Monster Hunter Stories: Ride On is a 2016 Japanese animated television series based on the spin-off game of the same name in the the Monster Hunter video game franchise. The first season contains an astounding 48 episodes, so I will be covering them in four parts; one for each twelve episode DVD release.
This is part 1 of a four part series.
Opening Song: Panorama (by Kanjani)
Credits Song: N/A
Spoiler Warning: I am going to give a synopsis of each episode and my opinions at the very end.
Episode 1: The Power of Bonds
Three friends and aspiring Monster Riders from Hakum Village - Lute, Cheval, Lilia, and their felyne (cat) buddy Navirou, survey the surrounding woodlands in search of monster eggs. As they near the Forbidden Forest, Lilia whips a hungry Lute up an energy potion using honey and nitroshrooms foraged from their surroundings. The group is then attacked by an arzuros (bear), but manage to loose it in the chase. They arrive at a shrine with offerings, including a very old looking egg with moss growing on it. They perform a mock Rider egg-hatching ritual, essentially just a few spoken words, that causes a baby rathalos (male wyvern) to hatch from the egg and bond to Lute. The arzuros reappears, but is held off by the baby wyvern. Dan, a teacher from Hakum Village who had been searching for the missing children, flies in on his qurupeco (pterosaur-like bird). He immediately realizes the children must have honey in their possession and has them leave it to the bear.
Episode 2: A Monstie is Born!
Lute, Cheval, and Lilia attend the Rider ceremony the next day, where they are given their kinship stones - items used to bond with monsters, and an egg to hatch (except for Lute who already has one). Lilia expresses doubt over becoming a Rider because it would mean she could never leave the village to experience the wider world. Chief Omna (a Wyverian) explains that all Riders must live in seclusion because not everyone approves of keeping wild animals as pets. At that moment, a tigrex (tyrannosaurus-like wyvern) attacks the village, prompting several of the older Riders to leave the ceremony in order to defend the village - Dan on his qurupeco, Nole on an aptonoth (hadrosaurus-like dinosaur), Stone on a Popo (mammoth), and Genie on a yian kut-ku (reptilian bird). However, it is Lute on his rathalos that deals the finishing blow.
Episode 3: Absolute Power
A horn sounds in the village, signalling the arrival of a Hunter. The children, having never met a Hunter before, are surprised that someone so small could take on creatures so big by themselves. Lute, Cheval, and Lilia meet the Hunter, Reverto, and openly question the ethics of killing animals. Chief Omna summons the children to his side where he reveals they will be releasing the tigrex they captured the other day. Tigrex do not normally inhabit forested regions, so they will be leading it back towards the snowy mountains. However, upon reaching the mountains, the tigrex turns around unexpectedly and starts heading back towards the village. Reverto, having followed the monster's tracks, arrives to stop the tigrex, but is temporarily halted by Lute, who pleads for him to allow the tigrex to return to the mountains. Reverto, however, is forced to kill the beast when it lunges for Lute. Reverto then warns the group that something strange is happening in the mountains to drive the native wildlife away.
"Well, this sword's pretty much the only thing I can depend on when I'm on a hunt." -Reverto
Episode 4: The Kinship Rite
Dan takes the children to a cave where they will face the obstacles within to prove themselves as Riders. Classmates Mille and Hyoro argue over their reasons for becoming Riders, but makeup after Cheval saves the group from a bnahabra (bug) attracted to the light of Lute's torch. Lilia, having followed in secret, is attacked by iodrome (raptor-like monsters) and poisoned by their spit. Fortunately the captain of the Scriveners (a group of researchers), Simone, is nearby to help. Inspired by Simone, Lilia decides to become a Scrivener.
Episode 5: Off to the Monstie Races
Hakum Village decides to hold its first race in ten years. Despite obeying Lute the previous day, and even flying around with two passengers, "Ratha" chooses the day of the race to start being obstinate. Cheval's velocidrome is able to run the course with ease thanks to its speed and agility. Hyoro uses his bulldromes (boar) charge over open areas and picks shortcuts where available. Mille's aptonoth is slow but possesses great stamina that allows it to keep a steady pace. It is also the first to find an exotic mushroom needed to finish the race. The other three find exotic mushrooms guarded by a congalala (pink gorilla). Hyoro grabs what he needs and abandons the other two. Cheval and Lute manage to chase off the congalala but the fight wears out Cheval's velocidrome. Lute flies his way across the finish line and Hyoro is admonished by his brother, Genie, for leaving his classmates in danger.
Episode 6: Quest for the Golden Egg
Lute and Cheval try searching for a golden egg, a trade-in item worth 500 gold. They try startling gargwa (emu-like birds) to get them to drop eggs, but end up stumbling across a golden egg in the bushes. Lute sells the egg while Cheval is busy assisting an elderly traveler, only to find out later that Cheval had intended to keep the egg. Cheval gives Lute the silent treatment, despite Lute's best efforts to discover what Cheval had wanted the egg for if not the money. Lilia discovers Cheval wanted to make a special dish out of the egg to celebrate the seventh anniversary since Lute arrived in Hakum Village. Lute finds another golden egg in the open, fights melynx (dark colored cats) for it, and is rescued from a dangerous fall by Cheval and Ratha.
Episode 7: Like Mom Used to Make
Den-Den and Lin-Lin, the twins of the merchant family in town, are left on their own for nearly a month while their parents are away procuring supplies for the Village. Lute invites them over to his place for a sleep-over, figuring they must be lonely. However, the twins sneak out at night, having seen a full moon, which heralds the return of their parents. They travel along the road out of town and are attacked by a gypceros (rubbery bird) attracted to the shiny accessories on their clothing. Lute and Ratha arrive in time to save the twins, and then wait in the village until their parents return that night.
Episode 8: Navirou in Love
A Wyverian clothing merchant known as Ms. Pink (or "powder-keg" according to Lute), makes her yearly trip to Hakum Village. Navirou falls in (one-sided) love with Ms. Pink's employee, Mocha, and decides to leave with her. Lilia discovers that Mocha isn't interested in Navirou at all and actually has a boyfriend back home. Lilia asks Mocha to play along and break-up with Navirou, so as not to hurt his ego.
Episode 9: DSZ (Dan and Silva's Zeal!)
Dan is put in charge of training the kids, but gets distracted when
Mille goes missing, having left the group to collect gloamgrass. In
Dan's absence, Hyoro injures his leg and Lute falls into a pile of
animal dung. Next, Dan is tasked with patching barn roofs and fetching
supplies for the town. The chores stir up memories of when he and his
pal Silva were kids, doing the same tasks. Before Silva left the village
to become a sailor, they carved their names into a tree. Dan decides to
pay that tree a visit, only to discover a dangerous purple-black grass
spreading towards the site. A swarm of Emperor Hoppers in search of food
also threaten the tree. Dan's qurupeco imitates the call of Ratha to
summon the village to his aid. They then move the tree closer to Hakum
Village.
Episode 10: Portent of Disaster
A mock battle is held to test the young Riders of the village, but strong winds interrupt the event and break a vane from one of the windmills. Lute, Cheval, and Lilia manage to retrieve it, but wander too close to a rathian (female wyvern). While Genie deals with the rathian, Cheval discovers a nest she was defending. He secretly takes the egg home and then assists the town with repairing the damage caused by the winds. Chief Omna becomes convinced that the strange weather is a sign of unnatural disturbances in the environment; not a freak occurrence.
Episode 11: Before the Storm
Lute, Cheval, and Lilia explore the surrounding woodlands in search of
clues as to the cause of the strange weather and black plants. They are
attacked by an arzuros that is behaving strangely, and retrieve a
"blighted" nargacuga scale from its body. Chief Omna explains that the
miasma has been around for some time and Lute's parents died fighting a
nargacuga (black panther type monster) that attacked the village many
years ago. The group returns to Hakum Village where they receive word of
a blighted nargacuga stalking the area.
"Its not the blight-afflicted monster's fault that they're acting this way. They aren't evil. No, the real villain here is the Black Blight itself, which has been driving them mad." -Chief Omna
Episode 12: Invasion of the Nargacuga
The eldest Riders travel into the woods to confront the nargacuga. When they fail to return, the junior Riders taunt the beast with a horn to lure it into a pitfall trap. They try to bury the nargacuga alive, but it breaks free and rampages through the village, destroying Cheval's home in the process.
A pretty decent music track plays during this scene, but without credits or an OST its hard to find the name.
Final Thoughts
Part 1 adapts the starting area of the game, although, it's not a 1:1
adaptation. They padded the story out with a lot of meaningless filler
episodes that I can only assume were meant to get the viewer invested in
the village's inhabitants - to show off the relationship between the
main characters before the events of the game. I just wish they could've
offered something meatier than golden egg shenanigans and cat affairs.
Episode 8 in particular taught kids all the wrong lessons about making
assumptions and handling unrequited love. Another peeve of mine was how
random the monster appearances were. You could've easily replaced the
gypceros for example, with any other small to mid-size monster and it
wouldn't have effected anything. I was genuinely surprised to see they
didn't do anything with its head lamp, stretchy tail, rubbery hide, or
tendency to play dead.
The art style is very clean if a bit
simple, although, with 48 episodes a lot of the hand-drawn animation
gets reused. The traditional artwork and CGI monsters both look great on
their own, but don't mesh well together. The different styles clash and
don't always look like they occupy the same space. You also get this
weird animation issue where the hand drawn characters are under-animated
compared to the CGI ones, and times when the constantly moving CGI
characters are unnervingly static. The show doesn't do much to make me
want to keep watching and if not for the Monster Hunter branding I
wouldn't have watched it at all to begin with. Granted, I am not the
target demographic. This series is very clearly aimed at kids and has a
wholesome feel-good kinda vibe.
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