Rave Master Introduction

Rave Master (レイヴ Reivu?, romanized as RAVE and known as The Groove Adventure RAVE in Japan), is a manga series written and illustrated by Hiro Mashima. The manga was serialized in Shōnen Magazine from July 1999 through July 2005, and published in thirty-five tankōbon by Kodansha. The manga series was licensed for an English release in North America by Tokyopop until Kodansha allowed their contract to expire. Del Rey Manga announced on September 26, 2009, at their New York Anime Festival panel, that it had acquired the rights toRave Master with a release date in September 2010. Kodansha Comics USA will keep publishing the series in 2011.

The series was adapted into a fifty-one episode anime series by Studio Deen. The anime premiered on TBS on October 13, 2001 and ran until September 28, 2002. The anime series is based on the first twelve volumes of the manga series. Tokyopop also licensed the anime adaptation. The English dubbed version premiered on Cartoon Network in the United States on June 5, 2004 as part of the Toonami programming block, and re-broadcast on Syfy in 2009.

Rave Master

First volume of Rave, released in Japan on November 17, 1999

レイヴ

(Rave)

Genre        Action, Adventure, Comedy, Science fantasy, Romance

Manga

Written by  Hiro Mashima

Published by      Kodansha

English publisher         Kodansha Comics USA

Demographic      Shōnen

Magazine  Shōnen Magazine

Original run         1999 – 2005

Volumes    35 (List of volumes)

TV anime

Directed by         Takashi Watanabe

Studio        Studio Deen

Licensed by        Tokyopop

Network     TBS

English network  Cartoon Network, Syfy

Original run         October 13, 2001 – September 28, 2002

Episodes   51 (List of episodes)

Game

Rave Master

Developer Konami

Publisher   Konami

Genre        Action/Fighting

Platform     Nintendo GameCube

Released   March 1, 2002

Game

Groove Adventure Rave

Developer Konami

Publisher   Konami

Genre        Action/Fighting

Platform     Game Boy Advance

Released   March 2, 2002

Game

Groove Adventure Rave 2

Developer Konami

Publisher   Konami

Genre        Action/Fighting

Platform     Game Boy Advance

Released   September 26, 2002

Anime and Manga Portal

Plot

Plot

In 0015, the world is corrupted by Dark Bring, dark stones that bestowed powerful magic to their owners. The Dark Bring are used by the Raregroove Kingdom, and the Symphonia Kingdom fight against them with their Rave Stones. Shiba Roses, the first Rave Master, attempts to destroy Sinclaire, the "mother" of the Dark Bring, with the Ten Commandments Sword. However, the aftermath causes a massive explosion known as "Overdrive", destroying one-tenth of the known world. Shiba, protected from the disaster by Plue, a special guardian "dog" who shielded him from the blast, holds onto the RAVE required to power his sword. Plue and the five remaining fragments of RAVE, however, get scattered around the world.

Fifty years later, 16 year old Haru Glory lives on the peaceful Garage Island with his sister Cattleya. Haru accidentally fishes Plue up. Shiba arrives and his desire to reclaim Plue, but a group of terrorists from the Demon Card organization appear and destroy Haru's house. Shiba tells Haru that he is the second Rave Master, entrusting the Ten Commandments sword, Plue and his Rave to him. Seeking revenge on Demon Card, Haru and Plue set off on a journey to find the missing Rave stones. Upon arriving at Hip Hop Island, Haru befriends a girl named Elie, who has no recollections of her past. During their journey, Haru encounter enemies from Demon Card who eventually becomes his allies, including Shuda and Sieg Hart. Haru later meets a diverse group of allies, including Hamrio Musica, grandson of a local blacksmith; Let Dahaka and Julia, two who appear human but are in fact of the Dragon Race; Griffon Kato, a strange blue creature and Plue's friend; Ruby, a penguin and a casino owner; Belnika, a mage who can control the substance Etherion; and Niebel, Sieg's close friend. He also encounters Gale "King" Raregroove, the king of the Raregroove Kingdom. After a battle on the Tower of Din, Haru's father Gale Glory sacrifices himself to save his son by defeating King.

Some time later, King's son Lucia Raregroove appears and captures Elie, but Haru saves her. To surpass Shiba as the next Rave Master, Haru is forced to kill him in battle. After being sent back in time to 0016, Haru and the others learn of Elie's past: originally named Resha Valentine, she creates the Rave Stones from Etherion to help end the war. She fakes her death by cutting her hair and gaining a new identity as Elie. After she offers Haru to return to Garage Island with her, Haru accepts. Haru kills Lucia and confronts Endless, a magical form of the Dark Brings. Haru and Elie eventually destroy Endless. However, Haru ends up getting sucked into Overdrive and disappears, and Elie's memories are erased once again. One year later, Elie and the others visit Haru's grave, where she regains her memories. Haru returns and reunites with the Rave Warriors. The warriors go their separate ways, and Haru and Elie return to Garage Island to live together.

Development

Hiro Mashima created Rave Master with the idea of travelling around the world. Composed of thirty-five volumes, Mashima comments that although it was sometimes difficult to think of how to develop the storyline, he still remembers enjoying the making of Rave Master. Still he regards that the series' end was "a little sentimental, a little sad." In both Rave Master and his other manga Fairy Tail, Mashima wants to make justice prevail but also make readers understand the villains' reasons to fight the main character in order to make them more complex characters.

Media

Manga

Rave Master was serialized in Weekly Shōnen Magazine in 1999 and ran for 296 chapters until its conclusion in 2005. It was published in thirty-five collected volumes by Kodansha, with the first volume released in November 1999 and the final volume released in September 2005. Rave Master was licensed for an English release in North America by Tokyopop, which released 32 volumes of the series.[4] On August 31, 2009, Tokyopop announced that they would not be completing the series as their licenses with Kodansha expired and Kodansha required that they immediately stop publication of all previously licensed series, including Rave Master.[5] The next month, it was announced that Del Rey Manga had acquired the license and would begin publishing the remaining volumes in 2010.[6] The last three volumes were published in a single omnibus volume. Del Rey has not announced plans to re-release earlier volumes.

The series is licensed for regional language releases in French by Glenat, in Spanish by Norma Editorial, and in Italian by Editions Star Comics. Egmont Manga & Anime licensed Rave Master for a German release, including serializing it in their monthly anthology Manga Power. Rave Master was also one of the first manga series released in Spanish in North America byPublic Square Books.

Anime

The series was adapted into a fifty-one episode anime series, entitled Rave: the Groove Adventure, by Studio Deen. The anime premiered on TBS on October 13, 2001 and ran until September 28, 2002. The anime series is based on the first twelve volumes of the manga series. Tokyopop licensed the series for release and broadcast in North America. As with the manga, Tokyopop released the series under the name Rave Master. Tokyopop edited the series for content and length, contracted Studiopolis to dub the anime into English, and contracted Glenn Scott Lacey to compose an alternate musical score.

The English dubbed version aired on Cartoon Network in the United States, premiering in June 2004, as part of the Toonami programming block. Syfy had begun airing the dubbed episodes on March 16, 2009 as part of its "Ani-Monday" programming block and finished on September 21, 2009.

Video games

There are six video games based on Rave Master. The games are; Groove Adventure Rave, Groove Adventure Rave: Mikan no Hiseki, and Groove Adventure Rave: Plue no Daibouken were released on the PlayStation. Groove Adventure Rave, and Rave Master: Special Attack Force! (Groove Adventure Rave: Hikari to Yami no Daikessen 2) were both released on the Game Boy Advance, and Rave Master which was released on the Nintendo GameCube.

Reception

In the Manga reviewers guide, published by Del-Rey in 2007, they gave the Rave Master manga a positive review of 3 out of 4 stars. It states that Rave Master had a relatively shaky start, in terms of storyline and art. However, it states that about part way through the first major story arc, the series began to improve and set itself apart from other manga series. Like most reviewers, they stated that Rave Master had a collection of likeable characters.