Mamodo Fight

The Mamodo Fight is a tournament in the anime/manga series Zatch Bell!, created by Makoto Raiku. The tournament is the central plot and revolution of the actions of the series, as one-hundred children from an alternate world to Earth fight to become the king of this world.

Mamodo Basics

A nihongo|Mamodo|魔物|mamono is a creature from the nihongo|Mamodo World|魔界|makai, a world on an alternate plane to Earth. These creatures come in many shapes and sizes, from tiny creatures several inches tall to giant behemoths towering above buildings. Many of them are humanoid in form, but some of them have similarities to animals, either in having animal-like traits or actually being like an animal such as various mammalian and reptilian creatures and even mythical creatures like dragons and centaurs. The life span of a Mamodo can be close to a thousand years depending from one to another. The Mamodo are lead in their world by a king, who maintains order and watches over those who live within the Mamodo World.

A main consistency of the various Mamodo creatures is the ability to use various magic abilities and spells. Each Mamodo is born with a particular power locked inside of them. Many Mamodo don't have the ability to use or harness these spells, but certain ones gain the ability primarily through means such as the Mamodo Fight. This power differs from Mamodo to Mamodo, but it isn't rare for certain Mamodo to have the same kind of magic ability. (e.g. both Reycom and Karudio use variations of the Gikoru ice spell.) However, the spells and abilities that the Mamodo can use depend from one creature to another, with no two Mamodo sharing the same spell abilities even if they share the same element. Typically a Mamodo can use these spells easily and voluntarily in their home world, but may have difficulty in another world without a specific spell-casting means to release their latent abilities.

The Mamodo Fight

Although the Mamodo World is a kingdom, the means of becoming king is not by birth. The means to become king is determined by a special Mamodo Fight held every one-thousand years by the home world. In this tournament, one hundred of the Mamodo children, varying in age from toddlers to late-teens (though Bari appears to be an adult), who are found worthy are sent over to the human Earth (against their will every so often). Not merely sent by themselves, the children are also given a special book with the insignia of their world on the cover (Two triangles on top of each other at the point with a circle around each corner and intersection) and in one of one-hundred different colors. Inside the book is an uncipherable text, written in an unknown language and untranslatable to a typical human (except one). Yet it is this book that both allows them to cast spells as well as remain in the human world as part of the Mamodo fight.

When they arrive in the human world, the Mamodo child is forced to find a human partner. Because each child is deposited in a different place all over the Earth, the search can be a long and tiring one. Some may end up finding their partner instantly, while others go for weeks or even months before finding the right human. While it is unknown on how a human is chosen, some believe that it is luck while others believe it is a common interest and idea between human and Mamodo child that allows for the connection to instantly be made.

pell Casting

When the Mamodo child finds the right human, their book will begin to glow and the text on one of the pages will become readable to that human partner. This glowing text is the first, base spell that their child can use. In order to cast the spell, the human must be able to read it out loud, allowing it to reach towards their partner and release the spell. While the first spell is from an immediate connection, subsequent spells require a deeper connection and understanding between Mamodo and human partner. With all the time spent around their partner, the Mamodo's personal feelings and desires come to the surface. When a desire is deep enough and emotional enough for the Mamodo, a new page of text will begin to glow within the book, allowing for a new spell to become readable (though just being able to read it doesn't explain what the spell does). This spell may or may not already exist within the Mamodo, but can not become active until it is willed by the Mamodo themselves.

Although the means to cast a spell is simple enough, the power and ability of a spell is determined by other factors between the human and the Mamodo. A spell's power can be increased if the feelings or emotions of the casting duo are strong enough. The stronger the feelings, the more powerful the spell. Similarly, more advanced spells can not be used unless the emotions of the duo are peaking strong enough to allow the spell to be released. If the feelings are not strong enough or the Mamodo and partner do not have enough experience, the spell will not work no matter how hard one tries to read it.

There are occasions where a new spell can become accessed and readable, but it can not be used or read until the situation calls for it. An example of this regards Tia and her partner Megumi, who both received two spells simultaneously during a battle. While one spell was instantly readable and usable by the duo, the second spell would not glow or become accessed for this battle. However, when a later battle created the circumstances and willpower of the duo needed, the spell began to glow and the bookkeeper was able to release the new spell that they had held but was not able to read. In addition, each spell can only be cast a certain amount before the human runs out of heart energy meaning he cannot harness spells for a little while.

Rules of Battle

Although a bookkeeper and a Mamodo have bonded and become a team to fight together, there are still ninety-nine other Mamodo and partners on Earth, with many of them wishing to become king. In order to become king, they must knock out other Mamodo to remove them from a tournament. The means to eliminate a Mamodo is simple enough: burn the opponent's book. When the spellbook catches fire, even a tiny flame, the Mamodo has officially been eliminated and will dissolve away from the human world back to the Mamodo world. The fire on a book can not be put out in any way. Although a burning book is a sign of defeat, the disappearing Mamodo can still use their spells and abilities to the point that it is no more, which is sometimes done to try and take out the opponent even after they themselves are officially going back.

Because of the simple, yet complex means of battle between opposing Mamodo, the purpose of the battle becomes the ability to defeat the enemy and, ultimately, burn their book to eliminate them. However as simple as it sounds, it is not that easy. Because a powerful Mamodo can be removed from battle with the tiniest of flames, the Mamodo and bookkeepers try their hardest to protect themselves and ultimately their source of power. Alongside various offensive spells, defensive spells emerge to prevent weakness from a direct attack. Certain Mamodo also have the ability to create special barriers by use of their power, reducing their own strength but allowing for particular protection of their book. Other Mamodo who can't fight for themselves or have no desire to fight are occasionally given more fight-driven personality, driving away their kind, gentle self for one that causes more chaos and destruction against their own will or true feelings. Mamodo who don't have the power to fight well themselves begin to form partnerships with other bookkeepers and Mamodo allowing for both to protect each other. In many cases, the partnership allows for both Mamodo the chance to last longer through the fight and gives the weaker Mamodo a chance to evolve their own strength and skills to the point of fighting alongside them. But ultimately, with the battle to become king narrowing the field down to one, the partnerships are bound to eventually give way as partners turn on each other or more powerful opponents begin to take either of them on.

Even though many opponents do conduct honorable and fair battles, cheating and trickery are not out of line for the combatants. Certain partners can create or utilize battlefields that work to their own advantage, forcing their opponent to give. Others use or take advantage of the nature of the humans, taking hostages or causing bodily harm to those not involved in the battle to affect the outcome to their own advantage. Still others have the ability to control others to their advantage by using various mind control abilities or powers that threaten to kill or hurt someone, allowing them to amass their own army or servants that will help them to victory. However, there are certain limits towards the control and tricks that they can perform: an opposing bookkeeper can not use any other books or Mamodo other than their own, nor can a Mamodo gain direct control of another bookkeeper for the means of mental control to just make them give up. Likewise, a human/Mamodo team can not burn their own book and must rely on someone else to burn it for them if they do want to leave the tournament. But outside these, nothing is out of bounds to either bookkeeper or Mamodo, as long as it ultimately burns more books and moves them one step closer to becoming ruler of the Mamodo World.

Partner Relations

The relations and feelings of a Mamodo is ultimately affected and can affect how they interact with their human partner. The connection between the Mamodo and their partner is a special bond: created by a similar drive, driven by the battle and the desire to become king. While the Mamodo themselves are of a developmental age of a child, the human they fight with can be any age, from a baby all the way to the very elderly. As long as there is something in common in their desire, the partnership will be forged and their battle will begin.

The basic partnership between the Mamodo and the human is that of a friendship between each other. Seeing how they connect due to their situation, the duo come to a compromise and understanding of one another allowing them both to live together and fight together. The primary connection between Kiyo Takamine and Zatch Bell is such a connection: brought together by Kiyo's father, the duo became friends and valuable allies in their battle to become king. Many partnerships have a base connection as such, with the child and the partner getting along and working together in a friendly means. There are some partnerships, though, which appear to hold a closer bond than merely the tangential: due to the age relations and feelings between the bookkeeper and the Mamodo, the relationship can become more like siblings, parental, even possibly lovers. (if close enough in age and the feelings exist)

While many positive connections between bookkeeper and Mamodo exist, there are many negative ones as well. The influence and feelings between the two can lead to strife dependent on the feelings or desires of either of them. Some partners only see each other as weapons, allowing for one to get what the other desires. Others let their drive or obsessions, whether harmless, selfish or menacing, consume them, making them use their abilities to get their way. There are reasons behind how the actions of one force the other one along: mental manipulation, brainwashing and even a lack of communication or understanding of each other lead to the Mamodo going down this road. Some Mamodo have even attempted to twist the rules or the circumstance in their favor, anything that will help them get what they want.

Although the Mamodo can appear to do whatever they want or need to in the human world, their ultimate urge is to fight and, ultimately, become king. This is an urge of survival, knowing that the next moment could be their last both in the human world and possibly in existence. Certain humans attempt to avoid the fight, having no desire to battle and wishing to keep their new friends around. Others run away in the midst of battle or are too cowardly to face the truth, yet this usually is a means that leads to their book becoming burned. Ultimately, the Mamodo who do stand up and fight are the ones who last the longest and become the strongest, as they and their partner work together to achieve their ultimate desire of becoming king of the world.

The King Festival

Although the Mamodo understand that the goal of the fight is to become king, they are mostly kept in the dark about what it means to be king of their world and just told to fight. However, after the tournament combatants are reduced from one-hundred to ten, a new phase of the battle known as the King Festival begins, with only these ten having the tenacity to hold on to the point where they are on the verge of winning the fight.

The power of the "king" is revealed at this point as the "power to reshape their own world as they desire". At the very moment the Mamodo Fight begins, everyone in the Mamodo world disappears, leaving their world a barren, lifeless land. Likewise, when a Mamodo child gets their book burned, they do not return to the world in their regular body. They are transformed into a tiny spirit which resides around the Mamodo school where these children once learned. These spirits gather, one by one, until ultimately all outside the final Mamodo, the new king of the Mamodo, finally wins. It is at the moment that the king can reshape the world in any way that they desire. The king can revive whomever he or she wishes to live in their new world, including anyone they ever knew or any to all of the other children from the battle, who will turn back from their spiritual form to a normal form. If there are any Mamodo spirits that the king does not want anymore, all they have to do is think it and the spirit will be wiped away from existence. The king could even eliminate everyone and everything in the world if they so desire with just a simple thought. It is this great power that is the ultimate prize: with the power to change the world as they choose, the Mamodo fight to change the world for themselves or for others in whatever way they see possible.

Aftermath

After the very last book is finally burned outside the winner, the last book standing opens and communicates the will of the Mamodo World, both revealing them as winner and their Mamodo as king. At the very moment of this, all damage that has occurred by way of the tournament anywhere in the world is immediately removed and it returns to a state prior to the arrival of the Mamodo. While the standing child becomes king, their human partner is given a bargain by the Mamodo for taking part in the tournament. If they choose to take the bargain, all memories of the Mamodo child will be erased and the bookkeeper will be given one wish for their heart's desire. If the human declines the offer, they will not receive the wish and the winning bookkeeper will keep all their memories of the child.

Some time after the coronation of the King in the Mamodo World, the current competitors of the Mamodo Fight are allowed to write one letter to their partner in the Human World. At least one photo is allowed in the letter, although whether the Mamodo letters can be read by non-partners is unknown.

Key Events

The battle to become king of the Mamodo is a world-wide battle, with the children and their human partners fighting on all seven continents and across many boundaries to win the fight. However, in the midst of the battle, certain major events have occurred during this Mamodo fight that have affected the outcome of the battle more than others.

The Ancient Mamodo

One-thousand years ago, during the last battle to become king, over forty Mamodo were stranded on Earth locked away into slabs of stone. The cause of this was Goren, a Mamodo who turned his opponents into stone while fighting to become king himself. The slabs remained on Earth undisturbed for a thousand years until their use and purpose was discovered by the modern Mamodo Zofis, who wished to create an army to help him eliminate his modern competition. Manipulating two naive Mamodo for assistance and gaining the help of the mad genius Roberto Vile, Zofis used the power of the "Moon Stone" to revive the ancient Mamodo, then created an army of brainwashed partners related to the people who manipulated them one-thousand years earlier. Controlling everything from the Devoro Ruins deep within the Brazilian Amazon and guising himself as the mysterious "Milordo-Z" ("Lord" in the Japanese original), Zofis sent out his brainwashed minions to eliminate all competition while keeping the strongest as protection for himself and his partner: the similarly brainwashed girl Koko.

However, Zofis' plan was soon discovered by the genius Dr. Riddles who, along with his own Mamodo Kido, created his own army of allies to take on the ancient Mamodo and their brainwashed human counterparts. After several were taken out from the initial attack wave, Riddles led a group that included Zatch, Tia, Kanchomé, Ponygon, Wonrei and his own Kido to eliminate the problem at its source. Yet in the midst of battle, they would gain several unlikely allies, including two ancient Mamodo, Pamoon and Laila, who turn on Zofis, and the demonic Mamodo Brago, who took on Milordo-Z and most of his army in the name of his bookkeeper Sherry (the best friend of Zofis' bookkeeper Koko). In the end, all of the ancient Mamodo were sent back (whether willingly or by force), yet at least five of the modern Mamodo were also removed from the battle: the panther Baransha, Dr. Riddles' own partner Kido, the betraying Byonko and Penny, and ultimately Zofis himself.

Faudo Tower

A short time after the end of Zofis, a massive tower was discovered on Earth off the coast of New Zealand. Although only a tower in appearance, the structure was in reality a massive Mamodo being known as Faudo. The object was brought to this world on behalf of the Mamodo Riou, whose family guarded and knew of the horrifying secrets locked away inside. However, Faudo's power was completely sealed away, locked down and with a massive keyhole awaiting the power to unleash it so Riou began to collect powerful Mamodo as followers who would be able to assist in unlocking the beast within. If there were certain Mamodo he needed that would not go along with his plan, he would place a curse on their bookkeeper, threatening to kill them if they did not follow his orders. Yet even with all of the power and potential Riou saw in releasing Faudo, there was one crucial element he desired for his assistance: the power of "Bao", sealed away within the Mamodo Zatch.

After witnessing several tragedies connected to the Faudo curse, including one of his allies being controlled by Riou, Zatch, Kiyo and a team of Mamodo head off to New Zealand to stop the tower from awakening. Yet as they battled their way towards the tower and found themselves within its bizarre insides, Zatch is forced to realize that the only way to protect his friends is to assist in the unlocking of Faudo, even if it meant destruction on Earth. With the power of Baou and many other powerful spells, the massive beast was finally unleashed, with Riou instructing it to head to Japan as its first stop on its path of destruction. Kiyo attempted to activate a special mechanism that would send it back to the Mamodo World, but Riou's power nearly kills him in the process. But before he could control Faudo for too long, Riou was annihilated and sent back in a sneak attack by a wild card: Zatch's twin brother Zeno.

Now in full control of the monster tower, Zeno releases its full potential by upgrading its defenses and allowing Riou's former servants to upgrade themselves to eliminate the intruders while keeping Riou's instructions for destruction intact. The only means to stop the tower from accomplishing its mission was to stop the master at his source inside Faudo's brain. As they make their way through the tower towards their destination, they are forced to face one enemy after another, accepting immense losses both from those inside and several who arrived at the tower for their own purpose. Eventually, the team reaches Zeno himself, where a revived Kiyo and a charged Zatch unleash newly awakened powers and dark secrets from within against Zatch's tormenting twin. Although the duo are finally able to figure each other out and come to terms by the end of their duel, it is not enough to stop Faudo from reaching its final destination of Mochinoki, Kiyo's hometown. Releasing a super-charged version of Baou combining the power of the two brothers, Faudo is finally held off long enough for its teleporter to activate, sending the massive tower Mamodo back where it belonged.

Clear Note

As the Mamodo numbers finally reduced to ten, the truth regarding the King Festival and the power to reshape the world finally became known to the remaining combatants. However, the instructions could not tell them that one of these final ten Mamodo would desire the ultimate annihilation of all the Mamodo and their world. He is the Mamodo known as Clear Note, a child who does not care for his own people and would rather destroy his world and all in it if he wins the tournament. The intentions of Clear were already known to his rival, the scarlet-scaled dragon Ashuron, and he chose to fight time and again with him to prevent this dream from becoming reality. But as powerful as Clear was, he was still limited in certain abilities and required the assistance of another Mamodo to help him fight. As the Mamodo numbers started dwindling, Clear made his move in going after other Mamodo. But Ashuron, now with Zatch by his side, was ready for this and tried to cut him off to prevent him from accomplishing anything. Although he appeared to stop Clear and deliver a painful blow at the cost of his own book, the evil opponent decided to go into hiding, giving everyone a ten-month warning before he would be powerful enough to crush anyone without any interventions or assistance.

Over the ten month period, Clear healed his wounds as he evolved his own powers to a new level. In preparation, Zatch and his allies began their own training regimen of their own, focusing on their own strengths and improvements to eliminate this enemy. During this period, several more Mamodo were eliminated, including Kanchomé, who had been a major ally of Zatch throughout the tournament, and Gomu, the beetle Mamodo helping Clear. With their removal, the number of remaining Mamodo had been reduced down to 5: Zatch, Brago, Tia, Ponygon, and Clear Note himself. After the ten months were up, the now transformed Clear creates a special battleground in the Rocky Mountains of North America, awaiting the final battle to determine the next Mamodo King. Clear Note revealed his trump cards, his "right hand" and "left hand" spell. His left hand spell, Sin Kuria Senuosu Baadorerugo, was defeated several times by Ponygon. His right hand spell, a giant cannon, was blocked several times by Tia. Yet even though the spells were stopped, the damage was done to Zatch's allies: Tia was forced to go back after blocking the final attack of the cannon while Ponygon was sent back for his own safety after nearly exhausting himself in saving Zatch and taking him to Clear's battlefield. Zatch and Kiyo arrive at the battlefield seeing Sherry and Brago already fighting him. Brago fights off Clear using many new powerful spells, but Clear begins to overwhelm him. However, Zatch shows up and they use a combination of their powerful spells to overwhelm Clear. Clear Note decides to use the "true power of Shin" by activating "Shin Kurea Seonosu" once again. While initially stopped by a combination of Zatch's and Brago's most powerful spells (Baou Zakeruga and Shin Baberuga Gravidon), Clear merges with his most powerful spell and easily crushes both of them and their spells.

As Zatch and Brago's power wore away and Clear appeared to finally have the battle at hand, Zatch's book miraculously changed to a golden color. With this new book, he began to gain the abilities of all the Mamodo he had befriended throughout the tournament, upgraded by way of the book to allow all of them to use their most powerful spells. With the combined power of friendship and Zatch and Kiyo's determination, Clear's Seonosu's body began to wear away and he escaped high into space above the Earth in a last ditch effort to destroy it. Using combined assistance of spells from Tia, Kolulu and Ponygon and the power of every other Mamodo, Zatch and Kiyo released their full power in the form of "Shin Burawan Baou Zakeruga", which annihilated Clear's perfect form and burned his book, bringing the crisis of the evil Mamodo to a close, and opening the way to the King Festival's final battle between Zatch and Brago. Zatch and Brago's final battle was very difficult for both fighters until a final confrontation between Zatch's "Baou Zakeruga" and Brago's "Shin Baberuga Gravidon". Although Brago uses his strongest spell to stop the attack, his defense of Sherry forces them to lose their book, making Zatch the winner and the new Mamodo king.