Ranked #764

Digimon Adventure

Story: The storyline of Adventure evolves (no pun intended) into something wonderful as the series goes on, however, the beginning is very shaky, and, for some audiences, a weak beginning is an automatic turn-off. It starts off very episodic, and, aside from the fact that the kids want to get home and have to fight a guy called Devimon, there is not much else for plot. However, after they get home, the series jumps into one of my favorite anime story arch of all times: The Eight Child arch. That part (which largely takes up the middle of the series) was masterfully done, and if the beginning wasn't so average, I would have surely given this anime a 9 or a 10 because of its splendid center content, which is like a bipolar carnival ride of smiles and tears.

Art: For a show in the 90's, Adventure had very good art, and, even today, I prefer its style over that of many newer animes (Digimon ones included.) It is a hybrid of a toony style and a realistic one, giving the show a somewhat recognizable flare. Also, they have some amazing creature designs. True, there are some insanely cute Digimon (especially the babies) but, for the most part, the monsters actually look like what they are: Monsters! Adventure also uses a pleasant blend of CGI and traditional animation. Thankfully, they keep it low on the CGI (possibly due to the technology of the time) so it never looks stupid or overdone.

Sound: What can I say, I love the soundtrack for both the English and Japanese versions. The dub and sub have catchy tunes throughout, however, in both versions there is nothing outstanding in the area of music. It’s mostly just songs that’ll get stuck in your head, but there are no memorable pieces destined to give you chills.

Character: As someone who writes, I know that, the more characters you have, the harder it often is to develop them all. Adventure never seems to have this problem. The characters are all fleshed-out wonderfully, and are very relatable. Though they are young and clearly wise beyond their years, they are not so wise as to raise too many eyebrows, for they still make childish mistakes, and, despite their maturity, still act like kids. All of them have their own back stories and issues with their own images; at times the things they say are surprisingly deep, and I often found myself laughing and crying along with them.

Enjoyment: It's not too often I can come back ten years later, watch a show, and enjoy it more than I did a decade ago, so Adventure deserves a ten in this department. When the creators said they wanted to make it a show that anyone of any age could enjoy, they were not kidding.

Overall: Very good. Though it is definitely not perfect, due to a fun plot and great characters, it's still worth watching if you've never seen it, and rewatching if you have. read more

If you were to ask me what it was that possessed me with such a desire to re-watch the Digimon Adventure series I saw when I was younger, I couldn't tell you. Before now my memories of Digimon were not fond, the dubbing in the show was terrible, to the point were I hated the vast majority of the entire cast. I was a lot younger back then so I didn't understand that the occasional stupid things characters did/said were because the script was being hacked up. But beyond the negatives of the show there was a strange charm that reached me, and having re-watched the show completed in Japanese I understand that strange charm was just me knowing what a really good show it truly was underneath the hacking. So now I hope to show you what I saw, and still see, in Digimon Adventure season 1.
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Story:
Like most lengthy anime series it starts off fairly slow, and like most shows in general it has a lot of typical things you'd expect from a show of this genre. Chosen children in a faraway land, partnered with strange creatures, that need to prevent the evil from destroying the world. We've all seen it, but that doesn't mean it can't be well done enough to be damn good in the process.

Starting off with the kids searching for a way home it's pretty episodic and gets into a pretty standard pattern for the first 15 episodes or so. But after that they begin the next adventure, searching for their respective Crests. Another small series of episodic episodes, but they're interesting enough that you wouldn't notice that; and they're all truly just a springboard that launches the show from 'fine' to 'very good' on my scale. Introducing Vamdemon (Myotismon for you dub people) and starting the search for the eighth Chosen Child.

It's here that the story takes a much darker tone, and it only gets darker as it goes on. The show pulls no punches, and though it's aimed at children it doesn't insult your intelligence (or at least in Japanese it doesn't). Though there can be a slight cheese factor in some of the more emotional parts, it's done well enough that you won't mind and might even find yourself smiling at the very thing you might have rolled your eyes at.

Art:
Even with all the improvements today I still find this art really impressive, and I even prefer it in some instances. There's a strange realistic feeling to all the characters, sure most have the typical accessories to tell you they're from an anime but I wouldn't find it hard to believe if they were based on real kids. But in a show with evolving and fighting monsters who cares how the characters look right, we wanna see wicked awesome monsters!!... Savages, all of you; alright, lets get to the monsters.

They're awesome, to say the least, there may have been one or two creature designs out of them all that I'd consider lame or stupid. And in a show consisting of 54 episodes and dozens upon dozens of monsters, that's damn good. The evolutions are awesome, the only ones that are a little lame are the 4 CG ones; it's not too bad though, considering when the show was made (they're also not very long). But now to move away from the creature designs, I'll talk briefly about the background designs, which I found to be incredibly pleasant compared to over a dozen other shows I've seen.

Though each background doesn't exactly stand out in any particular ways, it's the simple fact that they blend in so well that I like them. They're designed well enough that they look like scenery, you pay attention to it to get a grasp of what's around the characters and move on; it still sticks in your mind but it's not taking over the screen, it's not exploding to try and be noticed, it's simply doing the duty of being background scenery. I also found that for a show from the 90's there's a surprisingly low amount of re-used footage. Sure there's the occasional 'yeah I've seen that Mega Flame before', but for the most part each one fresh and reflects the scenery around it.

Characters:
It's strange that a show about elementary school children would have a fairly large amount of character development and depth, but that's Digimon Adventure for you. Each of the Chosen Children has their own issues, their own past that's slowly explored as the series progresses, and by the end they've all developed into fully grown characters. They're all clever enough to question situations and surroundings, but they're only in elementary school so they all still have the charm and innocence of childhood.

But people aren't the only characters here, no no, the Digimon have their own personalities too. Which are, in some ways, better than the children in my opinion. Though the children grow and change as characters, and the Digimon basically stay the same, they're still a high point and occasionally contribute a large part of the humor or drama in many episodes.

Sound:
Ungodly catchy. The Japanese intro and outros are both very good, so good that I've even downloaded them and added them to my iPods playlist of anime songs. Though they are very good, and catchy, they're nothing too spectacular. The audio during the show is also pretty standard, with most of those songs being ungodly catchy as well; awesome, but still nothing too great.

Enjoyment:
For a show that I once would have only given a five out of ten I'm so glad I went back and watched it over again with the proper audio. To charm me still after ten years have gone by it truly goes to show that this show is something people of all ages can watch and enjoy.

Overall:
A very good anime that's sadly under appreciated. Though not perfect, Digimon Adventures is definitely worth watching, or re-watching; especially if you read this whole review!! read more