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Digimon Turns 20 Today. Let's celebrate the greatest series on earth

Like anyone in an English language speaking country, I have very fond memories of watching Digimon when it first premiered on Fox. At the time I thought it was amazing, lol. I was such afan, I even briefly had my own portable digipet, back when they still released those things in the U.S. I also remember playing the adventure games very fondly back in the game.

Of course I really like Adventures, but Tamers is probably my favorite, as for Frontier I liked parts of it, but the concept freaked me out from the get-go, lol.
 

I-hate-u

Member
The first 4 seasons are some of the best child-shonen animes out there. Nay, I say it's one of the best shows ever to have your kids watch. It had such an impact on my life.

This scene REKT me as a kid. The Dub that I watched left the original soundtrack. Man, must have been the first time in my life I felt emptiness. (Didn't know there were sequels.
 
I thought so too, until I saw the birth of Omegamon. Sometimes, talking less and not using Digimon rock makes a much more impact to the scene.

I'm not a dub hater, but Digimon has to have one of the strangest gaps between the original Japanese and the English dub. It's not a completely different show, but the tone difference between the same scenes almost makes it that way sometimes.
 

Kalentan

Member
latest


I want to believe

It needs to happen.

Tamers 2 would be fucking awesome.

Honestly watching the last part of Tamers as a Kid was legit unsettling. The D-Reapers designs were weird and when it came into the real world and you saw what the inside looked like... Shit was almost scary.

No other Digimon has replicated that feeling. The closest the series has gotten to Eldritch Horror.
 

Hydrus

Member
Digimon will always be one of my favorites, no matter how old I get. The first four anime series were all great and a ton of fun to watch. Even though no one I knew played the card game, I used to love collecting them. By my favorite memories is playing Digimon World on PS1. I used to always see the game at target and it was always super expensive. One day they finally released a great hits version and my mom bought it for me. The next day after I got it, it poured rain and I got to stay home from school for two days and played the hell out of it. Fun game and good times! Digimon world 3 was also pretty damn cool.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
I'm not a dub hater, but Digimon has to have one of the strangest gaps between the original Japanese and the English dub. It's not a completely different show, but the tone difference between the same scenes almost makes it that way sometimes.

I don't hate dubs either, but some I just can't anymore, Digimon being one of them. In the Omnimon/Omegamon scene, the dub is guilty of those "we have to talk more to explain things". Let's Kick it Up seemed like a good idea when you only know of the dub... but then you watch it with Requiem playing, and what a difference it makes!

Another good example would be the dub vs sub on Sakuyamon's evolution scene. The music choice is just... sub > dub.
 

Kalentan

Member
I don't hate dubs either, but some I just can't anymore, Digimon being one of them. In the Omnimon/Omegamon scene, the dub is guilty of those "we have to talk more to explain things". Let's Kick it Up seemed like a good idea when you only know of the dub... but then you watch it with Requiem playing, and what a difference it makes!

Another good example would be the dub vs sub on Sakuyamon's evolution scene. The music choice is just... sub > dub.

The Tamers dub is honestly great.

Despite some censorship in the original 2 series, Tamers had the least amount altered from it.
 
Digimon will always be one of my favorites, no matter how old I get. The first four anime series were all great and a ton of fun to watch. Even though no one I knew played the card game, I used to love collecting them. By my favorite memories is playing Digimon World on PS1. I used to always see the game at target and it was always super expensive. One day they finally released a great hits version and my mom bought it for me. The next day after I got it, it poured rain and I got to stay home from school for two days and played the hell out of it. Fun game and good times! Digimon world 3 was also pretty damn cool.
I have a love and hate relationship with this game. It really needs to fix the backtracking and the random encounters. I never beat it when I was younger but I did end up finishing it during my senior year of high school. Those random encounters and the constant backtracking almost did me in.

Digimon World 4 was the game I really wanted as a kid that I did ended up getting but was heartbroken when I played it. Even the younger me knew that game was shit.
The Tamers dub is honestly great.

Despite some censorship in the original 2 series, Tamers had the least amount altered from it.
Data Squad probably had the better dub in the entire franchise. I never watched Xros Wars dub but I do remember Taiki being changed to Mikey. Yeah...
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
The Tamers dub is honestly great.

Despite some censorship in the original 2 series, Tamers had the least amount altered from it.

I've definitely heard that it really kept true to the script and such. However, Tamers was my first taste of Japanese Digimon, and then I watched the dub... Some of the voices I couldn't do (did not like dub Guilmon) but most of all, the music. I couldn't do without The Biggest Dreamer, My Tomorrow, Evo, One Vision, and others. Tamers music is super nostalgic to me (including the actual BGM), and definitely makes the show.
 
Only watched the dubs on Fox Kids.

Loved season 1.

Season 2 was mostly good, but not a fan certain parts of the season, like the "world tour" arc, and the finale.

Season 3 was good, and has grown on me more as time has passed.

Season 4 is where the show lost me. Not a fan of the season's gimmick. Hated it, TBH.
 

CrimsonN0

Member
Hmm, for my Digimon experiences...
My first digimon thing was the brown rectangular pet one, I guess what's basically shown in the OP. I was really surprised when later on an actual show for it come out.
Got really into the first anime(did I even know it was anime then?) and even found out stuff like the Mega evolutions from small Japanese pictures and next episode summary translations online.
Found about Adventure 02 coming out and the Japanese OP/ED online which led me to Megchan's Board, I kind of remember claymore posting full raw episodes of the end of 02 and start of Tamers(man, spending like an entire day to watch an episode I couldn't understand). Got really into Tamers and think it was my favorite series. It was pretty cool finding that website that had some of the director's notes about the series.
Watched Frontier, but kind of started losing interest in all future Digimon anime after that.
V-Tamer was pretty cool, though it seemed like it took forever for someone to start translating it.
Rented Digimon World a couple times, but was terrible at it, same with the Digimon Battle Card Game. Bought and played Digimon World 2 until it stopped working. Would have bought World 3, but ended up getting Persona 2:EP instead.
Currently have to finish Cyber Sleuth.
 

Ledbetter

Member
The first 4 seasons are some of the best child-shonen animes out there. Nay, I say it's one of the best shows ever to have your kids watch. It had such an impact on my life.

This scene REKT me as a kid. The Dub that I watched left the original soundtrack. Man, must have been the first time in my life I felt emptiness. (Didn't know there were sequels.
I agree. I'm glad the Latin American version left the original soundtrack too, which was one of the many reasons I loved Digimon. I don't know how many times I watched the reruns of Adventure and 02 on TV as a kid (probably the reason why I don't hate 02 like most people do). I remember enjoying Tamers and Frontier too, but I haven't rewatched those two since my childhood so I don't quite remember the story or the characters.
 
What I still think of are the awesome character arcs the main kids have in the first Adventure. The way each of them start the season and the way they end it is leagues apart, but their growth is handled very well. And with such a large cast, that's not easy to do.
 

I-hate-u

Member
I agree. I'm glad the Latin American version left the original soundtrack too, which was one of the many reasons I loved Digimon. I don't know how many times I watched the reruns of Adventure and 02 on TV as a kid (probably the reason why I don't hate 02 like most people do). I remember enjoying Tamers and Frontier too, but I haven't rewatched those two since my childhood so I don't quite remember the story or the characters.
Frontier is good, but Tamers holds up exteremly well due to the excellent cast of Takato, Jenrya and Ruki. It's the odd one of the series for sure tone wise, but it's defo worth a rewatch.

What I still think of are the awesome character arcs the main kids have in the first Adventure. The way each of them start the season and the way they end it is leagues apart, but their growth is handled very well. And with such a large cast, that's not easy to do.

It's because its filled with heart and addresses genuine feelings we get towards our friends. The payoff to Taichi's and Yamato's arc was just fantastic.
 
We need more Zubamon up in here! 20th anniversary Digimon!
QrhLXcQ.jpg


I don't hate dubs either, but some I just can't anymore, Digimon being one of them. In the Omnimon/Omegamon scene, the dub is guilty of those "we have to talk more to explain things". Let's Kick it Up seemed like a good idea when you only know of the dub... but then you watch it with Requiem playing, and what a difference it makes!

Another good example would be the dub vs sub on Sakuyamon's evolution scene. The music choice is just... sub > dub.

One difference that I discovered early on was an episode in 02 that revolves around Ken after Wormmon dies. In the dub it is heavily narrated by the VA, which is fine, but the Japanese version "sells it" a lot better with silence.

Even if you ignore the differences of the alterations, the Fox dub didn't have the original OST for some freaking reason.

Like, listen to this and tell me you didn't miss out..

Really the biggest shame. Digimon's music is one of the best parts about it and that's lost in the dub.

The Tamers dub is honestly great.

Despite some censorship in the original 2 series, Tamers had the least amount altered from it.

Yeah, I think that actually helps the perception of Tamers being the mature season. It kept a lot of its tone, and the heavy stuff was left heavy.
 

ArchAngel

Member
They destroyed 02 for me with the shitty pairings at that time. Even today I can't forgive then for what they've done to Tai!!!!11
 

Lynx_7

Member
latest


I want to believe

As good as that fanart looks my heart tells me Toei just wouldn't be able to do it any justice these days. Like, Tri started alright as a neat little throwback to the original but these last few episodes have been increasingly disappointing. I don't think a Tamers sequel would fare much better. If anything, a proper Tamers sequel would be even harder to pull off correctly.
 

Kickz

Member
Season 1 was best, I found Tamers to be depressing as a kid.

Season 4 was ok, although I hated that they had no partners.
 

Lynx_7

Member
I actually thought it was cool how they straight up denied Takeru x Hikari and Tai x Sora. I'm not an 02 fan but I actually like how some characters don't end up marrying literally the first person they've ever been in love/shipped with. Realistically that's how it plays out. It's a breath of fresh air compared to most other shonens.

Takeru and Hikari never even showed much interest in each other besides friendship prior to Tri.
 
Tamers > Savers > Adventure > Frontier > Xros Wars 1 > 02 >>>>> Xros Wars 2 >>>>>> App whatever.

Frontier would be higher if the latter half wasn't losing to Royal Knights every single episode and the other kids not getting their fusion evolutions.

I dropped App so early. How can a digimon series be so bad off the first 3 episodes. Was so disappointed.

I'm still salty they tried to save Xros Wars 2 with crossover cameos of the seasons. It was the ONLY good episode in that season. Fuck Tagiru and Gumdramon and that shitty wannabe Sasuke rival.

Tamers 2 plus a game about Tamers for 20th anniversary please!
 
I actually thought it was cool how they straight up denied Takeru x Hikari and Tai x Sora. I'm not an 02 fan but I actually like how some characters don't end up marrying literally the first person they've ever been in love/shipped with. It's a breath of fresh air compared to most other shonens.

Takeru and Hikari never even showed much interest in each other besides friendship prior to Tri.

The writer for Adventure always intended Yamato x Sora, apparently dropping hints about it throughout the first season. Hosoda didn't get the memo and made Tai x Sora a tangible relationship in Our War Game.

So now, Digimon Adventure fans shall never know peace.
 
So are the 02 kids dead in 03? I think it'd be real funny if they were

03 has just been a bunch of BS imho. Meicoomon or whatever is stupidly powerful and the kids are still stuck trying to figure out everything while the OVA is over halfway done.

The only good thing has been all the kids reaching Ultimate level for their digimons. (Mega level for you dub heathens!) Its not a spoiler either since they are screen capped on OVA posters before anyone gets on my case.

I do think the 02 kids are in limbo somewhere till this mess is fixed.
 
I have very fond memories of the first season (dub) and owned a few of the pet devices. Unfortunately i never got into anything after season 1 and the movie. I'd love to revisit season 1 via the original Japanese version if given the opportunity.

I consider Digimon, Dragon Ball Z and Power Rangers to be my top 3 childhood shows with X-Men and Batman slightly behind.
 
Tamers > Savers > Adventure > Frontier > Xros Wars 1 > 02 >>>>> Xros Wars 2 >>>>>> App whatever.

Frontier would be higher if the latter half wasn't losing to Royal Knights every single episode and the other kids not getting their fusion evolutions.

I dropped App so early. How can a digimon series be so bad off the first 3 episodes. Was so disappointed.

I'm still salty they tried to save Xros Wars 2 with crossover cameos of the seasons. It was the ONLY good episode in that season. Fuck Tagiru and Gumdramon and that shitty wannabe Sasuke rival.

Tamers 2 plus a game about Tamers for 20th anniversary please!
Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth Hacker's Memory is the 20th anniversary game. Close enough!
 
It's because its filled with heart and addresses genuine feelings we get towards our friends. The payoff to Taichi's and Yamato's arc was just fantastic.

I agree, but it's not just that. It's also their relationships with their families, as well as their relationships with themselves. They all have moments where they need to confront certain aspects of themselves and either accept them or move away from them. There's the obvious big moments like Matt and Cherrymon, but there are also the small moments like Izzy during the short Machinedramon arc where he realizes that he isn't the smartest person around and he needs to rely on others more. Up until that point he's gotten by being a bit of a loner (and has had a number of adventures that more or less just involved him, or others tangentially). It's a small moment, but it's critical to his growth. The first season has tons of small moments like that that I feel kind of got lost in Adventure 02. In that one the moments drop like anvils, and the storytelling as a whole is just sloppier.
 

jwk94

Member
03 has just been a bunch of BS imho. Meicoomon or whatever is stupidly powerful and the kids are still stuck trying to figure out everything while the OVA is over halfway done.

The only good thing has been all the kids reaching Ultimate level for their digimons. (Mega level for you dub heathens!) Its not a spoiler either since they are screen capped on OVA posters before anyone gets on my case.

I do think the 02 kids are in limbo somewhere till this mess is fixed.

That's really weird and unsettling. Like TK and Kari are bothered by this, right? Or are they in limbo too since they were 02 kids too??
 
That's really weird and unsettling. Like TK and Kari are bothered by this, right? Or are they in limbo too since they were 02 kids too??

They recognize a certain someone but they don't mention the other kids. Also the adults showed a missing digidestined radar with the 02 kids on it except TK and Kari.

Its one of the biggest complaints about the OVA series and there are lots of theories being thrown around.

The digimon going bad also messed with the memories of the children and made them forget about the missing 02 kids is a popular one. There is another theory going around that the Royal Knights are working to save the 02 kids and kill Meicoomon for being part of the problem. Veemon to join the Royal Knights as UlforceVeedramon is a big fanservice wish lol.
 

Mortemis

Banned
can someone explain to me how the hell do I feel nostalgia for the digimon opening in japanese even though as as a kid I watched it in english, wtf

anyways, is Savers actually good? stopped watching digimon after frontier (other than tri rn), and I'm always down for some good digimon
 
can someone explain to me how the hell do I feel nostalgia for the digimon opening in japanese even though as as a kid I watched it in english, wtf

anyways, is Savers actually good? stopped watching digimon after frontier (other than tri rn), and I'm always down for some good digimon

Savers is really good since its a more mature digimon series like Tamers. There are a few hiccups but overall people would say its really good.

I would say its overall the darkest in the series since it goes into digicide/genocide and human experimentation.

The ending is one of the better ones too since thats a common complaint of digimon series lol.
 
can someone explain to me how the hell do I feel nostalgia for the digimon opening in japanese even though as as a kid I watched it in english, wtf

anyways, is Savers actually good? stopped watching digimon after frontier (other than tri rn), and I'm always down for some good digimon
Well, I feel nostalgia for Zyuranger opening, but that's only BC YT has been around for over 10 years now, and Super Sentai, and Zyuranger is one of the first things I discovered on YT.
 

Curler

Unconfirmed Member
Got really into the first anime(did I even know it was anime then?) and even found out stuff like the Mega evolutions from small Japanese pictures and next episode summary translations online.
Found about Adventure 02 coming out and the Japanese OP/ED online which led me to Megchan's Board, I kind of remember claymore posting full raw episodes of the end of 02 and start of Tamers(man, spending like an entire day to watch an episode I couldn't understand).

That's a name I haven't for a long time! Yup Claymore put them up. When Tamers hit, a lot of raws got put on a private invite-only group. Yahoo Groups or something. Apparently the owner was a big Beelzebumon fan, so I made a new email with that on it to try and get in. I never got accepted :/


can someone explain to me how the hell do I feel nostalgia for the digimon opening in japanese even though as as a kid I watched it in english, wtf

You can't get nostalgic with something new to you. But you can go "hey, this is different and neat" even now if you enjoy it.
 
can someone explain to me how the hell do I feel nostalgia for the digimon opening in japanese even though as as a kid I watched it in english, wtf

I feel the same way about a couple of anime OPs (although I've never heard the original Digimon one)

I'm a red blooded American who grew up with anime in English on US TV, and continues that to this day, so my nostalgia is for Rock the Dragon/DBZ Theme, Pokémon Theme Song, and RISE CHEW YO SOCK, but I still feel what is distinctly the emotion of "nostalgia" whenever I hear Cha La Head Cha La, Mezase Pokémon Master, and R★O★C★K★S even though I only heard them later on, when I was older.

The songs inherently have that emotion in them.
 
I agree, but it's not just that. It's also their relationships with their families, as well as their relationships with themselves. They all have moments where they need to confront certain aspects of themselves and either accept them or move away from them. There's the obvious big moments like Matt and Cherrymon, but there are also the small moments like Izzy during the short Machinedramon arc where he realizes that he isn't the smartest person around and he needs to rely on others more. Up until that point he's gotten by being a bit of a loner (and has had a number of adventures that more or less just involved him, or others tangentially). It's a small moment, but it's critical to his growth. The first season has tons of small moments like that that I feel kind of got lost in Adventure 02. In that one the moments drop like anvils, and the storytelling as a whole is just sloppier.

How relationships are handled is what makes Adventure so great. You could take any two of the main cast, stick them together, and get something out of it. 02 has a digivolution that literally relies on two characters' relationship with each other and it doesn't have half the heart of Adventure. Ken and Iori are the only ones that even have a complete character arc.
 

Toad.T

Banned
Today, Digimon is a massive cross media franchise including eight different TV anime (including the currently running and very good Digimon Universe: Appli Monsters),

u wot m8

Did you ever have an anime that REALLY showed you that the medium was different from the funny animal toons you watched each afternoon? Did you ever have an anime that had so many memorable encounters you could name them off by heart? Did you ever have an anime that grabbed your brain by the stem and inspired so much imagination in your life? Did you ever have an anime where, even in the admirably cheesy dub, you fucking CRIED at the end, like you lost a friend?

That was Digimon for me. And still is. (Mostly. See Appmon and the meh Tri.)

Happy 20th, old friend. One more year and i'll treat you to all the beer soda you can drink.
 

Mortemis

Banned
Savers is really good since its a more mature digimon series like Tamers. There are a few hiccups but overall people would say its really good.

I would say its overall the darkest in the series since it goes into digicide/genocide and human experimentation.

The ending is one of the better ones too since thats a common complaint of digimon series lol.

sounds pretty good, I'll try it out.

You can't get nostalgic with something new to you. But you can go "hey, this is different and neat" even now if you enjoy it.

well, yeah. I'm not actually nostalgic, but it sure as hell feels like it

I feel the same way about a couple of anime OPs (although I've never heard the original Digimon one)

I'm a red blooded American who grew up with anime in English on US TV, and continues that to this day, so my nostalgia is for Rock the Dragon/DBZ Theme, Pokémon Theme Song, and RISE CHEW YO SOCK, but I still feel what is distinctly the emotion of "nostalgia" whenever I hear Cha La Head Cha La, Mezase Pokémon Master, and R★O★C★K★S even though I only heard them later on, when I was older.

The songs inherently have that emotion in them.

Yeah, I can feel the emotion and I guess instantly attached it to my memories of digimon.

I'm nostalgic for Cha La Head Cha La since while I watched DBZ on toonami listening to rock the dragon, I never fully watched it till I got the dvds as a kid and cha la was the opening I watched with it.
 
Seriously, Digimon is GREAT. Like, I remember thinking upon my first reaction it was a generic ripoff of Pokemon when I heard about it at 14 in 1999, but wow, what a great series. One of my favorite series in 99, along with Raw is War, Lost Galaxy, and yes, Digimon Adventure 01.
 
Is it worth checking out Digimon Tri? I haven't heard much from it when the first movie was released.

Its good if you've watched Adventures and 02 and want a continuation of it. The plot is pretty bad but the action somewhat makes up for it.

Anyways, say what you will about the franchise, one area it cannot be beaten by a lot of anime is the soundtracks per season.

Every single digimon series has had one amazing hype song or more with the exception of Xros Wars Hunters.

Tamers songs make up a good portion of my music player list lol. Biggest Dreamer and Card Slash are staples.
 
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