Kiyo Takamine and Zatch Bell

After Raiku's Newtown Heroes series in the Shōnen Sunday Super ended, Raiku looked at his old drafts he created in the past for an idea for his next series. One of his ideals was a mercenary who uses a giant sword to defeat enemies. After playing with that idea for three months, Raiku decided to abandon it and go with another idea. ==Character outlines==

Kiyo Takamine Kiyo Takamine is a genius 14-year-old junior high school student with an IQ of over 180. His intelligence makes him a target for teasing and harassment causing him to develop an introverted and apathetic demeanor to the point where he skips school on a regular basis. However, his entire lifestyle changes when Zatch Bell! arrives in his life. Due to Zatch's influence, Kiyo becomes more outgoing and eventually becomes popular in his class. Kiyo still has a disturbingly bad temper and is easily irritated, often venting his frustrations on Zatch or his ditzy classmate Suzy Mizuno. Zatch Bell! Zatch is an overly cheerful boy who possesses a strong sense of justice, but is clueless about most of the world around him and often gets in trouble when not being supervised by someone. Kiyo makes Zatch a toy named Volcun 300 which he refers to as a friend. Zatch's favorite food is Yellowtail, which he prefers to eat whole. Kiyo's father finds him and sends him to Kiyo. Due to the danger of Bao and Zatch's father's declining health, he transferred Bao into Zatch in order to prevent it from escaping and wreaking havoc in the Mamodo world. He soon sent Zatch to live as a normal Mamodo so he may never discover the power of Bao. ==Skills==

Kiyo's high intelligence and quick decision makes making him an excellent tactician which allowed Zatch to defeat Mamodos much stronger than him. During the battle within Faudo, Kiyo gained an ability called from being killed and subsequently brought back to life. This ability grants Kiyo the ability to know the answer to any question. Using the ability of Answer Talker in battle allows Kiyo to completely understand an opponent's attack, how to evade it, and how to effectively counterattack. Zatch's primary offense at first is the spell , which causes him to fire lightning from his mouth. and . Zatch's most powerful spell is which conjures a giant electrical dragon. He later gains varieties of "Bao Zakeruga" such as which conjures a giant claw creates a ball of electricity that magnetizes anything following immediate contact, amplifies Zatch's physical attributes, to guide and increase the powers of Zatch's electrical spells, and generates a huge ball of electricity capable of deflecting attacks and attracting the enemy into its epicenter where they are electrocuted. ==Plot overview==

Kiyo's father sends amnesic Zatch to live with him where he discovers that reading a spell from Zatch's book causes lightning to come out of Zatch's mouth. As the series progresses, Kiyo and Zatch befriend a Mamodo named Kolulu who reveals that the Mamodo King forced her into the tournament. Zatch upon hearing her story strives to become the Mamodo King in order to bring peace to the Mamodo World. During the course of the story, Kiyo and Zatch befriend a super star named Parco Folgore and his Mamodo Kanchomé, an idol singer named Megumi Oumi and her Mamodo partner Tia, a Chinese girl named Li-en and her Mamodo Wonrei, a genius magician named Dr. Riddles and his Mamodo Kido, and later, a German man named Kafk Sunbeam and his Mamodo Ponygon. An evil Mamodo named Zofis antagonists Kiyo and his friends prompting them to defeat him and prevent him from being the Mamodo King. After Zofis' defeat, a group of Mamodos plan to awaken the giant Mamodo Faudo and use its power to win the Mamodo battles. Kiyo and his friends realize the threat Faudo could bring to the world and infiltrates Faudo's body in order to stop its resurrection. As they progress inside Faudo, Kiyo is killed in battle but is resuscitated into a catatonic state by Zatch. Zatch and friends move on and meet the one controlling Faudo, Zeno who reveals he is Zatch's twin brother. Kiyo awakens and with Zatch battles and defeats Zeno and sends Faudo back to the Mamodo World. Later a powerful Mamodo named Clear Note reveals his intention to destroy the Mamodo world if crowned the Mamodo King. Kiyo and Zatch, with the help of friends, manage to defeat Clear Note leaving only Zatch and Brago battle as the remaining Mamodos. Zatch eventually engages and defeats Brago and is then crowned King of the Mamodo World. Zatch returns to the Mamodo world and restores the defeated Mamodos. Some time passes and Zatch sends Kiyo a letter telling him the peace of the Mamodo world. ==Appearances in other media==

Kiyo and Zatch are the protagonists in the two spun off animated films and . The pair appear in all of the Zatch Bell! series video games where the pair are played as a single character. ==Reception==

In the first Weekly Shōnen Sunday popularity polls of the series, Zatch ranked first and Kiyo ranked second. In the second and third Zatch Bell! character popularity contest, Zatch and Kiyo ranked first and third respectively. IGN's review of the first two Tankōbon of the series stated that Kiyo was not a likable character due to his abrasive attitude. IGN however described Zatch as "...a funny, quirky character that's easy to like and easy to get annoyed with fairly quickly". In the SPJA Industry Award, Jason Spisak was nominated fifth in the category "best English voice actor" for the voice of Kiyo. Debi Derryberry was nominated for "Best Actress in a Comedy" for her role as Zatch at the 2006 and 2007 American Anime Awards but did not win. Since the series was released, merchandise based on Zatch's appearance has been made such as plush toys and action figures. ==References==