With five new kids and an exciting new mission in the Digital World, Digimon Frontier brings back all the great action and adventure of the last three seasons. Takuya, Kouji, Izumi, Junpei. and Tomoki meet each other in a train that takes them to the Digital World where a war against evil is being fought. The Angel digimon, Cherubimon, one of The three angels sent to save the World from the power-hungry Lucemon, has turned to the dark side and the entire Digital World is in peril. To fight this great battle, the five CHOSEN ONES must find the Densetsu no Spirit (Legendary Spirit).
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Comentários
Zoki-chan
This Review is Being Given after viewing the Japanese Version The fourth season at Digimon Frontier, this was the creators attempt at bringing back the faze of Digimon that was widely spread around the year 2000 but slowly began to die as the third season, Digimon Tamers, proved to be a disappointment to many Digimon fans. In this season, the main characters, instead of having Digimon as their partners, the 'Digi-Destined' themselves turn into the Digimon. With provides a very interesting twist in this series compared to other Digimon seasons. Though I really liked this series, there were a few things I found disappointing in it, andI'm writing these things out for everyone can see the pros as well as the cons of this Digimon season.
Story: 8.5/10
To put it simply, the storyline was overall good. Your everyday, rescue the Digital World from being destroyed plot line. There were many points that could be easily guessed as to the results of the ending as the story draws to a close, but it also includes its many surprise twists that will surprise you no matter how much you've been paying attention to the story and each and every detail.
There are some points where I felt like it was just repeating the same thing over and over again and eventually it became quite boring since I could easily guess what the results were going to be. Though it wasn't to repetitive to the point that each and every detail was alike, but it was still at that level that it was a bit boring to watch through.
Art: 7/10
I give this one a 7 because of the fact of many things in the art of it that particularly annoyed the hell out of me. For one, there were many incidents where the mouths didn't move in sync with the words, at all. Not just slight out-of-sync, but major out-of-sync, it didn't occur often though, which was a relief.
But. . .that wasn't the main reason this got a 7 out of 10, my main pet peeve about the art in this was how characters would get injured, major injuries, and hardly be able to stand, the next second they'd be standing and all their injuries were totally gone.
Then there were other points when the injuries would last long. It just seemed to really piss me off about this fact of the art.
Sound: 9/10
Well I could say the sound was really good! Great sound effects, I loved the opening song and always sang along to it, I also like the first ending, but when it came to the second ending it just seemed to become to slow for the way things were moving in the series and totally ruined it for me that I fast-forwarded through the ending from then on.
Don't really know what else to say about the sound so I'll end it there.
Character: 9/10
To many. That's what I've got to say about it. There seemed to be to many main characters to give to much information about. In equal amounts that is. The story plot managed to tell you about each of their actual lives before they went to the Digital World, but for a couple of the characters, it was just a single episode used to reveal some of their past, after that it didn't seem to be very important. Then there were a couple characters who their lives seemed to have almost half of the story line revolving around them.
It seems to start out with one of the characters, Takuya, having the role as the main character, but as the story plot deepens it seems that that staring role is transfered to another character. Not that I found anything to wrong with that though seeing as the new 'star' was a favorite character of mine.
Enjoyment: 10/10
I will truthfully say that I enjoyed this anime very much! Despite the things I stated before that I disliked, it was very good ^^ I became attached to some of the characters and cried when they cried, laughed with them, cheered them on, I'll never forget this wonderful anime!
Overall: 9/10
Overall this an outstanding anime! Though it may not appeal to some of those who are fans of the original (seasons 1 and 2) of Digimon. I'm sure it will be a favorite to those who have chosen this season to watch before the others. Both new and even some older fans of Digimon will enjoy this season. As unlike some of the earlier ones, it seems to be much more in-depth and much darker than some of the other season.
If you didn't like earlier seasons of Digimon and saw them as 'childish', then you may prefer this season as it appears to be a much more 'dark' type of anime.
trainerlyra
Digimon Frontier is the fourth installment in the Digimon franchise, and is unconnected to the previous three shows, or "seasons". It follows the main character, Takuya, and his friends as they go through the digital world, and it is absolutely my favorite in the Digimon series. STORY: The plot develops quite well, actually surprising me with some of the twists. Keep in mind this series IS made for kids, so the messages that the story produces are things about growing up and making friends. On top of being a wonderful kids show, it actually has quite a few more adult like themes that surprised andpleased me as a teenage rewatcher of the show.
The storyline will often show the kids being bullied, or having very real problems that I myself have experienced in life. It shows how that effects them once making new friends, and it shows them grow throughout the series. It's heart warming and very wonderful to watch.
Besides that, the plotline was actually very well written (definitely a step up from Digimon Adventure 02, in any case) and kept you interested throughout the fifty episodes of the show.
ART: The art, as it's a very old show AND made for children, leaves a lot to be desired. The world is absolutely beautiful, though, and they do a great job with the scenery. I don't believe the art is terrible, but it is definitely not great, especially compared to the art in anime nowadays.
SOUND: Both the original and the English versions of the soundtrack are pretty good, in my opinion! They are both very upbeat and really fit what's happening in the show. Very enjoyable to listen to.
The voice actors in the original for the characters are much, much better, though. In the English, true to most children's shows, they change a lot of things including names and whatnot, so I would suggest watching the sub instead of the dub.
CHARACTER: Every character is well thought out and well designed and well developed. Even though there may be parallels to other Digimon series (Takuya being similar to Taichi, for instance), they all develop very differently and in their own ways which was pleasing to watch.
Digimon Frontier delves more into character development then I feel the other Digimon series had, and it really allows you to get inside the character's minds. It's very intense, especially for a children's show, and very interesting to watch. They did an excellent job at making the characters very relatable in their own respects while also teaching people about the problems bullying and other real life issues will cause later on in life. As a child, the characters in this show helped me out greatly with life, and I find even as an older teenager the messages are universally important.
ENJOYMENT: I have watched this series three times now -- once as a young child, once recently in English, and again in Japanese -- and I have enjoyed it every time. As I said, the messages are universally important and useful, and I've found them helping me in every day life.
The series is very different from the other installments in Digimon, and I think it increased the enjoyment factor for me greatly. It's my favorite in the Digimon line, and for good reason.
OVERALL: I will gladly give this an overall ten, without a doubt. I love watching this series from start to finish and it's highly enjoyable.
Delving into character's minds is something of a hobby for me, and watching a Digimon series allow me to do that was a wonderful experience. As I said, it's my favorite in the Digimon line, because everything worked so much better.
It had an original plot that was fun and interesting to follow, wonderful characters that were all very different from each other, believable character development, and so much more. Everything about Digimon Frontier was done well, if not very well, and I highly recommend it as something fun to watch and take your mind off of things.
It's also, of course, an excellent show for kids, and I would recommend showing it to your children if you have them. It teaches wonderful messages that I still carry with me in my day to day life, and it does it in a wonderful way that I really appreciate now that I'm older.
BebopAphelion
I feel that this season of Digimon really pales in comparison to every other season that I've watched. The entire point of the original season was camaraderie, the two seasons to follow did the same thing but refreshing it. Season four tosses that out the window and just has the digidestined turn into digimon spirits. It's like DNA-Digivolution but without the partner, which in my eyes, doesn't make any sense. You may wonder how I could give the story and art a good grade and give everything else either fair or lesser. For starters there's nothing wrong with the story, I think that it doesvery well in presenting itself. And the artwork is fantastic, while I don't agree that the characters serve the purpose that they should, they do however look really cool, as digimon mostly have. To be honest because of how the the characters are, it might as well be called Power Rangers: Digital World. You have Kids or teens that say a few special words hold out their cell phone like thing and magically put on armor that often has to do with a positive trait or animal.
Now really, be honest with yourself if this was made with the title power rangers and live action you wouldn't think that it had any relation with Digimon. Why? because compared to the other four existing seasons of Digimon, this is remotely different.
Please note that this is how the anime came across to me and just because you don't like the review I gave it doesn't give you the right to shoot it down in a review of your own, if some people like it fine, but there are people who don't like it and have their reasons, l feel that it's not the way digimon should have been but that's my opinion and everyone is entitled to one.
(Edit) I've recently come to the conclusion that Digimon Frontier is worse off than I initially thought. Do I think it's bad to begin with? Yes. My opinion will likely never change on that. But I've gotten enough direct messages so some of the fanbase for Frontier just comes across as petty and even sanctimonious, further putting me off from this series. Why would I want to be remotely associated with that?
Do I respect that it's been made and the effort taken to make it? Yes, of course. But if you're going to once again try to convince me otherwise, note that I don't care what you think. You're more than welcome to enjoy this series. I quite simply don't.
Were_Vampire
After the breakout success of Digimon Tamers Toei renewed Digimon for a 4th season, and here they had 2 choices: they could do Tamers 02 (just as they did Adventure 02) or a whole new series. As Adventure 02 mostly failed to keep the audience it would have been a huge risk to do Tamers 02, as it could go the same way, and so Frontier was born, setting a brave new world and timeline, once again starting from scratch. The concept of the series lies in one of the thing most Tamers fans loved: humans becoming one with digimon. The thing is, Tamers didthis around episode 35, once we knew who the characters were and their story arcs matched this evolution almost perfectly. Starting from episode 1 with that kind of evolution is risky as we don't know anything about the new characters and so it could feel unearned, weird and anticlimactic. Many viewers turned off after just a couple of episodes and I can't blame them, the start is very shaky, but once Frontier figured out what worked and what didn't work it started becoming better. Sadly, it was just a little too late, and so the ratings declined to a point of no return and the Digimon franchise would be buried in the ground until Savers comes out several years later.
Now, is Digimon Frontier really a bad series? No, not at all, but is it great? Again, no. It does many things right and many things wrongs. Let's see the hits and miss.
Story wise: The plot is simple; once upon a time, in the digital world, there were 10 warriors who stopped the world from destruction. As a new threat rises, human kids are called to participate on a "game" that will decide their future. That game is going to take place in the digital world and the kids must become one with the spirits of said warriors in order to save the digital world.
Now, there's a lot of juice to that plot, you can explore this brand new digital world while adding layers of complexity to the plot by discovering the past of the warriors, what kind of trials they went through and how it affects the current situation. Sadly, Frontier doesn't bother going there; we just follow the children who got a power beyond their understanding. Ok, that can work out too if you have good characters, but character work isn't really that good either (we'll see that later), and the plot moves mostly ignoring any development the children make. Frontier has 2 bad habits: 1) it set character development mostly in filler episodes that add almost nothing to the story, and there's many episode that feels like this and 2) when the plot finally moves it usually sacrifices character development in order to compensate for the lack of movement in filler episodes. As such pacing is really troublesome here, sometimes slow as a snail, sometimes fast as a train, and as such we can't really get to enjoy it all that well. There are two main story arcs, one that takes place for 37 episodes and other one that uses just 13 episodes.
The first arc is a mixed bag: the first 10 episodes are outright boring, with simple plot and no depth to it, but as we move forward we slowly start to dip our toes into darker themes and get into the depths of the series. By episode 21 we can see the Digimon Frontier it should have been from the beginning, but as I said it was already a little too late for becoming good, at that point most of it audience might have as well left. As the arc continues, there are some really good moments, but also many that lag, and as such enjoyment is just fair.
The second and final arc is also a mixed bag as it starts rushed and only finds real momentum in the final 4 episodes or so, becoming the highlights of the series. The final episodes are smartly crafted and find the right pace to end the series, but anything before that I got through by sighing mostly hoping it would end quickly. As such, I can't think it was a great or even a good arc, it had its moment, but it constantly sacrifices some important character development in order to move as quickly as it can, and that's just a mess.
Characters: Just as I said in the story section, this is a mixed bag. This is not the worst character treatment in a Digimon series, but it's not the best either. Takuya is a good lead; he gets the usual broad strokes at the beginning and then is developed into a more complex kind of character. We get to explore his fear a lot, and because of it his bravery feels real. However, sometimes it gets repetitive and one might find it boring, but usually the character work is right.
It's the rest of the children who really have the trouble as their development is mostly scattered. Kouji is the cold one who gradually warms up, Tomoki the youngest of the group and the cry baby that grows up (doesn't this remind you of Takeru?), Izumi the girl who is figuring out how to be kind, Jumpei who wants to make real friends and Kouchi who is conflicted by family issues. All of that sounds good and with the right treatment you can get great characters. In fact, in early going Jumpei made a case for breakout character as his issues were the ones that could be pointed out easily and he grew around them. I expected a lot from him, but then the show just forgets it has ever developed this character. And the same happens to Izumi and Tomoki.
Kouji and Kouichi mostly get treated as just one character; their background is interesting, and smartly crafted, but they take the spotlight from the rest of the characters and once Kouichi is added in the series every single character moment from either of them have to include the other, making difficult to see them as separete individuals. And also, the more we spend with this duo the less we see of the others, and it seems as if Frontier is all about them, and that just frustrates me as I don't just get bored of being handled the same thing, but I also see a lot of characters who have potential not being used.
Talking about potential not being used, there was a pretty strong character combo in early series: Takuya and Tomoki had a great brother’s like chemistry, but Frontier seems to abandon this. The same happens with Jumpei and Izumi, who get a couple of strong episodes together and seem to be a good fit. But the show mostly explores two combos: Takuya/Kouji and Kouji/Kouichi.
As such, Frontier hurts itself by forgetting some character with real potential.
Still, everybody gets their screen time and we can see them becoming more mature, it just feels... rushed, convoluted and sometimes unearned. Takuya, Kouji and Koichi get the best treatment, the other 3, while somewhat developed, are mostly left in the air, which makes the character treatment somewhat lacking, but with some great moments, so it's only fair.
Sound: Though it shares some music that comes from the previous series, it is mostly new music, just like Tamers did, but not as great. It's still pretty good, but some tracks just don't land as they should. As such, it's no more than an 8. Very good, but something is lacking.
Enjoyment: very scattered. At times I just wanted to skip episodes because I couldn't stand the slow pace of the fillers episodes and at times I just didn't want the episode to end because I was really enjoying it. Digimon Frontier have a chunk of good episodes, but I'm afraid that the amount of filler is just too damn high, and when the plot moves it also forgets what the filler gets right, the character treatment. So it's really hard to say: I decided to go with "fair", because in the end I'm glad I re-watched, but I don't think I'll do it again. There are great moments, sure, but as a whole there are way too many troubles.
Overall, I think this series could have been really great, outstanding, but it didn't really know how to handle it. The fact that there are no digimon partners also hurt most of the audience it built over the years; if the spirits at least talked to our human characters then maybe it could have felt like we were watching a Digimon series. Even when Tamers set a whole new world, we still could recognize it was a Digimon series. In Frontier we get that by the huge amount of callback we get (including digimon from previous series, the crests, and many others element of earlier series), but not really because of the dynamic. If we could see this as a standalone series, without the Digimon name, maybe I'd go easier on it, but we can't due to the heavily amount of callbacks. And even if we could, it still wouldn't be great, as the story plot and character treatment are so scattered. As I said multiple times already, there is great potential there, there are some moments that shows us what this series should have been, but the writers don't dare go beyond the comfort zone all that often, and as such we get a series that is neither bad nor good, it just is.
Stray observartions (may include some spoilers):
-Through episode 2 to 41 we see Jumpei giving chocolates to a great amount of digimon. Just how many does he had with him before going to the digital world?
-In episode 18 we get the mother of callback, as we get to see many main digimon from previous series, such as v-mon, agumon, dukemon, taomon, wormmon, armadillomon, etemon, terriermon, among many others.
-In episode 38 Takuya finally explains why they have been fighting, as he says: "Right, we are human, but we are also half digimon". For me, that was a winning moment, as it finally gave some context as to why they have been risking their life all this time and it landed perfectly on context.
-Every time, in any digimon series, when someone says "did we get him?" the enemy always emerges from the damage. Every. Single. Time.
-As usually, per season, we got to see Leomon dying, this time killed by Takuya. Don't worry, he was just a random enemy, not an ally this time, and so it's not really traumatic.
-In episode 26 Frontier decided to do a kind of Snow White story with Izumi. It didn't really work, but it was fun to watch, even though the episode was mostly bad.
-It was interesting to see that Kouji has a dog and that he had to take care of a Tsunomon (who evolves later into Gabumon and then into Garurumon); it seems he has a connection with dogs and wolves, as all his evolutions are wolf related.
-In episode 31 Takuya outright says he is the main character. Sorry Jumpei, for what is worth I did think you could make it as a great character and lead before the show forgot about you.
And that's it! Two more Digimon series to go, and the following (Savers) is one of my favorites, so I'll be happy to review it!
Next up: after a long time nap, Digimon reawakens, as Savers come to save the franchise with excellent character treatment and the darkest plot to aim to an audience that already grew up
MorganKingsley
10/10 Review: When I first checked this season out I didn't care about it mostly. That was because at the time I heard a theory that season four was the prequel to one and two and I wanted to see if that theory held up. Little did I know that this season had so much more to offer. In the first half I found the concepts to be great. Let me tell you something first. Most people dislike this season for its ideas that sort of take from seasons one and two and more original stuff. Two things to debunk that. First, when you are makinga prequel, sequel or something new to a series you need to have old stuff and new stuff. Second if this was a prequel (and it gets more convincing the more you look at it and examine the details) then it is kind of smart to have some people represent the older group
Takuya: Tai Koji: Matt Tommy: T.K., but his evolutions like Joe J.P.: Joe, but his evolutions like Izzy Zoe: Sora and Mimi Koji's twin brother in second half: Ken
I don't have much to complain about. I like the story and follow it fine. The characters are all very interesting and develop nicely even the villains.
Tommy as a 12 year old kid didn't bother me at all. The reason this is because if you compare Young Gennai to Tommy in appearance, they look a like. If this was prequel, then there is a possibility that this is Gennai's origin story. Its like Anakin in episode 1, but the role of how they are when they are when younger and older is reversed. A powerful idea on the creators ideas. The idea of a brother that is impacting what he is doing but has no screen time is interesting, and how Tommy learns the meaning of his last words.
When Neemon showed up I feared the worst because some called them the worst comic relief since Jar Jar. After a couple of episodes though Neemon didn't bother me at all. In fact I found them to be funny.
Some say comic relief shouldn't be in Digimon. Let me correct you on that. Remember Gomamon in season one?
Some people complain about why so many digimon in season 1 and 2 are in it and why the technology is so much older. Some digimon in season 2 such as Armadillomon are abundant in season 4 but near dead in season 4 and considered ancient. That makes sense though if you think about it.
Some other people talk about why the digital world looks near destroyed in season 4 but like a good as new place in 1. Remember near the end of season 1 when Gennai told the group that the final test they have face nearly destroyed the digital world but five saved it? That was Lucemon's goal in the end and there were five kids in season 4. Meaning that the digital world could have collapsed in between the two and if Tommy is young Gennai, it would make sense why he would know this.
About half way through the season we meet Duskmon the seasons secondary villain, who is Koji's twin brother who was forced evil by the main villain Cherubimon. Anybody who was paying attention to what Bokomon said to the group, Cherubimon has been fighting a war to control the digital world. So it would make sense that they have a few servants. He didn't choose it it was forced and he found a way out and you find out his spirit was there not his real life self. His real life self dies at the end of the season which just breaks Koji. The only season to have a human die in it.
May I also mention that the season unlike everything prior or since has one story arc. Not multiple. The only thing it has multiple of is the villains which all serve purpose and have development.
The second half of the season only gets better. The story picks up even better. All the characters good and bad have purpose that is needed. The characters only develop even more so than the first half. But then comes the last few episodes with a climax and resolution that is considered to be the high light of the season by everybody. And one of the best climaxes/resolutions in all of digimon history. The only dispute is with season 3. Which I won't give away
This season has the second best evolution concept in the entire saga (behind Bio-Merge in season 3) called Spirit Evolution. There are three factors why this idea is so good. First is the music. The only form of digivolution to have its own soundtrack and it's old style. It shows by how well it works. Second is the humans reactions. With no words you know how they feel turning into the digimon. Third is the human contributions. For once and only this once we don't have the humans have digimon do all the work. It is them and the group all works together. Just watch this on Youtube to see what I mean.
Overall season four is a great entry in the digimon series as a whole. It has some good and well held up animation, the best (or at least second best) writing of the series, well done and cared for characters, a well made story line that works together, and it doesn't deserve the hate that some give it. The only season that beats it and it is a very close one is season 3 I would highly suggest people to check this season out any day.
I would give this season a 15 if I could
KageroFTW
I'll be the first to admit, I'm not at all a Digimon fan. I've watched the first 4 shows and some of the 5th, but none of it ever stuck to me as much as other shows from my childhood. I'm not saying that Digimon as a whole is bad, matter of fact I think the majority of the shows are fine. Some better then others. Digimon overall is not a bad series. When it comes to Frontier I've often heard mixed feelings about the show, some believe it to be the dark horse of the franchise, by changing the repetitive nature of the Digimon sequels,turning the kids into Digimon, and by focusing more on the kids themselves. On the other hand, I've heard some think that because of this change, it loses its Digimon vibe. I understand both sides of the argument. I get that it's hard to like a new show in a franchise that changes the original concept, I also understand that it's hard to enjoy new sequels that seem repetitive. I think Frontier keeps a nice balance between the two.
I probably will get a little flack for this, but I personally believe that Digimon Frontier is the best show of the franchise. I'm not saying that Frontier should represent the franchise as a whole, that title still goes to the original first season. I believe that Frontier did what the other sequels did little of, and that was not copying a majority of its material from the original source. I'm not saying that Frontier isn't guilty of this, and that other sequels took all of their material from the first season. What I am saying is that Frontier takes the right amount of source material to still give it the feeling of being part of the Digimon series, while not being too repetitive.
I will admit, I am one of those who thinks one of the strongest strengths of Frontier is that it's not as repetitive as the other Digimon sequels, I like that it focuses more on the kids then it does the Digimon, giving more character development instead of just moving from one battle to the next. The original season did have character development don't get me wrong, but I feel as though a lot of that development was spread out too thin, mainly due to the amount of main protagonists (including their Digimon) in the show. Whereas Frontier focuses manly on the 5 characters (6 if you include Koichi), each getting more then one episode to focus on that particular character. Another thing that I loved about Frontier is that it turned the kids into Digimon. This is what I believe to be the strongest strength about Frontier, not only do you get to battle with Digimon, but now you get to be one as well. I feel this trait gives the show a more of a Power Rangers feel to it, and that it gives the protagonists something to do besides cheer on the sidelines.
Frontier on the other hand does have its flaws. As I said before Frontier doesn't have the feeling as though you are moving from one battle to next, but instead suffers from having filler. I will give credit to other Digimon seasons for not having a lot of this problem, but I feel as though Frontier suffers from this the most. This is what I believe to be Frontiers biggest flaw. There seems to be huge gaps between plot points that are filled with unnecessary story. Sometimes if you're lucky a filler episode will give huge character development or backstory, but usually results with some life lesson. I understand that this show is intended for kids, but I feel as though life lessons can be integrated within the main plot, rather than having whole episodes dedicated to them entirely.
Overall season four of Digimon is a very good addition to the franchise. It changes the concept of Digimon enough to keep the show interesting and not so repetitive, while keeping enough originality to be considered a Digimon show.
Now if you want to get into Digimon and have never seen any of the franchise, don't begin with Frontier. If you were to start with this season, you would get an entirely different picture of what Digimon is as a whole. I recommend starting with the original first season.
P.S. The Frontier dub opening is also the best opening in the series.
Emiliebryhni
I gave this an overall , not because it was bad in any way- but because it is ... so... digimon... First time I watched this season, was in Spain actually- in Spanish... and I had NO idea it was digimon, at all. It was only a couple of years later that I realised it was [I only watched some of the episode, one were one of the kids transformed, and then I saw those small thingies... the "book keapers"]. I have watched this at least twice... Let me explain. Story: I actually liked this story plot... because it had more depth in it than the previous series, orso it is in my opinion. Digimon Tamers might have a bit more of a sinister plot than this one, but still. I really liked it because it was more than just the "children goes to digiworld and meets digimon... then saves the world after finding out they had the ability inside of themselves from the start!"
In this season, they go on an adventure and find the spirits! Which thereafter helps THEM digiwolve [ an improvement from the children just standing on the side lines, screaming- then the digimons evolve... ]. Of course, they do end up saving the world!
Art: It was... different, I suppose.
Sound: I LOVED the opening sound to this season. Best so far...
Character: Errm... they were pretty standard [Goggle main guy, the emo kid who doesn't want to attach to others, but ends up with the "friendship crest...", the girl [this one reminded me of ... Mimi from first season... can't remember if that was her name? The pink haired one x3], the little guy [TK!!!], and awkward guy... this one turned out to be a bit different from the previous ones... Cody, and them... also there was evil guy who turns out to be good!].
Enjoyment: Well, obviously I enjoyed this very much, in relation to the fact that I watched it two times... was going on my third time right before writting this...
eqyaq
Digimon Frontiers is really different from all the other digimon series , the story is somewhat similar/different from other digimon series , you'll notice it when you watch it. Characters make progress through the story as they get stronger and closer to each other . Some of the let down for me is the relationship in the series though , makes me have high hopes but instantly shuts me down afterwards. But overall the action is good on every episode and the mysteries will make you look forward for the new episode . Every episode interesting to watch and worth my time watching.
Jack16ichigo
Just a small review for fun, I am no means a reviewer or even claim to have good taste or knowledge of story writing and while I tried to not contain spoilers I can't guarantee it. I decided to watch Digimon Frontier as I have great fondness and nostalgia for the first three series, so choose to start with the forth series that I had once watched the first episode and had some knowledge of. I think some may dislike the initial concept of the series being the characters become Digimon rather than having Digimon companions breaking from tradition of the other series, however I don't mindthis as it does seem like a natural concept to explore inevitably and I rather it was done earlier than later. I also think it does satisfies a natural itch all Digimon fans have, that it would be just as cool to be a Digimon as to have a Digimon. I don't feel it looses much from it either as the interactions between the Digimon and humans are usually minimal with only Tamers expanding on this relationship and you still have interaction between the main characters and ones they meet along the way. So I don't see the concept as a negative.
While I feel the characters are archetypes, I do think they are are good examples of them and their traits where never used to the point of becoming annoying, the loner didn't brood ridiculously long, the youngest didn't remain too whiny and the optimist wasn't unrealistically optimistic with all the characters developing nicely. I like their designs and Digimon forms especially Takuya with me being indifferent to the designs at worst however I do feel it is a little more unbalanced in terms distribution of the amount of forms amongst the characters compared to other series. I also think they did some interesting thinks with some the themes with them not necessary progressing how you may expect and the story had enough twists and turns to be compelling and was mostly progressed by the characters will rather than just happenstance however I do think some of these where later under used, with many being pushed aside for the next new thing and there may have been one too many twists.
Overall I feel it satisfied my nostalgia for Digimon with it feeling much akin to the original style especially in terms of designs and I found the story compelling and interesting enough to maintain my attention which I was concerned about with its target demographic however I wouldn't disagree with it being lesser than the first three series but is a solid addition to the franchise and doesn't feel like a complete cash in, that some of the later series may be so overall I greatly enjoyed Digimon Frontier and would recommend it to fans of Digimon.
Tsukumo_Yuma
This anime is not a classic Digimon series, but close. The past series fallowed the kids and there Digimon companoins while this one focouses more on the Kids and the people they meet in the Digital world. The kids gain the power to turn into legendary Digimon, and must save the Digital world. There are to many anime were they have to save some one else's world, but unlike the other Digimon series the human world is safe. The characters are likeable, but I did not care for Junpei's back story so much. I thought that Koichi and Kyoji's back story was better and more well thought out than Takuya's,but his was not bad ether.
The beginning of the series started off slow, but picked up pace when it got closer to the fight against Cherubimo.
The last fight was epic, I am a fan of Luchemon, in every Digimon series he is a great villain.
ashleourke20
while the first digimon anime will always hold a special place in my heart as it was the first one I watched. I found myself enjoying digimon frontier more. I liked how they could become the digimon, and reminded me of a few other shows I watched growing up. I found the characters very relatable and well fleshed out. I would have liked if some things were worked on a bit more and feel the anime had much potential. I would recommend it yes. I liked the spirit evolving scenes a lot, and the music always got me hyped. And I think the intro was one fo the best.
GrimmChicken
What started out with the potential to stand amongst the best seasons of Digimon instead takes a decline in quality during the second half and never realises it's true potential Particular to note is the colour grading of the characters during the first half of the show as well as the background environments which give the aesthetic of the award winning watercolor paintings you'd find in a 8th grade classroom, aesthetically this suits the season and invokes a degree of talent and artistic eye behind the work but as it goes on and the environments get more abstract the colours begin to clash and feel moreout of place.
The colour theory at work during the first half of the season is simple, effective and beautifully dates it to the time of its release and most importantly evolves on the style that the Digimon cartoons/anime had been developing up until that point so it's a shame to see the quality of the colours chosen in the second half decline to a noisy, contrasting mess.
If an animated work is difficult to look at then it's not fulfilling it's potential as a medium.
I'd like to draw attention to one criticism I've seen of this season which is that the characters don't feel as though they've grown over the course of the season and feel stagnant, which I don't agree with. I feel as though each character had internalized the lessons throughout the season although the writers didn't give enough moments to really shed light and let these characters reinstate the lessons on what they've internalized (which I understand why people would interpret it as no character development).
It makes the characters seem entitled, stubborn, or straight up apathetic to each lesson they're supposed to learn when it's not reflected in the story or the character goes through the same growth over and over again, but beneath that, in the subtle ways the characters interact with each other and the world, there was growth, at least to me.
Oh yeah, but the story in the second half is uninteresting, there's this hierarchy of villains and there's always this bigger or more powerful enemy to take down and there's rarely any compelling reason to care about the conflict, there is a hint of possibility that a villain had a trait or a history that would've made the conflict more interesting, and an episode later it does appear they could make the conflict feel genuine or interesting, and then in another episode they double back and introduce a bigger and badder villain in the next episode (if you're dying to know what episodes it's 34-36).
Ultimately the second half feels rushed and as well as the writers not having enough time to probably complete the script. Seriously When you get to episode 36 just watch the first 9 minutes then skip to the last 8 minutes of episode 50, everything between isn't required to get most out of the story.
I'd also like to touch on the criticism of "But the humans turn into Digimon". As someone who had these same criticism for most of my life I can proudly say that if you still hold these beliefs grow the fuck up.
To summarize, the season starts strong and carries itself well whilst all of the protagonists are collecting their spirits but as the first wave of recurring villains struggle to remain interesting into the second half of the season they just don't bring the energy required to keep the main characters or the story interesting and as they rush the story into a digital worldwide cataclysm they just don't engage any plot threads to keep it interesting and at episode 36 they drag out the climax and by extent the cataclysm that by episode 48 there season feels so exhausted it is practically wheezing...
And to monologue, that really sucks because once you get past the immature "but the humans turn into Digimon" there is so much here to genuinely enjoy, the opening moments of the 'call of destiny' is one of the best openings in any season of Digimon that genuinely makes it feel as though during any mundane moment destiny could be called upon anyone (although in real life not as dramatically fantastical), there's the growth of the characters and how their goals evolve from wanting to leave and go home to genuinely wanting to stay and help even though they're given many opportunities to go back home in the latter half, there's the digital world that feels far more alive and lived in than any season of Digimon that came before it (a far cry from the desolate wastelands of earlier seasons), finally one thing I enjoyed in the final half is that instead of just fighting the bad guys and defending villages the protagonists feel as though they're trying to keep the economy supported whilst everything is crumbling around them in the face of cataclysm and everything on the verge of falling apart there's moments like trying to help an injured Locomon recover, and later as a town relegated as a hatchery for Digimon eggs they, instead of just fighting the bad guy, make an effort to relocate the baby Digimon and digi-eggs (even calling for the help of a Locomon they helped repair a few episodes earlier) which serves as slithers of a light behind the veil of a decline in quality and a dragged out ending that haunts the final half of the show.
Digimon Frontier is awkward, flawed and ultimately ends as a tragedy of a season. But there are also moments of talent, honesty and slivers of virtuosity in this work that would make it dishonest to leave out of the discussion, the few bright moments this season achieved should be talked about and celebrated because left under a mountain of criticism is a lesson and a handful of virtues this franchise could learn and grow from and become a better franchise because of it and it's be a shame to leave the few things that Digimon Frontier passionately done well go unheard.
But It's still a 5/10.
--- P.S. That was a long one, I know it got kinda chonky towards the end, I know I didn't express a lot of my views best as I could have but this was all kinda spontaneous. For anyone who's interested my favorite season of Digimon is Tamers and I'm enjoying Digimon Ghost Game at the moment, I might do a review of the latter but I don't plan doing a review of Tamers, I don't feel as though there's anything new I could add to the discussion of Tamers and I'm personally confident in the quality of that season. I'm also sorry for any Frontier fans I likely rubbed the wrong way, I think for anyone who is a fan of this season should be proud of it, I encourage them to explore what they believe the virtues of this season are and share it with others as well, either in their own reviews or reflected in a work of their own.
AngeVNs
Ever since the success of the first season of Digimon, it's clear Toei wanted to recreate that success with the same IP but without using the exact same cast—at least until more recently. Sadly, despite the high praise for Tamers and the direct continuation with 02, none have come close to the popularity and nostalgia of the first season. Nevertheless, Toei kept trying, and one interesting idea was to create a Digimon series without partner Digimon—opting for a Super Sentai/ Power Rangers-style approach where humans transform into Digimon to fight. In theory, this is actually pretty cool. While Digi-evolutions were always a highlight of the series, I'd arguethat Frontier has the best ones, even as early as their first transformations. In previous Digimon series, Champion forms were still kind of cool but rather basic. Meanwhile, even the earliest humanoid Digimon transformations in Frontier feel like a huge upgrade.
Outside of the transformation gimmick and lack of partners, Frontier surprisingly still follows the story formula of the first three seasons—for better or worse. It features six human characters by the end, all of whom get "isekai’d" into the Digital World. They have personal struggles to work through while being stuck there for almost the entire series, only reaching the human world near the very end, which contrasts with previous seasons.
At the end of the day, this is still a shounen kids’ show, so the emphasis is on flashy attacks and cheesy humor (especially in the English dub). However, there’s still a degree of character depth. These middle school kids have to figure out how to escape, understand the Digital World, and confront their own issues, which ultimately creates a simple yet surprisingly serious story at times.
As much as I wish I could praise the series more, there are many reasons why it’s considered one of the more forgettable, mediocre, or outright terrible Digimon entries.
The story itself is a major issue. While the goal of capturing and purifying all the spirits is decent, it just isn’t as compelling as previous seasons. With only five human characters for most of the first half, their interactions and development feel weak. They have potential depth and backstories, but they lack the charisma and chemistry of previous casts. They aren’t necessarily bad characters, but they’re not memorable, and when they’re not getting direct backstory moments, they just don’t stand out.
Even conflicts between characters, like Takuya and Koji’s natural clashes, don’t go far enough. There’s barely any leadership dynamic, and every episode just feels like an excuse for the humans to transform, fight, and get a new spirit.
Unfortunately, the only female character, Izumi/Zoe, has it rough. Unlike the others, who at least win some fights, she barely gets any victories, and many of her spirit battles don’t end in success.
The second half of the series only worsens things. When the sixth kid joins, you’d expect the group to fully bond and develop after everything they went through. Instead, Frontier copies the worst aspects of the first two seasons—making Takuya and Koji the only characters who matter in fights. The first half at least let the others have some cool moments, but in the second half, they’re reduced to handing over their powers so Takuya and Koji can get their final transformations. This makes the series more boring and repetitive than it needs to be.
It doesn’t help that the characters never return to the human world mid-series, limiting their development. They’re stuck with only each other and a few Digimon who don’t know much about the real world or their personal struggles.
To make matters worse, about ten episodes in the latter half are just a rinse-and-repeat cycle of Takuya and Koji fighting the Royal Knights. While the Knights have cool designs, every episode plays out the same way—go to a new area, fight them, get beaten, rinse and repeat—until the real final boss shows up for the last few episodes.
It’s a real shame. I legitimately like the idea of a Digimon Power Rangers-style series. There are cool designs, fights, and transformations, and sometimes even interesting character depth. But limiting the cast to six, removing partner Digimon, skipping human world development, and relying on a few comedic sidekicks ultimately hurt the series’ long-term appeal.
While it was cool that Toei experimented, and it led to some iconic designs and fights, it’s for the best that future Digimon series returned to the traditional human-partner dynamic.
Duckielover151
It doesn't seem quite right to give a sequel series a higher score than the original... I know the very idea is practically blasphemous in the mighty world of Fandom. So how do I justify this? Well, I've come to the conclusion that Adventure and Frontier are basically the same thing with just a few exceptions: Frontier's story is slightly darker, the lack of Digimon partners enables the human characters to do more than just stand on the sidelines during the fights, and the script just felt a little more... put-together. So, to be frank, by season four, the creators had gotten their shit together.Now, I love Adventure. I think it holds up over time, which isn't the case for all of my childhood loves. Frontier is the only season of Digimon I've seen that I don't associate with my childhood. I watched it to completion for the first time when I was 13 or so. So that frees it up from a lot of nostalgia bias I could be feeling. In a lot of instances, Frontier follows Adventure's story and characters to the point where I would believe you if you told me this was actually a remake.
Frontier took what I already loved about Adventure and improved upon it... in all ways but one. For a show that was successful enough to be granted a FOURTH season... you'd think they'd be willing to take a risk with the animation budget.
