Why I Love Digimon Frontier

It’s pretty normal for me to have at least one series of Digimon on my watchlist at any given time. I already had Digimon Adventure (and subsequent seasons/movies) and the 2020 reboot on my watchlist when my daughter asked to watch Digimon Frontier (she likes that Zoe has blonde hair like her and that she digivolves into a fairy). When my child asks to watch my favorite show, who am I to argue? However, Frontier doesn’t get the love it deserves among most fans. So I’m here to talk up it’s good points. 

First off, many of us who grew up watching the first three seasons of Digimon on Fox Kids also watched Power Rangers on that same channel. I don’t know if that or Super Sentai (the Japanese inspiration for Power Rangers) was influential in the development of Frontier, but that’s basically what it was to me: Digimon + Power Rangers. No Digimon partners, but the Digi-Destined became the Digimon and fought first hand. They even had the classic number of kids on the team (five) and later introduced Koichi as the “sixth ranger”. Plus, on the heels of the Tamers bio-merging, kids becoming Digimon and fighting the bad guys themselves wasn’t too much of a stretch.

I’ll admit that at times it became tedious, but this season made it okay for the Digi-Destined to lose some battles. Whether they were running from the evil Legendary Warriors or racing the Royal Knights, this group couldn’t catch a break at times. Obviously they didn’t lose so badly, because they survived, but not every episode needed a surge of friendship and a chorus of “Hey Digimon” to beat the enemy of the episode. Sometimes it was important to stay a step back and regroup… just like in life.

The previous seasons of Digimon had some intricate history at times, but Digimon Frontier had a unique mythology. Almost right from the start we learned of Lucemon and the Celestial Digimon. As the season went on, the mythos deepened. While Digimon Adventure and Digimon Tamers left the stories open for more lore to develop, Digimon Frontier was the first series to be self-contained. Very few (if any) plot points were left unaddressed. Like Digimon Data Squad after it, this is something I really liked. Even as I’ve tried to dream up any sort of fan fiction to write as a continuation or sequel to Frontier, the ending and the world feels complete to me.

Not unlike the previous Digimon series, this one gets dark if you think too hard about it. Koichi almost died. The human children were constantly in hand-to-hand combat with killers. And the final battle was literally against the Digi-World Satan. Devimon, MaloMyotismon, and the D-Reaper were plenty scary at times, but Digimon Frontier was something else. It’s one of those times that I wonder how this series was made for children.

While I do love this series, I’d be amiss if I didn’t address some weak points of the series. First and foremost: The latter part of the series became very much about Takuya and Koji. After the introduction of EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon, the other four children were pretty much obsolete in every battle. In addition to demoting the four children, the first half of the series progressed rather slowly, traveling to each new destination and taking a long while to get to the first major big bad Cherubimon (by that point in Digimon Adventure, I think the Digi-Destined had already defeated Myotismon). Worse than the story moving slowly, I wish the children had better motivation and backstories… Other than Koji and Koichi, the character development of the Digi-Destined could basically be summarized as “I learned to be a friend” and we never learned why half of them even followed Ophanimon’s message… and Takuya literally ended up in the train station because he was bored… Not a sense of adventure or duty… boredom.

All the same, I still enjoy this series. It deserves more credit than fans give it. However, the fact is that the series obviously didn’t perform well… we didn’t get another Digimon series for a few years. While nothing will ever match up to the nostalgia of the original Digi-Destined at summer camp, give Frontier a try while it’s on Hulu. It’s worth watching once for any Digimon fan. At least check out the theme song--A wonderful pump-up song. 

Friday Creature Feature - Patamon

Twenty-five years of Digimon has brought us to this. Despite no indication of future Digimon movies or series, I have no desire to slow down–still perpetually watching the series; currently watching Digimon Tamers and Digimon Adventure 2020. I recently got to the point of Adventure 2020 in which TK teams up with Patamon–possibly one of the redeeming story arcs of the series. So like I’ve done many times before, I want to highlight the different iterations of Patamon. Despite being a relatively minor character among Digi-Destined partners, he’s a fan favorite between the Adventure saga, Frontier, and Adventure 2020.

Digimon Adventure

Meeting TK in the form of Tokomon, he was the late-bloomer among the Digi-Destined partners. It was through Patamon’s story arc that we learned how Digimon are reborn, after Angemon sacrificed himself to defeat Devimon. He was the last to reach the champion (Angemon) and ultimate (MagnaAngemon) levels. That being said, when Angemon and MagnaAngemon finally entered the scene, he was able to hold his own (and sometimes right out defeat) Digimon a full digivolution above him, like Myotismon, Phantomon, and Piedmon. 

A few years later, Patamon and TK joined the new Digi-Destined team to fight the Digimon Emperor, Arukenimon, and Mummymon. While digivolution to champion was prohibited, he was able to become Pegsusmon to join the fight. Later, when MagnaAngemon would have been wonderful to fight BlackWarGreymon and others, Angemon was able to DNA digivolve with Ankylomon to create Shakkoumon. He may not have been MagnaAngemon, but Shakkoumon was still able to hold his own against BlackWarGreymon. The lack of utilizing his natural champion and ultimate forms is one of my grievances about Adventure 02. However, the second season did give Angemon his mega form in The Digimon Movie… even if Seraphimon only lasted a few seconds.

When Digimon Adventure Tri came across, Patamon was still very clingy to TK, which didn’t get any better when he was the first of the Digimon partners to get infected by Meicoomon. The scene in which TK holds him as he writhes from the infection broke my heart. I want to do another post at some point to delve into the trauma that TK and Patamon go through in direct contrast with his crest of hope; suffice it to say that when the Digi-Destined get reunited with their partners post-reboot, TK putting that faith and positivity back into Patamon was amazing, enabling him to reach Seraphimon once again.

Despite being a more minor character in the original series, TK was one of the characters front-and-center in Last Evolution Kizuna, joining in all the major fights alongside Tai, Matt, and Izzy. It was sad to see him and Patamon lost in Menoa’s Never World, but with his scars of losing Patamon, who can blame him. In a similar way, it makes sense that he was scared when he was faced with the possibility of losing Patamon in the fight against Ukkomon in The Beginning. Both times, despite his fears, Patamon came to the fight as Angemon (and later as Shakkoumon in The Beginning). Last we see of them, Patamon is still alive and kicking with TK. I can only hope they find a way to keep their bond from breaking as TK grows up, unlike Tai and Agumon.

When he’s at in-training or rookie levels, Patamon ends up acting very childish, in good ways and bad ways. Throughout the Adventure saga, he’s clingy to TK. In the first season, he mirrored TK’s immaturity, but as TK matured he kind of turned into his child or pet at times. But when in one of his angel forms, Patamon matured instantly, becoming brave and fierce–though I’d never accuse Patamon of being cowardly either, as demonstrated when he would get protective of TK (see “Forget About It!”). 

Digimon Frontier

When Seraphimon entered the scene as one of the Celestial Digimon, he was powerful and epic… and comatose. That persisted until the five children visited his castle in the Forest Terminal. He was only awake for a few moments before he had to sacrifice himself to save the kids–his data taken by Mercurymon and his egg saved by Zoe and Bokomon. As an egg, he gave a portion of his power to Koji and Takuya to enable them to fusion-spirit evolve. It wasn't until Takuya recovered his data as Aldamon that the egg hatched into Patamon. He spent the rest of the season assisting the kids as they fought Cherubimon, the Royal Knights, and Lucemon.

The personality of this Patamon was similar to TK’s partner, pretty immature at times, like when referring to Bokomon as his “papa-mom”. Granted, this Patamon had barely been reborn from a digi-egg, so he had an excuse. That being said, he showed wisdom and insight at times, leftover from when was Seraphimon. You couldn’t ever really tell what Patamon was going to do in this season.

Digimon Adventure 2020

This version of Patamon was introduced as the captive Celestial Digimon, Angemon, held by his dark counterpart Devimon (the two having split from Seraphimon after the war). Like the Frontier version, after he got saved he reverted to an egg and lost much of his memory regarding his past in the Digimon war and his life as the angel Digimon. It took him a long time to regain the ability to digivolve into Angemon, but was able to turn into Pegasusmon in the meantime. As the children journey, he learns to digivolve into MagnaAngemon, Seraphimon, and (once) into Goldramon.

Between his involvement in the ancient war and being split into Angemon and Devimon, this version of Patamon has one complex backstory. I just wish he didn’t come into play so late, but other than the angel feathers that TK finds, Patamon doesn’t properly appear in any form until a third of the way into the story. I love that his backstory is more complex though, which you don’t tend to see with Digimon partners in any series; usually the complexity comes from the humans. As I continue to watch Digimon Adventure 2020, I’ll have to keep an eye on this storyline more closely.

Life Lessons from Digimon

I debuted my sixth cosplay a week and a half ago at Comic Con. Though I was kind of struggling with the anime hair, I felt pretty good about my cosplay as Matt Ishida from Digimon. I can’t say it was one of my most popular cosplays, but it was great to hear compliments from those who understood.

As I’ve mentioned before, I’ve been a fan of Digimon since I was little and despite its popularity lacking in comparison to Pokemon, Digimon had some deep storylines and wonderful character development, even in its worse seasons. So for today I want to share some lessons that I’ve learned from watching Digimon.

Anyone can be brave: Each season tends to have at least one smaller child that joins the group. In Season 1 that’s TK and Kari. Season 3 has Susie, Henry’s younger sister. In Season 4, Tommy gets pegged as the cry baby. Each of these children bring themselves to fighting, despite their fears. Taking the example of TK, he was easily the youngest of the group for most of the season, until Kari joined them. Early on he was the cry baby of the group. In “DigiBaby Boom” while TK is separated from the other kids by Devimon, he bursts into tears because he’s scared. Later in “Forget About It”, while separated from his brother, he is emotionally volatile, because he feels abandoned. However, as the story progresses, TK becomes braver. His bravery leads him to crossing the bay on Zudomon on “City Under Siege” and being a powerful force in defeating Myotismon (“Wizardmon’s Gift”), VenomMyotismon (“Prophecy”/”The Battle for Earth”), Puppetmon (“Playing Games”), and Piedmon (“Piedmon’s Last Jest”). He shows that despite his fears (which persist even until the end) he is able to stand up and fight the dark Digimon.

Sometimes you have to make the tough call and do what’s right: In the show there are various characters who refuse to fight and defeat Digimon, because of how much they value life, but in the end they’re forced to do so in order to save innocent lives. In Season 1, Mimi refuses to fight (“Playing Games”), in Season 2 Cody and Yolei refuse to destroy dark Digimon (“Dark Sun, Dark Spore”), and in Season 3 Henry refuses at first to even let Terriermon battle (“It Came From the Other Side”). However, each of these characters recognizes that fighting is imperative in order to save lives. With the example of Henry, because of the darker nature of the season, Digimon do not get reborn, like in the previous seasons. As a result, Henry is reluctant to let Terriermon fight, both to keep his friend safe and to avoid the loss of the opponent’s life. However, when an innocent child is put in danger, Henry has to make the hard decision to let Terriermon digivolve to Gargomon and fight (“Much Ado About Musyamon”).

Anyone can change: Every season I’ve watched has some enemy turned ally: Gatomon in Season 1, Ken and Wormmon in Season 2, Impmon and Lopmon in Season 3, Koichi in Season 4, and Keenan and Falcomon in Season 5. Ken’s transformation from Digimon Emperor to Digi-Destined is one of the major plot points of the season. Not understanding that Digimon were living beings, as opposed to video game characters, Ken made horrible mistakes in the Digital World. Even until the final battle of the season (“The Last Temptation of the Digi-Destined”), Ken struggled to forgive himself and let go of the terrors he caused as the Digimon Emperor, despite his good heart and his strong compassion.

There’s goodness in everyone: Similar to the previous point, it was brought out that some dark characters had good hearts, despite their actions. In Season 4, Koichi appears first as Duskmon (“From Dawn to Duskmon”) before it is revealed that he’s human (“Stuck in Sakkakumon With You”). The Spirits of Darkness that had been given to him by Cherubimon corrupted him and let his resentments take him over. However, after being freed (“Ne’er the Twins Shall Meet”) he’s given the purified Spirits. Though still of darkness, his pure heart makes him even stronger as Lowemon.

We choose our own destiny: Just like the principle of agency in the Gospel, Season 3 of Digimon touches on the concept that the future isn’t set. After Jeri’s partner Leomon dies, she begins to believe that her fate is to be miserable. However, during the fight with the D-Reaper in the Real World, Jeri and the other Tamers become convinced that misery and destruction are not inevitable (“Jeri Fights Back”). It’s because of this internal strength that the Tamers are able to defeat the D-Reaper and save both worlds.

We’re stronger together: Just like Digimon often merge together to fight, like Omnimon in “Digimon: The Movie”, the DNA Digivolved Digimon in Season 2 (“United We Stand”/”Opposites Attract”/”Stone Soup”), the Bio-Merged Digimon in Season 3 (“Give a Little Bit”/”No Mon is an Island”/”Song of Sakuyamon”/”The D-Reaper’s Disguise”), and EmperorGreymon and MagnaGarurumon in Season 4 (“Takuya and Koji’s Evolution Revolution”), we are taught in the LDS Church that we are stronger together. In fact, that’s why we meet as Saints, to strengthen each other and to connect to a power greater than ourselves (D&C 6:32).

See life from another’s point of view: In Season 3 and Season 5, there are distinct storylines where Digimon invade Earth and do the wrong things for the right reasons. In Season 3, the Devas were trying to get back the power to save their world, which just happened to be inside Calumon. In Season 5, Merukimon sends Digimon to attack the Real World, because he felt like he was under attack, due to the Digital Gate being opened. However, it was a misunderstanding (for the most part) and it was only a small part of the human population (Kurata) who was a threat to the Digital World. Similarly, in our world, there are a lot of opposing voices, a lot of words on television and the internet, and many people yelling back and forth. Too often I get distracted by the things that don’t matter and I forget to try to understand people.

There are some other lessons from Digimon that I’ve thought of while rewatching it, but I’m going to save those ones for another post. If you grew up watching Digimon, let me know which character was your favorite and what you learned from them.

PS: The first part of Digimon Adventure Tri will be airing at select
theaters across the country this Thursday. Check Fathom Events for more
info. I'll do a review on it next week.