Anime of the Childhood #01: Mon Colle Knights
六門天外モンコレナイト, Rokumon Tengai Mon Kore Naito (lit. “Six Gates Far Away Mon Colle Knight”)
Published in
7 min readSep 9, 2021
Starting today I will include the new feature for Shinkansen Retrogamer, which is the Anime of the Childhood, or AotC for short.
Today we’ll be reviewing Mon Colle Knights. The Saban-produced anime aired on Fox Kids in North America from July 2001 to September 2002, consisting of 45 episodes. The series features Mondo Ooya and his classmate/girlfriend Rockna Hiiragi (Rokuna in the Japanese version), whose scientist father Professor Ichiroubei Hiiragi invented a way to travel to Mon World (Roku Mon Sekai: the Six Gate World), where all sorts of magical creatures live. Note that I didn’t watch the series a lot when it started airing on Fox Kids and the manga has no English publishers, except by the now-defunct Chuang Yi in Singapore.
The manga series is also written by Satoru Akahori and Katsumi Hasegawa and illustrated by Hideaki Nishikawa. The original concept was made by Hitoshi Yasuda and Group SNE. The series is based on the Monster Collection trading card game. The video game Mumon Tengai Monokore Knight GB (“Mon-Colle-Knight GB”) for the Game Boy Color was not released outside Japan.
Main protagonists
- Mondo Ooya (大矢 門斗, Ōya Mondo, erroneously written as Mondo Oooya on the now-closed Fox Kids official website) is one of the main protagonists of the series and is an 11-year-old elementary school student at a local public school. Mondo is an adventurous young boy who seeks to gather the Mon items to bring together his world and Mon world for peace and friendship. Even though he has an outgoing and determined nature, Mondo has a little problem: he always flirts with pretty girls (Beginner, Kahimi, and Lailai are the most notable). Mondo has black and red spiky hair (similar to Yugi Muto from Yu-Gi-Oh!) and brown eyes. It is unknown where he has the criss-cross bandage on his forehead. In the Mon World, he wears a dark blue tank top, white gloves and shorts, and brown boots. Outside of the Mon World, he wears a green and white T-shirt, blue shorts, white socks, and red and white Chuck Taylor-inspired sneakers (see the image below for a close-up of his sneakers). He is voiced by Tomo Saeki in Japanese and Derek Stephen Prince in the English dub.
- Rokuna Hiiragi (柊 六奈, Hiiragi Rokuna, Rockna Hiiragi in the dub) is one of the main protagonists of the series. Rokuna is Mondo’s genius friend and classmate from school, whose intentions match Mondo’s. She has a special telepathic ability to communicate with monsters. Now her boyfriend Mondo likes drooling over her but she gets jealous if Mondo flirts with other girls causing Rokuna to attack him. Rokuna has green hair and eyes. In the Mon World, her outfit is white and yellow (specifically, her dress, gloves, and boots). Outside of the Mon World, she wears a yellow and red shirt with a red skirt. She also wears red and yellow ballet flats with them, along with white socks. She is voiced by Yui Horie in Japanese and Brianne Siddall (credited as “Ian Hawk” in Outlaw Star’s ending credits) in the English dub.
- Professor Ichiroubei Hiiragi (柊 一郎兵衛, Hiiragi Ichirōbei) is Rokuna’s father and a rather eccentric sort of mad scientist. He discovered Mon World and wants the human world to know about it so he can win many awards. His laboratory is right across the street from Mondo and Rokuna’s school. He is voiced by Shigeru Chiba in Japanese and Jamieson Price in the English dub.
Main antagonists
- Count Ludwig Presto Von Meinstein Collection (ルードヴィヒ・ブレスト・フォン・マインシュタイン・コレクション, Rūdovihi Buresuto Fon Mainshutain Korekushon, known as Prince Ludwig Von Monsterstein Eccentro in the dub) is one of the principal antagonists of the series. Count Collection/Prince Eccentro is a young effeminate aristocrat from Europe who wants to take over Mon World. He was born in 1974 and he was trained by Tanaka when his father wanted him to be a bad guy. He is not very threatening due to his eccentric behavior and hysterical persona at times. However, he is the inventor of the hypnotic Skeitso Beam (whether on his Flying Lion aircraft or Teddyarenaut) which he uses to bend monsters to his will. Because of that, he tends to have his evil moments, though he really isn’t as evil as he brags himself to be. Every time Prince Eccentro fails, Tanaka would punish him with back-breaking exercises and/or harsh training that is related to the episode’s content. His dream is apparently to become a world-famous belly dancer. He is voiced by Kazuhiko Inoue in Japanese and Joe Ochman in the English dub.
- Bachi (バッチィ, Bachii, known as Batch in the dub) is Eccentro’s tomboyish lackey, with a brash, spunky, and often sarcastic personality. She tends to be much more committed to evil deeds than the foppish Eccentro or the air-headed Gluko. Batch unfortunately gets punished by Tanaka as well except in two episodes. Batch and Eccentro argue a lot, and sometimes Batch shows amusement at Eccentro’s mishaps. Ultimately they have a trusting and friendly relationship though, and Batch always follows the Count’s orders. She is shown to be a fitness enthusiast, as her bedroom is filled with exercise equipment. In the Japanese version, she speaks with a distinct Kansai dialect. She is voiced by Kyoko Hikami in Japanese and Wendee Lee in the English dub.
- Guuko/Goruko (グーコ, Gūko, known as Gluko in the dub) is Eccentro’s big-breasted, yet air-headed and friendly underling. She is always spared by Tanaka when it is time for punishment and has an amount of luck. Gluko never seems to get hurt while the rest of her team and the Mon Colle Knights usually does. An English ongoing joke in the series is that during Eccentro’s launch sequence in each episode, she asks a very long and logic-based question which ends with Eccentro and Batch becoming bored and saying “Never mind, Goruko.” In the Japanese version, Gluko speaks in a very polite and respectful dialect whether she’s talking to her teammates or her enemies. Gluko also carries around a book detailing about Mon World and his creatures. In a later episode, Gluko ends up adopting a Forest Imp named Impy. She is voiced by Yuka Imai (later retired in late 2018) in Japanese and Dina Sherman in the English dub.
- Chuzaemon Takenaka (竹中 忠左衛門, Takenaka Chūzaemon, known as Tanaka in the dub) is a midget old man who serves as Eccentro’s mentor under the orders of Eccentro’s father. He usually punishes Eccentro for his screw-ups (and/or lack of manly attitude) with back-breaking exercises and/or harsh training related to the episode’s content. Tanaka tends to pop up anywhere. He is voiced by Yuji Ueda in Japanese and Michael Sorich in the English dub.
Supporting characters
- Namiko Gokumare (極稀 並子, Gokumare Namiko, known as Naomi Loon in the dub) is Mondo and Rokuna’s teacher, a rather nice lady who has a short temper and terrible luck with love. Thanks to a malfunctioning Teddyarenaut, there is a monster card featuring her that is in Prince Eccentro’s possession. She is a skilled fighter as seen in some episodes. She is voiced by Yuko Mizutani (later deceased) in Japanese and Wendee Lee in the English dub.
- Beginner-chan (ビギナーちゃん, Biginā-chan, known as Beginner in the dub) is a cute but accident-prone girl with a large appetite who is learning to become a summoner. While powerful, her aim is terrible, so she tends to hurt her allies by accident. As a running gag, she has a habit of summoning a giant meteor that always ends up destroying something. She is a friend of Mondo and Rokuna. Her grandfather, Expert, runs the summoning school she attends. In the Japanese version, Beginner refers to Mondo and Rokuna collectively as “Roku-Mon-chan,” much to their annoyance. She is voiced by Mika Kanai in Japanese and Philece Sampler (later deceased) in the English dub.
Discotek Media has found the English dub masters and released the English dub on Blu-ray on May 31, 2022, after more than 20 years in Saban limbo when Fox Kids was discontinued. However, the original Japanese version is still available on Crunchyroll via the said entertainment company. Yuko Mizutani died on May 17, 2016, at the age of 51 due to breast cancer, sixteen years after the anime series came out, and Philece Sampler died on July 1, 2021, around twenty years after it aired on the North American airwaves.
In the end, this was the anime of our childhood. Later dude…
