Digimon Tamers facts for kids
| Digimon Tamers | |
Promotional poster
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Quick facts for kids デジモンテイマーズ(Dejimon Teimāzu) |
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| Genre | Adventure, fantasy |
| Anime television series | |
| Directed by | Yukio Kaizawa |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Chiaki J. Konaka |
| Music by | Takanori Arisawa |
| Studio | Toei Animation |
| Licensed by | |
| Network | Fuji TV |
| English network | |
| Original run | April 1, 2001 – March 31, 2002 |
| Episodes | 51 |
| Anime film | |
| Battle of Adventurers | |
| Directed by | Tetsuo Imazawa |
| Written by | Yasuko Kobayashi |
| Music by | Takanori Arisawa |
| Studio | Toei Animation |
| Released | July 14, 2001 |
| Runtime | 50 minutes |
| Anime film | |
| Runaway Locomon | |
| Directed by | Tetsuji Nakamura |
| Written by | Hiro Masaki |
| Music by | Takanori Arisawa |
| Studio | Toei Animation |
| Released | March 2, 2002 |
| Runtime | 30 minutes |
| Manga | |
| Written by | Yuen Wong Yu |
| Published by | Rightman Publishing Ltd. |
| English publisher | |
| Original run | April 2004 – October 2004 |
| Volumes | 4 |
| Digimon franchise | |
Digimon Tamers (Japanese: デジモンテイマーズ, Hepburn: Dejimon Teimāzu) is an exciting Japanese anime TV show. It's the third big story in the popular Digimon world. This series was made by Toei Animation.
Digimon Tamers tells a brand new story. It's different from the earlier shows, Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02. In this series, the characters use special cards from the Digimon card game. The show first aired in Japan from April 1, 2001, to March 31, 2002. Later, it came to North America, starting on September 1, 2001. It was known as the third season of Digimon: Digital Monsters. There's also a manga (comic book) version of the series. It was written by Yuen Wong Yu and came out from April to October 2004.
Contents
Discover the World of Digimon Tamers
This section will tell you all about the main story of Digimon Tamers.
Meet the Tamers and Their Partners
The story begins with Takato Matsuki. He's a big fan of the Digimon card game. One day, he finds a special Blue Card. This card changes his card reader into a D-Power. A D-Power is like a special device that helps Digimon evolve and lets Tamers use cards. When his D-Power scans his drawings, his own Digimon creation, Guilmon, comes to life!
Takato soon meets other kids who have Digimon partners. There's Henry Wong, who is partnered with Terriermon. And Rika Nonaka, whose partner is Renamon. You'll also meet Calumon and Impmon.
Protecting the City from Wild Digimon
As the story unfolds, wild Digimon start appearing in the city of Shinjuku. It's up to Takato, Henry, and Rika, known as the "Tamers," to stop them. They work together to protect the city.
The Tamers use their D-Powers in battle. They can "Digi-modify" by scanning cards. This gives their Digimon special battle abilities. They can also help their Digimon "Digivolve." Digivolution is when a Digimon changes into a stronger, more powerful form. When a wild Digimon is defeated, its data is collected.
Meanwhile, a secret group called Hypnos is also trying to deal with the Digimon. This agency is led by Mitsuo Yamaki. They try to capture the Digimon and send them back to the Digital World.
Journey to the Digital World
The Tamers eventually start working with Hypnos. This happens when powerful Digimon called Devas invade the real world. Calumon gets captured by the Devas. So, the Tamers follow them into the Digital World to rescue Calumon.
During their journey, Impmon causes trouble for the Tamers. Jeri Kato, one of the Tamers, faces a very sad event involving Leomon. This makes Jeri feel very down. The Tamers also learn that the Digimon are trying to protect themselves from humans. This is because the Digital World is being taken over by something called the D-Reaper. The D-Reaper is a rogue computer program meant to clean up data.
Stopping the D-Reaper Threat
When the Tamers return to the real world, the D-Reaper has become a huge problem. It takes Jeri and traps her inside its body. The D-Reaper then starts to appear in the real world, causing chaos. The Tamers must work together to defeat it. They use a special program to stop the D-Reaper and save Jeri.
After the D-Reaper is defeated, both the real world and the Digital World are safe again. But the children have to say goodbye to their Digimon partners. The Digimon return to the Digital World because of the program's effects. The series ends with Takato finding a hidden portal. This portal might lead to another adventure!
How Digimon Tamers Was Made
Find out how the creators brought Digimon Tamers to life.
Developing the Story and Characters
After the success of Digimon Adventure 02, the creators wanted to try something new. The team was happy with Digimon Tamers. Writer Chiaki J. Konaka had some ideas for the show. He wanted to show the "monster-like spirit" of Digimon. In earlier shows, Digimon were often seen as kind. Konaka wanted to explore how Digimon naturally become stronger by fighting. He also wanted to show how they learn good morals from their human partners. Guilmon's story especially explores this idea.
Konaka also worried that Digivolutions might become boring if they happened the same way every time. To make things exciting, they created the D-Power. This new device lets Tamers use cards to help their Digimon evolve. The writers wanted to limit how many cards could be used at once. Konaka also wanted the main characters to be more responsible for their Digimon's evolutions and their adventures. This was a message for kids in modern society. For the final episodes, Konaka decided the D-Reaper would be the ultimate enemy. He also thought of the idea of Tamers combining with their Digimon to reach the highest evolution level, called Mega. Shinji Aramaki helped with the CGI animation for these "Bio-merge" scenes.
Unlike earlier Digimon shows, Konaka chose not to bring Digimon back to life after they were defeated. He believed that death should be shown realistically, even in a kids' show. This was important because the main characters were risking their lives. So, the creators decided to show death as a shocking event. They used Leomon's story to do this, similar to Digimon Adventure. Even though the series had some dark moments, characters like Terriermon and Calumon helped keep the tone balanced and fun.
Designing the Main Characters
The characters were designed by Katsuyoshi Nakatsuru. His idea was to show "a normal elementary school student having a great adventure over a year." Producer Hiromi Seki wanted the three main characters to be a mix of genders. She also wanted one character to be an immigrant or someone not raised in Japan.
Rika was designed to be a "strong" character. This was an effort to help sell more products based on female characters. Henry became the character who was not fully Japanese. Konaka decided to make him half-Chinese and half-Japanese. This was based on how many non-Japanese students were in elementary schools at the time. Originally, characters from Digimon Adventure and Digimon Adventure 02 were going to appear as mentors. But this idea was changed. Only Ryo Akiyama from the WonderSwan games was used.
Media and Releases
Explore the different ways Digimon Tamers has been shared with fans.
Anime Television Series
The Digimon Tamers TV series had 51 episodes. It aired on Fuji TV in Japan from April 1, 2001, to March 31, 2002. The opening song was "The Biggest Dreamer" by Kōji Wada. It was very popular, reaching #59 on the Oricon music charts. The ending songs were sung by AiM. The first ending song was "My Tomorrow," and the second was "Days (Aijō to Nichijō)." These songs also did well on the charts. Other songs used in the show included "Slash" for Digi-modification and "EVO" for Digivolution. "One Vision" was used for the Biomerge Digivolution.
The English version of the show was made by Saban Entertainment. It aired on Fox Kids in the United States from September 1, 2001, to June 8, 2002. This version had some changes. Character names, music, and sound effects were sometimes different. There were also edits to scenes with violence or cultural references. The show also aired on ABC Family starting in late 2001. This happened after Disney bought the rights from Saban Entertainment.
You could watch the series with English subtitles on Hulu starting in January 2011. Later, the dubbed version was released as a DVD box set in North America on June 11, 2013. Manga Entertainment released the series in the United Kingdom in 2018. The series was also available on Netflix for a while. Later, Crunchyroll and Funimation got the streaming rights.
Movies and Films
There are two movies based on Digimon Tamers.
Digimon: Battle of Adventurers
This movie was released on July 14, 2001. It was part of a special animation event in Japan. The film takes place during the Tamers' summer vacation. In the movie, a Digimon named Mephistomon sends other Digimon to invade the real world. They do this using a virus called the "V-Pet." The ending song for the movie was "Moving On!" by AiM.
Digimon: Runaway Locomon
This movie came out on March 2, 2002. It was shown alongside another popular movie. The story is about the Tamers fighting Locomon. Locomon has been infected by a Digimon called Parasimon and brought into the real world. The ending song for this movie was "Yūhi no Yakusoku" by AiM.
Audio Dramas and Short Stories
There are also special audio stories called CD dramas. These were written by Chiaki J. Konaka, the show's writer. The original voice actors from the series returned to play their roles.
- Digimon Tamers: Original Story: Message in the Packet was released on April 23, 2003. It tells what happens to each Tamer after the TV series ends.
- Digimon Tamers: 2018 Days: Information and the Unordinary came out on April 3, 2018. This story follows Takato as he travels to the year 2018. He and the other Tamers must reunite with their Digimon to stop a new, dangerous threat.
A short story called Digimon Tamers 1984 was also published. It was written by Chiaki J. Konaka and illustrated by Kenji Watanabe. This story talks about how the first Digimon program was created. It explores ideas about artificial intelligence.
See also
In Spanish: Digimon Tamers para niños
