So after 3 years my boyfriend Ashley finally convinced me to watch Digimon. Not that I had ever been totally against the idea, but it didn't particularly appeal to me either. I tried as hard as I could to be subjective, but with it having so many similarities to Pokémon I found it was hard not to compare them.
The main concept of Digimon is interesting enough that I plan to continue watching it- so far I'm up to the bit where the kids got rid of Devimon and are making their way to Server. I'm also interested to see how the plot pans out regarding the whole DigiDestined thing.
There are several things that annoy me about the series so far, most of them are Mimi. It's gotten to the point where I want to punch her in her bitching mouth every time she appears on screen. In fact most of the human characters annoy me in some way or another. Joe's whining gets irritating very quickly, and Izzy's use of long words is really unnecessary. Tai seems very hot-headed and stubborn but this might later prove to be a strength in his character. Matt is too arrogant, but I suppose him caring about his brother so much gives him a little more depth.
T.K. and Sora are the only ones who I don't particularly hate, mostly because they haven't had enough screen time to show much of their unique personality. That's another problem- with there being so many main characters, it's hard for each individual to be really developed. Ashley told me they get split up later though, so that will probably give each character a little more time to shine.
As far as the Digimon themselves are concerned, I have mixed feelings. Most are okay, some I really like and some I don't like at all. My favourites are Patamon and Birdramon (trust me to like the phoenix character). There seems to be a lack of consistency with the character designs- some are very simple and cartoony while others are incredibly detailed- this makes it hard to pinpoint elements that make them uniquely "Digimon". It's great that they talk, because after 15 seasons of Pokémon you get really sick of monster characters only screeching their name.
Of course growing up with Pokémon, it's hard not to compare digivolving with evolving. It seems that some Digimon digivolve into a more powerful looking version of their normal form, and others like Patamon go from a winged ball of cuteness into a red-headed angel. Again there's this lack of consistency that is somewhat off-putting.
The art style is nice, especially the backgrounds. They really give the feeling of being in a different universe and they are visually appealing. One thing that I think could have been improved was the lack of expression on the Digimon characters' faces. They rarely seem to change the look on their face even when angered or happy.
One of the things I applaud Toei Animation for is not being like 4 Kids was with Pokémon, and editing out every hint of Japanese text and westernising everything. Though I did nearly have a fit when they referred to hiragana as "Digi Code".
So yeah those are my thoughts on Digimon! Turned out I had a lot more to say than I thought XD While there are some things that annoy me about the series, the concept and plot is enough for me that I want to keep watching the series.












