| Combo Niños | |
|---|---|
Left: Serio, right: Pilar, up: Azul, down: Paco | |
| Genre | Action |
| Created by |
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| Directed by | Jean-Jacques Lasarte |
| Composers |
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| Country of origin | France |
| No. of seasons | 1 |
| No. of episodes | 26 |
| Production | |
| Executive producers |
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| Producers |
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| Running time | 22 minutes |
| Production company | SIP Animation |
| Original release | |
| Network | |
| Release | August 2008 |
Combo Niños is a French animated television series created by SIP Animation in collaboration with Jetix Europe and TF1, aimed towards the 6–10 years old audience. The series is about the adventures of 4 juvenile capoeira practitioners with the mission to protect the city of Nova Nizza from attack by mystical creatures from another dimension called "Divinos".
The Combo Niños have the ability to transform into mystical beings in anthropomorphic animal form by touching one of the totems that appear on the creatures. This form gives them unique skills that serve them in the battle against the Divinos and to perform special attacks called Big Blastico, used to return a Divino back to its own dimension.
The series takes place in an environment similar to Latin American countries, but especially Peru, Brazil, Colombia, Venezuela and Mexico. This is evidenced by clothing, architecture, food, and names, as well as the use of the Capoeira style of fighting. In addition, some characters play a sport called Novanoc that parodies the ancient game of the Mayans, the pok-ta-pok.
The children are the Combo 4, each of them being 11 years old: Serio, Paco, Azul and Pilar.
The children are mentored in their activities by "The Masters".
The mystical creatures from another world that previously have been in the world of humans but caused chaos and disaster, until they were returned to their own world. Most of them seek conquest of the world of humans but are trapped in their world. Unfortunately, Diadoro's ambition has led them back to return to the world of humans, and although Diadoro wants them to follow his orders, they ignore him, though some are interested in helping him until it's time to break free and try again to conquer the world by themselves. The Divinos each display one of the four totem symbols on their body that, when touched by the child with the corresponding animal, allows them to transform into their Animal Forms.
| No. | Title | Written by | Storyboarded by | Divino(s) | Original release date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | "Double Niños" | Michael Ryan | Laurent Bru & Daniel Dubuis | Duplico | August 2008 | |
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An all singing, all dancing Divino named Duplico causes trouble by turning into anyone he touches. | ||||||
| 2 | "Insecto Gigante" | Mark Hoffmeier | Daniel Dubuis & Laurent Bru | Insecto Gigante | August 2008 | |
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Azul has to deal with a Divino who can control all the bugs in town, which is her worst fear! | ||||||
| 3 | "Big Bad Buffbullo" | Chris Brown | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez & Laurent Salou | Buffbullo/Parasito | August 2008 | |
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A talent show is held in Nova Nitza which the kids attend. Serio thinks the only talent he has is to train a Divino - Buffbullo to be more specific. | ||||||
| 4 | "Masks" | Michael Ryan | Daniel Dubuis & Laurent Bru | Calamar Perro Cerebro | August 2008 | |
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Diadoro and Gomez are bound to find out who the Combo Niños are, so with the help of a Dog Divino, they attempt to take them. | ||||||
| 5 | "Dream Divino" | Ernie Altbaker | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez | Senor Sueno | August 2008 | |
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Senor Sueno, the master of sleep is released and causes the Nova Nitza citizens to fall into a deep sleep themselves! | ||||||
| 6 | "Merry Merry Mariachis" | Mark Hoffmeier | Daniel Dubuis & Laurent Bru | The Merry Merry Miriachis | August 2008 | |
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A trio of music-playing Divinos cause everyone in town to dance non-stop to their endless music! | ||||||
| 7 | "El Gaseoso" | Michael Ryan | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez & Laurent Salou | El Gaseoso | August 2008 | |
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A very stinky Divino causes a huge stinkbomb in town, while Pilar solves the problem of green gelatin. | ||||||
| 8 | "Gah Gah Boom Boom" | Chris Brown | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez & Laurent Salou | Baby Dragon and its Mother | August 2008 | |
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The School's classroom takes a look at a baby Ocelot. As that is going on, a wild baby Dragon Divino wreaks havoc, threatening to destroy the dam. Its mother proves to be even worse, wanting to use Nova Nitza as a playground for her baby. | ||||||
| 9 | "Kissy Kissy Love Love" | Simon Jowett | Daniel Dubuis & Laurent Bru | Kissy Kissy Love Love | August 2008 | |
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A Divino named Kissy Kissy Love Love captivates everyone in Nova Nitza, but is really hiding a big secret behind it... | ||||||
| 10 | "Viva Selvasa" | Ernie Altbaker | Stéphane Annette | Selvasa | August 2008 | |
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Selvasa rules the plants in different areas, but is waiting to rule a city with its powers. | ||||||
| 11 | "Nizza Knights" | Mark Hoffmeier & Ernie Altbaker | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez & Daniel Dubuis | The Undefeatable Sportivo | August 2008 | |
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Diadoro releases an almost undefeatable Divino in order to win over his team. | ||||||
| 12 | "Super Agua Señor" | Ian Carney | Matthieu Cordier | Super Agua Senor | August 2008 | |
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Old Head takes hold of training when Grinto feels sick. Meanwhile, Diadoro and Gomez release a Divino who can help put the Nova Nitza Park back to them. | ||||||
| 13 | "El Gecko" | Art Young | Daniel Dubuis & Laurent Bru | El Gecko | August 2008 | |
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Diadoro releases a Divino who can vandalise an entire town after being infuriated by a campaign held by the Combo Niños to keep Nova Nitza tidy. | ||||||
| 14 | "Bickering Birdateers" | Simon Jowett | Franck Leguay & Roland Boschi & Nicolas Viegeolat | Loro and Ave | August 2008 | |
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Diadoro and Gomez release 2 bird Divinos who do nothing but argue with each other! | ||||||
| 15 | "The Fantastico Super Niños" | Ernie Altbaker | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez & Marc Crévisy | Gizmo | August 2008 | |
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Diadoro attempts to make a TV show based on the Combo Niños, only to release a robotic Divino for the recording. | ||||||
| 16 | "Attack of the Combo Divinos" | Mark Hoffmeier | Marc Crévisy & Franck Leguay | Duplico, Insecto Gigante and Buffbullo/Parasito The Combo Divino (Combination of Duplico, Insecto Gigante and Buffbullo) | August 2008 | |
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The Niños accidentally sell the items where Duplico, Insecto Gigante and Buffbullo were placed in on Nizzabay to Gomez and Diadoro, who release them back to Nova Nitza through the help of a device created by Gomez. When the Niños accidentally touch Grinto's "Monkey" totem which ends up combining the 3 Divinos into a giant Divino with 3 heads, Master Grinto and Old Head are sent out to help the Niños with this situation. | ||||||
| 17 | "Mama Conda" | Agnès Bidaud & Pierre Monjamel | Laurent Bru & Mizuho Sato Zanovello | Mama Conda and her Children | August 2008 | |
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A mistake causes a huge snake Divino to be released to the world. Azul goes ahead to conquer her fear of snakes with an unlikely friend by her side... | ||||||
| 18 | "Monkey Madness" | Ian Carney | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez & Daniel Dubuis | Mono and his Monkey Army | August 2008 | |
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A Monkey Divino attempts to turn Nova Nitza into a town full of primates! | ||||||
| 19 | "Night of the Zotz" | Erika Stéhli | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez | Zotz | August 2008 | |
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The Divino Zotz wants to get what he wants - turning everyone into creatures like him! | ||||||
| 20 | "Into the Divino World" | Erika Stéhli | Laurent Bru & Mizuho Sato Zanovello | Elefanto Deceptiva | August 2008 | |
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Pilar accidentally heads into the world where the Divinos live due to the lies spread by Deceptiva. The other Combo Niños must save her. | ||||||
| 21 | "Kid Grinto" | Art Young | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez & Marc Crévisy | Elefanto Chiquito | August 2008 | |
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The wild kid Divino Chiquito, turns Mestre Grinto into a kid again, and not any old kid - a really wild one! | ||||||
| 22 | "The Ol'Switcheroo" | Chris Brown | Laurent Bru | Cambiador | August 2008 | |
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A pixie-like Divino threatens to switch Nova Nitza with the Divino World! | ||||||
| 23 | "The Luckiest Luck" | Erika Stéhli | Marc Crévisy & Franck Leguay | Lady Luck | August 2008 | |
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Serio loses a lucky charm, and he's up against a Divino of luck! | ||||||
| 24 | "The Divino Code" | Ian Carney | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez | Cerebrino | August 2008 | |
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Cerebrino, a very brainy Divino gets revenge on Grinto by challenging him to a game of intelligence. | ||||||
| 25 | "Paco Strikes it Rich" | Art Young | Jordi Valbuena Hernandez & Marc Crévisy | Avaricioso | August 2008 | |
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Avaricioso gets released by Diadoro and Gomez, allowing the latter to gain the fame he wants at becoming mayor of Nova Nitza. | ||||||
| 26 | "Divino Doro" | Simon Jowett | Laurent Bru & Mizuho Sato Zanovello | Magnífico | August 2008 | |
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The most handsome Divino, Magnífico takes control of Diadoro's body to make him look more handsome than before. | ||||||
Combo Niños was produced by French animation studio SIP Animation, with animation work done by the Malaysian studio Inspidea.
The series was originally announced in October 2004, with delivery planned for the first quarter of 2006, and an expected budget of approximately US$370,000 per episode. At the time, the character of Diadoro was envisioned as a "down-on-his-luck e-trader".
Besides Jetix in Europe and Latin America, the series has also been broadcast on several other networks.
The series has been appraised as part of a well-needed fresh wave of television programming at the time. The concept of introducing young viewers to capoeira via an animated medium has been viewed positively, though some aspects were criticized as not ideal.