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Digimon Tamers
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is the third animated series based on the Japanese Digimon franchise, first broadcast in 2001 on Fuji TV in Japan and on Fox Kids in the United States. The story takes place initially in the "real" world, a world much like ours where Digimon is just a franchise, composed of video games, a collectible card game, and a cartoon series. A group of 12-year-olds (10-year olds in the Japanese version), Takato, Henry and Rika (fans of the Digimon card game) meet their own Digimon friends and start to duel "bio-emerging" Digimon who cross the barrier between the information network, synthesizing proteins and becoming real.
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Encyclopedia
is the third animated series based on the Japanese Digimon franchise, first broadcast in 2001 on Fuji TV in Japan and on Fox Kids in the United States. The story takes place initially in the "real" world, a world much like ours where Digimon is just a franchise, composed of video games, a collectible card game, and a cartoon series. A group of 12-year-olds (10-year olds in the Japanese version), Takato, Henry and Rika (fans of the Digimon card game) meet their own Digimon friends and start to duel "bio-emerging" Digimon who cross the barrier between the information network, synthesizing proteins and becoming real. Most of it set in the modern Shinjuku ward of Tokyo, Japan and only changes scenario to the Digital World for a short time.
The tone of this season has many elements from head writer Chiaki J. Konaka's other works, especially Serial Experiments Lain, including a few aspects from Neon Genesis Evangelion. Thus, the series had a very dark tone in nature, much more so than its predecessors. One thing that made the tone darker than previous seasons was that when a Digimon died it turned back into data and could be absorbed by other Digimon, where as in other seasons the Digimon turned back into a Digi Egg and was reborn. The only Digimon of the main characters that actually died was Leomon. The English dub is more lightly edited than in previous seasons.
Plot summary
One day Takato creates his own Digimon Guilmon when he slips a mysterious blue card he found in his deck through his hand-held card reading device, changing it into a D-Power (called a D-Arc in Japan), the Tamers version of a Digivice. The appearance and powers of this Digimon come from Takato's sketches that were scanned into the device. Guilmon bio-emerges from the Digital World and is found later by Takato. Henry meets his Digimon Terriermon when he rises from the screen of a computer game, while Rika's Digimon Renamon approached her to ask to be made stronger, since Rika was famous for her skills on the Digimon card game. Early in the series, the three Tamers and their Digimon duel foreign Digimon that are emerging into their world. Takato, Henry and their partners begin working together, while Rika and Renamon prefer to fight on their own; however, they all soon realize that much more is at stake during their battles and the six unite as a team. Other characters, Kazu, Kenta and Jeri (Takato's friends from school) and Suzie (Henry's little sister) become Tamers later on in the series, and Ryo (Rika's rival and legendary Digimon Tamer) is introduced later on. They also encounter two more Digimon that they frequently run into: Calumon, a mysterious Digimon that has the power to make other Digimon digivolve but dislikes fighting and only wants to play and eat junk food, and Impmon, a Digimon that left his Tamers because he was sick of their bickering and selfishness and thinks that all Digimon with Tamers are a disgrace. A character evii is in digimon tamers. however her whereabouts are unknown.
Along the way, the kids learn to be responsible for those creatures as a mysterious man known as Yamaki tries to stop wild Digimon from coming to the real world. From the secret government agency called Hypnos, Yamaki was in charge of monitoring all Digimon activity around the globe. Later, when a series of evil Digimon calling themselves the Devas, who, serving the Digimon Sovereigns, believe that true Digimon shouldn't pair up with humans (it is later revealed they were actually misguided), the trio of Tamers and their Digimon defend their world against them. The Devas' true purpose to come into the human world was to capture Calumon and take him back to the Digital World so they could use his power of Digivolution. The Tamers and their friends then decide to leave for the Digital World to rescue Calumon. They destroy all but one of the Devas (Antylamon turned to the side of good and became Suzie's Digimon partner) and confront and defeat Impmon, who is now Beelzemon after making a deal with the Sovereign for more power in exchange for eliminating the Tamers, but at the cost of Jeri's partner Leomon, which causes Jeri to fall into depression. After traveling to the Digital World to rescue Calumon the Tamers meet (and fight with) one of the four Digital Gods, but finally agree to work together in order to destroy the D-Reaper, a computer program initially designed to keep digital life from getting out of control, but it itself went out of control. The Tamers not only must save both worlds from the D-Reaper, but also rescue Jeri, who has been taken by the renegade program and is unknowingly feeding it information with her sadness. A huge battle ensues with Takato, Henry, Rika, Ryo and their Digimon versus the D-Reaper with Takato trying to rescue Jeri while the others try to finish of the D-Reaper for good. After a massive battle, the D-Reaper is finally defeated when Henry and Terriermon implement a plan created by Hypnos and the Monster Makers and manage to devolve the D-Reaper back to its original harmless state and send it back to the Digital World. The D-Reaper, unlike the other seasons foes, is not destroyed, just devolved. Takato and Guilmon succed in rescuing Jeri and everyone is rescued by Takato's friends Kazu and Kenta and their Digimon. The Digimon however, are forced to return to the Digital World.
Several new elements are introduced in this season, including the use of game cards in conjunction with the Digivices to give different powers to the Digimon, the presence of Calumon, a lone Digimon responsible for the Digimon evolutions, and the use of "biomerging" to bring the Digimon to their final Mega levels by merging their bodies with their human partners. The season also continued the progression from Digimon Adventures, which was set in the Digital World with only a temporary return to the real world, through Adventures 02, where the characters returned from the Digital World to rest after most episodes: in Tamers the action is entirely within the real world, with a journey to the Digital World in midseason.
Episodes
For an overview see List of Digimon Tamers episodes.
Digimon Tamers aired 51 episodes on Fuji TV in Japan from April 1st, 2001 to March 31st, 2002, and on Fox Kids in the United States from September 1st, 2001 to June 8th, 2002.
Characters
Main characters
Digital World
The Digital World is a parallel, shadow world that coexists with Earth, created as it was by it. This is where all Digimon live.
The Digital World that runs parallel to the Earth inhabited by Takato and the Digimon Tamers originally started out as a barren desert, which became home to the digital life forms created by the Monster Makers in the 1980s—the Digimon. Some organisms even evolved on their own from the Digital World, the DigiGnomes. But in the early days of life in the Digital World, it was attacked by the deadly D-Reaper deletion program, which had been created to destroy all artificial intelligence that moved beyond its limits. However, as it deleted many Digimon, it absorbed their data, and was mutated by it, gaining sentience and more power. It entered a period of inactivity, and buried itself away, deep beneath the Digital World.
Time passed, and four Digimon evolved into their highest stages, becoming the "gods" of the Digital World—the four Digimon Sovereigns, Azulongmon, Baihumon, Ebonwumon and Zhuqiaomon. The Digital World eventually grew to be composed of six planes. The earliest plane was the desert, while the sixth is the highest plane where the Sovereigns dwelled, along with the Shining Digivolution—the power source that provided the energy to allow Digimon to Digivolve. On the four planes in between are "miniverses"—specialized environments created by the Digimon that inhabit them. There are a great many of them, but ones seen included: an area of clouds and clockwork where Clockmon and Hagurumon lived, a warped, black-and-white town where the Nohemon dwell and a Knightmon patrolled its castle at night, an area of forests, lakes and rivers where Orochimon is a dictator over the Gekomon's village, a 'world' entirely composed of water and underground caverns within them where a Divermon lived and protected the Otamamon there, and a region of ice. Huge Data Streams connect the regions of the Digital World to Earth, as digital matter from the Digital World is manipulated and utilized by computers on Earth. In the void between the Digital World and the real world, there is a warped area where reality is in flux, and is defined only by the perceptions of those within it.
Movies
Battle of Adventurers
The Tamers are on summer vacation and split up to enjoy themselves. Takato visits his cousin Kai in Okinawa with Guilmon, Henry investigates an underwater meteor with Terriermon, and Rika stays behind with Renamon to defend their city from invading Digimon. An evil Digimon known as Mephistomon emerges and puts into motion a plan that involves the new digital pet craze known as the V-Pet to disable worldwide communications and allow Digimon to cross over freely into the real world. The only way to stop this lies within the body of Seasarmon, the Digimon partner of Minami, the daughter of the creator of the V-Pets. There's no rest for the Tamers and their partners as they fight their toughest battle yet to save the world. Early mistranslated promo information cemented the idea that this movie was out of continuity with the series, but in the finished movie, there is very little to suggest that this could be true. Given that Kai goes on to appear later in the series itself, and knows who Guilmon is at the time, would suggest that the movie is in continuity.
The Tamers' Digimon in their Ultimate-level forms (WarGrowlmon, Rapidmon and Taomon) create a new attack. It consists of the Digimon changing into a crystallized form and combining together to form a giant bird made of pure energy. This move has been dubbed the "Trinity Burst". It has not been seen outside the movie.
Runaway Locomon
This takes place after the series finale (technically, six months after the D-Reaper was destroyed); in it, the Tamers are planning to throw Rika a surprise party, but their plans are derailed as they must try to stop a train-Digimon named Locomon, who is being controlled by Parasimon who has opened a portal to the Digital World that is allowing other Parasimon to cross over and invade the city. The movie served to provide insight on Rika, and also to confirm that the Tamers were, indeed, reunited with their Digimon partners after the series ended.
Chiaki Konaka states in his (for Rika) that he "was not consulted" on Runaway Locomon, which possibly explains certain continuity errors. On this he also says: "However, ...Mr. Tetsuharu Nakamura [the director], [who was] an assistant director of the TV series... [and] Mr. Hiro Masaki,... a regular writer for the series... paid a great deal of attention to the psychological aspects of the series when completing the movie... I am very grateful to them for boldly illustrating the parts of Rika's family life that the TV series never explored."
Short Story
Digimon Tamers 1984
This short story, written by Chiaki J. Konaka and illustrated by Kenji Watanabe, was published in 2002 in Volume 5 of SF Japan, a Japanese science fiction magazine. Tamers 1984 was intended for a more mature audience, specifically the adult fans of Digimon Tamers, and focused on the creation of the original Digimon program by the Monster Makers at Palo Alto University in the United States. It revolved around the roles and thoughts of each of the Monster Makers, and dealt largely with the philosophical and technological issues surrounding the creation of artificial intelligence.
CD Drama
Digimon Tamers: Original Story, Message in the Packet
This audio drama takes place sometime after the end of the series, but before the 2nd Tamers Movies (Runaway Locomon). The Tamers have yet to be reunited with their Digimon Partners, but the Monster Makers have discovered a way in which the Tamers may be able to send messages to the Digital World. However, it's not certain if it'll work, or if their Partners will receive their messages. But with the memories and love for their Partners guiding them, the Tamers each make their own emotional and heartfelt messages, hoping that their Partners will hear them. They talk about the past, their plans for the future, how they've changed, and most of all, how important they believe that their Partners were to them, and convey the hope and certainty that will meet up with each other once again.
Differences in the English dub
- The cards' faces keep the Japanese writing they have in the dub and are left unedited throughout the series.
- In the original Japanese version of episode three, "To Fight or Not to Fight", Gargomon becomes drunk with power after Digivolving and fires out of control. Two scenes are cut out during his rampage in the garage:
- Gargomon's gun aiming at Rika's head (his arm is painted over, making it seem as if Gargomon is just looking at Rika).
- Renamon scratches Gargomon over his eyes, drawing blood.
- In episode 8 (English: A Question of Trust), two scenes were removed:
- A very short scene was cut between a couple talking. The man took out a cigarette, and failed to get his lighter to work. Impmon offered him fire, scaring the couple away. In the English version, the cigarette part was cut, replaced only by the woman discussing how they wanted a fire to keep them warm, and Impmon offered his fire.
- In the original, Growlmon's stray fireball blasted a part of a building. The small clip of the smoking building was removed, likely due to the resemblance of the 9/11 attacks.
- In episode 16, "Snakes Trains and Digimon", there are these edits.
- The flag that Takato made has the Japanese words, "Digimon Tamers" changed to English.
- The close-up scene of the theater sign is cut, because of the Japanese kanji characters that were on it. This was one of the few removals of Japanese writing in the dub.
- Episode 23 (aired September 9, 2001 in Japan)
- When Makuramon overloads Juggernaut scenes were edited of the Hypnos Tower exploding (barely, it is possible to see it if the video is run slowly)
- the scene of dark smoke rising from several of the tower's windows was edited mainly in response to 9/11 in the United States, while in Japan the episode was released two days prior to the attacks.
- During the fight between Gallantmon and Beelzemon in episode 36, the scene where Beelzemon is aiming his shotgun at Gallantmon's head is edited (The gun is painted over as if Beelzemon's hands are still at his sides).
- In the movie "Runaway Locomon", the Biomerging sequences are censored by flashes of light, as well as Gallantmon's graphic impaling of the main Parasimon's eye, Mega Gargomon blowing the Parasimon into pieces, and Gallantmon impaling a Parasimon and tossing it at another.
Japanese songs
Opening and ending songs
- Opening: "The Biggest Dreamer" by Koji Wada
- Ending 1: "My Tomorrow" by AiM (episodes 1-23)
- Ending 2: "Days ~Aijou to Nichijou~" by AiM (episodes 24-51)
Evolution songs
- 1: "SLASH!!" performed by Michihiko Ohta (episodes 2–51)
- 2: "EVO" performed by Wild Child Bound (episodes 3–51)
- 3: "One Vision" performed by Takayoshi Tanimoto (episodes 36–51)
Insert songs
- 1: "3 Primary Colors" (episode 9 and 51)
- 2: "KAZE" performed by Koji Wada (episode 23)
- 3: "Himawari" performed by AiM (episode 24)
- 4: "Across the tears" performed by Makoto Tsumura (episode 24)
- 5: "Culu culu Culumon" performed by Tomoko Kaneda (episode 29)
- 6: "Black intruder" (episode 30)
- 7: "Fragile heart" performed by AiM (episode 40)
- 8: "Starting Point" performed by Koji Wada, Michihiko Ohta and AiM (episode 49)
- 9: "The Biggest Dreamer", second verse, performed by Koji Wada (episode 50)
Credits
Japanese Cast
English Cast
*All Characters listed here are referred to by their English Names.
- Brian Beacock - Takato Matsuki, Gallantmon (shared)
- Beau Billingslea - Hagurumon, Musyamon
- Steven Blum - Guilmon/Growlmon/WarGrowlmon/Gallantmon (shared), Megidramon Kenta Kitagawa, Yamaki
- Richard Cansino - Guardromon/Andromon
- Tifanie Christun - Riley, Mrs. Kitagawa
- Joey D'Auria - Chuchidarumon Elder
- Mari Devon - Renamon/Kyubimon/Taomon/Sakuyamon (shared)
- Brian Donovan - Davis Motomiya (Narrator) ,Kai Urazoe (TV)
- Michael Earl - Mr. Akiyama
- Richard Epcar - Sinduramon, Cherrymon, Policeman
- Dorothy Elias-Fahn - Babamon, Curly, Harpymon
- Melissa Fahn - Rika Nonaka, Sakuyamon (shared)
- Tom Fahn - Jijimon, Dolphin
- Rebecca Forstadt - Ai
- Bob Glouberman - Shibumi
- Barbara Goodson - Seiko Hata, DarkLizardmon
- Bridget Hoffman - Jeri Katou, Mrs. Katou, D-Reaper & Agents
- Neil Kaplan - Indramon, Babel, Divermon
- R. Martin Klein - Clockmon, Man In Black, Mr. Mori
- Steve Kramer - Baihumon
- Lex Lang - Monodramon, Cyberdramon/Justimon (shared), Sandiramon, Orochimon, Tsugai
- Wendee Lee - MarineAngemon, Daisy, Mako
- Dan Lorge - Mr. Kitagawa
- Brad MacDonald - Kazu Shioda
- Dave Mallow - Gekomon, Allomon, Chief Cabinet Secretary, Grani, Vilemon
- Mona Marshall - Terriermon/Gargomon/Rapidmon/MegaGargomon
- Lara Jill Miller - Nami Asaji
- Michael McConnohie - Azulongmon, Henry's Sensei
- Mary Elizabeth McGlynn - Pajiramon, Rumiko Makino, Digivolution voice, Pajiramon
- Joe Ochman - Jagamon Leader, Makuramon
- Peggy O'Neal - Suzie Wong, Tally
- Bob Papenbrook - Mr. Iwamoto, Mr. Katou, Majiramon, Mihiramon
- Paul St. Peter - Leomon, Gorillamon
- Tony Pope - Zhuqiaomon
- Jamieson Price - Janyu Wong
- Derek Stephen Prince - Impmon/Beelzemon
- Michael Reisz - IceDevimon
- Michelle Ruff - Lopmon/Antylamon
- Philece Sampler - Alice McCoy, Mrs. Matsuki
- Joshua Seth - Kumbhiramon
- Brianne Siddall - Calumon
- Michael Sorich - Dobermon, Dogmon, Vikaralamon
- Peter Spellos - Meramon
- Melodee Spevack - Dokugumon, MetalKoromon
- Steve Staley - Ryo Akiyama, Justimon (shared)
- Kirk Thornton - Mr. Matsuki
- Wally Wingert - Coco
- Dave Wittenberg - Henry Wong, MegaGargomon (shared), Ebonwumon, Johnny Beckenstein
- Tom Wyner - Principal Seiji Kurosawa, Devidramon, Chatsuramon
English Movie Cast
See also
General
Locations
External links
- (Japanese)
- (Notes and history of Season 3 from Chiaki J. Konaka) (Japanese/English)
- (English)
- (Tagalog)
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