Digimon V-Tamer 01

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
At times, Taichi and Zero are pure badass.
Then it gets silly. A lot.


"My name is Taichi Yagami. I don't know why, but a few days ago, I found myself here in the Digimon World..."

The first serialised manga in the Digimon franchise (though technically, there was C'mon Digimon before it, but that was a one-shot), and also the longest-running. Digimon V-Tamer 01 contains elements which feel like an alternate universe counterpart to Digimon Adventure, which actively based elements of itself (most prominently protagonist Taichi Yagami) on V-Tamer. However, it differs wildly from its anime counterpart in art style, plot, writing, mechanics, and the fact that there's only one hero and his Digimon, as opposed to the traditional chosen many. It's a pretty large case of Older Than They Think in many respects - it did a human antagonist before Digimon Adventure 02, and it portrayed Digimon as a Show Within a Show before Digimon Tamers did. Even today, one trait unique to it is that most Digimon characters have personal names.

Our story starts with Taichi Yagami, an avid and experienced player of the popular-in-universe Digimon virtual pets. However, Taichi has a Digimon that nobody else has, and he isn't allowed into a V-Pet tournament because he is told that the Digimon in his V-Pet isn't recognized as a real Digimon. After the tournament is over, Taichi challenges the winner of the tournament, a boy named Neo Saiba, and their battle ends in a tie - something that is supposed to be impossible. Later, Taichi is summoned to the Digimon World by a being called Lord HolyAngemon, and there he meets the mysterious Digimon in his V-Pet, Zeromaru the V-dramon (Zero for short). Taichi and Zero travel to Lord HolyAngemon's castle with the aid of Gabo the Gabumon, and there Lord HolyAngemon begs Taichi to find the five Tamer Tags and defeat the evil Demon, who has disrupted the peace of the Digimon World.

However, Demon has brought in a human tamer as well - none other than Neo Saiba, who feels insulted by merely tying with whom he considers a weak opponent. Demon gives Neo the task of raising the Digimon that will hatch from the Super Ultimate egg Demon is raising; Neo accepts, but with entirely different intentions, if no less sinister...

See also: C Mon Digimon, from which V-Tamer directly draws inspiration; and Digimon Next, the "other" Digimon manga which like V-Tamer also has loose ties to a vaguely concurrent anime series.


Tropes used in Digimon V-Tamer 01 include:


"Did you eat a Gum-Gum Fruit?"

  • Spell My Name with an "S": Magnum Crash or Magnum Clash? Gotokuji, Goutokuji or Gotojuki?
  • Starfish Aliens: Digimon in this comic appear to humans as forms they can understand, but they lack internal organs and many external organs are for show instead of use. Flying digimon don't need wings to fly for example, but wings may be used in special attacks.
  • The Power of Friendship: In Daisuke's cameo chapter, he gains the Digimental of Miracles by calling out to the tamers absorbed by Parallelmon, who in return manage to send their strength to him through their Digivices. Much asskicking then ensued.
  • Those Two Guys: Well, does two Digimon, one guy and his sister, count? Pal and Pul certainly fit the part regardless.
  • Upgrade Artifact: The Super Ultimate Digimental, possibly the most powerful in the entire franchise.
  • Well-Intentioned Extremist: Neo Saiba, ever so much. He seems like a colossal prick, but he has genuinely noble intentions, just taken way too far. He's doing it all for his sister Rei, who is incapable of walking in the real world, and wants to make a world where nobody can get hurt ever again. Turns out Demon was playing him like a fiddle the whole time. Hideto Fujimoto is also like this at first for pretty much the same reasons, mostly out of sheer guilt over the accident that cost Rei's legs.
  • When All You Have Is a Hammer: Zero firmly believed his basic move could see him through everything so long as Taichi developed a good plan for it. Unfortunately, he was in the wrong franchise for this kind of thinking.
  • White-Haired Pretty Boy: Neo Saiba.
  • Your Size May Vary: Besides the above mentioned art shifts, Digimon tend to be smaller here than in the shows.