Redakai: Conquer the Kairu

Although merchandise-driven animated series for kids often get a bad rap, they do deserve some credit. In their best moments, they package half-hour commercials with an attempt to share somewhat valuable lessons about meaningful topics for kids. Everything from the importance of friendship to the dangers of smoking has been covered over the years.

Redakai: Conquer The Kairu is a fairly harmless half-hour infomercial for a collectible card game. At the same time, the concept has enough imagination to engage young viewers, and each episode does at least attempt to impart a lesson that underscores important common values. It would be ideal if every kids' TV series had nothing but creative concepts designed to impart important lessons without a hint of merchandising, but that's not the world we live in (as evidenced by the piles of Sesame Street and Elmo toys clogging up shelves). Kids tend to be drawn into whatever interests their forming minds, and Redakai will at least offer some vitamins and minerals in the form of life lessons alongside the less-than-healthy brain candy.