Digital Monsters

 Noted:  This wiki-page is about the year 1999 animated series. Their are designated website supported by Wikipedia for the film, see Digimon Adventure 1999 (film), for the video game, see Digimon Adventure (video game), for the 2020 animated series, and see Digimon Adventure (2020 TV series).

Digimon Adventure (デジモンアドベンチャー, Dejimon Adobenchā), known as Digimon: Digital Monsters in English-speaking territories, is a 1999 Japanese anime television series produced by Toei Animation in cooperation with WiZ, Bandai, and Fuji Television. It is the first anime series in the Digimon media franchise, based on the Digital Monster virtual pet released in 1997.

A 1999 short film titled Digimon Adventure was released in theaters on March 6, 1999. This was followed by a television series, which aired in Japan from March 1999 to March 2000 for 54 episodes. A film sequel titled Digimon Adventure: Our War Game! was released in theaters in March 2000. Both Digimon Adventure films were compiled and released as Digimon: The Movie in North America in October 2000.

Since the release of Digimon Adventure, several sequels and adaptations have been produced. A succeeding television series, Digimon Adventure 02, was broadcast from 2000 to 2001. A video game adaptation of the series was released for PlayStation Portable in 2013. For the series' 15th anniversary, a six-part film series taking place a few years after the events of Adventure 02, titled Digimon Adventure Tri., was released between 2015 and 2018. A final film titled Digimon Adventure: Last Evolution Kizuna was released in 2020.

A reboot of the series set in the year 2020, titled Digimon Adventure, was broadcast in Japan from 2020 to 2021.

Synopsis
Seven kids at summer camp are unexpectedly transported by 'digi-vices' to a colorful and enigmatic world. Lost and alone, they are befriended by small digital monsters, Digimons. The kids and their Digimon partners quickly become inseparable, and the strange creatures guide their human friends through the wondrous DigiWorld, protecting them from the hordes of evil Digimons. The group soon discovers that some of the giant Digimons they encounter are not evil Digimons but good Digimons gone bad. A dark power is corrupting even the most gentle of Digimons by embedding Black Gears into them, turning them into vicious monsters. Creating chaos and destruction wherever it goes, the evil power threatens all of DigiWorld.

As they try to find their way back home, the seven kids are drawn further and further into the mystery. Through teamwork and trust, they help their newfound Digimon friends digivolve from 'monsters in training' to giant champions that must save DigiWorld from the powerful evil intent on destroying it.

(Source: Tokyopop)

Development
In 1999, a short film based on virtual pets called Digimon Adventure was released. However, shortly after the film's storyboard was completed in 1998, producers at Toei Animation were requested to turn it into a television series.

DigiDestined's character designs were created by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru. The staff had decided to name the characters based on kanji that related to luck.

Manhua and American comics
A manhua adaptation, Digimon: Digital Monsters (Chinese: 數碼暴龍), illustrated by Yu Yuen Wong (credited as "Yuen Wong Yu" in the United States), began publication in 2000. It was originally published in Hong Kong, by Rightman [zh], and it was serialized in the magazine CO-CO! [zh]. In total, it was published in five volumes. Tokyopop published the series in English in the United States, while Chuang Yi did so in Singapore.

There is a second manhua, titled 數碼寶貝, written by Lu Shui-shi (呂水世), and published by Ching Win.

In North America, a comic book adaptation of the Devimon arc was published by Dark Horse Comics between May and November 2000.

Light novels
Hiro Masaki, one of the screenwriters of Digimon Adventure, co-wrote a novelization of Digimon Adventure with series director Hiroyuki Kakudō. The light novels were separated into three parts.


 * 1) The adventure begins now (April 4, 2001 - ISBN 4-08-630029-X )
 * 2) The 8th Chosen Child (June 6, 2001 - ISBN 4-08-630035-4 )
 * 3) The adventure is not over yet (July 7, 2001 - ISBN 4-08-630039-7 )

Movie Novelization - DIGIMON ADVENTURE LAST EVOLUTION
The novelization of 『Digimon Adventure LAST EVOLUTION (デジモンアドベンチャー LAST EVOLUTION 絆)』 will be released simultaneously on February 7, 2020, in two versions: the Dash-X Bunko version and the Mirai Bunko version for children. Scenes that could not be depicted in the movie are also added. The Dash-X Bunko version includes powerful action scenes and emotional scenes, while the Mirai Bunko version is aimed at upper elementary to junior high school students and includes color illustrations at the beginning of the book and plenty of illustrations. and their partner Digimon can enjoy the moving story of the "Chosen Children" and their partner Digimon.

Film Comics
SB Anime Comics label, both published by Softbank Creative.


 * 1) File Island: Edition 1 (Released on May 5, 2000 - ISBN 978-4797312607 )
 * 2) File Island: Edition 2 (Released on May 5, 2000 - ISBN 978-4797312614 )
 * 3) File Island: Edition 3 (Released on June 6, 2000 - ISBN 978-4797312621 )
 * 4) File Island Edition 4 (released June 6, 2000 - ISBN 978-4797312638 )
 * 5) 2nd-stage: Etemon ED. 1 (released November 11, 2000 - ISBN 978-4797314465 )
 * 6) 2nd-stage: Etemon ED. 2 (released November 11, 2000 - ISBN 978-4797314472 )

Drama CDs
A series of mini-drama CDs were released throughout the run of Digimon Adventure and included supplementary audio dramas. In addition to this, character image songs for the main DigiDestined were included.


 * 1) Digimon Adventure: Character Song + Mini Drama 1 (デジモンアドベンチャーキャラクターソング＋ミニドラマ(1), Dejimon Adobenchā Kyarakutā Songu + Min Dorama 1), was released on November 5, 1999, and is centered on Tai, Sora, and Joe.
 * 2) Digimon Adventure: Character Song + Mini Drama 2 (デジモンアドベンチャーキャラクターソング＋ミニドラマ(2), Dejimon Adobenchā Kyarakutā Songu + Min Dorama 2), was released on December 3, 1999, and is centered on Izzy, Mimi, and Kari.
 * 3) Digimon Adventure: Character Song + Mini Drama 3 (デジモンアドベンチャーキャラクターソング＋ミニドラマ(3), Dejimon Adobenchā Kyarakutā Songu + Min Dorama 3), was released on January 7, 2000, and is centered on Matt and T.K.
 * 4) A full-length drama CD, Digimon Adventure: Original Story: Two-and-a-Half Years (デジモンアドベンチャー オリジナルストーリー 2年半の休暇, Dejimon Adobenchā: Orijinaru Sutōrī: 2-nen-han no Kyūka) was released on April 23, 2003, and follows the lives of Tai, Matt, Sora, Izzy, Mimi, and Joe in the two-and-a-half year period before Digimon Adventure 02.

Character
He is the main character of this work. He and the other chosen children in this work, with the exception of Takeru, are hot-blooded boys who live in the vicinity of Daiba, Minato-ku, Tokyo (Nakahara-ku, Kawasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture in『:』). His partner Digimon is Agumon, and in episode 15 he obtains the orange "Crest of Courage (勇気の紋章, Yūki no monshō)". He has long shaggy hair and goggles, and wears a black supporter on his left arm (not worn in『:』) and white gloves (he is the only one wearing gloves in『:』).

He is a fifth grader at Odaiba Elementary School (Musako Elementary School in ":") and the ace striker of the soccer club. He always wears his trademark goggles. At first glance, he appears to be reckless, rough, and unconcerned with details, but he has the ability to organize others and is so charismatic that he is appointed by everyone as the leader of the team. According to Sora, he "looks like the type to run alone, but he calmly sees what is going on around him," and he also takes good care of the younger students in his club activities. Although he can be a bit insensitive, he is a dependable big brother to Mitsuro and Takeru. He has a strong sense of responsibility and, unlike Yamato, Sora, and Takeru, often takes on important matters on his own. Although he was often at odds with Yamato, who appeared calm and emotional, the two recognized each other and their friendship deepened.

She brought with her from the human world (the real world) a pair of goggles on top of a hair band and a monocular, which she often used to look in the direction and at a distance. The monocular was often used to look in the direction and at a distance. She can cook simple dishes. In the first movie version, it was fried eggs, but in the TV version, she can make omelets (omelette) (omelette rice). In the first film, it was fried eggs, but in the TV series, he was able to make omelets (omelette). The fried egg is served with soy sauce.

Since coming to File Island, he has been a leader for the children, demonstrating his natural energy. On the server continent, he was one of the first to obtain the crest, which led him to mistake courage for recklessness, and his impatience caused Greymon to evolve into SkullGreymon. However, he also understands that data, just like in the real world, cannot be redone, and through Piccolomon's training and Sora's capture by Nanomon, he learns the true courage to overcome his fears and failures.

In episode 21, only one of them returned to the real world after being sucked into a crack created when MetalGreymon defeated Etemon, but he returned to the Digimon World within an hour out of concern for his friends and Agumon. He then gathered the six who had been disintegrated by PicoDevimon's trickery, and was officially appointed as leader by all his friends when he returned to the real world in episode 28.

In the Dark Masters Arc, Yamato goes ahead with his righteous argument that "Withermon, Chuumon, Piccolomon, and Whamon, the Digimons they met, sacrificed themselves for them, so they must fight so that their sacrifices will not be in vain," but his lack of consideration for the feelings of Mimi and the others who are exhausted by their repeated sacrifices becomes conspicuous. However, his lack of consideration for the feelings of Mimi and his friends, who are weary from the repeated sacrifices, becomes conspicuous, and his conflict with Yamato becomes violent again. After Yamato and the others leave, he becomes cautious, wondering what Yamato would say, and if Takeru has anything to say. Toward the end of the mission, Yamato analyzed the forces of the enemy and considered the role of each member in order to defeat Piemonte, and he grew as a leader who could unite his comrades.

Three years ago, he took his younger sister Hikari out to play when she had a fever from a cold, thinking she was better, and nearly killed her (this episode was cut from the novel version). He also has a crude way with machines (he is what is called mechanically inept), and once tried to fix Mitsuro's computer by tapping on it, and in the second movie, he accidentally froze the computer, putting it in danger. He is not good at arts and crafts, so much so that when he thinks he has drawn a map, it turns out to be a messy doodle. The clothes he wears are blue with a star symbol, which is a complementary color to his partner's body color and coat of arms.

In 『:』, while searching for a way to help Hikari and her mother, who is trapped in the Capital Loop Line due to a failure in the Tokyo network [disambiguation required], he is led into the network space, meets Koromon (who soon evolves into Agumon), and at the same time acquires Digivice. Mitsukoro informs him that the cause of this incident is in the network space, and he confronts a group of Argomon (Juvenile Stage II), who are directly responsible for the incident. In the process, he evolves Agumon into Greymon against Argomon, which has evolved into its mature stage, and successfully defeats it. Later, when he learns that the U.S. military's intelligence network is being targeted, he goes there with Yamato, whom he met there, and attacks a swarm of Argomon (Juvenile Stage II), but allows Argomon (in its growth stage) to evolve. Against the evolved Argomon (full body), he carries out the abandonment strategy proposed by Yamato for Graemon and Yamato's Garurumon, but then Argomon evolves into its ultimate body, but Omegamon is born, so he succeeds in defeating Argomon and is returned to his original location at the same time, After summer camp, he travels to the Digital World again.

Abilities
He is not good at studying, but he has excellent athletic skills. He is cheerful, active, and generous. He sometimes makes mistakes by running too fast, but he always has a positive attitude and pulls his friends along with him. Tai is the leader of the DigiDestined, the star player on the school's soccer team and Kari's older brother. His aggressive and impulsive personality often puts him in danger, but he learns that empathy and compassion are the keys to being a successful leader. He is partnered with Agumon and holds the Crest of Courage (勇気の紋章, Yūki no monshō).
 * -|Agumon=
 * -|Greymon=
 * -|MetalGreymon=
 * -|WarGreymon=

TV Anime
Digimon Adventure was produced by Toei Animation and ran for 54 episodes on Fuji TV between March 7, 1999, and March 26, 2000. The main opening theme for all episodes aired in Japan is "Butter-Fly" by Kōji Wada, which peaked at #47 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Chart. "I Wish" by AiM is used as the ending theme from episodes 1–26, while "Keep On", AiM's fifth single, served as the ending theme from episodes 27–54. The series also uses three insert songs: "Brave Heart" by Ayumi Miyazaki as the Digivolution theme, "Seven" by Kōji Wada, and "Yūki o Tsubasa ni Shite" (勇気を翼にして) by Toshiko Fujita, Tai's voice actress. On August 1, 2014, during the series' 15th anniversary, a Blu-ray Disc box of the original series was announced and set for release in Japan on March 15, 2015.

Saban Entertainment licensed the series in North America and produced an English-language version under the title Digimon: Digital Monsters, which aired on Fox Kids Network between August 14, 1999, and June 24, 2000. The English version featured an original soundtrack and made changes to character names, as well as edits pertaining to certain aspects such as violence to make the series more suitable for younger audiences. Wendee Lee, Michael Sorich, and David Walsh became the voice directors. The original soundtrack of the show was replaced by music composed by Udi Harpaz and Shuki Levy, which recycled several music soundtracks from Starcom: The U.S. Space Force, Princess Sissi, Masked Rider, and Spider-Man: The Animated Series. The opening theme for all episodes is "Digimon Theme" by Paul Gordon. "Hey Digimon" by Gordon, an insert song featured in the show, was released on the original soundtrack of Digimon: The Movie along with "Digimon Theme".

The series was released on DVD by Twentieth Century Fox (Saban's parent company) in 2000 and by Buena Vista Home Entertainment in 2002. A complete DVD box set of the English dub was released by New Video Group on October 9, 2012, in the U.S. and was released by Madman Entertainment on June 18, 2014, in Australia. On March 14, 2022, Discotek Media announced that they are releasing a Blu-ray collection. The English dub version was released on December 27, 2022, while the original Japanese version was released on July 25, 2023 (which will be the first Digimon anime series to be both presented in the original Japanese and English dub versions).


 * Staff
 * Planning - Taichiro Fujiyama → Daisuke Kawakami, Kyotaro Kimura, Hiromi Seki
 * Draft - Akiyoshi Hongo
 * Serialization - V Jump ( Shueisha )
 * Series Director - Hiroyuki Kakudou
 * Series Composition - Satoru Nishizono
 * Character Design - Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru
 * Chief Animation Director - Naoki Miyahara
 * Art Design - Yukiko Iijima
 * Music - Takanori Arisawa
 * Music Cooperation - Ism Communications
 * Sound Effects - Iki Okuda
 * Producer- Shosuke Okada
 * Production cooperation - Toei (11 - 54 episodes)
 * Production- Fuji TV, Yomiuri Advertising, Toei [Toei Animation] (1-10 episodes) → Toei Animation (11-54 episodes)

Digimon Adventure was added to the Netflix Instant Streaming service along with Digimon Adventure 02 from August 3, 2013, to August 1, 2015, in separate English dubbed and Japanese subtitled versions.

Films
"Wikipedia Info: List of Digimon films"Several short films based on the series were released in theaters in Japan. Digimon Adventure was originally released on March 6, 1999. The story focuses on Tai and Kari finding a Digi-egg from their computer, which hatches and quickly Digivolves into Greymon, culminating in a battle with Parrotmon. The film grossed ¥650 million.

''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digimon_Adventure:_Our_War_Game! Digimon Adventure: Our War Game!]'' was originally released on March 4, 2000. In the film, Tai and Izzy find a virus Digimon who Digivolves into Diaboromon, resulting in him infecting the Internet and launching nuclear missiles towards their home. The film introduces DNA Digivolution through Omnimon. The film's ending theme song is "'Haru' Ichōchō" (「春」イ長調) by AiM. The film grossed ¥2.166 billion. Our War Game! later served as the inspiration for director Mamoru Hosoda's film Summer Wars.

The two short films were combined with ''[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digimon_Adventure_02#Films Digimon Adventure 02: Part 1: Digimon Hurricane Landing!! / Part 2: Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals] was released as Digimon: The Movie'' in North America on October 6, 2000. Digimon: The Movie was altered from the original script to remove "culturally awkward" Japanese elements and introduce jokes suitable for a North American audience. Originally, scriptwriter Jeff Nimoy wanted to combine Digimon Adventure and Our War Game! while releasing ''Digimon Hurricane Landing / Supreme Evolution!! The Golden Digimentals'' was a direct-to-television movie, but the idea was overruled. In order to connect the film's stories, the script was rewritten to include Willis's involvement in Diaboromon's creation.

Digimon Adventure 3D: Digimon Grand Prix! (デジモンアドベンチャー3D デジモングランプリ!, Dejimon Adobenchā: Dejimon Guran Puri), a stereoscopic 3D short film, was shown at Toei Animation Festival on October 3, 2009, and was later included on a set of DVD works released on February 21, 2010.

Games
"Wikipedia Info: List of Digimon video games and Digimon Adventure (video game)"Characters and Digimon from Adventure appear throughout many video games based on the franchise, such as Digimon Rumble Arena.

An RPG based on the original storyline of Adventure developed by Prope and published by Namco Bandai Games, also title Digimon Adventure, was released for the PlayStation Portable on January 17, 2013, part of the line-up of video games of the 15th anniversary celebration of the franchise. The game covers the entire series as well as the second Japanese film, Bokura no War Game, and sees the return of all the main voice actors. The game also features original story elements and an unlockable dungeon mode featuring the protagonists of the other anime series in the franchise.

Reception
On its initial release, the series found a rather large success in the United States. When it was first released in North America, the series was seen as an attempt to imitate the success of Nintendo's Pokémon franchise. Entertainment Weekly magazine named Digimon as the "Worst Pokémon/Net Crossbreeding Attempt" in 2000. However, audiences eventually noticed that compared to Pokémon, the characters interacted and developed realistically, as well as they integration of more complicated science fiction stories and societal themes. The English dub gradually improved as well, making fewer and fewer alterations to the Japanese original in later episodes. As a result, many young viewers quickly outgrew Pokémon and migrated to Digimon instead.

Despite the criticism, it placed first at the start of the May 2000 Nielsen rating sweeps, surpassing Pokémon: Adventures on the Orange Islands among viewers aged 2–11 and 6–11. Retailers and businesses such as snack food company Jel Sert and toy store chain Toys "R" Us capitalized on the popularity of the series by licensing it for promotion with their own products. Web search engine Lycos listed Digimon as the number five fad of 2000, and it ranked 35th on the list of the year's top searches.

On Anime News Network, Luke Carroll gave the Digimon: Digital Monsters - Collection 2 DVD an overall grade of D+.

External Link

 * TV Anime "Digimon Adventure (1999)" Official Website
 * TV Anime "Digimon Adventure Series" ─ Toei Animation Official Website
 * TV Anime "Digimon Adventure (1999)" Official Website | Fuji TV
 * TV Anime "Digimon Adventure (1999)" Official Website | Bandai channel
 * Digimon Adventure Series ─ Fan site Wikimon
 * Digimon Adventure Series ─ Wikipedia  JP 
 * Digimon Adventure Series ─ Wikipedia  EN 

Trivia
'' to be added. ''