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Action Anime Reviews: Digimon: Digital Monsters
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Posted by:
Zenthus on Dec 09, 2005
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Digimon: Digital Monsters[Info below based on SUB/Japanese version.]
Now, the idea of Digimon is simple: A bunch of kids go to summer-camp, and get picked to be saviors of another world, so they end up in a digital plane parallel to this world, that was created by computers, the internet, and technology as we know it. They get special technology [Digivices] and partners [Digimon]. Originally there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to it: we have everything from a little runt, to a kid with asthma, hypochondria and glasses, a computer nerd, a tomboy, a spoilt prat, a prettyboy, and a gung-ho leader; acting as a team and needing to grow and mature quickly, they travel the world, fight baddies, and generally do a lot of kickassery for kids just starting to go through puberty while learning to work together. Their Digimon evolve as the kids get stronger and smarter [the digimon growing with them] (dub term: Digivolve). Each child finds their special trait through the journey, which they expand upon. Courage, friendship, love, sincerity, reliability, light, hope, and knowledge. There is room to abuse these traits, and if a person gets an ego with courage, for example, a digimon will go out of control and turn into a psychotic traitorous beast.
It's a nice little story of morals, friendship, and devotion for kids to watch. The first series far exceeds the rest. The second series keeps our first beloved characters in it, but rehashes the ideas from the first, and poorly, while expanding the cast with NEW characters. It's a big jumbled mess. While the first and second season both have believable character types, there's way too many characters to juggle in a main cast for strong roles to be made out of the new characters. The third series moves very slowly, and lacks the personality traits that the first children grew with that made us so fond of it all. The second half of the third series is quick-paced and well-scripted, but it still lacks the script of the original season. The fourth and last season is typically disowned by fans everywhere; they lack even having partners and ARE their own digimon, completely destroying the concept that made everyone fall in love with the show to begin with. No one grows and no one supports the other characters.
If you want a good show, the only one I'd suggest is the first season. The others turned into a money-laundering business when they should have known to hang it up. The first season, along with the cute story of friendship, has a pretty original storyline for a kid's show. That's not to say we won't visit some of our typical anime adventures that it seems every anime seems to have [of course we have the token karaokee episode, or the episode with guns, or...]
The movies that coincide with the first and second seasons are very well done [1-4]. Do not buy the english movie because it completely destroys the first three movies and disallows room for movie 4, the sequel to movie 2.
The music and voice-acting in the Japanese Digimon are very well-done for a children's show. I give the animation plenty of credit, too. They have some beautiful scenery in their own special style, in the first season.
In terms of villains, the only thing that needed work was Vamdemon/Myotismon, the DBZ-esque villain that seemed to come back no matter what you did [hellooo second season]. The first villain was little more than a starting challenge, then they evolved upward from there.
I guess it's the ideal story for kids and their friends. I'd give the first season a 9/10 in terms of children's anime. That's not to say it's the best thing since sliced bread, but if you're willing to sit down with your little brother or sister or just enjoy something less climactic or gory, Digimon is worth your attention.
Digimon has released a series of games to meet the monster-madness rush, but I'd have to say only one [Digimon World 3] has ended up really catching my attention at all. The others were poorly done, even annoying, and I refused to finish DW2. The rumble arenas are glitchy, and the racing games are trendy. I've never played the fourth Digimon World but I hear it's multiplayer, so at least you can have fun with your friends.
Digimon was best when it was free of the monster-money-laundering craze that it fell into. First released in a magazine in the 80s, it's sadly tried to become too popular for its own good.
Season 1: 9/10 [great]
Season 2: 6/10 [average]
Season 3: 7/10 [above average]
Season 4: 1/10 [terrible]
Japanese Movie Releases:
Movie 1 - "Dejimon Adventure": 8/10 [above average/high]
Movie 2 - "Our War Game": 8/10 [above average/high]
Movie 3 - "02: Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!!/Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals": 8/10 [above average/high]
Movie 4 - "Diaboromon Strikes Back": 8/10 [above average/high]
Movie 5 - "The Adventurers' Battle": 4/10 [below average]
Movie 6 - "Runaway Digimon Express": 4/10 [below average]
Movie 7 - "Ornithmon~Revival of the Ancient Digimon~": 1/10 [terrible]
Movie 8 - "X-Evolution: The Thirteenth Royal Knight": Unviewed by myself, would be grateful for a reply by someone who's seen it.
US Movie Releases:
Movie 1 - "Digimon: The Movie" 7/10 [Above average, if you don't mind terrible rescripting]
Movie 2 - "Revenge of Diaboromon" Unseen by me, reply review would be appreciated [aired only on ABC Family August 6, 2005]
Movie 3 - "Battle of the Adventurers" Unseen by me, reply review would be appreciated [aired only on ABC family, around RoD's date]
Movie 4 - "Runaway Locomon" Unseen by me, reply review would be appreciated [aired only on ABC family, October 2005]
Movie 5 - "Island of Lost Digimon" Unseen by me, reply review would be appreciated [aired only on ABC family, October 2005]
(Click on images to view fullsize)  
 
 
For more information on Digimon: Digital Monsters go to Official Website [Japanese] The views expressed on WatchAnimeOnline.com are in no way associated with the creator of Digimon: Digital Monsters, its publisher or any of its subsidiaries.
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