DIGIMON:
DIGITAL MONSTERS
(Fuji TV, March 7, 1999-March 25, 2007 JAP
FOX, ABC Family, August 14, 1999-March 20, 2003 US)
Saban Entertainment, Renaissance Atlantic-Films, Toei
Company, Ltd., Bugboy Productions, Inc., Sensation Animation (season 4), BVS Entertainment (season 4)
MAIN CAST:
Toshiko Fujita
(Japanese) – Taichi
Yagami/Taichi “Tai” Kamiya (season 1-2), Toshiko Takenouchi
(season 1-2), various
Joshua Seth
– Taichi Yagami/Taichi “Tai” Kamiya (season 1-2), various
Chika Sakamoto
(Japanese) – Agumon (season 1-2),
various
Tom Fahn
– Agumon (season 1-2), various
Yuto Kazama
(Japanese) – Yamato “Matt” Ishida
(season 1-2), MetalSeadramon
(season 1)
Michael Reisz
– Yamato “Matt” Ishida (season 1-2), various
Mayumi Yamaguchi
(Japanese) – Gabumon (season 1-2), Jianliang Lee/Henry Wong (season
3), various
Kirk Thornton
– Gabumon, Tsunomon (season 1-2 &
4), Takehiro
Matsuki (season 3), various
Yuko Mizutani
(Japanese) – Sora Takenouchi,
Yuuko Yagami (both season 1-2), Kae Izumi (season 1), Kae Izumi, Sora’s
daughter (both season 2)
Colleen
O’Shaughnessey - Sora Takenouchi (season 1-2), Sora’s
daughter (season 2), Angie
Hinomoto, Monitamon (both season
4)
Atori Shigematsu
(Japanese) – Piyomon/Biyomon,
Birdamon,
Pyocomon/Yokomon, Garudamon,
Hououmon
(all season 1-2)
Tifanie Christun
– Piyomon/Biyomon (season 1-2), Pyocomon/Yokomon
(season 1), Miyako Inoue/Yolei Inoue
(season 2), Riley Ohtori
(season 3), Chiaki, Tommy’s mother, Piyomon/Biyomon (all season 4)
Umi Tenjin
(Japanese) – Koushiro “Izzy” Izumi
(season 1-2), Mushmon (season 1), Pandamon (season 4)
Mona Marshall
– Koushiro “Izzy” Izumi (season 1-2), Terriermon
(season 3), various
Takahiro
Sakurai (Japanese) – Tentomon,
Mochimon, Kabuterimon, AtlurKabuterimon, HerakleKabuterimon (all
season 1-2), Fantomon, Anomalocarimon, Fujiyama-sensei
(all season 1), Shakomon, Octmon (both season 2)
Jeff Nimoy
– Tentomon, Kabuterimon, MegaKabuterimon, HerculesKabuterimon, Gennai/Benjamin, Masami
Izumi (all season 1-2), Omnimon
(season 2)
Ai Maeda
(Japanese) – Mimi Tachikawa (season
1-2)
Philece Sampler
– Mimi Tachikawa (season 1-2), Koromon
(season 1), Iori Hida/Cody Hida, Anna, Palmon
(all season 2), Alice McCoy, Yoshie
Matsuki, Jeri Katou, Riley
Ohtori (all season 3), Floramon,
Shinya Kanbara, Koichi and Koji’s mother (all season 4)
Shihomi Mizowaki
(Japanese) – Palmon, Tanemon, Togemon, Lilimon, Rosemon (all season 1-2)
Anna Garduno
– Palmon, Tanemon (season 1-2)
Masami Kikuchi
(Japanese) – Jo Kido/Joe Kido (season
1-2), Neamon/Neemon (season 4), various
Michael Lindsay
– Jo Kido/Joe Kido, Greymon (both
season 1-2), Agumon (2 episodes), Gennai/Benjamin (season 2)
Junko Takeuchi
(Japanese) – Gomamon (season 1-2), Takuya Kanbara (season 4),
various
R. Martin Klein
– Gomamon (season 1-2), various
Hiroko Konishi
(Japanese) – Takeru “T.K.”
Takaishi (season 1)
Wendee Lee
– Takeru “T.K.” Takaishi (season 1), various
Miwa Matsumoto
(Japanese) – Patamon (season 1-2),
various
Laura Summer
– Patamon, Tokomon (season 1-2), Lara/Sonya, Noriko Kawada (both
season 2)
Kae Araki
(Japanese) – Hikari Yagami/Kari
Kamiya (season 1-2), Blossomon
(season 2), Patamon (season 4)
Lara Jill Miller
– Hikari Yagami/Kari Kamiya (season 1-2), Nami Asaji (season 4)
Yuka Tokumitsu
(Japanese) – Tailmon/Gatomon (season
1-2), various
Edie Mirman
– Tailmon/Gatomon, Salamon/Plotmon, Angewomon (all season -12), Nefertimon, Silphymon (both season 2)
Reiko Kiuchi
(Japanese) – Daisuke
Motomiya/Davis Motomiya, 3rd
Poi Brother, Anna, Gottsumon, Monochromon, Daisuke’s son (all
season 2)
Brian Donovan
– Daisuke Motomiya/Davis Motomiya (season 2-3), Davis’ son (season 2), Kai Urazoe (season 3), Mushroomon, Teruo
(both season 4)
Junko Noda (Japanese)
– V-mon/Veemon (season 2), various
Derek Stephen
Prince – V-mon/Veemon (season 2), Digimon Kaizer/Emperor/Ken
Ichijoji/Ken Ichijouji (season 2), various
Rio Natasuki (Japanese)
– Miyako Inoue/Yolei Inoue, Momoe Inoue, Chizuru Inoue, Chichos, Norki’s mother (all season 2)
Megumi Urawa
(Japanese) - Iori Hida/Cody Hida, Armadimon/Armadillomon
(both season 2), various
Robert Axelrod
– Armadimon/Armadillomon, (season 2), various
Romi Park
(Japanese) - Digimon Kaiser/Emperor/Ken Ichijoji/Ken Ichijouji, Osamu Ichijouji, Laura/Sonya,
Miyako’s son (all season 2), Trailmon
(season 4)
Naozumi Takahashi
(Japanese) – Wormon/Wormmon (season
2), various
Paul St. Peter
– Wormon/Wormmon (season 2), Cherubimon
(season 2 & 4), various
Makoto Tsumura
(Japanese) – Takato Matsuda/Takato
Matsuki, Dukemon, Dukemon Crimson Mode (all season
3)
Brian Beacock
– Takato Matsuda/Takato Matsuki (season 3), Bokomon (season 4), various
Masako Nozawa
(Japanese) – Guilmon, Gigimon, Growmon, MegaloGrowmon, Dukemon, Dukemon
Crimson Mode, narrator (all season 3)
Steve Blum
– Guilmon (season 3), Junpei
Shibayama/J.P. Shibayama (season 4), various
Dave Wittenberg
– Jianliang Lee/Henry Wong (season 3), various
Aoi Tada
(Japanese) – Terriermon (season 3), various
Yuka Imai
(Japanese) – Renamon, Pokomon, Kyubimon, Taomon, Sakuyamon, Rumiko Makino, Seiko Hata, Alice McCoy (all season
3)
Mari Devon
– Renamon (season 3), various
Masato Amada
(Japanese) - Junpei Shibayama/J.P. Shibayama, Blitzmon, Bolgmon (all season 4)
Sawa Ishige
(Japanese) – Izumi Orimoto/Zoe
Orimoto, Fairimon, Shutumon (all season 4)
Michelle Ruff
– Izumi Orimoto/Zoe Orimoto (season 4), various
Kumiko Watanabe
(Japanese) – Tomoki Himi/Tommy Himi,
Chackmon, Blizzarmon (all season 4)
Brianne Siddall
– Tomoki Himi/Tommy Himi (season 4), various
Kenichi Suzumura
(Japanese) & Crispin Freeman
– Koichi Kimura (season 4),
various
Kazuko Sugiyama
(Japanese) – Bokomon (season 4)
Michael Sorich
– Neamon/Neemon (season 4), various
Digimon
began as the spin-off to a popular late 90’s fad: the Tamagotchi.
Created by Akhiro
Yokoi, Aki Maita
and Takeichi
Hongo for WiZ
Co., Ltd. and Bandai,
the egg-shaped toy contained a virtual pet that was raised and cared for by the
user. Released in Japan in 1996 and worldwide in 1997, it became an instant hit
and the biggest fad of the 90s and led to a variety of imitators in the virtual
pet market. Even though both sexes enjoyed the Tamagotchi, Bandai decided it
skewed feminine and wanted to make a more masculine version.
1997 saw the debut of The Digital
Monster, or Digimon.
Much like the Tamagotchi, players raised and cared for their virtual monster.
However, there was the added functionality of training the monster to fight and
to encourage its evolution
(or “digivolve”) into new forms. The game devices could be connected together
with another to allow players’ monsters to fight each other; an innovation at
the time. The initial monsters were designed by Kenji Watanabe
to look cute and iconic even on the devices’ small screens.
 |
| C'mon Digimon manga. |
Digimon proved a hit, selling 14
million units in its first year. When it was finally marketed in the west, some
changes were made to the overall concept. The notion of death was removed by
adding the story that the monsters were made of data and all came from the
virtual “Megalithic Mainframe”, where they would return when they were defeated
or poorly cared for. Additional versions of the virtual pet were released, and
the brand continued to grow in popularity. 1997 also saw the release of a collectible card
game
and the first manga based on the toy, called C’mon Digimon, which added a
narrative to the concept. A serialized manga would follow the next year.
 |
| Apocalymon. |
The next evolution in the series
came when Toei
Animation was retained to create an anime centered around the
concept with WiZ, Bandai and Fuji
Television. Initially, Digimon
Adventure was going to be a short film, but when the storyboarding was
completed Toei was asked to turn it into a full television series. It centered
on seven children, known as the DigiDestined
(Chosen Child in the anime), who were transported into the Digital World
by devices they found while at summer camp. There, they befriended several
Digimon that they could evolve with their Digivices
into stronger forms to combat enemies. Originally, they were tasked with only
protecting the digital world from Apocalymon
(Paul St. Peter), a creature born from the jealousy and hatred of Digimon who
died during Digivolution. But when the boundaries between it and the human
world began to weaken, they had to find a way to protect both.
 |
| The DigiDestined and their primary Digimons. |
The DigiDestined were led by Taichi
“Tai” Kamiya (Toshiko Fujita & Joshua Seth), who was adventurous, stubborn
and thick-headed as well as caring and protective of his friends. His Digimon
was Agumon (Chika Sakamoto & Tom Fahn), who was a bit more cautious than
Tai but could be just as brash or hot-headed when is friends were in trouble. Yamato
“Matt” Ishida (Yuto Kazama & Michael Reisz) was more of a loner and doubted
Tai’s leadership, often striving to keep him from ignoring the team’s safety
for adventure’s sake. His Digimon was Gabumon (Mayumi Yamaguchi & Kirk
Thornton), who was more emotional and loyal than Matt and often allows Matt to
do his own thing until needing to bring him back from the edge. Takeru “T.K.”
Takaishi (Hiroko Konishi & Wendee Lee), Matt’s younger brother and the
youngest of the group who steadily grew from relying on the others to a warrior
in his own right. His Digimon was Patamon (Miwa Matsumoto & Laura Summer),
a playful and sensitive creature whose advanced forms were extremely powerful.
Sora Takenouchi (Yuko Mizutani & Colleen O’Shaughnessey) was a tomboy who
also served as the group’s mother figure. Her Digimon was Biyomon (Atori
Shigematsu & Tifanie Christun), who possessed limited flying abilities.
Koushiro “Izzy” Izumi (Umi Tenjin & Mona Marshall) was highly intelligent
and the group’s computer expert, always on his laptop. His Digimon was Tentomon
(Takahiro Sakurai & Jeff Nimoy), who had a carefree nature-loving spirit. Mimi
Tachikawa (Ai Maeda & Philece Sampler) was a selfish ditz, but over time
became kinder and more caring. Her Digimon was Palmon (Shihomi Mizowaki &
Anna Garduno), a living flower-like creature. Joe Kido (Jo in the anime, voiced
by Masami Kikuchi & Michael Lindsay) was a constant worrier and often tried
to be the voice of reason for the group. His Digimon was Gomamon (Junko Takeuchi
& Martin Klein), who often tried to soften Joe’s serious side. Although not
a full member of the team, Tai’s younger sister Kari Kamiya (Hikari in the
original anime, voiced by Kae Araki & Lara Jill Miller) often joined them
when their adventure took them to the human world. Her Digimon was Gatomon
(Yuka Tokumitsu & Edie Mirman), who often displayed a level of maturity
despite her Digivolved state. Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru handled the characters’
designs.
 |
| Tai and Matt's crests powering up. |
Each of the DigiDestined was in
possession of a Crest.
The Crest were symbols related to the traits of the DigiDestined that allowed
them to Digivolve their Digimon from Champion forms to their ultimate forms.
Initially, they wore the Crests in tags around their neck, but came to discover
that those were just focal points for the power that was always inside of them.
Tai possessed the Crest
of Courage, Matt the Crest of Friendship,
Sora the Crest
of Love, Mimi the Crest of Sincerity
(renamed from Purity), Izzy the Crest of Knowledge,
Joe the Crest
of Reliability (renamed from Sincerity), T.K. the Crest of Hope,
and Kari the Crest
of Light.
 |
| Sometimes Digimon can be a handful. |
Digimon
Adventure began airing in Japan on Fuji TV on March 7, 1999, and ran for a
total of 54 episodes. In case the series was a failure, an alternate ending was
planned for the 13th episode that would show the kids being sent
back home after defeating their foe. That same year, Saban Entertainment,
who had taken over control of programming the Fox Kids
programming block, was looking for something to compete with the rival Kids’ WB
programming block’s recent acquisition of the English dub of Pokémon from 4Kids
Entertainment.
Saban
quickly snatched up the rights to Digimon
and produced an English-language version under the name Digimon: Digital Monsters.
Digimon:
Digital Monsters made its debut on FOX on August 14, 1999. Unlike
4Kids, who were notorious for their over-editing of “questionable” content,
Saban made very few changes to Digimon. They
kept most of the Japanese names intact while Americanizing only a few of them,
and edited out cases of extreme violence to keep the series suitable for
children. They also replaced Takanori Arisawa’s
original soundtrack with one by Udi
Harpaz and Shuki
Levy;
many of the songs being recycled from Masked Rider, Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Starcom:
The U.S. Space Force and
Princess Sissi. “Digimon Theme” by
Paul Gordon
was used as the show’s theme. The English scripts were written by Ardwight Chamberlain,
Bob Buchholz,
Dayna Barron,
Eddie Leiner,
J.M. Morris,
John Ludin,
Mark Ryan,
Michael
McConnohie, Michael
Reynolds, Rebecca
Forstadt, Sean
Abley and series star Nimoy. Grace
Anderson handled the translation.
 |
| Piedmon, the mini-boss. |
When the series debuted, it was quickly
dismissed as a Pokémon clone meant to
try and cash in on the show’s success. However, audiences became attracted to
the way the characters interacted and developed, the complicated science
fiction stories and social themes. The dub also improved over time, making
fewer changes to the original Japanese production which appealed to an audience
that was steadily outgrowing Pokémon. By
May of 2000, Digimon began to outpace
Pokémon and took first place in the
ratings. Encouraged by the success, Saban licensed the second season of the
anime, known as Digimon Adventure 02, for
translation. Due to the series’ major success, Adventure 02 was put into production before the first season even
finished and debuted in Japan only a week after the season’s conclusion.
During the first season’s run, Pokémon had released two successful
movies to theaters and FOX wanted to replicate that. However, Toei had no
feature-length content ready; what they did have were several short films that
were created for their animation fairs held every spring and summer to showcase
their current animated titles. These films—Digimon
Adventure, Digimon Adventure: Children’s War Game and Digimon Adventure 02: Part I: Digimon Hurricane Touchdown!/Part II:
Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals—were taken, combined and
condensed down to an 85-minute runtime as Saban lacked the funds for a full
two-hour feature. Nimoy and Buchholz were tasked with writing a new screenplay
to unify the plot, change the tone and the dialogue. Nimoy had pushed for the
third film to be released separately as a television movie and center the film
around the first two, but FOX insisted on its inclusion to promote the upcoming
second season. Although further Digimon movies
would be brought over and translated, the sheer amount of alteration done to Digimon: The Movie left many considering
it as its own original production.
 |
| Digimon: The Movie poster. |
Digimon:
The Movie opened on October 6, 2000. The film was heavily
promoted by Taco Bell
with the inclusion of collectibles in their kids’ meals, and 12 limited edition
Digi
Battle trading cards were given out at theaters. Despite
generally negative reviews, the film managed to gross over $16.6 million
worldwide making it a minor success in light of its $5 million production
budget. The film used a remix of Gordon’s theme song called “Digi Rap”, which
was performed by Josh
Debear under the name “M.C. Pea Pod.”
The second season was set four years after
the first, with the Digimon Emperor (Romi Park & Prince) enslaving Digimon
with Dark
Rings and building Control Spires
that negate Digivolution. T.K. (now voiced by Taisuke Yamamoto & Doug
Erholtz) and Kari were joined by three new DigiDestined: Davis Motomiya
(Daisuke Motomiya in the anime, voiced by Reiko Kiuchi & Brian Donovan),
the brave, stubborn and impulsive new leader of the group who had a crush on
Kari and an admiration for Tai and Matt; Yolei Inoue (Miyako Inoue in the
anime, voiced by Rio Natasuki and Christun), a headstrong and flirty girl who
often argued with Davis; and Cody Hida (Iori Hida in the anime, voiced by
Megumi Urawa & Sampler), the youngest but very mature for his age. They
were accompanied by their Digimon Veemon (Junko Noda & Prince), Hawkmon
(Koichi Tōchika & Kaplan) and Armadillomon (Megumi Urawa & Robert
Axelrod), respectively.
 |
| The new DigiDestined with their predecessors. |
The DigiDestined possessed a new Digivice
called the D-3,
which allowed them to enter the DigiWorld through any computer. Their new D-Terminals
also gave them access to Crest-themed Digi-Eggs
that allowed their Digimon to undergo Armor
Digivolution to counteract the Control Spires.
Eventually, the Digimon Emperor was revealed to be boy genius Ken Ichijoji who
was infected by the Dark
Spore and driven mad. He joined the DigiDestined with his
own Digimon, Wormmon (Naozumi Takahashi & St. Peter) to battle against the
true villain: Myotismon
(Toshiyuki Morikawa & Richard Epcar) and his minions, the
spider-like Arukenimon
(Wakana Yamazaki & Mari
Devon), the mummy-like Mummymon
(Morikawa & Kirk Thornton) and Yukio Oikawa
(Morikawa & Jamieson
Price), who was possessed by Myotismon.
 |
| Myotismon. |
Once again, the original music was
replaced by music from Harpaz and Levy, with additional songs by Gordon and
Jasan Radford. The second season was written by returning writers Nimoy and
Buchholz, as well as Sorich, Forstadt, Alan Smith,
Charlotte
Fullerton, Craig
Doyle, Seth
Walther, Steve
Rollman and Terri-Lei O’Malley,
with Anderson again on translations. In light of the success of the first
season, the producers asked the writers to add more North American jokes to the
script. This, along with their disappointment with the movie, led to Nimoy and
Buchholz leaving the writing team near the end of the season. Digimon and fellow Saban property Power
Rangers were
killing it in the ratings, despite Fox Kids’ overall decline in comparison to
the other networks’ programming.
The third season, Digimon Tamers, took a different approach to the series. Original
Japanese head writer Satoru
Nishizono was against the idea of continuing the series and
quit. His replacement was Chiaki
J. Konaka, who also wanted to leave but was enticed to stay
with the promise of allowing him to create his own unique concept. Konaka wanted
to get away from the cute kind-hearted Digimon presented before and explore the
“monster-like spirit” of Digimon, where they would instinctively harm other
creatures to increase their strength and learn morality from their human
partners. To diminish the repetitiveness of Digivolutions, a new Digivice
called the D-Power
(D-Ark in the anime) was introduced that ran on a card system.
Digimon were now Digivolved via the cards and were limited to one time per card,
making the characters more responsible for the evolutions and their overall
adventures. A new stage of evolution was introduced called “biomerging”, which
allowed the Digimon to achieve their final Mega forms by merging with their
human partners. Konaka also wanted death to be portrayed more realistically,
getting rid of the notion that the Digimon could be reborn. Digimon was also
represented as an actual franchise in the real world, which is where the
majority of the action was set rather than the DigiWorld.
 |
| The Tamers are flipping everything around. |
Along with the changes to the show’s
format came a new group of characters, called Tamers. The primary ones were
Takato Matsuki (Matsuda in the anime, voiced by Makoto Tsumura & Beacock),
who created his own Digimon, Guilmon (Masako Nozawa & Steve Blum); Henry
Wong (Jianliang Lee in the anime, voiced by Mayumi Yamaguchi & Dave
Wittenberg), the voice of reason for the group who chose his Digimon,
Terriermon (Aoi Tada & Marshall), from a video game; and Rika Nonaka (Ruki
Makino in the anime, voiced by Fumiko Orikasa & Melissa Fahn), a tomboy who
was a champion Digimon card game who acquired her Digimon, Renamon (originally
to be named Lunamon, voiced by Yuka Imai & Mari Devon), after a tournament.
Initially, it was believed that Digimon was merely a game until swiping their
cards in their D-Power Digivices and learning that they were, in fact, real.
The Tamers would be later joined by classmates Jeri Katou (Yoko Asada
& Bridget
Hoffman), Ryo
Akiyama (Jun-ichi
Kanemaru & Staley), Kazu Shioda
(Yukiko Tamaki
& Brad
MacDonald) and Kenta Kitagawa
(Touko Aoyama & Blum),
and Henry’s sister Suzie
(Ai Nagano
& Peggy
O’Neal), as well as young siblings Ai and Mako
(Haruhi Terada &
Forstadt and Matsumoto & Lee).
 |
| The D-Reaper virus. |
While the Tamers fought against a secret
government agency called Hypnos,
whose job it was to keep Digimon out of the real world, and evil Digimon called
Deva,
who believed Digimon shouldn’t partner with humans, the main villain of the
third season was the D-Reaper.
It had an uncertain origin as either an antiviral program created in the 1970s
by the United States Department
of Defense to combat the Creeper virus,
or as part of the security program for the National Security Agency’s
ECHELEON
project in the 1980s. D-Reaper’s only goal was to purge the DigiWorld once the
number of lifeforms located within it passed a certain number. However, it was
able to mutate and began to affect the Real World as well. Konaka wanted a
final enemy to be neither Digimon or human. D-Reaper’s various forms were
developed by original Digimon creator Watanabe, human character designer Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru,
and CG designer Shinji
Aramaki. To help accomplish its goals, the D-Reaper employed
ADRs, or “Agents of the D-Reaper”. Although they looked like individuals, they
were all actually part of the D-Reaper’s consciousness and were connected to it
via red wires. Only by severing those wires did ADRs become weaker and easier
to defeat.
 |
| Hypnos HQ. |
While the season received the usual changes
from Saban when it was brought to North America, it was by far the darkest and
most serious of the show to that point. Initially, the season received mixed
reviews due to its total departure from the established format and characters,
and from what was considered a slow start, audiences warmed up to it as the
season progressed. English writers for the season included Smith, Wittenberg,
Forstadt, Walther, Blum, Sorich, O’Malley, Adele Lim,
Mary Elizabeth
McGlynn, Karen
Wilson, and Chris Allen Weber,
with Anderson again on translations.
During production, Saban
sold their properties and holdings to Disney,
which meant Digimon also
simultaneously aired on the newly-christened ABC Family channel.
As part of the deal, Disney also acquired the rights to the fourth Digimon
season, Digimon Frontier, which would
become the final season of Digital
Monsters. Frontier, originally announced as Scanners, saw the return of the DigiDestined as unusual phone
messages summoned five children from the real world to travel to the DigiWorld
via a subway train. There, the knowledgeable Bokomon (Kazuko Sugiyama &
Beacock) and the dim-witted Neemon (Masami Kikuchi & Sorich) acted as their
guides and informed them that they were tasked to save the DigiWorld from
Cherubimon (Ryûzaburô Ôhtomo
& St. Peter) and his Legendary
Warrior servants. Cherubimon was a fallen member of the Celestial
Digimon, the original protectors of the DigiWorld. However,
the DigiDestined came to learn that the real threat was Lucemon
(Kumiko Nishihara & Marshall), who was operating from the shadows and
controlling Cherubimon’s actions. He was able to consume the fractal code of
the DigiWorld and to infiltrate and begin the conquest of the Real World. The
concept was conceived of by Fuji TV’s Go Haruna,
Yomiko
Advertising’s Kyofaro Kimura and Hiromi
Seki.
 |
| The return of the DigiDestined. |
Like the Tamers, the DigiDestined
merged with Digimon forms to become warriors through a process called Spirit
Evolution. Each was in possession of two spirits: the human
spirit, which gave them more humanoid-looking forms, and the beast spirits,
which gave their hybrid forms more bestial appearances. Those spirits were held
in their D-Tectors
(Scanners in the anime), which their cell phones transformed into. The new
DigiDestined were Takuya Kanbara (Junko Takeuchi & Reisz), the headstrong
leader who used the Spirits
of Flame; Koji Minamoto (Hiroshi Kamyia & Staley), the
quiet and reserved loner who used the Spirits
of Light; J.P. Shibayama (Junpei in the anime, voiced by
Masato Amada & Blum), the oldest member and a practical joker who used the Spirits
of Thunder; Tommy Himi (Tomoki in the anime, voiced by Kumiko
Watanabe & Brianne Siddall), the youngest and most immature who used the Spirits
of Ice; and Koichi Kimura (Kenichi Suzumura & Crispin
Freeman), Koji’s long-lost twin brother who used the Spirits
of Darkness. Nakatsuru handled the character designs.
 |
| Cherubimon, the season's big...bad? |
Digimon’s
final season aired on ABC Family and the Disney co-owned UPN
as part of their Disney
One Too programming
block. The English dub was produced by Sensation
Animation (who also worked on the end of season 3) and recorded
by Studiopolis.
Lim, Wittenberg, Sorich, Walther, Blum and O’Malley were retained for scripting
duties as was Anderson for translation. An all-new theme was composed by Chris Horvath
and the rest of the series’ music was done by Deddy Tzur
and Inon Zur.
The Digimon franchise would continue on in Japan in anime and
merchandise forms. Disney would continue adapting future installments of the
anime, as would Saban when they reacquired their properties later on, but
independent of the Digital Monsters series.
Reruns of Digital Monsters would
continue to air on ABC Family, the Jetix
programming block, and Toon Disney.
UPN would stop airing the series in 2003 once they severed ties with Disney.
 |
| The complete Digital Monsters collection. |
In 2001, Dark Horse Comics published an
adaptation of the first 13 episodes of the first season. Overseas, Panini
Comics would handle the publication of different types of comic adaptations
that varied by country. Germany received their own adaptation of episodes. In
the United Kingdom, the Dark Horse and German comics were reprinted before they
gained their own unique stories in Digimon
Magazine and Wickid. The
season 2 adaptations only loosely followed the canon of the show, but once it
switched to season 3 it was a lot more faithful and even expanded on details
not covered by the show. In a cost-saving measure, the magazine began running
translations of the German adaptations of season 3 until both magazines were
cancelled. 2001 also saw the release of The
Movie onto DVD by 20th
Century Fox. In 2012, Flatiron Film Company released the complete
first season to DVD. The second
season came the following year, as did the third season as both a complete
set and in two
volumes. The complete fourth
season and a full
series collection was released later in the year under Flatiron’s new name,
New Video Group.
EPISODE GUIDE:
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