Digimon has been around for awhile. Originally created in the mid-90s, the property gained a following due to a string of popular anime series and some (inconsistent) games. Despite being around for two decades, the Japanese franchise is just as popular today as it was in the early 2000s. Bandai and Toei Animation have done a fantastic job of keeping fans entertained, by generally maintaining the quality of the TV series and occasionally releasing a video game adaptation in the West. Digimon started off as a rival for Nintendo’s Pokémon franchise, before finding its own audience. The anime gained a reputation as a mature alternative to the adventures of Ash and Pikachu, while the games were the closest thing that PlayStation owners had to Nintendo’s “Catch ‘Em All” series.
Everyone has a skeleton or two in their closet. It is perfectly normal, especially when working in a business as complicated as the entertainment industry. Difficult decisions need to be made, with a few resulting in less than stellar outcomes. What we are trying to say is that mistakes happen. Considering the sheer volume of different hands involved in the creation of any series or video game, it is a small miracle that any of them function properly at all.
Ok, time to get to the meat of things. Here are 25 secrets the creators of Digimon want to bury.
26 Digimon Was Literally Made To Sell Toys
The 80s and 90s were overstocked with cartoons designed just to sell toys. Thankfully, some shows managed to overcame their cynical reason for being to still deliver an entertaining experience. Digimon took it a step further, as the franchise literally started out as a toy. The anime or video games did not come first, as they followed up a line of virtual pets which introduced the world to the concept of Digital Monsters. Yes, Agumon and friends originally arrived in the form of a Tamagotchi toy. Unlike its contemporaries, this product was directed towards boys and allowed two devices to be connected for battles to take place. The Digimon could also evolve, with the first batch consisting of fan-favorites like Greymon and Megadramon.
25 There Is No Matt Or Tai
Yu-Gi-Oh and Digimon benefited from a huge amount of changes once they were localized for an American audience. This probably will not shock you, but Matt and Tai are not actually Japanese names. Who knew, right? The energetic protagonist’s real name is Taichi Kamiya, so Tai at least holds a passing resemblance to the original. On the other hand, Matt does not even come close to his actual name, which is Yamato Ishida. With everyone constantly failing to say his name correctly, no wonder Yamato is kind of a loner. From the original batch of DigiDestined; Kari, Joe, Mimi, and Sora survived the localization process mostly unscathed.
24 Sora And Tai Was Never Going To Happen
Digimon Adventure often hinted at a love triangle between Matt, Tai, and Sora. Depending on their preference, fans tended to favor a particular couple. Who would Sora choice in the end? The answer was eventually revealed to be Matt, although this would only be a surprise for those who grew up watching the English dub. The translated version amplified the romantic tension between the adventurous protagonist and Sora, which was not really present in the original Japanese anime. Sure, Tai kind of had a crush on Sora, but she did not reciprocate his feelings within the main series. Therefore, viewers were hardly surprised when Sora and Yamato ended up married and having babies.
23 Digimon Was Set To Be 13 Episodes
An anime season tends to last for 13 episodes, especially when the publisher is not sure whether they have a hit on their hands. Digimon Adventure was set to end after less than a quarter of the episodes were broadcasted, before expanding on the planned story to extend its run. This is rather apparent in the anime, as the first major arc lasts for exactly 13 episodes before a random enemy shows up to launch a new arc. If the anime was not a hit, the final bad guy was set to be Devimon. Thankfully, Digimon surpassed expectations and new content is still being released today.
22 The Dark Ocean Is A Huge Plot Hole
The Dark Ocean is a standout moment in the rollercoaster ride that is season two. Shrouded in mystery, this evil alternate universe is the home of a gigantic sea monster and the only other world introduced besides Earth and the Digital one. The episode ends forebodingly, with Dragomon rising from his grave with plans to track down Kari. Sadly, nothing ever comes from it. This alternative plane of existence is rarely ever brought up, making the most interesting part of the entire season feel like an afterthought. Why introduce something so huge just to forget about in the very next episode?
21 Digimon And Elfen Lied Share A Common Theme…Yes, It Is That One
Once in awhile, the localizers get it right. Elfen Lied is infamous for pushing a romantic relationship between cousins, a taboo commonly used in anime. Obviously, Digimon is not quite so blatant, but episode 21 of the Japanese version focuses on a love triangle between Kari, Tai, and Koromon. Let that sink in.
Hosoda Mamoru, one of the show’s directors, confirmed in an interview that they framed the trio’s dynamic as if the siblings were a married couple and Koromon was a homewrecker. At this point in the plot, Tai just returned to the real world with Koromon, so Kari was no longer the center of his world.
20 Kari Was Not Destined To Be A Hero
Tai’s younger sister plays an important role during season one and joins the team for the follow-up series. Kari is undoubtedly a Digidestined, but was she always intended to be? Probably not, as originally Digimon Adventure used her as a supporting character. Leomon goes as far as to mention a legend of seven children saving the Digiworld, which is proved to be false once Kari is introduced as the eighth DigiDestined. Once the anime really took off, the creators expanded on the original concept, and Kari earned herself a promotion to the main group. Whether it was destiny or not, she ended up being one of the standout characters of the franchise.
19 Digimon, America, And Censorship
Re-watching most 90s anime in their original language drastically changes the overall experience, as the content used to be toned down for the English versions. Digimon was no exception. One of the weirdest edits was removing a scene depicting Buddhism from episode eleven of season one. While investigating a graveyard, Sara and Joe are kidnapped by Bakemon. Eventually, their Digimon show up and start battling the ghost, before Joe says a short Buddhist prayer to help his companion. Any religious overtones are removed for the Western version, so the DigiDestined pulls out a random chant from his backside. Considering Digimon has plenty of religious imagery, it’s a weird omission from the Saturday Morning Cartoon.
18 Digimon All-Star Rumble’s Trailer Lied To Us
A trailer is designed to get customers pumped and ready to drop the cash on the product. Digimon All-Star Rumble tried to accomplish this by incorporating a few snippets of the in-game characters players could control. During the original trailer, Agumon from Digimon Data Squad is temporarily shown, despite not actually appearing in the fighting game. Yes, there is the normal Agumon, capable of evolving to WarGreymon, but the one advertised in the marketing piece was absent once the title launched. This version of the Digimon evolved into GeoGreymon, RizeGreymon and finally ShineGreymon; so he was hardly a direct copy of the original.
17 Matt As The Villain Of Digimon Adventure 02
Digimon Adventure was massive right out of the gate. While its initial sales figures did not quite match Cowboy Bebop or Dragon Ball GT (let that sink in), the original series has stood the test of time. Hoping to capitalize on its success, Digimon Adventure 02’s production started prior to the conclusion of its predecessor. As the writers were not quite sure of how the series would end, they bounced around a few different ideas. One rumored concept involved turning the lovable loner Yamato “Matt” Ishida into an antagonist. The second season introduced human villains, with the Dark Emperor being a fan-favorite. If Matt was pushed into this role, his arc probably would have followed the same trajectory as Ken.
16 Creator Akiyoshi Hongō Is More Than Meets The Eye
Whenever the Digimon name pops up on any media platform, Akiyoshi Hongō is likely to come attached to it. He is credited as the creator of the beloved franchise, but barely anything is known about him. Who is Akiyoshi Hongō?
Nobody. Akiyoshi Hongō does not actually exist, with Bandai using the name to claim copyright without needing to divide it between the original contributors of the IP. Digimon is not like Dragon Ball, were an original and obvious source exists. The games, toys, and anime spawned into existence around the same time; Digimon is a team effort and not the child of one individual. There are rumors that Akiyoshi Hongō is a pseudonym consisting of different people involved in the creation of the franchise.
15 Digimon: The Movie Is An Editing Mess
Digimon: The Movie came out in the United States on October 6, 2000. It was our first opportunity to see Agumon and company on the big screen. What fan would not be excited? Unfortunately, the plot and animation felt disjointed, like the creators could not decide what to focus on. There is actually a really straightforward explanation for this scattershot editing, as Digimon: The Movie consists of two shorts and a condensed feature-length film. Instead of getting a proper cinematic adaptation of the franchise, fans were treated to a messy series of shorts connected by a loose narrative thread. While there is still some fun to be had with this feature, we wish they just picked one Japanese film and stuck to it. On a side-note, the “Digi Rap” theme song is the best thing ever and should be studied at every music school.
14 9/11 Even Affected Digimon
My Sister’s Keeper is an episode from Digimon Adventure featuring two massive digital monsters who destroy parts of a city. The English version originally aired without any huge edits - besides a cutscene showing Tai being slapped by his mother - but certain scenes were removed after the events of 9/11. Any re-runs of the English dub do not contain clips of Megadraman or his grey-counterpart, Gigadramon, destroying the city to try and lure out the DigiDestined. Due to this omission, the climax of the episode is rather barren and uninteresting, but Digimon was hardly the only series impacted by the tragic incident.
13 Digimon World Predates The Anime
In modern gaming, usually, if an anime is popular enough, a video game adaptation might be awarded to the license. This is how we ended up with dozens of Dragon Ball Z, Naruto, and One Piece games. This is not always the case, with Pokémon being a prime example. Digimon is mostly known for its anime, as the video games were considerably less consistent in terms of quality. In the West, Fox Kids started broadcasting Digimon Adventure in 1999, a full year prior to the release of Digimon World. The thing is, in Japan, the PlayStation game predates the anime series by around three months. Despite sharing similarities in the story, the RPG is not copying the popular cartoon, as it was the first out of the gate.
12 Digimon World Is The Dark Souls Of Digimon Games
This might shock you, but Dark Souls is a pretty challenging experience. Due to its unforgiving nature and plethora of bosses prepared to make mincemeat out of your character’s corpse, few players actually manage to finish the campaign. Whenever a back-breakingly difficult title is released - Cuphead - critics tend to use FromSoftware’s IP as a reference point. If something is the Dark Souls of its genre, then anticipate a hard time. The non-English PAL version of Digimon World is truly the Dark Souls of the franchise, as a glitch makes it unbeatable. Ogre Fortress is an area in the late game which players must access to finish the story. Unfortunately, this edition does not allow players to do so, making the RPG unbeatable.
11 Impmon - The Star Of The Show?
Digimon Tamers is considered by quite a large portion of the fanbase as the pinnacle of the anime. The content got considerably darker, with a heavy focus on death and depression. Sure, the story did not suddenly get so dark that children could not watch, but there was a noticeable shift in tone. Impmon is one of the biggest characters of the season, going through a substantial amount of development. Originally introduced as a minor annoyance to the DigiDestined, this devilish Digimon acts as the primary instigator for the second half of the season. His heavy involvement is not all that surprising, as the writers temporarily considered using Impmon as the main protagonist. While that responsibility ended up spreading to the human characters, this unpredictable menace is a huge reason why Tamers is so good.
10 Digimon Adventure 02 Copied The Original Anime
Sequels often are destined for failure. Suddenly, the writers need to find a way to create a product capable of standing on its own two feet, while pleasing the predecessors’ fans. Such a balancing act is far from easy to manage, with Digimon Adventure 02 serving as a prime example. A step back from the brilliance of the original series, the rushed follow-up struggled to establish itself. The design of the characters was a bit too reminiscent of the beloved previous cast, and the story hit most of the same notes. This is particularly evident in the locations visited by the DigiDestined, as they also start out in the human world before traveling to the digital world in the latter half of the season. At-least, Digimon Tamers shook things up by reversing it.
9 Veemon Remembers How It All Started
As established in a previous entry, Digimon started out as Tamagotchi style toys. There are a handful of references to the franchise’s humble beginnings, with the Digivice practically modeled after the original gadgets. Another throwback comes in the form of Veemon, the partner for Digimon Adventure 02’s Davis. His name is a play on Virtual Pets or V-Pets for short, which was the name given to the second line of toys released by Bandai. Veemon is actually one of the Digimon available in this series, as Jarimon led to his entire evolution line. It’s crazy to think how much the toy line affected the development of a narrative franchise we all love.
8 Dead On Arrival
Anyone who touched Digimon World should know about the curse that is Sukamon. If the player failed to properly train their Digimon, the gaming gods punished them in the form of a large dump with a mouth. Also, it happened all of the time. Honestly, getting any other partner besides the game’s equivalent of coal in a Christmas stocking required a fair amount of work. Alternatively, you could say screw it and set out to create the worst abomination known to man. Your Digimon’s stats get halved every time they evolve into Sukamon, so consistently sucking as a trainer eventually results in an Ultimate with practically no stats and an instant death. The standards for DigiDestined are clearly not what they used to be.
7 Myotismon And The Occult
God, Myotismon was bad-ass! Everything about him just screamed awesome, from the bats to his gothic design. His backstory is pretty interesting too, as the resurrected kind of the Undead, brought back to life by using dark magic. Myotismon features as a primary antagonist for the original anime, before being brought back for the sequel. Is there any possible way this villain could up his cool further? Well, how about a well-timed entrance? Myotismon’s return to the real world happens in the sixth second of the sixth minute of the sixth hour. Yes, that is a 666 reference in a children’s cartoon.
