nobody pays attention to them. That doesn't happen often.
- Lethal Chef: Rokuna's food is treated this way, though the effects aren't always as bad as other seem to think as beginner happily discovered, the fact that the food moves still doesn't inspire confidence...
- Love Bubbles: Mondo and Rokuna do this together a lot, often to the chagrin of the surrounding characters.
- Makara: Jade Fish Makara is card MC 8-034 and its element is water. The card depicts a sea serpent with fins, an elephant trunk, and appendages that follow the outline of elephant ears. The Flavor Text implies but questions if it solely dines on marimo.
- Magic Music: Both the merboy choir and Hanazono No Utahime have this, which allows them to control water and plants.
- Merchandise-Driven: The card game featured in the animenote was aimed at an older audience, so a separate, more kid friendly card game was based on the anime.
- Minion with an F in Evil: Guuko does not even understand she is a villain, being friendly with the heroes and even willing to offer help.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Normally when Mondo and Rokuna board their ship to go to Mon World, Rokuna's father does a comical faceplant into the wall before falling dazed into his seat behind them. After Reda kidnaps Rokuna and Mondo and her father swear to rescue her, when they board the ship to begin the rescue mission, Rokuna's father does not do his usual faceplant and dazed fall, instead dropping safely into his seat with arms folded and a stern look on his face. Reda kidnapped his daughter, so now It's Personal.
- Our Elves Are Different: Mocked, our elves are deadly afraid of mud and sweat.
- Our Gods Are Different: In the original version, the Sea Giant is the god of the ocean and Coatl is the god of snakes.
- Parental Abandonment: In the original version, Rokuna's mother left cause she was bored, leaving Rokuna to tend to the household and a work obsessed dad, much of her early years were lonely. In the dub, she's still around offscreen.
- Perpetual Molt: Zaha, Reda and Shiru probably have very fast growing feathers.
- Prophetic Names: Rokuna and Mondo : Roku + Mon = Rokumon, the Sixgate.
- Proud Warrior Race Guy: The Ogres. Their strength contests are awarded by a blessing and the right to fight a monster.
- Puni Plush: Mainly with the child characters. Slightly less so with certain others such as Namiko, Bacchi, and Guuko. Not present at all with most other characters.
- Real Men Wear Pink: Chuzaemon and his cat grooming and pink tutu.
- Religious and Mythological Theme Naming: A lot of monsters are walking myths, and the characters directly involved in the fallen angel arc have hidden meanings. Zaha for example is named after the angel Zahariel.
- Sadistic Choice: Reda provides two as part of his Evil Plan:
- First, he demands that Mondo give him the Monmon items unless he wants him to kill Rokuna with his sword (which eventually turns out to be a puppet with a rat inside in disguise, with the real Rokuna being held hostage by the Terror Dragon).
- Next, he offers Mondo the even more sadistic choice of either destroying the Terror Dragon and Rokuna with it, or getting destroyed by it trying to save her. Luckily, Zaha arrives just in time to help save Rokuna and team up with the two heroes to destroy the dragon while Reda is away after Mondo's monster friends were sucked into a wormhole.
- Sealed Evil in a Can: The gremlins, Pazuzu and Bahamut (two creatures one one seal) and Coatl.
- Sea Monster: The Leviathan, the Ogopogo, the Giant Squid and the Water Dragon.
- Secret Chaser: Namiko Gokumare finds out about the existence of Mon World and wants to be part of the action. She gets her chance in the Grand Finale, where he takes down an army of monsters!
- Shoo Out the Clowns: Oddly averted. The Terrible Trio remains almost entirely out of sight of the heroes during all the drama of the finale, being deliberately shooed in the wrong direction. They end up carrying a vital plot coupon to the Big Bad and thereby more or less accidentally start the apocalypse.
- Shout-Out: During a discussion over a good line to say while leaping out of a burning car, Mondo suggests "Rats! I left my Digimon: The Movie CD in there!". The English cast worked on Digimon.
- Something about a Rose: Count Collection has a massive rose fetish. Never poses without one, and he poses a lot. He's so involved with roses that he even fails in roses, as the mushroom cloud after his ship crashes always assumes the shape of a wilting rose.
- Team Spirit: Subverted in the final episodes; Team Spirit got everyone sucked into a void and the loner saved the day.
- Threatening Shark: When trapped on an island, Mondo tries to swim to the island where his friends are. All of the sudden, numerous sharks appear out of nowhere.
- Up the Real Rabbit Hole: Guilty as charged for both teams; monsters usually call the other world "human world".
- Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: Most of the episodes are cheerful, but when Reda shows up, cartoon physics switch off and the violence gets real.
- World of Ham: In the dub, at least, and most of it is provided by Dr. Hiiragi and Prince Eccentro / Count Collection. The original version is pretty heavy on it too, at one point Mondo and Hiiragi deliberately get loud and hammy to escape eating Rokuna's food.
- World-Wrecking Wave: The Tyrant Terror Dragon's power causes reality to literary burst apart as it rewinds or pushes forward time in whatever it hits.
- Worthless Yellow Rocks: Count Collection at one point dives in a pile of riches and is disappointed he doesn't find anything he wants (namely, a Mon Mon Item).
- Yin-Yang Bomb: Reda is the first to do this by combing his power with Coatl, Zaha and Shiru do it the next episode, and in the finale the Mon Colle Knights through the Saint Star Dragon also pull it off.
