Haha, when I wanted to talk about this I realize I have nothing to say because there's just too much to say. I could tl;dr about this all day! I'll just start with the show itself, since I've never played the games. Shipping can wait, and as I can assure you, it is a very touchy subject. Very touchy.
I started watching Adventure, and it is my favorite series so far because it was so nostalgic and well-written. My favorite character was initially Hikari but Miyako became my favorite character in 02 because I related to her a lot.
I've also seen Tamers and even though I admit it was the best written and executed series by far I really couldn't get into it. I love Takato though. He's a really refreshing character from all the hot-headed leaders the show launches at the audience all the time.
Even though the Digimon television series was well-praised for human characters, I always found Frontier was so horrible in terms of characterization but I liked the "transform into Digimon concept." By the second half of the show HALF of the main cast were practically unimportant to the point that you could erase them from the plotline and it would have no impact. It was that disappointing. Izumi never got any character development after defeating Ranamon, and Junpei? Who the hell is he?
Savers would be my third in the category of well-written shows but the animation was just so bad and there was little to no characterization unless you were the main character and his rival. It wasn't as bad as Frontier because the characters were at least doing something to help their team, and Yoshino and Ikuto still managed to have their moments, even small. Still, it was not something I liked.
I dropped Xros Wars when episode 2 rolled by and didn't watch its sequel, Time Traveling Hunters. I couldn't stand Shoutmon because he seemed to be another stock shounen character where he acts like a total douchebag but has a good reason for saving the Digital World. And also, what the hell was it with everyone being excited that
comes back in Time Traveling Hunters? He only appeared in it for like five minutes. It was the biggest letdown of epic proportions.
A lot of people say that Time Traveling Hunters was pretty bad and I have to agree. I looked at the ending and it was so anticlimatic. The animation wasn't as detailed as the first Xros Wars series and I felt that the new leader, Tagiru, didn't really offer much (but then again a lot of people probably had a lot of expectations). The producers were probably betting on the previous series cameos to save the show but I actually thought it made it worse because...
they didn't do jack, they just showed up to one-point off some mooks and then become cheerleaders to Tagiru!! IIRC they were captured by the final boss too?? What the hell, man! All those months I waited to see characters from the previous series and they only show up for five minutes doing not much!!
Sarah wrote:I've never seen the original Japanese versions, just the dubs. But I still (obviously) enjoyed them. I wonder how many differences there are between them.. And as for the movies, I've only seen one of them. I think it's the very first one.
That really depends on who you ask. People who liked the dub will say not considerably much but hardcore fanboys who always orgasm at everything Japanese and brandish pitchforks at any localization will insist that the dub butchered the original, which is kind of pushing it too far. Since I've seen both versions I can truthfully tell you:
- Character and attack names are different because BANDAI owns the toy franchise and dictates what attack names should be used.
- Some violent scenes are cut or made so that the impact looks less graphic (i.e. replacing fist-to-face contact with a single frame of a flash). For example, Taichi and Yamato's fist fights were typically longer and they landed more hits on each other than in the dub. Also, LadyDevimon and Angewomon kept slapping each other during their encounters. I feel that there's more of a "danger zone" with characters that are humans or resemble them... with characters like those, it hits closer to home in the "realism" zone, so the dub often censors violence with humanoids or humans.
- The dub is more wordy because it has a lot of one-liners and jokes. Take a sip from your shot each time the dub inserted dialogue in scenes that were supposed to be quiet in the original version. I guarantee you will be so dead drunk by the time you're done. Since American kids actually liked it, the writers were forced to throw in more jokes in 02. Sometimes the differences in dialogue create a hugely different impression on what the characters are supposed to be like (i.e. Sora was really more feminine in the original version, but if you're going by Japanese standards, yes, she is more typically tomboyish)
- Similar to the above category, the dub has a lot of inconsistencies. Some of it has to do with the one-liners, where the dub has the characters make nonsense remarks, not realizing it would come back to bite them in the ass (i.e. Mimi says something about her baby brother in the earlier episodes but halfway throughout the show we actually get to see her family and surprise, surprise, she's an only child).
- Some Digimon (and adults above the drinking age) get drunk in the series and it's usually passed on as something else. Interestingly Yamato's dad was shown smoking in one episode of the dub and they didn't cut out him stepping on his cig.
- Hitch-hiking scenes were passed on as, "Oh, I know this dude, he's part of my family and not some random stranger."
- Some explosions are cut from broadcast versions following 9/11.
- Savers had a lot of T&A halfway throughout the show, especially with Rosemon, whose Forbidden Temptation attack literally shows her going nude and blasting her flowery clothing at the enemy.
BTW, the movie that was released in the US was a combination of the first three movies in Japan, so you may have seen more than you claimed. I can honestly say that the third movie was edited heavily, moreso than what Saban did to the television show. The main subplot was cut just so the dub could connect the movie to the second part (Children's War Game) when it actually had nothing to do with it.
Varen wrote:Unpopular opinion: Even if Savers is considered the second worst Digimon season (I think most agree that the crown goes to the latest one - at least for most of it anyway), I honestly still really liked what I saw/known thus far. Masaru is my favorite male main protagonist because that mofo PUNCHES the Digimon whenever he feels like it.
I think a lot of people hated Savers because the animation style was really different and half-assed sometimes (unless it's done by the T&A team, which gave us gratuitous boobs and cleavage from Miki, Megumi, Rosemon, and sometimes Yoshino). Also, a lot of them didn't like the concept. My friend was really disappointed that even though Agumon came back in the main cast, he turns into ShineGreymon instead, haha. And how the hell is Masaru 14, he looks like he's at least 4 years older than what his profile says. There's also no way in hell Thomas is 14 as well. He looks and acts like he's 18 too.
I think it's pretty cool that a lot of us have had Digimon shrines at some point. :) It shows its impact on us!