My husband and I were trying to think of a new show to watch as a family in the evenings, and I scrolled through Amazon Prime and found several old shows I watched when I was young, including Chaotic. After explaining the absolutely insane premise, I knew I had to share it with the family.
Okay, folks, strap in, because the very idea of this series is, well, chaotic.
In the world of the show, Chaotic is a trading card game similar to Magic: The Gathering or Yu-Gi-Oh! There's also an online version of the game, and everyone that plays also has a "scanner" that I'm not totally sure what it does in the real world, but I think you can actually scan your physical cards and then play online with those same cards.
Don't get too hung up on any of this because it has very little to do with most of the series. Even the card game's rules (which I don't think are ever fully explained) isn't important because it turns out there's another aspect to the game.
Our main character, Tom, receives an invitation to enter the world of Chaotic. His best friend, Kaz, has been telling him about this for months, that Chaotic is real and you can actually go there, and of course Tom didn't believe him, but finally decides to enter the secret code sent to him in the invitation into his scanner. Tom then is transported into another... dimension? Or maybe it's like his consciousness got turned into code and he was sucked into the game like Jumanji: Welcome to the Jungle? Anyway, he ends up in a sort of lobby area where other online gamers gather before going into the real Chaotic game.
So here's why the card game's rules don't matter. To play Chaotic in the world of Chaotic, you go to a little arena (they call it a battle drome), select the cards you want to play, and then you BECOME the creatures on the cards and are transported to locations you selected to fight your opponent.
 |
| One of the battle dromes. I'm telling you, it's called a drome |
I won't go too much into the mechanics of this version of the game, either. It's mostly just throwing attacks and using battle gear to take out your opponent. I will mention mugic, though, which is their version of magic spells that have special effects. No, that's not a typo, it's called mugic because the spells are all "songs" and every time someone uses mugic there's this short techno tune followed by the same notes played by an orchestra and there's a bunch of laser lights. Music + magic = mugic, get it?
No, music isn't a huge theme of any other part of Chaotic, it's just their magic system. I have a feeling the creators really wanted to be different somehow from other card games.
But we're not done, folks. Battling in the dromes is cool, but it's only part of the Chaotic world. Tom also learns that you can transport to yet another dimension or planet or something which contains the actual creatures and locations from the game. This place is called Perim. If you have a scan of a location, you can transport there and scan creatures, battle gear, and even new locations if you walk far enough. The lore of the game actually matters because it's real. And that's where the most interesting plot points in the series come from, in my opinion.
But before I go into the plot, there's one last thing about all of this I want to mention. While Tom is in the world of Chaotic, his consciousness is actually split. In the real world, he continues living his regular life. At a certain point, when the part of his consciousness in the game wants to return home, he clicks a button on this scanner and the part of him in the real world sees the light blinking on his own scanner, clicks it, and their minds meld back together. All the memories from both worlds combine into one.
Can you imagine the possibilities this poses? Let's say you have finals coming up. You could send half of yourself into Chaotic to study one subject while the other stays in the real world and studies another. When you come back together you remember both subjects.
Got chores to do but also want to hang out with friends? Port to Chaotic and real world you will get the chores done while you play games and eat snacks with your buds (oh, yeah, in the Chaotic lobby area you can order snacks and drinks from floating robots while watching other people's battles on television screens).
 |
| I really hope real me is almost done cleaning. |
As a parent, maybe you feel like you and your significant other haven't had a date night in forever, but you can't find a sitter. Port to Chaotic and take a romantic stroll through Perim or play a game in the battle dromes together, all while real world you is still watching the kids at home.
Not to mention the biological implications. As far as I can tell, the part of your consciousness in Chaotic is simply that: consciousness. I believe this because there's an episode where they meet someone who is paraplegic in the real world but can walk in Chaotic. So, does that mean if you're blind or deaf in the real world, you could gain those senses in Chaotic?
On a more trivial note, if you're on a diet in the real world but are craving some chilli cheese fries, you could go to Chaotic, eat your fill, and it wouldn't affect you in the real world.
I don't quite know what happens if you die in Chaotic (which is possible to do when walking around Perim). Either you would get a notification in the real world on your scanner that your other self is dead, but you can still further split your consciousness to visit Chaotic, or because you can't rejoin minds you would never be able to go back to Chaotic, or use your online deck (which you are locked out of while half of you is in Chaotic). Either way, I think it would be kind of weird knowing part of you had died but you were still alive.
Anyway, entering Chaotic, playing games in the dromes, porting to Perim, all that is just the premise of the show. We haven't even gotten into the plot. At first, there isn't much of one beyond Tom and his friends scanning new creatures and then using them in the battle dromes, with a few episodes all taking place in Perim as they get to know that world.
Yet another aspect of Chaotic I haven't talked about comes into play as well. When you scan a creature, and turn into it in the battle drome, you also gain its memories. Any injuries or mental states that the creature had when you scanned it become part of you in the game. In this way, Tom and his friends learn about problems in Perim and even do a little spying at times.
 |
| In Perim these two are enemies, but Tom and his friend Kaz play as them in the dromes. |
The lore of the game also becomes a big part of the plot. There are four different tribes in Perim, and the Overworlders and Underworlders in particular are constantly fighting. There's also the Mipedians and Danians, and while they aren't mortal enemies like the other two, everyone obviously thinks their tribe is the best.
Tom and his friends become involved in the wars and relations between the tribes, and eventually a catastrophic event changes everything.
But no spoilers here, except to say that the animation changes partway through the series going from a flat asthetic to basically anime. That's not due to the catastrophic event, though. My guess is they got more funding and realized they could hire more animators.
 |
| The characters go from looking like this |
 |
| To looking like this |
Ratings:
Kid entertainment: 4/5 stars
We've been watching Chaotic as a family for the last two weeks or so, and my daughter loves it. We haven't even gotten to the main plot yet! I'm not exactly sure what it is that draws her in so, if it's the creatures or the magic or the main human characters, but she can't wait to watch it as a family every day.
My entertainment: 4/5 stars
I would honestly love to give this a higher rating because I know it gets so good, but some episodes are kind of fillers right now and not super interesting, so I knocked it down from a 5 to a 4. But I remember loving this show when I was young and the plot gets so crazy! I highly recommend you give it a try, but if you don't love it at first, hang on at least until the animation changes. You'll see.
Content: 3.5/5 stars
Okay, so I guess there's not a ton of good morals or educational content in here. It's mostly for entertainment. But Tom is a good guy and he tries to help the people of Perim, which they notice (most Chaotic players just sneak scans and port back, but Tom and his friends are willing to run errands for some creatures or even put themselves in danger to protect them). And there are other positive messages about friendship, believing in yourself, and some even deeper themes of equality, sacrifice, and forgiveness.
But those can get overshadowed by the giant creatures throwing attacks at each other.
Technically this show was originally rated TV-Y7, but I haven't seen anything so far that I feel uncomfortable with my kid watching. Some of the creatures are kind of scary, and the main characters certainly end up in peril a lot of the time. Also, if your kids are prone to acting out fight scenes maybe you want to avoid it because there are plenty of those (though mostly they fight with magic, not punching and kicking).
