Little Battlers Experience, is a series of action role-playing video games created by Level-5, involving small plastic model robots known as LBXs that fight on dioramas made out of cardboard, with the main character setting out to battle against LBXs created by other characters. The first game of the series was released on June 16, 2011 for the PlayStation Portable and has expanded to six official games and three Japanese anime series. Nintendo published the first game for Nintendo 3DS in North America on August 21, 2015, Europe on September 4, 2015 and Australia on September 5, 2015.
Plot
AD 2046, technology has grown all over the world and innovation is leading the way. The way of delivery methods has changed since the creation of the super strong cardboard, which can resist every impact and keeping its contents intact. As the popularity of the material grew, so did its purposes. The super strong cardboard was used as material for special battlefields for LBX's, specialized miniature robots made by Tiny Orbit that were once banned due to their destructive purposes. Their popularity has again risen due to the specialized battlefield, and special models of LBX were made. Four years after the creation of the super strong cardboard, in AD 2050, Ban Yamano, a male middle school student has been entrusted with the LBX "AX-00" by a mysterious woman, containing a Platinum Capsule. Ban learned from the woman that his father is still alive and knew about a secret conspiracy in the government. Ban himself must protect the LBX and the Platinum Capsule, as its contents could change the world forever.
Development
Development of the franchise began in 2008 alongside the game which is once titled "LEVEL5 VISION 2008". In December 2009, Level-5 announced that the anime/manga series is under production to accompany the release of their latest PlayStation Portable game, with Bandai releasing a series of plastic models featuring the mecha from the game. Although initially set for release in 2010, the anime is delayed a year later and aired on March 2, 2011 while the game is released on June 16, 2011.
Media
Anime
The first series, based on the first game, is produced by Oriental Light and Magic under the direction of Naohito Takahashi and began airing on TV Tokyo from March 2, 2011 to January 11, 2012 with a total of 44 Episodes. The sequel series, Little Battlers eXperience W was announced in late December, and aired between January 18, 2012 and March 20, 2013 with a total of 58 episodes. A third series titled Little Battlers eXperience Wars aired on TV Tokyo on April 3, 2013 to coincide with the third game's release. Wars would be the final season for the anime series and ended on December 25, 2013 with a total of 37 episodes. Dentsu Entertainment USA confirmed that they have licensed the anime in the U.S, and began airing on Nicktoons from August 24, 2014. After the dub was aired in its entirety, it was revealed the series was abridged from 44 episodes to 26 episodes. Episodes with what was considered questionable content were merged with other episodes or in some cases skipped altogether. Because of the large difference in content, the list of dubbed episodes are listed under a new section called LBX: Little Battlers eXperience. An adaptation of the sequel series, Little Battlers eXperience W, aired as the second season of LBX, premiering October 18, 2015 on Nicktoons.
Movie
A movie adaptation was announced in the July issue of CoroCoro Comic titled Inazuma Eleven GO vs. Danbōru Senki W, which premiered in theaters on December 1, 2012.
Manga
A manga adaptation was serialized in Shogakukan's CoroCoro Comic from February 2011 to March 2013. It lasted for six volumes. In the US, it is distributed by Viz Media. Another manga adaptation, entitled Danball Senki Kaidō Jin Gaiden, was written and illustrated by Hiroyuki Takei under the pen name Hiro was published in CoroCoro G. There is also a manga adaptation of Danball Senki Wars which is also serialized in CoroCoro Comic.
Music
The background music for the English version was composed by David Iris, John Mitchell and Tom Keenlyside. Michael and Andrew Twining wrote the closing theme songs "Battle On" and "Save the World". The music for the anime was composed by Rei Kondoh, who also composed the soundtracks for the video games Ōkami and Sengoku Basara 3, among others. The first anime series has four official theme songs. The first opening is titled "1 Dream" and the second opening is titled "Telepathy", both performed by Little Blue boX. The first ending song is titled "My Savings Bank" and the second ending is titled "Secret Base", both performed by Hiroki Maekawa. Little Battlers eXperience W has eight official theme songs. The first being "Brave Hero", the second opening theme is "Three as One", the third opening theme is "2 Spirits", and the fourth opening song "Telepathy", all performed by Little Blue boX. The first ending song is "Do Wak Parappa", the second ending is "Close your Eyes...", and the third ending is "Even if born again, it's good to be me", all performed by Hiroki Maekawa. The fourth ending theme is "Bonds of Earth", performed by Dream5. Little Battlers eXperience Wars has five official theme songs. The first opening is titled "Mugen Myself" and the second opening is titled "Eternal", both performed by Little Blue boX. The first ending song is "Kamisama Yāyāyā" performed by Dream5. The second ending song is "Bokutachi no Wars" performed by Ryota Ohsaka, Sayori Ishizuka, and Tomoaki Maeno. The third ending song is "Hirameki" performed by Ryota Ohsaka.
