Digimon Adventure (1999 TV series)

Digimon Adventure (1999 TV series)
File:Digimon Adventure large.jpg Digimon Adventure
Genre	Action, Adventure, Shonen
Anime
Directed by	Hiroyuki Kakudo
Studio	Toei Animation
Anime
Digimon Adventure
Directed by	Mamoru Hosoda
Studio	Toei Animation
Anime
Our War Game!
Directed by	Mamoru Hosoda
Studio	Toei Animation
Related works
Digimon Adventure 02 / Season two Digimon Tamers / Season three Digimon Frontier / Season four Digimon Savers / Season five

The premise of Digimon Adventure (デジモンアドベンチャー, Dejimon Adobenchā) (1999) is a group of young pre-teens (who for reason of apparent 'propriety' are usually a little older in the English dub) while at summer camp, become the "DigiDestined" and are unwillingly forced to save both the Digital and real worlds from evil. Each child was given a "Digivice" which selected them to be "transported" to the Digital World. The digivices help their digimon allies to "digivolve" into stronger creatures in times of need. The digimon usually reach higher forms after they see their human partners in a dangerous situation.

Plot summary

Template:Spoiler The children have no idea of what's really going on after they meet their Digimon partners, yet they still have to fight to protect themselves. However, as time passes and the series starts to evolve, new subjects and concepts are presented. It covered such difficulties the children face when growing up, such as making friends, being courageous and taking a stand against evil, lending a supportive hand to others even though they may be different, saying goodbye to the ones you love, and much more. This has been displayed best by the collection of "crests" the children collect in the first season to make their Digimon partners evolve into stronger digimon and help them stop the evil forces. They embody virtues such as Courage for Yagami Taichi, Friendship for Ishida Yamato, Love for Takenouchi Sora, Knowledge for Izumi Koushiro, Reliability for Kido Jou, Sincerity for Tachikawa Mimi, and Hope for Takaishi Takeru. The crests won't work unless their bearers exhibit the quality their crest represents. This has lead the children to express the traits they didn't know they had, which sometimes comes with interesting emotional and dramatic results.

File:LOGODIGIMON.jpg

Logo used in the English Dub

The children realized that the world they were in was not a game, and that the creatures there had feelings and could feel pain. Digimon express every quality that humans do; only they aren't human. They decided without much thought that they had to defend the noble creatures in the Digital World because they didn't want them to suffer, and they were the only ones that could help. The chosen children made efforts on not having to destroy any Digimon, unless they were perverse (usually of the "virus" attribute) and gave them no other choice.

Later in the season, the gang went back to Odaiba, where Taichi's little sister Yagami Hikari (Kari Kamiya) joins the group with her own Crest of Light. Her involvement expanded the scope of the show as a new dark world was introduced, and a description on how the Digital World got besieged by the "Dark Masters" was added. There was even a reference to the first movie, showing the events that preceded the happenings of the story and the way every DigiDestined entered in contact with Digimon for the first time. In the next season there was more information provided on the dark universe, but there was still a visible gap in detail, suggesting that what we have witnessed in the series is just a small story out of a much larger one.

The season was highly regarded, and garnered millions of viewers. It also became one of the biggest anime exports out of Japan, notably the third, after Sailor Moon and Pokémon. (possibly fourth, if Dragonball Z is included)

Episodes

Digimon Adventure aired 54 episodes on Fuji TV in Japan from March 7th, 1999 to March 26th, 2000, then later on Fox Kids in the United States from August 14th, 1999 to June 24th, 2000. For an overview see List of Digimon Adventure episodes.

Characters

The English dub of Digimon was somewhat unique at the time, since most human characters kept their proper Japanese names, but were still usually referred to by 'Americanized' nicknames. Some Digimon names were modified to English equivalents, and (rarely) into Japanese equivalents. The eight children are listed first, followed by their Digimon partners.

Main characters

	Character	Voice actor	Digimon	Voice actor
File:Agumonandtai.jpg	Taichi Yagami "Tai Kamiya" Yagami Taichi (八神 太一)	Joshua Seth (EN) Toshiko Fujita (JP)	Agumon	Tom Fahn (EN) Chika Sakamoto (JP)
	He is sort of the "leader" of the group. He's also the older brother of Hikari.
File:Gabumonmatt.jpg	Yamato "Matt" Ishida Ishida Yamato (石田 ヤマト)	Michael Reisz (EN) Yuuto Kazama (JP)	Gabumon	Kirk Thornton (EN) Mayumi Yamaguchi (JP)
	He is a bit of the "lone wolf" of the group, and the older brother of T.K.
File:Tentomonandizzy.jpg	Koushiro "Izzy" Izumi Izumi Kōshirō (泉 光子郎)	Mona Marshall (EN) Umi Tenjin (JP)	Tentomon	Jeff Nimoy (EN) Takahiro Sakurai (JP)
	He is very smart and is a logical thinker. He is also a computer expert and constantly has a laptop computer with him.
File:Digimon Adventure ep04.jpg	Sora Takenouchi Takenouchi Sora (武の内 空)	Colleen O'Shaughnessey (EN) Yuko Mizutani (JP)	Piyomon Biyomon	Tifanie Christun (EN) Katori Shigematsu (JP)
	She is supportive and kind and acts like a mother figure, somewhat of a tomboy, and also plays soccer
File:Palmonandmini.jpg	Mimi Tachikawa Tachikawa Mimi (太刀川 ミミ)	Philece Sampler (EN) Ai Maeda (JP)	Palmon	Anna Garduno (EN) Shihomi Mizowaki (JP)
	She is kind and caring, although slightly selfish at first.
File:Gomamonandjoe.jpg	Joe Kido Kido Jō (城戸 丈)	Michael Lindsay (EN) Masami Kikuchi (JP)	Gomamon	R. Martin Klein (EN) Junko Takeuchi (JP)
	He is dependable and thoughtful but sometimes worries too much. He tries to be the voice of reason within the group.
File:Patamonandtk.jpg	Takeru "T. K." Takaishi Takaishi Takeru (高石 タケル)	Wendee Lee (EN) Hiroko Konishi (JP)	Patamon	Laura Summer (EN) Miwa Matsumoto (JP)
	In the first season he was the youngest of the group; he is the younger brother of Yamato. Along with Hikari, he is part of the later DigiDestined in season 2.
File:Ep 32 Digimon.jpg	Hikari "Kari" Kamiya Yagami Hikari (八神 ヒカリ)	Lara Jill Miller (EN) Araki Kae (JP)	Tailmon Gatomon	Edie Mirman (EN) Yuka Tokumitsu (JP)
	She joined the group after the other Chosen Children, and is the younger sister of Taichi. Along with Takeru, she is part of the later DigiDestined in season 2.

Villains

• Parrotmon (1st Movie)
• Devimon (8-13)
• Etemon (15-20), MetalEtemon (46-47)
• Myotismon (22-37), VenomMyotismon (38-39)
• Dark Masters (40-52)
  • MetalSeadramon (40-43) -- First to challenge the DigiDestined
  • Puppetmon (40-47) -- Second to challenge
  • Machinedramon (40-49) -- Third to challenge
  • Piedmon (40-52) -- Leader of the Dark Masters
• Apocalymon (53-54)
• Kuramon - Tsumemon - Keramon - Infermon - Diaboromon (2nd Movie)

Other Digiworld Characters

• Gennai
• Centarumon
• Leomon - SaberLeomon
• Ogremon
• Whamon
• Piximon
• Wizardmon

Family of the DigiDestined

• Susumu & Yuuko Yagami (Kamiya): Taichi and Hikari's mother and father.
• Hiroaki Ishida & Natsuko (Nancy) Takaishi: Yamato & Takeru's parents, now divorced. Hiroaki works as a reporter for Fuji TV and tends to be a workaholic but is a nice guy. He finds about his sons' connection to the Digimon during Vamdemon's attack on the city.
• Haruhiko & Toshiko Takenouchi: Sora's parents. Toshiko, Sora's mother, banned her from playing soccer once when she came home with an injury. This caused a distance between them, though that was resolved later in the first season. Haruhiko is a college professor who is researching on the digital world with Shin, Jou's oldest brother, who is one of his students. Miyako meets both of them during her class trip to Kyoto, and he explains some of his theories to her.
• Keisuke & Satoe Tachikawa: Mimi's parents. They spoiled her a bit and were overprotective of her. They also act like a newlywed couple.
• Shuu Kido (Jim) - One of Jou's older brothers. He helps the chosen children a little when Vamdemon was attacking Obiba.
• Shin Kido (Jim) - Jou's oldest brother. He meets Miyako when she is visiting Kyoto with her class. He also drove them to where they needed to be when Daemon was attacking.
• Masami & Yoshie Izumi: Koushiro's adoptive parents. They never told him directly that he was adopted but he overheard it himself, which troubled him for awhile. It is resolved when his parents reveal the truth to him and he confesses he knew all along.

Digital World

The Digital World (or DigiWorld for short) is a parallel, shadow world that coexists with Earth, created as it was by it. This is where all Digimon live.

The Digital World is closely tied to Earth - everything in the Digital World is made up of digital matter, pure data given life through the dreams, wishes, stories, spiritual beliefs and more of humankind, via the power of a "dream dimension" which runs parallel to it (see Digimon Adventure 02). The four compass regions of the Digital World are each guarded by one of Harmonious Ones - the Eastern region is governed by Azulongmon.

When an evil being emerged from the beyond the Digital World's Wall of Fire, the Digital World's chronology was warped, throwing it out of synch with Earth, making it much older than it would be under normal circumstances - one Earth minute was equal to one Digital World day. Prophecy foretells that any time the Digital World is threatened by evil, a new group of children from each generation, called the DigiDestined, will come to the Digital World and save it. The DigiDestined for each generation were selected by a mysterious group, charged with the DigiWorld's protection. When the eight children of this generation witnessed a battle between a Greymon and a Parrotmon, the group chose them, and constructed their Digivices, Tags and Crests. A brutal attack by the Dark Masters left the whole group dead, save for Gennai, who was able to escape and secrete the DigiDestined’s' Digivices and seven DigiEggs until their time came. When Devimon began to take over File Island with his Black Gears, the time for the DigiDestined to be summoned came, and the Digivices were dispatched, transporting seven chosen children into the Digital World, where they battled with the evil Digimon there.

Myotismon attempted to conquer both the Digital World and Earth by killing the Eighth Child - the predestined eighth member of the DigiDestined. He opened a portal to Earth and led his army on an assault on Central Odaiba in the search for the child, who was eventually revealed to be Kari, little sister of Tai, leader of the DigiDestined. When Myotismon was finally stopped, a rift opened to the Digital World - but it had been horrifically changed. In the few days that the DigiDestined had been back on Earth, years had passed in the Digital World, and the Dark Masters had risen again, and conquered the entire world, reformatting it into the massive Spiral Mountain. When the kids defeated the Dark Masters, they were confronted with the being who had created the four monstrosities - Apocalymon. Apocalymon was bent on sharing his sorrow with the rest of reality, and didn't care if he lived or died in doing so. Thankfully, the kids defeated him. With his defeat, the Digital World began to reformat itself into its original form, free of evil, also putting it back in synch with Earth-time, meaning time would move to the same pace in both worlds. After the battle with Diaboromon, Gennai called the DigiDestined back to the DigiWorld, where they released the powers of their Crests, creating a shield which restored peace to the DigiWorld, expelling all evil.

Movies

Digimon: The Movie, released in the US and Canada territory by Fox Kids in October 2000, consists of the union of the first three Japanese movies. Those stories are based in the universe introduced in the first two seasons of the TV series.

Digimon Adventure (The movie)

File:Digimon Movie 1.jpg

The first story focused on Tai and Kari Kamiya four years before their adventure in the Digital World. It shows their first encounter with Digimon and what happened to them (as well as the other children) when they participated in their first digimon battle after raising a quickly growing Botamon. In the story, that Digimon hatches from a Digi-egg and eventually evolved into Greymon to fight a Parrotmon who appeared in the city. The movie was used in episodes of Digimon Adventure to explain why Taichi and company became the DigiDestined in the first place.

Our War Game!

File:02 Our War Game.jpg

(デジモンアドベンチャー　ぼくらのウォーゲーム Dejimon Adobenchā: Bokura no Wō Gēmu!)

The second story shows many of the DigiDestined, but only four end up saving the day when a computer virus Digimon raises havoc all over the world through the Internet. The kids must stop the evil digimon quickly before he provokes the launching of nuclear warheads aimed at Japan (where the kids are). Tai and Matt end up getting so worried about their Digimon (in the form of WarGreymon and MetalGarurumon) badly losing to the evil Digimon, Diaboromon that they actually phase into the Internet and mysteriously give them the power to destroy the enemy in time. Both Digimon merge, evolving into the powerful Omnimon. However, Diaboromon is still too fast, until Izzy comes up with the idea to redirect e-mails that they are receiving from children watching the battle to slow him down, allowing Omnimon to finish him off just before the missiles hit. In the end, the deactivated missiles land harmlessly in Tokyo Bay. Template:Endspoiler

English dub edits

• In the episode "Evil shows his Face", two scenes are cut out.
  • Part of the bath scene was cut for semi-nudity of Tai, Matt, and Joe.
  • Devimon is shown putting a black gear into an opening Leomon's back he made with his talons. It was considered too gorey for children, and edited out.

• In the episode where Venommyotismon first appears a scene is cut out . Just before Venommyotismon stands up and is seen for the first time a scene is cut out in which Tai looks at his digivice to tell the time . The digivice shows that it's 6:06 and 6 seconds , which explains the ,,in the hour of fear" part in the prophecy Gennai read .

• Puppetmon's game with TK was editted as it involved the villain using a gun with dum-dum bullets. Also that TK's lines were changed a bit to make him sound less cruel when he tricks Puppetmon.

Credits

Japan (series)

*All characters listed here are referred to by their Japanese Names.

• Hisao Egawa - Ogremon, Mugendramon
• Hirata Hiroaki - Leomon, Narrator
• Akira Ishida - Wizarmon
• Ai Nonaka - Lady Devimon
• Chikao Ohtsuka - Piemon and Apocalymon
• Jouji Yanami - Gennai
• Yasuhiro Takato - Elecmon

English (series)

*All Characters listed here are referred to by their English Names.

• Robert Axelrod - Wizardmon, Vademon
• Beau Billingslea - Ogremon
• Richard Cansino - Piximon
• Tifanie Christun - Biyomon
• Richard Epcar - Etemon, Myotismon
• Doug Erholtz - MetalSeadramon
• Barbara Goodson - Nancy Takaishi
• Lex Lang - WarGreymon
• Dave Mallow - Angemon, Gekomon
• Derek Stephen Prince - DemiDevimon, Piedmon, Digitamamon
• Paul St. Peter - Leomon, Apocalymon
• Tom Wyner - Devimon

Movie cast (English version)

• Lex Lang - WarGreymon/Omnimon (Movie 2)
• Paul St. Peter - Diablomon (Movie 2)
• Kirk Thornton - MetalGarurumon/Omnimon (Movie 2)

Theme songs

Original

• Opening: "Butter-Fly" (1: Eps 1~54) written by: Ikō Chiwata, Composed by: Ikō Chiwata, Arranged by: Cheru Watanabe, Performed by: Kōji Wada
• Ending 1: "I wish" (1: Eps 1~?) written by: Tokuko Miura, Composed by: Yoshihisa Shirakawa, Arranged by: Katsumi Horī, Performed by: Ai Maeda
• Ending 2: "Keep on" (1: Eps ?~54) written by: NK, Composed by: Naoto Kine, Arranged by: Naoto Kite & Kō'ichi Yuasa, Performed by: Ai Maeda
• Insert: "Brave Heart" (1: Eps 1~54) written by: Sachiko Ōmori, Composed by: Michihiko Ōta, Arranged by: Michihiko Ōta, Performed by: Ayumi Miyazaki

See also

• List of Digimon Adventure episodes
• Digimon: Digital Monsters (anime)
• Digimon