Poll: Let's talk about Digimon

[Super Cyborg]

In case some didn't notice, a new Digimon has been announced

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/136643-Original-Digimon-Heroes-Will-Return-For-New-Anime-Series-in-2015

I've only seen the first four seasons of Digimon, and I enjoyed the series overall. I need to get around the other two, but I've heard less than good things about it. I'm going to give an overview of what I think of the first four seasons. There will be spoilers, so read at your own risk.

Spoiler: Adventures

It starts out a bit slow, but the concept is good enough to get people interested. Things pick up after the Devimon stuff, and really picks up the second half. The myotismon stuff is really good, and does a really good job at raising the stakes with everything taking place in the real world. While it could've ended there, I think the dark emperor's stuff was actually quite good, even with the random final boss, which made sense overall. It touched on some nice topics, and even characters that could be annoying (Mimi), are overall good characters. It's quite good, even with the animation, and the characters being kids aren't that bad.

Spoiler: Adventures 02

This one gets a lot of bad rep for the dark ocean plot going no where, and the second half having a little less structure. To a certain degree, this one gets close to being my favorite, mainly because the Digimon emperor stuff is great, and the character development Ken goes through is actually pretty good. I actually liked the Dark War Greymon stuff, and I found the villains overall to be compelling, and even Myotismon coming back was cool. I will admit that the anticlimactic defeat was weak, and they could've handled that part a bit better, but it was pretty good overall, and I liked them going around the world and there being other kids with Digimon. Not the most plot heavy one, but it's still well done overall. Maybe this new one will follow through the Dark Ocean stuff.

Spoiler: Tamers

After rewatching this a few years back, I hated it. The characters were either bland, or potential was really squandered (looking at you Rika). The card battle system was way under utilized and became mostly pointless once the ultimate forms came. Lots of things with the cards that wasn't explained well (why didn't we have a clue that the digivolve card wouldn't work). There were reasonings that were really weird or stupid (Lets fight the humans when we have a much bigger threat to worry about). It just didn't work, and things could've been much better. I will give the fact that it decided to start in the real world for most of the season.

Spoiler: Frontier

A number of people were turned off instantly by the fact that the kids turned into the Digimon. I didn't watch the whole things till a few years ago, and I thought it was great, much better than Tamers. It was in the Digiworld except for a few instances, and the designs and scenery were quite good. The upbeat parts with the darker parts were nicely balanced, and all the characters were well done. They would get a chance to grow and show who they really were. Also it had Duskmon, who was awesome.

So Escapist, what do you think of the series, or for those who haven't seen it, are you interested in it?

 

[shrekfan246]

I recently watched the first three seasons in their entirety for the first time. Funny to say that I have rather different impressions than you, OP. I'd only ever caught bits and pieces back when I was growing up, as I didn't have cable or satellite television.

I enjoyed the first two seasons, but to be honest it was mostly from nostalgia. The English dub is particularly laughable, what with the way it practically completely rewrote all of the dialogue to add in silly puns and unnecessary jokes. I found it fun and likable enough, but in a cheesy "too silly to hate" sort of way.

Tamers, on the other hand, I thought was legitimately good. The writing was insanely better, the storylines were far more intense, and I appreciated that it bucked the classic shonen trend of having the "main" character (Guilmon/Takato) be the one who does all of the cool stuff first and gets most of the screentime when it comes to big fight scenes. I mean, Adventures had the duos between Agumon/Gabumon and Veemon/Wormmon, but especially once DNA Digivolution got introduced they were still the ones always being showcased when things got real. That having been said, the other Tamers outside of Takato, Rika, Henry, and Jeri really may as well have not even been included, because they had little enough characterization and time spent as Tamers that it more or less didn't matter.

I think I appreciate Tamers more for feeling more mature. It didn't need to resort to snappy jokes and silly puns peppered alongside extensive fight sequences, and it wasn't afraid of making things get real dark, relative to what are in essence children's shows, at least.

I never watched anything after Tamers, though. I suppose I have a passing interest in this new series, depending on what they do with it, but I dunno. Not really decided yet.

 

[Auberon]

I watched Adventure and Adventure 02, I think - that one had the Emperor business right?

Anyway, I watched those two actively when I still got up early enough at first/second grade. It's just nostalgia baiting by now, even if angel digivolutions are still awesome.

 

[Super Cyborg]

I recently watched the first three seasons in their entirety for the first time. Funny to say that I have rather different impressions than you, OP. I'd only ever caught bits and pieces back when I was growing up, as I didn't have cable or satellite television.

I enjoyed the first two seasons, but to be honest it was mostly from nostalgia. The English dub is particularly laughable, what with the way it practically completely rewrote all of the dialogue to add in silly puns and unnecessary jokes. I found it fun and likable enough, but in a cheesy "too silly to hate" sort of way.

Tamers, on the other hand, I thought was legitimately good. The writing was insanely better, the storylines were far more intense, and I appreciated that it bucked the classic shonen trend of having the "main" character (Guilmon/Takato) be the one who does all of the cool stuff first and gets most of the screentime when it comes to big fight scenes. I mean, Adventures had the duos between Agumon/Gabumon and Veemon/Wormmon, but especially once DNA Digivolution got introduced they were still the ones always being showcased when things got real. That having been said, the other Tamers outside of Takato, Rika, Henry, and Jeri really may as well have not even been included, because they had little enough characterization and time spent as Tamers that it more or less didn't matter.

I think I appreciate Tamers more for feeling more mature. It didn't need to resort to snappy jokes and silly puns peppered alongside extensive fight sequences, and it wasn't afraid of making things get real dark, relative to what are in essence children's shows, at least.

I never watched anything after Tamers, though. I suppose I have a passing interest in this new series, depending on what they do with it, but I dunno. Not really decided yet.

Never really thought of it as Shonen, but it was ranged at that age range. The first two seasons were more cheesy, but it also had really good moments that made it shine. I'll have to rewatch Tamers at some point, but I liked it as a kid, but I had a lot of problems with the show after rewatching it. The problem was that the Tamers were really dull for the most part. Yes, later on in the Adventure ones certain characters had more relevance, but I didn't have a huge problem with that, because the other ones still got to shine. I might go a bit more indepth later about my big problems with Tamers, but I'll say that Frontier did much better, and all the characters were important the whole time. The characters were also so much better.

I watched Adventure and Adventure 02, I think - that one had the Emperor business right?

Anyway, I watched those two actively when I still got up early enough at first/second grade. It's just nostalgia baiting by now, even if angel digivolutions are still awesome.

The second one had the whole Emperor thing during the first third or so.

 

[SoranMBane]

I love the first season, and 02 has a lot of fun moments despite being rather repetitive and riddled with plot holes, but Tamers is easily my favourite season. As a kid, I liked it for its slicker, darker tone and general Digimon badassness, but now I can appreciate it for how smart the writing actually is. The characters are more realistic and nuanced, the plot actually seems like it knew where it was going from the beginning instead of making it up as it went along, and there's a surprising amount of depth and moral ambiguity, all while still being a fun and action-packed kids show about children befriending digital monsters. Tamers is simply the season that holds up the strongest without me having to don a pair of industrial-grade nostalgia goggles to get past the sillier parts.

As for the seasons that came after that, well, season four is the point where I stopped following the series. I think it was the premise of kids turning into to Digimon that failed to grab me; little-me didn't want to fantasize about being a Digimon, I wanted wanted to be best friends with a Digimon. Why can't you understand that, Frontier?

 

[Tanis]

Whatever the one with the angel was in.

I just remember when they started to go all crazy, and kind of sexy, with some of the evolutions.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Heh, no mention of Data Squad which is best kept that way (it was so awful).

OT- I guess it would be Adventures, perticually the last half when it gotten dark and serious.

 

[Super Cyborg]

Heh, no mention of Data Squad whic his best kept that way (it was so awful).

OT- I guess it would be Adventures, perticually the last half when it gotten dark and serious.

I thought it was also known as Savers, unless it was two separate seasons. I have heard pretty bad things about Data Squad, that it was the worst of the seasons. I might have to watch it at some point any ways, because I would like to have seen all of them before this new season comes out, or at least before I watch this new one.

I ultimately went with Adventures as my favorite, because it had a nice balance, the characters were pretty good overall, and it helped bring the franchise to exist.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Snip

It's Savers in Japan but Data Squad outside of it.
The characers are so bland and terrible especially the protagonist, he is the most generic shonen/ idiotic hothead character I have ever seen in anime!!

 

[loa]

The american version of the first 2 seasons is a warcrime and I can't bring myself to sit through it entirely.
The cheese was thick and plentiful in the original but the american version has to crank it up to 11 with all the puns and that atrocious, atrocious theme song that is being plastered over every instance, good, memorable, iconic music that is not the same "song" consisting of 3 fucking notes over and over again would have otherwise played.
Yes I know some of you listen to that and remember it fondly and to those of you who do, my condolences.

It also doesn't help that the only versions I seem to find are american dubs.

I can, however, watch the entirety of american tamers.
While getting an aneurysm because I know what has been cut and mutilated -sure- but it's still watchable.
I guess that means it's my favorite.

 

[Kingjackl]

There aren't enough places to talk about Digimon so I'm glad this thread popped up.

As I said in the announcement thread, Tamers is my favourite series. It had all the best characters - Takato, Rika, Henry, Jeri, Guilmon, Impmon, Guardromon, etc. I so wish Guardromon had more to do than comic relief duties, since he was my favourite Digimon with his jetpack and his whistle-rocket launchers and his silly butler voice. The few times he did fight, he managed to be on par with the Mega levels which was cool. On that note, there is one complaint I have with the series is that so many of the supporting characters felt tacked on as an afterthought. The worst of all was Ryo, who was essentially Ace Rimmer without the charm.

No, that's literally who he is: a badass superhero who came from an alternate dimension (as detailed in a series of tie-in games that were never released outside of Japan) that everybody instantly loves apart from that one boring person who's just bitter and jealous of his awesomeness but learns to like him in the end. It was dumb to have him in it.

Apart from that, I haven't seen anything past Frontier (which was meh) and I really liked Adventure, same as everybody. However, I also really liked Adventure 02 which I didn't realise was such an unpopular opinion. I liked how easy it was for the characters to travel to and from the Digital World, since it made it like a Persona-style slice of life show and didn't make it just a repeat of the first series. The new characters were pretty cool, I didn't mind the older ones acting as mentor figures, and I'm not a shipper so the epilogue didn't offend me.

 

[William Fleming]

I actually have a soft spot for Tamers. I just enjoy watching Guilemon being a lovable idiot in the first part of the series before turning into the gritty reboot part.

I don't really enjoy the first part of Digimon Adventure until Myotismon appears then I enjoy it. And Adventure 02 is the opposite, I enjoyed the whole Digimon Emperor arc but didn't enjoy much after that. That being said I cannot wait for the sequel to be aired.

(note: I have only watched the first 3 series and the fan opinion is kind of dissuading me watching the rest. I just hope that the new series' quality is a bit higher)

 

[Lilani]

As a kid, I was always under the impression that Digimon was like the cheap, knock-off version of Pokemon. I did know a little about it, but it mostly just annoyed me. It seemed like half of the words the characters ever said started with "digi" and the other half ended in "mon."

Now that I'm older I can see there was a bit more to it than that, so I might give this new series a shot. Or if an opportunity comes up between now and then, maybe even the old series.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Frankly, I'm excited for the new season of Digimon, especially since we get the see the original cast again.

Adventure is my favorite season - mainly for the nostalgia, but I still enjoy it.

Adventure 02 is... okay, it's just not as good as the original. Too much wasted potential and too many plot holes.

I find Tamers quite enjoyable for it's "darker" take on the concepts of mons... even if it gets too dark later on. Also, I can never forgive them for the bullshit ending. Seriously writers, what the hell?!?!?

Frontier I think gets a bad rap for the "kids becoming Digimon" thing. Personally, I thought it was pretty cool, and at least the kids weren't just standing on the sidelines (something Tamers was better than the first two about). But I lost interest after Cherubimon was defeated.

Savers/Data Squad... I actually like this season. I know it's weird, but then I have unusual tastes. It's not perfect, but I had fun with it.

So yeah, I'm looking forward to new Digimon... even if it most likely won't come to America for a while...

 

[Captain Quetzal]

As it happens I've been watching Digimon a lot lately, in Japanese. I'm 21 episodes in to Tamers right now, having finish Adventures and 02. I started in English, but it was just so much cheesier than I remembered, so I switched to Jap.

Adventures is fantastic, especially through the Vamdemon and Dark Masters stuff.
I felt something was missing from 02, but couldn't put my finger on what. Enjoyed it overall though, moreso after Ken joined the team.
Tamers is where I stopped watching as a kid, so it's mostly brand new to me. Loving it so far, the characters are fantastic, especially the Digimon. I hated Terriermon from what little I saw of him as a kid, but he's one of my favourites now. Dunno if it was the dub I didn't like, or what, but he's awesome. Guilmon is like a little puppy, completely adorable, and Renamon is a straight up badass. And I will never get enough of seeing Culumon, it's just too cute. Tamers also seems to have more of a focus on the post-cyberpunk aspects of Digimon, which I like.

Adventures is still my favourite, but Tamers is a very close second at the moment, only 21 episodes in. Looking forward to watching the rest, and the other series.

Sidenote: Also been playing the psx games lately. I'm doing something Digimon related at all times, it seems.

 

[Saltyk]

I remember enjoying the original series. Haven't really watched too many of the others. I know I did catch a good bit of the one where the kids became Digimon, and it was pretty decent, I thought.

I suppose I could sum up my thoughts on Digimon with the conventional wisdom.
Pokemon makes better games. Digimon makes better shows.

Though, I don't really play or watch either. Might check out the new season, though. I always liked the first season and it's characters a lot, even if they were cliche, they had character. The second season's characters always felt like pale imitations of the original cast, at best.

 

[Nathan Josephs]

tamers takes place in a world where adventure and adventure 02 are tv shows and digimon has video games card games and merchandise. and 2 out of 3 arcs take place in the real world. and the villain of the first arc is essentially the japanese government. point being? tamers is fucking awesome.

 

[FPLOON]

Hmmmm... Both Adventure series were good, I guess... (Too bad the dubbing sucked...)
I apparently haven't seen the Tamers series long enough to see how "awesometacular" that arc really was AND still is, it seems...
I don't even remember Frontier, so I can't say anything about that series...
I actually really liked that Savers/Data Squad series in general... Yes, the main character was basically "shonen incarnate" all over with a side of fries (especially during certain moments where it did make me go "Well, that was fucking pointless"), but I still liked that series for what it's worth... (Plus, I giggled whenever the main dude got punched... )
I barely watched Xros Wars, but based on what I have seen of it (which was a random episode during a pretty intense fight in a junkyard(?), I guess), I probably would have enjoyed that series...
Did anyone see the Fusion seires? Anyone? Anyone?? I keep forgetting that series was a thing, despite me watching a channel that's not afraid to give it more advertising that Legend of Korra... (There's a connection here somewhere...)


Other than that, I'm still down for some new Digimon... but first, I need to watch me some Tamers and Xros Wars... and maybe re-watch Savers/Data Squad just to see Digimon get punched in the face by a human... because plot reasoning...

 

[Malbourne]

For what it was-a competitor to Pokemon-the first season of Digimon featured a lot of protagonists who were predominantly acting like children. I could never really get over the leeway Ash seemed to get in the world of Pokemon, but in the Digiworld the kids were pretty much along for the ride. Not to mention the season had a beginning, a middle (more middles, I guess), and a satisfying conclusion. Lots of characters got development, too, not just Tai.

Didn't care much for the second season. I thought the pair of villains that made up the last half's antagonists would have been interesting had they been explored more, but Davis really brought the mood down. That said, the first half's villain, Ken, made for some great development; I actually found him somewhat easy to relate to.

The last season I've watched was Tamers, and I enjoyed it a whole bunch. The first season was held back by its standard fish-out-of-water scenario. The third season has that, but, partly because it has fewer protagonists, gets to see a lot more development and focused narration. I liked the new designs and characters, and thought it was just plain fun to see how the digimon interacted with humans in the real world.

 

[Raggedstar]

Adventures: Takes a while to get started, but once it gets going there's a lot to like. Definitely one of the more balanced seasons, even if it's dub ain't the best.

Zero Two: Perhaps at it's best in the first 22 episodes or so. After that it kinda loses all structure. And it's dub is pretty much unwatchable (the puns...oh lordy they're even worse).

Tamers: Most mileage of the Digimon concept out of ALL the seasons AND had the best story and character to boot. Best action, tightest supporting cast (especially in the Digimon *clings to Impmon and Calumon*), and ya, definitely the darkest and most memorable. Scary-Jeri = my late childhood nightmares. As for the dub, it's legitimately good. Ya, there are puns (and a disturbing amount of "aw nuts!") but it's a well-done dub and the best of all seasons.

Frontier: Gets a really bad reputation. I think people hate it for the wrong reasons. It's dub is terrible (Zero Two terrible) but the show itself has quite a few good moments. The "turning into Digimon" thing never bugged me as it seemed like a decent development from Tamers and Zero Two. The pacing was a bigger issue to me, but aye, gotta give the season it's props for getting good when it counted.

Savers/Data Squad: I...honestly can't remember a thing about it, and I rewatched it sooner than I did Frontier. A few good moments, but otherwise pretty forgettable (though I remember hating our goggleless gogglehead). But the original Japanese version had Agumon kicking Marcus in the crotch, so at least it had that.

Fusion/Xros Wars: Gawd Xros Wars is such a stupid name. Anyways, I'm currently watching Fusion right now, and I can't say I'm a fan. Not sure where I would place it (currently at ep 22, and there are 79 episodes), but I'll stick around to see what happens. It's a weird season that is technically made up of 3 main arcs, which I think are technically seasons, as the final arc is called Digimon Hunters. I'm gutting it out (through this terrible dub and the story so far seeming unfocused) for two reasons:

1. There's a Beelzemon in it and Beelzemon was my favourite character in Tamers. Not so keen on his redesign, but whatever.

Spoiler: Minor spoilers that can be seen in plain sight on Wiki

2. The final arc, Hunters, involves a reunion of past digidestined from past seasons. So ya, you'll be seeing Tai and Agumon, Takato and Guilmon, etc.