Digimon: Digital Monsters

I'll admit, when I first saw the commercials for "Digimon" a year ago, I automatically thought it was some sort of "Pokemon" spinoff. Sure, the two share some common ground - spunky kids hooking up with cute little monsters that evolve into big, less-cute monsters - but the similarities end there.

I won't insult anyone's intelligence, most of all my own, by trying to compare the two series point by point - I'm not at all familiar with "Pokemon", though I get the feeling that if you've seen one episode of this series, you've seen 'em all. But "Digimon" simply seems to be a more thoughtful and engaging series than its predecessor: the character designs are inventive, mixing nature with technology; the colour palette is varied, contrasting the brightly-hued Digimon and human kids with comparatively subdued backgrounds; the digital world into which the children stumble is a place full of mystery and wonder, evoking an atmosphere reminiscent of CS Lewis' "Chronicles of Narnia".

The characters themselves are well-rounded and fully realised, not the cookie-cutter stereotypes one would initially take them for. Not one of the children who leaves the digital world is the same person they were upon arriving there; throughout the numerous cataclysmic battles and far-reaching story arcs, the characters undergo intense changes, becoming stronger, braver, and more mature as they call upon the powers that lie within them. The relationships - among the children themselves and between each child and his digital counterpart - are by turns humorous, intriguing, and heartfelt.

Of course the show is not without its flaws - the animation is occasionally lacklustre; seeing the same transformation scenes over and over again can grow tiresome; and several episodes suffer from poor writing. But, in my opinion, these problems are outweighed by the tightly-woven plotline and spot-on characterisations.

Say what you will about "Digimon", but it truly is in a class by itself.

I watched a couple of episodes of Digimon near its beginning and dismissed as derivative rubbish. Then, a few months later and rather bored, I turned it on again. I couldn't believe it. This supposed kids' cartoon had one of the most dramatic, engaging, even shocking story arcs I've seen. This programme deals with love and loyalty, life and death, fear and self-doubt. The 'Digi-destined' children fight with their parents, who have trouble understanding the sacrifices their children have to make. One child finds out he's adopted. Characters sacrifice their lives to save others. The children get scared, and doubt their own ability to save the world as they are destined to do. If this had slightly better animation, and was billed as adult animé, no-one would question it once. So much more than just a kids' show.

Don't get me wrong, this stuff is still quite cheesey, but I found it to be more entertaining than Pokemon. Here are the reasons why:

1. Not only did I find Digimon to be much more humorous than Pokemon, but overall it seemed more colorful in nature.

2. The soundtrack contained fun rock songs that fit well with the movie.

3. Which brings me to the point that Digimon is aimed at a slightly older audience than Pokemon, which is probably why I enjoyed it more.

4. I found there to be more character development. Each character's personality grew apparent and the fact that they were all in a closely knit group called the Digi-Destined helped the character development greatly.

5. The action seemed a bit more violent at times and the concept of Digivolving was great. Really helped peak the interest and intensity.

That's about it. It's still goofy stuff, but pretty fun nonetheless.

Digimon: Digital Monsters is an English translated version of Digimon: Adventure, it's your typical imported Japanese anime from the late 90's about monsters and children. Critics have criticized it as being a pseudo version of Pokemon, Digimon however is far from being a rip-off it shares common aspects with more popular Pokemon such as children befriending the monsters, the monster evolve, the monsters battle etc. Unlike the lighthearted Pokemon however, Digimon is more of a classic tale of good and evil it's plot is completely different from that of Pokemon. I have seen other anime that follow what I call the Pokemon formula, Digimon is not one of them.

The Pokemon formula: A character aims to be great at something, goes on a quest, wins things, monsters come out of stuff to battle (cards, toys, balls, etc), usually involves some kind of monster tournament. Beyblade, Yu-Gi-Oh, Bakugan, and others follow this formula more than Digimon. If anything Digimon has more in common with science fiction anime's or Saturday morning American cartoons about action and adventure, than it does with the other monster anime.

The characters are not your typical one dimensional anime characters, all of the characters seem to have very distinctive personality's with interesting back stories that keep the viewer interested. Even some of the villains and Digimon themselves. The anime is a lighthearted tale of good and evil, with some mature themes mixed in such as losing your parents and death, the anime also teaches kids about teamwork, friendship, and the importance of working together. The anime has great plots and sub plots that are not to complex for children to follow, but are very well written and interesting.

The English version of Digimon is filled with cheesy puns and comedy to keep kids laughing, and a score composed of cheesy 90's early 00's pop rock to catch their ear. The English version also has some of the more intense scenes removed from the original Japanese version making it more appropriate for kids, without parents having to worry about Digimon being a bad influence on children or to dodge controversial Japanese anime stereotypes. For the older audience who may enjoy anime, the original Japanese version of Digimon Adventure, features a much more serious script (the dialog at times is usually completely different), a beautifully composed score made up of orchestra, electric synths, J- Rock and J-Pop, and features much more as a lot was cut out of the English dub to make it more suitable for western children and western audiences.

Digimon Adventure and Zero Two are some of the coolest animes that i've seen. And to be sure, I've seen alot. From Evangelion to DBZ, I've seen anime in just about every spectrum of human thought; however, digimon remains in my top 3. There are many reasons for this and I'd like to give some now without bashing pokemon or other animes that people like to compare Digimon to.

First, Character Development and Interactions is basically what half of digimon is all about. In the first season, half the problems the kids get into are because of their own mistakes and problems; however, they always stand together when needed. At first the kids are amazed with the new world they find known as the Digital World. They go through many battles and defeat Devimon. At this point they realize that not everything in this world is so great and the loss of Angemon weakens everyone's spirits. They then have to go and fight on Server(i love the continent names haha) and it is there they defeat Etemon after a long struggle. After Tai leaves everyone goes their separate ways and its here we first see how the characters really are when they are alone. Matt who was thought of as this lone shark of sorts shows that he really is a team player when he helps Joe out for that long period of time. The second part of this idea is that there are approximately 16 different people in the first season to get to know. This is because of the 8 Digidestined children and their digimon. They have different ideas about everything so everyone that watches this show can find some character they relate to.

Then, there are the incredible action sequences throughout the season. There are always new enemies after old enemies have been dealt with; showing that it is the duty of everyone to stop evil...even if it can't be destroyed completely. There were many memorable battles that i'll rewind to and watch these days 3 years down the road from the first time i saw it. I mean the first time u see Angemon, to the whole Myotismon arc, to the first time we see Mega Digimon go at it....this series is jam-packed with great battles.

The great thing about Digimon is that it deals with all the problems that youth go through in their teen years without being overly-gushing with emotion. Like we see the great happiness that arrises when the children finally defeat Myotismon; however, just a couple of minutes later they are up against the Dark Masters with no hope of winning. This causes utter distress in the kids and their group breaks down. We see Matt and Sora deal with Depression and Mimi with Greed. We see TK grow up in episode 52 and with his revolution evolution Magnaangemon is born. Everyone is shown to have their own fears and strengths and this true diversity just makes this show great.

Basically Zero Two just expands upon the first season with new characters while keeping our heroes as mentors to the new basically. It is a great season, full of action and emotion.

Together these two seasons were utterly amazing, spanning 104 episodes and spawning 4 movies and numerous video games...both Japanese and American. Also the card game is ever successful, so it is no wonder why so many people like this great series. From "And so it begins" to "A million points of Light" Digimon is truly an action-packed ride.