Mechamato
Mechamato is a Malaysian animated series produced by Animonsta Studios, focusing on a boy named Amato and his partner robot MechaBot, who fight against bad robots. The animated series was premiered in Cartoon Network Asia on 4 December 2021. "Mechamato" is a part of the "BoBoiBoy" franchise and the series also takes place before the original series and "BoBoiBoy Galaxy". Premise. Setting. "Mechamato" is set in Kota Hilir, inspired by Bandar Hilir in Malacca City in the real world, which is also the creator's hometown. It features the uniqueness of Malaysian culture such as silat, the Peranakan culture  and local food, but is embroidered with futuristic elements such as robots and spaceships. Plot. A boy named Amato finds a prison spaceship containing bad robots that have crashed to earth. One such robot is the MechaBot which has the ability to mechanize everyday objects into high-tech devices. Amato manages to outsmart MechaBot and eventually becomes the master of MechaBot. Since then, MechaBot and Amato have started working together to find and capture the bad robots. Production. "Mechamato" is created by Animonsta Studios which is known for "BoBoiBoy" series. The series itself is an indirect prequel for "BoBoiBoy" when  the main character, Amato is revealed as the father of BoBoiBoy, which is under the Power Sphera Universe. The idea for this series came in 2018 when Animonsta Studios pitch the idea to Cartoon Network. The studio wanted a robot-buddy story that represented a child-like imagination that could be associated with each child, such as making a robot costume out of a cardboard box. The creator Nizam Razak wanted "Mechamato" to inspire children to imagine possibilities, to use technology responsibly. He and his creative team initially envisioned Amato and MechaBot as a duo of superheroes riding futuristic motorcycles  and fighting super villains bigger than themselves. The concepts were sketched out five years before the series was released and they look simpler than it turns out. Based on the initial concept, their animator partners and friends in Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore and France gave positive feedback. The grown-up Amato wearing the MechaBot suit, who kept an old photo of him with infant BoBoiBoy and another photo of him sending BoBoiBoy to the train station, was featured in the post-credit scene of "BoBoiBoy Movie 2", with the studio giving the hint for this series. The extended version of  the first episode of the "BoBoiBoy" series was also released on Monsta official YouTube channel on 14 March 2021, adding a new scene of Amato sending his son BoBoiBoy to the train station at the beginning of the episode. The name of the series was revealed as early as 2019 when Animonsta Studios announced the series on a video for their 2020 plans. The first look of the series is revealed on 8 April 2020 when the first teaser is released on Monsta official YouTube channel. Media. Movie. The movie of the series, named "Mechamato Movie", was originally planned to  be released in 2020, but postponed to 2021. The official trailer was released on 1 January 2021, intended for the release of 2021. The movie would be distributed by Astro Shaw. However, due to uncertainty over the COVID-19 pandemic situation and vaccination, the film was postponed several times, from November or December 2020 to March 2021 to May or June 2021 and finally until end 2021. However, plans to release the film earlier than the animated series were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the animated series had already been developed according to schedule which is set to be  released in December 2021. The movie will be released after the first season of the animated series or even later, based on the COVID-19 situation. In March 2022, the creator Nizam Razak said that due to the change in the screening sequence, the storyline will be changed a bit compared to the original plan and are confident that they can release the film by 2022, while discussions with the cinemas to get the best slots and screening dates have already begun. Animated series. The animated series, named "Mechamato: The Animated Series" was announced to be broadcast on Cartoon Network Asia  under WarnerMedia for the Asia-Pacific region. It was premiered on 4 December 2021, with a special sneak-peek episode on 6 November 2021. Although the series was released before "Mechamato Movie", it is the sequel to the film. The opening theme, titled "Armored Hero Mechamato!", is composed by Nur Sharmine Md Bakri and performed by Shah from the indie band Modescape for Malay version and Nil Cardoso for the English version, which is recorded in the US. As for Japanese version, the opening theme is performed by . The series is available in 21 countries with dubbing in English, Malay , Indonesian, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Mandarin, Tagalog and Thai for their respective countries on 4 December 2021. For Korean, it was available starting 11 December 2021 in South Korea, while for Japanese, it will be available starting 27 March 2022 in Japan. The voice actors for the Japanese version was announced by Cartoon Network Japan on 31 January 2021, which features Ayumu Murase and Yoshitsugu Matsuoka. For outside Asia, Jetpack Distribution has acquired worldwide rights, which includes season one.