Zatch Bell! doesn’t get brought up much when talking about anime from the 2000s, and that grossly downplays how good an anime it was. Between the great writing and animation that make an otherwise simplistic premise feel as strong and engaging as possible, Zatch Bell! was one of the best anime running in the 2000s and can be seen as being just as good as Naruto and One Piece, if not better. It’s fallen well into obscurity over the years, but it’s still an anime that anyone looking for a good shonen anime should check out.

Zatch Bell Is The Criminally Underrated Masterpiece You Didn’t Know You Needed

Why You Should Watch Zatch Bell!

A big part of why Zatch Bell! can be seen as an underrated masterpiece stems, of course, from its stellar action. Befitting its nature as a story about demons and magic, every battle in Zatch Bell! has an incredible variety of magical abilities for the characters, with there even being a definitive nomenclature to add an extra layer of rules to the magic that’s rarely directly acknowledged, but still made easy enough to figure out. The action is always equal parts creative and developed, and because of that, it’s always fun to watch.

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Further emphasizing the great action is the art and animation that often accompanies it. While Zatch Bell! didn’t always have the best visuals, as was common with many longrunning anime of the 2000s, whenever there was time for the staff to fully put their talents toward an episode, Zatch Bell! would have plenty of great line work and animation to help make the bombastic spells and overall action stand out as much as possible. Whenever Zatch Bell! looked good, it was one of the best-looking anime around, and that still hasn’t changed 20 years after the fact.

Zatch Bell’s Fresh Plot & Characters Helped It Stand Out In A Time When Shonen Was Bigger Than Ever

Zatch Bell! Has One Of The Best Casts In Anime & Manga

The biggest selling points of Zatch Bell!, however, were its characters and overall plot. While the plot of characters fighting each other in a world-spanning conflict for a grand prize of some sort is fairly standard, thanks to how much the story commits to changing up the countries people travel to and the nationalities of both the heroes and the villains, Zatch Bell!’s plot is always executed in a way that gets the most out of its somewhat standard premise. Those aspects always keep the plot from feeling too dull, and every new development is great to see.

The characters of Zatch Bell! are also a big part of why the series is so good. In addition to always having great character designs for the humans and demons, Zatch Bell! always succeeds at making its characters work in both serious and comedic scenarios, especially with how masterfully both tend to come out in largely serious battles without ever feeling too out of place. That balance of comedy and drama always makes the characters shine, and it perfectly encapsulates why the writing in Zatch Bell! is so good.

What best sells Zatch Bell!’s characters is the genuine heart surrounding their writing. Zatch Bell!’s magic system is one based around strength of heart and the bond between the humans and demons, and because of that, Zatch Bell!’s characters are always written to be emotional and dynamic characters who add a far stronger emotional core to the story, something that’s especially true of the relationship between Zatch and Kiyomaro. Zatch Bell! has always been great at selling the emotional weight of its story, and sure enough, it’s still great to watch, because of it.

Zatch Bell Was An Incredible Show… Which Makes Its Untimely Ending All The More Tragic

How Zatch Bell Came To An End