Digimon

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Digimon

Digimon Logo.svg

English version logo for Digimon

Created by Akiyoshi Hongo

Bandai

Toei Animation

Original work Digital Monster (1997)

Print publications

Comics See below

Films and television

Film(s) See below

Television series See below

Games

Traditional See below

Video game(s) See below

Miscellaneous

Toy(s) D-Arts

S.H. Figuarts

Bandai

Digimon (Japanese: デジモン, Hepburn: Dejimon, branded as Digimon: Digital Monsters, stylized as
DIGIMON), short for "Digital Monsters" (デジタルモンスター Dejitaru Monsutā), is a Japanese
media franchise encompassing virtual pet toys, anime, manga, video games, films and a trading card
game. The franchise focuses on the eponymous creatures, who inhabit a "Digital World", a parallel
universe that originated from Earth's various communication networks.

The franchise was created in 1997 as a series of virtual pets, akin to—and influenced in style by—the
contemporary Tamagotchi or nano Giga Pet toys. The creatures were first designed to look cute and
iconic even on the devices' small screens; later developments had them created with a harder-edged
style influenced by American comics. The franchise gained momentum with its first anime
incarnation, Digimon Adventure, and an early video game, Digimon World, both released in 1999.
Several anime series and films based on them have been released, and the video game series has
expanded into genres such as role-playing, racing, fighting, and MMORPGs.

Contents

1 Conception and creation

2 Eponymous creatures

3 Anime

3.1 Television series

3.1.1 Overview

3.2 Films

3.3 Distribution and localization

3.4 International

4 Manga

4.1 Yuen Wong Yu manhua

4.2 Dark Horse

4.3 Panini

5 Video games

6 Card game

7 References

8 External links

Conception and creation

See also: Digital Monster (virtual pet)

Virtual pet model distributed on the Japanese market by Bandai,[1] that allowed the popularization
of Digimon in Japan. It sold 13 million units in Japan and 1 million overseas, up until March 2004.[2]

In 1996, the Tamagotchi was released, created by Akihiro Yokoi, Aki Maita and Takeichi Hongo. The
Tamagotchi was one of the inspirations for the first release of the Digimon franchise,[3][4] a device
marketed in June 1997[1][5] with the name Digimon,[6] short for Digital Monster.[7][8] Aiming at
the male audience and created by Akiyoshi Hongo (a pseudonym that refers to the creators of
Tamagotchi),[3] this device shows to players a virtual pet composed entirely of data and designed to
play and fight.[1][6][9][10] In February 1998, the DigiMon fighting game, compatible with Windows
95 and developed by Rapture Technologies, Inc., was announced.[11] The one-shot manga C'mon
Digimon, designed by Tenya Yabuno, was published in the Japanese magazine V-Jump by Shueisha in
1997.[12][13]

A second generation of virtual pets was marketed six months after the launch of the first, followed
by a third in 1998.[14] Each player starts with a baby-level digital creature that has a limited number
of attacks and transformations[15] and to make the creature stronger by training and nourishing the
creature;[1][6] when the player is successful in a workout, the Digimon becomes strong, when the
player fails, the Digimon becomes weak.[1][6] Two devices can be connected, allowing two players
to battle with their respective creatures, an innovation at the time,[1] however, the battle is only
possible from the moment the creature is in the child level or bigger.[1] Playgrounds and subways
were where the majority of users of the apparatus were concentrated; The virtual pet was banned in
some Asian schools by being considered by parents and teachers as very noisy and violent.[16] The
first Digimon were created by Japanese designer Kenji Watanabe, influenced by American comics,
which were beginning to gain popularity in Japan, and as such began to make his characters look
stronger and "cool." Other types of Digimon, which until the year 2000 totaled 279,[17][18] came
from extensive discussions and collaborations between the Bandai company members.[19]

Eponymous creatures

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Digimon hatch from types of eggs which are called Digi-Eggs (デジタマ, Dejitama). In the English
iterations of the franchise there is another type of Digi-Egg that can be used to digivolve, or
transform, Digimon. This second type of Digi-Egg is called a Digimental (デジメンタル, Dejimentaru)
in Japanese. They age via a process called "Digivolution" which changes their appearance and
increases their powers. The effect of Digivolution, however, is not permanent in the partner Digimon
of the main characters in the anime, and Digimon who have digivolved will most of the time revert
to their previous form after a battle or if they are too weak to continue. Some Digimon act feral.
Most, however, are capable of intelligence and human speech. They are able to digivolve by the use
of Digivices that their human partners have. There are currently over 1400 Digimon.

Anime

See also: List of Digimon episodes and films

Television series

The Digimon anime series was produced by Toei Animation and Bandai of Japan. Beginning in 1999,
an anime series was green-lit as the first of the Digimon films aired in theaters. Originally, Digimon
Adventure was supposed to be a short film, but after the storyboard was finished, a request for the
film to become a children's television series was made.[citation needed] Several anime series have
since been produced, with the first six series localized into English for release in Western markets.

Overview