Friday, November 30, 2007

Digimon Frontier (Season Four)

[edit] Digimon Frontier (Season Four)
Main article: Digimon Frontier
The fourth Digimon series, which began airing on April 7, 2002, radically departs from the previous three by focusing on a new and very different kind of evolution, Spirit Evolution, in which the human characters use their Digivices to transform themselves into special Digimon called Legendary Warriors. After receiving unusual phone messages, the five main characters go to a subway station and take a train to the Digital World. They end up fighting Cherubimon and his group of Legendary Warrior servants, hoping to foil his effort to dominate the Digital World. Later on, they face an even greater challenge as they try to stop the Royal Knights—Dynasmon and Crusadermon—from destroying the Digital World and using its data to revive the original ruler of the Digital World: the tyrannical Lucemon. In general, Frontier has a much lighter tone than that of Tamers, reverting back to the style of Adventure and Adventure 02.

Sunday, November 25, 2007

Digimon Data Squad / Savers (Season Five)

Digimon Data Squad / Savers (Season Five)
Main article: Digimon Data Squad
After a three year hiatus, a fifth Digimon series began airing on April 2, 2006. Like Frontier, Savers has no connection with the previous installments, and also marks a new start for the Digimon franchise, with a drastic change in character designs and story-line, in order to reach a broader audience. The story focus on the challenges faced by the members of D.A.T.S. ("Digital Accident Tactics Squad"), an organization created to conceal the existence of the Digital World and Digimon from the rest of mankind, and solve any Digimon related incidents occurred on Earth in secret. Later the D.A.T.S. team is dragged between a massive conflict between Earth and the Digital World triggered by an ambitious human scientist determined to make use of the Digimon to his own personal gains. The English version was dubbed by Studiopolis and it premiered on the Jetix block of Toon Disney at October 1, 2007 at 8:30 PM. Digivolution in Data Squad requires the human partner's DNA ("Digisoul" in the Japanese version) to activate, a strong empathy with their Digimon and a will to succeed.

Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Movies

Movies
There have been nine Digimon movies released in Japan. The first seven were directly connected to their respective anime series; Digital Monster X-Evolution originated from the Digimon Chronicle merchandise line. All movies except X-Evolution and Ultimate Power! Activate Burst Mode have been released and distributed internationally

Thursday, November 15, 2007

Foreign versions

Foreign versions
In the United States, the series premiered in August 1999 on the Fox Television Network. It was dubbed by Saban (later Sensation Animation), and was initially broadcasted through Fox Network's Fox Kids and Fox Family. The first four series were collectively retitled Digimon: Digital Monsters. Some scenes from the original version were omitted from the Fox dub, or were modified, in order to comply with Fox's Standards and practices which considered several scenes to be inappropriate for the target age group. Often dialogue was changed, and the show became less "Serious" in tone compared to the Japanese version, instead featuring more jokes and added dialogue, along with a completely different musical score, due to licensing issues. Another noticeable change in the dub is using different voice actors for different forms of a certain Digimon, whereas in Japan, the voice actor merely changes the tone of his/her voice, sometimes being altered for effect. The latter often results in a high-pitched childish voice for an otherwise monstrous or masculine form.

After Disney acquired Saban during the third series, the first three series moved to the cable network ABC Family, while the fourth (Frontier) premiered on UPN and PAX Network in other areas. This was due to a deal between Disney and UPN which concluded with Digimon Frontier. Frontier was syndicated on ABC Family shortly after that. Digimon continues to run in syndication on the new channel after Toon Disney, Disney XD. Digimon Data Squad has now started to air on Disney XD.

The show also premiered in other parts of North America. In Canada, the Saban version was broadcast on YTV. In the U.S. insular area of Puerto Rico, the show was redubbed in Spanish, and in Quebec (where Digimon Adventure aired on TQS, and Digimon Adventure 02 on TÉLÉTOON), the show was redubbed in French. A French version of Digimon Tamers was aired in France, but not in North America.

It aired internationally as well. In the United Kingdom, Digimon aired on the UK Fox Kids (formerly JETIX, now Disney XD) cable/satellite channel and also on CiTV. It also aired in countries such as Ireland, South Africa, Malaysia, Australia, Mexico, Argentina, Chile and others. However, due to licensing mistakes in the change from Fox Kids to Jetix, Digimon Frontier (the fourth season) has not been shown in any shape or form in the UK, and has been absent from the schedules of Jetix's UK incarnation since the beginning of 2005.

The Latin American, Brazilian, Spanish, German and Italian versions of Digimon are completely uncensored and uncut from the original Japanese edition. In Latin America and Brazil, Digimon Adventure, Digimon Adventure 02, Digimon Tamers and Digimon Frontier were aired on Fox Kids and later on Jetix until early 2005, year in which all of them were take out of the air. As June, 2009 Digimon Data Squad has not been aired yet in Latin America. Starting on July 4, 2009, reruns of Digimon Frontier are being aired on Disney XD Latin America, and in Brazil, TV Globo aired Digimon Savers from August to September 2009.[2]

This show also aired in the Philippines in early 2000 on ABS-CBN. It would air Friday nights at 7:30PM. ABS-CBN hired Filipino voice actors to dub the show in English. This dubbing is mostly true to the original. Though they used the original Japanese show as the medium for the dub, some of the voices seem to sound like the U.S. version (e.g., Taichi having an adolescent's voice instead of a kid's) or completely original to the dubbing crew (e.g., Gabumon's deep, grumbly voice). The entire first season of Digimon Adventure was dubbed in English (in order to compete with the 4Kids version of Pokémon which aired on the rival network GMA 7 on the same day and time), along with Digimon Adventure 02. The second season aired on a new Saturday morning block at 10 A.M. two weeks after the first season finale. This season was dubbed in both English and Tagalog, so that it would be compatible with the other shows in the block. In 2003, Cartoon Network Philippines began airing Digimon Tamers around 2003, then Digimon Frontier late 2004. This time they, along with some of the other anime that aired with it, were dubbed by Singaporean voice actors. Tamers and Frontier were dubbed in Filipino when both series aired on ABS-CBN this year on its weekday morning line-up of animated shows (Tamers first followed by Frontier after a few months). Digimon Savers began airing in the country on September 8, 2008 and has currently ended. However, since January 2008, ABS-CBN's sister channel Hero, the first and only all-Tagalog dub anime channel started to broadcast the Digimon series with Digimon Adventure. The season, which is currently shown on Hero is Digimon Frontier.[3]

Saturday, November 10, 2007

Comics : C'mon Digimon, Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01, Digimon Chronicle, Digimon Next

Comics
Digimon first appeared in narrative form in the one-shot manga “C'mon Digimon”, released in the summer of 1997. C'mon Digimon spawned the popular Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01 manga, written by Hiroshi Izawa, which began serialization on November 21, 1998.

[edit] C'mon Digimon
Main article: Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01#C'mon Digimon
[edit] Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01
Main article: Digimon Adventure V-Tamer 01
[edit] Digimon Chronicle
Main article: Digimon Chronicle
[edit] Digimon Next
Main article: Digimon Next

Monday, November 5, 2007

Yuen Wong Yu manhua

Yuen Wong Yu manhua
A Chinese manhua was written and drawn by Yuen Wong Yu (余 遠鍠 Yu Yuen-wong), who based its storyline on the television series. This adaptation covers Digimon Adventure in five volumes, Digimon Adventure 02 in two, Digimon Tamers in four, and Digimon Frontier in three. The original stories are heavily abridged, though on rare occasions events play out differently than the anime.

The Cantonese language version was published by Rightman Publishing Ltd. in Hong Kong.

Two English versions were also released. The first one was published by Chuang Yi in Singapore. The second one, which was written by Lianne Sentar[4], was released by TOKYOPOP in North America.
The three volumes for Digimon Frontier have been released by Chuang Yi in English. These have not been released by TOKYOPOP in North America or Europe. However the Chuang Yi releases of Digimon Frontier were distributed by Madman Entertainment in Australia.

[edit] D-Cyber
Main article: D-Cyber
[edit] Dark Horse
Dark Horse Comics published American-style Digimon comic books, adapting the first thirteen episodes of the English dub of Digimon Adventure in 2001. The story was written by Daniel Horn and Ryan Hill, and illustrated by Daniel Horn and Cara L. Niece.[5]

[edit] Panini
The European publishing company, Panini, approached Digimon in different ways in different countries. While Germany created their own adaptations of episodes, the United Kingdom (UK) reprinted the Dark Horse titles, then translated some of the German adaptations of Adventure 02 episodes. Eventually the UK comics were given their own original stories, which appeared in both the UK's official Digimon Magazine and the official UK Fox Kids companion magazine, Wickid. These original stories only roughly followed the continuity of Adventure 02. When the comic switched to the Tamers series the storylines adhered to continuity more strictly; sometimes it would expand on subject matter not covered by the original Japanese anime (such as Mitsuo Yamaki's past) or the English adaptations of the television shows and movies (such as Ryo's story or the movies that remained undubbed until 2005). In a money saving venture, the original stories were later removed from Digimon Magazine, which returned to printing translated German adaptations of Tamers episodes. Eventually, both magazines were cancelled.

Thursday, November 1, 2007

Video games

[edit] Video games
Digimon
Genre(s) Action role-playing game, Life Simulation, Adventure, Video card game, Strategy, Racing
Developer(s) Namco Bandai (Main), Griptonite Games, Hudson Soft, Dimps, DIGITALIC
Publisher(s) Namco Bandai (formerly Bandai)
Platform(s) PlayStation, PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, Game Boy Advance, Microsoft Windows Nintendo DS, Nintendo GameCube, Sega Saturn, WonderSwan, WonderSwan Color, Xbox
First release Digimon World
May 23, 2000
Latest release Digimon World Championship
August 26, 2008
The Digimon series has a large number of video games which usually have their own independent storylines with a few sometimes tying into the stories of the anime series or manga series. The games consists of a number of genres including Life Simulation, Adventure, Video card game, Strategy and Racing games though they are mainly Action role-playing game. The games released in North America are: Digimon World, Digimon World 2, Digimon World 3, Digimon World 4, Digimon Digital Card Battle, Digimon Rumble Arena, Digimon Rumble Arena 2, Digimon Battle Spirit, Digimon Battle Spirit 2, Digimon Racing, Digimon World DS, Digimon World Data Squad, Digimon World: Dawn and Dusk and Digimon World Championship.