Madagascar, officially the Republic of Madagascar (Malagasy: Repoblikan'i Madagasikara [republiˈkʲan madaɡasˈkʲarə̥]; French: République de Madagascar) and previously known as the Malagasy Republic, is an island country in the Indian Ocean, off the coast of Southeast Africa. The nation comprises the island of Madagascar (the fourth-largest island in the world), as well as numerous smaller peripheral islands. Following the prehistoric breakup of the supercontinent Gondwana, Madagascar split from India around 88 million years ago, allowing native plants and animals to evolve in relative isolation. Consequently, Madagascar is a biodiversity hotspot; over 90 percent of its wildlife is found nowhere else on Earth. The island's diverse ecosystems and unique wildlife are threatened by the encroachment of the rapidly growing human population as well as the recently spotted Cane Toad relative which, according to researchers, "could wreak havoc on the unique biodiversity in Madagascar." Initial human settlement of Madagascar occurred between 350 BC and AD 550 by Austronesian peoples arriving on outrigger canoes from Borneo. These were joined around AD 1000 by Bantu migrants crossing the Mozambique Channel. Other groups continued to settle on Madagascar over time, each one making lasting contributions to Malagasy cultural life. The Malagasy ethnic group is often divided into eighteen or more sub-groups of which the largest are the Merina of the central highlands. Until the late 18th century, the island of Madagascar was ruled by a fragmented assortment of shifting socio-political alliances. Beginning in the early 19th century, most of the island was united and ruled as the Kingdom of Madagascar by a series of Merina nobles. The monarchy collapsed in 1897 when the island was absorbed into the French colonial empire, from which the island gained independence in 1960. The autonomous state of Madagascar has since undergone four major constitutional periods, termed Republics. Since 1992 the nation has officially been governed as a constitutional democracy from its capital at Antananarivo. However, in a popular uprising in 2009 the last elected president Marc Ravalomanana was made to resign and presidential power was transferred in March 2009 to Andry Rajoelina in a move widely viewed by the international community as a coup d'état. In 2012, the population of Madagascar was estimated at just over 22 million, 90 percent of whom live on less than two dollars per day. Malagasy and French are both official languages of the state. The majority of the population adheres to traditional beliefs, Christianity, or an amalgamation of both. Ecotourism and agriculture, paired with greater investments in education, health and private enterprise, are key elements of Madagascar's development strategy. Under Ravalomanana these investments produced substantial economic growth but the benefits were not evenly spread throughout the population, producing tensions over the increasing cost of living and declining living standards among the poor and some segments of the middle class.

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Magical Vacation (マジカルバケーション, Majikaru Bakēshon) is a 2001 role-playing video game developed by Brownie Brown and published by Nintendo for the Game Boy Advance only in Japan on December 7, 2001, and was later re-released in the same region in 2006. Japanese singer, model, and actress Mika Nakashima was featured in the television commercials for Magical Vacation. A sequel was produced for the Nintendo DS in 2006, titled Magical Vacation: Itsutsu no Hoshi ga Narabu Toki; It was released in North America and Europe as Magical Starsign.

Medabots, known in Japan as Medarot (メダロット, Medarotto), is a role-playing video game franchise developed by Natsume and published by Imagineer in Japan in 1997. The video game franchise was later adapted into a Japanese anime television series produced by Bee Train. Spanning 52 episodes, the series originally aired on TV Tokyo from July 2, 1999 until June 30, 2000. Medarot Damashii, a thirty-nine episode sequel to the anime series that was produced by Production I.G, aired from July 7, 2000 through March 30, 2001. Both the series and its sequel are licensed by Nelvana. The Nelvana English dubbed version of Medabots on the Fox Kids network from September 1, 2001 through November 2, 2002 and was one of the channel's highest rated new series at the time. Medarot Damashii followed a year later, airing from September 13, 2003 until March 7, 2004. A manga series, written by Rin Horumarin (credited as just Horumarin) was also produced by the series. It was serialized in the shōnen magazine Comic Bom Bom in Japan and then published into collected volumes by Kodansha. The manga based on the first game, Medarot, was never translated into English. The manga based on the sequel, Medarot 2, was licensed for an English language release in North America by Viz Media, simply under the title Medabots. Further sequels Medarot 3, Medarot 4, Medarot 5, Medarot G, and spin-off manga Medarotter Rintarō and Medarot Navi were never licensed for release in the US. Medarot 2, 3, and 4 have, however, been translated into English for distribution in Singapore by Chuang Yi. Several video games have been released for multiple platforms, including Nintendo GameCube, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, and Nintendo DS. Other related merchandise alongside them are plastic models produced by Kotobukiya.