Digimon: 15 years later

[PowerZord]

Originally posted by Wikipedia

Digimon Adventure was produced by Toei Animation and ran for 54 episodes on Fuji TV in Japan between March 7, 1999 and March 26, 2000. Saban Entertainment licensed the series in North America and produced an English-language version which aired on Fox Kids between August 14, 1999 and June 24, 2000.

What are your thoughts about the series 15 years later after it's debut? does the series still holds? For me the series has aged well compared to other tv shows, however it's difficult to watch the first half of the first season since it relies on the suspense of not knowing what exactly are digimon, what's happening in the real world, and that the digi world is not inhabited by humans but by very intelligent creatures,

 

[Light Lucario]

While I haven't seen Adventure 01 in awhile, I think it does hold up really well. It does a good job with focusing on the characters, giving them pretty solid development, establishing the settings in both worlds and having some pretty good fights against the evil Digimon. The first half still works pretty well since it sets up the group dynamics and exploring the new world pretty well, even though it loses the sense of mystery after you're already familiar with the Digital World. My favorite part of the series is still the Myotismon arc. He was the most threatening villain with attacking the human world directly, the characters going back to the human world led to some really good moments with their families, the search for the eighth child was pretty engaging and it had a good conclusion leading up to the Dark Masters arc.

 

[wonderfly]

Well, let's face it: the only reason we got Digimon was because of how well Pokemon was taking off in America. But I guess that's one of the good side effects of a pop culture fad taking off - those early Digimon seasons have a loyal cult following, of which I include myself as a fan.

Fox Kids 1999-2001, that was among the last great stands of Saturday mornings.

 

[Storm Eagle]

Well, let's face it: the only reason we got Digimon was because of how well Pokemon was taking off in America. But I guess that's one of the good side effects of a pop culture fad taking off - those early Digimon seasons have a loyal cult following, of which I include myself as a fan.

Fox Kids 1999-2001, that was among the last great stands of Saturday mornings.

Well I've come to like Digimon much better than Pokemon, and in fact, I've often said it's the thinking person's Pokemon.

I guess it's still not so bad since I've been buying the DVD season sets after all, and I've even got Digimon: Data Squad coming. They're some of the most valued DVD sets in my collection, and that's probably because I never thought it would ever make it to DVD in the form of complete season sets. I'm not sure if I like Fusion as much as all the others, but it's still nice to watch.

 

[ChibiGoku]

Man, I was really excited for Digimon back in the day when it finally hit US air waves. I don't know what about it attracted me more than Pokemon, but it seemed more up my ally. If I recall correctly, I believe I was 9/10 years old when it was airing in it's first year. Those were the days. I feel I even invested more into Digimon than I did Pokemon. Never did beat any of the Digimon World games that came out, though...

Having... said that, looking back over the show, while I feel it really held up (Toei's obvious limited animation budget, not withstanding), I do have issues trying to re-watch the dub. In fact, as it stands, I'm currently watching through the series in Japanese on Netflix. When I look back to the American dub, I see some great casting decisions for the characters and for the most part, many fit the characters types and personalities. However, I feel that my adult me is less appreciative to the constant jokes and puns that have been added to the show, courtesy of Jeff Nimoy, whom I personally felt over-stepped his boundaries when it came to producing an anime adaptation for an American audience. That and he would further go and completely modify characters during 02.

But as it stands, the show to me (at the very least, in Japanese) is very much re-watchable, and I have enjoyed watching through most of the series. Though, it's not to say each series didn't have their problems (particularly a lot of things during the second half of 02), but I feel most of the good out ways the bad. Catchy theme and vocal songs, background music produced by the guy who did the Sailor Moon OST, enjoyable cast and story... What's not to love?

Having said that, I am wondering when Tamers and Frontier's going to hit Netflix (And Hulu, for that matter).

 

[DonkeyKongSong]

Having said that, I am wondering when Tamers and Frontier's going to hit Netflix (And Hulu, for that matter).

I wonder if there's some licensing issues going on there. They are being released to DVD by New Video Group, and Data Squad is on Kabillion alongside some other Saban shows, but Nicktoons isn't airing them either.

 

[zoombie]

Having... said that, looking back over the show, while I feel it really held up (Toei's obvious limited animation budget, not withstanding), I do have issues trying to re-watch the dub. In fact, as it stands, I'm currently watching through the series in Japanese on Netflix. When I look back to the American dub, I see some great casting decisions for the characters and for the most part, many fit the characters types and personalities. However, I feel that my adult me is less appreciative to the constant jokes and puns that have been added to the show, courtesy of Jeff Nimoy, whom I personally felt over-stepped his boundaries when it came to producing an anime adaptation for an American audience. That and he would further go and completely modify characters during 02.

But as it stands, the show to me (at the very least, in Japanese) is very much re-watchable, and I have enjoyed watching through most of the series. Though, it's not to say each series didn't have their problems (particularly a lot of things during the second half of 02), but I feel most of the good out ways the bad. Catchy theme and vocal songs, background music produced by the guy who did the Sailor Moon OST, enjoyable cast and story... What's not to love?

I agree, especially the original music that is one of my favorite parts, so watch the dubs without them, it is kind of empty. I say this though, the current dub for Xros Wars, it has some of the problems with the music changes but that is always the case, but it also has those add on jokes, however they fit much better with the flow of the show, they don't seemed as forced and more natural, and they are actual better jokes than in the old dub, I wouldn't say they are funny, but an improvement. So the dub at least is showing improvement with its flaw. But still have the great acting that seperates from the Sailor Moon dubs of the world.

 

[Light Lucario]

Well, let's face it: the only reason we got Digimon was because of how well Pokemon was taking off in America. But I guess that's one of the good side effects of a pop culture fad taking off - those early Digimon seasons have a loyal cult following, of which I include myself as a fan.

Fox Kids 1999-2001, that was among the last great stands of Saturday mornings.

That is true. I still remember how most of my classmates in elementary school just wrote it off as a Pokemon copycat. I also thought that was the case based on the name until I actually watched an episode. They are apples and oranges and it still surprises me when a person makes the claim that Digimon copied Pokemon in this day and age.

Digimon was one of the two shows that I watched on Fox Kids. The other being the first couple of seasons of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I was much more into Kids' WB back then. I'm not sure what was the first episode I saw. I do remember seeing the episode where Myotismon's forces got to the human world before the main characters did on Fox Kids' afternoon block. I either didn't have school that day or I got out early since the afternoon block started at 2PM in my area. It ended on such a good cliffhanger that I took an emotional break day from school just to see how it turned out. This was around fifth or sixth grade, so a day without school was like a blessing for me. After that, I kept watching the series on Fox Kids and ABC Family. I've also seen all of the other series dubbed with Tamers, most of Adventure 02 and Xros Wars subbed. Tamers is still my favorite series due to the great development for its main leads and their relationships with their Digimon partners, but Adventure 01 is a really good series too.

 

[DonkeyKongSong]

I used to believe so too, despite actually catching the pilot the morning it aired, but it didn't stop me from watching it. However, since then, I've usually been a lot more hesitant to call things rip-offs, even when other people around me do, especially since some of them have gotten so silly (e.g. people labeling Supernatural as a rip-off of Scooby-Doo, but that may have just been a joke; though I do recall someone mentioned Firefly was a ripoff of Cowboy Bebop - they seemed serious about it, but that is HIGHLY unlikely).

 

[PowerZord]

Having said that, I am wondering when Tamers and Frontier's going to hit Netflix (And Hulu, for that matter).

Licensing issues maybe

 

[Gold Guy]

Ah, Digimon. I LOVED it as a kid.

When they announced it would be getting a DVD release in America, I was stoked.

Aftre seeing them again, I fell in love with the show all over again! The shows's plot and dialogue still hold up. Do some people really think Pokemon is the better show, quality wise?

 

[MagicBox]

Digimon Adventure hasn't aged a bit. Still the greatest toyetic animated series ever made, I think. I simply can't believe how well those human characters were developed, which is such a rare thing to see with a huge ensemble cast. I still remember the morning I saw my very first episode (episode 02) of the dub. I've been hooked ever since. Nowadays, I find it very, very hard to revisit the American version (the casting was great, but the scripts just kill it), but the original Japanese version hasn't lost a bit of its luster. The voice cast, the writing, the vocal songs, Takanori Arisawa's brilliant score, it's all superb. I'd say my imported Digimon soundtracks make up about a fifth of my music collection; the songs and score are just that good.

I won't pretend it's perfect; Toei gave the series a very limited budget and boy, does it show. But I never felt the storytelling, characters, or overall charm ever suffered from it. The cast and staff very clearly loved this series.

Happy 15th birthday, Digimon Adventure!

 

[Tohya]

Fox Kids 1999-2001, that was among the last great stands of Saturday mornings.

http://youtu.be/omlnUsKEejI
And it was a hell of a stand too(4:40 mark of that video. It was my favorite fox kids promo)

 

[Gatomon41]

It was the last year in Middle School when I saw my first episode of Digimon Adventure on Fox Kids.

My brother had finally figured out to set the TV antenna (great big pair of rabbit ears) to pick up the local Fox station. A few years ago, a flood took out the locl CBS station, and I don't think there ever was an WB affiliate near by. In any case, our Fox station lost reception as a result of the disaster.

It was about the same time my brother picked up the channel that Digimon came on. Destiny? Perhaps, because that first episode got my interest more than any other anime series than before.

Seeing the intro for the first time, I was a bit annoyed by it's repetition. But the imagery and power stayed with me. The episode was "A Clue from the Digi-Past", were Mimi, Izzy and their 'mon were stuck on an island. I had no idea what was going on, but what I did see kept my interest.

Every weekday and Saturday morning then on was finding and watching Digimon. I was about 16, which they say is the Golden Age of Science Fiction. Yes, Digimon is more Science Fantasy, but the effect is about the same. It was a show that had a surprising amount of depth, goo animation, and great voices. I'd wouldn't be the anime fan I am now if I hadn't seen this show.

 

[dumbfoolkid5]

I always thought it was unfair for Graymon and Garurumon to not only hit mega status, but also had their transformation sequence in total cgi. Not only for them but the other digimon like Xveemon, Stingmon, Growlmon and Terriermon. I know it has something to do with prophecy and the like but it still bothers me sometimes. Would've been better if they all had that upgrade. I always wandered was it a budget thing with the cgi or something?

 

[SpecialColorfull]

I think the digimon that DIDNT get CGI Evolutions were the lucky ones. Traditional animation will always age best.

 

[Surreal Kangaroo]

I was actually randomly thinking about this show the other day. I have only seen the original series, and to be honest I only watched it regularly for like a month. I remember watching reruns of it when it came to Toon Disney just for the heck of it, but I stopped once they went to the second series.

 

[dumbfoolkid5]

I think the digimon that DIDNT get CGI Evolutions were the lucky ones. Traditional animation will always age best.

Ok, but I still think it's unfair for those two to get the upgrade.

 

[Light Lucario]

Ok, but I still think it's unfair for those two to get the upgrade.

It's pretty typical for only a select group of characters that are able to get a Mega Digimon upgrade. There are a few series where more than two characters are able to get that upgrade, such as Tamers and I think Savers, but it's not too uncommon for only two to get the special treatment. In the context of Adventure 01, they probably thought that giving eight characters Mega Digimon would have been too overpowering going up against the Dark Masters.

 

[dumbfoolkid5]

It's pretty typical for only a select group of characters that are able to get a Mega Digimon upgrade. There are a few series where more than two characters are able to get that upgrade, such as Tamers and I think Savers, but it's not too uncommon for only two to get the special treatment. In the context of Adventure 01, they probably thought that giving eight characters Mega Digimon would have been too overpowering going up against the Dark Masters.

Doesn't sound bad to me.