Digital Monsters continue to change with the times. The only constant is its charm. And dragon people.
Digimon is a franchise that came about as an edgier version of the Tamagotchi virtual pet toy. You would hatch a digital creature from an egg, and depending on how you treated it, it would develop into a variety of somewhat crude-looking monsters. It has since grown into a beautiful multimedia franchise with various manga, anime, movies, video games, trading card games, and toys beneath its many, many belts.
How does Digimon continue to beguile me and millions of others in the world so much? It’s a question worth asking when you consider it has to compete with so many monster-raising/catching franchises. Pokémon has a chokehold on the popular consciousness (expect direct comparisons to it just because it’s an obvious target, even when they try to accomplish different things), while Digimon is often reduced to a cheap copy. The little digital guys even have to fight for mental real estate with other Bandai Namco franchises like One Piece. Yet still, they persist.
Digimon (the monsters) can be anything:
There’s a digimon for every situation. While there are fewer overall individual species compared to the likes of Pokémon, Digimon tend to represent and combine crazier ideas. Greymon is a dinosaur with a buglike exoskeleton helmet. MetalGreymon is that, but with various cybernetic enhancements like the nuclear warheads in its chest.
Weirdly, at later levels, vaguely cybernetic dragon knights are comically over-represented. Like how evolution keeps finding ways to make crabs, Digimon is unrelenting in its pursuit of turning things into big bipedal scalies. Thankfully, while the franchise still pumps those out, they’ve branched out a bit. There’s Super Saiyan 3 Monkey King digimon, big Exodia digimon, and even a little homie that’s just straight up Puss in Boots.
They can also evolve and devolve into potentially anything. Certain lines are more intuitive and common, but depending on the circumstances and media, some wild changes can occur. Sentient faeces can become a handsome Elvis impersonator in a metal monkey suit. Your cactus is now a birdfish. It happens.
Digimon (narratively) can be anything:
Digimon as an IP is not afraid to reinvent itself. Despite there being a few elements that remain relatively consistent (e.g. some dude with goggles, a digital plane of existence to get isekai’d to, a Leomon gets bodied), the context and tone can vary drastically. In between life-or-death kaiju battles, the earlier seasons would take moments to explore some personal issues. Children would be dealing with things like being from broken families, being adopted, neglected, etc. Other shows would see characters confront their complicity in literal permadeath murder, or racism in and outside Digimon communities.
Ghost Game was basically Digimon’s take on Scooby Doo and Goosebumps. Tamers takes the series in a darker direction, as does Tri (and the Adventure sequels produced after it). The V-Tamer 01 manga is great, combat-centric meathead shounen. The Liberator manga is about the card game, and can be read for free here. Multiple Story games see the protagonist take on an investigative role. World 4 is a dubious dungeon-crawling game. Anything goes.
Speaking broadly about the creatures themselves: they represent data and information. This can simply mean that they’re sentient videogame characters, living beings on a webpage, or a literal app. It can also mean they’re something more profound, such as the latest manifestations of humankind’s mythologies or a representation of an individual’s inner world or soul (much like how in Persona, personas and shadows arise from the collective unconscious). Unless some truly unprecedented societal shifts occur, Digimon will always be relevant in this aspect.
Digimon (sonically) can be anything:
Between the catchy dub music and the bewitching voice of Kouji Wada, Digimon immediately came out swinging musically. The digirap is an unfortunate earworm, the movie soundtrack is a pop-rock and ska-infused time capsule, including popular songs like “All Star” (before Shrek!), “All My Best Friends Are Metalheads” and “One Week”. Paul Gordon’s “Let’s Kick It Up” and Jasan Radford’s “Run Around”
Renowned weeb that I am, I’m a big fan of Kouji Wada. “Butterfly” might be one of my favourite songs in general. That’s not even getting into his soulful contributions throughout the anime. “Braveheart”, “Believer”, “The Biggest Dreamer”, “Hirari”, the list goes on.
Sadly, both Wada and Gordon passed away in 2016 from cancer and heart disease, respectively. Though they are no longer with us, their art continues to endure. They have worthy successors in Sanchiko Omori (“First Riders” and “Makuake”) and Takayoshi Tanimoto (“Break the Chain”, as well as “One Vision” from Tamers). Meanwhile, the games have had consistently catchy music. Whether they’re playing a MIDI version of “Beat Hit” or incorporating “New World Symphony, 4th Movement” into their final boss track, there’s a lot of easy listening.
DIGIMON CAN BE ANYTHING
And by that I mean this franchise is pretty LGBTQ-friendly. Digimon media tends to involve some watershed moments of self-discovery and transformation. Digimon themselves are sexless, but are pretty fluid in terms of gender expression (popular examples are Angewoman and LadyDevimon evolving from Angemon and Devimon). Even within individual species, Digimon can be observed expressing themselves differently (think about the various Lopmon and Biyomon that appear throughout the franchise)
When a digimon transforms into a new form with a corresponding new name, everyone within earshot immediately understands and respects this. The more cynical among you might argue that this is for the same reason Pokémon tend to just say their names in that anime: marketing. I just like to think everyone in the Digimon franchise is cool like that.
As of late, there’s even some notable ethnic diversity. Diarbbitmon on the right here looks like a human POC. This makes them stand out among other humanoid Digimon that tend to have a lighter complexion.
Variety is the spice of life
Digimon has got a bit of everything for everyone. All of its permutations are more niche than Pokémon, but it also fills more niches overall. If you don’t like one season of the anime, another one might have something that’s more your speed. There’s like, a gorillion ways to experience the first three movies. You want a gym bro that will always be there for you? The Vital Bracelet virtual pet has got you covered. There’s a digimon for every special interest and flight of fancy. If there isn’t one for you, I promise you there will be.
I have no doubt that the franchise will continue to reinvent itself in weird and wonderful ways. The recent success of Digimon Story: Time Stranger will hopefully mean Bandai Namco will invest in it more regularly (how did Pokémon get a Tekken game before Digimon?). Even without them, the fandom continues to produce great content. Having said that, Digimon Beatbreak is looking to have some of the best writing since Tamers and Appmon, so keep your eyes peeled for more of these digital abominations on your devices.
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He/Him
A flamboyant ultra nerd, Dave participates in the Underlevelled Tournament both for the thrill of the fight, and to avenge the orphans lost in the climax of the previous tournament.
Born: London
Height: ???
Weight: ???
Nen Type: Manipulator
Classes: Editor, Dancer,
Hobbies: street dance, collecting manga volumes, reading, editing
Likes: short-to-medium walks on the beach, pointing out how things can and will be misconstrued as racism, fighting games, RPGs, anime, Hades, alternative hip hop, conscious hip hop, Mara Wilson, overly long bios, ice-cream
Dislikes: insincere media, his own uncanny resemblance to Richard Ayoade, mayonnaise
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