You can watch Mega Man: Fully Charged for free right now

The 2018 animated series Mega Man: Fully Charged is now available to stream entirely for free. You can watch the complete single-season run on Tubi or through the official WildBrain YouTube channel.

The show originally premiered on Cartoon Network in August 2018. It ran for 52 eleven-minute episodes before wrapping up. Now that it is widely accessible without a cable login or a paid subscription, it is a good time to look back at what this specific iteration of the Blue Bomber actually was. Capcom has adapted its classic platformer into television shows multiple times over the decades, from the muscular 1994 Ruby-Spears cartoon to the anime styling of Mega Man NT Warrior. This 2018 project was a distinct departure from both.

He has to go to school

The premise takes some liberties with the classic video game lore. Instead of being built as a lab assistant who volunteers for combat duty, this version of the character is Aki Light. He is a seemingly normal robot schoolboy living in Silicon City who discovers hidden programming that lets him transform into Mega Man.

The episodic plots revolve around Aki balancing his secret superhero identity with everyday kid problems. He has to fight off Robot Masters while worrying about missing class, dealing with student elections, or hiding his abilities from his friends. I still find it slightly jarring to see a Mega Man who needs a tutor to prepare for a test, but the setup makes sense for a younger target audience.

The show brings in plenty of familiar faces from the games, though often with new twists. You get appearances from Rush the robot dog and Dr. Light, alongside classic bosses like Fire Man, Wood Man, and Elec Man. The early episodes focus heavily on Aki learning to manage the powers he copies. In one storyline, he struggles with the physical side effects of absorbing Drill Man's schematics. In another, Wave Man and Fire Man team up to evaporate the local lake.

The Ben 10 pedigree

The series was developed by Man of Action Studios. That is the same creative collective responsible for massive animated hits like Ben 10 and Generator Rex, as well as the original character concepts for Disney's Big Hero 6. They co-produced the show alongside Dentsu Entertainment USA and DHX Studios Vancouver, which later rebranded as WildBrain.

Man of Action's influence is obvious in the show's structure. The pacing is fast, the action is constant, and the focus is squarely on Aki unlocking and mastering new abilities from the bosses he defeats. When Aki absorbs a power, his armor physically changes to reflect the copied weapon, giving the animation team an excuse to design dozens of different suits. It is a very toy-friendly approach to character design.

Life after television

The television run ended after one season, but the universe did get a brief continuation. Boom! Studios published a six-issue comic book miniseries in August 2020 that picked up where the cartoon left off and expanded on the lore of Silicon City. The comic pushed the story into slightly more serious territory, introducing new villains and digging deeper into the history of the robot conflicts.

The entire series is up on both platforms right now. It is an easy watch if you want to see how Capcom's oldest mascot was adapted for a modern Saturday morning cartoon format.