Digimon

5 years ago, I'm watching a commercial break during the original Pokemon. All of a sudden, I see an interesting commercial: a new anime show named "Digimon." "Hmmm.." I think to myself. "Probably some half-baked rip-off of Pokemon. Oh well. I guess I might as well watch it anyway." To my surprise and utter delight, what I watched a week later was by no means some Pokemon clone as I had anticipated. I had found myself wrapped up in an original masterpiece that had me immediately hooked. That first season of Digimon had me engaged from the opening segment of the first episode to the last scene of the final episode in a complex web of character building, good and evil and an occasional hinted romance. Though the next 3 installments were also great, they have not surpassed the glory of season 1. Though the series is indefinitely canceled, you can still catch re-runs on Jetix or through tapes. But I must warn you: You WILL Be hooked.

Animation Score (10/10) Overall Score (10/10) Recommended

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 anim&eacute, no-one would question it once. So much more than just a kids' show.

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.

Well, given that I watched this a 12 year-old child I can't be objective, but at that age I watched this it really was something. It had everything I wanted. It really has one of the best soundtracks I have witness in any animated series (maybe even better than the anime itself and it still gives me some crazy goosebumps when I listen to it), a decent linear plot, and the great transformations of digimons. The transformations are one of the biggest cards of this anime, since all the episodes are centered around these moments where epicness begins. Some say that it is just an imitation of pokemon which started at about the same time. I disagree, since this is far better than the too simplistic pokemon. I think could be enjoyed only from children, while this has some potential to older audiences too. Even though it's a perfect 10 for me (probably due to nostalgia, in every case it's a very watchable anime for pretty much everybody. It is not of course at the level of let's say One Piece or Dragonball, but still, you will have good time watching this.

Digimon Adventure really is a great show. One of my favorites as a kid, I now revisit it as an adult and it definitely stands the test of time!

The show does an excellent job of character development, character designs, action scenes, and adding the element of real world consequences. Each of the kids deal with their own insecurities, which they learn to overcome in order to help themselves and their friends, typically helped out by their individual Digimon partners. The Digimon all have really cool designs. The actions sequences, while nothing spectacular are interesting and fun to watch, especially as the Digimon evolutions grow further. By adding real world consequences, the show helps us feel the danger and intensity of what's happening, making it much more exciting.

Not without its flaws of course. Early on, the first 10 episodes get a bit repetitive. At times, the show can be dull and immature, which is to be expected of a kids show.

Overall, a great ride that makes you feel like a kid again!