I watched the cartoon Digimon this afternoon and although I used to watch it quite a bit about a year ago I have no idea what is going on. I never did.
What on earth is it about? What’s happening?
I can only help if you give me some idea what season they’re showing. Give me some names or what happened in that episode.
See, I saw a few episodes of the first season, and a couple from the second. Those two seemed pretty compatible.
Then, suddenly, they were using cards and fighting in the real world, and one guy had a fire-breathing red monster that loved peanut butter he hid in the park and they were fighting huge monsters in the real world…
Nowadays, I work at a television station, and on the weekends, I see silent episodes where the kids seem to turn into the digimon.
I can’t help you with what’s going on, but I can join you in the “Huh?” Anyone out there care to help explain?
The beginning of Digimon used to go something like this:
“Last time on Digimon, Ryuko and the Digi-destin and Motomon were fighting Hedgimon and Rappamon over the Land of Wurkarimon because Tokyomon and Birdemon were trapped in Larrymon’s castle, Greyskullmon. also, Tenchi and Vampiremon and some more Digi-destin were on a quest to find Rutagermon, Zombiemon, and Subarumon’s secret Carrotmon, hidden in the Fires of Mt. Doommon by Larrymon, Moemon, and Curlymon. Then the giant Ugandamon attacked MartyMcFlymon and threatened to take over the digital world unless ReadingIsFundamentalmon and Monmon traveled to the lost land of H.R.Puffinstuffmon and search for the legendary Digimons YourAdHeremon, MonMonMonMonMonMonBakedBeansAndMon, and YouCanHaveMyMonWhenYouPryItFromMyColdDeadMon.”
Seemed like 5 minutes of the show was massive flashbacks.
In the first two series the kids have digimon pets that draw strength from them to grow into more powerful digimon. In the third the kids use cards to make their digimon stronger and can combine with them physically to grow even more powerful. In the fourth the kids become digimon themselves.
The first two series are part of the same continuity one right after the other. the third and fourth are each pretty much stand alone series.
First: Monsters die in one hit
Second: they keep coming back from different planets
Third: everyone’s a jerk, they pretty much stay in the real world.
Fourth: ULTRAMA-A-AN ULTRAMA-A-AN ULTRAMAN! That sums the fourth season up quite nicely.
HELL YEAH!
THAT WAS SO COOL! IT KICKS ASS!
:rolleyes: 
What about Morn-mon?
sorry
Ugh…as an o1 and o2 purist, o3 and o4 sicken me…it all went downhill when the frickin’ US censors made Matt and Tai straight and forced Matt into the unholy wedding of Sora. ::shudder:: Matt and Tai were so cute together, and they were a canon couple! You can’t throw away two seasons of that! And believe me, making them straight REALLY took away from the plotlines…and I’m sorry, but…Matt? As an ASTRONAUT?! Um, wasn’t he a famous rock star about, oh, AN EPISODE AGO?!
::fumes:: I hate the o2 finale. I pretend it doesn’t exist.
Hey, the o2 finale rules!
Granted I was a little bummed when the creepy guy in the trenchcoat died but still.
Sock Munkey, I beg you to tell me you jest. Please. Sora and Matt?! How horrific. And Ichijouji ended up with YOLEI of all people–UGH! This is not me demanding my favorite pairings–this is me demanding canon–you can’t set us up for Taito and then throw Sorato at us! It’s just not done!!!
Granted,most of the final pair-offs suck but the end battle was still pretty cool and I love extensive epilogues.
I was a pretty big fan of Digimon in early 2000, but I have no idea what you’re talking about now. I lost interest around the end of the first season, when the final evolutions of most of the Digimon were never revealed.
I thought the US edition of the show only had new voices but no new animation, so how did they change a “Taito” show into a “Sorato” show?
They showed the ultimate evolutions for all of them but the mega evolutions of only 2 of them.
Sock Munkey, I’m testing my residual knowledge–would that have been Gabumon and Agumon —> Omnimon?
My kids used to watch Digimon. Tars, I just read your whole post out loud to my wife, having to stop several times to recover from laughter.
A standing ovation from both of us on this end.
The mega evolutions of Gabumon and Agumon were Metal Garourumon and War Greymon. I never saw Omnimon in the first series, allthough he was mentioned in the second series. I THINK Omnimon was only in the Digimon movie
To answer the, you know, original post…
The show known in the United States as Digimon is really four separate series in Japan. The first two series, Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02, share their storyline. The two subsequent series, Digimon Tamers and Digimon Frontier, have storylines unique to themselves.
All three plots have some things in common: there is a separate parallel world made up of computer data that is inhabited by monsters, some good, some bad, some indifferent. This Digital World is under attack from forces of evil that threaten its very existence. To counter the evil, ordinary schoolkids are summoned to defeat the evil.
In Adventure, there were seven kids originally: the five boys Tai (Taichi), Izzy (Koushirou), Joe (Jyou), Matt, (Yamato), and his little brother T.K. (Takeru) and the two girls Sora and Mimi, who kept their original names in the English dub. They were sucked into the Digital World and stranded there. They then discovered that each had their own designated Digimon to protect them, who could also evolve into more powerful Digimon if
a) their kid was in danger
b) their kid exercised a particular character trait - Tai’s was courage, Matt’s friendship, Sora’s love, Mimi’s sincerity, Joe’s responsibility, Izzy’s knowledge, and T.K.'s hope.
When the danger passes or the Digimon’s energy runs out, they devolve again.
For the record, their Digimon are:
Tai= Agumon (dinosaur)
Matt=Gabumon (dinosaur, but with wolf traits)
Izzy=Tentomon (ladybug)
Sora=Piyomon (bird)
Mimi=Palmon (plant)
Joe=Gomamon (various marine animals, mainly seal)
T.K.=Patamon (flying hamster, evolves into an angel)
The first story arc, Devimon, sets up evolution rules and culminates in the deaths of Devimon and Patamon, and Patamon’s return from the dead. The second, Etemon, gives each kid a crest for their trait that will allow each Digimon to evolve another stage. Besides these evolutions, the third, Demi Devimon (Pico Devimon), sets up personal issues for each kid: Matt and T.K.‘s parents’ divorce and how it gave them separation issues, Joe feeling crushed by his father pushing him to be a doctor, Izzy accidentally discovering he’s adopted, etc. The fourth, Myotismon (Vamdemon), sees Demi Devimon’s boss invade the human world to find and kill an eighth child proficied to kill him; this is Kari (Hikari), Tai’s little sister, and her Digimon, Gatomon (Tailmon, a white cat) is discovered working for Myotismon. The final arc, the Dark Masters, sees the kids voluntarily returning to the Digital World to save it from new evil Digimon and having to work through constant arguing amonst themselves. Issues resolved, they say good-bye to their Digimon, and the Digital World is sealed to heal.
Three years pass until the second series starts. Set in 2002 (hence “02”), the original kids and some new ones are summoned by their old Digimon when a vicious Digimon Emperor begins conquering their world. Deprived of the usual way of evolving, they instead use Digimentals, which look like eggs and turn out armored evolutions. The older kids are essentially written down to cameos, but T.K., Kari, Patamon, and Gatomon are part of the main group, as are Davis (Daisuke) and V-mon (a little blue dragon), Yolei (Miyako) and Hawkmon (guess), and Cody (Iori) and Armadillomon (guess some more). About half the show involves the discovery that this Emporer is a kid their age named Ken, culminating in the death of his Digimon, Wormmon, reminding him he originally came to escape the guilt he felt over his older brother’s death in a traffic accident. (Wormmon, like Patamon, is resurrected in a couple of episodes.) The rest of the show Ken gradually joining the group to fight the Digimon that controlled him, Arukenimon (Arachnemon) and Mummymon, and their creator Oikawa, an obsessive friend of Cody’s late father who was possessed by the ghost of Myotismon. After Myotismon is killed for the final time (it took three tries over the course of both series), Oikawa expires and becomes the Digital World’s protector spirit. The epilogue shows the heroes grown up and with children of their own, who have their own Digimon.
Season three, Tamers, was made by a different production group than the Adventures. It deliberately junked as much of the old as it dared. One thing that went was the curious homoerotic tone to the show, especially between Tai and Matt. There are fewer kids, so the pace is slower. There’s also a lot more death and depression in general. People who should know tell me it resembles another show called Revolutionary Girl Utena too much.
In the series, Digimon exists as a marketing franchise of games in the real world when kids start discovering live ones. Takato basicly makes his red dragon Guilmon up, Henry (Jenrya) gets upset at a computer game when Terriermon (a rabbitty dog) hops out to comfort him, and card game champ Rika (Ruki) is sought out by Renamon (a fox) to train her. Other, wilder Digimon are also cropping up and the kids and their pet Digimon must hunt them down and kill them. There’s a secret government project led by a man named Yamaki that’s also out to kill Digimon. Two that are inexplicably spared are Calumon (Culumon), a harmless baby, and Impmon, who ran away from his Tamers. This takes up the first third of the series.
The second third deals with the Devas, who are released from the Digital World when Yamaki messes up a grand scheme to kill all Digimon in the human world. The Devas bribe Impmon with the ability to evolve to Beelzebubmon, and kidnap Calumon, who will ultimately be revealed to be evolution incarnate and not a true Digimon. Takato, Henry, Rika, their Digimon, and three classmates named Jeri (Juri), Kazu (Hiirokazu), and Kenta, and Jeri’s recently tamed lion-man Leomon mount an expedition to rescue Calumon. (Kazu and Kenta will tame a robot Guardromon and a plush toy Marine Angemon. Henry’s little sister Susie {Shuichong} will eventuall join them and tame the Rabbit Deva, Lopmon. They’ll also meet a boy named Ryou and his ninja-robot-thang Cyber Dramon. This info is not important.) This Digital World is a desolate place gradually being destroyed by something outside. After the traditional aimless wandering and getting separated, Beelzebubmon starts a knockdown dragout fight with everybody to gain more power. He kills the Dog, the Monkey, and Leomon, who does not come back from the dead; Jeri settles into a deep depression. Takato and Guilmon finally defeat him and spare his life, as they’re worried even Beelzebubmon’s death might push Jeri into insanity.
The final third is the tiresome D-Reaper arc, about the real villain, a deletion program come to life and run amok. It kidnaps Jeri when no one is looking and substitutes part of itself in her place. When the kids return to the human world, the D-Reaper starts trying to delete it. The rest of the series is endless fights with mute D-Reaper parts and everyone, including the guilt-ridden Impmon, trying to rescue Jeri, whose depression serves as fuel for the program.
Tamers started okay in the ratings, but about halfway (when a significant chunk of any episode was Jeri holding her head and moaning) they plummeted and never recovered. The new series Frontier borrows liberally from Adventure as well as the Sentai/Power Ranger shows. Instead of having Digimon, the kids become them with the help of “spirits” in the shape of amulets. These kids were invited by a mysterious voice in their telephones who told them to take a particular subway train that led to a strange Digital World, where they are met by the comic relief Bokomon, who has an encyclopedia, and Neemon, whose role in the plot is unclear yet. Each kid gets two spirits, one human, one bestial, and both are based on one element - Takuya got fire, Kouji got light, J.P. (Jyunpei) got lightning, Tommy (Tomoki) got ice, and Zoe (Izumi) the lone girl got wind. They also scan damaged parts of the Digital World to repair them.
After a few episodes of this, the origin of their Digital World is explained. First Lucemon (read: Lucifermon) the original ruler of the world had to be destroyed by the three angels Lord Seraphimon, Lady Ophanimon, and Cherubimon, who doesn’t seem to have a title. This might be why he turned evil and had to be put down by the original ten holders of the spirits, as Seraphimon and Ophanimon had been bound. The other five sets of spirits - earth, water, wood, metal, and darkness - have fallen into the hands of Cherubimon’s followers. They manage to catch up to the kids just as they release Seraphimon from his prison and steal his power, reducing him to an egg. Bokomon jams the egg in his belt and declares himself pregnant. The kids gradually defeat the first four holders, who also turn into eggs and disappear off someplace else, and get back that power so the egg hatches into a Patamon, first step on the road back to Seraphimon. The English dub has just reached the point where the darkness spirit holder is revealed to be Kouichi, twin brother of Kouji waylaid by Cherubimon. Kouji will eventually learn that he has a twin and Kouichi will be reformed and join the group. In recent episodes in Japan, both Ophanimon and Cherubimon die and turn into eggs, then Lucemon’s Royal Knight henchmen emerge and gradually destroy the Digital World. About ten more episodes involving the fight with Lucemon and whoever is controlling him (he’s not the ultimate evil) remain. The ratings slide from Tamers increased during Frontier’s run. No plans for a fifth series have been announced nor are expected.
There are also seven movies, two for each series except Frontier, because its bombed, that you don’t want to know about. (The first three were bundled into the incomprehensible Digimon: The Movie.) There’s also a comic book series that is not connect with any of the cartoon shows, although Tai is the star. If you have any other questions, feel free to ask.