Digimon Tamers: Difference between revisions

The third anime series of the ''[[Digimon]]'' franchise, ''[[Digimon Tamers (Anime)|Digimon Tamers]]'' was the first installment to set itself in a different canon entirely, setting the standard procedure for the rest of the franchise to come. Gone were the characters and world of ''[[Digimon Adventure (Anime)|Digimon Adventure]]'', instead introducing a new cast, new mechanics for pretty much everything, and a very different interpretation of the Digital World. Its universe was intended to be much more grounded in reality than its predecessors, partly achieving this by using a version of the ''Digimon'' franchise as a [[Show Within a Show]]<ref>In the Japanese version, the [[Show Within a Show]] isn't ''[[Digimon Adventure (Anime)|Digimon Adventure]]'', but it is in the dub.</ref> of which the main cast are fans, and by giving [[Digimon (Tabletop Game)|the Hyper Colosseum card game]] an important role in mon-to-mon combat.

Much as you'd imagine as a result of its alternate canon, ''Tamers'' was [[Broken Base|the first of many causes of dissent among many fans]]; though ''Tamers'' is certainly one of the most popular ''Digimon'' series among the fanbase, it certainly has its detractors who consider the ''Adventure'' canon to be the superior works. Even so, it still stands alongside its predecessors as one of the most popular installments in the franchise - if one were to ask on a ''Digimon'' board about peoples' favourite ''Digimon'' series, the bulk of answers are almost guaranteed to be either ''Tamers'' or ''Adventure''.

* [[Animation Bump]]: episodes 30, 38, 44 and especially the Tamers' first movie (Battle of Adventurer's) were all supervised by Naoyoshi Yamamuro and feature some of the best animation on this series; later on he would supervise the animation of the ''[[Digimon Frontier]]'' movie.

* [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy|Arrogant Kung Fu Girl]]: Rika doesn't see Digimon as living creatures, just [[Attack Animal|tools for fighting]]. She quickly grows out of this.

{{quote| '''Clockmon:''' (To Renamon) That's why Megadramon is interested in your data. He's a scoundrel, he's a beast, well he's not all that bad.}}

* [[Ascended Extra]]: Riley, one of the two virtually interchangeable Hypnos operators is revealed to be Yamaki's live-in girlfriend halfway through the series.

* [[Blood Knight]]: Cyberdramon. "Are you my enemy?"

* [[Boisterous Bruiser]] / [[Cute Bruiser]]: Terriermon

* [[Bratty Half Pint]]: Usually the smaller a Digimon is, the more obnoxious it is (see: Terriermon, Impmon, Calumon).

* [[Break the Cutie]]: {{spoiler|Jeri, meticulously and horribly.}}

* [[Death By Adaptation]]: In both the Japanese version and the English dub, {{spoiler|The D-Reaper is devolved into its most basic form.}} In the Japanese version, {{spoiler|it is said to be indestructible and presumably remains in that form forever}}, while in the dub, in which no such line confirms this immortality, {{spoiler|Janyu clearly states that it "disappears forever".}}

* [[Deconstruction]]: It's not just [[Darker and Edgier]], it plays with most of the Tropes and ideas in [[Mons]] series, as well as the Digimon franchise in general. You know what should have been citywide devastation in the first two series, how the streets and buildings usually ended up unharmed? Well, this series has ''no qualms'' with that, showing and detailing the damage with the buildings. It also shows how terrifying Digimon can or could be if they were real, even if they're well intentioned.

** The final episode, {{spoiler|Shinjuku ends up unaffected by the D-Reaper}}, deconstructs the "everything is okay in end" final, since it shows how easy it is to forget everything that happened (historically it has happened) if there is no physical reminder, thus rendering the entire story '''meaningless''' (a hidden [[Take That]] to "episodic" shows and [[Status Quo Is God]]). Of course, it then averts this...

* [[Defictionalization]]: While for the most part, the cards that the Tamers use in the anime correspond to actual cards in the Japanese card game, there are some original ones. Those cards were then released in an anime-based booster for the card game.

** Episode 35: Beelzemon {{spoiler|using the attacks of Digimon he had absorbed}}. Excusable, since it makes sense (it is data), and it is an important plot point later, but it still looked a little too convenient. {{spoiler|It does set up his epic "Fist of the Beast King" later}}.

* [[Discontinuity Nod]]: As it says under [[Canon Dis Continuity]], ''Message in the Packet'' retconned the movie. However, <ref>because the series head writer liked the ideas put forth in the second movie though he outright said that that wasn't the reason why Rika was so cold at the beginning of the series.</ref> there's a brief scene of Rika humming the same song she sings at the movie's climax.

* [[Dub Induced Plot Hole]]: "Destiny" was a big buzzword for Jeri. As Leomon {{spoiler|lay dying}} in episode 35, he told Jeri it was probably his destiny. In the dub, however, he said to her that {{spoiler|a part of him would always be with her}}, and that she had "a lion's heart." Yet the dub still had Jeri say, when she referenced the scene five episodes later, that Leomon had called {{spoiler|his death}} "destiny."

** Renamon's gender. In the original, she started as a genderless Digimon. The "defining moment" for her, more or less, was a scene in episode 49 where Rika's mother told her she was definitely female and belonged in Rika's all-female family. The dub retained the essence of this scene, but it made little sense, as Renamon had been acting ''very'' feminine throughout the season.

* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: The {{spoiler|D-Reaper}}; also referenced with the names of the Hypnos' programs

* [[Excited Episode Title]]

** Beelzemon's weapons don't look that real but quite clearly fire real bullets, except for his Death Slinger, but then it's an upgraded form of a toy ray gun given to him by Makoto.

** Another shot features police men with realistic looking guns, but dialogue was added stating that they were not loaded. [[Kaiju Defense Force|Japanese Self-Defense Force]] soldiers can be seen later on armed with assault rifles (specifically the Howa Type 89 used by the real-life JSDF), but are never shown firing them on-screen.

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* [[Final Death]]: ''Every'' '''single''' Digimon that dies in Tamers will never come back as a Digi-egg.

** [[The Hero]]: Takato

** [[The Lancer]] & [[The Smart Guy]]: Rika/Henry.

** Also, Antylamon the Rabbit Deva. In the episode where he/she first appeared, {{spoiler|she was playing with Henry's kid sister, Suzie. Heck, she even defended her from Makuramon, the Monkey Deva. Suzie eventually became a Digimon Tamer and Antylamon officially became her companion after being devolved to Lopmon.}}

* [[Getting Crap Past the Radar]]: ''Tamers'' is infamous for this in its American broadcast on FoxKids. Somehow, the dubbers managed to keep things in the show that the network probably wouldn't have allowed before. Including the three main characters & [[Sixth Ranger]] ''naked'' ([[Barbie Doll Anatomy]] was in full effect of course, but still).

** It includes the most explicit, not to mention heartbreaking, killing of a main character seen in a Digimon anime, all with an established [[All Deaths Final]] rule in place making a return of the killed off character impossible.

** The teacher quite obviously had a hangover in one episode, but was just shown as inexplicably frustrated and rubbing her head. Then there was the clearly drunk man in the subway helped up by a cop, who instead ate a questionable ham sandwich.

* [[Goggles Do Nothing]]: Takato, of course. Subverted when he really does use them underwater a couple of times, as well as when he enters a digital field (which manifests as a cloud of fog).

* [[Gone Horribly Right]]: when Takato in a fit of rage orders Guilmon to evolve to mega, he does exactly that. Takato regrets it almost immediately.

* [[Gory Discretion Shot]]: This series has many of these in order to keep the rating appropriate for kids. Examples can be seen as early as the first episode when the camera pans out before a digimon get ''crushed alive''. The scenes where Renamon rips holes in enemy digimon with tiny white shards are either skipped or out of focus, and the audience is also spared from the sight of military personnel getting [[Cruel and Unusual Death|sickled by the D-Reaper's agents]]. Naturally, this makes the few times that the series averts this (like ep 34 and 35) especially memorable.

* [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]]: Dukemon got a moment in the dub before soaring off to help free Juri from the Kernel Sphere. It would have been pretty [[Badass]] if he hadn't said it in ''Guilmon's voice'':

{{quote| '''Dukemon / Gallantmon:''' [[Network|"We're mad as heck, and we're not going to take it anymore!"]]}}

{{quote| '''Beelzemon:''' "I'm gonna get you outta here, Jeri, if it's the last thing I ''freakin''' do!"}}

* [[Gratuitous English]]: Most of the Digimon shout out their attack names in English, with Renamon and all her (digi-)evolutions being the exception to this.

* [[Hair Color Dissonance]]: Brown-haired Jeri is sometimes mistaken for a redhead.

* [[The Heartless]]: J-Reaper

* [[Heel Face Turn]]: Several, but mostly notably {{spoiler|Beelzemon}} and {{spoiler|Yamaki}}.

* [[Heterosexual Life Partners]]: Hirokazu and Kenta, to the point that the [[Accidental Kiss]] was almost superfluous.

* [[Hypocritical Humour]]: Terriermon's reaction when someone else tells ''him'' to 'Moumentai'? "That's a really irritating thing to say!"

* [[Image Song]]: Three for each pairing (a solo by each partner and a duet) for a total of 24 songs from the eight ''Best Tamers'' CDs, plus a whole bunch of others scattered through various discs.

* [[The Imp]]: Impmon, naturally enough, starts out as this.

* [[MacGuffin Girl|MacGuffin Mon]]: Culumon. Could be a boy...it's hard to tell.

** The Digi-Gnomes partially act as [[MacGuffin]] critters themselves, as it's revealed that they {{spoiler|were the ones responsible for the Tamers and their Digimon meeting each other.}}

* [[Mechanical Monster]]: MegaloGrowmon (WarGrowlmon), Rapidmon, SaintGalgomon (MegaGargomon), Guardromon

* [[The Men in Black]]: The entire Hypnos organization.

** The three main Digimon have a team attack called Trinity Burst.

** The Crystal Matrix on Calumon's forehead and Rapidmon's Tribeam attack are both triangles. Not to mention the triangular shape of the Digital Hazard symbol on the chest of Guilmon et al.

** In general, the animation of Digimon Tamers has more off models than the others when faces are concerned. Eyes are very often drawn out of place, and inconsistently. This results in some [[Uncanny Valley]] moments. To be more precise, there is an animation team <ref>(toshio degushi's)</ref> out of '''[http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://www.eternal-dream.com/DigiRoyalty/ryorika_6.htm 9]''' that consistently has a low quality. The most glaring examples are episode 15 as well as the ''last'' episode. This is especially obvious when compared to the best animation teams, which are noted for having realistic shading everywhere (see [[Animation Bump]] above).

* [[Oh Crap]]: The Chrysalimon against Beelzemon after the ladder fires a few shots at them.

* [[Only Known By Their Nickname]]: In the Japanese version, Impmon calls Makoto "Mako-chan." The dubbers must not have realized it was a nickname/term of endearment because everyone, even people who don't know him (like Henry's sensei), calls him "Mako" in the dub. Impmon even introduces him as "Mako" to Takato and the gang.

* [[Orochi]]...mon.

* [[Out of Focus]]: Impmon's Tamers, Ai and Mako, show up in person in a total of 4 times in the entire series, two of them without dialogue.

* [[Phantom Zone]]: The Digital World.

** And it does everything in it's power to ''increase'' said misery, going (arguably) beyond [[Neon Genesis Evangelion|NGE]] levels.

* [[Power Copying]]: A human running a digimon card through a digivice results in his or her partner temporary gaining the attacks of the digimon depicted on the card.

{{quote| '''Beelzemon''': "I'm gonna save you Jeri, '''''IF IT'S THE LAST THING I FREAKIN' DO!'''''"}}

* [[Previously On]]: Davis does the narration in the dub. Rika would do the same for ''[[Digimon Frontier (Anime)|Frontier]]''.

** Renamon is voiced by a man in Germany, which starts looking rather bizarre in its [[Gender Bender|Mega-level]].

* [[Ship Tease]]: There appears to be a slight but long-running one between Renamon and Impmon in the series' second half.

* [[Show Within a Show]]: The dub explains the new universe by implying that the first two seasons were in fact just a TV series watched by the kids in this show. The Japanese version just mentions that Digimon is a card game and a series of video-games, never confirming a TV series based on (but never denying it either. All ambiguity is on purpose).

** The lead-out narration is provided by Davis of the second season, [[Epileptic Trees|implying that]] Tamers is a show in their world.

* [[Sixth Ranger]]: Ryo

* [[The Slow Walk]]: Done by Gallantmon

* [[Spoiler Opening]]: Everyone's evolutions are previewed-- Gallantmon, MegaGargomon, Sakuyamon and Beelzemon (even worse, Blast Mode) all appear in the opening of the very first episode, but they're [[He Who Must Not Be Seen|obscured by shadows]] until the start of the Digital World arc at which point, all bets were off. Jeri, Kazu, and Suzie are shown with Digivices--again, this would eventually happen; Beelzemon is teased as a major threat--[[Knight of Cerebus|and boy-howdy is he ever]]; right after his appearance [[Big Bad|The D-Reaper]] is shown taking over the Hypnos building. It even correctly predicts Jeri and Kazu getting Leomon and Guardromon as Digimon partners--even when [[Chiaki Konaka|Konaka]] had no intention of [[Throw It In|involving them in the story]] beyond bit parts.

* [[Slice of Life]]: This ''is'' what [[Word of God|Chiaki Konaka wanted]], and succeeded spectacularly, at introducing in the series.

* [[The Unfought]]: Technically speaking, although he plays the largest villainous role of all the Devas, the Tamers never fight Makuramon, aside from Leomon charging after him and taking the force of his attack, and Antylamon fighting him off to protect Suzie (before she becomes Suzie's partner). The only damage Makuramon ever receives {{spoiler|before Beelzemon kills him}} is when Suzie bites him.

* [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight]]: One early episode had Takato taking Guilmon out in public just to see what the reaction would be. The kids thought it was awesome, [[Weirdness Censor|the adults passed it off as animatronic or something.]]

* [[Wham Episode]]: "Lionheart". The kids are on an adventure in the Digital World! Jeri's even got her own partner, Leomon! They've fought some bad digimon along the way, but everything always turns out all right... {{spoiler|then Beelzemon kills Leomon, Takato's rage causes Guilmon to digivolve into the mindlessly-destructive Megidramon, and Jeri suffers an [[Heroic BSOD]] that will take her the rest of the series to snap out of. The group's innocence is quite violently lost.}} This is the point when it gets [[Darker and Edgier]].

** Even the first episode counts, since it starts by having a digimon who was hunting down another ending up '''crushed alive''' by a third one. Afterwards, the cute digimon who was being chased enters the human world and wonders why there isn't any fighting. Later on we are shown a 10 year old coldly ordering her digimon partner to ''kill'' and absorb (in another words, eat) the remains of an opposing digimon, without any justification. On the other hand, a new digimon is created, and it turns to ashes the first lifeforms it sees (a few rats) and the episode ends with him noticing the (understandably) terrified 10 year old next to him. Adding to those events a radically different type of atmosphere, characterization and storytelling meant that audiences got a rather unique '''kids''' show.

* [[World of Cardboard Speech]]: The tamers reflect upon their histories and adventures before their first biomerges in the physical world. All three speeches have elements of this trope, but Henry's speech in particular has him come to the realization that he has to stop holding back if he wants any chance of winning.

* [[X Meets Y]]: ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''/''[[Serial Experiments Lain]]'' meets ''[[Digimon]]''.

* [[Zeroes and Ones]]: Apparently, it's actual ASCII code. (Yamaki is infuriated by this.)

[[Category:Anime]]

[[Category:Turn of the Millennium/Anime And Manga]]