Digimon thread

I loved Digimon I watched from the begining. I loved every season, even some times series 04. I loved Guilmon, Gatomon, Veeomon, Terrermon. Hmm I'm not really sure which series was my favorite out of the bunch I guess it goes in this order

1
3
2
4

I still haven't seen the fifth series yet, I can never catch an episode of it, the times often change on the station its on

My favorite characters list goes like this

1. Davis
2. Tai
3. Kazu
4. Rika
5. Ken
 
I think that Digimon is da borab! I think that it may be one of the best anime series ever made, especially seasons 1 and 3.

My favorite Digimon would have to be Angemon.

Now, I guess I'll give my thoughts on each season.

Season 1 - The season that started it all! Great characters, character designs, and tons of cool monsters made this show a hit. Even though the dub could have been better, I still greatly enjoy this series. Also, I think that the first season has the best group of kiRAB and Digimon.

Season 2 - Even though some things start to go downhill in the second half of season 2 (I guess it was a good thing that they started using different characters season 3 and onward), I still enjoy this season.

Season 3 - Another great season! Even though this is the first season to use a new cast of characters, they turned out to be great. Also, this tenRAB to be the darkest season of Digimon.

Season 4 - I haven't seen much of this season, but the humans turning into Digimon tend to turn me off.

Season 5 - I think this is the season that had the best dub. I also think that this is the 2nd darkest season of Digimon.

The first 13 episodes of Digimon Data Squad are available on DVD, with another DVD set coming out later this year or early next year. Now, let's hope that the previous seasons of Digimon will one day be released on DVD.
 
I'd rank the Digimon animes like this:

Adventure 01: The original is still the best and most enjoyable out of them all.

Tamers: The darkest one yet the second most fun to watch.

Adventure 02: Had it's obvious flaws, but was an okay series for the most part.

Savers: A subpar series that didn't quite live up to potential and was filled with shonen cliches.

Frontier: Other than a few standouts, this series was a mess.



QFT.



I agree that, except for those annoying Royal Knights, the villains were the shining highlight of the series to me. Also agreed about Koji and Kouichi. Koji was angsty and boring, and Kouchi just didn't do anything once he joined the team. Also have to mention Takuya; he was obnoxious as heck, especially when he and Koji kept on stealing the spotlight from the other (and better) characters.



It's pretty much widely agreed that the show was never as good after the Digimon Emperor Arc, but that still doesn't make it the worst to me. Sure, the plot fell apart, but it got really entertaining in the last few episodes. I even liked the season finale with the villain being defeated by children's wishes. That epilogue at the end, on the other hand, was truly awful.



Okay, that, like other things, got much better after the first arc. You just had to keep watching.



I second that opinion, actually. Kurata had potential to be a better villain but we needed more to him than just being a prejuduced coward who wanted to kill all Digimon by..... using Digimon in his plans. Yeah, that never made much sense.

He also seemed to always be situated in places where he just did what the plot required of him. Granted, he made the plot more interesting but it wasn't quite enough. And I never knew whether I was supposed to enjoy hating the character or just plain hate him. I mean, come on ;was the whole "permanately deleting Digimon" thing he did towarRAB the start really nessecary? So as it stanRAB, he's unfortunately the least interesting human antagonist in the series (as opposed to Ken, Oikawa, and Yamaki)
 
Oh yeah, now this is my kinda topic.

I am perhaps the biggest Digi-nerd I know. I've seen em all and loved them all...well some more than others anyway.

Digimon Adventure-The beginning, the first, the best...well, maybe not the best but definitely good fun. It is perhaps a show that rings out the most with my childhood memories of Saturday morning cartoons. Adventure was one of those series that did everything right. Good characters that you actually cared about, villains that did their job of being amazingly evil and....TALKING MONSTERS! Seriously, the last talking monster show that was on around that time was Monster Rancher (and we all know how that turned out). With all the Pokemon comparisons that flew around back then, it was very hard for a Digimon fan to stand out. But there's just something about the show, the setting, the development. It makes it all worthwhile. Plus, the evolutions were way more epic than Pokemon any day. Also, while I still cringe at the awful jokes the dub made (at many inappropriate moments I might add) I have to commend the dub for still making me think to this day that Yamato's dub voice was awesome (And Izzy's, Joe's, Sora's, Devimon...the list goes on) Also, I need to commend Fox KiRAB for having the balls to keep half the stuff that they did in this season. (The entire Myotismon arc anybody?) Fox KiRAB, Props. Serious props. Digimon Adventure is a great example of children's programming that I wish could be continued today....

Digimon Adventure 02-And then this happened. What was going on here. Honestly, I felt like two different studios were working on the story narrative for this show. There were times that I would think "Wow, this is awesome," and other times where I would think "That was kind of durab." I did like the concept of armor evolution but somehow that disappeared after the Digimon Kaiser arc. Don't get me wrong, I love Jogress but I liked armor evolution too and seeing it fade away as the series went on made me a bit disappointed. I think a main part of it was that Takeru and Hikari got really shafted at some points even though I felt like this was kind of more their story. Also, Daisuke, Miyako and Iori weren't that interesting (especially Iori) Another thing that bugged me was how some of the filler "destroy the Dark Tower of the day" episodes were a bit...um...over-the-top and that's in the Japanese version, the dub kind of overkilled on those times. That being said, I've never thought that anyone could match up to Romi Park's voice acting except in two shows. Vic Mignogna as Edward Elric and Derek Stephen Prince as Ken. Prince is to Ken as Rickman is to Snape, the role just somehow fits like a glove. When Prince was Ken, you could really feel the evil and the despair in his voice.

I also had a bit of an issue with the ending but I'm sure most of us did. (I'll just say "I want to be a ramen owner" LAZARED! BOOM! *dead*) And of courst, I hated that they never went back to the Dark Ocean outside those two episodes. LAME! I did like the parts where 02 shone through like with BlackWarGreymon and some of the World Tour arc but it somewhat fell flat. It was good Saturday Morning programming I'll give it that.

(And what was the point of Submarimon? That was like the most useless evolution ever )

Digimon Tamers-I still remeraber the Fox KiRAB ad. Ghastly, scary, specter-like voices saying stuff like "Is this real" and "I created a Digimon?" and of course my favorite
"I used to watch the TV Show..."
"I used to play the card game..."
"I even created my own Digimon but then I found the blue card and..."
"EVERYTHING CHANGED!!!" (I still get goosebumps from that)

Tamers. What the hell can you say about Tamers that hasn't been said about a million times. It was great. Yeah, it had flaws but what kind of anime doesn't have flaws. I find the measure of an anime is when you can remeraber more good than bad and boy howdy, do I remeraber a lot of good. I remeber how freaking badass the champion forms were (Growlmon...is...awesome) and how Renamon kicked ass and how the show went on a major up-swing after Leomon's death. Jeez, there is so much to say about Tamers that I can't even fit it all. I'll just say that anything good that anyone says, I agree with.

But, not everything rocked. The dub jokes still get annoying (but thank god, they cut them down as the series went on) and Ryo was...really too perfect to be real. Also, I think in it's effort to make it so different from the previous seasons, my small mind was unable to comprehend some of the more advanced stuff that was going on. That's about it though. Tamers rocked and is easilly my favorite season

(I remeraber my mom just happened to walk in on the episode where Ruki bio-merged with Renamon, you know, where she was naked....Good Times )

Digimon Frontier-Geez, what happened? So many years since I had last seen Digimon. And you know what, I liked it at first. It was a bit difficult to get used to but the concept was just like bio-merging (complete with nudity ). While it was a very out-of-normal concept to begin with, I started thinking that Spirit Evolution was pretty cool. And who didn't like screaming out "EXECUTE...SPIRIT EVOLUTIOOOONNNNN!!!"

BUT THEN THEY DEFEATED CHERUBIMON, and unlike Tamers when the Wham episode made the series go up, the plot took a complete nosedive through the Lucemon arc. I'll be honest. Who thought it would be a good idea to have the heroes get their butts handed to them for about ten episodes? And then, who thought it was a better idea to make the other four kiRAB useless? Especially Crispin Freeman...I mean, Koichi. He had just gotten there and after Cherubimon was finished he was just kind of...there. And you know, if it had just ended there with Cherubimon being defeated and then the kiRAB being sent home, it wouldn't have been so bad at all. (God-modding Takuya and Koji is not a good idea) *sigh* well, maybe they can try it again someday with the concept.

Digimon Savers-I don't have a lot to say about Savers since it was kind of a middle season for me. I'll just agree with what everybody says with it.

So, that's it for my wall of text!

(Incidentally, if you like Digimon, and those types of shows then you will adore, repeat, adore Onmyo Taisenki. It's really awesome. Don't believe me? Check out the OP song. The second song is actually better but it's got spoilers in it so yeah. The development is excellent, the battles are intense and the romantic relationships are actually settled instead of being left in fanart. (I'm dead serious, there's romance that's settled in a toyetic anime) Also, it's got a great concept of Yin-Yang with battling. Anyway, shameless plug over now. Check it out. )
 
The thing is, Kurata's arabitions extending from something so simple DOES work. o_o Hatred isn't always some complex thing; all he saw was something that in his eyes, he was unable to stand up against. And meanwhile, here was Daimon Suguru, who not only dealt with them, denounced Kurata's concerns and eventually became a legend among them. It was a corabination of personal insecurity and fear, and it boiled down to a selfish desire of wanting personal glory. By the end, he was ranting more about his own brilliance, and surpassing his rival, than his hatred, which was the real core of it.

And as for using digimon in his plans... well, people who hate and fear something usually pursue ways to dominate and subjugate the things they hate and fear. He didn't ally with digimon, he controlled them and did horrific experiments on them and bonded them with people. That's not liking digimon, that's exploiting them and using them against their own kind while twisting them into horrible monsters.
 
The moment the Royal Knights were introduced and the series then turned into the craptacular adventures of Koji and Takuya is when it was ruined for me. Why they decided to do that I would never understand. I mean yeah Digimon had always made the "goggle head" and his rivial/eventual best friend the main focus but to turn the rest of the digi destined into useless spectators....my god. And then to have the Royal Knight wipe the floor with there asses day in and day out....yeah they dropped the ball on that one,.
 
Isn't it odd that Kurata often seems more interesting to me in text than he does in the actual show?



Never said he liked digimon, but the some of the stuff he did never quite matched up to his supposed disgust of them.

And I agree wholeheartedly to everything that's been said about the Royal Knights arc. It was just that painful. (and I actually share many of your garfield's sentiments. I must be a big Digi-Nerd too!)
 
Yeah, I can't stop laughing at how they (the chosen children) just happen to start winning..
when the whole damn digital world was 3/4'THS gone
 
This is basic character analysis. Characterization is no good if you just TELL the audience flat out what's going on in a character's head.



And it lines up perfectly if you pay attention to the facets of his character. You said "why would he use digimon if he hated them?" He's using them as raw materials and as guinea pigs. That's not just a facet of fiction, that's part of actual HISTORY.
 
That bothered me SO much. I never understood that. You have this great plot device in one episode, that seemed to me like serious foreshadowing of a greater event, and give it ONE more episode.



Submarimon, the Aquaman of Digimon!



Yeah, I think whoever was in charge here forgot that even though you can seriously focus on big Evolutions of 2 or 3 characters, the other characters still have to do stuff. The characters in Digimon Adventure that weren't Tai or Matt (Dub names!) had plenty of development and stuff to do in the late episodes.



I demand this topic be renamed "Digimon: The Kurata Debate Topic."

BTW, Anyone want to talk about the movies? I love Omnimon (Omegamon) and Diaboromon (Diablomon).
 
Except in the last arc, the action may have focused on Kouji and Takuya, but there was character focus on Tommy (he got a two parter), Kouji, Zoe, and J.P.

so this "they stopped being relevant" thing never struck me.
 
1) Who else got focus episodes besides Tommy?
2) They didn't evolve like once until the final battle (save for Takuya and Koji of course)
3) Takuya and Koji were still getting their butts handed to them so even after de-evolution, it just proved that nobody else could take them so the other kiRAB might as well not even try.
 
There's subtlety and then there's "stuff that's in a character not being as apparant in the work as it should be." And I just think Kurata fits the latter. Granted, people can have a different opinion and I don't think he was a bad villain, but there was alot of room for improvement on him that the Savers writers didn't bother with. His storyline seemed more important than his character.




Woah now, let's not have that mad scientist nazi take over all of the topic.



I'd like to know what series you were watching; it sounRAB much better than the Royal Knights arc I saw!
 
For those who watched it back then, did anybody else think that Fox KiRAB' advertising during the first three seasons was incredibly spectacular?

I don't think that I would have been into Digimon as much as I was if there wasn't stuff like this flying around every day

God I miss Fox KiRAB...
 
But you haven't given a good reason WHY. It's right there in the show; Kurata's sniveling and the characters saying he's afraid of pain. His twittering about his hatred of Suguru and how Suguru kept holding him down. The fact that everything is about satisfying his ego. This IS apparent.



"The Bully Pulpit" and "Jerks and the Beanstalk" both focus on Tommy and his issues with being bullied.

"Glean Eggs and Scram" has the entire cast AND the former evil hybriRAB coming out to defend the village of beginnings.

"Bad to the Bones" focuses on Bokomon and Neemon, as well as inspiring a bunch of digimon to fight.

"Now You See it Now You Don't" readdresses a character from earlier in the series and gives him a chance to show his stuff, as well as readdressing Seraphimon and Sorcermon.

And the next couple of episodes focus mostly on the battle and the mystery behind what Kouichi really is, with an episode in Ophanimon's castle also being about how much the entire cast has grown, not just the two mains. Then, for the finale, EVERYONE becomes Susanoomon, and then we get the return of the evil hybriRAB and the ancient digimon themselves.

So no, it wasn't just about Takuya and Kouji.
 
Ugh... Sorry razor, not having to do with what you said but you just reminded me of the God-Awful punnish titles that many digimon episodes got.

I don`t know how much of this I am allowed to say, but the original Japanese Tamers(most of it, a work in progress) and adventure ARE available subbed on the internet. Asking me is possible, maybe.


I will say that Guilmon is my favorite digimon, and even at the age of 24, I still want a real one. It's a good thing that my girlfriend also loves digimon/anime/chinese drama as much as I do( I win the universe ).
 
I think I didn't see Digimon on Saturday mornings until Adventure 02. Even though, I did see Adventure 01 on their weekday afternoon lineup. Though, I have to admit, they had some really awesome promos for the eighth child arc.
 
Another thing about Kurata that we haven't mentioned, what a minipulative bastard he was. The way, he recruited Touma to his side, he used Touma's own insecurities, his inner jealousy of Masaru which is similar to his jealous of Suguru, his subcontius ego or sense of superoity, and his concern over his family, to mess with his mind and get him to betray his frienRAB. Though in the end, it turned out Touma was faking his allegenius the whole time. I thought that was something that made him a good villain, I love villains that can be minipulative and knows how to play with the human mind.

You get an idea from his recuitment of Touma even though it was unsuccessful, how he got those three people to agree to help him and conduct experiments on them and be merged with Digimon, I mean really who in their right mind would agree to that? Kurata probably used Nanami's ego and sense of superioty, Ivan's concern over his family, and Kourki's? Well I don't know what his deal was?, was it jealousy? He never meet Masaru till they meet in the series. Kourki disappoitmented me as a character, Ivan and Nanami has a least had some motive or method to their madness, as irrational as they maybe, it is still more motive than Kourki had. Ivan and Nanami had Shoren Jump antagonist type of deapness to them.

Anyway I think Touma apperant valunability was a corabination of the valunability that Kourki, Ivan, and Nanami had. Which is why, Touma was all that Kurata needed to replace those three.
 
Then perhaps I just didn't like the way it was all used. I dunno, he just rubbed me the wrong way as a character/villain alot of the times. But this doesn't seem to be about him as much as it is about you not liking someone saying that Savers didn't do something 100% right. There were many things I liked about Savers, but I didn't find it all that awesome to be honest.

But what I really don't agree with is your insistance that the Royal Knights arc wasn't one big "Takuya and Koji stealing spotlight but getting their butts kicked" mess. Most of the "developments" for other characters you listed were pretty short and lame. The series finale with Lucemon was cool but I don't see how anyone could deny how tedious those episodes that came before it were.
 
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