Digimon Adventure”

Hey guys! You didn’t think we were done right? As you  have seen, the “Tri-Team” review of “Digimon Adventure” was EXTREMELY long–so long in fact that to save space, I skipped doing my typical “Lagniappe” section. But, since “Digimon Adventure” has so many enticing little factoids and oddities [And I just can't pass up the chance to give my own little commentary on them all...] I’m doing a separate post just for little extras in the world of “Digimon Adventure”. So, without further ado–let’s get into it!

Lagniappe: A Little Something Extra: And so, there you have it! All the facts, figures and opinions I was able to gather for “Digimon Adventure”! If you have any more, please share them with us in the comments section below! Now if you’ll excuse me–I have to get to work with “Digimon Adventure 02″…OtakuAndrain promises a real fireworks show this time around…normally when he says that, I duck and cover. Fair warning. About these adsdiv.wpa>div { margin-top: 1em; } #google_ads_div_wpcom_below_post_adsafe_ad_container { display: block !important; }
 * “Digimon Adventure” aired in Japan on March 7, 1999; in the US, the program aired on Fox Kids on August 14, 1999–ironically, it’s the US release that is the closest to the anniversary date than the original Japanese.
 * There was an average of 4 months or so between the time an episode aired in Japan and the time when the dub was released in the US. [Good-freakin'-luck getting that to happen nowadays....]So while the viewers in the US were being introduced to the “Digi-Destined” with episode 1, “And So It Begins…”, viewers in Japan were on episode 23 “Oh Friend! WereGarurumon” [Original Japanese Title--All Episode Titles were redone for the english].
 * In episode 1, when Tai is introducing himself and the others to the viewing audience, the original black screens not only had the character names, but also their respective ages and grades.
 * The grades for the Digi-Destined are as follows [In Order from highest grade to lowest]:
 * Joe – 6th Grade
 * Tai – 5th Grade
 * Sora – 5th Grade
 * Matt – 5th Grade
 * Izzy – 4th Grade
 * Mimi – 4th Grade
 * T.K – 2nd Grade
 * Kari – 2nd Grade
 * It should also be noted that, in Japan, all the Digi-destined are classified as Elementary school students. [Elementary school goes up to 6th grade as compaired to 5th grade here in the states.] Later, in “Digimon Adventure 02″, the group, save for TK and Kari, move up to Middle School while the newest members of the team remain in Elementary. This is the reason why Joe, Tai, Sora, Matt, and Izzy are seen wearing uniforms while the remaining and new members are still in free-dress. This causes a pretty glaring continuity error in the dubbed version of  “Digimon Adventure 02″.
 * Despite Matt’s dubbed dialogue that states that he and TK are half brothers, the reality is that they are full-fleged brothers, but their parents are just divorced. [Hence the reason why they had different last names. I suppose the Englsh dub writers thought the subject of divorce would be a little too much for the young viewer demographic...]
 * There are lots of cases in which the English Dub of the show differed from the original Japanese, even to the point where where some minor plot points are switched around.
 * In the original Japanese, the eight children picked to save the digital world are known as the “Chosen Children” as compaired to the American “Digi-Destined”. [This seems to be a running theme with the English adaptation for "Digmon"--adding the prefix "Digi" to some phrases.]
 * In Episode 6, “Togemon in Toy Town”, Matt reminisces about  his mom grilling steaks on Sundays and TK recalls playing video games, and beating Matt in the process. However, in the original Japanese, Matt and TK don’t live together or see each other that often and Matt actually lives with his dad. [It COULD be argued that he was remembering an earlier time in his childhoood prior to the divorce, but just going by the information given, it doesn't make that much sense.]
 * Another example in the series is that Mimi, at one point, states that she has a baby brother when in reality, she’s an only child. [...I say we spray luminol on the gloves to see if there are any traces of blood...maybe Mimi took "sibling rilvary" to a whole new level...]
 * In one episode Tai tells Joe “You whine more than my puppy!” Now, either Tai is speaking metaphorically or he’s EXTREMELY forgetful in that he doesn’t even OWN a puppy…he has a cat named Miko.
 * The sign outside Izzy’s room reads “Koushiro”, his Japanese name. Asside from the first episode introduction, this is the only other time when his real name is seen in the series. [For the longest time when I was young, I thought that "Koushiro" was japanese for "fish". Shows how much I know.]
 * Finally, though there are many more examples, the town where the Digi-Destined live is actually called Hikarigaoka  and is located in (Nerima%2C%20Tokyo)&t=h Nerima, Tokyo. Highton View Terrace is the name of the city in the English dub. [One wonders why this was done as the characters are CLEARLY in Japan and use Japanese city names like Odabia and Nagano.]
 * It should also be noted that the Digi-Destined are neighbors with Ranma Saotome, Doraemon and the Nerima Daikon Brothers.
 * Toei Animation, the creators of the “Digimon” series is also located in Nerima.
 * A lot of changes made in the English dub of “Digimon Adventure” was done for censorship towards the viewing audience because of either violence, nudity, guns, or other moments that would be seen as questionable to American audiences. A few examples of this are:
 * In episode 8 “Evil Shows His Face”, Matt and Tai attempt to get Joe to remove his towel in the bath and are inadvertently successful thanks to Gomamon landing on his head. [Gomamon was caught swimming around in the womens bath and is thrown back over the dividing wall by Palmon.]
 * In Episode 30 “Almost Home Free”, there’s a scene cut when the Digi-Destined are trying to catch a ride home. After Tai’s failed attempt, Matt decides to give it a try. A young woman in a convertable pulls up and begins flirting with the 5th grader. [Yeah...that's not morally reprehensible AT ALL...::rolls eyes::] When she pulls off, Matt is clearly seen blushing. When asked by Tai what happens, Matt yelled “WE COULDN’T ALL FIT IN HER CAR!!” Later, Sora and Mimi have a go at it and are successful. In the English dub, the person Mimi gets to stop is her “cousin”. [What are the chances of that! I know Japan is small, but come on...] However, in the original Japanese, the guy they get to stop and eventually get to give them a ride in his white van is a complete and utter stranger! [Insert your pedo-bear jokes here.]
 * There are many instances when one person/digimon strikes another person/digimon, the wind up and the follow through are shown, but the moment of impact is either cut or replaced with a white flash. The after effects of the strike are shown as normal.
 * In episode 20, “The Earthquake of MetalGreymon”, a sound clip from the blockbuster movie “Jurassic Park” is used in the scene with Tyrannomon charging towards Ikkakumon.
 * In the following episode “Home Away From Home”, Kari, Tai’s sister, identifies Koromon by name. This is because, as seen in “Digimon: The Movie”, she and Tai once met Koromon when they were little.
 * In episode 25, “Princess Karaoke”, the song Mimi sings [and the song that Tai, Joe, Agumon and Gomamon ATTEMPT to sing...what's the keyword there, folks?] is actually “I Wish”, the ending theme for the first 26 episodes of “Digimon Adventure”. [I guess they wanted to give the song a special send off because, after Episode 26, the song "Keep On" replaced "I Wish". I guess it made it even more fitting that Mimi sing it as her Japanese voice actress, Ai Maeda, sang both "I Wish" and "Keep On".]
 * Speaking of “Keep On”, sharp eyed viewers will note that, even though she has not been established as the 8th child at the point when the series switches to the new closing title sequence,  Kari appears in the “Keep On” closing along with Gatomon! In fact, Gatomon’s Ultimate form, Angewomon, appears briefly.
 * Speaking of our Green Ranger digimon, Gatomon has claw-gloves which she removes only once in episode 34 “The Eighth Child Revealed”.
 * Many of the English episode titles are either allusions to or outright parodies of, real life movies or song titles. A prime example is Episode 53, “Now Apocalymon”, which is a reference to the movie “Apocalypse Now”. The trend will continue through Digimon’s second season. Also, it should be noted that the title for Episode 1, “And so It Begins…” is also an often-quoted phrase on the Science Fiction series “Babylon 5″.
 * The last episode of “Digimon Adventure” was aired in Japan on March 26, 2000  and in the US on June 24, 2000 on Fox Kids. Kids WB, who was in direct competition with Fox Kids and had their own cash-cow, aired the banned “Pokemon” episode “Beauty and the Beach” on the same day and around the same time as the “Digimon” finale, calling it a “Lost Episode”. [I know this because I spent the entire day inside at home recording it; the last two episodes were two-part episodes and aired at different times. So I recorded Part 1 of "Digimon", changed to Channel 10, which was Kids WB in Baton Rouge, recorded "Pokemon", then flipped back to channel 6, which was Fox Kids in Baton Rouge, and made it JUST IN TIME to record the last episode....LIKE A BOSS!!!]
 * On April 1st, the English Dubbers of “Digimon Adventure” created a “blooper reel” called “Digi-Bloop That” which features the Digi-Destined flubbing lines and messing up takes. The footage used for the “bloopers” was often modified from the original material to add lip flaps.
 * Fox Kids made good use of the voice cast for “Digmon” as their voices were used in all the different promos broadcast during it’s run. “The Digi-Beat” was one occasion when the cast was required to sing a promo where they encouraged viewers to “Beat the heat with the digi-beat”  [Money really CAN make a person do anything...]

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