Ah yes, Digimon. One of my first real fan-obsessions as an anime otaku.

When the show first came to the US, I thought the dub was crap, but I really got to enjoy the character development and the storyline, not matter how predictable it tended to be.

The Digimon anime currently has five seasons: Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure: Zero 02, Digimon Tamers, Digimon Fronier, and the most recent one is Digimon Savers (which I have heard is supposed to be brought to the US soon; it's finished already in JP). My favorite of the seasons would have to be the first, mainly because of the fact that it began the whole introduction to the Digital World and the eternal battle between Good and Evil with the Digimon that live there. The characters in this season were normal kids, each with their own personal battles and personalities that made them special and unique to the story's plot. Eventually, they learn about their destiny to help save the Digital World from succombing to the darkness by using the natural traits of friendship that they each hold within them. Best season ever. The main eight characters' journey continues a couple of years later in the next season, Zero 02, in which the two youngest main characters, Takeru and Hikari (TK and Kari, in the dub), meet three new heroes and a new villain that yet again threatens the safety of all those that dwell in the Digial World. The other main characters still play a vital part in the season, but it's mainly a good follow-up on what has happened to them after their final battle with their Digimon.

However, not all of the seasons were that interesting.

Season three began with an entirely-new cast of heroes (with no relation to the previous seasons) and Digimon trainers (or Tamers, as they're called here) use a method known as "card-slashing" to either add items, abilities and evolution power to battle their enemy. This season really intrigued me, but it got a bit confusing once the main hero cast grew from three to seven or eight later on in the series.

Season Four was clearly the worst of them all - mainly because I can't say anything abut Savers yet . . . I haven't been able to see the JP sub of it. Frontier is a much different concept of Digi-evolution, in which the human becomes the Digimon in order to fight. I'd only seen a couple of episodes from the dub, but I totally got confused by the way the story was told.

I will agree: this is much better than Pokemon, but the idea is pretty similar about the whole "good-fighting-evil" thing that happens throughout each episode. Digimon is much more mature than Pokemon, but IMO, the human children are easily more relatable to the viewers.

Overall, the animation is very crisp and colorful, while the different characters are made in such a way that you can easily tell them apart (Yes, in each season, you can easily tell who the leader is by looking for a pair of goggles on his head . . . why goggles - I do not know). The digimon themselves are designed to stand out, each given their own special look and qualities to show who they are . . . especially when certain ones evolve (AKA digivolve in the dub).

So, in the end, I would have given this series a perfect four stars, but the disappointment of season four cut off a half-star.

Three-and-a-half stars. I strongly suggest to check out the first two seasons in Japanese if you can. They are much better that way!

Ok I must admit I like this series much better than Pokemon anyway. The story is easy to follow bearing in mind this is made for kids.

Though I do have one problem with it, it does feel like one long advert for the toys after a while but less so than pokemon does so that isnt so bad.

Theres lots of character development since the kids grow up which is rare.

Even though living in UK I havent seen all the seasons I did like what I saw. Gatomon was my fave mon

this show is much better than the pokemon and sonic x anime the story is great the human characters are very likeable unlike the ones in sonic x. and the digimon are very loveable. dont let the fact that this is like pokemon put you off because both are good in their own right. but this is much better than the pokemon cartoon. in short this is the best anime cartoon i have ever seen. give it a chance you wont be dissapointed.

This show really has a cult following similar to Pokemon and Monster Rancher. Though the concept seams the same at first they are really very different.

I really liked this one. I thought the voice acting wasn't so bad and the writing seamed to be fun. Where as in Pokemon every episode had the same format and predictably a new monster to catch, Digimon had a strong sense of character development and plot twists. The characters actually grow a year older after each season, rare in animation (and comics). This meant that each season needed a fresh cast of main characters, but that is for me strength, because it allowed the writers to expand on there world and let in new rules about how that world functioned. Old main characters never really go away because they grow up and move on. Not forgetting but becoming better individuals because of it.

The seasons also seam to be developing over time. From season one where the children get taken into the Digital world, to season two where the children take the Digimon with them into the real world, and finally season 4 where they actually become Digimon.

There were a few movies but I didn't like the first movie as it was released in the US. It seamed to combine three complete movies which meant cutting out a lot. The end result was cheesy to me.

My favorite season by far was season 4 (which was the least popular) because it maintains the universe continuity but is so different from the other seasons that it can almost stand on its own. I didn't like the ending because it dragged on and on for a few episodes and then just stopped. Still it’s my favorite because there are some real hard concepts. Like one of the characters finding out they might really be dead in the real world or the hinting of adolescent love (as in he liked her liked her not just liked her).

Oh how to start a review for this, if you can image the rage that toy company Bandai might have had when Pokémon came out after the enormous success of its Tamagotchi toyline. How do you counter? Why by making a series of your own of course. The unfortunate thing was that while Pokémon had already had the success of it videogames to build a series around, Digimon did not. Attempts to make games met with harsh criticism from the gaming press and general indifference from the public.

The series four seasons suffered immensely from a crisis of identity, without sticking to a set group of characters, I can see that it could have given most potential watchers good reason to stop watching. In effect this seems to be due to the way in which the series was conceived, poorly, where Pokémon would be able to add new monsters here, there and everywhere; and give Ash some new pokemon to play with; Digimon methods proved problematic for added new content without cleansing everything that had gone before.

It is, perhaps a result of the companies behind it. Bandai is predominantly a toy company, licensing anime characters to sell to the mass market, the toy industry has little reason to be really innovative; it is a place were marketing rules and sales are everything. Nintendo is stranger to explain, it is a company with vast capital, a long history (it was founded in 1889!) and a proven track record for being innovative and not following the crowd; in short it takes risks.

As for the series itself all four season fell into the kind of pitfalls that Toei Animation seem to fall into at this time. Terrible animation, badly dubbed by a cast who don’t sound that interested in what they are saying. Then you get the mainstay of really terrible animation: Transformation sequences. Admittedly they are the most lush of the show, but then again so what, mixing some random effect around the screen while the mon in question spins around in the centre saying something like: “Augumon Digivolve to… MegaGreymon” isn’t something I want to spent time watching. The whole business get daft pretty quickly, the Black Gears being an easy plot device to get the gang into battles that are as mad as Dragon Ball Z and seem to go on just as long sometimes. At least pokémon wrote trainer battles as friendly matches, not life and death struggles that only lasted one episode.

I not sorry that I keep comparing this to Pokémon, it’s just that Digimon really has that coming. The two share similar origins, both are terrible, but Pokémon just has an edge on Digimon, if only because it nowhere near as pseudo-complicated, or as daft.

Think of the repetitiveness of Pokemon but ten times worse. Digimon is one of the most ridiculous and inane cartoons I've ever seen in my entire life. The dialogue and acting are atrocious. And what makes this cartoon even harder to care for is that every season looks like a different show altogether.

Typical Pokemonish monster fighting half hour toy advertisment.
I used to be OBSESSED with this show when I was younger. This and DBZ.
Now that I look back I cannot believe I liked either show.
The animation pretty horrid although I remember it was a step higher than Pokemon but still...
Skip it. It's not worth your (or your kids) time.

James