Starting April 3rd the Zatch Bell anime series will begin airing Monday through Friday on the Cartoon Network's after school Miguzi Block at 4:30 pm. This daily 'stripping' of the series will be in addition to its current spot on the Saturday evening Toonami Block.
Bandai Collectible Games is planning to take advantage of the much higher profile of the Zatch Bell property by running a national commercial campaign for its Zatch Bell CCG: Gathering Storm expansion starting on March 27 and continuing through the middle of April. Bandai's initial wave of TV ads for the Zatch Bell CCG in October of 2005 did drive sales. The latest issue of ICv2's Retailers Guide to Games rated the Zatch Bell CCG as the #7 collectible card game property; and the property is actually doing somewhat better in the mass-market thanks primarily to the exposure provided by the anime series, and that exposure is about to increase substantially in April.
Starting in April the Miguzi Block will consist of Code Lyoko at 4 pm, Zatch Bell at 4:30 pm, followed by two episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh GX. In addition to helping the Zatch Bell CCG, the increased prominence on the Cartoon Network should also benefit the Zatch Bell manga and the Zatch Bell anime DVDs (both from Viz) as well as the Zatch Bell toys from Mattel.
