First impressions: As a kid that grew up in the 90s, I’m pretty sure I speak for most people that grew up in that period when I say that if there’s one question we’ve been asked, it’s “Are you a Digimon or Pokemon fan?”. In most playgrounds that was one of the most popular debates around, and still is today. Digimon or Pokemon? To which I’m going to have to say Digimon, because as part of the generation that watched Digimon when it was first released for western audiences, I didn’t have anything else to watch.
Story: 7/10
Digimon Adventure centres around a group of kids that are transported from the real world to a digital one. It’s in this digital world that they discover the digimon, the creatures that inhabit it, each getting a digimon partner to protect them as they explore it.
When looked at with even a marginally experienced eye, it’s clear that the story of Digimon Adventure plays out like your typical JRPG. You have stuff like your chosen ones, or the call to save innocents from some impending evil. Even if you didn't grow up watching digimon, or have any knowledge of the franchise, it’s easy to label the show as simple entertainment for kids. However the series has a lot more going for it than what first meets the eye. What starts as a show about a bunch of kids with pet monsters exploring and saving a new world from evil, ends as something much more conceptually and tonally synthetic. Quite a few of the episodes deal with the idea of alternate realities. There’s even one episode where Tai gets transported back to the real world, only to conclude that he isn’t where he’s supposed to be, heeding a greater calling instead. Another aspect that elevates the story from its base premise is the level of realism that the series sporadically displays. Many of the fights are brutal and destructive, leading to consequences, not only for the story, but the characters. Now these consequences are slightly mitigated by various in-story elements, but that still doesn't take away their impact, due to the intrinsic nature of said consequences. The way it explores the psychological impact on, and issues of, the main, adolescent cast. That’s by far one of the show’s greatest merits, with a fair amount of the episodes being about dealing with some struggle, either extrinsic, intrinsic, or both that they’re going through. Finally, both the background, and foreground details to the story are very well explained. Stuff like the reason the children are in the digital world, or why they were the ones chosen to go to it in the first place. It’s in that way that the show manages to create a tangible environment, establishing a sense of internal reasoning, and therefore giving the story a lot of integrity and realness.
Unfortunately, despite Digimon Adventure’s many virtues, even it is not without shortcomings. Grounded and significant as most of the battles are, they’re also very anticlimactic, frequently ending in one attack, thus undercutting the established and built on tension. Additionally, some of the human drama that transpires is rather questionable. While the angle is somewhat understandable, one has to question the show’s internal logic on it. Like in the aforementioned episode where Tai comes back from the real world. Once he returns, he finds out that the team disbanded in his absence and the members all went their separate ways. Now while the idea of Tai being the glue that holds the group together makes sense, it’s odd that the others would split apart, considering that by that point it’d been drilled into their heads that all their successes were because of their unity. Not only that, but it doesn't make much sense how during the separation period, the rest of the children were being tricked by an obviously evil digimon into remaining separated and mistrustinging of each other. Not to mention why they’d even trust anything that comes out of its mouth in the first place, when the digimon in question has the word devil in its name. Aside from these few issues though, Digimon Adventure has a very solid story.
Characters: 7/10
The main cast are all introduced as rather cookie-cutter archetypes, and don’t really grow beyond that over the course of the series. Tai’s the hot-headed leader, Matt’s the broody loner, Mimi’s the pure hearted brat, Joe’s the resident buzz killington voice of reason, T.K.’s the token kid, Kari’s the ray of sunshine and Izzy’s the computer wiz that just doesn’t really seem to be able to get emotions. They’re essentially a Power Rangers or Super Sentai team. However, despite how basic their personalities are, those personalities are justified fairly well through their backstories, giving them a sense of humanity past the played out nature of their exteriors. On top of that, the amount of character growth they undergo is amazing, standard as it is, more than making up for their creatively lacking personalities. Finally, the way the characters influence each other’s growth is a sight to behold. An exemplary moment of this is in one episode where Joe selflessly puts himself in harm’s way to save Matt and his little brother. Mind you, this is despite the fact that just before, Matt and Joe went so far as to spit at each other. It’s this very act of selflessness that acting as a catalyst for Joe’s growth, leading him to begin coming out of his shell and teaching him the value of friendship and camaraderie. And it’s moments like these that really showcase one of the show’s strongest points, as well as its capacity for having a heart.
Now those who’ve seen the show or have gone through the cast list may have noticed an absent character from the prior listing. This is of course Sora, a character that really exemplifies Digimon Adventure’s character writing capacity, and one that deserves being talked about in more detail. That being said, Sora’s the big sister of the group. She’s very upbeat and supportive, despite being something of a tomboy. But as the series progresses, she grows to be more nurturing, despite not really understanding what that entails. As such, she’s constantly grappling with the idea of tough love, the love one gives another when it’s what they need, even if not what they want, or what may seem the prettiest. This detail of her character interestingly echoes her relationship with her mother. As a result, her growth as a person feels all the more tangible and real when it gets to be reflected not only externally, in her relationship with the group, but also internally, with the reconciliation of a long-withstanding familial matter that’s intrinsic to her being.
The digimon partners personality wise are essentially watered down versions of their partners. There are as few traits they have that contradict this idea, which completely oppose those of they partners, but generally the prior statement holds true. One of the standout examples of this is Joe’s digimon partner, that’s more chill than Joe shows enough individuality to basically tell Joe to calm down and not get unnecessarily worked up. In ways such as this the digimon partners get the both have synergy with their partners, due to their similarities, but also function as their counter-balance, making for some nice chemistry.
Now the villains have a lot more of a presence. While they’re not that deep or thought provoking as characters, given that their motivation for acting is simply because they want too, what they represent is really intriguing. Each is twisted version of humanity in design and actions, that tries to take over the anarchic digital world and bringing order to it. Even more interestingly though, there’s one exception to this. That of course is the final villain, that takes this idea a fascinating, yet tragic degree further.
Art:7/10
The art and animation are pretty good. Despite being made in the 9Os, they manage to not only look good for that time period, but even hold up till the present today. The show just has this timeless intensely visually cartoony atmosphere and style to it, partially due to its use of both very bright, and dim colors for the color scheme. This sense of style is perhaps most expressed through the character designs, which both look cool and give off the 90s Saturday morning cartoon feel that’s just right for this kind of story. Also surprisingly, despite including the dreaded abomination that is CGI, the show manages to make very good use of it in the scenes that include it. Finally, the digimon themselves look very cool, ranging from odd to badass looking.
Sound: 6/10
The original soundtrack is pretty good overall. The OST by Takanori Arisawa of Sailor Moon fame is fine for the most part, but where the show’s soundtrack really shines is in the opening themes. Not only does it have some excellent J-pop openings, but a corresponding English version that easily manages to successfully stand beside them. Although that may just be because I grew up with the show.
The dub & sub are both fairly good. Having said that, I prefer the dub over the sub for nostalgic reasons, despite the fact it cuts some of the more serious parts of the show. So thank you Fox Kids. Needless to say, it’s recommended that you go for the sub if you want to see the slightly more serious original version.
Enjoyment: 8/10
So, suffice to say, I quite liked Digimon Adventure. It has cool characters, adventure, big monster fights, and a very interesting world. It was also one of the first anime I watched as a kid, so that certainly helps. As such, I still love it to this day, and it will always be one of my all time favorites. That said, even though my time with it as an adolescent has passed, I plan on showing it to my younger brother when he’s a little older, possibly even to my kids, in the unlikely scenario I ever have any.
Overall: 7/10
If you want to take a trip to the past and relive some happy childhood memories, then look no further than Digimon Adventure(unless you’re a hardcore Pokemon purist). On the other hand, if you don’t have any such memories and are slightly hesitant about watching something that's made for kids, considers looking towards the more mature Digimon Tamers, written by Chiaki J. Konaka, the writer of Serial Experiments Lain, Texhnolyze and Ghost Hound.
Special thanks to my editor, Lonecrit.
