Anime: Digimon Adventure

Digimon Adventure 1 series

Story 8/10
Seek a story of familiar’s use? Here you go.
7 kids get drawn into a magical world what they have to discover survive and in the end save it. As the story developed it was exciting and detailed on what happen to the characters, they had to deal with real problems like food shelter, and later on this becomes an issue, among many things (personal problems) became a pain that they had to deal with. The characters ware dragged into this situation and their reaction actually refreshingly human.
Story wise it felt really good, extremely detailed as things go on, but it deserves praise for the fact, in this anime things like “why are the chosen ones, are chosen” was explained. The sad thing is this is rear and so superior to all stories where the main hero was chosen “just because” and we never get a damn explanation. Even the heroes characteristics and the rules of evolution had a point to guide the characters create a loop hole around a system/thing/skill the final boss took advantage of. (At least it was hinted.)

Characters 10/10

The characters are easy to like, all of them ware equally important, and worked in a team with their Digimon. There was your typical shounen type (Ishida Yamato and Yagami Taichi), and they did not get all the spotlight. Kido Jou I liked because he was the only one who saw what happen to them a serious problem, even if there was little to do about it in their position. I liked they tried hard to stay positive. Personally Tachikawa Mimi I like most because her kindhearted nature and still acting like, a normal human girl would in the circumstances, she was dragged into this against her will, and she was the only one who gave a voice for her discomfort completely reasonably, despite that she went through the hardships. I laughed my head off on severe silly situation how they reacted. I give 10/10 because I loved ALL the characters. Tailmon’s epicness would be enough for me to say this worth’s watching, she was my favorite in the Digimonin series. Long time I saw such an entertaining show for the characters alone. As for badassness WarGreymon takes the cake. As for the evil bosses, well some ware epic some ware comedy material, one thing was common in them they felt powerful and in the end that is their job.

Art & Animation : 8/10
This was the most colorful anime I watched this year, the battle the transformations made me feel I was there. ILOVECOLORS. The fights felt epic and spectacular, the backgrounds could have used more detail but thy ware ok. It’s definitely not on the level of Clannad or KarasOVA or Beyond the Boundary/Kyoukai no Kanata. But still deserves praise.
In all way graphic wise was far better than Bleach,Narto,OnePeace (things I consider alike in category). The character designs are great; it felt like they aimed so every viewer can find something they can like (without fun service) and the evolutions are awesome. Personally for my taste it was a direct hit.

Enjoyment 8/10
Kickass epic monsters beat eachother of with explosions, while fully armed. Entrainment wise it was fun to watch. Recommended if you want to watch something where “hardships happen” and get salved in nice atmosphere, with action, or by the power of love and friendship, but yes mostly power. There was drama a lot of character development, and not too much that would take time from action or progress, or entertainment. I really loved it in the past when I saw episode in TV, loved it now and maybe re-watch it in the future.

Value 8/10
I can’t help myself thinking this is a kid’s show (praise for quality) but…does that mean it has to be less valuable? Just because it’s aimed to childish it can be good for all. To be hones the characters are a lot more mature than they should have been but that only adds value in my eyes. Good and bad decision ware made and their consequences, and not necessarily what one would expect. The thing I like in this show was that sometimes actually bad decision ended up right, and good intention lead to bad situations. It’s not all about good or bad but to make a decision, move on and try to get the best you can from a situation.
‘I don’t think there is even a right or wrong way of doing things’ ~ Yamato

Sound 8/10

The opening music made this memorable to me in the past to be exact the German opening. That is the modified version of the original. And yes it is awesome, and on my mp3 player from this day on. Although I can’t say the ending was the same enjoyment, or the Japanese battle theme, still better than the English dub. The human characters and Digimon sounds and styles/accent ware there. All fitting given a unique style. The battle sounds ware there, form every aspect. The opening theme is perfect if you want to do a final boss battle in any gameXD
~WSL approves

Animated by Studio Toei, who knows well how to make nice children’s shows. Directed by Kakudou Hiroyuki, who also directed many other famous children’s shows such as YuGiOh, Transformers, and Super Robot Wars. Not a bad team I must say.

[Agumon! I choose you!]
When I first watched Digimon several years ago, I thought it would be just a Pokemon rip-off; the similarities were simply too many. But after a few episodes I clearly knew it was something different; maybe not so classy and balanced as Pokemon, but still BETTER.

First of all it has an on-going plot and although it is predictable and formulaic to the most part, at least it’s going somewhere, it offers progress and has a build-up. So although the premise is just about a team of children transported by accident into a digital world full of monsters, it played out perfectly with what it had. I mean, sure, they pair up with monsters out of nowhere and have to “save the world because destiny demands it” type of kitsch but it sure does a lot more in-between those overused tropes. First they only want to find a way to go home, which begins an adventure of learning about the world around them and fending of its dangers, then when they manage to return they realize the danger has followed them there as well, so they need to go back and fix things.

The artwork was quite good back when it was made but pretty average by today. The backgrounds were interesting most of the time, since the Digiworld was a very strange place but none were as exotic or eye captivating as in other anime with strange worlds. The human character figures have not much detailing and Digimons look like a bunch of incoherent ideas from every animal, plant or object you can imagine making a creature from. All the special effects are fancy but damn do they repeat a lot.

A thing you must tolerate somewhat is the overuse of the transformation sequences, which repeat in each episode and take up lots of the duration for no reason other than exciting the kids into buying the toys. It gets really annoying, especially when they later on try to blend in crude 3D effects in the otherwise 2D environment. Also, most episodes follow a pattern of the sort of a kid facing a monster of the week and using its own Digimon to beat it, by leveling up in the middle of the battle or even getting extra evolutions if it’s necessary. It makes things predictable but also exciting to see what their next stage of evolution will be like or what if they mess a bit with the formula and do something different from time to time; meaning, there are a few simple plot twists.

I usually don’t like J-pop songs but the ones in the series were very catchy. I consider them and even the voice acting to be above average but way below great. And voice acting was ok, aside from being with silly sounding voices most of the time.

[Digimon! Gotta get them all!]
And then, there is the eternal present comparison and categorization of the Digimons. Since this series is based on a breeding pets/ RPG game, every Digimon has its own element, special attacks, different evolutions and flavor behavior that can hook all of you who like collecting and categorizing things, like trading cards, stamps, coins… or even Pokemons. Major collector’s urge! If you see it from afar, it looks very variable and complicated for the age group it is aimed at.

It is not just about action or monster collections of course; there are lots of messages here, from friendship and trust, up to taking up responsibilities, growing up to be strong and secured with yourself, and never giving up on your goals. It makes things very motivational for the target audience. Of course if you try to see the whole thing from a more mature point, it looks very lame. 10 year olds, destined to protect the world with evolving monsters and convenient power ups exactly when they need them and stuff. But hey, the target audience won’t care much about that and it’s still eons better than Pokemon.

[Who’s that Digimon?]
The series has poor character development (mind that just because the Digimons get new powers and grow stronger does not mean that they become better as characters) and almost non-existent backdrop (kids from Japan and monsters from Digiworld with no story behind them). There is though strong character presence, giving of an average feeling towards them. There are no prevailing personalities and all characters are stereotypes but at least they are well established. They are all quite different from one another. From time to time the story evolves around their quirks and tastes and colorizes them by devoting an episode for each one of them. Their Digimons can be viewed as extensions of themselves and don’t actually count as separate personalities.

And let’s not forget the jokes; light moments that can make you laugh no matter your tastes. And there are several scenes with very subtle erotic humor that spice things up. To imagine how good it was, just think that the American version edited several scenes out. Which can only mean that IT HAS TO BE GOOD!

Anime based on some product are made solely to advertise it and start an addiction to its possible consumers (usually nerdy kids with loaded parents). As such, most game –based anime are quite lame, with childish scenario and carton characters being just an excuse to shovel us flashy techniques or strategies of the soon-to-follow game. Despite this scam, Digimon has a typical scenario, bearable characters and likable situations. It is amongst the good scam-hiding series. Along with Pokemon, this is amongst the most renowned series with kids pairing with monsters and it is still a living franchise. Chances of rewatching it are rather low as there is nothing to expect from a rerun of a childish show.

The beggining of a legacy, Digimon Adventure was a success in many ways. It has spanned 4 series using the same merchandise and it continues to grow.
This anime tells the adventures of a group formed initially by 7 kids and later on by 8 kids. The children and their respective digimon develop strong bonds between themselves as they walk through the immensity of the Digital World.

ANIMATION

The good'old lazyness of Toei Animation in TV series is shown in this anime. They're not bad, but they are not that good.

SOUND

Nice musics, nice sound effects, great voices. This might have been the only Digimon anime where the sound effects were pleasant, instead of irritating. But still they could have added better sound effects.

STORY

I really liked this story. These kids, when they first arrive, have no idea: where on Earth they are, why they are there, and what are those creatures. They go through lots of fun, but also a lots of suffering. They have friendship problems, they have reconciliations, they fight against evil, they fight against eachother (including Digimons). A good balance that creates a very exciting and good story.

CHARACTERS

Good characters. They managed to come up with 8 different characters, each one with different personalities, creating a balance in the group that is rarely seen.

VALUE

I'd rewatch it again. It is worth to watch this again, specially if you saw this when you were a kid. It's a different approach to the viewer depending on the viewer's age.

ENJOYMENT

Trust me, you'll enjoy this anime.


It's a shame that the Digimons here almost only have a bodyguard function, although they also have a relationship with their partners. I'd also reccomend to not watch this anime's sequel, "Digimon 02", as it mocks the characters of this series. What I do recommend is to watch "Digimon 3 - Tamers", even though it is not connected to this series, Tamers keeps up with the quality of Adventure.